Friday, February 25, 2011
Vijayashanti's Over Action In Parliament
Yet again, this came to the light in the parliament house at Delhi. Firstly, it was a surprise to many as they saw Vijayashanti attending the parliament, sources reveal she is never seen in those premises. As if that was not enough, she was standing next to her ‘anna’ KCR while Sushma Swaraj of BJP was screaming her lungs out about BJP’s fight for Telangana (wonder when BJP was part of T-struggle, is the question by people).
Anyways, our lady Amitabh was seen rotating her hands in frenzy and mumbling words with her muffled mouth. It was clear she was doing this to attract the attention of people watching the parliament sessions in their TV sets. As expected, they began cursing Vijayashanti for her extraas and are blasting those who voted her as an MP.
TV9's Intention Behind 'Ram Dhamaal Varma'
A key person associated with the program revealed “RGV is a nation renowned director with international standard. But lately, it was looking like he is not putting focus on his films. The intention behind our program was to remind him of his potential and true abilities in a friendly way”.
He also revealed “We didn’t expect Ramu to go in for a court case as he is the most sportive person when it comes to criticism. There is also a talk that the voiceover was given by Ravi Prakash for the program. That is not true. In fact, Ravi Prakash said to stop the program as he felt it could go off mark. Many have mistaken the voiceover as his voice”.
While the point from TV9 is this, RGV says that he took the issue serious as TV9 has unethically pointed in a wrong way that he said ‘audiences are fools’ and he never said that at any time. TV9 says that those words weren’t sounded at all in the program.
The bottom line of this issue is that the program was made and aired without the knowledge of Ravi Prakash who intervened and stopped the program to prevent from going it further.
RGV: 'I Will Go To Mumbai Again'
"I am going to make the film with Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt post June," Ramu informs.
Interestingly, Sanjay and Ramu will work again after 13 years. Their last film was Daud that also had Urmila Matondkar. Rumour is that they had fallen out bitterly.
The director also rubbished rumours that he is planning to settle down in the Telugu film industry and quit Mumbai. "I was here because I had to make Raktacharitra which was a story based out of Andhra Pradesh. I will now make Amma, a 3D film in Hindi and Telugu for which I will have to go to Mumbai again. I will go where my work takes me," RGV shoots.
NOC for pak actors and singers must
Pakistani actors and other artistes will have to get an NoC from their interior ministry before coming to India. The decision was taken in a high level meeting held with the interior minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad on Thursday evening.
The meeting was attended by representatives of all ministries where it was decided that no artiste would be allowed to travel to India without an NOC after March 15.
It maybe recalled here that Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and his manager Maroof were charged under FEMA and customs act for carrying undeclared foreign currency of Rs 60 lakh.
The meeting was attended by representatives of all ministries where it was decided that no artiste would be allowed to travel to India without an NOC after March 15.
It maybe recalled here that Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and his manager Maroof were charged under FEMA and customs act for carrying undeclared foreign currency of Rs 60 lakh.
AP: BJP offers alliance with YS Jagan
Hyderabad, Dec 3: Trying to fish in muddy waters, Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) is in a move to make an alliance with former Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who is launching his new political party in Andhra Pradesh.
Sources reported that BJP leaders have contacted YS Jagan, son of former Chief Minister late YS Rajashekhara Reddy, and extended their offer of tie-up to form a new political block in Andhra Pradesh.
Earlier on Thursday, Dec 2, YS Jagan had announced his plan of launching the new party. He also invited other Congress leaders to join his party.
The Chief spokesman of the Jagan Group, Ambati Rambabu has told the media that YS Jagan will launch his political party soon.
"Jagan will come in front of the media very soon and announce the new party. His new political party will become very strong and replace the Congress party in the state" Rambabu said.
Meanwhile, the rebel Congress ministers, who expressed their dissatisfaction with the new portfolios, have attended the Cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.
Court approves Assange's extradition on sexual assault charges
Mr. Assange, dressed in the blue suit he has worn to previous hearings, sat impassively as the decision was read. He is currently free on bail and the court continued that, subject to conditions which were being discussed.
Judge Howard Riddle, in his ruling, said that allegations brought by two women qualified as extraditable offenses and that the warrant seeking Mr. Assange's return to Sweden for questioning was valid.
The verdict marks a turning point in the three-month battle in the British courts and the media against what Mr. Assange, his legal team and his celebrity supporters say is a conspiracy to stop WikiLeaks and its campaign to expose government and corporate secrets.
The case has been fought against the backdrop of the group's highest-profile operation yet -- the release of a quarter of a million confidential American diplomatic cables that became the basis of articles by news organizations worldwide, including The New York Times.
WikiLeaks supporters, many of whom contend that the case against Mr. Assange is retribution for the cables' release, have mobbed courthouses over the course of six acrimonious hearings, chanting, "We love you, Julian." Mr. Assange was initially denied bail and briefly jailed after defying a judge's request to provide an address.
Swedish prosecutors argued that Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, must return to Stockholm to face accusations by two women who say that he sexually abused them last August. Under Sweden's strict sexual-crimes laws, he is accused of two counts of sexual molestation, one count of unlawful coercion and one count of rape. His accusers, both WikiLeaks volunteers, have said that their sexual encounters with Mr. Assange started out as consensual but turned nonconsensual.
Mr. Assange has said the accusations are "incredible lies," and he has referred to Sweden as "the Saudi Arabia of feminism."
Judge Little said on Thursday that if there have been abuses in Sweden, "the right place for these to be examined and remedied is in the Swedish trial system."
Mr. Assange has also denied accusations by the Swedish authorities that he fled the country in September rather than surrender to the police; he says he left Sweden with permission. And he has denounced the leaks of two Swedish police documents that provided graphic details of the accusations.
Mr. Assange, and his lawyers have signaled their intent to take their fight to Britain's highest courts, and even to the European Court of Human Rights. In adjourning a hearing earlier this month to make his decision, Judge Riddle said with a note of resignation that whatever he decided would "perhaps inevitably be appealed."
The long and costly legal battle has left Mr. Assange isolated in the country house of a wealthy friend, and he is electronically monitored as a condition of his bail.
During the legal fight, many of his closest colleagues have defected from WikiLeaks, and a dozen of them formed a rival Web site, OpenLeaks. The United States Justice Department, meanwhile, has subpoenaed his Twitter account as part of an investigation that could lead to espionage charges.
In one of the frequent interviews from his friend's house, Mr. Assange compared himself to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a recorded speech played this month at a rally in Melbourne, Australia, his adopted hometown, he went further, comparing the struggles of WikiLeaks to those of African-Americans who fought for equal rights in the 1950s, of protesters who sought an end to the Vietnam War in the '60s and of the feminist and environmental movements. "For the Internet generation," he said, "this is our challenge, and this is our time."
Mr. Assange is also working on his autobiography, which he has said will be worth $1.7 million in publishing deals. "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said in a December interview with The Sunday Times of London, explaining that his legal costs had reached more than $300,000. "I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."
The book, he said, will detail his "global struggle to force a new relationship between the people and their governments." He said he hoped the book, due out in April, "will become one of the unifying documents of our generation."
This month, in another fund-raising effort, he organized what he called a "dinner for free speech," encouraging online supporters to donate to his defense and dine with friends while watching a video message he had recorded. On a Web site to promote the idea, where he was pictured holding a wine glass aloft, he was quoted as declaring, "There are four things that cannot be concealed for long, the sun, the moon, the truth -- and dessert!"
WikiLeaks, though unable to process and release new material, has continued to post classified United States diplomatic cables from the cache of the more than 250,000 it has obtained. Recent examples have included documents concerning the opulent lifestyle of the family of former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia. The documents were widely disseminated during the revolution that ousted Mr. Ben Ali and started a wave of protests in the Arab world.
In recent weeks, some of Mr. Assange's supporters, eager to see WikiLeaks operating with its founder's full attention, have been echoing a question asked by a judge at one of the initial hearings in the case. "If he is so keen to clear his name," the judge, Justice Duncan Ouseley, asked in December, "what stops a voluntary return to Sweden?"
Mr. Assange told friends in Britain he feared that if he returned to Sweden he would be extradited to the United States and perhaps be detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, or executed. But one of his former WikiLeaks colleagues said in an interview that he thought Mr. Assange's reason was more mundane.
The colleague, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who is one of the OpenLeaks founders, told reporters last week that when Mr. Assange first heard about the sexual abuse allegations in late August, "he was not concerned about the United States."
"He was very scared of going to prison in Sweden," Mr. Domscheit-Berg said, "which he thought might happen." Such charges carry a maximum sentence of four years and no minimum sentence.
Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa, Vijaykanth join hands to fight DMK
Chennai: Actor-politician Vijaykanth has decided to join hands with Jayalalithaa to take on DMK chief Karunanidhi in the upcoming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. The Captain, as he's called by his cadres, announced his decision on the AIADMK chief's birthday yesterday.
Click to Expand & PlayVijaykanth's six-year-old DMDK, originally formed as an alternative to both the DMK and the AIADMK, had around ten percent vote share in the last Lok Sabha polls.
"To take a political stand is one thing and to share seats is another. We want to oust the DMK government and that is why we have joined the AIADMK," said Panruti Ramachandran, DMDK Presidium Chairman.
Jayalalithaa already has the support of the MDMK, the communists and Pudhiya Tamizhagam. The ruling DMK meanwhile has firmed up its ties with the Congress, the PMK and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal.
With Vijaykanth's birthday gift to Jayalalithaa, the alliance arithmetic of the Dravidian arch rivals has turned formidable and clear. As both sides work on the nitty-gritty of number of seats, the political temperature in the state is set to soar.
Rail Budget: Challenge for Mamata amid high expectations
The Railways is cash strapped at the moment. The country’s largest employer’s expenses are up by Rs. 1,300 crore and earnings have gone down by Rs. 1,100 crore. The Railways has a net deficit of Rs. 2,500 crore and reserves are at the lowest in recent years at Rs. 5000 crore.
The poor finances have now started hurting projects that Banerjee banked on to create jobs and political support. So far Banerjee has been able to lay only the foundation stones for the 16 factories announced in the last budget.
The only way out is to increase passenger fares but that is unlikely to happen with Mamata determined to use the Railways as an instrument to win votes in Bengal. No significant increase is expected in freight rates as well because Railways is losing freight traffic.
Banerjee had pinned her hopes on the finance ministry but sources say Railways is likely to get a grant of Rs. 20,000 crore as gross budgetary support against Mamata's demand of Rs. 39,600 crore.
So, Mamata Banerjee will have to walk a tightrope and this budget is likely to be the most challenging of her career so far. Here's what more is expected out of this Railway Budget.
Passenger fares: Tatkal rates may increase marginally.
Investments: Railways likely to announce new incentives to boost private participation. Also new measures expected to improve interest in logistic parks in the area around Railway stations.
Freight: Update on opening of tender for dedicated freight corridor expected.
Infrastructure: 18,000 new wagons, 2,500 new coaches and 200-300 new locomotive engines expected to be added.
Safety: Focus on installation of safety-related equipments like train protection warning system (TPWS) and anti-collision device (ACD) on busy routes.
Eateries: More Jana Aahar outlets at stations likely.
Services: SMS-based service for passengers to lodge complaints against rail services likely.
New Trains and routes:
> Student special trains, keeping in mind the travel requirement during examinations, and trains with only bookings under Tatkal scheme.
> Multi-mode transport system between Hyderabad and Secunderabad likely; capacity enhancement of the Mumbai suburban rail system.
> Work on the dedicated Rail Freight Corridors project which is lagging behind schedule; to continue to maintain the dynamic pricing policy in freight.
> New coaching complexes at places like Haldia and Majerhat could figure; for the north-east, a new diesel loco shed is expected to come up in Assam.
> More DMU trains likely for the north-east; New Duronto services from Guwahati to New Delhi and Howrah
Hostage crisis ends, Naxals release Collector Krishna
Bhubaneshwar: After nine days of being held hostage by Naxals in Orissa, District Collector RV Krishna is finally a free man.
One hour after their deadline expired, and after a u-turn that threatened to break with the compromise reached with the government, the Naxals handed over Mr Krishna to mediapersons.
The 30-year-old IIT-graduate-turned IAS officer was released before a "people's court" in a forested area in Jantapai, 90 kilometres from his home in Malkangiri. TV channels who had been summoned to attend his release showed him seated in a checked shirt and blue pants. He appeared relaxed.
Though the Naxals had served the government with new demands for Mr Krishna's release in the last 24 hours, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, "The state government did not bow down... but certain commitments have been made."
Mr Krishna was kidnapped along with an engineer named Pabitra Majhi on February 16 from Orissa's Malkangiri district. Days of intense negotiations with the government followed - they were conducted by three mediators appointed by the Naxals.
On Tuesday night, a settlement was announced. The two hostages were to be released within 48 hours. In return, the government agreed to 14 conditions, including the release from prison of Ganti Prasad, a senior Naxal leader who was arrested in November. Keeping its end of the deal, the government said in court yesterday that the charges of sedition against Mr Prasad could not be proved; he was granted bail.
A few hours later, Mr Majhi returned from the Naxal camp in the thick forest along the Andhra-Orissa border where he had been kept with Mr Krishna. But there was no sign of the Collector. And then the Naxals announced a new set of terms and conditions that included the release from jail of another five leaders, including a senior Naxal named Sriramulu Srinivas who is currently in the Malkangiri jail.
Mediators urged the Naxals not to impose new demands; so did Ganti Prasad, who is still in prison.
This evening, two of the three mediators were flown to Malkangiri in a helicopter to talk to the Naxals. At 5 pm, they announced that Mr Krishna would not be released till Friday.
And then in a surprise but welcome twist, Mr Krishna was released.
It's not yet clear what persuaded the Naxals to set him free. Sources say that Ganti Prasad's instructions to stick to the original compromise may have weighed heavily on those operating in the forests. But it's also likely that Mr Krishna's over-whelming popularity in Malkangiri came to his rescue. Villagers in the area shared their respect and regard for him with newspapers and television channels.
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