Telangana crisis: Bandh in Hyderabad, talks in Delhi

New Delhi/Hyderabad: As the general strike in support of a separate Telangana state enters its 18th day today, Congress central leadership is meeting some of its leaders from the region to find a solution to the crisis.

Last evening, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee met some Telangana Congress MPs who are camping in Delhi and have refused to return to Hyderabad till there is a definite word from the UPA leadership on formation of Telangana.

Mr Mukherjee is said to have assured the delegation that he will take up the issue with the Prime Minister and the Congress president on priority basis. The leaders are likely to meet the PM and President today itself. Congress in charge of Andhra Pradesh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, is expected to submit an internal report on Telangana crisis to the party in a day or two.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Joint Action Committee has called a bandh in Hyderabad today. Protesters have now shifted their focus on putting pressure on elected representatives and ministers in the Congress government to resign. For this, the protesters are gheraoing their homes and not allowing them to move around freely in the Telangana region.


Labour Minister Danam Nagender faced the ire of the protesters yesterday as the members of the Telangana Joint Action Committee sat outside his residence in Hyderabad.

"We demand that Danam Nagender must immediately resign from his post," said a protester.

"They have no right to ask for my resignation or that of any other Congress leader. Minister Komti Reddy resigned but people still threw chappals on him. What is their fate if this is how resigned MLAs and ministers are treated," said Mr Nagender.

These activists also surrounded the homes of many other Congress elected representatives in several Telangana districts.

"If our Congress leaders were good, then by now a Bill on Telangana would have been presented in Parliament and Telangana state would have been formed," said another protester.

This is being seen as an attempt by TRS-led pro-Telangana groups to pressurise the elected representatives asking them to resign and join the strike or face the ire of the people.

"It is a demand by the people of Telangana, not KCR alone. It is a popular demand that all Telangana public representatives must resign, so that the Centre is moved and the issue is solved," TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Thursday.


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India, Pak agree to work on simplifying visa rules

Commerce minister Anand Sharma and his Pakistani counterpart Makh-doom Muhammed Amin Fahim have agreed that there is a need for liberalising business visa regime.

The visa regime is a major irritant between businessmen from both countries as the visas are given for specific districts and not the country as practiced by most nations in the world, said Pakistan senator Haji Ghulam Ali, who is also the president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)

“We have urged the concerned officials on both sides to expeditiously conclude the liberal business visa regime by November which will rapidly expand the vistas of bilateral commerce,” said Sharma.

His Pakistan counterpart has recognised that the grant of most favoured nation (MFN) status to India would be a key step in expanding bilateral trade relations.

Sharma informed business leaders from India and Pakistan at a session hosted by Ficci that he will visit Pakistan soon with a business delegation.

Sharma pointed out that trade in petroleum, energy and commodities would be significant steps for building long-term stake in each other’s economy.

“Strengthening the border infrastructure remains a high priority for us and I was happy to be informed that the Integrated Check Post which is being constructed at the Attari-Wagah Border at a cost of Rs 150 crore will be operational by the end of the current year," said Sharma.

Later, Sharma told reporters that central banks from both countries are likely to discuss about opening up of bank branches in each other's territory.

Early next year, Pakistan will be chairing the Safta ministerial meeting and this meeting is being touted as a key event, which may give shape a new direction to SAFTA regional framework.

According to Ficci's status paper on status of India-Pakistan economic relations, India is reducing peak tariff rates for Pakistan to 8 per cent by January 1, 2012. The rates would be further reduced to 5 per cent in 2013.

Fahim told reporters: "Let us make a short negative list and strive for a longer list of friends."

Pakistan has recently announced its intention to move over from the positive list to negative list on trade with India.

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China 'shadow-boxing' US at sea

Philippine ex-president Fidel Ramos has said that China's recent assertiveness over sea disputes was motivated by a desire to challenge US power, as he predicted more tensions to come.

On a visit to Washington, Ramos described China and the United States as "shadow-boxing" over the South China Sea and East China Sea where Beijing has growing friction with countries including the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan.

"China's proximate aim, it seems to me, is to limit American freedom of access" and "erode the credibility of Washington's security guarantees to the East Asian states, including and especially the Philippines," Ramos, who was president from 1992 to 1998, said at the Heritage Foundation think-tank.

"We, where we come from, expect South China Sea tensions to continue because the root cause is really China's perceived need to break out from under the strategic dominance of the Western allies," Ramos said yesterday.

However, Ramos said he did not expect military confrontation due to the vast US military superiority over China. He called for governments to shift away spending from the military to fighting "real enemies" such as poverty.

Ramos was visiting Washington as part of 60th anniversary commemorations of the Mutual Defense Treaty between Washington and its former colony.

Elsewhere in the region, the United States also has security pacts with Australia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

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Pranab Clarifies on 2G Note

Amid the controversy over a finance ministry note on Home Minister P Chidambaram’s stand on 2G spectrum allocation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating that the March 2011 note was actually part of a background paper prepared after inter-ministerial consultations.

Mukherjee is said to have pointed out that the background paper had been prepared with the purpose of coordinating the government’s response on the 2G spectrum allocation issue. Officials of several ministries including law, finance and telecom, as also the cabinet secretariat and PMO were involved in the exercise, the finance minister’s letter is said to have noted.

Mukherjee is learnt to have informed party and ministerial colleagues at a late evening meeting that there is nothing new in his letter to the Prime Minister. He has only put in writing what he had told the PM at a meeting in New York on Sunday

A day after the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) witnessed sharp exchanges, with opposition party members accusing the government of keeping the finance ministry note from the committee, union ministers Pawan Bansal, Rajeev Shukla and V Narayanasamy, accompanied by JPC chairman P C Chacko, called on Mukherjee late in the evening to discuss the issue.

Mukherjee was said to have explained to them that the said finance ministry note was a background paper and it had “nothing new” from what was already in the public domain and, therefore, there was no need to present it in the JPC. Their meeting, however, remained inconclusive and they are likely to have another round of discussion on Thursday to finalise their stand on this issue in the JPC.

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BJP: Govt will collapse on its own

Demanding that heads should roll in the government over corruption, BJP today said Home Minister P Chidambaram is as culpable as A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam and alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was protecting “tainted ministers”.

The party rejected the Prime Minister's contention that Opposition was trying to destabilise the government, saying it did not have the numbers to do so but the “collapse” was taking place due to its own contradictions.

At a press conference held to take on the UPA government after Singh's statement yesterday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley made a scathing attack on the Prime Minister, alleging that the files clearly show he had “full knowledge” and was not in the dark about the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Demanding Chidambaram's resignation, the BJP leaders said “the last word has not been said on 2G” and the “2G saga is continuing”.


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Kenya's Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai dies

NAIROBI: Kenya's Wangari Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her environmental work, has died of cancer, the campaigning movement she founded announced on Monday.

"It is with great sadness that the family of professor Wangari Maathai announces her passing away on 25th September 2011 at the Nairobi hospital after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer," the Green Belt Movement said in a statement.

Born in 1940, Maathai became a key figure in Kenya since founding the movement in 1977, staunchly campaigning for environmental conservation and good governance.

Since its founding, her organisation has planted some 40 million trees across Africa. In the 1970s, she also headed the Kenya Red Cross.

Maathai won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her environmental work and reforestation in her native Kenya.

She was the first woman in east and central Africa to earn a PhD, and also the first African woman and Kenyan to receive the Nobel Peace prize.

Aside from her conservation work, Maathai was in 2002 elected an MP then named the environment assistant minister, a position which she held between 2003 and 2005.

Outside Kenya, Maathai was involved in efforts to save central Africa's Congo basin forest, the world's second largest tropical forest.

Maathai, who was divorced, leaves behind three children and a grandchild.

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UPA-II has a problem

Today is an important day for the scam-hit UPA-II, especially the Congress. The finance ministry’s note questioning P Chidambaram’s role in the 2G spectrum allocation has brought to the fore differences between and ambitions of the party’s top two veteran leaders.

The war between finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister Chidambaram, following Subramanian Swamy’s “expose” of a letter, purportedly written by Mukherjee to prime minister Manmohan Singh in March 2011, has placed the government in a bind. The letter suggested that Chidambaram, as the finance minister in 2008, could have prevented the 2G scam if he had insisted on auctioning the spectrum.

Matters will become clear after Singh returns to the country as both the ministers have indicated that they would speak to the media only after talking with the prime minister.

Also, the Supreme Court will resume hearing Swamy’s plea in the 2G case on Tuesday. Swamy is expected to argue his case in court around two in the afternoon. The controversial Janata Party president said late on Monday night that he was confident of a progress in the case as nobody had contested the documents, including the politically damaging finance ministry note, he had filed in court.

The note, picked up by the media and the opposition, has cast a shadow on Chidambaram and the UPA-II government.

Mukherjee who was in Washington to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, met Singh in New York on Sunday while opposition parties in the country kept demanding Chidambaram’s resignation or a CBI inquiry into his role.

Though he chose not to say anything specific in the US, once he returned to the country on Monday, Mukherjee told reporters that he would hold a “full-fledged press conference” once the prime minister returns and the party has held a meeting. While the veteran crisis manager kept stressing that Chidambaram was a “valuable colleague” and “a pillar of strength”, the man in the dock, Chidambaram himself, remained tight-lipped.

On Monday evening, he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi briefly, but chose not to speak to reporters. Soon after he left 10 Janpath, Mukherjee arrived. He was in a closed door meeting with Gandhi for little over an hour. Though it is not clear what transpired at the meeting, the fact that Gandhi, who is recuperating after a surgery in the US, had to intervene in the clash of the titans speaks volumes about the current mess that the UPA II, especially the Congress, finds itself in.

Though TV news channels tried to decipher the goings-on and gauge the extent of damage, top Congress leaders came out in support of both Chidambaram and Mukherjee. Union law minister Salman Khurshid said the “matter was not so big” as it had been projected by the media. He said Mukherjee had not written the note and that a lower-level official had prepared it. Khurshid even advised the media to “look for something else” because there was nothing in the 2G note.

Party spokesperson Rashid Alvi criticised the BJP for its observation that the right place for Chidambaram was the Tihar jail. “The BJP is acting like the applicant, the prosecutor and the judge… all rolled into one,” he said.

After a couple of TV channels started flashing that Chidambaram had offered to resign when he met Sonia Gandhi, Congress leaders denied any such development. Late in the night, Chidambaram found support from unlikely quarters — the DMK. Party patriarch M Karunanidhi, who till now has dropped enough hints that he is upset with the Congress in connection with the arrests of his daughter Kanimozhi and former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G scam, came out in his support.

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Saudi King Gives Women the Right to Vote

RIYADH—Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud gave the kingdom's women the right to participate in local elections and to become members of the country's top advisory body, a sign that the elderly monarch hasn't abandoned his program of cautious social reform despite political upheavals elsewhere in the Middle East.

Saudi King Abdullah, seated, spoke Sunday to Shura members during the opening ceremony of the assembly in Riyadh.
.In a short speech that was broadcast on Saudi television on Sunday, King Abdullah said the decision to give a bigger political say to women was taken after consulting with the kingdom's top religious clerics, who have previously knocked back government initiatives to move forward on social issues involving women.

Though the changes are relatively modest, analysts said they signal that the king intends to move ahead with the cautious social reforms he has championed since acceding to the throne in 2005.

Saudi women remain veiled and segregated and are forbidden to drive or to obtain their own identity cards. Women need written permission from a male relative in order to travel abroad.

King Abdullah announces that Saudi women will be able to vote for the first time in nationwide local elections in 2015. Saudi women will also be able to run for office. Deborah Gembara reports. Courtesy of Reuters.
.In 2009, the king opened the first co-educational university in the kingdom and appointed the kingdom's first female deputy minister.

However, since the recent wave of Arab unrest began, the king has seemed to back off from the reform process, barring political protests, keeping a lid on women's rights and criticizing pro-democracy demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt.

The clergy, meanwhile, has stood behind the ruling family by issuing fatwas, or religious edicts, barring political protests.

Some Saudi women welcomed Sunday's reforms. "This is historic brave decision.…King Abdullah gave women back their dignity which was killed decades ago," said Manal al-Sharif, a female computer technician who was detained in May for posting a video on YouTube of herself driving.

But others pointed to the limited nature of the reforms and the fact they don't take effect for several years. Saudi women will be able to vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections scheduled for 2015 but not in the current municipal polls to be held Thursday. They won't be appointed to the 150-member Shura Council, the top advisory body, until its current term ends in 2013.

And some noted that the powers of the all-male advisory council are already limited.

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Azza Al Shmasani exited from her car in Riyadh on June 22 after driving in defiance of the ban on female drivers in Saudi Arabia.
."I'm surprised that people are saying the king allowed women to take part in the political life. Did he allow men to start with?" Saudi blogger Abdul Majd Al Buluwi wrote on Twitter. "The political life [in the kingdom] is closed and has not been opened," he added.

In the summer, authorities arrested some women who broke the no-driving rule in a popular campaign. Several Saudi women, inspired by revolutions in the Middle East, got behind the wheel in June to challenge restrictions against female drivers in the ultraconservative kingdom.

The show of civil disobedience, against one of the many restrictions imposed on Saudi women, provided a test for authorities in Saudi Arabia since the Arab Spring took hold across the region this year.

It was first significant campaign for women after 1991, when Saudi women, encouraged by the sight of female American GIs driving, some 47 Saudi women drove in a convoy of 15 cars in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The campaign quickly fizzled after the women were banned from traveling, lost their jobs and were ostracized by their families and acquaintances.

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Pranab blames PMO for leaking 2G note: sources

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has blamed the Prime Minister's Office for leaking the controversial 2G note, according to sources and will meet Sonia Gandhi on Monday. In his continuing damage control measures in the 2G note controversy, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet Sonia Gandhi on Monday after he returns from New York.

Sources have said that Pranab will brief Sonia about his meeting with the Prime Minister in New York and update about the correspondence on the 2G note.

Pranab met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York on Sunday and sources have said that he has handed all correspondence regarding 2G to the Prime Minister.

According to sources, Pranab conveyed to Manmohan Singh that the Prime Minister's Office's role in the 2G controversy, too, could come under scrutiny and hence, the need to diffuse.

Pranab conveyed that the note was released by the Prime Minister's Office and not his office.

Meanwhile, sources say Pranab will be meeting Home Minister P Chidambaram on his arrival in India. He has spoken to Chidambaram twice already from US to calm things down. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister too, is likely to be meeting the Home Minister. The strategy is how to delink the 2G note from Chidambaram directly. The government is also figuring out whether legally the note can be admitted as evidence.

Pranab also addressed the media in New York on Sunday over the 2G note mess, rubbishing all reports of any conflict between him and Chidambaram calling the Home Minister a valuable colleague.

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Heads up! NASA satellite descends toward fiery doom

NASA's decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, out of gas and out of control, is not descending toward re-entry as rapidly as expected, officials say, likely delaying the satellite's kamikaze plunge to Earth by a few hours, to late Friday or early Saturday.

Experts expect more than two dozen chunks of debris to survive re-entry and hit the ground in a 500-mile-long footprint somewhere along the satellite's orbital track. But given the bus-size 6.3-ton's satellite's trajectory and the vast areas of ocean and sparsely populated areas UARS passes over, experts say it is unlikely any falling debris will result in injuries or significant property damage.

Additional radar tracking is required to pinpoint when--and where--the satellite will make its final descent.

A chart showing the latest predicted entry point for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, based on data from U.S. Strategic Command. Because of uncertainty about the satellite's behavior as it approaches the discernible atmosphere, the timing of the re-entry could change by several hours either way.

"As of 10:30 a.m. EDT on Sept. 23, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 100 miles by 105 miles (160 km by 170 km)," NASA said in a brief update. "Re-entry is expected late Friday, Sept. 23, or early Saturday, Sept. 24, Eastern Daylight Time. Solar activity is no longer the major factor in the satellite's rate of descent. The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent

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iPhone 5 Coming to debut on Oct. 4 :ATD says

Apple will debut its iPhone 5 on October 4, with new Chief Executive Tim Cook leading the show, All Things Digital reported today.

The report, citing unnamed sources close to the situation, said the new iPhone itself would go on sale "within a few weeks" of the announcement.

Rumors have swirled for months about when exactly the new iPhone would arrive, with October looking increasingly likely.

The iPhone 5 carries tremendous significance for Apple. The company faces mounting pressure from the Android realm, with a confusing array of budget-minded and high-end models, but Apple chooses to put many its eggs in many fewer baskets. That's worked out well for the iPhone 4, though, which has attained mainstream success.

The iPhone 4 has held up well under the competitive pressure. But with the breakneck pace of the smartphone market bringing higher-speed LTE networks, larger displays, NFC payments, and other features, Apple's flagship phone is starting to look a bit long in the tooth.

The iPhone is important for many other companies besides Apple. Manufacturer Foxconn is said to be making 150,000 iPhone 5 models a day. Accessory makers, too, are champing at the bit, as exhibited by Case-Mate's premature publication of apparent iPhone 5 cases.


Purported cases for the iPhone show a possible tapered back compared to the blockier iPhone 4 design.

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Half the Pakistan team was into fixing :Shoaib Akhtar

Apart from making disparaging remarks about world cricket icons Sachin Tendulkar and even Rahul Dravid, Shoiab Akhtar has also revealed in his book that Pakistani bowlers, including him, indulged in ball-tampering on several occasions.

Shoaib writes: "I remember it being very hot and humid in Dambulla - it was an awfully slow track. We were playing New Zealand... we needed results. Out of desperation, I began fussing with the ball. Yes, I did tamper with the ball during that match. I know it's against the rules but I can't seem to help it; I've got to do something with the ball. I know this will make a big noise, but I won't lie about it. There are so many ways I have used my boot nails and the zip of my back pocket. Many bowlers use Vaseline or gum. Since we can't seem to stop doing it, maybe it's not a bad idea to legalize it and set rules for it. Perhaps some manipulation could be legally allowed (sigh!). I know I am going to get it in the neck for saying all this."

Asked by TOI, "aren't you apprehensive about making such a strong allegation and admission," he shrugged:" We say it's looking after the ball rather than tampering. All bowlers do. Admissions are rare."

It's not the only explosive part of Shoaib's story. Discussing the case of banned Pakistani paceman Mohd Aamer (who was banned alongwith Mohd Asif and Salman Butt), Shoaib describes the ghostly way match-fixing works: "I was about the same age when I was first accosted by these guys. This was in 1999 after a Test match in Kolkata. I didn't understand what they were talking about.

How on earth did one fix a game? They explained that I was to bowl normally till I got a pre-arranged signal for no- balls, wides and stuff like that. They would place people in the audience, dressed in a certain colour. I would be told in advance about the slots during which I was to perform badly.

"I told them I wasn't interested; they told me that half my team was doing it. They targeted all those who came from needy backgrounds. These guys had ready entry into our world and hung around us during tours. Yasir and Najeeb Malik were two of the familiar faces, as was Rajeshwar. They would offer cars and houses. When they continued to approach me, I shared my reservations with Shahid Afridi. He told me, 'Listen, don't pay any attention; keep your distance.' I guessed then that he too was being pestered."

The murkiness of match-fixing grew around the Pakistani team. When asked about perceptions of his nation overseas, Shoaib replied, "I don't know about 9/11 - but after match-fixing last year, things have changed."

Changes were taking place in the Pakistani dressing room too. Discussing Inzamam ul-Haq's captaincy, Akhtar describes the team's growing radicalization. "To force grown-ups, as thought they were children, to do the namaz or zikr seems a bit strange to me. But some people thought that this was the way to take the team forward.Roza, namaz, tabliz were to be compulsory team events. Threats were used; if you don't pray with the team, you will be thrown out.

Islam has also given us instructions on when and how to pray. When the whole team got together for namaz, the bathroom floor would become wet and filthy. It was disgusting. Islam is all about purity, cleanliness. We began praying on air-planes, if you please. I firmly believe in namaz. However, a cricketer's primary duty is to play cricket. If you feel that cricket is less important, leave it - go out into the world and preach. When religion came into our dressing room, I thought, what hypocrisy!"

When asked why his attachment to his family saint and his deep religious belief still made him so uncomfortable with Inzamam's ways, he said: "Hypocrisy makes me uncomfortable. I am against imposing something on anybody - or me."

Shoaib looked at the IPL for a change. However, this too proved a disappointment. He writes: "Shah Rukh Khan got in touch with me. I got the feeling that it was Sourav Ganguly and not Shah Rukh who wanted me on the team. I met Lalit Modi. He promised the heaven and the earth but when the bidding took place, I was disappointed. I remember Lalit Modi telling me not to join the ICL; we will eventually give you more money, he said. Meinu behlaphusla ke they got me to say yes. I should never have listened to Lalit Modi and Shah Rukh."

Clearly, the IPL wasn't a dream come true for him. Did anything save the situation?

He said: "Fans. Playing for an Indian team in the IPL was a great experience. Being loved by so many Indian fans, especially from Kolkata, was a moving moment for me, being a Pakistani. In their eyes, I was now just a cricketer. Not a Pakistani cricketer."

Yet, he'd have liked to be not just a Pakistani cricketer - but the Pakistan captain. Didn't he regret not having led his team? "I wish I had taken the baton in 2003. I'd have made changes - I'd have brought attitude. I'd have worked on characters who can change the course of the game. And most importantly, I'd have worked on removing the fear of losing."

That wasn't the only fear haunting the Pakistan team. Shoaib describes the mind games, class discrimination,bullying and cruelty that mar Pakistani cricket, eventually pushing him to retire. He contrasts this with the vibrancy of the Indian team, especially under Ganguly and MS Dhoni: "Ganguly was a superb captain, a giant of a man in a slight body. One of his greatest gifts was the very brave decision to bring in youngsters.Dhoni is a very smart man, an intelligent captain. India is blessed to have him at the helm. He knows how to lead... the Indian team were deserving winners of the 2011 World Cup."

For Shoaib, however, wins or losses didn't change the way the Pakistan Cricket Board and often, his own team behaved with him. Why was he so badly treated? "My rapid growth, my attitude towards the game was so fearsome that there was a huge element of jealousy amongst my seniors. Besides, I was never a Yes man, so the special treatment."

How did he feel when drug allegations began?

"It was heartbreaking and painful. I was let down by my own board. Our-then chairman Naseem Ashraf took the news to the media." His soul was hurt - and his body. Blaming Javed Miandad for physical problems, Shoaib writes: "As a coach, he never guided any of us, never cared for anyone. A similar callousness resided within almost all the senior players in our team... Our seniors set the example of going out, having a good time - girls were coming and going out of their rooms. This was the prevailing culture in the Pakistan team. I know people who were drunk and came out to play and now they call me undisciplined - it's unbelievable!

Perhaps the one person who might change Shoaib's mind is his close Indian friend, Sudesh Rajput, to whom he dedicates Controversially Yours.

When asked to reveal about this special person in his life, Sudesh, Shoaib said: "Over the last few years, she has been the strength and motivation for me to come out and play the World Cup. After my family, if I owe someone, it's her."


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Mahesh Babu's Telugu film 'Dookudu' sets world record

A big budget multi-starrer film: Telugu movie 'Dookudu' is all set to set box office records as the only film from the industry to be released worldwide with the highest number of prints ever.

The action film is directed by Srinu Vaitla and produced under the 14 Reels Entertainment.
The film stars Mahesh Babu, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Adithya, Abhimanyu Singh, Vennela Kishore.
The music is composed by Thaman.
The buzz is around newcomer Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

The movie is set for a September 23 release with the highest number of prints ever for a Telugu movie.
Parvathi Melton's sizzling item number is said to be the talking point of the film.
The soundtrack of the film was released worldwide on August 18, 2011.

The film is directed by Srinu Vytala.

Mahesh Babu started his career as a child actor and later starred in a lead role with the film Rajakumarudu (1999).
Mahesh Babu has started shooting for another movie 'The Business Man', directed by Puri Jagannadh and is being produced by RR Movie Makers.
His Tamil film (2007) directed by Prabhu Deva was remade as Wanted (2009) in Hindi.
Abhimanyu Singh of Gulaal (2009) fame also acts in the film.
According to rumours, filmmaker Ajith of Mangha fame is set to make Dookudu in Tamil.
The story is written by Gopi Mohan.

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Top 10: World's most respected celebrities

World's most trusted celebs: Roger Federer’s reputation as a respected, admired and trusted personality is second only to that of former South African president Nelson Mandela, a new global study of more than 50,000 people in 25 countries shows.
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Chidambaram offered to resign over 2G: sources

New Delhi: In a new twist in the 2G controversy, sources have told CNN-IBN that Home Minister P Chidambaram had offered to resign when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called him. Sources say this prompted the prime minister to wholeheartedly back his home minister.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he has full faith in Chidambaram during both his stints as finance and now home minister. He also made it clear that there was no rift between his senior most ministers and that the government was in no mood to give in to pressure from the Opposition.

"I don't know what note you people are talking about, in any case the matter is before the court, it is not proper for me to comment on a matter that is subjudice. But as far as Mr Chidambaram is concerned, as finance minister he continued to enjoy my full confidence, as home minister he continues to enjoy my full confidence," said Manmohan Singh.
"I don't want to conclude that there is fight among ministers," he added.

Earlier, a letter written from the finance ministry to the PMO had said that Chidambaram could have stopped the 2G scam.

War in UPA: Pranab suggests Chidambaram could have stopped Raja

Almost two months after the CBI arrested former telecom minister A Raja along with two officials for their alleged role in the 2G scam, the Ministry of Finance sent a 10-page note to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) saying that had the ministry — then under P Chidambaram — “stuck to the stand of auctioning the 4.4 MHz spectrum”, the DoT (Department of Telecom) could have cancelled the licences.

The letter, sent to Vini Mahajan, joint secretary in the PMO, on March 25, 2011, is signed by the finance ministry’s deputy director (Infrastructure and Investment Division) P G S Rao. It says that “the note has been seen by the Finance Minister” (Pranab Mukherjee).

It says that in a meeting on January 30, 2008, between the then ministers of finance and telecommunications (Chidambaram and Raja), it was noted by the then finance minister that he was “for now not seeking to revisit the current regimes for entry fee or revenue share”.

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Advani hints he's out of PM race

NAGPUR: BJP veteran L K Advani on Wednesday indicated he was not in the running as a prime ministerial hopeful, after a meeting with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat during which he also discussed his proposed anti-corruption yatra.

The RSS brass is understood to have made clear its unhappiness on speculation about Advani, 83, being seen as BJP's prime ministerial nominee and while the Sangh is ready to support the yatra, it feels that the veteran has had his shot at the top job in 2009.

Asked about the yatra being seen as a pitch for the PM's post, Advani said, "I became a swayamsewak at the age of 14, then a member of the Jan Sangh and then BJP. I feel that what I got from these organizations in my political career of 55 years - from my fellow workers and the country - is much more than the prime minister's post."

While the leader's response was not categorical, it was interpreted by party circles as a stepping back from the prime ministerial projection that Advani's yatra had given rise to.

LK out, choice between Sushma, Jaitley, Modi?

The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), while shooting down L K Advani's prime ministerial ambitions, has made it clear that it would like a younger leader to be projected for the top job and the decision is likely to be taken after the Uttar Pradesh assembly election next year.

The choice will lie between Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi. Advani could hope that if his yatra strikes a popular chord, he can still upset the seeding.

The RSS word will be seen as final, given its iron grip on the BJP after the party was reorganized with Sangh nominee Nitin Gadkari as president. There are strong indications that Advani was told of the Sangh's views during his hour-long meeting with Bhagwat on Wednesday.

It is understood that RSS bosses met at a private resort near the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve near the city on September 15-16.Besides Bhagwat, the meeting was attended by RSS seniors like Bhayyaji Joshi, Madandas Devi, Dattatray Hosbal and Suresh Soni. They were firmly of the view that Advani should pass on the baton to younger leaders Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley.

BJP leaders are worried that unless clarified, Advani's yatra will muddy the party's message that has focused on corruption, price rise and terrorism. The party does not want to turn the spotlight to its internal dynamics where an ill-defined pecking order has resulted in competing egos.

Feeling a lot lighter after surgery: Gadkari

Gadkari had a bariatric surgery last week in Mumbai for his weight problem. "I am already feeling lighter, better. The thick deposits are melting away," he said. "Now I am on a two-week liquid diet of only coconut water," he said after the surgery.

Suicide bomber kills ex-Afghan President Rabbani

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who headed a government peace council set up to facilitate contacts with Taliban insurgents, was assassinated Tuesday by a suicide bomber concealing explosives in his turban, officials said. Four of Rabbani's bodyguards also died and a key presidential adviser was wounded.

President Hamid Karzai cut short a visit to the U.S. over the attack, which dealt a harsh blow to peace efforts after a decade of war.

The turban bomber entered Rabbani's house in the capital Kabul on Tuesday evening and blew himself up inside, said Mohammad Zahir, the chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police.

Rabbani headed the country's High Peace Council, which was set up by the Afghan government to work toward a political solution to the decade-long war. However, it had made little headway since it was formed a year ago.

Rabbani was president of the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban rule. After he was driven from Kabul in 1996, he became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, mostly minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, who swept to power in Kabul after the Taliban's fall. Rabbani is an ethnic Tajik.

His killing dampens hopes of starting peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents and also will hamper efforts to keep regional and ethnic rivalries, which feed the insurgency, in check.

As one of the wise old man of Afghan politics and the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Rabanni's role in the attempts to reach out to the Taliban and seeking a political deal with them — with the U.S. blessing — will be hard to replicate in the near future.

His death could unleash a well of resentment building up among some senior Northern Alliance members, who accuse President Hamid Karzai of colluding with the Taliban.

Already Afghanistan's ethnic minorities have begun to re-arm in the face of negotiations with the Taliban. Rabbani's death is likely to accelerate the re-arming and lay the foundation for a bitter civil war once U.S. troops leave the country in 2014.

Karzai's adviser Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai was wounded in the attack. A relative who answered Stanekzai's phone said that the wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, but Stanekzai was in the hospital. The relative declined to give his name because of the sensitivity of the situation

Stanekzai is chief executive of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, a highly touted program funded by the U.S. and its coalition allies to bring mid- and lower-level Taliban back into Afghan society. The program has so far only managed to reintegrated about 2,000 of the estimated 25,000-40,000 insurgents in Afghanistan.

Reintegration was the other half of reconciliation, which is aims to try and broker a peace deal with the senior Taliban leadership.

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Three days after, thousands still wait for help in quake-hit Sikkim

Three days after a massive earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck large parts of north-east India, rescue and relief teams are still trying to reach thousands of people trapped in villages in remote areas. Meanwhile, thick fog is making it difficult for the Army choppers to land in the quake-hit areas for relief and rescue work.

Thousands are feared to be trapped with no food or water. Rescue operations remain the biggest challenge as landslides, rain and fog are severely hampering the efforts.

More than 5,000 army and paramilitary troopers and police personnel are engaged in a massive rescue and relief operation, with more than half of them in the worst-hit north Sikkim areas.

Authorities opened at least 100 relief camps to provide food and medicines to those whose homes are damaged or destroyed.

Sunday's quake rocked large parts of India, from New Delhi to Mizoram. It also shook Nepal, Tibet and Bangladesh.

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Earthquake toll rises to 50 in India; rescue teams land at quake's epicentre Mangan

Gangtok: Over 50 people have died in India, most of them in Sikkim, in the devastating earthquake which measured a forceful 6.8 on the Richter scale. The quake hit parts of North India at around 6 pm on Sunday and was centred on the Sikkim-Nepal border, 64 kilometres north-west of Gangtok. Casualties have also been reported from neighbouring Bihar and West Bengal.

At least 20 people have also died in Nepal and Tibet. India's Home Secretary RK Singh has said that the death toll may rise further.

Nearly 36 hours after the region's worst earthquake in 60 years, rescue operations remain the biggest challenge - rain and landslides are severely hampering the efforts; bad weather is not allowing helicopters to land, Indian Air Force planes are air-dropping food. There was a fresh landslide in Gerkhola, located 30 kms from the Sikkim border. This landslide has now been cleared.

Meanwhile, helicopters with Quick Reaction Teams have landed in Mangan, Sikkim - the epicentre of the quake. The helicopters are carrying two medical teams with doctors and paramedics. Getting to Mangan is still a challenge, though, as many roads are closed due to the bad weather. There have so far been 10-12 landslides between Mangan and Filong.


More than 6,000 Army jawans are being used to provide assistance to those affected. Around 2,000 people have taken shelter at Army camps.

Among the toughest parts of the recovery is the operation to re-open National Highway 31A which connects Sikkim to the rest of the country. It is needed to bring in food and other supplies.

There are other challenges facing the state. Sikkim's Chief Minister Pawan Chamling cannot use his office. Water and power supply remain erratic; phone towers have been hit, making communication tough. In the capital Gangtok, more than 100,000 buildings have been severely damaged. Government offices and hospitals have been left unusable.

Mamata Banerjee was scheduled to visit Gangtok today but now her trip stands cancelled. Before her visit the West Bengal Chief Minister said her priority was to ensure that National Highways 31A and 55, damaged by landslides, were repaired urgently so that food and other supplies could be transported more easily.








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