Security has been increased at the DMK headquarters and residences of its senior leaders here as a Special Court in Bangalore is set to deliver verdict in the 18-year-old wealth case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today.
On a request from DMK, security had been increased at “Anna Arivalayam”, the headquarters of DMK, two residences of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi and the residence of K Anbazhagan, party’s General Secretary, police said.
It was on Anbazhagan’s petition that the case had been transferred to Bangalore by the Supreme Court.
Hollywood star Al Pacino said he was “overwhelmed” after being made a fellow of the British Film Institute (BFI).
The 74-year-old star of The Godfather films received the honour at a ceremony in London from BFI chairman Greg Dyke.
“People I’ve adored have received this award,” said Pacino. “I appreciate this so much. Thank you.”
Industry legends including Orson Welles, Dame Judi Dench, Ken Loach and the late Lord Attenborough have received the fellowship in the past.
It is awarded by the BFI Board of Governors and is presented for outstanding achievement in film and television. Since 1983, a total of 78 fellowships have been awarded.
Actors Richard E Grant, Ian Holm, John Hurt and Steven Berkoff were among those attending the star-studded ceremony on Thursday, alongside directors Terry Gilliam and Terence Davies, playwright David Hare and Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.
Pacino, who won the best actor Oscar in 1993 for his role in Scent of a Woman, is best known for his performances in the Godfather trilogy, Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon.
Presenting him with the fellowship, Mr Dyke called the actor “a true icon”.
“Al Pacino is one of the greatest actors the world has ever seen, and a visionary director of stage and screen,” he said.
“His extraordinary body of work has made him one of the most recognisable and best-loved stars of the big screen, whose films enthral and delight audiences across the globe.”
Pacino stars in forthcoming dramas Manglehorn and The Humbling, which debuted last month at the Venice Film Festival.
Earlier this month he premiered a film version of the Oscar Wilde play Salome – which he directed – in London. It marked his second directorial turn, following 1996’s Looking for Richard.
Mumbai: A day after the split in the saffron alliance, Shiv Sena on Friday lashed out at BJP, calling it “enemy of Maharashtra”, signalling a return to its original pro-Marathi agenda for next month’s assembly polls.
“Our other (Mahayuti) alliance parties wanted the Sena-BJP association to continue. More than that, it was what the 11 crore people of Maharashtra wanted. Those who trampled these sentiments are enemies of Maharashtra,” Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’
“This (breaking of alliance) is an insult to the 105 Marathi martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement,” the editorial went on to say. It also termed as “unfortunate” the demise of the long-standing alliance between the two ideologically compatible pro-Hindutva parties.
“It is unfortunate that the Sena-BJP alliance, which for the last 25 years was bound by the Hindutva ideology, has ended. We made sincere efforts till the end to ensure that the alliance with BJP and other parties of Mahayuti remained intact,” the editorial said.
“Those who till yesterday were praying in this tent are now offering namaz in the other tent,” it said, apparently targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent remarks praising the “patriotism” of Indian Muslims. “Soon the realisation will dawn that those who flew away (BJP) were crows of ‘pitrapaksh’ and those who remain are Mavle (a term used for Chhhatrapati Shivaji’s soldiers),” the editorial said.
Referring to senior Congress leader Narayan Rane’s recent allegation that the BJP-led government at the Centre was trying to reduce the importance of Mumbai as the country’s financial capital by shifting RBI’s foreign exchange divisions to Delhi, the editorial said, “Today Congress leaders are decrying conspiracy to reduce the state’s importance. But Morarji Desai too was of flesh and blood of Congress.”
It was during Desai’s tenure as Chief Minister that 105 volunteers of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement were killed while demanding a separate state for Marathi-speaking people with Bombay as its capital.
Frankfurt, Sept 26:
After an overnight transit halt here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for his maiden visit to the US, during which he will address the UN General Assembly, hold talks with President Barack Obama and meet top American corporate honchos, besides a series of other engagements.
On his first leg of the high-profile five-day visit, Modi will land in New York, where he will address the 69th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) tomorrow and a rally at the famous Madison Square Garden on Sunday, which is likely to be attended by around 20,000 people from the Indian-American community.
Modi will have a summit-level meeting with Obama on September 30 and today in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the Prime Minister described America as India’s “natural global partner’’.
“The US is our natural global partner. India and the US embody the enduring and universal relevance of their shared values,” Modi wrote.
Modi is visiting the US after being denied a visa in 2005 for his alleged role in the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat when he was the tate’s chief minister.
The Prime Minister will have a gruelling schedule in New York which includes a meeting with as many as 11 top corporate honchos over breakfast on September 29 apart from one-on-one meetings with six more business captains the same day.
In New York, Modi will pay a visit to the 9/11 memorial on Saturday following which he is expected to drive down to the United Nations headquarters to address the 69th annual session of the UNGA.
Obama will host a rare private dinner for Modi at the White House on September 29 to establish a personal relationship with the Indian leader ahead of summit talks the next day. The two leaders are meeting for the first time.
Modi will also be participating in a business meet, to be organised by the US-India Business Council (USIBC), expected to be attended by 300-400 businessmen in Washington on September 30.
Seeking enhanced ties, in the op-ed, Modi said the complementary strengths of India and the US can be used for inclusive and broad-based global development to transform lives across the world.
“This is a moment of flux in the global order. I am confident in the destiny of our two nations, because democracy is the greatest source of renewal and, with the right conditions, offers the best opportunity for the human spirit to flourish,” he said.
New Delhi: Significant differences on ‘critical issues’ forced NCP to take ‘bold’ step of ending the 15-year-old alliance with Congress in Maharashtra, party chief Sharad Pawar said on Friday.
The Maratha strongman also said that his party would seek support of “other secular parties” for the assmebly polls next month.
In a series of tweets, Pawar said, “I would like to say that there were significant differences between our party & Congress on various critical issues. Due to time constraint & other issues, we were compelled to take bold step to end 15 years of alliance with Congress in Maharashtra.
“So our party has decided to contest this elections independently and we will be happy to take support from other secular parties,” he tweeted.
While he did not elaborate on what were the critical issues, NCP had pulled a rabbit out of its hat by raising the demand for rotational Chief Ministership at the last minute during the seat sharing talks with Congress in Maharashtra.
NCP had sought the Chief Minister’s post for half of the 5-year term if the alliance retained power. The formula was adopted by Congress in Jammu and Kashmir sometime back with its then state partner PDP.
Supporters of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan were hinting for long that NCP leader Ajit Pawar would not like the alliance to take place as he aspired for the top post.
The condition of SRA buildings is below human standards at Golibar, Bandra East. The term shifting is a mockery to the word where people are living for more than 8 years with no sign of shifting. The water supply is filled with large insects. In this context a small girl died after consuming this dirty contaminated water. The toilets are absolutely horrible where some of it are open with the possibility of children falling out. One of the lifts is out of order for more than a year. The roof has several leakages.
The flies and mosquitoes are a terror with the possibility of many diseases. It is very unfortunate that the government has not bothered to do anything about this grave situation. The local residents say that the local corporator, MLA and other political parties have been sold out to Shivalik Ventures. Megha Patkar the social activist has raised serious concerns about the irregularities of the SRA scheme and its nexus with the builders.
Real News of India will further investigate different SRA buildings located at many locations in Mumbai. We would like to draw the attention of all concerned bodies to look into these problems where the government says houses for all. The bonafide citizens of India have a full legal right of proper housing facilities by all means.
The Chief Reporter Sayed Fanus and reporter Marywin Nazareth have taken great pains to investigate this report. They have spoken and pacified the victims of honest and real news to be published by Real News of India.
http://youtu.be/SH9mwKGll0E?list=UUxoQcj5v7JJ28ChDDw0-qdg
Patna: Widows from Vrindavan, who are here to visit religious places of the state, Thursday said they were hurt by Mathura MP Hema Malini’s “outsider” remarks and urged her to withdraw the ‘painful’ comments.
“We are hurt and pained by the remarks of Hema Malini,” Mandoloi (70), who hails from Madhya Pradesh and has been living in Vrindavan for the past 15 years after her husband’s death, told PTI.
Fifty widows, living in five ashrams at Vrindavan have been sponsored by Sulabh International, a non-profit voluntary organisation, to visit religious places of Bihar and West Bengal.
“We are in Vrindavan to offer prayers to Lord Krishna,” the widows said.
The group includes 95-year-old Kanak Lata Devi, who will visit her ancestral place after 40 years to enjoy the Durga Puja festivities in Kolkata.
The former screen goddess and now a BJP MP Hema Malini had recently stoked controversy with her remarks that widows from West Bengal and Bihar should not crowd Vrindavan.
She had said that responsibility of looking after widows should be of states from where they hail.
Patna-born Kaushalya Devi (70) and Arti Mistri from Odisha objected to Malini’s remarks of widows begging in Vrindavan and said they were actually following the traditional practice of “madhukari”, which means collecting honey from flower.
“Their trip to Kolkata is an effort to bring some joy and sense of belongingness to their lives. They are going back to the land of their ancestors,” says Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh International.
The widows would meet West Bengal Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi during their stay, NGO officials said.
The Syrian opposition leader pleaded “for expedited assistance to put an end to the progress and aggression of” Islamic State group militants, which have seized a large area of Syria.
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The Syrian opposition leader appealed to the international community for more weapons and air support to defeat both militants and the Assad regime, as nations unveiled more non-lethal aid. “We welcome that the world has joined this battle, we welcome the partnership of the world in our battle against terrorism,” Syrian National Coalition leader Hadi al-Bahra told a special ministerial meeting.
But he pleaded “for expedited assistance to put an end to the progress and aggression of” Islamic State group militants, which have seized a large area of Syria and sent some 200,000 Kurds fleeing from their villages in recent days. “We call on the international community, we call on our brothers and sisters to assist the operations of the free army, by supporting air support,” Bahra told a meeting of the Friends of Syria.
American and British leaders pledged about US$115 million in new funding to help the Syrian moderate opposition as it fights both the militants and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
US officials said the Department of Defence was moving to equip and train the moderate Syrian opposition which has been vetted, but warned it could take several months. “We have cooperation from Saudi Arabia and others to do the training. We haven’t gotten into the specifics of equipment,” a senior State Department official told reporters. “Training and equipping will take place as soon as possible, and it will be as quick as it can be. But it does take a certain amount of time. First you have to get facilities and the move forward with the actual training program.”
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said his country would be increasing aid to £ 46 million (US$75 million). And US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was boosting its non-lethal support by a further US$40 million. Some US$15 million was for communications, vehicles and meals for troops, with US$26 million for building the civilian opposition.
“Friends of Syria today expressed their support once again for the vision of a Syria free of tyranny and terrorism, enjoying democracy, pluralism under the rule of law,” Hammond told reporters. “Today we made our commitment to work with the moderate opposition led by the Syrian National Coalition to turn that vision into a reality.”
SECURITY VACUUM
The Friends of Syria group reaffirmed the need for a political settlement in Syria after more than three years of civil war. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, whose country has joined the US-led air strikes against IS militants in Syria, said the campaign against the extremists “should start by putting an end to the causes of this terrorism.”
“The regime in Syria is the cause of the appearance of ISIL,” he said, adding it had created a security vacuum which had led to the group’s rise. “Our support for the moderate opposition should not be only military sphere, but should also include practical steps to weaken the Syrian regime by an economic blockade,” the prince said, calling on those responsible for crimes to be brought before international courts. “The only thing that we expect is for this regime to go.”
Bahra suggested that Assad was hoping to seal his country’s fate through military victory. Fighting has raged in Syria has killed more than 180,000 people and caused millions to flee their homes. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday said he had “no grand projects at the moment” to revive the peace process.
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