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Amitabh Bachchan to be back on TV with KBC

     Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan will make a comeback to the small screen, when the popular game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" is revived in July this year. The actor confirmed that he kept shifting the date because of his film commitments. But now he doesn't think delaying "KBC" makes any sense.

US not to vacate Jacocabad airbase

    Karachi: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said that the US authorities have no plans to vacate Pakistan's Shahbaz airbase in Jacocabad in the near future. The US had occupied the airbase immediately after 9/11 air attacks for carrying out anti-Osama operations in Afghanistan. "Although, the operation from Jacobabad has shrunk substantially, but there is no sign of vacating the airport by the US forces," The News quoted an unnamed CAA official as saying. He said that not only the entire area is still under strict control of the US authorities but the allocated flying height is also under the usage of the US aircraft only. The CAA has not been allowing any aircraft in that corridor to fly between 30,000 and 34,000 feet, the unnamed official added.

1250 'honour killings' in Pak in 2004 (Go To Top)

      Islamabad: The number of honour killings in Pakistan is on the rise, and as many as 1250 women were killed in its name during 2004, Prime Minister's Adviser on Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar has said. "This shows the sorry state of affairs womenfolk of the country are undergoing at present. To make matters worse, murderers are roaming free, which reflects the gravity of the problem," she said while speaking at a girls college in Islamabad yesterday. The PM adviser, however, hoped that with the passage of the Honour-killing Bill by the National Assembly, the condition of women in Pakistan would improve considerably, the Dawn reported today. Under the bill, honour killing has been declared a crime against the state with a maximum punishment of death penalty or life imprisonment.

Early flowering to hamper mango crop this year (Go To Top)

     Gorakhpur: The unseasonal flowering of Mangoes in most of the districts of Uttar Pradesh does not augur well for the crop as such an early flowering causes depletion in the yield. It is believed that the winter or unseasonal flowering hampers pollination, thus affecting the ultimate produce. People are amazed by the early flowering, which usually occurs during late January or February. "The flowering used to take place either during late January or February. But this year, it happened in December itself. We fear that it will affect the yield. Even the experts say the same. Neither will we have the pollination nor the fruit. The mango production is sure to be hampered by early flowering," said Gorakhnath Verma, a mango producer.

Govt has no viewpoint on Reliance dispute: FM (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the government has no viewpoint on the differences within the Reliance Group but did advise the Ambani brothers to settle their dispute amicably. ''I shall be happy if they settle their differences within the four walls of their home,'' Chidambaram told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of 'BSE Indonext', a bourse for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). On the Chairman and Managing Director of the Reliance Group Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil, RIL Vice-Chairman and MD, having met him separately, the Finance Minister reiterated "I have told both of them to settle the issues amicably''. The dispute over ''ownership issues'' between the two brothers had surfaced in the media in mid-November and since then there has been an impasse between the groups with the last RIL board meeting here approving a share buyback, ignoring objections from the Vice-Chairman.