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Sun, 19 June 2016
13 children killed in Russian boating accident

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22:01   13 children killed in Russian boating accident
At least 13 children and their adult instructor have died in a storm while boating on a lake in Russia's north-western region of Karelia. Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the nation's main state investigative agency, said several boats with children overturned in a storm in Syamozero, 75 miles east of the border with Finland. 

Of 47 children and four adult instructors in the boats, 13 children and one adult died, Markin said.

Markin said an instructor has been detained as part of an official probe, suspected of violating safety rules, and a search for two other suspects is under way.

The children who went out boating came from Moscow. The capital's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, offered condolences to the victims' families.
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20:50   Kettle hotter than tea: Gadkari on ministerial PAs
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday took potshots at the style of functioning of overenthusiastic personal assistants of ministers, saying sometimes the kettle is hotter than the tea.

In a light-hearted banter, Gadkari cited an incident when his PA directed a railway station master to ensure that the train in which he was travelling enters platform number 1, adjacent to the exit.

I was travelling to Nagpur by train. My PA telephoned the station master asking him to see that the train enters and halts at platform number 1 as I had a leg injury. I kept
wondering as this was done without my knowledge, he said speaking at the two day Maharashtra BJP executive meeting which concluded in Pune today.
It is a case of kettle being hotter than the tea, Gadkari said, sending ripples among the delegates, and quickly added that he was not talking about Maharashtra.

"But if this cap (his quip about PAs) fits somebody, consider it as a coincidence, he said, as former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, who had resigned in the wake of charges against him that included an alleged bribe taken by his PA, shared the dais with Gadkari.
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20:41   12 rhinos already killed this year at Kaziranga
A female adult rhino was killed by poachers and its horn taken away in Kaziranga National Park in Assam taking the toll to 12 this year and two this month, a forest official said. 

The carcass of the bullet riddled pachyderm killed last night was recovered today from near Amkattoni camp in Bagori Range in the southern part of the Park along river Brahmaputra, DFO Subashis Das said today. Six empty cartridges of 303 rifle were recovered from near the body of the rhino, he said. 

DGP Mukesh Sahay on Saturday held meetings in the Park's Kohora Range office with KNP officials and security personnel, Forest Derpartment officials, Village Defence Party personnel and police officials on ensuring security and safety of rhinos and other animals there. 

Earlier on June 6 when Assam Forest Minister with two other ministers accompanied by top Forest Department officials were on a tour of KNP, a female adult rhino was killed by poachers and its horn taken away at Agratoli Range of the World Heritage Site.
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19:58   Srinagar school apologises after teacher sacked for wearing abaya
Days after a Delhi Public School teacher in Srinagar was sacked for wearing an 'abaya' to school, the institution today apologised for "unintentionally hurting sentiments".

The Jammu and Kashmir government has maintained that the state is a multi-religious, multi-cultural and a secular entity.

"It is a private school. We will contact the management and try to get to the truth," Education Minister Naeem Akhtar told the state assembly.

The female teacher working at DPS in Srinagar had resigned after the school management asked her to "choose between her job and abaya".
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19:21   Orlando gunman was fired from prison guard school for gun joke
Orlando gay nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was dismissed from a prison guard training programme in 2007, days after the Virginia Tech massacre, for joking about bringing a gun to class. 

In 2007, the Department of Corrections employed Mateen and financed his schooling at Indian River State College to become an officer. But it lasted only six months.   

Mateen, who was killed by police after his attack on Pulse nightclub, was removed from the Florida Department of Correction's Criminal Justice Training Institute on April 27,2007, for sleeping in class and making "extremely disturbing"comments about weapons, according to records obtained by the Palm Beach Post.

Another recruit in the prison guard programme informed Mateen's teachers about his twisted joke -- which he made just two days before a gunman killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus.
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18:43   Positive about India's entry into NSG: Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of India's key supporters, is positive about finding a solution to the objections raised by China against India's application for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group when it comes up for consideration at the group's meeting in Seoul beginning Monday.

Speaking to India Today, Putin said that he would not only raise the matter at NSG members meeting next week but will also take up the matter with China that on what basis are they opposing India's NSG membership bid. 

Adding further, he said that bids of other nations who have applied for membership will be taken into consideration by the 48-members NSG panel.
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18:37   Assange marks 5 years holed up in Ecuadorean embassy
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, facing rape allegation in Sweden, today marked the fifth anniversary of his life holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy here. 

The 44-year-old is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in Sweden but has been hiding in the embassy since he was given asylum as he fears being extradited to the US to be quizzed over the activities of Wikileaks if he travels to Sweden.

The Australian former computer hacker founded Wikileaks in 2006 and has been portrayed in two films in recent years.

Assange has compared living inside the embassy to life on a space station.

His small room is divided into an office and a living area where he has a treadmill, shower, microwave and sun lamp and spends most of his day at his computer. He got a cat last month to keep him some company.

Last month a Stockholm district court maintained a European arrest warrant against Assange, rejecting his lawyers' request to have it lifted.
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18:06   I accuse the present BJP government of failure on every front: Justice Katju
Never shy to share his opinions and being open on his views, former Supreme Court Judge, Markandey Katju today took to his blog to admonish the Modi government, slamming them of lying and failing on every front. 

Read his full blog post HERE
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17:34  
JUST IN: Fire shots heard, police and army begin search operation in Pampore area of J&K's Pulwama district. 

More details awaited.
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17:18   'Ban liquor if you're serious about yoga': Nitish Kumar's dig at PM
aking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his call to celebrate World Yoga Day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today challenged him to ban liquor in BJP-ruled states if he was "serious about yoga". 

"Yoga's first principle is abstinence from consumption of liquor. So if you are serious about promoting yoga then ban the liquor first," Kumar said. 

Kumar's swipe at the prime minister came amid questions on why the Bihar government was not observing Yoga Diwas on June 21. "Yoga is not a one-day event but it's a way of life and I don't know for how many years PM is doing yoga but I'm doing for the past several years including asana, pranayama and yoga nidran," he said. 

"This government has made everything into a managed event but it never addressed the real issue," Kumar added.
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16:18   Brussels train station evacuated after 2 suspect suitcases found
Police in Brussels have evacuated a major train station after two suspect suitcases were found there, a day after Belgian authorities charged three men with "attempted terrorist murder" linked to a reported plot to attack fans during a Euro 2016 football game. 

The Gare Centrale and the adjacent Carrefour de l'Europe square were cleared at midday as police moved in to inspect the abandoned luggage. Belgian officials indicated on Saturday that a terror attack on supporters watching Euro 2016 had been foiled with just hours to spare.
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15:46   Pakistan has not rejected NIA team visit, they just need more time: Sushma
-- We have made efforts to have warm relations with Pakistan, but that does not mean there will be a drop in our guard.

-- FS level talks between India and Pakistan have not been cancelled but we are only awaiting probe from Pakistan side on Pathankot attack

-- Pakistan has not rejected NIA team visit, they just need more time

-- When it comes to our relations with Pakistan, we have three principles:
1. We are ready to solve all disputes through dialogue.
2. There should be only two stakeholders to this dialogue.
3. Terrorism and dialogue cannot go hand-in-hand.
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15:37   Sushma Swaraj on India's NSG bid
When asked about India's bid on entry into the NSG, Sushma Swaraj said, "China is not protesting membership of India in NSG, it is only talking of criteria procedure."

She added that India wouldn't protest entry of any nation in NSG, would want application to be considered based on merits.
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15:19   When India speaks, the world listens: Sushma on achievements in 2 years
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is holding a press conference to highlight the achievements of her ministry. 

-- PM Modi in matter of 10 months covered UAE, Saudi Arab, Iran and Qatar successful for better economic ties

--  There are 65 countries remaining to be reached out to with personal visits, which we will complete by December 2016. We have decided and with help of state governments and Cabinet ministers to reach out to almost all countries in the world

-- Our ties with all the nations of SAARC have improved

-- We envisage growth in FDI and Skill India programs through various foreign visits,have move forward with various nations in nuclear agreements. Through the foreign visits govt has managed to secure investments of $55 billion. 


-- Because of PM's interaction with Indian diaspora in the world, self-confidence in Indian diaspora has increased

-- I might not be able to get a refrigerator fixed but I can help save Indians stranded abroad
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15:01   Sussane Khan booked in cheating case
Sussane Khan has now grabbed headlines for wrong reasons.

The 37-year-old entrepreneur and designer has been booked by the Panaji Police in an alleged Rs 1.87 crore cheating case.

Complainant Mudhit Gupta, who is the managing partner of real estate firm Emgee Properties, has accused the mother of two of falsely projecting herself as an architect to secure a contract with the company.

In September 2013, the company executed a written contract with her "for architectural and designing services".

The project concerned is Emgee Properties' Naira Complex, which was being constructed at Siridao in Tiswadi, North Goa.

The complainant alleged that Sussane failed to deliver the project within the period stipulated in the contract.
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14:29   In past 12 months, 190 killed in J-K due to militancy and ceasefire violations
Over 190 people, including 47 security personnel and 108 militants, were killed in militancy-related violence and ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the 12-month period from January 15 last year. 

About 800 persons were also arrested, while four magisterial inquiries have been ordered into the incidents of militancy during the same period, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said. 

A total of 146 militancy-related incidents took place between January
15, 2015 to January 15, 2016, leaving 169 people - 108 militants, 39 security personnel and 22 civilians - dead.

A total of 181 incidents of border firing were reported during the same period in the state which left 22 persons including eight security personnel dead and 75 others, including 13 security men injured, she said.
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14:23   Ramdev to hold yoga with 3,000 BSF troops in Jodhpur on Jun 21
Yoga exponent Baba Ramdev will hold a mass session with over 3,000 BSF jawans and officers to mark the International Yoga Day on June 21 in Jodhpur. Officials said Ramdev will hold an early morning yoga session in the border town at a Border Security Force camp where over 3,000 troops of the paramilitary force and others will participate. 

About 2,000 Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel will join the event in Chandigarh, men and women of the force which guards the Sino-India border will also display their yoga skills at the high-altitude Pangong lake in Ladakh.
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14:05   Indian cricketer arrested for rape in Harare? No, says MEA
Refuting reports that a member of the Indian cricket team was arrested for allegedly raping a woman in Harare, Zimbabwe, sources within the ministry of external affairs have said, "Report is false, no Indian cricketer involved in an alleged case of rape in Harare."

Controversy erupted after a Zimbabwe daily reported that an Indian cricketer had been arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of raping a local woman. 

Assistant commissioner Harare police, Charity Charamba, confirming the incident, was quoted as saying, There are allegations of rape against an Indian national by a Zimbabwean woman."

We have investigated and forwarded the case to the courts for determination and now we are waiting for the outcome. All I can confirm is that the accused appeared in court on Saturday.

The incident allegedly took place at Meikles hotel in Harare where the Indian team is staying.


The Indian national cricket team is currently on tour of Zimbabwe, where they whitewashed the hosts in the one-day series. However, the visitors lost their opening T20 match yesterday by 2 runs.
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13:35   Rajan was working as a Congress agent: Subramanian Swamy
Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday once again hit out at RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan saying he had sabotaged the Indian economy. 

Swamy, who since being nominated as an MP has trained his guns at Rajan, said the central bank chief was trying to put all small and medium industries out of business. "This only proves what I have always suspected, that Rajan worked as a Congress agent since the BJP came to power," Swamy said. 

Swamy had in the last few weeks written at least two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking that he not allow Raghuram Rajan a second term as RBI governor.

The BJP MP alleged that Rajan was mentally not fully Indian and was therefore not working in Indias best interests.
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13:25   The 'Voice Mexico' singer fatally shot days after Christina Grimmie murder
A Chicago singer who appeared on the Mexican version of The Voice in 2011 has died after he was shot in an ambush while celebrating his birthday with friends. 

The Cook county medical examiner's office confirmed that 45-year-old Alejandro "Jano' Fuentes died on Saturday. He was shot three times in the head late on Thursday outside his Tras Bambalinas School on Chicago's south-west side. 

He died on Saturday, the day after the funeral of Christina Grimmie, who appeared on the US version of the show. A man fatally shot Grimmie a week earlier while she was signing autographs after a performance in Orlando, Florida. The attacker then killed himself.
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12:50   Who shall replace Rajan? 7 names in the running
There are seven candidates on a long list to replace Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan , a senior government official said. 

The candidates are Vijay Kelkar, Rakesh Mohan, Ashok Lahiri, Urjit Patel, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Subir Gokarn and Ashok Chawla, the official said.

Of the field, the two best known are Patel, now a deputy governor of the RBI, and Bhattacharya, who is chair of State Bank of India, the country's largest bank.

Two finance ministry officials, Shaktikanta Das and Arvind Subramanian, who market participants had previously speculated might be candidates are not on the long list, the official said.

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12:17   'Always agitated. Always mad: Omar Mateen, according to those who knew him
The massacre at the Pulse nightclub early last Sunday stands as the deadliest mass shooting by one person in United States history. 

Rising amid the international grief is the aching and obvious question of why. But the short life of Omar Mateen, who was 29, provides no easy road map to motivation.

He had shown occasional flashes of interest in radical Islam, enough to be investigated twice by the FBI in recent years for possible extremist ties.

But his professed embrace of the Islamic State and its call for disaffected Muslims to attack the West seem to have come suddenly, as if something snapped. And while some reports have suggested that he was gay, federal officials say they have found no evidence in his effects or online presence to back them up.

Read the full story HERE
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11:47   Across the aisle: Fake encounter with facts, fake controversy
Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed by the Gujarat police in an encounter. Was it a genuine encounter or a fake encounter? 

I do not know the answer.There are others who claim to know the answer. I am astonished by the certitude of some of my fellow citizens that the encounter was a genuine encounter. 

None of them had access to the case diary or the statements of witnesses or the forensic reports. None of them had read the chargesheet in the case. Yet, they are absolutely certain that the four persons who were killed were terrorists and the encounter was genuine!

Read P Chidambaram's column HERE
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11:43   Think twice before attacking others: Chetan Bhagat hits back at AAP
Hitting back at the Aam Aadmi Party for 'suggesting' the Centre appoint him as the next RBI governor, author Chetan Bhagan on Sunday asserted that he knows more about economies and monetary policies than the party, adding that they should behave rather than indulging in 'mud-slinging'.

"Just on this news. Neither am I interested, nor am in the running for the RBI guv job. Nor do I have a view on National Institute of Fashion Technology. I would request AAP to behave in a decent manner and not do mud-slinging PR like the news in the last tweet," Bhagat said in a series of tweets.

However, he added that if he had been appointed as the RBI chief, he would be able to do a better job than many others. "Dear AAP, as you mock me, assure you had I ever done (am not) the RBI governor job, would be able to do it better than many others. AAP should tell its low-IQ spokespersons to think twice before attacking others, though I understand thinking isn't their strong point," he further tweeted.

Stressing that even though he loves his job of writing much more than anything, Bhagat asserted that he knew economies and monetary policies better than anyone in AAP ever will.

Bhagat's fiery reaction comes in the wake of the AAP attacking the Centre on Saturday for appointing former cricketer Chetan Chauhan as the chairperson of the National Institute of Fashion Technology. 

Mocking the decision to appoint Chauhan, the AAP gave BJP "suggestions" for further appointments. 

"This is absurd. He (Chauhan) does not know 'F' about fashion and he is the same person who defended Jaitley. And his appointment has the blessings of Amit Shah and Modi. The AAP would like to suggest that the BJP appoint Chetan Bhagat as RBI governor, Anupam Kher as chief of ISRO and Eknath Khadse as the chief of NIA," party spokesperson Raghav Chadha said in a press briefing.
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11:25   Rajan years and legacy
When Raghuram Rajan had taken over as the 23rd governor of the Reserve Bank of India he had famously said that he was not at the central bank to win votes or Facebook likes. But as his eventful tenure draws to a close - during which he has prescribed many bitter pills to restore the health of the financial system -- he has ended up with a deluge of  "likes".

Read more HERE
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11:18   PM wishes Rahul Gandhi on his birthday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wished Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi long and healthy life on his 46th birthday.  "Birthday wishes to the Congress VP, Shri Rahul Gandhi. May he be blessed with a long and healthy life," Modi said in a tweet this morning. 

In his response, Gandhi tweeted "Thank you @narendramodi ji for your kind wishes!"
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11:04   'Essar Tapes': Home ministry probes phone tapping complaint
The Home Ministry has ordered a probe into an alleged phone tapping scandal which targeted top government officials and industrialists between 2001 and 2006 after a complaint to the Prime Minister's Office. 

The complaint was made to the Prime Minister's Office by lawyer Suren Uppal alleging that the Essar Group had ordered its former security chief Albasit Khan to tap into its business rivals' telephone conversations.        

"Complaint regarding Essar leaks has been forwarded to home ministry for appropriate action," official sources said. 

The complaint includes call logs for purported conversations of Mukesh and Anil Ambani with directors/promoters of the two companies and other senior officials as well as conversations that show how business rivals reach out to politicians to seek favours. 

The complaint also mentioned purported conversations of senior officials of the PMO including Ranjan Bhattacharya and Brajesh Mishra. 

Essar has denied any wrondoing.
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10:45   Foreign Secretary Jaishankar visited China to drum up support for NSG
Ahead of a key meeting of the elite Nuclear Suppliers' Group in Seoul on Friday, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar visited China this week to seek support for India's membership.

Jaishankar was in Beijing on June 16-17 and held bilateral consultations with his Chinese counterpart, the ministry of external affairs has confirmed.

China has been leading a group of countries in the 48-member NSG that are holding out against India's membership. 

The NSG trades in advanced nuclear material and technology while restricting the sale of items that can be used to make nuclear arms.  It will hold an important plenary from June 23-24 in Seoul when the membership application of India is set to be taken up.
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10:19   Justin Bieber falls through hole in stage during Canada concert
Pop star Justin Bieber fell through a hole in the stage during a concert in Saskatoon, Canada.

Bieber, 22, was taking a walk across the stage when he failed to notice the hole. After disappearing through the hole, the Baby hitmaker got right back up, seemingly unharmed but a little embarrassed, reported Billboard

Brushing off the incident he told the crowd, "Good thing I'm like a cat and I landed on my feet..."

The video of the fall soon started doing the rounds on social media, but it's not the singer's first onstage accident. In April, Bieber took a comical tumble on stage in Kansas City during a performance of his hit, Sorry.
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10:15   The strange case of missing gold jewelry at Delhi airport
Gold worth nearly Rs 9 lakh seized from smugglers has mysteriously disappeared from the customs vault at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, prompting the authorities to file a police case. 

An FIR was registered recently by the Delhi police on the complaint of customs officials who said two gold chains and bangles, together weighing 298 gm, valued at about Rs 8.83 lakh, have been replaced with yellow-coloured non-precious metal. 

The incident came to light when packets containing 1.27 kg gold, including the stolen gold chains and bangles, duly sealed at the instance of a court, were opened by the customs officials before a departmental committee as part of inventorisation proceedings. 

"It appears that the contents, ie, two gold chains of primary gold total weighing 220 gm and four bangles of primary gold total weighing 78 gm were replaced with one rectangular slab (cuboid) of yellow metal (non-precious metal), which was not made of gold," reads the FIR. 

The FIR under Section 409 for criminal breach of trust by a public servant and 120B (criminal conspiracy) was registered against unknown persons on June 15 at the IGIA police station.

Image alongside has been used for representational purposes only.
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10:08   AIIMS ordered to pay Rs 1 lakh for negligence
The country's premier health institute, AIIMS, has been directed to pay Rs 1 lakh by a consumer forum in Delhi to the parents of a girl child for alleged negligence in carrying out transplantation of cornea in her eye. 

The South Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum bench presided over by Justice N K Goel has asked the hospital to pay the money to the parents of Haryana resident Baby Priyanka, noting that three corneal graftings (surgery for cornea transplantation) in her left eye failed consecutively as they were done "without proper care and caution".

"The three consecutive failures of corneal graftings in the left eye of the patient by the doctors of the hospital (AIIMS) establishes that corneal graftings were not done with proper care and caution as was expected from medical experts and certainly failure was the result of negligence on the part of doctors in doing the corneal graftings," the forum said.

"Therefore, we hold the Opposite Parties (AIIMS and its doctors) guilty of deficiency in service," it said, directing AIIMS to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the victim's parents. 

It also noted that "there is every reason to believe that corneal grafting on all the three occasions in the left eye of the girl was done by the junior/trainee/new doctors and the grafting failed on all three occasions and, therefore, she was advised to undergo fourth corneal grafting in June 2005."
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10:03   Cloud over Andaz Apna Apna sequel
Andaz Apna Apna 2, the film inspired by the 1994 Salman-Aamir starrer comedy of the same name, would go on the floors very soon.

"It is to be noted that the rights of the film remain with Vinay Pictures and have not been sold to Phantom Films," Priti Sinha, director, Reel Life Entertainment (I) Pvt Ltd, said. Vinay Pictures produced the original film in the early '90s with Aamir Khan and Salman Khan in the lead. 

"Vinay Sinha has not sold the rights to Phantom Films or anybody else as reported by a section of the media. Also, the film is not a remake of the original Andaz Apna Apna," Priti, daughter of Vinay Sinha, has said. 

The original film, a comic caper directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, featured an ensemble cast of Aamir, Salman, Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Paresh Rawal, Shakti Kapoor, Shehzad Khan, Viju Khote and Javed Khan, with cameo appearances by Govinda and Juhi Chawla. Mehmood, Jagdeep and Deven Verma also appeared in pivotal roles.
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09:56   Jaya orders 500 liquor outlets shut from today
The Tamil Nadu government has issued instructions for the closure of 500 state-run retail liquor shops with effect from June 19, in line with Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's directives. 

According to a government release on Saturday, Kirlosh Kumar, MD, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation or Tasmac, has issued instructions for the closure of 500 retail vending liquor shops with effect from June 19. 

However, the release did not specify the specific outlets where shutters will be downed, starting Sunday. The order by the official also detailed the steps needed to be followed in redeploying employees of the outlets that will be closed down. 

This included posting them in existing vacancies in the district and others in the region as per requirement.
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00:57   PMO orders probe into Essar phone-tapping case
The Prime Minister's Office has asked the Home Ministry for inquiry and report into alleged Essar phone-tapping case.

For five years, between 2001 and 2006 -- spanning one NDA and one UPA government -- the Essar Group allegedly tapped several telephones of VVIPs, including Cabinet ministers, corporate chiefs Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani and many bureaucrats.

The purported conversations that were thus recorded reveal widespread peddling of influence in corridors of power, corruption in the business milieu, brokering of deals and blurring of lines between business and government.
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00:22   Russia's defense minister visits Syria, meets Assad
Russia's defense minister visited Syria on Saturday to meet the country's leader and inspect the Russian air base there, a high-profile trip intended to underline Moscow's role in the region.
Sergei Shoigu met with President Bashar Assad in Damascus for talks that focused on cooperation between the two militaries and "some aspects of cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups," the Russian Defense Ministry said. It added that Shoigu held talks with Assad on orders from President Vladimir Putin.
Shoigu also visited the Hemeimeem air base in the coastal province of Lattakia, where he met with pilots and inspected their quarters, according to the Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov.
Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since last September, helping Assad's forces win back some ground. Putin pulled back some of Russian warplanes in March in what he described as a move to help encourage peace talks, but the military has maintained a strong presence at Hemeimeem. 
A US- and Russian- brokered cease-fire that began on Feb. 27 has helped reduce hostilities, but fierce fighting has continued in many areas, particularly around Aleppo. The Islamic State group and the al-Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, have been excluded from the truce.
Fighting around Aleppo and other areas in Syria has escalated in recent weeks, and Russia has recently issued an  ultimatum for the US-backed opposition units to leave Nusra-controlled areas or face air strikes, but later agreed to give more time for them to pull out.
Putin said on Friday that creating a new government that will have the trust of most of Syria's population is key to ending the five-year conflict. He said that this goal can be achieved only through drafting a new constitution and holding new elections.
The Russian leader also welcomed what he described as a US proposal to "think about incorporating some opposition  representatives in the existing government structures, including the Cabinet." Putin added, however, that it would be "unrealistic" to expect that such a Cabinet would effectively take over power from Assad.

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