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I Love Narendra Modi, proclaims Rahul Gandhi

Pune:   Congress President Rahul Gandhi virtually brought the house down on Friday when he said: “I love Narendra Modi.”

In a free-wheeling live interaction with over 5,000 college students at the Lakshmi Lawns in Hadapsar suburb here, Gandhi took wide-ranging questions from the gathering, largely pertaining to jobs, education, healthcare and some even personal.

Answering a poser from a student,…

All Pakistan F-16s counted, none missing: US report

New Delhi/Washington:  India’s claim of shooting down a Pakistani F-16 in February has been challenged as a report citing unnamed US officials said that all US-supplied fighter jets to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) have been counted and none is missing.

The report in the American Foreign Policy journal said that “two senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the situation talked about…

We will send you to jail: SC to Ranbaxy brothers

  New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday threatened to jail Malvinder Mohan Singh and his brother Shivinder Mohan Singh, former promoters of pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy, for not complying with an order to pay dues to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo.

“We will go into the issue – why you violated our orders. We will send you to jail,” the apex court said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by…

Boeing CEO ‘sorry’ for lives lost in 737 MAX accidents

  Washington:  Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has said said the company was “sorry for the lives lost” in the two 737 Max crashes that took place within a span of five months, the media reported on Friday.

“These tragedies continue to weigh heavily on our hearts and minds, and we extend our sympathies to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines…

Trump backtracks on closing Mexican border, healthcare reform

New York:  While pressure mounted over the inquiry report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections, US President Donald Trump backtracked on two key issues he had raked up – the imminent threat to close the Mexican border and healthcare reform.

Faced with the threat of economic fallout from closing the Mexican border, Trump on Thursday gave a year’s grace period to that country’s leaders to…

EU suggests 12-month flexible Brexit delay

Brussels:  European Council President Donald Tusk is proposing to offer the UK a 12-month “flexible” extension to its Brexit date, according to a senior European Union (EU) source.

His plan would allow the UK to leave sooner if Parliament ratifies a deal, but it would need to be agreed by EU leaders at a summit next week, the BBC reported on Friday citing the unnamed source.

The UK is due to…

70mn euros paid to UPA leaders, others: ED’s Agusta charge sheet

  New Delhi:  The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its fourth supplementary charge sheet has mentioned that kickbacks worth 70 million euros were paid to “important political persons of the ruling party, media persons, defence officials and bureaucrats” in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

The charge sheet filed against British national and middleman Christian Michel before a…

Sridevi’s ‘Mom’ to release in China on May 10

Beijing:  On Mother’s Day, late Bollywood superstar Sridevi’s last movie “Mom” will release in China on May 10.

The movie was earlier scheduled to release in China on March 22.

“We wanted to pick the perfect date for the release of such a special film like “Mom” in China, which is a huge market and has great potential for the film to do well.

“As a tribute to all mothers, we have chosen May 10 to…

Game of Thrones’ star Lena Headey ‘heartbroken’

  New York:  Actress Lena Headey has admitted she was “heartbroken” as she couldn’t attend the New York premiere of “Game of Thrones” because of illness.

The actress, 45, took to Instagram on Wednesday to explain to fans why she wasn’t going to be on the red carpet at the event at Radio City Music Hall with her co-stars, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Sharing a message with an image of her covering…

Nairs get Rs 300 cr for Leela brand as part of slump sale

New Delhi:  In what is being seen as a bizarre decision, the board of Hotel Leelaventure Ltd (HLVL) at its meeting on March 18 while selling the hotel business, together with all assets and liabilities of the hotels located at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Udaipur on a slump sale basis, also forked out Rs 150 crore each to the erstwhile promoters – Vivek and Dinesh Nair.

Further the sale to…

Patriotic films weren’t ‘saleable’ for Sunny Deol

  Mumbai: Actor Sunny Deol, who has featured in movies like “Gadar – Ek Prem Katha”, “Border” and “23rd March 1931: Shaheed”, says he never did patriotic films because the theme was saleable.

Sunny spoke about it at the trailer launch of Behzad Khambata’s “Blank”, which marks the debut of Karan Kapadia, here on Thursday.

As Bollywood has seen a resurgence in patriotic dramas in the last few…

BJP never saw those who disagree with it as foes: Advani

  New Delhi:  In an implicit criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, BJP veteran L.K. Advani on Thursday said the BJP never regarded those who disagreed with it politically as “enemies” but only viewed them as “adversaries”.

“The guiding principle of my life has been ‘Nation First, Party Next, Self Last. And in all situations, I have tried to adhere to this…

Will Smith grooves to ‘Radha’ on ‘SOTY2’ sets

  Mumbai: Will Smith has ticked off Bollywood from his bucket list.

In a clip of his Facebook show “Bucket List”, the 50-year-old star met with several famous Bollywood actors like Tiger Shroff, Ananya Pandey and Tara Sutaria as he prepared to film one of the industry’s famous dance sequences for a film here. He danced to “Radha teri chunari”.

“In my spiritual practice I’m trying to be…

Women directors often discriminated: Paakhi Tyrewala

  New Delhi:   Paakhi Tyrewala, who wrote and directed the Sikkimese feature film “Pahuna: The Little Visitors”, says she faced hiccups in the journey as people did not take women directors seriously even just a few years ago.

“‘Pahuna…’ is not a commercial film. Many people questioned me why I am not making the film in Hindi language and then things started coming out of nowhere that I am a…

Ranbir gets curious about cameraman’s ‘chappal’

  Mumbai:   “Yeh chappal kahaan se liya (Where did you buy these slippers from)?” Ranbir Kapoor took a paparazzo by surprise when he posed the funny question to him at the airport here recently.

Before heading to New York to meet his ailing father Rishi Kapoor, Ranbir unleashed his funny side while the photographers tried to capture a glimpse of him.

In a video which is doing the rounds on the…

Stalin promises justice to Pollachi sex case victims

  Chennai: DMK President M.K. Stalin said on Thursday if his party came to power, justice would be delivered to victims of Pollachi sexual abuse-cum-blackmail case. The DMK would not politicise the matter, he added.

Addressing an election rally at Pollachi in the Coimbatore district, Stalin said he was the first to issue a statement after knowing that attempts were being made to free accused in…

Banks, others may lose Rs over Rs 90,000 crore as Videocon sinks

By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai:  The beleaguered Videocon Group has admitted to stupendous outstandings to various lenders – public and private – amounting to over Rs 90,000 crore, making it perhaps the biggest corporate bankruptcy case in Indian banking history, official sources said on Thursday.

The two main group companies – Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) and Videocon Telecommunication Ltd. (VTL) – owe…