Agra man kills American wife, blows himself up

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February 21, 2014

This one is straight out of a Bollywood potboiler. An American, who fell for an auto driver here and married him, was viciously stabbed to death by her husband. The man then blew himself up.

American social worker Erin White alias Kiran Sharma in September last year married Bunty Sharma alias Ashok, an auto driver. They had met when Erin, 35, visited Agra alongwith a group of Americans.

She was stabbed Thursday evening in the auto which her husband Bunty drove. Her body was thrown out of the auto and found around 8 p.m., police said.

Bunty returned home in Sanjay Nagar after the murder. He shut himself up in his room, opened a gas cylinder valve and blew himself up.

Senior police officials alongwith the dog squad visited the two spots.

The Union Home Ministry and the American embassy in New Delhi have been informed.

Shalabh Mathur, a senior police official, told media persons that the incident took place due to personal problems between the two, following which Bunty killed her and then committed suicide.

Erin and Bunty married on the rooftop of a hotel in Tajganj, against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal.

Police said the couple were having marital problems for the past few months and had visited a family counsellor to resolve their differences.

Bunty accused Erin of lying that she was not married while Erin charged Bunty with cruelty, greed, infidelity and also concealing the fact that he was already married once.

200 foreign tourists ‘beaten up’ by police on Valentine’s Day

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission on Friday took a suo motu cognizance after a Facebook campaign launched by tourists from 26 countries complained of police atrocities on Valentine’s Day.

The complaint, signed by around 82 people, spoke of brazen assault on nearly 200 tourists by “drunk policemen” at a beach in the coastal town of Gokarna. The assault lasted nearly 30 minutes, the complaint said and added that many were injured.

The complaint is accompanied by photos of some of the injured.

The police, however, has defended itself, saying it was a raid against drug trafficking.

“After the Nigerian nationals incident in Goa, we have been doing these raids against drugs. We have arrested one person and recovered 20 grams of drugs,” Pratap Reddy, Inspector General of Police, Western Range said.

The police, however, has also ordered an inquiry into the allegations by the tourists. The Karnataka Home department has said it will take action after the police report is out.

Gokarna is situated 50 kilometres south of Goa in the Uttara Kannada district. It is a popular tourist destination.

Woman gives birth in class 12 board exam hall

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

A woman in Bihar gave birth in the examination hall where she was appearing for her class 12 exams, an official said.

The incident took place at a college in the state’s Saran district where Manisha Devi, in her early 20s and married, was taking an exam on Thursday when she started feeling uncomfortable followed by labour pain, said SK Singh, a college official.

“Before the ambulance could arrive in the college, she had given birth to a healthy child,” Singh said.

Later, she was admitted to a hospital.
The delivery was normal and both mother and child are safe, healthy and recovering fast, doctors attending to the woman said.

The class 12 examinations began last week at 882 centres amid tight security with non-teaching college employees in the state on an indefinite strike.

This year 981,778 students, including a record 410,662 girls, across Bihar appeared for the exams, board officials said.

18-year-old girl’s habit of biting her cheek gives her oral cancer

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

Doctors at the Regional Cancer Centre in Raipur are treating an unusual medical case of an 18 year old girl, who developed oral cancer due to self sustained bites on her inner cheek. She has no history of tobacco consumption whatsover.

Though extremely rare, this type of oral cancer, known as buccal mucosa, affects a couple of middle aged people (above 40 years) every year in Chhattisgarh.

The girl who hails from Ambikapur, felt pain in her jaw few months ago. She went to a local doctor who administered medicines thinking that she may have bitten her inner cheek quite badly. However, when the pain did not subside, he advised her to go the Regional Cancer Centre for a biopsy, she said.
The biopsy confirmed she had oral cancer.

Dr. Vivek Choudhary, head of Regional Cancer Centre, said oral cancer is quite common among the lower socio-economic groups, including women, due to tobacco chewing. However, cancer caused by self sustained bites on the inner cheek is extremely rare and though every year a couple of people affected by it are treated at the centre, they are usually middle aged, he said.

“I just couldn’t imagine that an innocuous bite could lead to cancer”, the girl told, adding that she is now worried about her future and the scars that the surgery would leave on her face.

According to doctors treating the girl, her case has been detected at an early stage. After surgery, she will have to stay in the hospital for at least 2 weeks and then come for regular check-ups. The doctors are hopeful that this young girl she will able to recuperate.

Review – Highway….

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

Has Imtiaz Ali cheated because Highway isn’t anything even remotely close to what we usually expect from the filmmaker after terrific works like Jab We Met and Rockstar. With Highway he undeniably slips. It is a frustrating film that will leave you angry. Imtiaz clearly wasted his caliber over leisurely making a movie that is strictly respectable for its lack of connection and conviction. The film’s hero is A.R Rahman and everyone else puts up an infuriatingly washed out show as compared to him. Let’s just settle with saying that it was a proficiently thought film that we see moving inevitably towards death, putting us through excruciating heartbreak and pain through its run time. Mr Ali, what on earth happened to you?

The film begins at a posh locality in Delhi where a rich businessman’s daughter VeeraTripathi (Alia Bhatt) is tying the knot with another who’s who of the city. A few days short of the wedding, the to-be bride who is quickly prone to claustrophobia blackmails her fiance to take her on a nightly drive down to the highway. At a gas station which was being burgled, they stop. Amidst all the loot the gang leader MahabirBhati (RandeepHooda) kidnaps Veera. With her father’s political connections, it is a daredevil thing for Mahabir who then embarks on a journey from state to state to keep buying time until Alia is sold off successfully into prostitution. How from antagonists do Mahabir and Veera affectionately land up on the same plane is story that needs to be heard in this one.

RandeepHooda is brooding and fearsome for most part. Ever since the actor’s advent in the industry, he has carefully selected roles which allow him to perfect the act of snarling and grunting. Hooda is damn good in the first half and in the rest he just repeats it all to the extent of overdoing it.

Alia Bhatt never got out of playing her bimbo character from Student Of The Year and the actress plays Veera with a similar quotient of nascent energy. However rendering the same excitement in tackling a sensitive film like this, it would have been advisable to tone down the ecstatic drift of story to find something more serene and meaningful. I would have easily said she is a terrible actress especially after watching the scene in which she runs to take the bus with Randeep, yelling, screeching, her nostrils flaring enough to make me laugh. But in the last 15 minutes she steals the thunder proving her mettle with the ease of a pro.

Highway whips up all the ingredients required for an intriguing film but goes wrong as a whole. It is bold subject handled flimsily and doesn’t come close to believable. There is excessive heavy handedness in the screenplay and somehow the effortless ease that signifies the beauty of Imtiaz’s films is absolutely missing from it. There is far too much of incoherence in the screenplay to bear and though it tried its hand at adding varied hues to multiple layers of the story, one cannot disagree to the fact that it is only Rahman’s divine music and the pristine cinematography that works here. It left me baffled and numb especially because I expect better from Ali. It is heartbreakingly mediocre and I am settling for ratings which translate the same. It is a lenient 2.5/5 for Highway.

‘ShaadiKe Side Effects’ is for everyone: Vidya Balan

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

Actress Vidya Balan says her forthcoming film `ShaadiKe Side Effects` is not just for those who are married. All types of viewers will be enjoy the entertainer, she believes.

Excited about the movie, in which she features with Farhan Akhtar, Vidya just hopes that “everyone will like it – be it those who are married, who are getting married, aged couples or even teenagers”.

“Everyone will like it because it is a relationship-based story. It will make you laugh and you will relate with it,” the 33-year-old said here on the sets of TV serial “Bade Acche LagteHain”, for which she shot a special episode for her film`s promotion.

Vidya said that at a recently held private screening of `ShaadiKe Side Effects`, people could relate to the movie.

“We had a screening for close family and friends and everyone said they felt it was their life running on screen. I think this is what SaketChaudhry, the director wanted,” Vidya said.

`ShaadiKe Side Effects` will release Feb 28.

After cricket, Shah Rukh Khan to focus on football

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

Actor-producer Shah Rukh Khan, owner of Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), now plans to lead a football team.

“I would love to lead a football team for Kolkata,” Shah Rukh Khan told reporters Thursday at the press conference of ‘Living With KKR’, a documentary about his IPL team.

He said that they are working on it and “it`s a big desire, but we have limited resources.”

“If we can manage it, we will do it. Football is certainly on cards,” he added.

Improve the quality of Maritime education

By

Mahendra Singh

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February 21, 2014

Our maritime education has shaped up reasonably well. Some colleges have performed well largely because their owners /directors are emphasizing on providing quality training consistent with the job requirements knowing that intake has to be commensurate with job opportunities. They themselves have taken this initiative. However, a vast majority of other DGS approved colleges are struggling to gain respectability. The major cause for slack standards is lack of properly framed rules, the absence of any duly notified rules in regard to intake control, training methodology, imparting required skills, having qualified and experienced faculty.

There are vast majority of others who have taken full advantage of unenforceable rules to circumvent the basic requirements. If the person conducting CIP (comprehensive inspection program), approaches these colleges, he cannot authoritatively inquire about the faculty because the owner is likely to ask him, what rules have I broken? Under what rule do you want faculty? What type of faculty (even by adopting a studied silence on the matter) because he knows how to take advantage of an unspecified provision.
There are no rules prescribing entry standards and this has largely been left to some brokers in some region (you cannot blame them) to feed the intake. Regional imbalance is setting in as a consequence.

Youth from Andaman and Nicobar and the North East are not getting adequate representation due their lack of capacity to pay. On the other hand, many cadets with inferior health but hailing from sound financial background are finding entry. The Directorate General of Shipping has set up BEST but who listens to them as far as selection is concerned.
DGS, the respectable regulatory authority, is only giving permission to start a new college, a new course, increasing intakes but have delegated all other functions to others. A question which arises here is whether such delegations possess any sanctity.
It is better to keep quiet about the IMU. Large number of students used to attend LBS College whose campus was clean adorned with beautiful flowers but now it looks deserted. Senior Capt; Alexander used to reach the hostel at 9 am in the morning and chase every one out to classes or the library.

We should remain present in the college from 8 am to 4 pm. DGS comprises capable and qualified officers, cleared by the UPSC, so they must also pay attention to who is going to conduct the CIP inspection. Is he a regular Surveyor of Classification society or inadequately experienced (sea going) person from an ancillary. Is he capable of taking a comprehensive view with some moral authority? Once in a while, a DGS/MMD Surveyor can come forward and take two others with him and say, come on let us accompany the CIP inspector and assist him to observe the tasks performed by him.

The best of administrators seek assistance from experienced persons in the industry to understand things better and for assimilating various view points. Akbar Badshah hired advisors and gave due consideration to their views, when he was clearly not obliged to do so. Many times you may be required to board a ship or meet an equipment manufacturer for inspection/certification and you may lack a thorough knowledge about it. Therefore, it is desirable to take the advice of experts and then use your own judgment. The oil tanker, gas, chemical courses should not be allowed to be conducted by those not having any stake in the trade. This step will improve quality.

‘Gravity’ almost starred Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Jr

By

Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

Alfonso Cuaron has revealed that he had initially approached Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Jr as leading actors for his space drama `Gravity`.

The 52-year-old filmmaker, whose film has been nominated in 10 categories at the Oscars, said both the actors had some problem with the film at its initial stage, reported a leading daily.

“Jolie dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts with her directorial debut `In The Land of Blood and Honey`, while Downey Jr exited because the film`s technology didn`t leave him room to improvise,” Cuaron said.

Production on `Gravity` had not started by the time Jolie and Downey Jr changed their minds, leaving Cuaron time to send offers to George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.

“It became very clear that, as we started to nail the technology, or narrow the technology, that was going to be a big obstacle for (Downey Jr `s) performance,”

“I think Robert is fantastic if you give him the freedom to completely breathe and improvise and change stuff.

But we tried one of these technologies and it was not compatible. And, after that, we had a week that we pretended as if nothing was happening and then we talked and said, `This is not going to work. This is tough.`”

‘Pompeii’ Review – a visual spectacle

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Afternoon Voice

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February 21, 2014

A historical drama based on the ill-fated Roman city of the same name, director Paul W.S. Anderson`s `Pompeii` is a far cry from Robert Harris` 2003 novel. Yet, the film is distinct and appealing. It`s a revenge drama with a tinge of romance and dollops of natural disaster.

The film begins eerily with the camera drooling over fossilized bodies. The stoned images, gruesome and weather-beaten, are accompanied by a quote – “In the darkness some prayed for help, others for death,” attributed to Pliny the Younger”. It claims it is accurate as far as the history and politics of Pompeii at that time.

Set in 79 AD,, the film dismisses the plot of the novel and invents its own set of main characters. It follows Milo (Kit Harington), a “Celta slave. He is the last surviving member of his tribe, The Horsemen.”

As a young child, Milo survived the massacre by being dumped beneath the corpses while he watched his mother and his entire tribe being slaughtered by the corrupt Roman General Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) and his Aide Proculus (Sasha Roiz).

Seventeen years later, the boy, trained to be a deadly gladiator, is the star performer at the arena in Londinium, the capital of Britanny. Soon his greedy master packs him off to the city of Pompeii to serve as violent entertainment for its blood-hungry citizens.

En route to Pompeii, by pure happenstance Milo meets and creates an impression on Cassia (Emily Browning), the non-conformist daughter of the town chief Severus (Jared Harris) and his wife Aurelia (Carrie-Anne Moss), who`s heading back home after spending a rather turbulent year in Rome.

Meanwhile, Corvus too lands in Pompeii as the Senator of the Emperor Titus and is the deciding factor for investments from Rome. He craftily gets Severus to hand over his daughter in marriage to him.

Milo arrives in Pompeii on the eve of the Vinalia festival and is flaunted to the citizens. The next day, he is expected to fight the local champion – a massive black slave named Atticus (AdewaleAkinnuoye-Agbaje) who is nearly one last death-match away from earning his freedom.

With deadly sword fights in the gladiator`s arena, the love triangle, inclusive of horse chases and the rumbling Vesuvius followed by a killer tsunami, gives thrust to the narration that keeps you spell-bound and glued to your seat.

As far as the performances are concerned, there is nothing extraordinary. The characters are immediately recognizable as sympathetic or not, and on the whole, there is not very much complexity in character development.

The film is worth a watch for being a grand visual spectacle.

Troy Ribeiro