The world's largest rave party

The Electric Daisy Carnival kicked off Friday for a weekend of outdoor music and dancing in Las Vegas with 26 carnival rides, kaleidoscope sculptures, pyrotechnic displays, a pulsating soundtrack and a reputation for heavy drug use that it hoped to live down.

Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha

Born: 2 June 1987 (1987-06-02) (age 24)

Occupation: Actress, Model

Years active:2008 - Present



Parents: Shatrughan Sinha and Poonam Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha (born 2 June 1987) is an Indian actress and model.
She is the daughter of actor and politician Shatrughan Sinha and Punam Sinha. She has two brothers, Luv Sinha and Kussh Sinha.
Sinha started her career as a model and walked the ramp at the Lakme Fashion week 2008 and then again in Lakme Fashion week 2009.
She made her acting debut with the 2010 film Dabangg co-starring Salman Khan. The film went on to become one of the highest grossing Bollywood films.

Sonia Gandhi not to meet Anna Hazare on Thursday

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi would not be meeting social activist Anna Hazare and other civil society representatives pitching for a Lokpal bill Thursday, a senior Congress leader said.

"The meeting between Anna Hazare and Sonia Gandhi has been cancelled for today," Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said.

"The meet between Anna and Sonia Gandhi has not been cancelled but will take place later... we have not been given any time so far," said a civil society leader, pleading anonymity.

Hazare, accompanied by civil society representatives Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi , met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and will also hold talks with Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan.

Hazare earlier said his team wanted to meet Sonia Gandhi to discuss the Lokpal bill. His team would be meeting political leaders across the board to build a consensus on the bill drafted by members of the civil society.

Kannada actress Maria Susairaj

Mumbai: Kannada actress Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend Emile Jerome have been convicted in the brutal murder case of senior TV executive Neeraj Grover by a Mumbai sessions court on Thursday.

Maria Susairaj has been convicted for destruction of evidence under Indian Penal Code Section 201 in the Grover murder case while Jerome, a former naval officer, has been convicted for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 (Part 1). However, the prosecution failed to prove the intent to murder for Jerome.
Sessions court judge MW Chandwani said that the intention to kill could not be proven in the court.
Maria might walk free when the sentence in pronounced on Friday as the maximum sentence for destruction of evidence is three years and she has already been in jail for three years.
Public Prosecutor RV Kini and Grover's relatives expressed their unhappiness with the conviction and said that they would appeal against the verdict. They have been demanding the death penalty for the duo.
"We are shocked with the verdict. The maximum punishment for Maria could be three years. We will appeal against the judgement. The quantum of sentence will be declared tomorrow," said Kini.
"I have lost my faith in judiciary. It is a very disappointing decision. If Maria did not murder him, then where is my son?" asked Amarnath Grover, father of Neeraj Grover.
Grover was killed and his body chopped into several pieces before it was thrown in the jungles on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Grover was the creative head of Synergy Adlabs. Police say he was helping Maria who was an aspiring TV actor but their proximity upset Jerome.
Grover found murdered in 2008
Grover was stabbed, his body hacked and disposed off near Manor jungles near Mumbai on May 7, 2008.
The prosecution in the case claimed that Jerome and Maria planned to kill Grover after he promised her a break but failed to do so.
The police filed a chargesheet against the two accused on May 14, 2008. They were arrested on May 21 after which Maria led the police to Grover's body.
Maria's confession on May 30, 2008 corroborated the police's version of the murder. On September 16, 2008 the court had rejected Maria's bail plea in the case.
In September 2009, there was a twist in the case when Maria's lawyers were accused of threatening the witnesses and forcing them to turn hostile.
Another turn of events took place on 10 May, 2010, when Maria's family members claimed she didn't even know Grover.

Lagarde suited to head IMF; India voted for her: Pranab

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is "eminently suited" to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and India voted for her, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today.
"We all along maintained that we will be part of consensus building, (and) candidate should be chosen on the basis of merit. She is eminently suited," Mukherjee said in response to a question at a media round table at the end of
his 3-day trip to Washington.

"The IMF selection process was transparent. India has voted for her," he added.

In a message to Lagarde, Mukherjee congratulated her on her new position and said India is looking forward to working with her.
The Executive Board of IMF today selected Lagarde to serve as IMF MD and Madame Chairman of the Executive Board for a five-year term, starting on July 5.
Earlier in the day, at a joint news conference with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Mukherjee pointed out that during the election process, India had insisted that the IMF MD should be selected through a transparent mechanism, not specific to any region or any particular nation.
"On the basis of that, we also suggested that we would like to be a part of the consensus, which should be evolved," he said.
Mukherjee, who left for India via New York this afternoon, was here leading a high-powered Indian delegation for the second India-US Economic and Financial Partnership. 

Amazing cars in the world

My govt is being termed most corrupt ever: PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that his government was described as the most corrupt-ever, adding that corruption has become a big issue and has caught the popular imagination.

The stunningly frank remark about the huge image problem his government has came during an interaction Singh had with a select group of editors. "...in the situation that we are faced today, day in day out I think we are described as the most corrupt government", Singh told his select audience.

Corruption which has been seized upon by the Opposition to torment the government and the Congress party took up a huge chunk of Prime Minister's inaugural remarks at the session with editors. It figured prominently also in the question-answer session that followed, with Singh admitting that the telecom scam and Commonwealth Games have taken a toll on his government's reputation and have anguished the middle classes. "Some events –the telecom scam, the Commonwealth Games -- have caused genuine concern among large classes of middle class opinion that cannot be wished away", he said.

He said that "corruption has emerged as a big issue and has caught the imagination of people", although he cautioned against radical steps which could turn the country into a police state and lead to the return of the inspector raj.

Indeed, one of his visitors told Singh that while his personal integrity remains untarnished, perception has grown that he has "allowed things to happen". Interpreting the question as echoing the view that he failed to stop A Raja from perpetrating the 2G scam, Singh suggested that he was betrayed by the sacked telecom minister. He said as Prime Minister he had to trust his minister when he promised to abide by rules. "How can I conduct a post-mortem? I am not an expert in telecom ministers. As Prime Minister, it is not that I am very knowledgeable about these matters. Or, that I can spend so much of my time, to look after each and every ministry."

Singh also criticized Raja for wrongly claiming that he had PM's endorsement. "One observation that my private secretary recorded, that the PM says that there must be transparency-the minister should have said that it was his responsibility-rather than saying that the Prime Minister has also endorsed it."

When told that the government failed to take notice of newspaper reports about the irregularities in the allocation of 2G licences and spectrum, PM said that he could not have gone by newspaper reports alone." There were people on both sides writing to me. If I go by the newspapers everyday, I would have to refer everything to CBI, and the CBI would sit in judgement. And if I continued in this vein, our public sector would not be able to perform. It would greatly weaken the (entrepreneurial forces) that have unleashed, and willy nilly install a police raj".

The interaction was held against the growing perception that a time when the government was faced with an image deficit on the issue of corruption and other challenges, PM has not been communicating enough with his constituency. In the fourth interaction he had with media in his second term, PM stepped out to rebut the perception that he had been reduced to a lame duck and could be asked to make room for Rahul Gandhi.

He hit out at the Comptroller and Auditor General whose reports on 2G and alleged favors to oil firms have embarrassed the government for overstepping its constitutional mandate. "It has never been in the past that the CAG has held a press conference as the present CAG (Vinod Rai) has done. Never in the past has the CAG decided to comment on a policy issue. It should limit the office to the role defined in the Constitution".

In his opening remarks, Singh said that their post-facto analysis of decisions by CAG and parliamentary committees did not recognize that the government had fewer facts when decisions were made.

He criticized media for creating the perception his government was under siege and for simultaneously playing "the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge" I think there is a growing perception that his government is in a siege, that we have not been able to deliver on agenda. An atmosphere has been created in the country- and this I say with all humility – the role of media in many cases have become that of the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge", Singh said.

At another point during the interaction, he said sections of media had lent ear to Opposition's clever propaganda that his government had become a lame duck government.

The reporting of the court cases by media also came in for criticism from the Prime Minister who disclosed the issue he had discussed with the issue with judges." They (judges) say that the way press reports creates a real problem. I think everybody should exercise restraint...... press reportage causes sensationalism", he said.