Dry fruit sales have not picked up in the state capital. Chocolates are also waiting for customers and flowers are also wilting in the stands.
Political leaders this year are shying away from gifting boxes of sweets, dry fruits, chocolates, liquor bottles and flowers to their “friends” in the bureaucracy and the media because the fear of the Election Commission is looming large over them.

Singer Selena Gomez says she worked hard for a part in upcoming jail drama Spring Breakers because she was desperate to tackle a “very dark and different” role.

Troubled star Lindsay Lohan is threatening to take legal action against a party planning company over allegations her name has been used to promote a New Year’s eve bash in Dubai.

Hangover star Bradley Cooper is reportedly dating Zoe Saldana after the pair grew close while filming The Words earlier this year.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Seva Yatra tour of a Maoist-hit district in southern Bihar on Friday brought unexpected disappointment to thousands of ordinary people waiting for hours to seek remedies for their grievances as the petitions of many of them were allegedly torn apart.

MP Naresh Agarwal on Friday joined the Samajwadi Party after quitting the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BSP, meanwhile, expelled Mr Naresh Agarwal and his son Nitin Agarwal from the party for anti-party activities, two hours after the father-son duo had joined the Samajwadi Party. Ms Rajeshwari Devi, BSP MLA from Hariyawa seat, also joined SP along with Mr Naresh Agarwal.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan began 2011 by telling his ministerial colleagues and bureaucrats to focus attention on development but rounded up the year with a scathing attack on the Centre, accusing it of neglecting the maintenance of national highways passing through the state.

Referring to the recent Union Cabinet nod to allow 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities from among the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs, AICC general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh, who accompanied Mr Rahul Gandhi to the rally, said this had been possible because of the young leader’s initiative and the share could also increase in future as per the findings of the caste survey.

With elections just one month away, the BJP seems to have upset its two major star campaigners, Shatrughan Sinha and Varun Gandhi.
According to sources, both the star campaigners are upset with the party leadership — particularly over the manner they have been sidelined in party affairs — and have decided not to make themselves “freely available” for campaign in UP.

Sirens wailed and fireworks exploded in the skies over Samoa as the tiny South Pacific nation jumped forward in time, crossing westward over the international date line and effectively erasing Friday, December 30, 2011, from the country’s calendar.