FiNanCiaL News Nd Updates

Octopus Paul predicts Spain to win Octopus Paul predicts Spain to win WC

2010-07-10T13:46:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: It seems the animal kingdom is backing two different teams when it comes to picking the winner of the 2010 Football World Cup. Barely a couple of hours after Mani the parakeet picked Holland as its choice, Octopus Paul has yet again forecast a Spanish victory in the title fight that will be held at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The octopus, who has already attained a celebrity status, completely ignored the Dutch tank at the German Aquarium in Oberhausen and indicated his preferance for the Spanish flag by quickly polishing off the mussel from their tank.

Paul has been predicting results involving Germany throughout the tournament and had predicted Germany's loss to Spain in the semi finals as well, much to the dismayof the German fans.

But Paul on Friday gave them a ray of hope as well as he predicted a German win in the battle for third place against Uruguay that is slated to be played on Saturday. Germany had also finished third in the previous editionof the tournament when they had played host in 2006.

Being a celebrity has its flip side as well. It has not taken him long to become the villain of the piece as the Germans came up second best against Spain. Having said that, he has now got a new fan following among the Spaniards and the Spanish Prime Minister has even offered 'state protection' to the eight-legged creature.

Paul the Octopus a global superstar

2010-07-09T14:01:00.002+05:30

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Oberhausen: Paul the Octopus has turned into a global superstar revolving around the 2010 World Cup, with top political leaders in Spain even worried about the oracle mussel-eater's safety.

Football players, fans and politicians turned into believers of the Paul phenomenon after the psychic octopus correctly picked the winner of yet another World Cup match involving the German national team.

From his tank at Aquarium Sea Life in Oberhausen, the formerly England-based Paul predicted Spain would beat Germany in the semifinals after having chosen Germany wins over Australia, Ghana, England and Argentina and a loss against Serbia.

"This Paul is a miracle," said Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso after the team's semifinal win.

Paul has become a star around the world, appearing on Australian television, CNN, BBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times and dozens of sports papers. The German news channel ntv even carried Paul's selection between Germany and Spain live with two reporters doing commentary.

Germany vs Spain Match Preview

2010-07-06T12:55:00.002+05:30

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Interestingly, the 2008 European Championship final fixture between Germany and Spain will come up again – this time, in the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Watch out for drama, dazzling performances, and record breakings!

Thanks to LiveSoccerTV.com, you can follow the Germany vs Spain match live as it happens on July 7! Today, we preview this 2010 FIFA World Cup semi-final match before it kicks off.

Germany – Should You Still Criticize Joachim Lowe’s DFB-Eleven?

Honestly, has any side impressed you more than Joachim Lowe’s Germany? Hit by tragedy and injury, but the Germans still miraculously possess strength in depth. How? The secret remains unknown; all that the public know is that results have been positive and breathtaking.

When news broke out that first choice goalkeeper Robert Enke had committed suicide before Captain Michael Ballack was deemed unable to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, football critics began to underrate Germany’s chances in South Africa while anxiety swallowed German fans.

Germany’s 1-0 defeat to Serbia on Match-day Two of the 2010 FIFA World Cup provoked flames of anger against Joachim Lowe despite his ability to guide his inexperienced squad to a 4-0 mauling of Australia in the country’s opening World Cup match. But now Germany are in the semi-finals of the competition and they have reached this stage in style with 4-1 and 4-0 wins over England and Argentina in the knock-out stages respectively; seriously, would have anyone predicted such “insane” results?

Germany vs Spain – Facts Between These Two Teams

In this same way, it could be hard for anyone to predict the result between Germany and Spain come Wednesday.

Spain’s Awareness And ConfidenceSpain's Andres Iniesta and co celebrating against Paraguay.

Spanish fans may be wondering why on earth their team would have to be frightened by Joachim Lowe’s kids. There is an end to everything and Germany’s wonderful adventure in South Africa could well come to an end when the 2008 European Championship runners-up come against La Furia Roja.

Spain’s Andres Iniesta is aware of Germany’s wild desire to overturn the bitter and narrow defeat they suffered two years back against the Spanish. However, the Barcelona midfielder also downplayed the importance of this factor. During a press conference, Andres Iniesta stated:

“It’s just like the Euro final. Once again, we’ll be playing against Germany. But I think it has nothing to do with what happened two years back. This will have no part to play when we meet on Wednesday because Germany have brought in a lot of young players who weren’t there in 2008 and they have played a brilliant World Cup so far.

“The Germans must be extremely motivated. But, we are also at the top of our game and we are keen to progress further. I’m sure the match will be about two sides who enjoy possessing the ball. It’s going to be a great battle. We’ve been following Germany’s progress throughout the World Cup and they’ve been spectacular.”

Spain's David Villa and Germany's Miroslav Klose.Germany-Spain = Miroslav Klose vs David Villa

When you think about the Germany vs Spain encounter, you certainly can’t avoid thinking about the mouthwatering duel between Miroslav Klose and David Villa. Both players have been in terrific form for their respective country at the 2010 World Cup and fire surely still burns in their belly.

Germany’s Miroslav Klose has got 14 World Cup goals so far – 4 of which have come in South Africa. He is just one short of equaling the world record set by Brazil’s Ronaldo. Looking over his achievement, Klose stated:

“I spoke with Ronaldo after the [2002 World Cup] final. At that time, I’d have never dreamed of coming this close to his record, with just two more goals to surpass him. I hope he is not too worried.”

One man who doesn’t seem worried about his goal scoring record is David Villa. Whereas Klose puts quite a lot of importance on breaking Ronaldo’s record, David Villa prefers to focus on his team only.

“I’m least concerned about finishing as the top scorer. What’s important is that we [Spain] get to the final, whether the goal(s) come through me or through someone else. I’m happy to score the goals, but I’m happier if the team wins.”

Out of Spain’s 6 goals, 5 were scored by Villa in this tournament. The new Barcelona signing currently tops the goal scoring charts at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and he is just one goal short of equaling Raul’s tally of 44 goals in 102 games for Spain. The difference with El Guaje is that he will only be getting his 64th appearance against Germany on Wednesday.

Will we see both Miroslav Klose and David Villa equaling or breaking records? Above all, which player will find himself on the bright side of victory? Oh, and watch out for Fernando Torres too. The guy is goalless at the moment, but could he pop up like he did in the final of the 2008 European Championship to kill the Germans for good?

"Van Persie, Kuyt vital for Holland"

2010-07-06T09:26:00.001+05:30

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Holland face Uruguay in the first FIFA World Cup™ semi-final on Tuesday looking to recreate the 1970s glory era

Coach Bert van Marwijk has placed his trust in Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie.

Neither man enjoyed the best of domestic seasons and Van Persie has not always cut a contented figure in South Africa amid rumours of a sour relationship with star man Wesley Sneijder.

But Van Marwijk is happy to have the duo on board for a journey that took such an unexpected twist with that fabulous quarter-final triumph over Brazil.

"I read somewhere that when Rafael Benitez picked a team at Liverpool, he wrote Kuyt's name down first. That says everything," Van Marwijk said.

"Every player has a period where things don't work out and Liverpool had a very tough year, but Kuyt is extremely important for us.

"The way he plays shows his passion and enthusiasm, and it is catching."

Van Persie was out of action for five months after suffering a major ankle injury on international duty last November.

It has taken the Arsenal star a bit of time to find his form, with just one goal so far, but Van Marwijk believes the 26-year-old remains a major influence.

"Robin is extremely talented," he said. "He is one of the best football players on this planet.

"He was injured for a very long time and you do need a certain rhythm. Sometimes it comes just like that. Sometimes it takes a bit longer.

"But he was better in the last match than the one before. Players with so much talent can suddenly decide a game. I always believe in him and still do."

Arjen Robben may have quit English football in 2007 but he still attracts plenty of attention.

Manchester United suffered at the magical feet of the 26-year-old in the Champions League this season as Robben's blistering strike dumped them out of the quarter-finals.

However, ahead of a game that has been punctuated by questions over Luis Suarez's glorification of the blatant handball that gave Uruguay their shot at glory, Robben's conduct has not gone unnoticed either.

The winger has always had a tendency to hit the ground at the first available opportunity, which has been highlighted over recent days.

Even Van Marwijk admits there are times when the former Chelsea star has gone too far, although he insists Robben has cleaned up his act.

"He doesn't do it deliberately," Van Marwijk added. "Arjen is incredibly fast and creative. He faces up to opponents and you do fall, or get pushed.

"Maybe he has done things in the past that he shouldn't but he has learned and doesn't do it any more."

With Sneijder pulling the strings - and scoring four goals in the process - Holland arrive in the last four as the only member of the quartet to have won every game so far.

Added to the fact they also boasted a 100% record in qualification, Van Marwijk has clearly done something right.

The 58-year-old cuts an impressive figure, exuding a quiet authority that is not afraid to deliver curt answers to questions he feels are either ridiculous or impertinent.

Brought into the international set-up to replace Marco van Basten following Euro 2008, Van Marwijk might be relatively unknown outside Dutch borders.

But he is delivering results, something the Football Association might take note of given their preference for paying big money to foreign coaches who have not really delivered what was required.

Not that Van Marwijk is flawless. Sometimes he even loses his temper.

"I once kicked an advertising hoarding, so I do have that anger," he said. "But it is important that, under all circumstances, you stay above things.

"The players mustn't become confused by your behaviour. I can be angry and emotional but I am also capable of being cool, calm, and collected."

Economic loss due to bandh: Rs 13,000 crore

2010-07-06T09:18:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Bharat Bandh on Monday partially disrupted economic activities with commodity markets and the transport sector taking a hit in many parts of the country, and the industry pegged losses at up to Rs 13,000 crore.

While Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, and several industrialised states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, were affected, the impact was partial in many other states like Tamil Nadu and in the national capital Delhi.

The 12-hour strike was called by the Opposition parties to protest the fuel price hike and rising inflation.

"The bandh is estimated to have cost the nation close to Rs 13,000 crore in terms of GDP loss," industry chamber FICCI said in a statement. Another industry body Assocham put the losses at Rs 10,000 crore, while CII pegged it at Rs 3,000 crore.

Wholesale commodity markets remained shut in most of the cities, while several flights from key airports like Mumbai were cancelled. According to the All-India Motor Transport Congress, 6 lakh vehicles were off the road.

Though the screen-based stock market remained open, the trading volume at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was down 52 per cent to Rs 2,857 crore against a daily average of nearly Rs 6,000 crore.

According to reports by industry chambers like Ficci and Assocham, thin attendance was witnessed in commercial establishments in several states, while the economic activity came to a complete halt in states like West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala.

FICCI said most of the industrial activities remained shut in Bangalore and majority of MNCs and IT firms preferred to give a holiday to their employees. In Mumbai, transport services were "completely affected" and traders were mostly off the market.

The PHD Chamber catering mainly to the northern states, said the impact was felt in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and UP.

Banking services were completely paralysed in Left governed West Bengal and Kerala while some disruptions were noticed in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Mumbai.

The industry leaders including Rahul Bajaj and Adi Godrej have opposed the bandh and termed the protest as "odd and absurd".

The disrupted rail movement also contributed to the industry loss.

Nehra powers India to lift Asia Cup

2010-06-25T13:01:00.002+05:30

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Dambulla: A 15-year-old title drought came to an end as India won the Asia Cup cricket tournament after crushing defending champions Sri Lanka by 81 runs in a lop-sided final here on Thursday.
Electing to bat first, India posted a competitive 268 for six and then defended the total without much hiccup with the seamers producing a scintillating performance, skittling out the hosts for 187 in 44.4 overs at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.

This was India's first Asia Cup triumph since Mohammad Azharuddin had led them to the title in Sharjah in 1995. On that occasion also, India had beaten Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final.
The Indian seam attack rose to the challenge when it mattered the most, accounting for the scalps of Tillakaratne Dilshan (0), Upul Tharanga (16), Mahela Jayawardene (11), Angelo Mathews (0) and captain Kumar Sangakkara (17) in just 16 overs.
Sri Lanka never recovered from those telling blows. But for Kapugedera's unbeaten 55 of 88 balls, which was laced with four boundaries and a six, the match would have ended sooner.
Nehra was the most successful Indian bowler with four for 40 while Zaheer Khan and Ravindra Jadeja taking two wickets apiece by conceding 36 and 29 runs respectively. Praveen Kumar chipped in with one wicket.
Praveen Kumar struck first blood when he had Dilshan caught at mid-on, an attempted pull from outside off stump ballooning to Harbhajan Singh inside the 30-yard circle.
Even as Sri Lanka had recovered from Dilshan's fall in the first over, Zaheer Khan, bowling with great verve and zing, castled Tharanga. The ball broke back to hit off stump as the left hander shouldered arms.
Taking over from Zaheer (5-0-17-1) from the pavilion end, Ashish Nehra struck thrice in seven balls to break the Sri Lankan spine.
Shackled and deprived runs by the Indian quicks, Jayawardene jabbed at a short of a length Nehra delivery for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to complete a regulation catch.
Angelo Mathews walked into the cauldron, hoping to steer his side out of troubled waters. But the batting all-rounder lasted all but two deliveries, wafting his bat a distant Nehra delivery for Dhoni to do the rest.
The pressure seemed to have got to Sangakkara. Sedate until the fall of Jayawerdene's wicket at 50, the Sri Lankan captain threw his willow at a short Nehra delivery only to see Zaheer Khan come under the ball at the mid-on.
Staggering on the ropes at 51 for 5, Sri Lanka were virtually out of the contest. However, Thilina Kandamby and Chamara Kapugedera (55 not out) waged a grim battle, posting 53 runs for the sixth wicket.

Once Kandamby (31) succumbed to a run out in the 30th over, the rest of the Sri Lankan batting withered under pressure and India made amends of their seven-wicket loss to the same opponents in their last league match two days back.
Earlier, Dinesh Karthik (66) struck a fighting half-century as India scored a competitive 268 for six.
Except for opener Gautam Gambhir, each of the top order batsmen made their contributions after India opted to bat on a true wicket at the Rangiri International Stadium.
Man-of-the-match Karthik looked like he has sealed himself a place in the squad for the tri-series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand with a pugnacious 84-ball 66, while being involved in three crucial partnerships -- 38 for first with Gambhir (15), 52 for the second with Virat Kohli (28), and 46 for third with his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38).
In contrast to their performance in the last league game, Sri Lanka were off-colour today. Their bowling lacked discipline with hat-trick man of the last game, Farveez Maharoof bleeding boundaries at the start of the innings.

India lost Gambhir early, in the seventh over. Playing in his 100 ODI, the left-hander enjoyed two reprieves of successive balls off Nuwan Kulasekara, but failed to cash in on Sri Lanka's largess.
While attempting an unnecessary third run after turning Kulasekara off his pads to square leg, Gambhir found himself short of his crease when Kulasekara, collecting the return from Upul Chandana, broke the stumps at non-striker's end.
India were though in fine fettle when Karthik and Virat Kohli were at the crease, and at 100 for one in 18 overs, a total of around 290 looked possible.
But a distant jab at a Lasith Malinga slinger by an impetuous Kohli momentarily stopped India in their tracks.
However, Karthik and Dhoni helped India regain the momentum, raising 46 runs for the fourth wicket.
Barely moments after Karthik had mishit a Thilina Kandamby full toss to Mahela Jayawardene at midwicket, Dhoni sliced the burly leg-spinner to Kulasekara at backward point to leave his side at 167 for four.
India recovered from the Kandamby strikes through the gutsy performance of Rohit Sharma (41) and Raina (29), who raised 50 runs for the fifth wicket in 52 balls.
With 217 runs on the board in 41 overs and six wickets in hand, a big score looked possible for India.
But Raina's demise to a Malinga yorker, denied them crucial runs in the death overs, though Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out) strove to break loose from the Lankan shackles.

In pics: Queen's Baton reaches India

2010-06-25T12:53:00.003+05:30

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Slovakia advance, eliminate Italy

2010-06-25T12:48:00.001+05:30

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Slovakia survived a late onslaught to beat Italy 3-2, reach the Round of 16 and eliminate their illustrious opponents. A Robert Vittek double and a stoppage-time lob from substitute Kamil Kopunek proved enough for Vladimir Weiss's team to advance as Group F runners-up, after late goals from Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella had ensured a dramatic conclusion to a thrilling contest in Johannesburg.

Slovakia went into the meeting at Ellis Park needing victory to progress. While Italy also required three points to guarantee a place in the knockout phase, they knew a draw would likely prove enough, as transpired to be the case. Disappointingly for the FIFA World Cup™ holders, the visionary Andrea Pirlo was only fit enough to make the bench, but Gennaro Gattuso and Antonio Di Natale were handed starts.

Weiss had urged his Slovakia side to be bold but rational against Marcello Lippi's men, and they were clearly enjoying the better of the play in the initial exchanges. They could certainly claim to have had the better chances. In the sixth minute, Vittek nodded a long ball into the path of Marek Hamsik, but the latter could only drag his volley wide. And the two exchanged roles six minutes later, with Hamsik squaring the ball to Vittek, but Italy goalkeeper Federico Marchetti was quickest to react.

So, perhaps, it came as no surprise when, in the 25th minute, Marchetti found himself picking the ball out of the back of the net. The pressure of the occasion clearly got to Daniele De Rossi, whose pass was easily intercepted by Erik Jendrisek just outside the Italian box. He promptly found Vittek and the Slovakian fired into the bottom corner to give his side a deserved lead.

Marcello Lippi's men had failed to get going in their previous two matches, and they were lacking inspiration here, too. Di Natale, De Rossi and Simone Pepe all found themselves in potential scoring positions, but were unable to make them count. Gattuso's threatening cross was headed over by Martin Skrtel as Vincenzo Iaquinta looked to profit, but there was no real punch to the Italy attack. The AC Milan veteran was typically terrier-like in midfield, looking to knock the Slovakians out of their stride, but it was Weiss's side that continued to look the more likely scorers – Zdenko Strba forced Marchetti to palm his 35-yard drive off target, Miroslav Stoch had a shot blocked, and Juraj Kucka watched his long-range effort flash inches wide deep into first-half stoppage time.

Lippi reshuffled his side at the break, with Christian Maggio and Quagliarella coming on in place of Gattuso and Domenico Criscito, as Italy went in search of a crucial goal. Iaquinta almost the found the target five minutes in but his header lacked direction. The same could be said for his team as a whole, who were lacking the required creativity – which explained why the Italian fans, at last, found their voice when Pirlo was introduced to the game in the 56th minute, shortly after a woeful finish from Di Natale.

As Pirlo begin to guide proceedings from the centre of the park, Di Natale almost made up for his miss but Jan Mucha was equal to his curling shot. Italy were, at last, stepping up a gear and when Pepe's cross was beaten away by the Slovakia goalkeeper, Quagliarella could only look on in dismay as his left-footed shot was hooked off the line by Skrtel. Slovakia, however, remained a match for Italy and minutes after Stoch's drive had fizzed a yard over, Vittek thought he had put the game out of Gli Azzurri's reach when he beat Giorgio Chiellini to Hamsik's squared ball. However, Di Natale was able to pull one back ten minutes from time, before Kopunek restored the two-goal advantage. Quagliarella's late strike set up a thrilling finish, but it was not enough for Lippi's men, who were left to contemplate a disastrous FIFA World Cup campaign.

Swine flu had to spread, it will spread: Azad

2009-08-10T02:34:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: The Government has done its best to contain the swine flu epidemic but the disease “had to spread and it will spread”, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said.

“We have to a great extent not allowed this to spread but sooner or later it had to spread and it will spread. The only thing is we should not panic,” Azad told CNN-IBN on Sunday after the number of people infected with the disease in the country increased to 864.

Azad alleged people who had travelled aboard had brought “this gift” (swine flu) to the country. “The only advisory we could issue--if we could not stop anybody from coming--was that our people should not have gone. But despite our advisory people went and brought this gift from there,” he said in an interview.

“I do not know how many people have come to this country and gone back.” Azad advised people to shun “social functions” if they had even a few symptoms of the disease.

“I would recommend--not only to students--to all my countrymen that anybody who is suspicious of having some symptoms, he or she should not attend social functions,” he said.

Azad, earlier on Sunday, was forced to apologise to the family of a schoolgirl for saying that she could have spread the disease to other people by visiting more than one hospital.

"One small girl went from one hospital to another, then a third hospital to get treatment and then a fourth, without awareness. In the process some 80 people were infected. This girl transmitted the virus in the course of seeking treatment," he said in New Delhi.

The family of Pune schoolgirl Reeda Shaikh, who became India's first swine flu death victim on August 3, demanded that Azad either apologise for his remark or resign. Azad relented, saying he had not meant to hurt them.

The influenza A(H1NI) virus killed two more persons in the country on Sunday, taking the national toll in just a week to four and forcing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office to start monitoring the spread of the virus.

Three people continued to be in a critical condition and 82 fresh cases were reported, taking the total number of people infected by the virus to 864, the Health Ministry said.

UPA may make aviation fuel cheaper: Praful Patel

2009-08-08T18:43:00.002+05:30

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After a long stand-off between the Government and private airlines over the high cost of aviation fuel, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel says that he will consider reducing fuel prices. He was speaking to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Karan Thapar: What do you now propose to do give them the remedy they need, and how quickly can you do it?

Praful Patel: I am going to meet the Prime Minister again.

Karan Thapar: When?

Praful Patel: Very soon, and I am going to ask him to appoint a high-level committee or maybe even a Group of Ministers to understand how we can remedy the issue of the aviation sector, primarily with a focus on ATF.

Karan Thapar: And will that high-level committee have a time frame within which it has to?

Praful Patel: I can't decide the time frame but I will push for an early resolution in this matter.

Karan Thapar: Early? Does that mean weeks, months, six months?

Praful Patel: I hope maybe in a month or two.

Karan Thapar: A month or two?

Praful Patel: I hope so, I can't speak on behalf of everybody but I will try my best.

Sports Minister wants BCCI to sign WADA code

2009-08-03T19:51:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Union Sports Minister MS Gill on Monday came out in support of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) anti-doping code and said that Indian cricketers must follow the system put in place by the anti-doping body.

Gill said that says everybody had to follow the system put in place by WADA while slamming the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for rejecting the 'Whereabouts Clause'.

The Sports Minister dismissed apprehension expressed by the BCCI and Indian cricketers that the 'Whereabouts Clause' was an infringement on their privacy and would compromise the players' security.

"We have accepted WADA regulatory testing and we adhere to it. Sportsperson should be clear in one thing that it is not getting into someone's life," Gill said after the state sports ministers' conference in New Delhi.

He also pointed out all top sportsperson across the world have already signed the WADA code.

"All sportsperson should adhere to it and happily follow it as so many sports federations and players are following it," Gill said.

The 'Whereabouts Clause' requires players to inform their whereabouts three months in advance for out-of-competition testing.

The BCCI had convened an emergency Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on Sunday and rejected the clause. The meeting was also attended by Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni and senior players Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh.

The cricket board cited three main reasons for objecting to the 'Whereabouts Clause' in the code.

BCCI President Shashank Manohar said that some Indian players had a security cover that would be threatened if the code was signed. Manohar also claimed that the privacy of individuals could not be violated and the Constitution of India guaranteed every citizen the right to privacy that will be invaded by the clause.

While other cricketing countries have already agreed to the code, India players have made it clear that they would not sign unless the 'Whereabouts Clause' was amended.

WADA reacted to Indian cricketers holding out reminding the BCCI of its duty to protect cricket.

"WADA expects Indian cricketers and BCCI to understand that, as the ambassadors and guardians of their sport, they have a duty to protect its integrity and will see the benefits of cooperating with the ICC (International Cricket Council) to enforce the World Anti-Doping Code like the rest of the world has," WADA President John Fahey was quoted as saying by the PTI.

Felipe Massa health recovery spreads cheer

2009-07-28T17:35:00.001+05:30

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Budapest: Formula One driver Felipe Massa was awake and talking to family members on Monday, making significant improvement after his high-speed crash two days earlier.

The chief surgeon at AEK hospital said Massa is now breathing unassisted and moving his limbs. In addition, a drain from his skull wound was removed.

Chief surgeon Lajos Zsiros said the 28-year-old Brazilian is groggy but able to answer questions. Zsiros says further improvement can be expected.

Zsiros said Massa didn't have a fever and remained in stable condition in the military hospital's intensive care unit alongside family members, including wife Anna Rafaela.

Massa crashed into a tire barrier at 120 mph on Saturday during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix and was near death for two days.

"Felipe is awake. He's very well and everyone is very happy with his condition," said Massa's family doctor, Dino Altman. "He wants to know what happened to him and he answered some questions."

Altman ruled out Massa being transferred from Budapest, with doctors suggesting Massa would have to remain at least a week to 10 days.

Raffaela, Massa's wife who is six months pregnant with their first child, doesn't think he will have any long-term physical injuries and hopes he can return to racing.

"He is doing good," she told Brazil's Globo TV. "Soon he will be giving joy to all in his little red car on the speedway."

Massa's father, Luiz Antonio, told The Associated Press he remained "very optimistic" following Massa's improvement.

Massa had multiple skull fractures in the accident and xperienced some brain swelling. Dr. Robert Veres, part of the three-man crew that performed the two-hour operation, said Massa would not be able to race again this season. The Brazilian's long-term career plans are also uncertain.

"I don't know (if he can return)," Veres said. "It's too early to say anything concerning his future."

Massa was struck by a loose part from another car that bounced up and hit him in the helmet, causing a concussion. Several fragments of bone from the skull had to be removed during the operation, Veres said.

Doctors are concerned about injuries to Massa's left eye.

"(We don't) know the quality of this damage," Veres said.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo said his team's first priority was Massa's health.

"Felipe's been an important member of the Ferrari family for many years, since he arrived as a kid. We all hope that he can come back soon," Di Montezemelo said. "(Team principal Stefano) Domenicali has to think and make good proposals for the future. We don't want to wait too long for Felipe. First priority now is to find out about Felipe, only at that moment will we take a decision."

F1's governing body said on Monday it will investigate the accident. The report will also address last week's death of an F2 driver who was struck in the head by a loose tire from another car.

India will achieve 9% GDP in 18 months: FM

2009-07-27T21:30:00.001+05:30

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Panaji: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said India would be back in the 9 per cent growth trajectory in the next one and a half years as a result of stimulus measures announced by the government.

"There are certain economic measures taken which will start showing their results in the next one and a half years. Over this period, we will be able to come back to the 9 per cent GDP growth," Mukherjee told a gathering of industry captains in Goa.

The Finance Minister accompanied by Chief Minister Digamber Kamat addressed two official functions in the state Saturday that also included inauguration of India's unique museum conceptualised and executed by the Customs and Central Excise Department.

Mukherjee, during the interaction with Goa's top-most industrialists, said that the government has injected substantial money into the system that will start showing the results in months to come.

Gates wants window to India's national ID project

2009-07-24T23:51:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Friday said it would be a "big mistake" if the US curbs the entry of skilled workers from abroad, rallying behind the "smart people" from countries like India that has a globally recognised outsourcing industry.

He also said Microsoft will like to partner the Indian government in its ambitious plan to give a unique identity number and a biometric card to each of its 1.17 billion people.

"I can't make any predictions. Immigration policy could get more difficult. Microsoft as a company is very vocal. It would be a big mistake," said Gates, here for overseeing the philanthropic activities of the foundation he has formed with his wife Melinda.

"The US Congress is very tough on immigration. But why not make an exception for smart people?" he said at an interactive session organised by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) at the Durbar Hall of Taj Palace Hotel here.

Gates even maintained that the job market in the US had not shifted anywhere, when asked to respond to US President Barack Obama's comments that he will not like jobs to be taken away from Buffalo to outsourcing companies in Bangalore.

"If we get the statistics, about 1,800 US people are working here (in India)."

Even though Gates now devotes most of his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has always been vocal about his support for migrant professionals that is reflected in the number of such workers at the Microsoft offices in the US.

According to Nasscom, Indian nationals accounted for 157,726 H1B visas, or 37.8 percent of the 409,619 admissions under this US programme in 2008. This is a drop of about 3,000 professionals compared to 2007.

Gates said he was also keen to partner India in its ambitious plan to issue a single identity card and number to its 1.17 billion citizens for which a new authority has been formed under Infosys Technologies co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

"Microsoft wants to be part of the Unique Identification Authority of India project," he said, adding that he hoped to meet with Nilekani to discuss the issue.

"I am very excited about the project. It is a great initiative. We need to make sure every data is accurate. From a mobile phone number to anything," Gates told the conference, also addressed by Minister for State for Communications Sachin Pilot.

During his current visit, Gates announced a major increase in his foundation's AIDS prevention commitment to India to $338 million, saying India's drive in this regard could serve as a model for the rest of the world.

Launched in 2003, his family foundation provides funding and support to targeted HIV prevention programmes in six Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, and along the national trucking routes through an initiative called "Avahan".

Prior to this, the foundation had committed a total of $258 million for the purpose.

Gates, who has always maintained a packed schedule during his visits to India, was also scheduled to meet with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and hold a videoconference with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Another reason behind the current visit is to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development on behalf of his foundation, being recognised for "pioneering and exemplary philanthropic work around the world and in India in health".

As of July, the foundation has committed nearly $1 billion for health and development projects in India. Globally, it has committed nearly $12 billion in grants for global health, the foundation claimed in a statement.

Masand's Movie Review: Harry Potter 6 is potent

2009-07-20T12:44:00.002+05:30

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Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

Director: David Yates

A thrilling cocktail of gloomy mystery and comical growing pains, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is easily the best of the six films in the series so far, even if it's the one in which very little happens in terms of actual plot development and crucial incidents.

Setting the mood with that terrific opening scene in which evil swoops and soars into the normal world with explosive black trails of smoke destroying London's monuments, the film remains fiercely faithful to the book, and makes no attempts to woo Harry Potter virgins who will struggle to appreciate this as a stand-alone picture.

Starting off at the point where the Death Eaters are wreaking havoc in London, The Half-Blood Prince follows Dumbeldore as he asks Harry to help persuade retired Potions Master Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts, with the aim of retreiving a buried memory from Slughorn's past that will prove crucial in the upcoming fight against Voldemort.

Meanwhile, Hogwarts has been hit by a flood of raging hormones. While Harry struggles with his feelings for Ginny Weasley, Ron starts going out with Lavender Brown, which upsets a jealous Hermione. Draco Malfoy is behaving suspiciously too, but he seems preoccupied with a mysterious vanishing cabinet.

Imaginatively visualised and stylishly filmed, The Half-Blood Prince is packed with stunning sequences like the suspenseful chase between Bellatrix and Harry in a wheat field, and a breathless conflict between Draco and Harry in a Hogwarts bathroom.

The film's one sole flaw is that at two-and-a-half-hours it's way too long and unforgivably slow in some stretches.

The genius, yet again, lies in the endearing performances and the lighter moments. Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, steals the film with his comic delivery, especially that scene he performs under the influence of the love potion; and Brit thespian Jim Broadbent is ace as the bumbling Professor Slughorn.

There is a sense of comfort and familiarity each time you settle down to watch a new Harry Potter film because you know the characters, you care for them now, and you want them to be safe. The relationship between Harry, Ron and Hermione remains the lifeblood of these stories, and it's to the credit of the three actors who play these parts that they bring a degree of warmth and affection to their scenes together.

In a sense, The Half-Blood Prince is really the set-up story for the next instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which will be split into two films. It lays the groundwork for what will happen next and succeeds in leaving you with a foreboding sense of doom.

Complaints against the plot and against the omission of several incidents from the book feel redundant when you look the film as a whole. For followers of the franchise, this is potent stuff and a very worthy companion piece to the rest. I'm going with two thumbs up and four out of five for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Directed remarkably by David Yates, this is exactly what fans have been waiting for.

Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)

Anil writes to PM: Oil Min siding with Mukesh

2009-07-20T12:39:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: Chairman of Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) Anil Ambani has written a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, complaining that the Oil Ministry is siding with brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) in the ongoing dispute between the two corporates. However, RIL has denied the charge.

Assuring the Government that the battle between RIL and RNRL over gas from the KG Basin would not hurt national interest, Anil Ambani urged the PM to direct the ministry not to intervene.

"Please direct the Ministry not to intervene in a commercial dispute between two corporates," quoted Anil.

Meanwhile RIL sources have reacted to the charge. While maintaining that the case is subjudice RIL sources have told CNN-IBN, "We are only following the letter and spirit of the 2000 gas production agreement with the Government of India, under which no gas can be distributed without Government approval. There is no question of us seeking to influence the Petroleum Ministry as is being alleged."

The development comes barely two days after the Government filed a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding that the family's private agreement must be declared null and void.

According to the Government, gas is a national resource and in the petition, names both Anil and Mukesh as respondents. A separate petition has also been filed against their companies.

Mukesh Ambani in his appeal had alleged that the Bombay High Court had erred in deciding the three terms - quantity, tenure and price of gas supply - to power plants of RNRL affiliates.

The case will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Anil asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the government's affidavit on the issue.

The Petroleum Ministry previously withdrew all its affidavits when the matter was being heard in the Bombay High Court and hence it has no right to do so in the apex court, said Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources in a fresh affidavit.

Anil Ambani signs deal for Hollywood debut

2009-07-16T19:42:00.000+05:30

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New York:In one of the largest deals in global cinema in recent years, Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment and Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg on Wednesday announced $825-million funding for their Los Angeles-based production house Dreamworks Studios to make six films a year for global audiences.

Ambani and Spielberg, in a joint global conference call from New York, said the movies produced by Dreamworks will be distributed by Walt Disney globally, while the exclusive rights for India will be with Reliance Big Entertainment.

"Clearly, the outlay of $825 million is what we are aiming at in the next three years - $325 million will be in the form of equity, $150 million will come from Disney, while the rest will come from banks and others," Ambani said.

"There is no scaling up or scaling down of investment. We will begin with $825 million and this is the largest in recent times," said the Mumbai-based industrialist, whose aides had earlier indicated an investment outlay of as much as $1.5 billion for Dreamworks.

Spielberg said he was looking forward to films produced by Dreamworks as also to visit India soon to meet with filmmakers, scriptwriters and actors to see how they can all collaborate.

"We have a golden opportunity to have a better control over our product," he said, alluding to the strained relationship Dreamworks faced after it was sold to Viacom's Paramount in 2006 for $1.6 billion.

"I am very excited that we are in business again and we are independent of any motion picture studio. Now, we feel we have the independence in our partnership with Reliance," Spielberg said.

Some of the films that will be produced first include 39 Clues, Cowboys and Aliens, Dinner For Schmucks, Motorcade and Hereafter in a mix of genres including thrillers, action, comedy and family drama.

Ambani also announced that his associate Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Spielberg's partner for decades Stacey Snider, who has been associated with projects like Eric Brockovich, The Mummy and American Pie, would also serve on the Dreamworks board.

The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group ranks among India's top three industrial houses with interests in areas including telecommunications, energy, finance, entertainment and infrastructure development.

The group's entertainment business owns 428 cinema screens across India, the US, Malaysia and Mauritius, contributing 11 percent to the domesticindustry's box office collections and 35 percent from the Hindi movies screened in the US.

Its entertainment business has its presence across several platforms, including FM radio, music, sports, gaming, animation, Internet and mobile portals, direct-to-home TV, Internet TV and mobile TV.

Last year, it also entered into pacts to develop Hollywood projects with firms of such stars as Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and George Clooney.

US building education system to beat India, China: Obama

2009-07-15T13:49:00.002+05:30

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Washington: US President Barack Obama has said he is laying the foundation of an education system which would help America compete with China and US President Barack Obama during a baseball match in St Louis, Missouri.

"We have already taken some steps that are building the foundation for a 21st century education system here in America, one that will allow us to compete with China and India and everybody else all around the world," Obama told a cheering crowd in Warren Michigan where he announced the American Graduation Initiative.

After entering the White House and even during his election campaign last year, Obama has been urging American parents to gear up and focus on studies of their kids as students from countries like China and India are marching ahead.

"At the start of my administration I set a goal for America: By 2020, this nation will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. We used to have that. We're going to have it again," Obama said amidst applause from the audience.

How Dr Shah Rukh Khan keeps his awards

2009-07-12T11:54:00.001+05:30

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London: On Friday, Shah Rukh Khan was presented an honorary doctorate in arts and culture by the University of Bedfordshire.

Dressed in ceremonial robes, King Khan was his usual charming self. “My wife is here too. She thinks being a doctor is really serious stuff. Of all my achievements as an actor, this one is a special achievement,” he quipped.

And just like his acting roles, SRK wants to take his scholarly duties seriously.

“I will entertain like Walt Disney where he says I will entertain and help people learn. But if you are asking if I will make films to teach people ABC, then I doubt it. You wont see them but I will make films that people can go and see for three hours and then come back and study hard for their exams,” he said.

Apart from film awards, SRK was honoured with the Padmashri in 2005. Internationally he was conferred the Order of The Arts and Literature Award by the French government in 2007 and last year Malaysia's Datuk honour, similar to British Knighthood.

So where do these awards go? The actor, who has 13 Filmfare awards, amongst other honours, says that this doctorate is 'right up there'.

“On one wall, where I have my personal desk, where I keep my scripts, I have the Padmashri, the French honour the Malaysian honour. This one will go there. The Filmfare awards are in front of me. So I am like a megalomaniac, self-centered person who likes to be surrounded by his awards,” he said.

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Every time I make a trip to the loo in office, there's always someone who wants to tell me how much weight I've lost

Follow Megha Mamgain as she burns the extra kilos on CNN-IBN, Sat: 12:30 pm,
6:30 pm and Sun: 2:30 pm

Metro bridge collapses in Delhi, 5 dead

2009-07-12T11:23:00.003+05:30

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New Delhi: Five persons died and 11 were injured in a major mishap that took place at an under-construction site of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in Delhi on early Sunday morning.

A pillar holding up the overhead railway tracks collapsed near Lady Sriram College (LSR) college. As the structure collapsed, the concrete slabs being laid came crashing down.

The crash also burst a water pipeline, causing flooding in the area.

Rescue operations are at the moment focussed on saving one person who is trapped under the debris.

The accident occurred at 0500 hrs IST on an elevated corridor section of an under-construction part of the DMRC project.

Rescue efforts are two-pronged. One group is working to save the man who's trapped under the debris. Another group is using a crane to lift the concrete slabs and clear the space.

Hampering the rescue operations is the fact that the area is flooded with water as a major pipeline burst due to the falling structure, flooding the area.

"There is a pillar in this set up that was weak from before and we had brought this to the notice of the DMRC people. But with a few structural repairs, they passed the pillar as feasible and it is they who passed it that are to blame," said Munna, an eyewitness at the site.

PRO DMRC, Anuj Dayal said DMRC is doing its best to carry out rescue as soon as possible.

"Six cranes of 250 tonnes each and one crane of 400 tonnes have already been mobilised and they are working at the site for rescue operations. In addition, gas cutters have also been deployed and over a 100 engineers are involved in the rescue operations currently. In addition police and civil defence authorities are also providing assistance," Dayal said.

This is not the first time that there has been an accident at the DMRC's Metro Rail project in Delhi. Having earned accolades for its accident -free working record, recent mishaps have tarnished the DMRC's safety record.

*

In November last year, a three-year-old was injured when an iron bar from an under-construction pillar fell on her near Moolchand flyover.

*

In July last year, a malfunctioning crane at a metro construction site near Ram Manohar Lohia hospital dropped a four tonne iron beam on a passing Tavera car.

*

In August 2007, a crane driver died after a concrete block fell on him due to a "technical failure" at a Delhi Metro construction site in Mayur Vihar in east Delhi.

Hip-Hop's Cash Kings 2009

2009-07-09T23:18:00.002+05:30

After attending the NBA Draft in June, Jay-Z threw a party at his 40/40 Club in midtown Manhattan, carousing into the wee hours of the morning with the likes of LeBron James and Spike Lee. Not bad for a guy who took a 57% pay cut this year.

The Brooklyn-born rapper pulled in an estimated $35 million over the past 12 months, topping our annual list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings. It's far from the $82 million he made last year, but more than enough to reclaim the crown from 2008's monarch, 50 Cent. The Queens native drops to fourth place with $20 million, down from $150 million a year ago.

In Pictures: Hip Hop's 20 Top Earners

Both rappers had a hard time living up to prior yearly totals fattened by one-time mega-deals. For 50, it was a $100 million windfall from the sale of his stake in VitaminWater parent Glacéau to Coca-Cola ( KO - news - people ); for Jay-Z, a front-loaded $150 million deal with concert promoter Live Nation ( LYV - news - people ).

"The timing of Jay's deal couldn't have been more perfect," says singer-songwriter-producer Akon, fourth on this year's list. "Those numbers aren't going to be flying around anymore."

Last year, the top 20 Hip-Hop Cash Kings made $500 million; this year they made $300 million, a 40% drop. 50 Cent's VitaminWater stake was responsible for one-fifth of the total take last year. Its absence accounts for half of hip-hop's year-over-year decline. Similarly, concert promoters have stopped pursing big "360" deals like the one signed by Jay-Z and LiveNation last year. "Those deals are pretty much done for now," says Chris White, an entertainment analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Forbes India: 20 stocks you must own

2009-07-09T22:53:00.003+05:30

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The Indian markets took a severe beating last year. Valuation benchmarks were so distorted that even penny stocks began to look respectable in comparison. So how do you get the juice and avoid the dregs?

Remember that the financial crisis, like Swine flu, came from foreign shores. So avoid stocks with global linkages, mostly. Go for companies that feed off domestic demand.

Thus, the prospects for automobile companies may look better if they continue to get access to cheap raw material. But that may not be the case for metal and oil suppliers, who still suffer the overhang of poor prices globally. We think four themes act as superb filters to get to the cream. Within these four themes, we have picked companies that have high return on capital employed, profit and revenue growth along with a strong connection to the domestic market. This is by no means an exhaustive list. In our judgment, the companies we’ve selected exemplify the kind of plays investors will benefit from. There may well be several other stocks among the 4,000-odd listed companies that could qualify to be selected under each of these categories.

Our list is designed to offer a variety of opportunities for both the long-term value investor as well as those with a slightly higher risk appetite.

Between 2000 and 2005, nearly a third of the incremental expenditure came from the middle class. Their non-food expenditure rose 70 per cent, while expenditure on education doubled. In these years, as per capita income rose 80 per cent, Indians also increased their expenses by nearly the same degree. The same theme will play out in the coming years. The five broad areas to look for companies are: food, essential non-food, education, healthcare (lifestyle) and discretionary expenditure that will include consumer durables and automobiles.

Strategy: Buy it, stash it and have a good night’s sleep.

Page Industries: A small company that makes a small product with big margins: male underwear. This Rs. 200-crore company makes the Jockey brand and has a net margin of 12 per cent and ROCE of 36 per cent. The company has effectively positioned its brand in a largely unbranded and unorganised Rs. 900 crore innerwear market. The company is worth a little over $100 million — cheap to even buy as an ongoing business for global competitors.

Pidilite Industries: Pidilite has brands like Fevicol, M-Seal, car polish Motomax and other assorted consumer art materials and specialised home paints. The three brands are also clear market leaders in their category. The company is available at a market capitalisation of 1.6 times its sales. With a sales growth rate of more than 22 per cent for the last five years, there is a lot of steam left as its brands touch fast-growing areas like education, home décor and automobiles.

Dabur: This company has focus. Five years ago, Dabur got out of the pharmaceutical business and put all its effort, like the best brand companies, behind five of its brands. Since then, its ROCE has consistently remained above 50 per cent. It touched 80 per cent in 2008. Dabur strategy of focusing on health foods like fruit juices sold under its Real brand is starting to pay dividends.

Procter and Gamble Hygiene: Over the last three years, the money that P&G invested did not translate into market cap gains. The worm has now turned. Its feminine hygiene line, Whisper, grew at 21 per cent and is also the category leader in value terms. Its ROCE, which started dipping since 2006, has again picked up indicating that its new investments are now paying dividends. The stock is trading at its three years highs but is still priced 20 per cent below its peers.

Marico: Till 2008-09 came by, the company’s sales and profits had grown for 30 consecutive quarters, indicating a stable track record. Over the last five years, the company averaged a 20 per cent growth in sales and profits. It recently launched its Saffola range of food products, which is expected to give the company its next round of growth. The stock looks fully priced but its international business and Kaya Skin Clinics have started to deliver returns. Analysts expect these businesses to expand rapidly in the coming years.

Risk: People love this sector when the chips are down. But when bulls are roaming the streets, returns from this sector fall. These stocks have higher valuations than the general market, making them look expensive.

The Infrastructure Play

India needs new roads, ports, airports, railway lines and huge amounts of power. Apart from steel and cement, there are several ancillary plays as well. For instance, warehouse network will be needed along the roads and near ports. As more small towns get connected to big cities through roads, vehicle sales will benefit.

Strategy: Not good for paying school fees; great for college education kitty.

Blue Star: Two decades to reach Rs. 1,000 crore in sales; two years to reach Rs. 2,000 crore in 2008. Non-core businesses are gone and 90 per cent of revenues come from refrigeration and cooling products. It’s almost debt-free with an ROCE of over 50 per cent. Growing demand for cold storage, outsourcing outfits and other commercial offices in Tier II cities put the estimated non-residential demand for air conditioning at Rs. 38,000 crore.

BHEL: For 2009-10, the company is increasing its capacity from 10 GW to 15 GW. Capacity additions are ahead of schedule. The slowdown in the global economy has brought down input costs significantly. The company has also taken control of its salary costs that were eroding its profit margins. BHEL will be among the top beneficiaries as India begins to add 20,000 MW of generation capacity each year for the next five years.

Power Finance Corporation: At about 25 per cent, the company’s net profit margin is close to what the best software companies earn at half their price-to-earnings ratio. This public sector company also enjoys the preferred lender status for all the mega power projects in the country. Its employee expenses are just 1 per cent of sales.

Mahindra & Mahindra: Rural India is earning well because of infrastructure boom. M&M’s SUVs are selling briskly and its market share in the SUV space has gone from 51 per cent to 57 per cent in the last two years. A week after Xylo was launched, M&M received 9,000 bookings, or one-fifth of its annual SUV sales. The stock may be fully priced now but the upshot comes from prosperity in the hinterland that better infrastructure will bring.

Allcargo Global Logistics: This stock was one of the earliest to recover after it fell dramatically in October. It has already recovered all the lost ground as the company managed to keep its net profits margin above 15 per cent. The stock is available at a P/E of 17 on trailing earnings, just as expensive as the broad market. Allcargo, a complete logistics provider, is positioned well to exploit the projected 17 per cent in port traffic and the increasing trend of outsourcing of logistics by manufacturing companies.

Risk: Long payback periods are par for the course in infrastructure. As a result, earnings in the near term could be depressed, often in proportion to the borrowed funds. If costs of funds go up, returns could diminish. In some cases, regulatory glitches can also slow down the process as is the case with mega power plants coming up in Uttar Pradesh.

The Liberalisation Play

Government moves out, lets in private capital, it works more efficiently and delivers great returns. That’s liberalisation. The new government has the mandate to open up sectors like banking, insurance, retail and airlines to private investors. When it does, be there.

Strategy: Simply select the best performers in these sectors.

Crisil: The 800-pound gorilla of rating agencies, it rates 1,000 firms today. If the financial sector is liberalised, that number could go up to 10,000. Crisil has retained earnings of 75 per cent with an ROCE of 42 per cent. It is the fourth largest credit rating agency in the world.

ICRA: There is room for both Crisil and ICRA in the space. At Rs. 788, the company is getting close to its 52-week high of Rs. 900. But the number doesn’t capture the potential arising from RBI’s new rule that all debt products be rated.

HDFC Bank: A cautious and solid bank, it is safe because its government bond holdings are 3 per cent over the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) requirement.Fiscal liberalisation will benefit this bank because it is in a position to scale up quickly. At Rs. 1,569, the price looks steep based on 2009-10 P/E multiple of 4. This is very much the stock for those who like conservative growth.

Kingfisher Airlines: The company has a debt-equity ratio of 3:1. And it makes losses. If foreign capital is allowed, you can be sure of one thing: Vijay Mallya will make sure Kingfisher gets it. That will make life a lot easier for the airline.

Oracle Financial: It suffered when foreign banks went broke. But its earnings jumped 77 per cent and revenues rose 23 per cent in 2008-09. As its clients come off the ventilator, they will need to be rewired. Oracle Financial will be waiting.

Risk: The ambiguity of regulatory changes, however, gives them some additional risk. Given that US banks have behaved so badly, it is going to be hard for government to liberalise the financial sector.

The Vulture Play

These stocks have fallen like there’s no bottom. But the levels at which they are trading offer huge opportunities.

Strategy: Buy on rumours and sell on news.

Suzlon: Debt is high and so are the receivables. But Tulsi Tanti is willing to dilute his stake and meet commitments. If US President Barack Obama backs energy generation from green sources, Suzlon’s 5 MW wind turbines will be hot. The stock has gained nearly 300 per cent since the time it fell to Rs. 35.

Ranbaxy: The last 12 months have been bad. Sales are down, research hasn’t paid off and US FDA is after it for manufacturing lapses. But the new Japanese owner Daiichi Sankyo has had great successes in research and working with the FDA. Expect them to put Ranbaxy back on an even keel.

NIIT: As IT crashed so did the IT trainer. Its stock fell 85 per cent to Rs. 14. But it is moving beyond IT and is training professionals for banking jobs. The amount spent on education doubled in the last five years and NIIT grew twice as fast, quadrupling its top line. The stock has recovered to half its 52-week high.

Wockhardt: Its core business is in fine fettle. Its problems are foreign loan repayments and derivative losses. Banks are taking over the company operations and Habil Khorakiwala has put some businesses on the block to pay off debtors. Wockhardt’s strong cash flow should return it to good health in two years.

Hindalco: The acquisition of Novelis tripled Hindalco’s sales but caused an 11 per cent decline in net profits. But aluminum prices are rising and credit is beginning to flow. Hindalco’s nine-month profits look nice. It now has the space to fix Novelis. Tricky but not impossible.

Risk: This one’s clearly a high risk strategy. There could be serious heart ache before the gains come.

Union Budget Highlights: What is in it for you?

2009-07-07T01:17:00.002+05:30

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Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented Union Budget 2009 in the Parliament. The Minister commenced his speech by stating that the mandate for UPA in the just concluded General Elections is in fact a mandate for inclusive growth and went on to spell out the road ahead for India's growth story.

Highlights of Union Budget 2009:

Impact & outcome

Cheaper: Footwear, LCD TVs, branded jewellery, drugs for heart treatment, bulk drugs, textiles

Dearer: Mobile phones, set-top boxes, gold bars, gold and silver import

Tax slabs raised

* Income tax exemption limit for others raised by Rs 10,000 (Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.6 lakh)
* Income tax exemption limit for women raised by Rs 10,000 (Rs 1.80 lakh to Rs 1.90 lakh)
* Income tax exemption limit for senior citizens raised by Rs 15,000 (Rs 2.25 lakh to Rs 2.40 lakh)
* 10% surcharge in Direct Taxes scrapped
* Individual law consultation not to attract service tax
* I-T Saral II form to be introduced
* No change in corporate taxation
* SEC 80IB benefit extended to natural gas
* Investment-linked tax benefits for gas pipelines, cold chains
* Sunset clause for Software Technology Parks of India (STPIs) extended by 1 year
* Minimum alternate tax increased to 15% from 10% of book profit
* Section 80DD to be hiked to Rs 1 lakh
* Fringe benefit tax scrapped

What is in it for you?

* Govt to spend Rs 120 cr in FY10 on unique ID
* Certain pension-related benefits extended to war-hounded
* National Web Portal for employer and employee to be launched
* Stepped up allocation of funds from Rs 10,800 cr to Rs 15,800 cr for railways
* Aila hurricane relief at Rs 1,000 cr

What Young India gets?

* Employment exchanges to be modernised
* Interest subsidy for educational loans
* Plan to cut female illiteracy by half in three yrs
* To launch national mission on female literacy

What Agriculture sector gets?

* Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna stepped up by 30%
* Agri credit for at Rs 3.25 lakh crore for 09-10
* Budget makes subvention of 1% to benefit farmers
* Proposes to extend deadline to farmers to pay off 75% of loans by six months to December 31, 2009
* Ensure 4% agriculture growth

What Rural India gets?

* To provide Rs 2000 cr for rural housing
* Banking facilities in remote areas in next 3 years
* To add handloom clusters in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu
* Govt aims to have social security for informal sector
* PM's Adarsh Gram Yojana starts with Rs 100 cr funding
* NHB refinance to rural housing sector to be raised
* Indira Awaas Yojana outlay increased by 63%
* Bharat Nirman outlay raised by 59%
* Food security to provide rice, wheat at Rs 3 a kg to poor
* Allocation for Indira Awaas Yojana to be increased by 63%
* Govt. to move food security bill very soon
* NREGA outlay increased by 144%
* NREGA min wages set at Rs 100/day
* Special fund of Rs 4,000 cr from Rural Infra Dev fund to provide cheap loans to MSME

PSUs: Disinvestment on backburner

* PSU companies to remain under government control
* Govt wants public shareholding in PSUs to go up
* PSUs to remain under govt control
* Govt to set-up expert committee to advise on petro pricing products
* PSU Banks, insurance firms outside disinvestment plan
* There are signs of revival in domestic industry

Sops for industry

* Construction: Restore full exemption on goods such as pre-fabricated slabs
* Branded jewellery exempted from excise duty
* Tax holiday on commercial production of mineral oil and natural gas on NELP VIII
* MAT hiked to 15% of book profit from 10%
* To introduce GST by April 1, 2010
* Govt wants public shareholding in PSUs to go up
* PSUs to remain under govt control
* PSU Banks, insurance firms outside disinvestment plan
* Exporters borne the brunt of eco crisis, will provide adj assistance till March 2010
* IIFCL and banks in position to support Rs 1,00,000 cr in infrastructure
* Infra investment to be over 9% of GDP by 2014
* Gross capital flow rose to over 9% over GDP

Financial sector: The road ahead

* Budget estimates: Interest payment expected at Rs 2,25,511 cr
* 8.5% growth in recent past fueled by pvt sector investment
* PSU Banks, insurance firms outside disinvestment plan
* Turbulence in world markets left Indian financial sector unaffected
* Fiscal deficit up to 6.2% from 2.7% fo GDP
* IIFCL and banks in position to support Rs 1,00,000 cr in infrastructure

Advantage Infrastructure

* Rs 1 lakh crore projects for Infrastructure revival
* IIFCL and banks in position to support Rs 1,00,000 cr in infrastructure
* Highway and railways: Allocation hiked by 23%
* Stepped up allocation of funds from Rs 10,800 cr to Rs 15,800 cr for railways
* Govt have some success in attracting investments in certain sectors through PPP
* Allocation for Mumbai flood management hiked

Defence Budgets

* To spend Rs 1.42 lakh cr on defence
* Govt to build 100,000 homes for paramilitary forces
* Paramilitary housing project to cost Rs 1,000 cr
* Certain Pension related benefits extended to war hounded
* Paramilitary housing cost estimated at Rs 1,000 cr
* Govt proposes to launch housing for 1 lakh para military forces

Challenges ahead

* Fiscal deficit grew from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP
* To lead the economy back to 9% growth
* Growth rate in 2008-09 dipped to 6.7% from average 9 % growth in previous 3 fiscal years

Janata Khana in Railway to have national and regional cuisines

2009-07-04T11:42:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: All the zones in Indian Railways have been instructed to ensure availability of ''Janata Khana''.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha today, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said that national and regional cuisines would be introduced in the catering by the Railways.

All railway zones have also been instructed to give priority to provision of good quality food, drinking water and toilet facilities and ensure cleanliness on trains and stations.

A comprehensive policy including strict monitoring mechanisms would be developed soon for achieving these objectives.

The Railways will also develop 375 'Adarsh Stations' with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms. These stations will also have dormitories especially for lady passengers, better signage and other basic facilities.

The Indian Railways has already identified 309 stations to be developed across the country.

In addition, the Railways will extend a helping hand to the persons with physical disabilities and old age people. Standard ramps, earmarked parking lots, specially designed coaches in each mail and express train, lifts and escalators would be provided in a phased manner.

Kaka makes his priorities clear at Real Madrid

2009-07-02T22:27:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Real Madrid’s new signing, Kaka, has conducted his first press conference since being unveiled as the new Bernabeu No. 8.

Why He Left Milan For Madrid

The attacking midfielder took the chance to explain why he left AC Milan, and why he chose to come to the Spanish capital.

"Milan opened the door to negotiations for the first time. It was a time of world crisis, this was back in January," he explained.

"After the season finished, they said again there were some offers and they had to begin the transfer negotiation procedure again. So then I said I would love to go to Real Madrid if at some point Milan decided to let me go.

"Today for me was incredible, unforgettable - not only in my life but the lives of many other people. It was historical for me.

"I chose Madrid because it appeals to me in every way. When i talk to my colleagues from the national team, they always talk to me about Real Madrid. I had this information and that's why I decided that one day, if I left Milan, it would be to play for Real Madrid, and now it has come true."

The Perez Project

Kaka moved on to discuss why he chose to come to the club inder the leadership of president Florentino Perez, who apparently promised a new-look team.

"When Florentino contacted me, he didn't say specific names - he spoke about a big sporting project, and that is something that made a big impact on me.

"Everything he did during his previous era, he repeated some of those guidelines and they conviced me me. I said, "President, I see where you're coming from."

"He spoke to me about another very important player that would be joining the ranks of Real Madrid, namely Cristiano Ronaldo. I was very pleased, because he comes from a great team. We're all joining a great team.

"We're all joining a great team. I'm joining one of the greatest teams. It would mean I would be playing alongside some of the best players in the world: Iker Casillas, Guti, the Dutch players, all the players who are part of this great team.

"It is a great responsibility, but that's not something that is negative for me - it's only a source of motivation.

"I understand that I'm an important signing, I also understand that during my life I have played for great teams, but I also understand I wanted to join a team where I could keep on doing this."

Cristiano Ronaldo – A Rival?

Journalists at the conference wished to know about how his relationship will be with a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. Would there be jostling for limelight?

Kaka said, "Once again, it's not a responsibility, or a 'weight', but a privilege. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greats, and he has done really well with Manchester United, and has had two great seasons in the Champions League.

"It's not just about him, but also Raul, who has won so many trophies with Real Madrid, and all the new players: I'm happy to be with them all.

"From what I'm seeing right now, I have to say that talent alone is not enough. I have been in many teams that have had loads of talent but did not make it through and been with teams that did not have that much talent and ended up being champions.

"We have something going really positive for us, that there are players who will fight for the colours and the badge of Real Madrid, which will work to our advantage.

"Will CR7 be a rival," he repeated rhetorically, looking over at Jorge Valdano, as if looking to stem the tide of the same question coming from the press. "There is no rivalry, he will be a team-mate, and we're compatible players and of course we're going to be able to play together.

"And off the pitch, there's no rivalry. This is not the way I am, and not the way I see life and football.

"We are both winners, we both have the same ambitions, so I think we both have the same objectives."

Quickfire

On Real Madrid Goalscoring

"Oh, you'll see the first goal! I'm not worried about that at all."

On Challenging Barcelona

"I'm sure we ready to challenge them. This is something that depends not only on the project, but also on how we do against them head to head."

On Coach Manuel Pellegrini

"I haven't yet spoken to him, but I'm anxiously waiting for that moment to arrive."

What Did Alfredo Di Stefano Say?

"He said a lot of things - one of the most interesting was when he asked how this place compared to the Maracana."

On The Future

"First of all, ever since the first moment I landed in Europe, things are in continuous development and they change from year to year.

"I have a contract here, it's six years long, and it depends how things go. Who knows? I might extend it, but then after my contract is over, I might go back. Who knows what will happen?"

On Carlo Ancelotti's Late Offer To Bring Kaka To Chelsea

"I was very sincere, I thanked him for all the time we had worked and been together, and for everything he allowed me to win, but that I had made my decision, and I thanked him very much."

On The Possible Arrivals Of Xabi Alonso, Franck Ribery, David Villa

"As I said before, when Florentino, the president, spoke to me first, he didnt speak of names, he spoke of a project.

"All those players that you mentioned are leading players and players that would fit right into Real Madrid."

On Who He Spoke To About The Move

"The first person i spoke to was my father, and Adriano Galliani, who has a great relationship with Florentino. Those are the first people I spoke to.

"I had already been here in 2002, and I had already met Florentino during the centenary celebration of Madrid."

On His Transfer Fee

"It is not for me to judge the market value accorded to me. That's what they paid for me - that's it."

Will Real Madrid Play In Japan?

"I have excellent memories of Japan. We won our world cup in 2002 and I won there the Intercontinental Cup with Milan in 2007. What the club decides to do is managed by the club, but I hope one day we would go to Japan. I would love that."

On Previous Offers

"All the times that there was news surrounding me, I always said, please talk to my club. Of course I met with Milan and said it would be up to them to decide. It is true that I had offers from Real Madrid and many other clubs in the past, but it was Milan who always dealt with that."

Masand's movie review: New York not convincing

2009-06-30T14:09:00.002+05:30

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Cast: John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan

Direction: Kabir Khan

Director Kabir Khan's New York, based on extensive research conducted by the filmmaker himself, brazenly accuses the FBI of illegally detaining hundreds of Muslims suspected to have terrorist links post 9/11 and of putting them through extreme forms of torture, only to release months later when no evidence against them could be gathered that many of them were innocent.

Surprising then, that the same film's basic premise involves the FBI itself waiting and watching and monitoring – but never arresting or even probing – a very serious terror suspect who they have ample dope on. It's not until he's planted bombs all across the FBI headquarters that they swing into action.

In another instance, a lady who works as a human rights activist, merrily goes about her life knowing full well her husband's involved in terrorist activities, but doesn't confront him, hoping he'll have a change of heart eventually.

It's holes like these that make New York a tiresome watch.

Omar, an Indian immigrant in the Big Apple (played by Neil Nitin Mukesh), is picked up by the FBI and threatened to be detained as a terror suspect unless he agrees to help them investigate an old college buddy of his, Sam (played by John Abraham).

Confident that Sam is innocent, Omar reluctantly goes along with the plan, and hence reconnects with Sam and his wife Maya (played by Katrina Kaif), who Omar nursed a crush on way back in college. Torn between his affection for Sam who appears perfectly clean, and the commitment he made to FBI officer Roshan (played by Irrfan Khan) who's convinced Sam is hiding a dirty secret, Omar ends up stumbling into a shocking truth that leaves all their lives forever altered.

New York has its heart in the right place and its intentions are entirely honorable. The film wants to take up the issue of innocent people who sometimes turn to crime or terrorism as revenge against unlawful detention. It's a relevant issue no doubt, but because the film is constructed from such a sloppy script, that point is lost under all the creative liberties and convenient short-cuts that the screenplay takes.

The film doesn't quite work on an emotional level either because the acting's rather weak. It's hard to feel sympathy for characters who fail to convey emotions convincingly. Look at the scene in which our three protagonists watch the Twin Towers being attacked on television – I think I can safely say, eight years ago sitting in Mumbai, I was more disturbed than these fellows appear to be right there in the heart of New York.

It doesn't help matters that the dialogue's clunky and full of lines that make you cringe. Irrfan Khan – easily the film's biggest strength – is often saddled with patronising sermons, including one particularly ill-timed one in the film's closing scene. He is the conscience of this movie, he stands for the modern Muslim, and what he says is almost always important – now if only the film didn't feel like such a cop-out.

New York wants to be a meaningful film about a relevant issue, but the makers don't seem to have the courage in their convictions. As a result, it's evenly 'commercialised' with all the trappings of a typical Bollywood potboiler. In the end, the only bits that engage are the early campus scenes where all three actors are only required to play versions of themselves.

I'm going with a generous two out of five for director Kabir Khan's New York. But watch the excellent Pakistani film Khuda Kay Liye to see how a terrific script and convincing performances can go a long way in telling a similar story. This film, unfortunately, lacks both.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

Engineering marvel BWSL opening today: Bikers not welcomed!

2009-06-30T13:53:00.002+05:30

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The Bandra Worli Sea Link bridge (BWSL) is lit up in the colours of the Indian flag on the eve of its inauguration in Mumbai on Monday. It is hoped that the Rs16.5 billion, 5.6km, eight-lane freeway could help cut the 40-minute journey between the suburbs of Bandra and Worli to just eight. It is India’s first bridge constructed in open sea conditions.

Two and three-wheelers would not be allowed to ply on the Bandra-Worli sea link, to be openned Tuesday by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

"We will not allow two and three-wheelers to ply on the bridge," Sanjay Barve, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) told reporters in Mumbai Monday evening.

Without elaborating the reason for taking such an action, which might contract the toll revenue, Barve trying to clear the "misconceptions" said that the bridge would ease the traffic.

Tuesday’s opening will allow commuters to use the first four lane of 4-km long bridge from Wednesday with the second four-lane expected to get completed by December this year, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) Chairman and Managing Director Ajit Gulabchand said.

HCC is constructing the bridge, implemented by the Maharshtra State Road Development Corporation.

The bridge would provide an additional moving outlet from the island city to the Western suburbs and thereby providing much-needed relief to the congested Mahim causeway, which records around 1.25 lakh public vehicles in a day.

The Bandra-Worli sea link project was conceived in the 1990s. But plagued by a series of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) from fishermen and environmentalists, the work on the project could not take off till October 2004.

Agitations, however, forced MSRDC to make drastic changes, to the tune of 80 per cent, in the design of the bridge which, in turn, escalated the cost of the project by around Rs 350 crore from the initial planned outlay of Rs 1,306 crore to Rs 1,650 crore.

Out of the total project cost, the Maharashtra government is expected to give Rs 580 crore as viability funding.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the nodal agency for the project, has raised Rs 150 crore from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Rs 1500 crore from synidcated loans and Rs 76 crore from the sale of bonds. The MSRDC is also raising additional Rs 328 crore for the project.

The new look of the bridge, however, is a beauty - a treat to the eyes. It will certainly become a thriving tourist spot in the island city. Another destination in the "Mumbai Darshan" package.

Two cable stayed bridges, a 600m long at Bandra channel and the other twin-tower supported 350m long at the Worli channel.

The eight-lane bridge will reduce the travel time between the two points from 60-90 minutes to 6-8 minutes. This will save around Rs 100 crore a year in vehicle operating cost alone.

A treat to the eyes, the cost of illumination of the bridge would be Rs 9 crore and the height of the cable-stayed tower is equal to a 43-storey building.

Initially, the speed limit for the vehicles is 50k/hr and each vehicle is photographed when they enter the link and vehicle speed is monitored constantly.

A construction worker walks on the Bandra Worli sea link on the eve of its inauguration in Mumbai on Monday.

The link will also have CCTV cameras and police camps tracking the vecicle movement.
“This is the most challenging project we had undertaken. Adjusting to the changes in bridge aligments and change in designs was a substantial challenge. It will be a landmark in the city of Mumbai after Gateway of India," said Gulabchand.

Nearly 2,200 vehicles are expected to pass through the link every hour. Four wheelers will be charged a toll of Rs 50, over twelve seaters Rs 75 and trucks will be charged Rs 100 on one way movement on the link.To solve the trafiic snarls at the Worli side,which has narrow approach roads, the traffic police has drawn up detailed plans for the south-bound and north bound traffic movement.

For pedestrian movement, MSRDC is also building foot-over bridge after getting the clearance from the environment ministry.Initially, the speed limit for the vehicles is 50k/hr and each vehicle is photographed when they enter the link and vehicle speed is monitored constantly.
The link will also have CCTV cameras and police camps tracking the vehicle movement.“This is the most challenging project we had undertaken.

Adjusting to the changes in bridge aligments and change in designs was a substantial challenge. It will be a landmark in the city of Mumbai after Gateway of India,” said Gulabchand.

Michael Jackson: The entertainer and enigma

2009-06-26T22:11:00.002+05:30

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Los Angeles: Michael Jackson, defined in equal parts as the world's greatest entertainer and perhaps its most enigmatic figure, was about to attempt one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Then his life was cut shockingly--and so far, mysteriously--short.

The 50-year-old musical superstar died on Thursday, just as he was preparing for what would be a series of 50 concerts starting July 13 at London's famed 02 arena. Jackson had been spending hours and hours toiling with a team of dancers for a performance he and his fans hoped would restore his tarnished legacy to its proper place in pop.

An autopsy was planned for Friday, though results were not likely to be final until toxicology tests could be completed, a process that takes several days and sometimes weeks. Police said they were investigating--standard procedure in high-profile cases.

Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him at his home for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.

"It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known," his brother Jermaine said.

Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.

Eventful career

Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

His 1982 album Thriller--which included the blockbuster hits Beat It, Billie Jean and Thriller--is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

As word of his death spread, MTV switched its programming to play videos from Jackson's heyday. Radio stations began playing marathons of his hits. Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital. In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.

"No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow," Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend had sent him. "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died."

The public first knew him as a boy in the late 1960s, when he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the singing group he formed with his four older brothers out of Gary, Indiana. Among their No. 1 hits were I Want You Back, ABC and I'll Be There.

He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks, as was his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.

"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller. ''He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."

Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. He united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie. Jackson's sudden death immediately evoked comparisons to that of Presley himself, who died at age 42 in 1977.

"I am so very sad and confused with every emotion possible," Lisa Marie Presley said in a statement. "I am heartbroken for his children who I know were everything to him and for his family. This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me."

As years went by, Jackson became an increasingly freakish figure--a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grown-up life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He often wore a germ mask while traveling, kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions and surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, a storybook playland filled with toys, rides and animals. The tabloids dubbed him "Wacko Jacko."

"It seemed to me that his internal essence was at war with the norms of the world. It's as if he was trying to defy gravity," said Michael Levine, a Hollywood publicist who represented Jackson in the early 1990s. He called Jackson a "disciple of P.T. Barnum" and said the star appeared fragile at the time but was "much more cunning and shrewd about the industry than anyone knew."

Jackson caused a furore in 2002 when he playfully dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin while a throng of fans watched from below.

n 2005, he was cleared of charges that he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior with other children.

The case followed years of rumors about Jackson and young boys. In a TV documentary, he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.

Despite the acquittal, the lurid allegations that came out in court took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.

Early life

Michael Joseph Jackson was born August 29, 1958, in Gary. He was 4 years old when he began singing with his brothers--Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito--in the Jackson 5. After his early success with bubblegum soul, he struck out on his own, generating innovative, explosive, unstoppable music.

The album Thriller alone mixed the dark, serpentine bass and drums and synthesizer approach of Billie Jean, the grinding Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on Beat It, and the hiccups and falsettos on Wanna Be Startin' Somethin.

The peak may have come in 1983, when Motown celebrated its 25th anniversary with an all-star televised concert and Jackson moonwalked off with the show, joining his brothers for a medley of old hits and then leaving them behind with a pointing, crouching, high-kicking, splay-footed, crotch-grabbing run through Billie Jean.

The audience stood and roared. Jackson raised his fist.

During production of a 1984 Pepsi commercial, Jackson's scalp sustained burns when an explosion sets his hair on fire.

He had strong follow-up albums with 1987's Bad and 1991's Dangerous, but his career began to collapse in 1993 after he was accused of molesting a boy who often stayed at his home. The singer denied any wrongdoing, reached a settlement with the boy's family, reported to be $20 million, and criminal charges were never filed.

Jackson's expressed anger over the allegations on the 1995 album HIStory, which sold more than 2.4 million copies, but by then, the popularity of Jackson's music was clearly waning even as public fascination with his increasingly erratic behavior was growing.

Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and they divorced in 1996. Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, now 12; and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11. Rowe filed for divorce in 1999.

Jackson also had a third child, Prince Michael II. Now 7, Jackson said the boy nicknamed Blanket as a baby was his biological child born from a surrogate mother.

Billboard magazine editorial director Bill Werde said Jackson's star power was unmatched. "The world just lost the biggest pop star in history, no matter how you cut it," Werde said. "He's literally the king of pop."

Jackson's 13 No. 1 one hits on the Billboard charts put him behind only Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey, Werde said.

"He was on the eve of potentially redeeming his career a little bit," he said. "People might have started to think of him again in a different light."

Nilekani quits Infosys to join PM's citizens project

2009-06-25T22:08:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: Nandan Nilekani resigned as Co-Chairman of Infosys Technologies and its board following his appointment as Chairman of an IT-driven government program for providing unique identification numbers to citizens of the country.

"The Board of Directors at Infosys has already accepted Nilekani's resignation. The resignation would be effective from July 9, 2009," the company said in a statement here.

Nilekani will take charge as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India with the rank of Cabinet Minister.

As co-founder of India's second-largest software exporting firm, Nilekani served as director on the Infosys board since its inception in 1981.

Between March 2002 and June 2007, he served as the company's chief executive officer and managing director.

He was later re-designated as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Cabinet status for Nandan Nilekani

The Union Cabinet has appointed the Infosys Chief Nandan Nilekani as the Chairman of National Authority for Unique Identity.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said the new authority will function under the planning commission, and Nilekani will be enjoying cabinet status.

Ms Soni said the authority will have the responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the Unique Identification Scheme and will operate the unique identification number database for the citizen’s of the country.

In January the Government of India has notified the creation of the National Authority of Unique Identity.

The ambitious plan of unique identification has been allocated Rs 100 crore in the interim budget of 2009-10.

The unique identification number aims at eliminating the need for multiple identification mechanism prevalent across various government departments, and it will ensure that each Indian citizen will carry a permanent identifier from birth to death.

The permanent identifier which will also cover children, will help in at establishing citizenship, reducing identity related frauds, addresses security issues and prevent leakages in different government schemes.

In the beginning the Unique Identity number will be given to all voters who are on current electoral rolls, and gradually, the other persons including those below 18 years of age will be added to the database. Photographs and biometric data will be added to make the identification perfect.

Saina's Indonesia triumph among the best in Indian sport: Gopichand

2009-06-22T22:41:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Saina Nehwal has put her name alongside the greatest of Indian sportspersons after her triumph in the Indonesia Super Series Sunday, feels her coach and former All England champion Pullela Gopichand.
Saina's Indonesia triumph among the best in Indian sport: Gopichand
"She has achieved something remarkable for Indian badminton," an elated Gopichand said.

Saina beat China's Lin Wang 12-21, 21-18, 21-9 to win her maiden Super Series title Sunday.

Asked to compare Saina's victory with his and Prakash Padukone's All England titles, Gopichand said it was certainly up there among the top.

"Saina's achievement is huge lift not just for badminton but for Indian sport. The tournament might not be in the branding of All-England or world championships, but in terms of quality it is as good as any top level tournament.

"The fact that she has been able to win in a field with eight of the world's top 10 player competing says it all," he said.

"She might not know the importance of this victory now. It does not matter how her international career unfold from here, but going by what she has achieved at such a young age she has already left her mark in Indian sport."

"She has been consistent in beating top players regularly and her level has gone up."

Gopichand said that the title will be a huge boost for Saina before the World Championships in Hyderabad in August.

Troubled Pakistan rides World Cup victory wave

2009-06-22T22:35:00.001+05:30

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Karachi: Troubled but cricket-crazy Pakistan celebrated on Monday victory in the Twenty20 World Cup three-and-a-half months after an attack on the Sri Lankan team appeared to drive a nail into the coffin of Pakistani cricket.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the final at Lord's in London on Sunday to win its first major trophy since former captain Imran Khan's side won the 1992 50-over World Cup.

"It's time to cheer," said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at stock brokers Arif Habib Ltd in Karachi.

His comments were echoed by the market, with the benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100-shared index up 0.66 pct by 11 am (0500 GMT).

"We've had bad news all around for quite some time now and this victory has definitely resulted in a feel-good effect," said Bhanji.

"The market is all about sentiment and this has definitely helped change the mood, which was visible in the positive opening."

The KSE-100 index has gained about 21 per cent this year, after a 58.3 per cent drop in 2008.

But it is trading about 12 per cent lower than the highest level set this year.

Pakistan is beset by problems with the military battling an expanding Taliban insurgency in the northwest which has forced nearly two million people from their homes.

The militants have responded with a string of bomb attacks and security has never been tighter in towns and cities.

A March 3 attack by gunmen on Sri Lanka's team as it was being driven to a stadium for a match in the city of Lahore raised fears for the future of the game in Pakistan.

Seven Pakistanis, including six police guards and the driver of a Sri Lankan team bus, were killed in the militant ambush.

Six of the Sri Lankans and two team officials were wounded. With foreign teams refusing to visit, commentators mourned what some saw as the death of Pakistani cricket.

Pakistan Zindabad!

As well as the dire security situation, Pakistan has been hit by economic problems and had to be bailed out by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan last November.

But all that was forgotten on Sunday evening when across the the country, people poured onto the streets to celebrate moments after Pakistan clinched victory.

People danced, beat drums and set off fireworks while some fired their guns into the air in celebration.

"We as a nation have gone through so much recently that we needed something desperately to cheer us up. I think this win has given us that," said pharmaceutical company executive Mansoor Khan.

People displaced by the fighting in the northwest did not miss out on the fun. Television stations set up big screens in tent camps so everyone could watch Pakistan's triumph.

"What a match. A victory that makes the nation so proud and so happy," prominent Pakistani fashion designer Zehra Valliani wrote on the social networking site Facebook.

"After a long time we deserved this celebration. Pakistan Zindabad! (Long Live Pakistan)," she wrote.

After the victory in London, Pakistan captain Younus Khan made an emotional appeal for teams to visit his country.

"Everybody must come to Pakistan, we need a home test series. How can we attract the youngsters?," Younus, draped in the Pakistan flag, told a news conference.

New Billionaires 2009:John Paul Dejoria,Wang Chuanfu

2009-06-17T18:31:00.004+05:30

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It's been a tough year for the richest people in the world. Last year there were 1,125 billionaires. This year there are just 793 people rich enough to make our list.

The world has become a wealth wasteland. Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on our list of the World's Billionaires, a 30% decline from a year ago.

Of the 1,125 billionaires who made last year's ranking, 373 fell off the list--355 from declining fortunes and 18 who died. There are 38 newcomers, plus three moguls who returned to the list after regaining their 10-figure fortunes. It is the first time since 2003 that the world has had a net loss in the number of billionaires.

The world's richest are also a lot poorer. Their collective net worth is $2.4 trillion, down $2 trillion from a year ago. Their average net worth fell 23% to $3 billion. The last time the average was that low was in 2003.

Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world's richest man. Warren Buffett, last year's No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK.A - news - people ) fell nearly 50% in 12 months, but he still managed to slip just one spot to No. 2. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú also lost $25 billion and dropped one spot to No. 3.

It was hard to avoid the carnage, whether you were in stocks, commodities, real estate or technology. Even people running profitable businesses were hammered by frozen credit markets, weak consumer spending or declining currencies.

The biggest loser in the world this year, by dollars, was last year's biggest gainer. India's Anil Ambani lost $32 billion--76% of his fortune--as shares of his Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital all collapsed.

Ambani is one of 24 Indian billionaires, all but one of whom are poorer than a year ago. Another 29 Indians lost their billionaire status entirely as India's stock market tumbled 44% in the past year and the Indian rupee depreciated 18% against the dollar. It is no longer the top spot in Asia for billionaires, ceding that title to China, which has 28.

Russia became the epicenter of the world's commodities bust, dropping 55 billionaires--two-thirds of its 2008 crop. Among them: Dmitry Pumpyansky, an industrialist from the resource-rich Ural mountain region, who lost $5 billion as shares of his pipe producer, TMK, sank 84%. Also gone is Vasily Anisimov, father of Moscow's Paris Hilton, Anna Anisimova, who lost $3.2 billion as the value of his Metalloinvest Holding, one of Russia's largest ore mining and processing firms, fell along with his real estate holdings.

Twelve months ago Moscow overtook New York as the billionaire capital of the world, with 74 tycoons to New York's 71. Today there are 27 in Moscow and 55 in New York.

After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth. Americans account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list's slots, up seven and three percentage points from last year, respectively. Still, it has 110 fewer billionaires than a year ago.

Those with ties to Wall Street were particularly hard hit. Former head of AIG (nyse: AIG - news - people ) Maurice (Hank) Greenberg saw his $1.9 billion fortune nearly wiped out after the insurance behemoth had to be bailed out by the U.S. government. Today Greenberg is worth less than $100 million. Former Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ) Chairman Sandy Weill also falls from the ranks.

Last year there were 39 American billionaire hedge fund managers; this year there are 28. Twelve American private equity tycoons dropped out of the billionaire ranks.

Blackstone Group's (nyse: BX - news - people ) Stephen Schwarzman, who lost $4 billion, and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts' Henry Kravis, who lost $2.5 billion, retain their billionaire status despite their weaker fortunes.

Worldwide, 80 of the 355 drop-offs from last year's list had fortunes derived from finance or investments.

While 656 billionaires lost money in the past year, 44 added to their fortunes. Those who made money did so by catering to budget-conscious consumers (discount retailer Uniqlo's Tadashi Yanai), predicting the crash (investor John Paulson) or cashing out in the nick of time (Cirque du Soleil's Guy Laliberte).

So is there anywhere one can still make a fortune these days? The 38 newcomers offer a few clues. Among the more notable new billionaires are Mexican Joaquín Guzmán Loera, one of the biggest suppliers of cocaine to the U.S.; Wang Chuanfu of China, whose BYD Co. began selling electric cars in December, and American John Paul Dejoria, who got the world clean with his Paul Mitchell shampoos and sloppy with his Patrón Tequila.

Shiney appears to be remorseful, claim cops

2009-06-17T18:23:00.001+05:30

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Mumbai: Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja, arrested on the charge of raping his domestic help appeared to be remorseful during interrogation, police claimed on Wednesday.

"He is completely shattered and is repenting for what he had done," Assistant Police Commissioner Dilip Suryavanshi said.

Ahuja's lawyer, Srikant Shivade, said if the actor has given any statement to police on his alleged role in the crime; it would not have evidential value in the court.

"We will wait until the charge sheet is filed," he said.

Another police officer said "Ahuja has not been sleeping well in Andheri lock-up and even skipped dinner on Monday night.

Ahuja reportedly had told police that it never occurred to him that the crime he was committing was "so much serious".

"He thought the victim would keep quiet and not complain to anyone," the officer said.

"Though the actor was uncomfortable during interrogation, yet he answered many of our questions," the officer added.

Ahuja, arrested on Monday, is in police custody till June 18.

India puts Pak to terror test, sets July deadline

2009-06-17T18:13:00.002+05:30

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On Board Air India One: A day after his meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday put Pakistan to the 'terrorism test' and said he had agreed to give Islamabad "some time" to take action against anti-India terror outfits before the two leaders meet again in Egypt in mid-July.

Disclosing the details of his first meeting with Zardari since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday, Manmohan Singh said he told the president that India expected Pakistan to show the same "sincerity and determination" against these terror outfits as it had in tackling the Taliban and the al-Qaeda on its western flanks.

Signalling his willingness to make another effort at making peace with Pakistan, the Prime Minister said he would wait for the outcome of the talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries, who are expected to meet later this month, before taking a decision on resuming the composite dialogue mid-July.

"The purpose of this meeting (between foreign secretaries) is to find what Pakistan has done and what it plans to do on terrorist activities against India," Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special plane while returning home from Yekaterinburg.

"I told him that we will like to see tangible steps. There is a time. We will take stock of the situation," he replied when asked if there was a timeline for resuming the talks before he meets Zardari again on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Egypt on July 15-16.

The decision to depute the foreign secretaries to discuss terrorism was taken at the Yekaterinburg ice-breaker meeting that lasted for 40 minutes.

It started with Manmohan Singh telling Zardari upfront that India expected Pakistan not to allow its territory to be used for terror attacks against it.

"Zardari told me the problems and difficulties he faces and said he needed more time (to tackle terror). I explained to him why Pakistan has taken effective action against Taliban and al-Qaeda. We have a strong feeling that the elements who perpetrated terror attacks against India are not being brought to justice," he said while drawing an important distinction with Pakistan's crackdown on the Taliban militants, reportedly under Western pressure.

"We wish Pakistan well in dealing with the al-Qaeda and Taliban. I would like Pakistan to show the same sincerity and determination in dealing with terrorists who operate against us from their side," he said.

We discussed India-Pakistan relations which remain under considerable stress and strain. The primary cause, as explained earlier, are terrorist attacks in India from the Pakistan territory."

"The government of Pakistan needs to take firm and strong action to prevent terror attacks against India, to bring to justice those involved in the Mumbai massacre and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism," the Prime Minister replied when asked whether he was looking for specific markers before taking the crucial decision on whether to resume the dialogue process with Pakistan next month.

Unveiling his vision of a cooperative subcontinent, Manmohan Singh said it was in the interests of the two countries and the region to make another effort at making peace.

"I have spoken before also about my vision of a cooperative subcontinent and the vital interest people of the subcontinent have in peace. For this, we must try again to make peace with Pakistan,” he said.

"But for this, it is essential that strong and effective steps are taken by Pakistan against the enemies of peace," he added.

"If the Pakistani leadership shows courage, determination and statesmanship to take the high road to peace, India will meet it more than half the way," the prime minister said, echoing his policy speech in Parliament on June 9.

Sources: http://www.newsupdatesindia.blogspot.com

Dhoni apologises to Indian fans, promises to fire again

2009-06-15T10:30:00.002+05:30

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London: Indian captain MS Dhoni apologised to Indian cricket fans after crashing out of the ICC Twenty20 championship on Sunday but rejected suggestions that exhaustion from playing too many games caused the failure of his top batsmen.

"We are sorry for what happened but we can say we gave our best," Dhoni told a news conference after losing to England by three wickets before thousands of Indian supporters at Lord's cricket ground in London.

"We had experienced guys who can handle the pressure. It was a day when nothing much worked for us."

"India is an emotional country," Dhoni said, adding: "We are more disappointed than them (Indian fans)."

But Dhoni denied repeated suggestions at the press conference that Indian players were exhausted from playing too many matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"You can't blame it on tiredness. It's not an excuse," the Indian skipper said, adding playing more matches was better for players. "It is a demanding format because you play at different venues. It's not like you play three or four games at the same point," he said.

"If you see me and say he's not giving his hundred percent then hold me responsible. Performance is a different matter."

"We didn't really perform well as a team."

Dhoni, however, admitted that he was failing to fire his guns while batting, having scored only three boundaries and not a single six in a knock of 30 on Sunday that was relatively sedate by his explosive standards.

"I'm not comfortably clearing the park - that's for sure. I'm working hard on it, and hopefully I'll be back with hitting sixes."

Dhoni said he elected to field after winning the toss because the wicket plays "a bit better" under the lights.

He gave credit to England's battery of pace bowlers, who fired a steady stream of short-pitched shoulder-high balls at the Indian batsmen, working to a game plan.

"Their bowlers started well. They were aggressive and used the bouncer and the short ball well," Dhoni said.

"They bowled the bouncer really well. They used the short balls and mixed them with slower bouncers. There are quite a few lessons to be learnt from this, hopefully during the time we have off from here, we can really look to work on this area."

"The run rate climbed and the timing of the wickets was crucial. We failed with the bat. There is no excuse."

He said the decision to promote Ravindra Jadeja in the batting order was taken to help stabilize the Indian innings. "Yuvraj could have gone in higher but we expected Jadeja to play for a few overs and stabilize the innings for us."

"It was unfortunate that Yuvraj was out that way (by stumping)?. It was one of those days."

"We lost wickets at unfortunate times. If the opposition score 153 runs and you are not able to score them there is no excuse."

"If the run-rate was close to nine or 10 an over I thought we could achieve that but the timing of wickets was crucial and the run-rate really climbed on us."

However, Dhoni promised India will bounce back at the next Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

"We lost in the 2007 World Cup and we lost in 50 overs, that was the worst part of my career. This loss is disappointing but still I don't think it comes near to the loss we had in the 50-over World Cup."

"We were never really up to the mark but in nine months' time there will be another World Cup and that is the only good thing we can say now."

"We'll try to do well."

"Cricket never tests your character when you are doing really well. It tests you when you are not doing well. I think this is a testing time for us but it's not the end of the road."

Asked if injured opener Virender Sehwag's absence had an impact on India's performance, Dhoni said: "He is the sort of player you can't really replace - we missed him. When he starts off the bowler is under pressure. He's a great player to have in your side."

He said Sehwag's replacement Rohit Sharma "did the job in percentage terms".

United accepts world-record Madrid bid for Ronaldo

2009-06-12T11:41:00.003+05:30

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London: Manchester United accepted a world record transfer offer for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid on Thursday, clearing the World Player of the Year to negotiate personal terms with the Spanish club.

The Premier League champions received an unconditional offer of 80 million pounds ($131 million) for Ronaldo, and unlike in the last offseason is willing to see its 24-year-old star performer join a major European rival.

United said: "At Cristiano's request, who has again expressed his desire to leave, and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player."

"Matters are expected to be concluded by June 30."

Madrid confirmed the offer for Ronaldo in a statement, saying: "The club hopes to reach an agreement with the player in the coming days."

The Portugal winger, who joined from Sporting Lisbon in 2003, spent last June pushing for what he called at the time a "dream move" to Madrid.

An unsuccessful complaint about Madrid's pursuit was made to football's world governing body FIFA and a move was blocked by United manager Alex Ferguson, who travelled to Lisbon to persuade his player to stay at Old Trafford.

That didn't stop Ronaldo being linked with Madrid and Ferguson's irritation boiled over in December when he said he "wouldn't sell Madrid a virus", describing the club as a "mob".

But now a world-record bid -- even if it means losing those feints, stepovers and thunderous free kicks -- appears too hard to resist for a club whose debts have spiralled to nearly $1 billion.

Ronaldo, who was contracted to United until 2012, plunged his future into doubt after losing the Champions League final to Barcelona last month, saying he wasn't sure if would stay next season. This was despite having vowed to stay at United in the buildup to the match and even in a broadcast interview conducted with himself.

The return of Florentino Perez as Madrid's president has changed things as the billionaire looks to spend to return the Spanish side to the glory days of its "galactico" era.

Kaka was signed from AC Milan earlier this week for a reported fee of around $92 million. But the offer for Ronaldo would eclipse that and the $65 million it paid to get former France striker Zinedine Zidane from Juventus in 2001.

Madrid will hope Ronaldo's arrival could strengthen its position as world football's richest club based on revenue. According to accountancy firm Deloitte, Madrid earned euro365.8 million compared to second-place United's euro324.8 million.

On the pitch, though, Ronaldo would be joining a club which just had its first trophyless season in three years, while United won a third straight Premier League title, the Club World Cup, and the League Cup.

Ronaldo finished United's top scorer again, despite not matching the 42-goal haul in the 2007-8 campaign when Ferguson's side won the Champions League and the English title.

However, Ronaldo was viewed by some as a divisive influence at United, openly challenging Ferguson's authority.

In the last weeks of the season he angrily swiped at some TV equipment while shaking his head in clear annoyance when substituted against Manchester City. When he missed a shot against Wigan, he answered Ferguson back from the pitch while shrugging his shoulders.

Former United manager Tommy Docherty said on Thursday that relations were clearly strained with Ferguson, as they had been with David Beckham before he was allowed to join Madrid in 2003.

"You can't have disharmony," said Docherty, who was manager between 1972-77. "With 80 million, they should cut their hands off with Ronaldo and run and give Real Madrid the problem."

A potential replacement is plying his trade a few miles north of Manchester in Wigan: 23-year-old Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia, who has been linked with a move to Old Trafford by British media.

United could also spend part of the windfall on paying the 25.5 million pounds required to turn Carlos Tevez's loan deal, which expires at the end of June, into a permanent contract.

REPORTS:http://www.newsupdatesindia.blogspot.com

Federer wins French Open, ties Sampras' record

2009-06-07T23:20:00.002+05:30

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Paris: Roger Federer beat Robin Soderling, tied Pete Sampras and won the French Open at last.
Federer wins French Open, ties Sampras' record
Undeterred by an on-court intruder, Federer beat surprise finalist Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Sunday to complete a career Grand Slam and win his 14th major title, matching Sampras' record.

On his fourth try at Roland Garros, Federer became the sixth man to win all four Grand Slam championships.

Playing in cool, windy weather and occasional rain, Federer raced to a quick lead, sweeping the first four games. Soderling appeared nervous at the start of his first Grand Slam final, and Federer kept him scrambling with penetrating groundstrokes to both corners and an occasional drop shot.

Federer's progress to the title was briefly delayed in the second set. The match was between points when a spectator waving a flag climbed through the photographer's pit and onto Federer's side of the court.

Federer backed away toward the backstop, but the fan caught up with him and tried to put a hat on Federer's head. Security personnel seemed slow to react before chasing the man to the other side of the court, and he was tackled, then carried out.

There was silence from the stunned crowd, then a chant of "Ro-ger! Ro-ger!" when the episode ended. Federer adjusted his headband, Soderling gave him a thumbs-up sign and play resumed.

Soderling's strokes steadied, and he pushed the second set to 6-all. But Federer played a brilliant tiebreaker, hitting aces on all four of his service points, and Soderling could only smile ruefully.

Federer broke again to start the third set and kept that lead the rest of the way. When he hit a service winner on championship point, he fell on his knees to the clay that had vexed him for so long, screamed and briefly buried his face in his hands.

He was teary by the time he met Soderling at the net, and the crowd gave Federer a standing ovation as he raised his arms in triumph.

The No. 23-seeded Soderling had eased Federer's path by upsetting four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round last Sunday. Nadal beat Federer at Roland Garros the past four years, including three consecutive times in the final.

Despite Nadal's surprising departure, Federer's path to the title wasn't easy. He rallied from a two-set deficit in the fourth round to beat Tommy Haas, and survived another five-setter against Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals.

Federer won his 14th Grand Slam championship at age 27. Sampras, who never reached a French Open final, was 31 when he won his last major title. Federer will try for No. 15 beginning in two weeks at Wimbledon, which he has won five times.

He has also won the U.S. Open the past five years, and he has three Australian Open titles.

For his latest victory, Federer won $1.5 million. Soderling received $750,000.

Another Indian student assaulted in Oz

2009-06-05T21:29:00.001+05:30

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Melbourne: Notwithstanding assurances by the Australian government that it would not tolerate racial violence, another Indian student was beaten up by a group of youths here today, the 10th person from the community to be assaulted within a space of a month.

20-year-old Amrit Pal Singh from Haryana, who is pursuing a course in community welfare from the Caps Institute of Management here, was assaulted near a McDonald's outlet when he was walking to the place where he worked on the part-time basis.

"One of the guys came to me and took off my mobile. When I asked him to please give me my mobile back, he gave me a punch on my face. I also gave a punch to him. Following which, his four friends came and started beating me," Singh said, adding "I have told the police about the incident." "One of the attackers took out a knife to hit me but I escaped as it hit my bag," he told PTI.

Singh was the 10th Indian student to be attacked within a month. One of the victims, Shravan Kumar, a student from Andhra Pradesh, remained critical after being stabbed with a screwdriver by a group of teenagers in a racial attack that also left his three Indian friends injured here last month.

The latest attack came despite the Australian government, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, pledging to take all steps to prevent such incidents.

Fiat to launch Grande Punto on June 17

2009-06-02T21:57:00.002+05:30

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Mumbai: Italian car maker Fiat will launch the much-awaited premium hatchback Grande Punto on June 17. The car will be introduced in petrol as well as diesel engine options.

The car will be produced at the company's manufacturing plant in Rajangaon, near Pune, Maharashtra.

"The car will fall in the same segment as the Maruti Suzuki Ritz, Hyundai i20, Skoda Fabia and the to-be-launched Honda Jazz", stated a media release.

The company is targeting to increase the localisation content of the Punto 85 per cent by December. The car will be available through a network of 100 Tata-Fiat sales and service outlets.

Air France confirms plane crash, 228 feared dead

2009-06-01T21:32:00.002+05:30

Paris: An Air France plane with 228 people on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after hitting heavy turbulence on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Air France said the Airbus flew into stormy weather four hours after its scheduled take-off from the Brazilian city and shortly afterwards sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults.

Company spokesman Francois Brousse said several of the plane's mechanisms had malfunctioned, preventing it from making contact with air traffic controllers.

"It is probably a combination of circumstances that could have led to the crash," he said. The airliner might have been hit by lightning, he said.

The Brazilian air force said the plane was far out over the the sea when it went missing. Military planes took off from both Brazil and Africa to hunt for it.

Flight AF 447 left Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 7 p.m. (2200 GMT) and had been expected to land at Paris's Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport on Monday at 11:15 a.m. (0915 GMT).

The carrier said 216 passengers were on board, including seven children and one baby, and 12 crew members. Air France said the pilots were highly experienced.

Tearful relatives and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived at Roissy expecting to greet the passengers.

About 20 relatives of passengers on board the flight arrived at Rio's Galeao airport on Monday morning seeking information after hearing news of its disappearance.

Bernardo Souza, who said his brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.

"I had to come to the airport but when I arrived I just found an empty balcony." he said. "With a lack of information, it is even more worrying."

Senior French government minister Jean-Louis Borloo ruled out the possibility of a hijacking.

"It's an awful tragedy," he told France Info radio.

If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm's 75-year history.

Helpline no: +33157021055

Bharti, Wal-Mart joint store first to open in India

2009-05-31T18:54:00.001+05:30

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Amritsar: India's Bharti group and Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, opened their first cash-and-carry joint venture store in the city on Saturday on an investment of $7 million.

They also plan to open at least 15 outlets across the country in the next three years.

The stores will be run under the brand name of Best Price Modern Wholesale. It will offer an assortment of around 6,000 items, including food and non-food items, at competitive wholesale prices.

Over 90 per cent of the goods will be sourced locally, helping keep down costs.

"This is a beginning and we will come up with 15 more stores in three years and employ more than 5,000 people," said Vice Chairman and Managing Director Bharti Enterprises, Rajan Bharti Mittal.

"We have tied up with 30,000 retailers and 8,000 suppliers and expect more to join us," said Mittal.

The Amritsar store, spread over about 50,000 square feet, will provide 200 direct and 500 indirect jobs.

"Within six to12 months you will see many such ventures in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. We have brought properties there," said Mittal.

"About 80 per cent of our suppliers are from Punjab. We will set up our next store in Ludhiana. Each store will require about $7 million. This does not include the land price."

A lot of planning and preparation had gone into the project in the past 12 months, said Managing Director and Chief Executive of the joint venture Bharti Wal-Mart India.

Bharti Wal-Mart, in association with the Punjab government, has also started a training centre offering full scholarship to bridge the shortage of skilled workers for cash-and-carry and organised retail formats.

The company had earlier planned to open the store on May 26, but this had to be deferred on account of the violence that erupted in Punjab following the killing of a spiritual leader in Austria.

Sydney reported 20 incidents of 'curry bashing' this month!

2009-05-30T23:08:00.001+05:30

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Sydney: There have been at least 20 incidents of "curry bashing" in Sydney in the past month, but most attacks on Indian students went unreported out of fear, a community leader has revealed.

Yadu Singh, a cardiologist, said violent attacks against Indian people are on the rise in Sydney.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Singh as saying that there had been more than 100 attacks on Indian students in the past 12 months.

Singh said the attackers knew the victims were unlikely to report incidents.

According to him, many Indian students feared that lodging a formal report to police would harm their chances of permanent residency.

The Indian consulate in Sydney has formed a committee to address the concerns about the welfare of students in Australia, said Singh, who is the head of the committee.

"Melbourne has a bigger problem but if we don't do something in Sydney it will be repeated here," Singh was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Singh also said he was aware of numerous robbings and random bashings of Indian students at night and in daylight, on trains and near their homes, often in western Sydney.

He referred to a Sunday night incident when a hospitality graduate, Rajesh Kumar, received 30 percent burns after a petrol bomb was flung into the Harris Park home that he shared with other Indians.

According to Singh, the attacks had been happening for about four years, and were a mixture of opportunistic robberies and outright racist attacks.

"There's a name for this, 'curry bashing, let's go curry bashing'," he said. "They are not random at all; people are targeting them. They know these students are easy targets."

Two 18-year-olds faced a Victorian court late last year after a man was killed in such an attack. The court was told that seven friends had met at a McDonald's on Jan 22 and decided to go out and bash an Indian.

In New South Wales charges were laid this week against six youths, aged 12 to 16, involved in what police said were unprovoked attacks on foreign students at Newcastle University.

Mobile operators differ over 11-digit number plan

2009-05-26T10:49:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Differences are growing among mobile operator lobbies over a government proposal to introduce an 11-digit access code in place of the existing 10-digit code from January 2010 for mobile services to accommodate a rapidly growing subscriber base.

Meanwhile, the government has also amended the national numbering plan to allow sub-levels of 8 to be used as access codes for mobiles. This means that from February 9 this year, mobile numbers may also start with the number 8.

The need for a new numbering plan has arisen because India’s mobile subscriber base has grown at a faster pace than expected. The numbering plan that is applicable now was formulated in 2003 on a forecast of 50 per cent tele-density by 2030. This made numbering space available for 750 million telephone connections, comprising an anticipated 300 million basic and 450 million cellular mobile connections.

With India adding over 10 million mobile subscribers every month, the country is already just short of 400 million mobile subscribers and the telecom penetration level stands at over 37 per cent. Therefore, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has had to re-examine plans to accommodate more subscribers.

GSM-technology service providers, which account for the bulk of mobile services in the country, welcomed the addition of the 8 level but objected to the 11-digit numbering plan, saying it would inconvenience incumbent subscribers.

“The increase of one digit in the existing numbers is unnecessary; there is a sufficient quota of numbers. The opening up of the sub-levels of 8 has also created new options for numbering,” said T V Ramachandran, Director General, Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), the GSM operators’ lobby which represents such service providers as Bharti and Vodafone.

COAI has contended that in addition to the 98, 99, 93, 94, 92 and 97 codes in use by mobile phone operators, the 91 code is vacant and can be used as can the 96 code, which was meant for pagers.

Also, DoT has allocated exclusive two-digit codes to three operators — 92 for Tata Tele, 93 for Reliance Communications and 94 for BSNL (all three provide CDMA and GSM services), a move that has also been opposed by COAI since other operators have do not have exclusive codes. “DoT should also open up these numbers,” said Ramachandran.

Agreeing with COAI, telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal said, “Although 11 digits mean that you have nine billion more numbers to allot, it also means that it is more inconvenient for the consumer at the end of the day”, especially since the existing 400 million-odd subscribers will also have to change their numbers.

“Other options like the 8 sub levels should also be explored to avoid confusion,” he added.

CDMA operators, however, say opening up sub-levels of 8 is not enough for the industry that adds over 10 million subscribers to its base every month and an 11-digit numbering is necessary.

“There are already about eight established players in the telecom space and at least three more will be added during the year, so we will need more numbers to cater to the expanding mobile subscriber base,” said S C Khanna, secretary general of CDMA lobby Association of Unified Service Providers of India.

This is not the first time phone numbers will be modified in recent years. A few years ago, the government had added the number 2 in front of all BSNL and MTNL fixed line phones across the country.

Cyclone 'Aila' hits Bengal, Orissa; kills 8 in Kolkata

2009-05-25T19:39:00.002+05:30

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Kolkata/ Bhuwaneshwar/ Dhaka: Twelve people were killed Monday and the Indian Army was asked to start rescue operations in the coastal South 24 Parganas district where extensive damage was feared as cyclone Aila crossed the coast into West Bengal.

Fifteen people were injured in the West Bengal capital. Eight of the deaths occurred in Kolkata, where normal life virtually collapsed as a storm with a speed of 55 km per hour uprooted trees at around 50 places blocking major roads. The accompanying rains caused waterlogging in large parts of the city.

Six people have been killed in South 24 Parganas district alone. A South 24 Parganas district official said 40,000 people have been rescued in Patharpratima, Kultali and Sagardigh blocks. Train services were severely disrupted with the railway authorities suspending operation from Howrah till the situation improved.

A South Eastern Railway spokesman said with fallen trees blocking tracks at four stations in the Kharagpur-Howrah section, several passenger trains were stranded.

Train services were also severely affected in the south Section of the Sealdah division.

Army moved to Sundarbans

Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee said the army columns have been asked to move in to areas like Gosaba, Patharpratima and Kultali in and around the Sundarbans delta in South Parganas district.

Banerjee, who spoke to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee several times about the situation, said the situation was "very bad" in Pakhiraganj, which was under eight feet water.
She said with uprooted trees blocking roads, the army columns have been stuck at Diamond Harbour and appealed to the people to help in removing trees so that they can proceed to the affected areas.

The weathermn said the cyclonic storm Aila was now centred 80 km from Kolkata. And was likely to intensify into a severe cyclone and hit Kolkata and its adjoining districts with a speed of 90-100 km per hour.

All districts of South Bengal would be lashed by storm and rains till Tuesday morning, the met office said.

The cyclone will have a force of 100-110 km in the sea, and fishermen have been asked not to venture into the seas. The Kolkata Port authorities have been asked to hoist danger signal number 10. In Kolkata, tram services were stopped and people asked not to venture into the streets till the evening.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee held a high level meeting at the state secretariat to monitor the situation and take all possible measures.

Deputy Commissioner (Detective Department) Javed Shamim told IANS: "boats have been kept ready for emergency evacuation" of people from low lying areas of the city.

An alert has also been sounded in East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts.
An India Meteorological Department (IMD) statement in Delhi said: "Sea condition will be very high along and off West Bengal and north Orissa coasts (till Tuesday evening).

"Storm surge of about 2-3 meters above astronomical tide is likely to inundate the coastal areas of South 24 Pargana and Midnapore districts of West Bengal at the time of landfall."

Flights from Kolkata cancelled

All flights to and from the city have been suspended for the time being at the NSC Bose International Airport here as a severe storm with a wind speed of 80 km per hour hit the city, airport sources said.

All flights including domestic and international ones are being diverted to different routes since 2 pm as low visibility at the runway is making it difficult for planes to land and take off, sources said.
A total of seven domestic flights have either been sent back to their place of origin or have been diverted to other airports of Aizawl, New Delhi and Mumbai, they said.

International flights like those from Bangkok and Dhaka were also diverted, sources said.
The main runway, which was shut down for repairs, was also put to use as the situation worsened since morning.

Coastal Orissa badly hit

Life was thrown out of gear in several parts of coastal Orissa due to heavy rains accompanied by high-velocity wind under the impact of a cyclonic storm, even as tidal waves lashed some areas.
As the cyclonic storm -- Aila -- lay centred at about 140 km east-south-east of Chandbali, a place located around 100 km north-east from here, incessant rains triggered by it submerged low-lying areas in coastal districts like Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore, official sources said.

High velocity gale with speed as high as 80-90 kmph uprooted a large number of trees in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Cuttack districts, blocking several roads and disrupting vehicular movement, they said, adding that no loss of life was reported so far.

Life was paralysed in Satabhaya and Kanhupur villages in Kendrapara district, perenially prone to sea erosion, after tidal waves lashed into human settlements since yesterday, forcing residents to shift to higher grounds and safer places.

People of Kanhupur village have taken shelter in a local panchayat building while some of them moved to a nearby village, sources said.

About 1,000 hectares of farm land were salinised with tidal waves spilling over Atharbanki, Gabajidiha, Jagatjori, they said and added that similar ingress of sea waters was reported in parts of Chakada, Gohua and Tantiapala villages.

Bangladesh evacuates as cyclone nears

Thousands of people overnight took refuge at makeshift emergency shelters along southwestern Bangladesh coastlines as a cyclone brewing in the Bay of Bengal heads towards its shores.

Officials said the under the influence of the advancing cyclone 'Aila', tidal surges lashed the coastlines damaging nearly a dozen of flood control structures like dams, marooning thousands others.

The Met office earlier today issued the "danger signal no 7" in a scale of 10 revising the earlier signal no 6 for southwestern Mongla Port while the southeastern Chottagong and Cox's Bazar ports were asked to hoist danger signal 6.

Strong winds and tidal surges have already started battering the coastal villages.
Television channels reported that packing winds up to 100 kilometres per hour alongwith heavy rains, the Aila started crossing West Bengal-Khulna coasts near Sagar Island in West Bengal at around 2 pm.

Deccan snatch title in tense finish/Pics:IPL2 Closing Ceremony

2009-05-25T17:16:00.005+05:30

Deccan Chargers 143 for 6 (Gibbs 53*, Kumble 4-16) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137 for 9 (Ojha 3-28, Symonds 2-18) by six runs

Deccan Chargers invoked the bull in their emblem to successfully defend a modest total, beat Royal Challengers Bangalore and win a tournament they had ended up last in the previous season. They bowled with fire, fielded aggressively and sledged and hustled - almost literally - to victory in a final that twisted and turned and lived up to the occasion.

The last of those turning points was the 15th over, bowled by Andrew Symonds, who matched his verbal skills from earlier in the night with the wickets of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli off back-to-back deliveries. Bangalore were 99 for 6 when the over started, and Taylor had looked dangerous during his 20-ball 27. That Symonds over, though, was symbolic of the night: every time a batsman got away from the bowling, a breakthrough pulled the batting side back.

Defending a total three less than what Bangalore chased easily in the semi-final, Deccan came out pumped, their energy reflecting in their behaviour. Symonds shadowed the latest tyro, Manish Pandey, all the way from the dugout to the crease. Pandey was a marked man during his innings. Symonds followed him wherever he went, giving him lip. Ryan Harris matched the aggression with the ball, clocking 145kmph constantly in the first over, a maiden.

Jacques Kallis looked to take the pressure off his 19-year-old partner. In Harris' next over Kallis took two boundaries to get the chase going. RP Singh brought the balance back when Kallis pulled onto his stumps but out came Roelof van der Merwe, who used adrenalin to push Bangalore further towards the target.

van der Merwe got a mouthful from Symonds and Harris, but he responded by hitting two sixes off one Harris over. Despite the maiden, Harris had gone for 23 in three overs. Even after Pragyan Ojha got Pandey with the first ball he bowled, van der Merwe's pyrotechnics kept Deccan at a distance.

One ball summed up the adrenalin rush van der Merwe was feeling. Beaten in the flight by Ojha he managed an edge which saved him from being stumped but he also dropped his bat. He picked his bat up as he ran the first run, and turned a two into a three, saving himself from the run-out by sprinting down the middle of the pitch and diving into the stumps at the non-striker's end.

One six later the adrenalin got the better of van der Merwe as he jumped out to Ojha and was stumped. The tension was palpable, and it sort of got to a senior pro like Rahul Dravid too. As Bangalore targeted Harmeet Singh, Dravid missed a scoop and was bowled. Bangalore still held the edge, though, with Taylor and Mark Boucher in.

Taylor looked like taking Bangalore home coolly, hitting three fours and a six, until Symonds got him on the pull, with a touch of extra bounce. Adam Gilchrist pulled off a smart stumping down the leg side next ball, and it was all down to Boucher now.

Gilchrist tried to get through Harmeet's last over, during which the youngster claimed Boucher on the cut. The bowling allocation was planned perfectly: RP had two left, and Ojha and Harris one each. Bangalore, with two wickets in hand, needed 27 from the last two overs, and 15 from the last, but RP Singh and Ryan Harris kept their cool despite a six from Robin Uthappa.

Amid the tension of the second innings one felt for Anil Kumble, who spent the most of the last over at the non-striker's end and saw his dream crash. Earlier Kumble had celebrated like a teenager but bowled like the veteran champion he is, and kept Deccan down to a manageable target.

He bowled the first over of the match, took Gilchrist out, then came back in the ninth to dismiss Symonds. That wicket was crucial because Symonds had been dropped on 5 by Dravid, and was reminding Bangalore eerily of the line his batting partner Herschelle Gibbs was apocryphally told during the 1999 World Cup. Kumble again came on in the 17th over to break a dangerous 52-run partnership between Rohit Sharma and Gibbs, when the two had taken Deccan to 110 for 3.

Towards the end Gibbs played a bizarre little innings. He had been inconspicuous in his struggle to score runs earlier, and didn't make much effort to farm the strike in the end. He faced only six balls in the last three overs, and kept taking twos in the last over to hand the strike over to Harris. He had batted the whole 20 overs for less than 60, much like Sachin Tendulkar, in more trying conditions, had in the first match of the tournament. Somehow they both ended up winning.

2 dead as Punjab burns over Vienna killing

2009-05-25T17:12:00.001+05:30

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Jalandhar: Two persons have been killed and many others injured on Monday as violence over the killing of a Sikh sect leader in Vienna spreads across Punjab and parts of Haryana.

One person was killed and four others were injured as Army jawans opened fire in Lambra village, 30 kms from Jalandhar. Another person was killed after the police opened fire on protesters at Jalandhar Cantonment railway station.

A mob set three bogies of the Kanyakumari-Jammu Tavi Express on fire as the train was passing through Phagwara in Punjab.

Some vehicles, too, have been torched and roads blocked by protestors in Phagwara.

Curfew has been imposed in Phagwara, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur following the violence in the area. Paramilitary forces have been sent to Phagwara to control violence.

Protestors also blocked traffic near Ambala and traffic on National Highway One has been disrupted.

All protests till now have been confined to the Doaba region of the Punjab where Dera Sachh Khand whose leader Sant Ram Nand was killed on Sunday night in a clash with a rival sect in Vienna, Austria.

In Patiala, a large group of people took to the streets chanting slogans. Chandigarh is also on high alert with important roads leading to the city have been blocked.

The authorities have already called in six companies of paramilitary forces and eight columns of the Army to control the situation.

Violence has also spilled out on national highways blocking roads to Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur and at other places in the Doaba region.

Buses have also been damaged in Amritsar while in Nakodar, thousands came out on streets and pelted stones on the police.

Delhi-Lahore bus service has been stopped at Ludhiana as a precautionary measure in the wake of violence in Punjab.

The violence started when six people armed with knives and a hand gun attacked a preacher Sant Niranjan Dass of Dera Sachh Khand inside a gurudwara in Veinna.

A dispute over the sermon is said to have triggered the attack. A sect leader, 56-year-old Sant Ram Nand, was killed and Sant Niranjan Dass along with 30 others was injured in the attack.

Sant Ram Nand underwent emergency surgery but died during on Sunday night.

The six attackers have been arrested and are believed to be followers of another sect.

The Sikh group behind these protests belong to a small religious sect called Dera Sach Khand, which was founded by Guru Ravi Das a 14th century shoemaker who became a spiritual figure. Like their founder, Ravidassias are considered outcastes. Rival upper caste sikh groups take offence to Ravi Das being called a guru.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was deeply distressed by the outbreak of violence in Punjab.

"I am deeply distressed by the outbreak of violence in Punjab following certain incidents in Vienna. Whatever the provocation, it is important to maintain peace and harmony among different sections of the people. In areas where curfew has been imposed, it is necessary that people go back to their homes and allow the security forces to restore law and order," the Prime Minister said.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said the Union Government is in touch with the local authorities and keeping a close watch on the situation.

"It is unfortunate that a gurudwara has been made the place to attack and counterattack. It is sad that Sant Ram Nand has lost his life. This is no place for violence and no excuse whatsoever for violation of a sacred place to serve narrow sectarian interests. We are in touch with local authorities," said Krishna.

Condemning the killing of Sant Ram Nand in Vienna, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash also appealed for calm and asked people not to be provoked by elements spreading unrest.

"I appeal to the people of Punjab to maintain peace and order. I also request that all the shops be closed for a day. What has happened is bad," said Badal.

While the state government has called for an all-party meet to discuss the issue, the Shiromani Akali Dal has called for a day's silent protest.

Facebook to go public in a few years, says CEO

2009-05-21T12:07:00.001+05:30

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New York: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to eventually take his company public but said it won't be for a few years, and stressed that the world's largest online social network is in no immediate need of capital.

The 25-year-old co-founder of Facebook said he is always open to partnerships and investments, but stressed that Facebook can achieve its business goals with its current financial base, despite numerous media reports that it has had talks on a new round of funding with various investors.

"If there's an investment to be done on very good terms, we will consider it if for no other reason than to have more buffer if we want to do something in the future," Zuckerberg told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.

"Some of the rumblings that people are reporting on, are just different conversations that have happened, but there's really nothing new to talk about there," he added in a telephone interview from Palo Alto, California. The TechCrunch blog said earlier on Tuesday that Facebook had turned down a $200 million funding offer, which valued the company at $8 billion.

Earlier this week, VentureBeat reported that Facebook was in discussions for $150 million in funding.

Zuckerberg declined to confirm these reports. Facebook has more than 200 million active users, double the number it had last August. The company also ranks as one of the top photo-sharing websites, with more than 15 billion pictures uploaded onto its service. In 2007, Microsoft Corp invested $240 million in Facebook in exchange for a 1.6 per cent stake in the company, giving the social network a $15 billion valuation.

Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that Facebook was not rushing to go public. "I know for a lot of companies the IPO is the endpoint or the goal," Zuckerberg said. "For us it will be an event on the path to where want to get eventually."

Asked when the time would be right to float shares to the public, he said the five-year-old company was still "a few years out from that." Zuckerberg said advertising remains the core revenue source for the company, with Facebook on track to increase sales 70 per cent this year and be cash flow positive next year.

He declined to specify how much revenue Facebook expects to generate this year. Facebook works with more than 70 per cent of the top 100 largest advertisers in the United States, Zuckerberg said, and the company was also seeing fast growth in international markets, where it has begun to create a direct sales staff.

And with Facebook increasingly taking steps to make aspects of the service available on other websites, like its recent Facebook Connect feature, Zuckerberg said the company could eventually develop a type of online advertising network.

"You can see over time us wanting to offer more ways for people to monetize their site and help out with that, and it could be a pretty natural extension for us to do something with ads or a number of other things that we've considered," he said.

For now though, he said Facebook was focused on the basic user-focused features of extending the service across the Web.

Maruti Suzuki Ritz: First Drive!

2009-05-19T13:54:00.002+05:30

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Suzuki pulls a Ritzy move out of its small car bag of tricks to offer a very competent alternative to all the large hatchbacks on the market today. Adil Jal Darukhanawala has the gen on this lil' performer after an exclusive first drive

Let's get one thing clear straight away about Suzuki's new supermini. It ain't going to be making waves as a Wagon R replacement which many of you thought was on the cards but then that is the good thing, both for Maruti Suzuki and also for the consumer who wants a more family-oriented large hatchback. Great for Maruti Suzuki because it allows the product planners to move the Wagon R into a newer perch and position in the market (think taxi or utility) and at the same time the firm's premium hatchback portfolio gets enhanced.

It is this portfolio enhancement which is pretty noteworthy because ever since the company began to pack in small minis after small minis with just marginal increments in space and equipment to swamp the majority of the A2 segment, the new Ritz is the family-oriented offering which joins the Swift in the premium hatch segment. And there is no doubt that where the Swift is the iconic personalized car for the sporty individual, the Ritz clearly is family-focused.

The large hatchback segment is proliferating and Maruti Suzuki being the small car segment leader has cleverly engineered the Ritz to be bang on the money keeping in mind its likely rivals already on the market as well as those which it will have to deal with in the coming month! Already the Swift encounters competition in the form of the Hyundai i20 and the Skoda Fabia at the upper end of the spectrum while others like the brilliantly conceived Tata Indica Vista resides along side it. The Ritz is expected to be placed just around the Swift but with a choice of a brand new petrol motor and the same DDIS oil burner as in the Swift, this is the car which strengthens Maruti Suzuki's hand when it would come to squaring off against the Hyundai i20 right now and the Honda Jazz plus the Fiat Grande Punto which are expected next month.

The Ritz is not what this Suzuki is known as elsewhere in the world, Splash being the name given to what the Japanese firm terms it as a "worldwide mini-wagon". I think that this is the single biggest detail which shows how far Suzuki has kept its Japanese styling idiosyncrasies in the deep freeze and adopted contemporary European design to pervade every bit of its thought process. It wasn't that the car had to also do duty as a badge-engineered Opel Agila in Europe, but clearly having a European-focused design and dynamic capability has helped the Japanese small car maker to keep the cash registers ticking.

Prabhakaran's body found: Lanka army chief

2009-05-19T13:50:00.002+05:30

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COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: Sri Lankan troops recovered the body of slain rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on Tuesday, a day after he was killed in the Tamil Tigers' last stand against government forces in the north, the military
said.

Footage broadcast on the private Swarnawahini television station showed a body that appeared to be the rebel leader, still dressed in his dark green camouflage uniform, laid out on the grass as soldiers stood nearby. A blue cloth covered the top of his head, apparently to cover a bullet wound there. His open eyes stared straight up and his face appeared bloated.

The government had announced Prabhakaran's killing on Monday, but later said they had not yet found his body. A rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran was killed and said he was in a safe place.

As speculation grew about Prabhakaran's fate, army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka announced that his body had been recovered. ``A few hours ago, the body of terrorist leader Prabhakaran, who ruined this country, was found in the battleground,'' he told state television. ``I take responsibility for this statement.''

Fonseka's announcement came hours after President Mahinda Rajapaksa delivered a victory address to parliament, declaring that his country had been ``liberated'' from terrorism after defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels on the battlefield.

Recounting how the rebels, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, once controlled a wide swath of the north and much of the east, Rajapaksa said that for the first time in 30 years, the country was unified under its elected government.

"We have liberated the whole country from LTTE terrorism," he said, declaring Wednesday a national holiday to celebrate the armed forces.

The rebels, listed as terrorists by the US and European Union, had been fighting for three decades for a homeland for the mainly Hindu Tamil minority after decades of marginalization at the hands of governments dominated by the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

Briefly addressing parliament in the Tamil language, Rajapaksa said the war was not waged against the Tamil people. "Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said.

Rajapaksa has said in the past that he would negotiate some form of power-sharing with the Tamil community following the war and he alluded Tuesday to the need for an agreement.

"We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities," he said. "That solution, which would be based on the philosophy of Buddhism, will be an example to the whole world."

Sensex creates history; two upper circuits in one day

2009-05-18T13:31:00.001+05:30

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MUMBAI: Markets have stopped trading for the day as the benchmarks hit another upper circuit Monday as soon as the trade resumed after 2 hour
break. Investors are euphoric after the United Progressive Alliance emerged victorious in the 2009 general elections. ( Watch )

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was locked at 14272.62 up 2099.21 points or 17.24 per cent. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was locked at 4308.05, up 636.40 points or 17.33 per cent. According to media reports turnover including cash and F&O was less than Rs 1000 crore.

Marketmen are upbeat given the fact that there will be no interference by the Left Parties and other regional parties in day-to-day functioning of the government and less number of allies will lead to a stable government which will run its course of five years.

The new government which is likely to be sworn in by Friday is expected to come-out with full budget within 45 days of resuming office, according to media reports.

Reforms in the banking sector, divestment of public sector undertakings, infrastructure, retail sector and insurance sector is likely to top the priority list.

Sensex had opened 10.73 per cent or 1305.97 points higher at 13479.39 points to 12011.10. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was locked at 4203.30, higher by 14.48 per cent or 531.65 points.

Market experts views:

“Markets had previously worried that gains by leftist and smaller regional parties would weigh on the reform agenda and lead to a further blow-out in the already large fiscal deficit. In previous elections, both BJP- and Congress-led alliances had been unable to push through reforms, held down by allies with their own agendas. The government's rural jobs program and strong private sector investment
have highlighted the positive effects of economic reform and liberalisation, and voters' shunning of smaller parties imply a desire for greater action on the reform front,” said a Moody’s Economy.com report

The report added, “Despite the strong endorsement from voters, the government is likely to have a tough job pushing through some much-needed reforms. Political constraints mean a scrapping of fuel subsidies are unlikely, nor reforms to outdated labour laws that constrain hiring and create high firing costs. Returning to the path of fiscal consolidation will also be challenging if the global recession
becomes protracted, while the financial crisis will mean any steps to liberalise capital flows and foreign investment will be cautious.”

Madhabi Puri Buch, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities said, “The mood of the moment is clearly upbeat. The largest and most complex election process on the planet is complete. The impact of the results on the markets is clearly positive - both in the short term and long term. In the secondary markets and the primary markets.”

“It is almost as though investors had pressed the pause button on major decisions on account of uncertainty. With the clear mandate to the new government and the strong expectation of stability for the next five years, the play button will be on. If global cues continue to be positive, the play could even become a fast forward,” Buch added.

Dinesh Thakkar, CMD, Angel Broking said, “The election results have come as a positive surprise and are expected to go down well with the markets considering that markets like continuity of government policies, mindsets and ideologies. The UPA’s 250+ tally has managed to beat the most optimistic political analyst on the street and this ‘thumping’ victory has set the stage for the Congress led UPA to come back to power. Further, the possibility that the UPA could form the government without the Left will further soothe investors’ nerves. The markets are expected to rally as fresh money from FIIs and those waiting on the sidelines on account of the political uncertainty, makes its way into Indian stockmarkets. Investors must remain ‘long’ on India to take advantage of the long-term wealth creation opportunities that Indian stockmarkets have to offer.”

PM resigns; prez to invite new govt on Tuesday

2009-05-18T13:27:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday gave his resignation letter to the President, a convention followed after general elections.

Sources tell CNN-IBN President Pratibha Patil will on Tuesday invite Singh to form the new government. Earlier, all union ministers submitted their resignations to Singh.

"It is protocol that the Prime Minister of the outgoing government resigns after election results," a prime ministerial aide told IANS, adding that Manmohan Singh and the ministers would be asked to continue till the formation of the next government.

Earlier, the outgoing cabinet met for the last time at the Prime Minister's 7 Race Course Road residence. The meeting was attended by, among others, Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who lost his Lok Sabha election.

NRI trader wins 20 mn pounds in MF Global case

2009-05-14T12:01:00.002+05:30

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LONDON: Rajesh Gill, the NRI day trader, who sued MF Global for fraud in a highly publicised case in London, has received an unprecedented £19.7 million provisionally for damages, lost profits and interest. Mr Gill, who fought seven years to bring his broker, Matthew Bomford, to book for lying to him about his account and wiping it out, has become a test case for financial fraud cases.

Speaking to ET, he said: “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did. I can only talk about my case, but I hope this sends a shockwave to the city and signals a change in culture. Man’s continued protection of a fraudster for over seven years is indefensible, deplorable and deeply unethical.”

Mr Gill’s sensational battle with MF Global (earlier Man Financial), caught the attention of the UK media, as details of sordid and sleazy dealings tumbling out in court exposed the dark underbelly of the slick world of high finance at a time when public outrage against the bonus driven culture and high-handed ways of financial institutions is at a peak.

Mr Gill’s has become a landmark judgement for an individual taking on fraud at the biggies and indicates that the UK courts are getting tough on financial fraudsters. An award for lost profits is highly unusual in the UK and is expected to change the way other civil fraud cases are dealt with in the UK.

Justice Flaux also considered referring Mr Bomford to the Public Prosecutor for consistently lying to the court, and moving the case from the civil to the criminal arena, another highly unusual precedent. It has also highlighted the role of the FSA, which did not investigate the case despite complaints in 2004.

MF Global (then Man Financial) received £2.5 million in commission from Mr Gill, and Mr Bomford received over 500,000 in personal bonuses while
lying to his client that he was making profits when he was actually making huge losses.

Mr Bomford has since left the company. MF Global denied any wrongdoing for years, but half way through the case it admitted vicarious liability to fraudulent activities, after what the judge described as a ‘disastrous’ cross examination of Mr Bomford.

MF Global is a leading provider of exchange listed futures and options. It is present in India through a joint venture with Sify, MF Global Sify Securities, based in Mumbai, and employing about 400 people, according to its website. According to reports, MF Global is considering an appeal on the amount awarded before a final judgement.

In his judgement, Mr Justice Flaux ruled that Mr Gill’s losses in 2001-2002 were directly a result of deception by his broker, Matthew Bomford. Mr Justice Flaux also said that Mr Bomford seemed to be a ‘stranger’ to the truth.

Mr Gill, who has been a prolific day trader for 11 years, was also able to prove that the only instance when he lost money was during his time with MF Global, and his trading record in complex derivatives is otherwise impeccable. Expert witnesses in court described him as the seven to seven man, who turned £7000 to £7 million in two years. Mr Gill now intends to start his own fund and continues to trade.

Ajit Jain among candidates to replace Buffett as CEO of Berkshire: Report

2009-05-04T00:53:00.002+05:30

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LONDON: India-born Ajit Jain could be in race to replace billionaire investment guru Warren Buffett as the the chief executive of Berkshire
Hathaway, according to a media report.

As per a report appearing in The Telegraph, Buffet was quoted as saying that all the candidates, including Jain are already working for the company.

After over 40 years, Buffett's job would be split between his son Howard, who will become the chairman, and the yet unidentified chief executive and chief investment officer.

The report said, "Buffett, 78, said all the candidates for the position of chief executive already work for Berkshire Hathaway. Among the contenders for the post are David Sokol, head of Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy; Tony Nicely, who runs the investment company's Geico car insurance business; and Ajit Jain, who runs its re-insurance business."

Another leading daily the Sunday Times said though Buffett refused to name the people who will become Berkshire's next chief executive or its next chief investment officer he said three of Berkshire's internal managers are candidates to be chief executive.

He said the board has a list of four internal and external investment managers who could manage Berkshire's portfolio.

Buffett said his four replacement candidates had failed to dodge the financial crisis this year.

As per the Sunday Times, at Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, the legendary investor said that his preferred replacements "did not cover themselves in glory" this year but added: "I did not either. I am very tolerant in that respect."

Buffett further said "but their average over 10 years has been modestly to significantly better than average, and I would say that would be the case over the next 10 years."

"The candidates we have for CEO are running businesses, doing things every day of an operating nature," said Buffett. "These are people who are ready for the job right now - 100 per cent," the report added.

In the Shareholders meeting held on May 2, Buffett said the world had been hit by a "financial hurricane". He said he was impressed by the government's reaction to the crisis. Buffett said the American government was "doing the right things".

Last year, Buffett said the US faced an "economic Pearl Harbor".

Regarding his investments in the US banking sector, the Telegraph quoted Buffett as saying that he would "love to buy all of Wells Fargo" if he were allowed to. When the US bank's share price fell below $9 (6 pound) earlier this year, he said: "If I had to put all my net worth in one stock, that would be the stock."

Mumbai steamrolled as Bangalore back with a bang

2009-05-04T00:26:00.002+05:30

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Durban: Half-centuries from Sanath Jayasuriya and Dwayne Bravo powered Mumbai Indians to a competitive 149-4 against Bangalore Royal Challengers after electing to bat at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Mumbai were in deep trouble in the early stages when debutant Bangalore pacer Dillon du Preez had Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane dismissed off consecutive deliveries in his debut IPL over. He added a third in his next by removing Jean-Paul Duminy for one.

But Jayasuriya struck a vital partnership with Bravi which yielded 60 runs for the fourth wicket. Jayasuriya's dismissal didn't deter Bravo and Abhishek Nayar to add a further 66 runs to propel the Mumbai Indians to a challenging total.

Mumbai made two changes to their line-up, bringing back Dwayne Bravo and Shikhar Dhawan for Graham Napier and Saurabh Tiwary.

Bangalore, on the other hand, ringed in the changes with Rahul Dravid returning. Wasim Jaffer replaced Sreevats Goswami at the top of the order, while Dillion du Preez was handed his IPL debut as Jesse Ryder made way.

Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Shikhar Dhawan, JP Duminy, Dwayne Bravo, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Nayar, Pinal Shah, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga.

Bangalore Royal Challengers: Anil Kumble (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Mark Boucher, Roelof van der Merwe, Dillon du Preez, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar.

Manmohan Singh best candidate for PM: Rahul

2009-05-03T16:50:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: A day after Manmohan Singh indicated his willingness to handover power to a younger Congress leadership, party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi made it clear that there can be no compromise over Singh as the Prime Minister.

Rahul Gandhi said that Manmohan Singh will remain the party's choice for Prime Minister after the elections.

Rahul said there was complete unanimity in the Congress over the choice just as in the case of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The Congress General Secretary also said that Manmohan Singh is the best PM candidate for the Congress.

Rahul said both him as well as his mother and party President Sonia Gandhi will stick with Manmohan Singh as PM.

His comments come a day after the Prime Minister told CNN-IBN that the top job in the Government should go to the younger people.

The Prime Minister had told CNN-IBN, “I have said Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities a good PM should have. I certainly at some stage would like the seat of power should be in the hands of younger people than I am.”

Full text of the interview:

Question: Three phases down, what is you reading of how the Congress is going to perform in this election?

Rahul Gandhi: We will improve our tally. We will win and form the government. The 2004 elections hinged on two or three factors. This election is more complicated. I know where we are gaining: Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh etc.
However, mine is a longer-term view. A very deep issue that is not immediately visible is the issue of inclusion. What is the aam aadmi idea? It is that inclusion and growth which are deeply connected. In fact, the country can grow faster only by taking everyone along. Our aim has been – and this has been conveyed by the PM and the Congress President – to try and make sure that our Government does this. For instance, take the Rozgar Yojana. The BJP ridiculed it at first. Yet NREGA has ensured enforcement of minimum wages across the country.
We simply don’t believe we can take this country forward without inclusion. What we are talking about is a core idea – that everybody should be part of the game. The BJP believes that the poor, the Dalits and the minorities should not be part of the game.

Question: Is there a sense that you have not adequately propagated your flagship programmes like NREGA and RTI.

Rahul Gandhi: Propaganda is not the point. Let us forget that there is an election. Then what should be our approach?
We have two models before us. One model is the private sector, India Shining and a focus on issues that don’t impact the people. The people of India have already demonstrated their silent resistance to this idea. The other model is growth with distribution: i.e. rozgar guarantee, food in schools and RTI. This is inclusion not just of the poor but also of the middle classes. That is the idea of the aam aadmi.
The other long-term objective is democratisation of politics. We need to change this
country fundamentally – from centralisation of political power to democratisation. Internal democracy helps because you are empowering an person. Today, all our political parties are designed in a way that empowers people whom the leader likes. In the long term this model is not sustainable as it causes fragmentation.
The question I’m raising is this: Why is it that we have a democratic system to run the country but have no democracy within political parties?

Question: Is there not a paradox in the above. You come from a political family.

Rahul Gandhi: I agree that it is an absolute paradox. But I have got this opportunity. I could say I don’t want it. I’m saying that I want to work for this country, let me try and steer it in a positive direction.
We have started the process in Punjab in the Youth Congress and that is going to be extended to the rest of the country. In the Youth Congress what we are saying is that there is not going to be a single person who is not going to be elected. Going through the process of election and being backed by a mandate gives confidence to people. Our state President in Punjab is a confident person because he has been elected.

Question: You mentioned a long-term perspective. What about this election? Does this mean that it will not matter to you if you lose this election?

Rahul Gandhi: Of course, it would matter to us. It matters to me as a General Secretary of the Congress Party. But I am very clear that we need to take a longer-term perspective. There are some issues in which there can be no compromise. For instance, we could have said forget the nuclear deal. But we did not take that approach. We persisted with it. Pretty much all of us knew that our Government could have fallen if we persisted with it.

Question: The Left has a sense of betrayal by the Congress?

Rahul Gandhi: I don’t think the Left feels a sense of betrayal. They have their point of view and we have ours. We are clear that we are not going to compromise on what we think is the right direction for the country and for the Congress.

Question: In the days ahead as talks begin with new prospective allies is Dr Manmohan Singh being Prime Minister non-negotiable?

Rahul Gandhi: From my side, I know – and I do know my mother’s views on this – that he is the best prime ministerial candidate. He is our candidate and we are going to stick by him. Like we did in the case of the nuclear deal.

ICICI's Kamath joins Infosys as director

2009-05-03T16:40:00.001+05:30

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Bangalore: Infosys Technologies Ltd appointed K V Kamath, non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank, as an additional director to its board, the IT bellwether said Saturday.

"Kamath will serve as an additional director till the company's annual general meeting (AGM) June 20. He will be inducted as a non-executive director on the board once his appointment is approved by shareholders," Infosys said in a statement here.

Infosys' chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy said as an outstanding corporate leader, Kamath succeeded in creating a grand vision for ICICI Bank, India's second largest lender.

"Implementing such a vision is a rare example of excellent leadership that is at par with the best in the corporate world internationally. His contribution to the Infosys' board will be significant," Murthy said.

An alumni of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Kundapur Vaman Kamath joined ICICI in 1971 when it was a leading Indian financial institution. After a stint at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Kamath returned to ICICI as its managing director and chief executive in 1996.

Under Kamath's leadership, the ICICI group transformed into a diversified, technology-driven financial services group, including the bank, which was merged in 2002. He retired from the bank last month.

Google is world's first $100 bn brand

2009-05-02T00:37:00.002+05:30

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London: They changed the lexicon for the word - search. Now the phrase "I'll just Google it" has helped make the internet search giant become world's first $100 billion brand beating other household names like Microsoft, and Coca Cola to McDonald's.

The analysts of the Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands by consultants Millward Brown found that the company's value of $101.4 billion puts it 25 per cent more valuable than computer software king Microsoft at $77.3 billion, reported Daily Mail on Thursday.

Coca Cola ($68.5 billion) managed the third place in the list.

Technology companies make up the bulk of the top 10 with IBM (fourth at $67.5 billion), Apple (sixth at $63.9 billion) and China Mobile (seventh at $62.2 billion), along with consumables like cigarette brand Marlboro (10th at 50.1 billion) and burger chain McDonald's (fifth at $67.3 billion).

Energy major GE (eight at $59.9 billion) and telecom giant Vodafone (ninth at $50.2 billion) complete the top 10 valuable brands in the world.

Google, formed at Stanford University by students Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1997, went up 16 percent in brand value in the past year to just break the $100 billion mark.

Google marketing manager Lorraine Twohill said: "We know that without consumers you have nothing and there is a great element of trust in us."

"We think about the consumer first and expect everything else to fall into place after that. We don't feel big. We still work in little crappy teams and we feel very small," he added.

Among industries to see their value grow over the past year, most are 'stay at home' brands, said the Millward Brown research.

Coffee companies like Nescafe benefitted from cutbacks on drinking expensive lattes in Starbucks and other coffee shops, for instance.

Soft drinks, fast food and beer brands also grew as more people stayed at home to eat and drink while online sites like eBay and Amazon also grew.

Car companies, insurers, clothing brands and, not surprisingly, financial institutions were the ones to suffer the most, the research found.

Millward Brown Chief Executive, Joanna Seddon said: "In the current environment, brand has become even more important because it can help to sustain companies in tough times.

"Those who continue to invest in their brand will be better positioned for business growth as the economic situation starts to improve than those who have cut spend. The recession does not always harm individual brands as much as it does faceless corporations," she added.

AR Rahman, Nandan Nilekani on Time 100 list

2009-05-02T00:26:00.002+05:30

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Washington: Oscar winning Indian music director AR Rahman of Slumdog Millionaire fame, his Sri Lankan co-performer MIA of the hit O Saya song and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani have made it to the Time 100 list of the World's Most Influential People.

The new list to be published in the May 11 annual Time 100 issue is the pick of the magazine's editors and may not be confused with the popular choice in TIME.com's online poll that "just happened to be" won Monday by "moot - the mysterious 21-year-old creator of the influential Web message board 4chan.or".

"In our annual TIME 100 issue, we do the impossible: name the people who most affect our world," said the editors as they relegated moot to the 35th position and instead chose ailing Democratic senator Edward Kennedy for the top spot.

British premier Gordon Brown makes it to the second spot, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the eighth place, Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Kayani is sitting pretty at the 19th position, just a spot ahead of President Barack Obama.

A.R. Rahman, who gets the 59th position in the editors list, "won two Oscars, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for giving Slumdog Millionaire its frenetic sound", notes Padma Lakshmi actress, author and the host of "Bravo's Top Chef", in an accompanying piece.

"In India, a country of a billion inhabitants, where film and pop music are one, A.R. Rahman, 43, dominates the music industry so totally that he has supplied the sound track for a whole generation," she writes.

"A veritable Pied Piper, he has shaped modern India's music for more than a decade. Now the 'Mozart of Madras' has the world's foot tapping along with him," adds Lakshmi, noting the award winning Jai Ho is now the campaign song for India's Congress Party.

Vikas Swarup, the author of the novel Q&A that became the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, describes Nandan Nilekani, placed 31, "as a middle-class kid from a small town, (who) rose to become a co-founder and co-chairman of Infosys Technologies and a key player in India's growth story".

"In a blog post about Slumdog Millionaire, Nandan Nilekani alluded to the film's valuable subtext - that it doesn't matter where you come from, only where you are headed," he writes. "That could serve equally as an epigraph for Nandan's own life."

"As the new India, fuelled by its robust democracy and favorable demographics, seeks to make the transition from a developing nation to a developed one, it will need the vision and talent of people like Nandan Nilekani," Swarup adds.

The great thing about MIA., as Maya Arulpragasam placed 43rd is known, "is that she doesn't have some global plan", writes producer director Spike Jonze.

"She just has things she cares about and is interested in, from all over the world... She reacts to whatever is in front of her: 'Those are booming Indian drums', 'That is a dope producer', 'Those kids are making sick beats'."

"And she has great taste. Anyone can hear all this stuff, but to be able to curate it, you have to have taste, and Maya Arulpragasam, 33, has it," he adds.

Sikhs flee Pak region after Taliban harassment

2009-05-02T00:24:00.002+05:30

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Islamabad/New Delhi: Targeted by the Taliban, 35 Sikh families that have been living for decades in Pakistan's Orakzai Agency have begun migrating from the area after being levied a jaziya or protection tax, an issue New Delhi has now taken up with Islamabad.

India said it had taken up with Pakistan the treatment of minorities in the country.

"The government of India has taken up the question of treatment of minorities in Pakistan with the government of Pakistan," external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi.

Quoting sources, Pakistani channel Geo TV said Taliban militants had taken over the shops and homes of the 35 Sikh families and arrested community leaders Klank Singh and Sewa Singh in the Ferozkhel area of Lower Orakzai Agency.

Following this, a local jirga ruled that the Sikh community should annually pay Rs 15 million ($187,000) as protection money.

Earlier reports had said the Taliban had demanded Rs 50 million but that this had been reduced.

When the Sikh community expressed their inability to pay, the Taliban then auctioned their houses and other belongings, forcing them to migrate from the area.

There are reports the militants had demolished the houses 11 houses of the Sikh community after they failed to pay the jaziya tax.

The Orakzai Agency is situated in the virtually ungovernable Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where the writ of the Taliban and Al Qaeda largely runs.

The militants in the area are led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the deputy of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, one of the principal suspects in the December 27, 2007, assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun and bomb attack in the garrison town of Rawalpindi.

Lankan forces poised for final assault on LTTE

2009-05-02T00:12:00.001+05:30

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Colombo: A pre-dawn breakout bid through the high seas by beleaguered Tamil Tigers was on Friday foiled by Sri Lankan navy, who sank their three boats killing 23 sea Tigers as the army appeared poised for a final assault.

The Lankan warships which have blockaded the small coastline off Mullaittivu, still held by the Tigers noticed an attempt by three LTTE boats to take to sea and sank them after challenging them, a naval spokesman said.

This is the second time in less than four days that Sri Lankan navy has thwarted attempts by Tamil Tigers to put their boats to sea. The encounter comes as reports say that the entire LTTE leadership including its supremo V Prabhakaran are holed up in a small stretch of land.

On the land, the army tightened their siege of the last strip of land controlled by the Tigers and appeared poised to launch the final assault.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said, "The Tigers have no land escape route left. We have troops in place to move anytime."

In the battle-front, three Divisions of the Sri Lankan force estimated to number around 22-30,000 have surrounded the Tigers, whose fighting cadres are reported to be around 900-1,200.

Indications that the government forces could be ready to go for the kill also came when the government drop leaflets over the LTTE held areas carrying President Mahinda Rajapaksa's appeal to the Tamil civilians to flee across the front lines.

"Your suffering is prolonged by the LTTE who are holding you as a human shield for their own safety," Rajapaksa said adding that "I appeal to everyone of you who come over to the cleared areas."

The President promised to ensure safety to all civilians.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected the calls for a cease-fire. "We fearlessly stood up to a brand of terrorism that the entire world believed was invincible," he said in a May Day address.

The Tamil Tigers also today took their war into the cyberspace by hacking into the official website of the Sri Lankan army.

The hackers believe to be Tiger computer experts replaced the contents with photographs of civilians killed in military action in the north east.

In a further embarrassment for the rebels 58 child soldiers, including a senior female LTTE leader, gave themselves up to the authorities in Kilinochchi.

Thirty-eight boys and 20 girls aged between 14 and 17 years surrendered to the authorities in Kilinochchi on Thursday, the army said.

The child soldiers were produced before the Vavuniya district court which ordered they be immediately sent to the rehabilitation center in Amberpussa in the region.

Meanwhile, a senior female LTTE cadre 'Sudharmali' surrendered to the Samanthurai police station in Eastern Ampara. She gave herself up through the Red Cross on Thursday.

"Thiyagaraja Kamaleshwari alias "Sudharmali" is known to be one of the most senior member of the LTTE for three years," the defence ministry said, adding she was a resident of a nearby area.

Low turnout warning for politicos: Mumbaikars

2009-05-02T00:08:00.001+05:30

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Mumbai: The poor voter turnout of 41.24 per cent for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in India's financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai, was the lowest since 1977 and many residents say it sends a powerful message - politicians must not take them for granted.

Mega-blitz voter awareness campaigns unleashed by political parties, NGOs and top film stars like Aamir Khan and John Abraham seem to have had little effect on Thursday's polling for six constituencies here.

The polling figure in Mumbai has never sunk this low since 1977 when Mumbai came to have six constituencies instead of five. That year the voter turnout was 61.17 per cent.

"The people of Mumbai have decisively discarded apprehensions over terrorism, security and inflation woes raised by various political parties. They want the basics - better infrastructure and better living conditions - not the so-called dangers highlighted by the insecure politician," asserted Borivali realty consultant Nitin Shah.

Endorsing the view, retired academician R.N. Desai of Vile Parle said the Mumbaikar's message to all political leaders was if they need the support of the average citizen, then favourable conditions to live, commute and work must get topmost priority.

"Otherwise, people are ready to ignore all parties and fend for themselves, as they did during the Mumbai floods and other natural or manmade calamities," she added.

Mumbai has over 9.6 million voters.

Some politicians have attributed the low turnout to the four-day long weekend in Mumbai, while others cite the holiday season, the heat, lukewarm response of slumdwellers, the long 'dry spell' with no liquor since Tuesday.

The average Mumbaikar's apathy towards elections seems to have grown.

Nevertheless, the latest voting figures have disappointed and shocked officialdom and contestants alike.

"This time, we had made elaborate voting and security arrangements, extended all possible help that voters would require," said a perplexed election official, unable to fathom the causes behind the fall in voting per centage.

The voter turnout was 52.53 per cent in 1980, 56.36 per cent in 1984 and 57.31 per cent in 1989. It dipped to a low of 41.43 per cent in 1991, but climbed to 45.90 per cent in 1996 and 50.26 per cent in 1998. The figure again nosedived to 44.86 per cent in 1999 and then touched 47.15 per cent in 2004.

Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, also fared badly in the three-phased 2009 general elections here that was completed Thursday, with a polling per centage of 49.21 per cent.

Praveen and Bangalore upstage Yuvraj in thrille

2009-05-01T23:55:00.002+05:30

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Royal Challengers Bangalore 145 for 9 (van der Merwe 35, Abdulla 4-36, Yuvraj 3-22) beat Kings XI Punjab 137 for 7 (Yuvraj 50, Praveen 2-27, Kumble 2-25) by eight runs

Nerves? Perhaps. But only if they're made of steel. Having given up 14 runs in the 17th over, Praveen Kumar displayed awesome composure to bowl a four-run, double-wicket final over to seal an amazing eight-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Two teams at contrasting positions in the IPL traded blows for 40 overs of a pulse-setting Twenty20, and when all was said and done, it was Bangalore who threw the biggest blow, derailing Kings XI Punjab from 70 for no loss to 137.

20 overs Royal Challengers Bangalore 145 for 9 (van der Merwe 35, Abdulla 4-36, Yuvraj 3-22) v Kings XI Punjab

Yuvraj Singh hasn't been contributing with the bat this season, so he decided to make an impact with the ball. With the last two balls of the 11th over of Royal Challengers Bangalore's innings, Yuvraj dismissed Robin Uthappa and Jaques Kallis and achieved the fourth IPL hat-trick with the first ball of the 13th, trapping Mark Boucher with another quick arm ball. Those excellent strikes further derailed an innings that had begun in disarray and Kings XI Punjab, aided by Yusuf Abdulla's four, found themselves primed for their fourth straight win.

Bangalore were struggling after early losses and needed Jacques Kallis to last the full quota of overs. He and the recalled Robin Uthappa had put on 42 when Yuvraj struck. Having strayed in line early in his second over Yuvraj tried a flatter, faster delivery and Uthappa miscued one to the deep. The batsmen crossed as the ball went up in the air, but Kallis' tentative footwork against an arm ball resulted in the sound of timber. Mark Boucher came in but didn't last as Yuvraj came back and fired in another slider. Punjab were cock-a-hoop.

Yuvraj's hat-trick had compounded what was a poor innings from the start, even under a new change of the guard. Anil Kumble started off by winning the toss and opted to bat. For the fifth time in six games they lost a wicket in the first over and never looked like challenging Punjab.

And it was once again Irfan Pathan who provided Punjab the breakthrough. Jesse Ryder got another chance to try and back his price tag but flopped, edging Irfan to first slip in the opening over.

Rajesh Bishnoi, who came back in place of Manish Pandey, began with a couple blistering sixes over the leg side only to drive Abdulla's fourth ball to short cover. Abdulla set the tone for another good outing with that wicket-maiden over, and struck again soon. Sreevats Goswami was dropped by a diving Kumar Sangakkara off Vikramjeet Malik but luck didn't last long as he holed out to the deep. That wicket put Abdulla joint first on the IPL wickets tally.

After Yuvraj struck a pugnacious cameo from Roelof van der Merwe - which included an amazing six in which he looked to square leg but hit over extra cover - gave the innings some shape. Abdulla's figures were really bruised by van der Werwe, who slammed six, four, six in three balls, but he had his number and became the highest wicket-taker this season. Abdulla yorked Kumble in the final over and should have had five but Piyush Chawla at third man spilled a running catch. Abdulla looked a pleased man when he donned the purple cap for leading the tally.

His captain has been pretty unstoppable today and despite having to chase under lights on a ground where teams have struggled in the second innings, Punjab will take plenty from the last 20 overs.

No swine flu case in India, tanking up medicine stock

2009-04-30T23:36:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: No swine flu case has been reported in India and the authorities are prepared to tackle any possible outbreak of the infection, the health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) stated on Thursday as more cases of the flu were reported in the western world.

India on Thursday decided to increase its stock of Tamiflu - a globally recognised medicine to combat avian flu - to 10 million and it will be made available within seven days.

"We don't have swine flu infection. We are focusing on preventing the disease from entering the country," Vineet Chawdhry, joint secretary in the Ministry of Health, told reporters.

He cautioned that there was no need to panic. "We don't need to panic but are concerned and have to take some precautionary measures. The government is monitoring the situation and will handle it," Chawdhry said.

J P Narain, director communicable disease in the WHO regional office for Southeast Asia, said, "India has no suspect of swine flu."

Narain also said India was prepared to deal with a possible outbreak. "India is very much in the forefront in terms of preparedness and capacity to deal with any outbreak. We have the surveillance in place."

The Indian government has put its surveillance in place to check any infection from slipping in - at the international airports, at ports and from across the border, especially from the northeast.

The government has also stock-piled on anti-influenza vaccines.

"We have decided to upscale the stock of anti-viral vaccine to 10 million from 1 million. The government is talking to four pharmaceutical companies and medicines will be acquired on the basis of rate query within seven day," Chawdhry said, adding that the health ministry is in talks with Ranbaxy, Cipla, Hetro Drugs and Roche India.

Chawdhry said health authorities had identified 50,000 tourists who have entered India from flu-affected countries like New Zealand, Mexico, the US, Canada, Spain, France and Britain and they would be screened. India has also included in its list citizens coming from Austria and Israel.

Asked about a suspected flu case, a 27-year-old passenger, who returned to Hyderabad from Texas in the US on April 28 and had developed symptoms of common cold, Chawdhry said an initial checkup found no symptom of flu on him. The case was being followed up.

"He reported to a private hospital for check-up where he was referred to a government chest hospital," he said, adding that the man failed to report at the government hospital.

"This passenger has been tracked to his residence. As a precautionary measure, a team of doctors went to his house. He was found healthy with no symptoms of flu and is being followed up. His clinical samples have been taken and are being sent to the laboratory in Delhi," he added.

He said it will take 24 to 48 hours to get the final result of the tests. "But the preliminary report has shown that he doesn't have symptoms of swine flu," he said.

"No other suspected case has been identified," he added.

He said travelers especially coming from Mexico would be tracked.

"Our surveillance is in place and we have started screening passengers at the international airports," he added.

The health ministry on Thursday also held a meeting with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) asking them to put the swine flu treatment guidelines on their website for doctors across the country to go through it.

The Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi has been equipped with facilities to deal with swine flu cases, Chawdhry said.

Passengers will be screened for visible signs of flu like cold, fever and upper respiratory infection. If anybody is found with the symptoms, they would be isolated and put on Tamiflu.

The WHO in Geneva Wednesday night raised the pandemic alert for swine flu by one level to Phase 5 - second-highest phase. The declaration of Phase 5 by WHO Director General Margaret Chan is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent, but not inevitable. The phase is characterised by human-to-human spread of the virus in at least two countries in one WHO region.

The WHO official said there is a "strong signal that a pandemic is imminent".

The WHO regional office in Delhi has stockpiled 3 million Tamiflu doses to deal with the outbreak in Southeast Asian countries.

"No suspected cases of swine flu has been reported from any of the ten southeast Asian countries," Narain added.

In Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak, there have been close to 160 deaths and nearly 2,500 infections due to the disease.

Of the infected cases, more than 1,300 are in hospital, but most have not yet been identified as swine flu cases. Apart from Mexico, WHO reported confirmed swine flu cases in Canada, the US, Israel, Spain, Britain and New Zealand. Costa Rica also reported two confirmed cases.

Chrysler to file for bankruptcy

2009-04-30T23:20:00.001+05:30

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Detroit/ Washington: Chrysler LLC will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday after talks to restructure its debt with bondholders collapsed, a US government official said.

Chrysler failed to gain the bondholder support it needed to move forward with a restructuring and avoid the first-ever bankruptcy filing by a major US automaker.

The Chapter 11 filing, which sources said would be done in US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, will send shockwaves through the entire auto industry -- including Chrysler's rivals, suppliers, dealers and the many hundreds of thousands who rely on the industry for their livelihoods.

A statement from President Barack Obama on Chrysler's situation and the auto industry is scheduled for 1200 EDT/1600 GMT.

The filing does not preclude a deal with Fiat. Chrysler has been seeking a rescue deal from the Italian automaker while also trying to finalize a debt forgiveness agreement from its lenders.

Before the bankruptcy news, signals about the discussions with Fiat were mixed.

The Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra reported on Thursday morning that a deal had been signed, but Fiat later denied this.

The debt restructuring talks have been spearheaded by the Obama administration's autos task force and former investment banker Steve Rattner.

In a bid to win over three fund firms that had spurned an offer to accept $2 billion in cash in exchange for writing off all of Chrysler's $6.9 billion in secured debt, US officials sweetened the terms by throwing in another $250 million, people familiar with those discussions said.

About 45 financial institutions hold Chrysler's secured debt. In an earlier memo to employees obtained by Reuters, Chrysler Chief Executive Robert Nardelli had said reaching an agreement with lenders was the company's main focus.

Chrysler, majority-owned by Cerberus Capital Group, is among the car industry's laggards, but its plight reflects a slump in demand facing an industry whose $2.6 trillion annual revenue is equivalent to the GDP of France and which employs over 9 million people.

Bankruptcy marks another key moment for the struggling American manufacturing sector.

In 1925, Walter P Chrysler established Chrysler Corp. Three years later, the company laid the cornerstone for the Chrysler Building, briefly the world's tallest building and still an unmistakable part of the Manhattan skyline.

On Wednesday, Obama said concessions by Chrysler's unions and its major bank lenders had made him more hopeful than a month ago that the struggling automaker could be made viable.

The automaker has won cost-cutting concessions from its unions in the United States and Canada and was on the brink of closing its deal with Fiat on Wednesday, a person involved in those negotiations told Reuters.

Putting the two car producers together would give the combined group annual sales of some 4.16 million vehicles, making it equal with Hyundai and behind Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne thinks a carmaker needs to produce at least 5.5 million cars a year to survive.

I spoke for Hindus, says defiant Varun Gandhi

2009-03-18T20:33:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi on Wednesday denied speaking against Muslims and claimed he was being called communal because he spoke for Hindus.

“Statements that have been put in my mouth are not true,” Varun told CNN-IBN in Delhi on Wednesday after announcing at a press conference that he would not apologise for a speech he made in Pilibhit, the constituency in Uttar Pradesh where he is fighting elections.

“I never made any communal statements. I went to an area in which I felt Hindus were being targeted, so I spoke in favour of the Hindu community. It is a very sad day in the Indian politics when anyone who speaks for Hindus is branded communal,” Varun told Pallavi Ghosh, CNN-IBN’s Chief Political Correspondent.

“All statements that have been put in my mouth are not true. There is no question of me making communal statements and they have been put it into my mouth,” he said.

“I stand for India and my legacy has always been to stand for everybody and not to just stand against anybody.”

Varun, who has been booked in a criminal case for his statements, alleged the CD showing him making the speech was doctored. “Where was this CD for 15 days? Who was doctoring it? That is not my voice.”

The BJP leader refused to comment whether he suspected a conspiracy but said it was clear “who stands to gain” from the controversy.

Varun denied that his speech had embarrassed the BJP. “If I have not said what I have been accused of saying, then obviously I have not embarrassed anybody, including myself.”

“The party (BJP) has an ideology of protecting Hindus. I have tried to protect the weaker sections of Hindus, who have been targeted by anti-nationals, by people from across the border because it is a border constituency (Pilibhit).”

Asked if the controversy had become intense because of his surname, he said: “Yes, but I would like to say that I stand for the truth but what I have not said I must firmly say that I have not said it.”

Midway through the interview, Varun’s aunt Ambika Shukla pulled him away. CNN-IBN has learnt that the BJP had asked Varun not to hold the press conference.

Bailed out by taxpayers, AIG gives millions in bonus

2009-03-15T21:21:00.002+05:30

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Washington: American International Group is giving its executives tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion.

AIG is paying out the executive bonuses to meet a Sunday deadline, but the troubled insurance giant has agreed to administration requests to restrain future payments.

The Treasury Department determined that the government did not have the legal authority to block the current payments by the company. AIG declared earlier this month that it had suffered a loss of $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has asked that the company scale back future bonus payments where legally possible, an administration official said on Saturday.

This official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Geithner had called AIG Chairman Edward Liddy on Wednesday to demand that Liddy renegotiate AIG's current bonus structure.

Geithner termed the current bonus structure unacceptable in view of the billions of dollars of taxpayer support the company is receiving, this official said.

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy informed Treasury that outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

Liddy said in his letter that "quite frankly, AIG's hands are tied" although he said that in light of the company's current situation he found it "distasteful and difficult" to recommend going forward with the payments.

Liddy said the company had entered into the bonus agreements in early 2008 before AIG got into severe financial straits and was forced to obtain a government bailout last fall.

The large bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.

A white paper prepared by the company says that AIG is contractually obligated to pay a total of about $165 million of previously awarded "retention pay" to employees in this unit by Sunday, March 15. The document says that another $55 million in retention pay has already been distributed to about 400 AIG Financial Products employees.

The company says in the paper it will work to reduce the amounts paid for 2009 and believes it can trim those payments by at least 30 percent.

Bonus programs at financial companies have come under harsh scrutiny after the government began loaning them billions of dollars to keep the institutions afloat. AIG is the largest recipient of government support in the current financial crisis.

AIG also pledged to Geithner that it would also restructure $9.6 million in bonuses scheduled to go a group that covers the top 50 executives. Liddy and six other executives have agreed to forgo bonuses.

The group of top executives getting bonuses will receive half of the $9.6 million now, with the average payment around $112,000.

This group will get another 25 percent on July 14 and the final 25 percent on September 15. But these payments will be contingent on the AIG board determining that the company is meeting the goals the government has set for dealing with the company's financial troubles.

The Obama administration has vowed to put in place reforms in the $700 billion financial rescue program in an effort to deal with growing public anger over how the program was operated during the Bush administration.

That anger has focused in part on payouts of millions of dollars in bonuses by financial firms getting taxpayer support.

In his letter, Liddy told Geithner, "We believe there will be considerably greater flexibility to reduce contractual payments in respect of 2009 and AIG intends to use its best efforts to do so."

But he also told Geithner that he felt it could be harmful to the company if the government continued to press for reductions in executive compensation.

"We cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG businesses, which are now being operated principally on behalf of the American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the US Treasury," Liddy said

Ambani's skyscraper, Mittal's Alps in Forbes' list

2009-03-15T21:05:00.001+05:30

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New York: India's richest resident Mukesh Ambani's upcoming skyscraper in Mumbai and wealthiest NRI Lakshmi Mittal's getaway in the Alps are among the world's top ten 'Billionaire Playgrounds' for this year, despite the fortunes of the two individuals coming down by more than half.

Others on the list include Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's 200-acre ranch on Wildcat Ridge in Colorado, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's 416-foot megayacht Octopus and Apussuit Adventure Camp, a remote skiing resort in West Greenland frequented by software czar Bill Gates.

The list of the top ten 'billionaire playgrounds', where the world's super-rich go for fun, has been compiled by Forbes Traveler, a luxury travel publication of American business magazine Forbes, known for its lists of richest persons in the world.

"Whether it's seeking out crystal-clear Caribbean waters, retreating to a mountain hideaway or sailing the seven seas in style, the world's billionaires are, in some ways, just like us. They want to relax in privacy and luxury.

"The only difference is, they don't get worried when the bill arrives," Forbes Traveler said in a report on its website.

Security still an issue, but Modi says IPL on

2009-03-11T01:47:00.002+05:30

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Mumbai: Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi on Tuesday announced that the Twenty20 championship will start from April 10 with a slight change in schedule.

Modi made the announcement at the official launch of the second season of the Twenty20 championship in Mumbai but completely sidelined the seriousness around it with the Lok Sabha elections and security worries post attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers.

However, IPL's refusal to involve the Federation of International Cricket Players Association (FICA) in discussions about security arrangements could well unsettle foreign stars who are slated to play in the Twenty20 carnival.

In the aftermath of the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, many players are desperate for FICA to review security arrangements.

Representatives from players associations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have joined their English and Sri Lankan counterparts in seeking direct involvement in the IPL's security management through FICA.

The IPL insists that players must satisfy themselves about security arrangements by talking to their franchises, the IPL or their home boards.

The elections and the attack on Sri Lankan players must have been giving Modi sleepless nights as the Twenty20 championship is his most ambitious business plan and was in danger of being derailed.

But Modi gave no hint of any discomfort as he addressed the media for 45 minutes and announced that the IPL will go on despite elections and terror threats.

"The quality of cricket and entertainment will defy the recession. Twenty-two lakh people attended (the matches). We had a 100 million fans who actually tuned in and guaranteed contracted revenue for the league is Rs 10,970 crore," said Modi at the press meet.

He also said the final schedule of the championship is being fine-tuned.

The picturesque cricket ground in Dharamsala will be the additional base centre for Kings XI Punjab. Ahmedabad and Vizagate are the other venues which will host matches to counter the clash of dates with the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

But the big issue of intelligence report that wanted match dates to be shifted has still not been resolved.

"Again this is a speculation that you have put into the mind. We have no such news and we are going to go ahead with our plans," Modi replied casually.

Modi also added that even the Lahore threats would not hinder the conduct of IPL.

"Let's not heighten the security situation in another country to be the same as in our country. Even after the blasts in our country we were prepared and we worked with our government and moved forward. It was matter of two weeks and after two weeks we did it. I don't see that as an issue," he said.

Modi will now have to come up with the tournament schedule as soon as possible but what is certain is that it will kick-off in Mumbai on April 10.

Kasab appears in court via video conferencing

2009-03-09T21:49:00.002+05:30

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Mumbai: Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive during the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, appeared via video conferencing on Monday before Metropolitan Magistrate NN Shrimangale.

Kasab asked for an Urdu translation of the chargesheet filed by Mumbai police in the attack case but the request was denied.

The Mumbai attacker has been confined in a highly secure and secluded cell inside the Arthur Road Jail and on Monday, unlike previous times, the magistrate did not go upto his cell. Instead Kasab deposed before the metropolitan magistrate through video conferencing.

Although media was not permitted inside the video conferencing room, they were allowed to hear Kasab speak.

He was heard in a conversation which lasted only for half a minute and his voice was indication enough of acceptance of his fate and preparedness to face the trial ahead.

The magistrate began by asking Kasab his name and the terrorists replied - Mohammad Ajmal Kasab.

He was then asked if he had received a copy of the chargesheet to which Kasab replied in affirmative but added that he did not understand it as it was not in a language he was conversant in.

The magistrate then explained to Kasab that it under the law it was not necessary to provide the chargesheet in the language of the accused.

Kasab was also informed that the next hearing of the case would be on March 23 in the session’s court.

"Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin (two others who have been accused of providing logistical help to the Mumbai attackers) have engaged advocates. Both the advocates are from Maharashtra and they know the language in which court proceedings take place. So if they want they can help him in understanding the chargesheet," said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

The magistrate also committed the case to the special sessions court being set up within the Arthur Road Jail.

Modi's speeches turned to Guj folk songs, ringtones

2009-03-09T21:44:00.002+05:30

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Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's speeches made at various forums are being set to the tunes of popular Gujarati folk songs as mobile ring tones and caller tunes for the poll campaign.

The IT cell of the Gujarat unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been busy for close to a fortnight choosing the right folk tune to match the excerpts being selected from Modi's speeches before making them available in the 'download section' of the party's Gujarat unit website within the next 10 days.

"The download section of the BJP Gujarat website would not just have the wallpapers with a development theme for Gujarat, but a heady mix of technology will also be thrown in where the caller tunes and the wallpapers could be downloaded using the mobile bluetooth technology," chief of BJP's IT cell in Gujarat Shashiranjan Yadav said.

He said this time round the entire exercise of choosing the right folk song or the wallpapers to be put up on the BJP website for Gujarat is being handled by a dedicated research team which comprises management and engineering graduates, artists, musicians and scholars "who understand Gujarat".

Each and every item in the campaign would first go to the BJP state president Purshottam Rupala for clearance. They would be put up on the website only after his clearance, Yadav said.

"Our focus on the poll campaign this time round had been to bring about a judicious mix of technology and its user friendliness for those who desire to download what they want from the party's website," he said.

A member of the party's IT team said: "We prepared an animation clip of the chief minister giving speeches while talking about the various welfare policies of the state government during the assembly polls held in the state last year. This time round, the website would have a huge collection of tunes, wallpapers and video clips for mobile phones.

At first we were only focussing on the effort to draw young volunteers to campaign for the party this Lok Sabha poll using the mass mailing option to talk about the party's aims and objectives during the first week of February.”

"Later, a couple of brainstorming sessions held at the party's state headquarters in Ahmedabad by IT experts and the creative team during the past one week helped shape the things to follow which could bring more young visitors to the party's website and register as members of the party," he added.

Tendulkar feasts on Kiwis

2009-03-08T22:10:00.002+05:30

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Ryder makes debut one-day ton in a losing cause in Christchurch

Sachin Tendulkar smashed 163 as India triumphed by 53 runs in a high-scoring third one-day international against New Zealand.

The Little Master' blasted 16 fours and five sixes to become the bedrock of his side's massive total of 392-4 in Christchurch.

Yuvraj Singh made 87 off just 60 balls while captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni contributed 68 as the tourists put the Kiwi bowlers to the sword.

To their credit, New Zealand bravely attempted to chase down such a monumental target, Jesse Ryder treating the crowd to a rapid century.

Strong platform

He put on 166 in 22 overs with stand-in skipper Brendon McCullum (71) and although the rest of the side were unable to build on the strong platform, the hosts still managed to reach 334 before being bowled out in the 46th over.

India's win gives them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series with two games to go. They set a new record for the highest ODI total in New Zealand and equalled the mark for sixes (18) in an innings.

Amazingly the Black Caps made a good start with the ball, Kyle Mills finally finding a way to deal with Virender Sehwag, bowling the opener for just three, while Gautam Gambhir went for 15 to leave the score on 65-2.

All the early wickets did, however, was allow Tendulkar and Yuvraj to come together to form a third-wicket alliance that put on 138 in under 17 overs - including 69 during the five-over batting powerplay.

Eventually Grant Elliott ended the onslaught by getting Yuvraj caught behind, though Dhoni came in and carried on from where his team-mate had left off.

Tendulkar reached his 43rd one-day century off 101 deliveries before having to retire hurt due to a pulled stomach muscle.

While he was in pain in the pavilion the agony also went on for a New Zealand bowling attack minus skipper Daniel Vettori, who had departed for Auckland to attend the birth of his first child.

Suresh Raina rubbed salt in the hosts' wounds with a quick-fire 38 not out, hammering late blows off Tim Southee, who conceded 105 from his 10 overs.

Thrilling stand

Despite facing a mammoth asking rate, when Ryder and McCullum were together the run-chase looked possible. Only a needless run out of the latter, going for a suicidal single, ended their thrilling opening stand.

From then on wickets fell at regular intervals, Ryder holing out for 105 shortly after making his maiden one-day ton. He had hit 12 fours and four sixes in his brutal 80-ball knock.

The middle order fell away quickly and it was left to Mills to provide the crowd with some late entertainment, the tail-ender hitting a 32-ball 52.

Southee also exacted some revenge on the Indians with 32 - putting on an 83-run stand in seven overs - until he became the last wicket to fall, bringing to an end a game that had seen the two teams combine for 31 sixes.

Mittal, Rohini Nilekani in Forbes' 'Philanthropy' tally

2009-03-06T21:13:00.002+05:30

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Washington: Four Indians have been listed among Forbes' "48 Heroes of Philanthropy" who opened their cheque books for a cause even as the global financial crisis is hammering fortunes all over Asia.

Indian telecom czar Sunil Mittal, NRI businessman Anil Agarwal, HCL Technologies chairman Shiv Nadar and Rohini Nilekani, wife of Infosys Technologies Co-founder Nandan Nilekani, made it to the list compiled by the US business publication.

The list features 48 individuals, four each from India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, besides another four from Australia and New Zealand.

"The global financial crisis is hammering fortunes all over Asia, but the past year was still a good one for philanthropy as tycoons and more modest donors tried to maintain their charity commitments, Forbes said announcing its third annual 'Heroes of Philanthropy' list.

"Many opened up their chequebooks to help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake and the Myanmar cyclone in May. Many more donated to health, education, cultural and other causes," it noted.

Anil Agarwal, 55, chairman of mining outfit Vedanta Resources, Forbes noted pledged $1 billion to build a new university in the eastern state of Orissa.

Apart from arts and sciences, medicine and engineering, it plans research centres for bio- and nanotechnology, crop genetics and alternative energy.

Sunil Mittal, 51, chairman and group chief executive of Bharti Enterprises, set up the Bharti Foundation in 2000 and contributed $22 million.

It also set up telecom-technology colleges on the campuses of the Indian Institutes of Technology in New Delhi and Mumbai, and has funded 26 computer centres and more than 100 libraries aimed at poor children, especially girls.

Shiv Nadar, 63, Chairman and chief strategy officer, HCL Technologies, started the SSN Trust, named after his late father, in 1994.

Its $30 million endowment is used mainly to fund SSN Institutions, which are aimed at providing affordable higher education, offering $1 million in scholarships each year.

Rohini Nilekani, 49, along with her husband, pledged $5 million to Yale University, where both their children are students, to start the Yale India Initiative, an India studies programme that she believes will be "the most comprehensive in any US university."

PM wants Gandhi memorablia in India at all cost

2009-03-05T20:58:00.002+05:30

New Delhi: As uncertainty continued on India getting back Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings which are up for auction in New York, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stepped in directing that all possible steps, which may include entering into the bidding process, should be taken to procure the memorabilia.

"The Prime Minister has directed me to do whatever possible. The bottomline is to procure the memorabilia," Culture Minister Ambika Soni told reporters as the Government made last ditch efforts to stop the auction of Gandhi's personal belongings.

Ambika Soni added the PM has authorised the govt to bid on its own and not through Sant Chatwal if the items are put up for sale.

"We have been given clear directive by the PM to procure Gandhi's belongings by all means. We are trying to ensure that Gandhi's belongings don't become a part of the auction on Thursday night. We are trying various options, still negotiating with James Otis are on, if nothing else works we will buy the lot," she said.

Asked whether India would go for bidding if it failed to prevent the auction, Soni said our attitude is to avoid the commercialisation of Gandhi items as it was against Gandhi's thinking."

Pressed further what India would do if talks with auctioner fails, she said "as a last resort we would acquire the items through bidding."

Otis has expressed readiness to negotiate and donate the items to India if it offers "something very generous" to its poorest people. The memorabilia is up for auction at Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York.

Rejecting the conditions set by him, Sharma said, "Gandhiji himself would not have agreed to conditions. The Government of India representing the sovereign people of this republic cannot enter into such agreements where it involves specific areas of allocation of resources."

Sharma said he was sure that Otis is aware that New Delhi has policy initiatives with "historic" allocations of resources particularly for rural health programmes and the education of the poor besides other pro-poor schemes.

On Otis' demand that New Delhi help its embassies in promoting Gandhian ideals in 78 countries, Sharma told a television channel that New Delhi is already incorporating Gandhiji's vision.

"We will enter the auction if required as a last resort" to bring back the items to the country, she said. The personal belongings include Gandhi's metal-rimmed glasses, pocket watch, a pair of sandals and a plate and bowl.

Her remarks came close on the heels of Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma rejecting conditions set by James Otis, the American auctioneer, for stopping the auction.

Otis wanted the Indian Government to shift priorities from military spending to health care, especially for the poor.

Meanwhile, even as the Government of India is trying everything to bring back Gandhi's belongings to India, just no one knows how many more of such items belonging to the Father of the Nation maybe in the possession of private owners the world over.

While the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has no inventory of Gandhi's items, what's worse, even the Navjeevan Trust - the sole custodian of Gandhi's inheritance - has no clue of what all is available where. In most cases, both the Government and the Ahmedabad-based Navjeevan Trust are taken by surprise each time Gandhi's belongings go under the hammer.

RIL-RPL merger: What happens to your fraction share?

2009-03-04T21:51:00.002+05:30

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The board of directors of Reliance Industries has approved the merger between Reliance Petroleum Limited and Reliance Industries. This amalgamation is effective April 1, 2008.

The RIL board of directors has announced that on completion of amalgamation procedures, RPL shareholders will receive RIL shares in swap ratio at 1:16.

In simple words

For every 16 fully paid equity RPL shares you hold, the company would give one RIL share. So, if you hold 1,600 shares of RPL, the company would give 100 shares of RIL.

Odd lots?

What if you are holding 1,610 shares of RPL; what happens to these 10 shares? The company hasn’t officially communicated to the shareholders on how it plans to work it out.

However, the norm is the company would buy the fraction shares for cash from you. That is, it would give you 100 shares of RIL and pay you in cash for the remaining 10 shares of RPL.

Who buys fraction shares?

Lawyer Sajan Poovayya and the Managing Partner of Poovayya & Co, a law service firm, says usually the company appoints a trustee to buy the fraction shares from investors. The trustee will then pay cash for those fraction shares to these investors.

So what should you do?

Option 1: Our expert, Yogesh Chabria says, “I would suggest you buy six more shares or sell 10 shares of RPL to even them out. That is, you’ll either have 1,600 or 1,616 shares of RPL.”

This is a quicker solution than to wait for the company to buy those fraction shares because companies, usually, take two to three months to sell it for you.

Tax treatment: If you sell the fraction shares in the market on your own, and you have held these shares for less than a year, you’d be subjected to short term capital gains tax at 15 per cent.

Option 2: If you have fraction shares and your friend’s fraction shares add up to 16 shares of RPL, you could write to the trustee to jointly buy your shares and give one share of RIL in your joint name.

Tax treatment: If the trustee buys back your shares and pays you cash for them, you are not liable to pay any tax on it.

Disclaimer: While we have made efforts to ensure the accuracy of our content (consisting of articles and information), neither this website nor the author shall be held responsible for any losses/ incidents suffered by people accessing, using or is supplied with the content.

February brings good news for auto sector, sales up

2009-03-04T21:41:00.002+05:30

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New Delhi: The February sales figures have brought good news for the automobile sector as most companies have reported double digit growth.

After months of slowdown and inventory pile-up, the auto sector showed some signs of recovery in February sales.

Maruti Suzuki registered its highest ever monthly sales in February - a growth of 25 per cent over last year, while Mahindra and Mahindra's total vehicle sales grew 22 per cent over last year.

Tata Motors reported its highest sales in the last four months in February, though the sales were 14 per cent lower than last year.

In the two-wheeler and three-wheeler segment TVS Motors recorded 13 per cent growth in the month, while Hero Honda showed 24 per cent growth.

But will the industry be able to sustain this growth?

"At least the worst of the last year is over and if we don't have much growth, I don't think we will decline much more. I don't think we will get 10-12 per cent growth we normally expect every year, I don't think that will happen, but I don't think it will be a high single digit. I think it will be less than that," said RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki.

Experts say auto sales got a boost from the financial stimulus announced by the government, particularly for commercial vehicles.

Despite the continued pressure from high interest rates, lack of retail credit and the economic slowdown, they say the auto industry is likely to continue its growth story.

Sri Lanka players arrive home after Lahore attack

2009-03-04T21:39:00.002+05:30

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Colombo: Sri Lanka's cricketers were reunited with their families after returning home early on Wednesday following an attack by gunmen in Lahore.

The players were welcomed home to Bandaranaike International Airport by friends and families, cricket officials, sports minister Gamini Lokuge and a large media contingent.

Around a dozen gunmen attacked the team's bus on Tuesday with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British assistant coach and killing at least eight Pakistanis.

"It's great to be back in Sri Lanka with our families and loved ones," Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene told Reuters after the team's arrival home at 3.20am (2120 GMT).

"We are still shocked by what has happened but we are relieved that no one in the team suffered more serious injuries or were killed," he added.

Five players and assistant coach Paul Farbrace were transported straight to Nawaloka hospital in central Colombo for checks on their injuries.

The most seriously injured player was Thilan Samaraweera, who was shot in the leg. Doctors will decide on Wednesday whether to try to remove the bullet. Early reports suggest he would be unable to play cricket for between six to eight weeks.

Tharanga Paranavitana, a 26-year-old playing his first international tour, was the next most seriously injured after being shot in the chest. The bullet, which narrowly missed his heart, was later removed by Pakistan doctors.

"I am fine now," Paranavitana said at the airport. "I feel very lucky." The other players injured, all of whom suffered minor shrapnel wounds, included Jayawardene (ankle), Kumar Sangakkara (shoulder), Ajantha Mendis (head) and Suranga Lakmal (leg). Jayawardene was the only player not sent to hospital on the team's return. Sangakkara paid tribute to the team's bus driver, Mohammad Khalil, for saving lives.

"The truth is that we owe our lives to Khalil for the courage he showed in getting the bus going again after the initial attack and into the stadium," Sangakkara told Reuters.

"After the first shots the bus had come to a halt on the roundabout and we were sitting ducks for the terrorists, but he got us out of there just in time."

"I can't even think anything other than that. Everyone's safe, the whole team. A lot of guys were really lucky. If you see the bus there is not a place where there isn't a bullet hole. I don't know how we escaped. I am really happy about that," he said.

"About 10 minutes after we left the hotel and about 600 meters from the stadium there is a roundabout. There I heard a sound like a cracker had been lit. I didn't take it seriously. Then I saw two white cars on the side of the road reversing towards the front of the bus. One lost control of the vehicle and hit the roundabout. I thought that it was an issue between those two. Then one person got off and started firing. The first shot hit about a half foot away from the driver. Only then did I realise that they are firing at us. Then everybody shouted at each other to hit the floor. I heard some of the players shouting that they have been hit. They fired for about three more minutes because the bus driver was in shock and the bus was in one place for about one-and-a-half minutes. I shouted 'drive fast, drive fast'. Then the bus moved slowly forward. Even when we were moving forward they kept on firing. That's all I can remember. I saw the wounds of the players only after we got to the ground," says Thilakaratne Dilshan.

"We all got scared. At that time all that I could think of is who got shot and who didn't. It is the driver of the bus who saved us," says Muttiah Muralitharan.

Meanwhile, Lahore Capital City Police Officer, Haji Habibur Rehman said, "This had local assistance but they came from outside. Raids to nab the attackers were conducted outside Lahore including Punjab. Punjab government has announced a Rs 1 crore reward for any information of the attackers."

Rahman mobbed on return

2009-02-26T21:10:00.001+05:30

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Chennai: Music maestro A R Rahman, the first Indian to win two Oscars, returned to his home city to a rousing welcome by his fans and friends in the wee hours of today.

The 43-year-old musician, who won the Oscars for Best Original Music and Best Song for his compositions in Slumdog Millionaire at the 81st Academy Awards, arrived here from Dubai by an Emirates Airways flight at around 2.30 am.

A large number of people, who waited at the airport for the 'Mozart of Madras', cheered him up as he emerged out of the international terminal to the beats of drum specialist Sivamani and his troupe.

Kerala's Kottu Melam (percussion instrument) artists gave a performance on behalf of the Indian Airlines.

On behalf of the state government, Tamil Nadu Information Minister Parithi Ilamvazhuthi received Rahman with a bouquet at the airport terminal.

"Everyone wanted an Oscar so much, so i got it. I got them two Oscars. the message of my music is peace and harmony," said Rahman in a press conference.

A visibly happy Rahman waved at the crowd acknowledging their support before leaving for his home.

Rahman was born in a musically affluent family in Chennai on January 6, 1966.

Azharuddin starts new innings, joins Congress

2009-02-19T21:22:00.001+05:30

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New Delhi: Former Indian cricket team skipper Mohammad Azharuddin formally joined the Congress on Thursday and is expected to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Azharuddin addressed the press at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday evening and clarified that the party high command will decide from where he will contest elections.

He said he has always been a fan of the Congress and late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"I am quite happy to be in front of a large gathering after a long time. I have been a fan on late Rajiv Gandhi. It is the only party that has made so many sacrifices," said Azharuddin.

"I want to work in the larger interest of the party. I am not the captain anymore so I can't decide on whether I will contest in polls. That is for party high command to decide," Azhar added.

Azhar will probably contest from one of the three constituencies falling in Hyderabad in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He is expected to take on the Congress ally in Andhra Pradesh, the All India Majlis-e Ittihad al-Muslimin's (MIM) growing influence in the state and is likely to be projected as the party's new Muslim face.

Azharuddin was introduced to the press as the latest entrant to the Congress by senior party leader Veerappa Moily.

"Sonia Gandhi is very happy to have Azhar in the party. He has firm belief in the secular and forward looking policies of the party," said Moily.

Indian team's new jersey unveiled

2009-02-19T21:14:00.001+05:30

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Mumbai
: New Jersey sponsored by Nike has been unveiled for the Indian team on Wednesday, as the team prepares to leave for the New Zealand tour.

New jersey is in darker shade than the present sky-blue jersey and has been designed by Tarun Tahilani.

It’s a nice colour,” captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. “It’s a dark colour so we would save our laundry bills,” he said in jest.

The event was a colourful one, hosted by renowned cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle. The event featured some of India’s former cricketers donning Team India’s past colours.