Press Trust of India

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed trade 96.19 points or 0.37 percent up, even as capital goods stocks plunged, snapping two days of decline.

Selling pressure was observed in information technology (IT) scrips, while marginally good buying was observed in bank, healthcare and consumer durables stocks.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,005.14 points, ended trade at 26,087.42 points (provisional), up 96.19 points or 0.37 percent from the previous day’s close at 25,991.23 points.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday termed as “saddening” the loss of lives in a landslide in Pune, and said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would be visiting the spot to take stock of the situation.

“Loss of lives in landslide in Pune dist. is saddening. Spoke to Rajnath ji and he would be travelling to Pune to take stock of the situation,” Modi tweeted.

At least 10 people died and over 150 were feared trapped after a landslide hit a village in Pune district in Maharashtra Wednesday morning.

The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Sahara group and Tihar jail authorities to work out concrete modalities for conferencing facilities that could be extended to company chairman Subrata Roy and two other directors for negotiating with buyers for the group’s three hotels in New York and London.

A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice A.K.Sikri asked both Roy and Tihar jail authorities to work out the details for a viable proposition to be considered by the court Friday.

England bowled out India for 330 and then were batting on 80/2 in their second innings at lunch on the fourth day of the third cricket Test at The Rose Bowl here Wednesday.

Resuming the day at 323/8, India could add only seven runs in the morning before captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50) and Mohammed Shami (5) lost their respective wickets.

Pacer James Anderson picked up both the wickets to clinch another five-wicket haul in his Test career.

Designers Kajal Bihani and Mitali Kalantry of the brand The Anouk have come up with a unique collection of rakhis and lumbas, which can also be worn as a fashion accessory.

The lumbas, which are the Punjabi styled rakhi, are given jewelled look by the designers and this makes them wearable round the year.

Also, the rakhi collection has some messages written on it, including “Mera Bhai Dabangg”, “One in a Million” and “Rockstar”. Traditional designs laid in “panch-dhatu” and Swarovski have a tinge of gold too, said a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal next month is expected to boost cooperation in hydropower and infrastructure sectors between India and the Himalayan nation, said observers here even as visiting Nepalese Commerce Minister Sunil Bahadur Thapa Wednesday expressed his country’s keenness to learn from Modi’s development model.

Actress Scarlett Johansson, who is pregnant, is in no hurry to marry her fiance Romain Dauriac, a French journalist.

“She is telling friends that she is not getting married until after the baby,” eonline.com quoted a source as saying.

The mom-to-be has been enjoying her pregnancy with Dauriac constantly by her side.

The news of Johansson’s pregnancy came just six months after “The Avengers” star got engaged to her beau.

They are both “very happy”.

“They haven’t chosen a date for the wedding,” said Johansson’s representative.
(IANS)

The Aam Aadmi Party will hold two rallies – one for auto rickshaw drivers Thursday and the other Aug 3 – here to test its support base.

The first rally at the Ramlila Maidan will be for the party’s crucial vote bank – autorickshaw drivers. The Aug 3 gathering at Jantar Mantar will press for dissolution of the Delhi assembly.

Party leader Manish Sisodia told IANS: “(Party chief) Arvind (Kejriwal) will listen to problems of auto drivers, but he will also tell them not to overcharge passengers.”

McDonald’s Japan will import chicken from Brazil after withdrawing all poultry products of Chinese origin following the Husi company rotten meat scandal in Shanghai, Japanese media reported Wednesday.

This is one of the measures the Japanese subsidiary of the American franchise said it would take to “recover the confidence of consumers”, after being one of the multinational fast food chains affected by the purchase of meat from Husi, which was closed down by Chinese authorities over accusations that it sold products past their expiry date.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti tried to put up a brave face after a 0-1 defeat to Italian side AS Roma that saw his side eliminated from the Guinness International Champions Cup in the US.

A Francesco Totti goal gave Roma a narrow win against the Champions League winners Tuesday night, reports Xinhua.

The defeat coupled with the penalty shoot-out loss to Inter Milan Saturday means that although Real Madrid are still to face Manchester United, they can no longer progress in the pre-season competition.

Ruling that corruption was a major roadblock in the country’s development, a court here sent a policeman to six years in jail and fined him Rs.8 lakh for criminal breach of trust and misconduct.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special judge Gurvinder Pal Singh — in the order delivered Saturday and which was released to the media Wednesday — jailed 59-year-old Ajit Singh, assistant sub-inspector in the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) for misappropriating Rs 6.2 lakh.

Nepal is keen to learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development model, visiting Nepalese Commerce Minister Sunil Bahadur Thapa said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters here, Thapa said, “Nepal is keen to learn from Modi’s political model of development leading towards the path of economic model of development.”

“Democratic constitution based on consensus is essential for Nepal’s economic evolution,” he added.

Thapa further said increased business-to-business and people-to-people contacts between India and Nepal should be a top priority.

A court in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur Wednesday sentenced the owner of a school in Kumbakonam, where 94 children perished in a fire in 2004, to a life term in prison. Nine people were sentenced to varied terms in jail, while 11 others were acquitted.

The eight school and government officials were jailed for five years and an engineer for two years.

The judgment comes a decade after the accident at the Sri Krishna Middle School July 16, 2004, in which 18 other children were injured.

Indian athlete Vikas Gowda advanced to the men’s discus throw final, topping qualification round 1 at the Hampden Park Stadium here Wednesday.

The silver medallist from the Delhi Games, four years ago, threw 64.32 metres to finish top of the qualification in both rounds.

Gowda has a personal best throw of 66.28 metres and he is India’s best bet to give the country its first medal from athletics in the Glasgow Games.
(IANS)

Vedanta’s plan to expand six-fold the capacity of its one-million-tonne per annum alumina refinery in Odisha got a boost Wednesday when a majority of the local villagers supported it, an official said.

The state pollution control board successfully conducted a public hearing near Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, about 600 km from Bhubaneswar.

Majority of the 1,500 to 2,000 people of nearby villages who participated in the public hearing supported the project, and said they have no objection to the expansion, district collector Bijaya Ketan Upadhyaya told IANS.

The BJP’s Delhi unit Wednesday submitted a memorandum to Minister of State in the PMO Jitender Singh, demanding a judicial probe into the Saharanpur riots.

The delegation, led by party president Satish Upadhyay informed the minister that three people died in Saturday’s communal riots and 25 were seriously injured while over 200 commercial establishments of the Sikh community were damaged.

The government has proposed to formulate a new education policy to meet challenges posed by lack of quality, research and innovation in Indian educational institutions, parliament was told Wednesday.

“The government proposes to formulate a new education policy aimed at meeting the challenges posed by lack of quality, research and innovation in our educational institutions,” Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said in the Rajya Sabha.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Wednesday urged Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to personally intervene to ensure compensation for the Sikh families who were affected by recent riots in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur town.

In a telephonic conversation, Badal urged Mulayam Singh to ensure security for the Sikhs living in Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam Singh, whose son Akhilesh Yadav is the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, told him that the state government would do everything to help Sikhs.

A Libyan special forces base in Benghazi Wednesday fell into the hands of Islamist militants after a week’s battle, according to military sources.

The special forces Thunderbolt have evacuated from their main camp in southern Benghazi after successive attacks from heavy artilleries and medium weapons, Xinhua reported citing a military source.

One armed group from the coalition of Islamist fighters, Shura Council, also confirmed that their fighters have taken the main camp and several other army strongholds, and added they would hunt down the remnants.

Ian Bell’s unbeaten century took England to 452/5 at tea against India on Day 2 of the third Test at the Rose Bowl here Monday.

There was some respite for Indian bowlers, who removed Joe Root (3) and Moeen Ali (12) cheaply but failed to make further inroads as Bell (133 not out) and debutant Jos Buttler (13 not out) stood strong.

Bell was much more aggressive in the session and took on the Indian spinners. The 32-year-old notched up his 21st Test century with a six and ended up smashing Ravindra Jadeja for 21 runs in that over.

Two minor sisters were Monday washed away in a swollen rivulet in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, police said.

Komal (9) and Nazia (7), daughters of Rajdeen of Harnota village, drowned in the rivulet in Thoda panchayat area, some 300 km from state capital Shimla.

Police said seeing the girls cry for help, villagers rushed to the spot but failed to save them. A case has been registered.

The state has been experiencing moderate to heavy rain for the past several days. More rain is in store, the Met office said.
(IANS)

TV actress Puja Banerjee, known for playing Parvati in the mythological show “Devon Ke Dev Mahadev”, has been eliminated from “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7”. She is disappointed and feels that she “deserved to go up the finals”.

When asked whether she regrets being eased out of the contest, Puja said: “I won’t pretend that I am not disappointed. I think I deserved to go up the finals. In my opinion, I stood a 50-50 chance of winning.

Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Tuesday as the new moon was sighted Monday in most parts of the country.

The weather in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana was cloudy but Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee or moon sighting committee announced that since the moon was sighted in many parts of the country, Eid will be celebrated Tuesday.

The Uttar Pradesh government Monday recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be referred the Mohanlalganj murder case in which a woman was found murdered 10 days back on the outskirts of the state capital.

Though the police claimed to have cracked the case and arrested a private security guard, neither the family nor opposition parties were satisfied with the investigation. The family then demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

The family had begun a sit-in in the city, demanding the case be handed over to the CBI.

Indian squash players Saurav Ghosal and Anaka Alankamony bit the dust Monday bringing to an end their individual campaigns in squash singles at the Commonwealth Games here.

While Ghosal lost his men’s singles bronze medal match 1-3 to England’s Peter Barker, Anaka went down in the women’s singles plate final with an exact scoreline of 1-3 to Deon Saffery of Wales.

After losing the first game 5-11, Ghosal came back well to win the next 11-6 and level the match. But Parker was the better on the day to win the next two games 11-5, 11-6 and take home the metal.