shameen

Russian students enthral Prez Patil with Hindi program

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St Petersburg, September 06: A Russian school that teaches Hindi and also has the Indian classical dance and music
as part of its curriculum has come in for praise by President Pratibha Patil, who described it as a symbol of the friendship between the two countries.

Patil was pleasantly surprised to witness the children of the school no 653 here present a colourful cultural programme in Hindi to coincide with the Teachers’ Day Saturday night.

Spurt in infiltration from across LoC: Army

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New Delhi, September 06: With winter not far away, Pakistan has increased attempts to push maximum number of militants across the Line of Control (LoC) into Jammu and Kashmir with 12 incidents recorded in July and August this year.

“There has been a spurt in the number of infiltration incidents in the last two months, with a dozen incidents recorded in July and August alone along the LoC,” Army officers said.

India to tell US about Pak inaction in 26/11 probe

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New Delhi, September 06: Home Minister P Chidambaram begins an important four-day visit to the United States this week when he will discuss with the American establishment international terrorism and Pakistan’s inaction against perpetrators of Mumbai attack.

Chidambaram, who will begin the visit on Tuesday, will urge the American leadership to put pressure on Pakistan to take firm action towards dismantling of terror infrastructure in that country as well as prosecution of Mumbai attack accused, who are in Pakistan.

Seek to develop strategic ties with India: Australia

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New Delhi, September 06: Australia has ruled out uranium sale to New Delhi but is keen to develop strategic partnership and ensure that India becomes a “front-ranking” nation with which it has such ties.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her country wants to build defence and security ties with India.

“We understand that energy security is important for India… (But) we have a longstanding position about uranium sales and nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT),” she said in an interview while explaining why Australia will not supply the nuclear fuel to India.

Thieves strike at President’s Estate, decamp with computer

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New Delhi, September 06: Thieves struck at the President’s Estate and decamped with a computer and dumbbells from a health care centre there, police said Sunday.

The theft took place on Wednesday night.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons at Chanakyapuri police station, they said.

–Agencies

Death toll in Indonesia’s quake rises to 70

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Jakarta, September 06: The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that jolted Indonesia’s West Java on Wednesday has killed 70 people and wounded 966 while 32 are still missing, the national Antara news agency reported on Saturday.

Rano Harjaya, an official from the coordinating unit of the West Java Disaster Mitigation Service, said that most of the dead, wounded and missing victims were from Cianjur of West Java.

Cuban Foreign Minister concludes North Korea visit

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Pyongyang, September 06: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has concluded his three-day official visit to North Korea on Saturday.

Parrilla’s visit to Pyongyang has helped to continue the high-level political dialogue between the two countries, sources said. This was his first official visit to North Korea.

The Cuban minister arrived here on Thursday and met various North Korean officials, including Education Minister Kim Yong Jin, Foreign Trade Minister Ri Ryong Nam, among others.

Anti-nuclear demonstrations in Germany

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Berlin, September 06: Tens of thousands of people from Germany, France, Denmark and Austria staged a rally in downtown Berlin on Saturday to protest against a government plan to extend the operation of the country’s nuclear power plants.

Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants are due to be shut down by 2020.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) parties want to extend that deadline.

However, parties like centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and environment group, Greens, oppose the move.

Venezuela, Iran seek to boost ties

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Tehran, September 06: Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday agreed on a roadmap over the next 10 years to boost economic and military ties between the two countries.

Chavez is heading a business delegation to Iran as part of his two-day visit to the Islamic country.

“Iran and Venezuela share the important mission of helping oppressed and revolutionary nations,” Ahmadinejad told a joint press conference with Chavez. “The time when arrogant powers could influence revolutionary nations is over,” he said.

Obama’s adviser Van Jones resigns amid controversy

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Washington, September 06: The White House says President Barack Obama’s adviser Van Jones is resigning amid controversy over past inflammatory statements.

Van Jones, an administration official specialising in environmentally friendly ‘green jobs’, is linked to efforts suggesting a governmental role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.

Jones issued an apology on Thursday. When asked the next day whether Obama still had confidence in him, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones “continues to work in the administration”.

Scotland denies Libya paid Lockerbie bomber doctors

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London, September 06: Scotland rejected allegations on Sunday that its decision to free the Lockerbie bomber because he is terminally ill was based on medical advice from doctors paid by Libya.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Libyan government paid for the advice that suggested Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was eligible for compassionate release under Scottish law, namely that he had less than three months to live.

Swine flu: Vietnam reports third death

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Hanoi, September 06: State media and a doctor say a Vietnamese woman diagnosed with swine flu has died, raising the country’s death toll to three.

The VnExpress online newspaper says the 56-year-old woman died on Friday, one day after being admitted to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. She suffered from respiratory failure and a blood infection.

Cao Thi Bao Van, a doctor at the Pasteur Institute, says tests confirmed that the woman was infected with swine flu.

VnExpress says health officials are investigating how she became infected.

US-Russia deal on Afghan flights takes effect

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Washington, September 06: The United States can begin flying troops and arms to Afghanistan through Russian airspace beginning Sunday after the July deal between the two countries’ leaders.

“As of September 6, this agreement gives us another option to choose from in our flight planning process,” a defence official said.

The official declined to provide further details.

In early July, US President Barack Obama sealed an agreement with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev allowing Washington to supply Western forces in Afghanistan via Russia.

Swine flu: Hong Kong reports 11th death

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Hong Kong, September 06: The Hong Kong government says a 73-year-old woman diagnosed with swine flu has died, bringing the Chinese territory’s death toll to 11.

The government says the woman was admitted to a hospital on Friday and died the same day after treatment with an antiviral drug.

A government statement released late Saturday says she also had a history of thalassemia, a form of chronic anaemia.

Hong Kong has recorded 13,693 swine flu cases.

–Agencies

EU to strengthen political role in Afghanistan

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Stockholm, September 06: The European Union (EU) will strengthen its presence in Afghanistan, especially its political role there, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Saturday.

“We will be in Afghanistan for a long time to come. Our presence is politically oriented,” Bildt said at a news conference when the EU Foreign Ministers concluded their two-day informal meeting in Stockholm.

Afghan civilians wounded at bomb site: US general

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Kunduz, September 06: The top NATO commander confirmed on Saturday that civilians were wounded by a devastating airstrike targeting insurgents in northern Afghanistan, a major test of his policy to curb airpower to reduce civilian casualties and win over Afghans to the war against the Taliban.

Afghan presidential challenger wants results held

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Kabul, September 06: The leading challenger in Afghanistan’s Presidential Election urged electoral officials on Saturday to stop announcing preliminary results because of “highly suspicious numbers” in tallies released so far.

Results from the August 20 election have been dribbling out alongside a torrent of complaints of ballot box stuffing and voter intimidation. International and Afghan observers have been critical of the vote but have held back judgment until counting and fraud investigations have finished.

Indian ADRs gain $165 mn in a week

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New York, September 06: With IT firm Mahindra Satyam, seeing a jump of about USD 554 million, the over all market capitalisation of 16 Indian firms trading on American bourses increased by USD 165 million for the week ended September 4.

For the week ended September 4, three IT stocks- Mahindra Satyam (earlier known as Satyam Computer Services), Infosys Technologies and Patni Computer Systems together added USD 1.02 billion to their market capitalisation.

AIG sells asset management unit for $500 million

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Washington, September 06: US insurance giant AIG announced the sale of part of its investment advisory and asset management business to a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Pacific Century Group for USD 500 million.

AIG said it would receive a cash payment of USD 300 million under the agreement with Bridge Partners LP.

The insurance company said in a statement that it will continue to operate its in-house investment group, which currently oversees around 480 billion in assets.

India’s budget airlines to gain strength

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Mumbai, September 06: India’s low-cost airlines are set to go from strength to strength as they grab market share from ailing premier carriers such as Air India, whose debts and losses continue to pile up, experts say.

Big airlines such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India are being hit by falling revenues due to tough economic conditions and high air fuel taxes.

The smaller, “no-frills” carriers such as Spicejet or Indigo, set up to open up the skies to the country’s burgeoning middle classes, have dealt better with the turbulent business conditions of the last year, analysts say.

Volkswagen plans over two-fold increase in India headcount

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New Delhi, September 06: Europe’s largest car maker Volkswagen is planning to more than double its India headcount with addition of 1,500 employees at its Chakan plant alone in Maharashtra.

The group, which started production at Chakan near Pune in March 2008, is looking at full-capacity production at this plant by 2012 and would need to strengthen its staff strength for the same, its India head said.

Volkswagen has two facilities in India at Aurangabad and Chakan, which assembles cars of its three brands — Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen.

S backs India on IMF reforms: Sources

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London: The US has responded “positively” to a proposal to give India and other leading emerging economies a much greater say in the running of international financial architecture, a source privy to global ongoing discussions in London said.

American Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner who attended the latter half of a meeting of the finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) in London Friday was briefed on the BRIC demand for a seven percent shift in International Monetary Fund (IMF) quotas that determine a country’s voting powers.

G20 to maintain economic stimulus measures

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London, September 06: Top finance officials from rich and developing countries agreed on Saturday to curb hefty bankers’ bonuses, but the proposed crackdown on excessive payouts so far falls short of European demands after the US and Britain shied away from imposing a cap.

The Group of 20 Finance Ministers also pledged to maintain stimulus measures such as extra government spending and low interest rates to boost the global economy, warning that the fledgling recovery that provided the backdrop to their meeting here is by no means assured.

India may lose south-west monsoon in 150 yrs: Study

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New Delhi, September 06: India may lose one of its crucial lifelines — the south west monsoon, which brings rains across the country during the summers, in the next 150 years, warns a new study by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

The phenomenon is the result of global warming which has led to increase in the rate of temperature rise over Arabian Sea, researchers say.

This rise is reducing temperature difference between land and sea, known as Temperature Gradient (TG), responsible for attracting rain causing winds from Arabian Sea towards Indian mainland.