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Mission to Mars to be between 2013-15: ISRO

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Panaji: India’s mission to Mars will take place between 2013-2015, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G Madhavan Nair said on Monday.

“We have given a call for proposal to different scientific communities. Depending on the type of experiments they propose, we will be able to plan the mission,” he told reporters.

The mission is at conceptual stage and will be taken up after Chandrayaan-2, Nair said.

“Once in two years you get an opportunity for the mission,” Nair said.

ISRO Chairman is in Goa to host the eighth international conference on low cost planetary missions.

Rare butterfly species found

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Kokrajhar, August 31: A rare species of butterfly, believed to be extinct, has been sighted and documented in Assam’s Kokrajhar district.

Researcher Kushal Choudhury who spotted the Yellow-Crested Spangle (Papilio elephenor), last sighted hundred years ago, photographed and documented it at Phipsu in the Ripu-Chirang reserve forest in the district.

This is the first-ever photograph of the live species to be taken in the world after it was first recorded by naturalist C T Bingham in 1907, confirmed Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Wildlife Division, Sonali Ghosh.

Sensex down 225 points in opening trade

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Mumbai, August 31: Snapping a seven-session winning streak, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell over 225 points in opening trade on Monday on emergence of profit booking by funds and retail investors amid weak Asian markets.

The BSE-30 share benchmark Sensex, which had gained nearly 1,112.73 points, or 7.5 percent in the past seven sessions, fell by 225.68 points at 15,696.66 points in opening trade with most of the sectoral indices falling up to 1.65 percent.

NMDC to sell limestone to steel companies

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Shimla, August 31: Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh Monday said the National Mining Development Corporation (NMDC) will sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with steel companies to sell limestone mined in Himachal Pradesh.

“The NMDC will soon sign MoUs with end-users, especially steel plants, as the limestone to be extracted in the Arki region is a vital raw material for making steel,” Singh told reporters.

He said the limestone would also be used by state-owned steel plants.

Economy recovers; GDP grows 6.1% in Q1

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New Delhi, August 31: The country managed a reasonable economic growth of 6.1 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal despite the global financial crisis impacting manufacturing and certain services like hotels.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate during April-June 2009 at 6.1 percent was higher than 5.8 percent in the previous quarter, though it witnessed a decline when compared to 7.8 percent economic expansion recorded during the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Tax sops in FTP to cost exchequer extra Rs 2,200 crore

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New Delhi, August 31: Tax concessions to exporters announced in the new Foreign Trade Policy will cost the exchequer an extra Rs 2,200 crore.

“Our analysis (of FTP’s implications on indirect taxes) is Rs 2,200 crore for (this fiscal),” Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman V Sridhar told reporters on the sidelines of a CII function.

The new Foreign Trade Policy announced a slew of tax concessions to boost exports, which have been on the downslide since October 2008.

Containing inflation a challenge: RBI

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New Delhi, August 31: With food price inflation in double digits, the Reserve Bank is faced with the daunting task of keeping inflation in check, the bank Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty on Monday said.

Concerned over the rising food prices he said, “The food price inflation is already around 10 percent. Our key challenge is how to keep the inflationary pressure low.”

Speaking at an event of the Institute of Banking, he dwelt on a range of issues from drought to interest rates to government borrowings and said the country would continue to grow at 6 percent-plus.

Japanese industrial output up 1.9 % in July

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Tokyo, August 31: Japanese industrial production rose a stronger-than-expected seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent in July from the previous month, up for the fifth straight month, on robust output in the auto and steel industries, Tokyo said on Monday.

The index of output at mines and factories stood at 82.4 against the base of 100 for 2005, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report.

The ministry maintained its basic assessment of the country’s industrial output, saying, “Developments for a recovery can be seen.”

22 months of US recession, 1st year of Lehman demise

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Washington, August 31: Weathering the worst ever financial storm in nearly 80 years, the US economy in September, will not only be in recession for 22 consecutive months but the month also marks the first anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ failure.

Unlike last September, this time around, the financial conditions have improved and the pace of GDP contraction is slowing down.

A slew of unprecedented measures including mammoth stimulus packages and near-zero interest rate seem to have helped in bringing the nation’s economy on stabilisation path.

Thirty Taliban killed in Swat battles: Pakistan Army

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Islamabad, August 31: Pakistani soldiers killed at least 30 Taliban militants in gunbattles across the volatile north-western Swat Valley after a suicide bombing on a police station killed 17 cadets, the military said on Monday.

Soldiers looking for militants after the bombing encountered resistance in several areas and battles raged overnight into early morning on Monday, Army spokesman Col Akhtar Abbas said.

“Security forces have encircled a group of militants there and battles went on late into the night,” he said, adding that 30 militants were killed.

Major fraud allegations double in Afghan election

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Kabul, August 31: Major fraud complaints in the Afghan Presidential election have surged to nearly 700, raising concern that the volume of cases that must be investigated will delay announcement of a winner and formation of a new government.

President Hamid Karzai is leading with 46.2 percent of votes from the August 20 ballot, followed by ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah with 31.4 percent, according to official figures from 35 percent of the polling stations. Karzai must win over half the votes to avoid a run-off.

Colombian President tests positive for swine flu

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Bogota, August 31: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has swine flu.

Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio says the 57-year-old Uribe is not considered a high-risk patient and his case is “developing satisfactorily”. He is being treated at the presidential residence.

Palacio said on Sunday that Uribe began feeling ill on Friday, the same day as a summit of South American leaders in Bariloche, Argentina that he attended. He was confirmed to have the swine flu on Saturday.

Colombian officials are contacting leaders and officials who may have had contact with Uribe during the summit.

Japan polls: Triumphant Hatoyama pledges consensus-building

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Tokyo, August 31: Yukio Hatoyama, who led his Opposition party to a landslide win in Japan’s weekend elections on Monday promised to build consensus and avoid “arrogance” in pursuing his party’s political programme.

Media projections show that Hatoyama’s centre-left Democratic Party of Japan won 308 seats in the powerful 480-member Lower House of Parliament in the yesterday’s poll, ending more than 50 years of almost unbroken conservative rule.

“It is an incredible number,” Hatoyama told a live televised interview with public broadcaster NHK.

“We will not just bulldoze our policies.

Raging California wildfires gain ground, 2 firefighters killed

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Los Angeles, August 31: Officials say two firefighters have been killed when their vehicle rolled off a mountainside as they battled a massive wildfire in northern Los Angeles County.

County Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said at a news conference that the two men were amid intense fire near Mt Gleason in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday afternoon when the vehicle crashed.

A tearful Bryant said the men’s families have been notified. He did not release their identities or give a cause for the crash.

Dalai Lama tells Taiwan he’s dedicated to democracy

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Kaohsiung, August 31: The Dalai Lama, on a controversial humanitarian visit to flood-ravaged Taiwan denounced by China, steered clear of talking about Tibet on Monday but said he was dedicated to the promotion of democracy.

China has lambasted the visit by a man it brands a separatist, but it is considered unlikely to jeopardise growing economic ties between the long-time political rivals, and even on Monday the two sides launched their first regular direct flights in decades.

Blaming Soviets for World War II a ‘lie’: Medvedev

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Moscow, August 31: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has slammed attempts to equate USSR with Germany as the initiator of World War II, saying that anyone who lays equal blame on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany is telling a “lie”.

Describing the World War II as the ‘greatest tragedy’ of the 20th century, Medvedev critised the recent resolution of Organisation of Security and Cooperation Europe’s (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly equating Nazi Germany and the USSR.

No case registered yet in Vajpayee’s assistant’s death

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New Delhi, August 31: Police have yet to file a case a day after the body of a 77-year-old man, who was an assistant to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was found in an uncovered pit in south Delhi, officials said on Sunday.

“The body of the victim, T.N. Makan, who retired as Vajpayee’s additional secretary, was found by a passerby Saturday morning. The body was lying in the eight feet deep pit on the road divider which was dug up by a contractor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to install new street lights,” a senior police officer said.

Vasundhara Raje to meet Naidu; may step down

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New Delhi, August 31: Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who is Delhi along with some of her supporters, is likely to meet senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday in a bid to end the standoff in the party over her refusal to resign as Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly.

Raje is scheduled to meet Naidu at noon today to discuss the issue and end the stalemate. Naidu was appointed as the pointsman by the party high command when all attempts to pressurise Raje into resigning her post failed.

Ship with Indian crew attacked in the Gulf

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Manama, August 31: A traditional wooden ship with Indian crew sailing from the United Arab Emirates toward Bahrain was the target of the first act of sea piracy reported in Persian Gulf waters in years, according to details of the attack that emerged Sunday.

The Bahraini dhow was intercepted Friday night by another ship with an armed crew, security sources said.

Kingpin of inter-state fake currency racket caught

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Malda, August 31: The alleged kingpin of an inter-state fake currency racket was arrested along with three others in the district.

The man identified as Anwar and his three accomplices were caught late Sunday night by police during routine checking of vehicles, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kalyan Mukherjee said.

Fake Indian currency with a face value of Rs 3 lakh were seized from him, he said.

Anwar had been earlier arrested by Maharashtra police from Malda for running the racket but had been released later.

Swine flu claims two more lives in Pune

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Pune, August 31: Two more persons died of swine flu here, taking the toll in the viral infection in the city to 31.

42-year-old Vilas Padale and 26-year-old Anil Nikam died of the flu at separate private hospitals here Sunday night, hospital sources said today.

Around 60 suspected cases of the viral infection were admitted to various hospitals in the city yesterday, official sources said.

As many as 15 patients currently undergoing treatment were in a critical condition, they added.

–Agencies

Indian Army flouting guidelines on sexual harassment?

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New Delhi, August 31: The Indian Army goes by the Army Act while probing allegations of sexual abuse. But in the process it may be blatantly overlooking guidelines issued by the Supreme Court on sexual harassment at workplace, say activists.

“We do not go by the Supreme Court’s guidelines. The Army officers first come under the Army Act and we take serious note of sexual allegations,” a senior Indian Army official said requesting anonymity.

‘Advani, Rajnath to decide role in BJP’

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Haridwar, August 31: Virtually giving credence to reports that top BJP leaders LK Advani and Rajnath Singh may have to give up their posts, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday said they will decide on their role within the party.

“Rajnathji, Advaniji and others will decide on their role (in the party). Everything will be fine in the BJP in future,” he told reporters here.

“There are people with moral standing like Advani and under their guidance, they will solve all problems. We have nothing to do with this. What we had to say we have said,” he said.

Iraq al Qaeda militant says Syria trained him

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Baghdad, August 31: Iraq aired a confession from a suspected al Qaeda militant on Sunday who accused Syrian intelligence agents of training foreign fighters like himself in a camp before sending them to fight in Iraq.

The videotaped accusations, aired by Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi in a news conference, could worsen a row between Iraq and Syria over accusations that Syria supports Islamist militants responsible for attacks in Iraq.

Iran’s Khamenei vows to prosecute post-vote crimes

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Tehran, August 31: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Sunday that Iran will prosecute anyone who has committed “crimes” against people harmed in post-election unrest, state television reported.

Speaking in the wake of allegations that detainees have been raped and tortured, Khamenei was quoted as telling a group of academics in Tehran: “All those who have been hurt in these (post-vote) incidents should know that the system does not intend to compromise.”