shameen New Delhi, August 25: Revival of monsoon in southern states of the country is all set to benefit the cotton acreage. Recent rainfall in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as well as some parts of Maharashtra is going to improve cotton acreage, which, according to traders, will surge this year.
Mumbai, August 25: The BSE Sensex is expected to open lower on Tuesday, taking cues from tepid Asian peers, as investors take a breather after the market rallied 5.5 percent over the past three sessions.
Energy giant Reliance Industries and state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp will be watched as oil prices fell below $74 a barrel on Tuesday, down for the first time in six days.
Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries will be on the radar as copper prices in Shanghai held steady on Tuesday, having slammed into its upside limit in the previous session.
Washington, August 25: Belkin has bought its rather weirdly named Google Skype phone to India, promising amazingly cheap ISD call rates.
The VoIP phone needs a WiFi connection to work and uses Skype to enable free calls to any Skype phone globally. If you have an existing Wi-Fi set up, this should easily amalgamate into your network. If not, you’d need need to buy one for around Rs 1500. The most amazing thing about the Skype phone is the ultra low call rates it offers for any ISD mobile number. How does Rs. 1 per minute sound?
Mumbai, August 25: Emboldened by its unexpectedly good performance in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress seems to be doing everything it can to
put the alliance partner NCP on the back foot. All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijaya Singh is learnt to have made a strong pitch for the Congress to contest the assembly polls alone this time.
Washington, August 25: The White House has admitted that Barack Obama’s government will continue the previous administration’s practice of sending terrorism suspects to other countries for detention and interrogation.
But Obama administration officials told the New York Times on Monday that the treatment of suspects will be monitored to ensure that they are not tortured.
“The emphasis will be on ensuring that individuals will not face torture if they are sent overseas,” an administration official was quoted as saying.
New Delhi, August 25: BJP, which acknowledged the fickleness of its fair weather fans, on Monday hit out at former Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni for his attack on the party.
“It took 13 years for Mr Kulkarni to realise that he is not comfortable with the BJP’s ideology. That he is out of sync with BJP’s beliefs never donned on him when the party was in power. Mr Kulkarni, who made a lateral entry into BJP was given positions of power and authority,” BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad said.
Abu Dhabi, August 25: The Philippine Embassy will be closed on August 30 (Sunday) in observance of the National Heroes’ Day, a public holiday in the Philippines.
The embassy will resume operation the following day, August 31 from 9am-3pm.
On this day, the country commemorates the “Cry of Pugad Lawin” (the start of 1896 revolution) by Filipino revolutionaries called the ‘Katipunan’ led by Andres Bonifacio. Meanwhile, registration for the overseas absentee voting (OAV) will be open on Sunday from 9am-5pm. Last day of registration is on August 31.
–Agencies
Abu Dhabi, August 25: The Emirates Identity Authority announced on Sunday the working hours at various registration centres during Ramadan. Theworking hours at the Ajman Centre are from 9am to 1pm and from 1pm to 5pm.
The registrations centres in Mushrif, Al Ain, Barsha, Karama, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Al Rams and Fujairah will work from 9am to 1pm and 1pm to 5pm Sunday to Thursday. The Registration Centres at Police Officers’ Club, Exhibition Centre, Al Nahyan, Madinat Zayed, Sila, Gayathi, Delma, Al Yahr, Rashidiya, Dheid, and Umm Al Qaiwain will work from 9am to 2pm.
–Agencies
Dubai, August 25: Although families like to celebrate Iftar at restaurants, the recent cases of fatal food poisoning of children have made parents a bit more cautious about dining out, taking care that the places they go to are safe and clean.
Astuty Djuhais Indra, an Indonesian businesswoman with two kids, told Khaleej Times that her son, Muhammad Excel Muslim, 10, a classmate of one of those kids who died of food poisoning, has developed a phobia for restaurants and dreads going even to his favourite outlet.
Dubai, August 25: Dubai Municipality has banned street vending of snacks during holy month of Ramadan and has put new restrictions for displaying them outside food outlets.
Shops need to secure separate approval for displaying and selling snacks and all food should be displayed in closed cases, as per a memorandum distributed to food outlets by municipality’s Food Control Department.
“Open display of food is not permitted and the closed display cases should be maintained in a clean area, free of spills, dirt and pests,” says the memorandum.
Abu Dhabi, August 25: Workers, who have been denied end-of-service dues, gratuity and other benefits by their companies as per the labour laws, can file complaints against even after signing the acknowledgement of such entitlements, an official from the Ministry of Labour (MoL) said.
Talking to Khaleej Times at the weekly ‘Open Day’ on Monday, Humaid bin Deemas, acting director-general in the MoL, said, “Such victims still can approach the court or the ministry to claim their benefits.”
Abu Dhabi, August 25: The Ministry of Health said on Monday it was investigating the death of a Qatari citizen who is said to have contracted the H1N1 virus during a visit to the UAE.
It is not clear how or where he contracted it, but the deceased is reported to have visited an unnamed hospital in the UAE before returning to his homeland. State news agency Wam, quoting a health ministry source, said investigations so far show the deceased Qatari national had also visited a hospital in Qatar prior to his UAE visit.
Dubai, August 25: Mobile phones and email addresses of UAE residents have come under a deluge of scams. Hasan Al Nashash was expecting to meet a fellow Canadian professor in Dubai to discuss his academic research. Instead, he got a desperate plea for financial assistance from the airport.
The man calling himself Dr Al Awaidi said he had lost his plane tickets and passport.
“I was thinking humanely and I wanted to help this person if I could,” said Al Nashash, a professor of electrical engineering in Sharjah.
Gaza, August 25: Scotland’s justice secretary on Monday defended his decision to free the Lockerbie bomber on humanitarian grounds in the face of severe criticism from the United States government and relatives of U.S. victims.
Addressing an emergency meeting of the Scottish parliament, Kenny MacAskill rejected suggestions from opponents that he had bowed to political or economic pressure.
Baghdad, August 25: The Iranian-backed Shiite parties that helped propel Iraq’s PM into power three years ago dumped him as their candidate for re-election, forming a new alliance to contest the January vote.
The move dealt a blow to Nouri al-Maliki’s chances to keep his job next year and set the stage for a showdown between competing factions in the Shiite coalition that had dominated Iraq’s government since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Tel Aviv, August 25: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects no breakthroughs at a meeting this week with a U.S. peace envoy, but hopes talks with the Palestinians can resume within two months, a spokesman said on Monday.
A right-winger in power since March, Netanyahu has resisted Western pressure to freeze Jewish settlements on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. The dispute has opened a rift between Israel and its top ally, the United States.
Jerusalem, August 25: Netanyahu’s talks in Europe this week will force the Israeli leader to balance the demands of his right-leaning ruling coalition against an international front opposed to Israeli settlements.
Though Netanyahu says his talks in London and Berlin will touch on other subjects, such as Iran’s nuclear program, he is likely to hear concerns about settlements from all three of the key people he is slated to meet: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the representative of Israel’s closest ally, U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell.
Kabul, August 25: Afghanistan’s finance minister claimed victory on Monday for President Hamid Karzai in last week’s presidential election but, with no official figures released, the claim was rejected by his main rival’s camp.
The United Nations called on all candidates and voters to be patient while authorities investigate allegations of fraud in the poll. The first, partial figures are due to be released on Tuesday, five days after the election.
Taliban attacks failed to stop the election, although violence did suppress turnout, especially in the south.
Baghdad, August 25: Four women and two children were among 10 people killed when bombs exploded on two buses near the southern Iraqi city of Kut on Monday, underscoring the nation’s volatile security situation.
The afternoon blasts struck within half an hour of each other, and also left 19 people wounded, police and hospital officials told AFP.
“Sticky bombs were attached to two buses and 10 people were killed,” said police lieutenant Mohammed Fadhil in Kut. “Nineteen people were wounded.”
Kabul, August 25: In a largely illiterate country where donkeys delivered ballots to remote areas, Afghan officials say they are confident that algorithms, double-blind computer entries and other modern methods will catch 90 percent of the fraud from last week’s presidential election.
Accusations of ballot box stuffing and voter intimidation have streamed in to the independent Electoral Complaints Commission since Thursday’s vote — most of them filed by President Hamid Karzai’s main rival, ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Phoenix, August 25: Immigration authorities are flying illegal immigrants deep into their native Mexico from Southern Arizona to discourage dangerous crossings in triple-digit desert heat.
The twice-daily flights from Tucson to Mexico City are intended to keep immigrants away from border towns where they would likely run into smugglers who want to sneak them back into the U.S.
Canberra, August 25: Australia’s conservative opposition has closed on the government after blocking controversial carbon trade laws, but support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd remains high, a poll showed on Tuesday.
Support for Rudd’s centre-left Labor fell two points to 55, while the conservatives rose two points to 45 after two weeks dominated by the defeat of carbon trade laws in the upper house Senate, a Newspoll in the Australian newspaper showed.
Beijing, August 25: China’s official Xinhua News Agency says 11 people have died in a coal mine gas blast in northern Shanxi province and three are missing.
Xinhua says the explosion ripped through a mine shaft in Jinzhong city Monday morning. It says 16 miners were working underground at the time in the Xingguang Coal Industry Co. mine.
Rescuers have rescued two workers and 11 bodies. They are still searching for the missing.
–Agencies
Pyongyang, August 25: NKorea has invited the US official charged with managing relations with the reclusive state to visit next month for talks on its nuclear plans, SKorean media outlets reported Tuesday.
If the reports are accurate, the North’s invitation for Stephen Bosworth would mark another step in the communist state reaching out to the world after its broken economy was hit by U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test in May.
Bahamas, August 25: The 2009 Miss Universe says her title fulfills a lifelong dream and an improbable one for a girl who finished last in one of her first beauty pageants.
Stefania Fernandez, an 18-year-old Venezuelan, said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press that despite the rocky start, she continued competing in order to keep busy.
“I don’t like to be at home doing nothing,” Fernandez said. “I entered the world of ‘misses,’ and by chance life kept rewarding me bit by bit.”