Shashank Chennai, February 08:South India has emerged as one of the best places for auto component sourcing centres, panelists at a seminar said here Tuesday.
According to them, this is significant as Japanese auto companies are increasingly looking at low cost centres for sourcing components now that yen is appreciating against the US dollar.
Erode (TN), February 08:A 64-year-old undertrial prisoner escaped from Police custody at the railway station here, while being brought to the town in connection with a burglary case, police said today.
A two-member police team was escorting Arumugam from Mallapuram by a train. As the train was entering the Erode Junction, he jumped out of the coach and escaped late last night.
Arumugam was out on bail in the case when he allegedly ran away and was arrested by police in Mallapuram.
On a complaint from the escort police, Railway police here registered a case and are investigating.
New Delhi, February 08:Both silver and gold prices rose on the bullion market today on brisk buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the ongoing marriage season demand amid firm global cues.
While silver surged by Rs 400 to Rs 45,300 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units, gold gained Rs 30 to Rs 20,370 per 10 grams.
Trading sentiment turned bullish as stockists and jewellery manufacturers enlarged their positions to meet the ongoing marriage season demand.
Islamabad, February 08:The second generation of Taliban guerrillas, who are now in their early 20s, have become a part of the insurgency in Pakistan and Afghanistan, police and intelligence officials said.
“The sons of the Taliban fighters who were 10 or 12 years of age at the time of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 are now 20 or 22 years old,” Express Tribune Tuesday quoted an intelligence official as saying.
“They are a product of war and ultimately they have to follow their elders.”
New Delhi, February 08:The formalities as to how and where veteran Congress leader N D Tiwari’s blood sample will be taken for his DNA test on a paternity suit would be determined on February 19, the Delhi High Court decided today.
The High Court’s Joint Registrar Deepak Garg said he would decide on various formalities on taking Tiwari’s blood sample in presence of his counsel and those of Delhi youth Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be his biological son, born out of the leader’s relationship with his mother Ujjawala Sharama.
Manama, February 08: More than 41,700 cases of cancer were discovered in Kuwait between 1970 and 2009, according to statistics from the health ministry.
Ibrahim Al Abdul Hadi, the ministry undersecretary, said that 40 per cent of the cases were Kuwaiti nationals and the other 60 per cent were foreigners.
However, slightly less than half of the 12,990 cases discovered in the years 2000 – 2008 were Kuwaiti nationals, he said.
Jalpaiguri (WB), February 08:Securitymen today opened fire to stop supporters of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha from taking out a march in the district in violation of prohibitory orders, leaving three persons, including a policeman injured.
Clashes had erupted when the police dismantled illegal temporary camps of GJM built near Shipchu inside a reserve forest, IG, North Bengal, Ranbir Kumar said.
Soon after the police action, GJM supporters tried to march towards Jalpaiguri where prohibitory orders were in place following which the firing took place.
Poonch (JK), February 08:A hideout was today busted by the police personnel and 37 explosive devices, including 12 UBGL shells and nine grenades, were recovered from it in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Acting on a tip off, a team led by Senior Superintendent of Police Ashkoor Wani launched a search operation in Hari Bhudda area in Mandi belt of Poonch district today, officials said.
37 explosive devices besides, weapons and ammunition rounds were recovered from the spot.
Colombo, February 08:Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed his sports minister to cancel the musical shows scheduled in Kandy and Hambantota areas as fringe events for the upcoming Cricket World Cup and instead utilise that money for flood relief operations.
Over 1.2 million people in 18 districts of Sri Lanka have been affected by the second round of floods within two months.
The two musical shows have been planned as fringe events for the upcoming Cricket World Cup-2011, being co-hosted by Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, Colombo Page news website reported Tuesday.
Thiruvananthapuram, February 08:The Congress-led opposition in the Kerala assembly Tuesday staged a walkout alleging that the Left government which has about 100 days left to demit office is on an appointment spree by “stuffing” their supporters in several organizations.
Seeking leave for an adjournment motion on the issue, Congress legislator P.C. Vishnunadh said the government should stop back door appointments of their supporters.
Thimpu, February 08:India Tuesday urged all member-states to ratify the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Agreement on Trade in Services, terming it a “big step forward” for increasing trade within the region.
“The signing of the Saarc Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) in Thimphu last year was a big step forward in broadening the scope of trade in Saarc from goods to also include services,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said here in his opening remarks at Saarc Council of Ministers meeting.
Jamshedpur, February 08:IOA President Suresh Kalmadi today rubbished media reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not keen to share dais with him during the opening ceremony of National Games.
Kalmadi, in fact said, he was not aware if Singh will come to the city for the opening ceremony.
“The media reports are wrong. I don’t have any knowledge of PM’s visit. I am attending the opening ceremony of the 34th National Games on February 12,” Kalmadi told newsmen here.
New Delhi, February 08:He is the daredevil ‘khiladi’ of Bollywood but superstar Akshay Kumar is hooked to Sudoku nowadays, after being introduced to the geeky game by mother-in-law Dimple Kapadia.
The actor bonded with his mother-in-law over Sudoku, YouTube and theme parks, while shooting ‘Patiala House’ in London.
“While we were shooting she taught me how to play Sudoku and I love the game and we watched so many videos on Youtube together. I took her and my son to a theme park, so that was great fun,” Kumar told PTI.
Allahabad, February 08:A sea of devotees converged on the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, to take a holy dip and offer prayers in this pilgrim town on the occasion of Basant Panchami Tuesday.
“Around 10 lakh (one million) devotees have taken the holy dip since early morning,” said an official of the Allahabad district administration.
Several cultural events and programmes in worship of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning, were held in schools and other educational institutions in Lucknow.
Washington, February 08:Are you still looking for a date on Valentine’s Day? It turns out there may be something to “playing hard to get”.
A woman is seemingly more attracted to a man when she is uncertain about how much he likes her, says a new study.
“If we want to know how much Sarah likes Bob, a good predictor is how much she thinks Bob likes her,” write study authors Erin R. Whitchurch and Timothy D. Wilson of the University of Virginia and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University.
Washington, February 08:Popular students are more likely to torment their peers, says a new study.
“Our findings underscore that attaining and maintaining a high social status likely involves some level of antagonistic behaviour,” said Robert Faris, assistant professor of sociology at University of California-Davis, the study co-author.
The study also finds that students in the top two percent of the school social hierarchy — along with those at the bottom — are the least aggressive, the journal American Sociological Review reports.
Tehran, February 08:An Iranian official says it would take at least two months to clean up the oil spill that extends the northern coastal part of the Persian Gulf.
The oil slick began to spread after the Aghajari-Gureh pipeline in Daylam in Bushehr began leaking due to decay, ISNA reported on Monday.
The spill was stopped by changing the route of the pipeline one day after the incident, but it entered the Persian Gulf as a result of the flooding on Wednesday and polluted about 25 kilometers of the shore in Daylam.
Hyderabad, February 08:Legal experts feel that the restrictions on the media in covering judicial proceedings should be lifted.
Charles Glasser, media counsel for Bloomberg News, opined that the media restriction on judicial issues will not work effectively in the era of internet and global information revolution.
“Courts putting restrictions doesn’t make sense any more as so much of information is available on the Internet.
What is the point in preventing press from giving information that is already available,” he said.
Mumbai, February 08:Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt who directed horror flicks like “Raaz”, “1920” and “Shaapit” has taken his fascination to a new level by making his next scary drama in the 3D format. He openly admits that ‘Haunted’ is his most challenging film.
“Haunted is my most challenging and fulfilling film. The challenge began from the scripting stage itself because we had to visualize the country’s first next generation stereoscopic 3D film. It was all new. The style was new and the technology was new.
New York, February 08:UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday the people of Southern Sudan have chosen independence and commended the northern Sudanese government in Khartoum for respecting that decision.
“The peaceful and credible conduct of the referendum is a great achievement for all Sudanese,” Ban said.
The electoral commission published Monday official results of the Jan 15-21 vote, showing that 98.83 percent of the nearly four million registered voters had opted for independence from Khartoum.
Puducherry,February 08:Former Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Monday said that he has filed an application with the Election Commission of India to float a party. “We have proposed All India N. R Congress as the name of the political party,” he said.
Cairo, February 08:Protesters gather in Liberation Square, Cairo, Egypt, yesterday Thousands of Egyptian protesters in central Cairo have directed their anger at the United States as they hold Washington responsible for Hosni Mubarak’s grip on power.
The Monday evening protests are the latest in a series of multi-million-strong demonstrations against the Egyptian president which have been taking place over the past two weeks, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Many slogans in Cairo’s Liberation Square are directed at the US, Israel and France.
Cairo, February 08:German parliamentarians have agreed to allow the out-of-favor Egyptian president into Germany for an extended health checkup as anti-Mubarak protests enter their 14th day.
Legislators from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition and their Free Democratic partners welcomed the idea to give President Hosni Mubarak what they called a face-saving way to leave power.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, however, refused to comment on the issue during a speech on a local German television.
New Delhi, Ferbruary 08: Government was today faced with another suspected scam which can cost the exchequer upto Rs two lakh crore concerning a deal between ISRO and a private company and in a quick response it was announced that the pact was under review.
After a news report this morning that ISRO’s commercial arm — Antrix Corporation — has entered into a deal with Devas Multimedia Services that allegedly confers unbridled use of 70 MHz of scarce S-band spectrum over a 20 year-period, the Department of Space came out with a late night statement.
Islamabad, February 08:The U.S. is mounting pressure on Pakistan at various levels to secure the release of the American “diplomat” who has been in police custody since January 27 for killing two armed Pakistanis in “self-defence” in Lahore.