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Sonia inaugurates campaign in Maharashtra, recalls old bonds

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Mumbai, September 14:Recalling the Congress’ “deep bonds” with Mumbai and Maharashtra, party president Sonia Gandhi Monday urged the people of the state to return it back to power in the state in the upcoming assembly elections.

The Congress’ aim had always been to serve and give justice to the common people of the country, Gandhi said addressing party workers at the inauguration of the new party headquarters, the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, here.

Sensex ends six-day rally, down 50 points

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Mumbai, September 14:A key index of the Indian equities markets snapped its six-day rally Monday amid global pressure and profit booking in some stocks and closed 50 points down from its previous close.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened lower at 16,185.26 points, closed at 16,214.19 points, down 50.11 points or 0.31 percent.

Similarly, the Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also ended in the negative terrain at 4,808.6 points, down 0.43 percent.

India will host successful Commonwealth Games: Kalmadi

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New Delhi, September 14:A day after Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief Michael Fennell aired scepticism over India’s ability to host the 2010 Games, Organising Committee (OC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi said he is confident of a successful hosting.

Fennell, concerned about the slow progress of the projects for the 2010 Games scheduled to be held Oct 3-14, has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise him of the situation.

US delegation meets Dalai Lama

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Dharamsala, September 14:A US delegation Monday met Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in this north Indian town to finalise details of his proposed US visit next month, a Tibetan official said.

“The delegation met His Holiness at his official residence. The meeting lasted for more than two hours,” Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary at the Dalai Lama’s office, told IANS.

He, however, declined to give any other information regarding the talks.

BSF find fifth rocket shell in Punjab border village

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Amritsar, September 13:Border Security Force (BSF) personnel Sunday found another rocket shell in the fields near a village in this district of Punjab, raising the number of rockets fired from Pakistan into India in the last 40 hours to five, officials said.

“During our search operation, our officials have found another rocket today (Sunday). It exploded in the open space around a km from the houses of Pul Kanjari village here. It must have been fired yesterday (Saturday) and gone undetected by us,” BSF Inspector General (Punjab Frontier) Himmat Singh told IANS Sunday.

One killed, 40 injured in Abu Ghraib prison riots

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Baghdad, September 12:One prisoner was killed and 40 others injured in riots in the western Baghdad prison formerly known as Abu Ghraib, media reports said Friday.

Prisoners set fire to Baghdad Central Prison during riots that started late Thursday, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported, adding that the violence was triggered by a search for mobile phones.

“Jail authorities started to take security measures and put out the fire,” a media official at the ministry of justice was quoted by the agency as saying.

Was 2007 Blackwater Massacre Revenge for 9/11?

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Baghdad,September 09:According to court documents from a trial related to the 2007 Baghdad massacre, in which Blackwater contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians, at least one of the contractors involved had bragged about his disregard for Iraqi civilian life and said he wanted revenge for September 11.

Nawaz Sharif met Osama bin Laden five times: Ex-ISI official

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Islamabad, September 09:Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has met Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden five times, says a former official of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), a claim hotly denied by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Ishrat, others killed to flatter Narendra Modi?

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Mumbai,September 08:An embarrassing probe has revealed horrifying details of how Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year old student of Khalsa College, Mumbai, and the three others, who were proclaimed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives on a fidayeen mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi, were actually gunned down in cold blood a day before they were actually shown as killed in a police encounter.

South Korean wins second ITF title in three weeks

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New Delhi, September 05:Second seed South Korean Young-Jun Kim clinched his second $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) in three weeks here at the DLTA stadium beating Japanese Kento Takeuchi 6-3, 6-1 Saturday.

The 29-year-old Kim was also the winner of the first of the three back-to-back ITF tournament here and has thus won 18 of his last 19 matches; his only loss came in the form a mid-match retirement when he had to concede his semi-final against Vishnu Vardhan due to a sore knee and exhaustion.

Bihar court issues warrant for Bal Thackeray’s arrest

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Patna, September 05:A Bihar court has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray after he failed to appear before it in a case of allegedly making uncharitable and inflammatory remarks against residents of the state in his party mouthpiece Saamna.

Rakesh Pati Tiwari, the sub-divisional judicial magistrate in Ara, district headquarters of Bhojpur, ordered issuance of the warrant Friday after Thackeray failed to appear before him or send a lawyer representing him in compliance with the court’s July 7 order.

Wipro to offer software-as-service platform to independent vendors

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Bangalore, September 05: Wipro Technologies will offer independent software vendors a platform to provide software-as-service (SaS) using Oracle grid computing and Oracle application grid middleware, the IT bellwether said Saturday.

The technology platform will enable vendors to operate their business applications in the SaS model in a non-intrusive manner. It will also result in 20 percent savings in the total cost of ownership, the company said in a statement.

Two more swine flu deaths in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, September 05:Two women died of swine flu here Saturday taking the toll due to influenza A (H1N1) in Andhra Pradesh to four, officials said.

Rupa Devi, 38, who was admitted to government-run Chest Hospital a week ago, succumbed to the illness Saturday. The woman, a resident of Bholakpur area in the city, was brought to the hospital after she did not get any relief from fever at two hospitals.

Another woman, identified as Lakshmi Devi of Kadapa town, died at a private hospital, where she was admitted Aug 25.

Delhi youth want minimum age for drinking to be lowered

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New Delhi, September 05:A majority of youngsters in Delhi would like a drink before the legal age of 25 and want the government to lower the age limit, a new survey has found.

The survey, carried out by the voluntary organisation Campaign Against Drunken Driven (CADD), spoke to 1,000 people in the city, including 761 from the age group of 16-24.

“Nearly 16 percent of the 16-18 years age group consume alcohol on a weekly basis and around 12 percent of the under-age drinkers spend Rs.1,000 on alcohol on a weekly basis,” the study revealed.

In Bangalore, teachers are becoming friends with students

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Bangalore, September 04:As students across Bangalore are set to pay respect to their teachers Saturday on the occasion of Teachers Day, a change is in sight in the educational campuses across the city – teachers are coming closer to the students as friends and mentors.

The equation between teachers and students is fast

changing. More and more students in India’s Silicon Valley like to see their teachers as a friend, philosopher and guide, rather than someone who merely imparts textbook lessons to them.

Optional Class 10 boards could add to Class 12 stress: psychologist

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New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) Making the Class 10 board examination optional is a good move, but it could add to the stress of students who would then take a public exam for the first time in Class 12, a psychologist said here Friday.

“The decision (to make Class 10 board exam optional) can be a problem for the students later because now they will sit for the first public examination in Class 12 which decides their career. It could be very stressing,” said Jitendra Nagpal, a well known child psychologist.

Over 100 die after YSR’s death, son appeals for calm

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Hyderabad, September 04: As many as 122 people across Andhra Pradesh reportedly died of shock or committed suicide after the death of their chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, prompting his MP son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to appeal to the people to be stoic and brave.

“I appeal to all of you to be stoic and brave in this hour of tragedy. He (YSR) wanted to see a smile on the faces of all and if you resort to such things (suicide) this will hurt him,” said Jaganmohan, trying hard to control his tears.

Delhi ‘breakthrough’ will restart Doha trade talks: Anand Sharma

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New Delhi, September 04:Top officials of the 153 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will meet in Geneva later this month after a “breakthrough” was reached to resume the Doha round of trade talks, India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said Friday.

“We have reached an agreement to intensify negotiations. There has been a breakthrough, If I can use this expression. The impasse has been broken,” said Sharma after a two-day meet here among the representatives of some 40 key WTO members.

Praying for ancestors’ salvation, Hindus head for Gaya

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Gaya, September 04:The Hindu holy town of Gaya in Bihar is set to attract up to 400,000 devotees who are coming here to perform the pinda daan, a religious service for dead ancestors, during the fortnight-long pitrupaksh beginning Friday.

“Pitrupaksh has begun amid tight security in view of threats of terrorists and other trouble makers,” Gaya District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh told IANS.

Pakistan helping terrorists sneak into India: army chief

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New Delhi, September 04:Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor Friday accused Pakistan of violating the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to enable terrorists to sneak into India.

General Kapoor said the ceasefire violations at the LoC were “diversionary tactics” meant to enable terrorists to cross into India.

“Ceasefire violations have increased because this enables infiltration to be carried out when the firing is on and (it) can be used as a diversionary tactic,” Kapoor told reporters here.

Java quake toll reaches to 64

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Pangalengan (Indonesia), Sep 4 (DPA) The toll from the powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia’s Java island Wednesday rose to 64 Friday as rescuers searched for 37 people missing, officials said.

The missing people were among dozens of residents who were buried after a torrent of rocks engulfed their houses in the West Java district of Cianjur after Wednesday’s quake.

About 31,000 houses were damaged and more than 25,000 people were displaced after the magnitude-7.3 earthquake, the National Agency for Disaster Management said.

TCS to open 6 passport offices in October

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Chandigarh, September 04:Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will open six offices across India in October to provide passport services, a company official has said. The much-delayed Passport Seva Project is expected to take off with this move.

With the launch of this Rs.100 billion project, the processing time for issuance of passport is expected to be reduced to three days and to one day under the Tatkal (immediate) scheme.

YSR’s body moved to airport after stampede

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Hyderabad, September 04:Several people were injured in a stampede at the Lal Bahadur Stadium here Friday, forcing authorities to move the body of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy an hour before schedule.

Police failed to control the surging mourners, who broke barricades at several points to rush towards the body kept on a pedestal in the middle of the ground.

90 killed in Afghan explosion

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Kunduz (Afghanistan), September 04:Ninety people were killed Friday when two hijacked oil tankers exploded in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz as Taliban militants were distributing fuel to civilians, said provincial governor Mohammad Omar.

The militants stopped the two oil trucks Thursday night on the highway connecting Kunduz with the neighbouring province of Baghlan, Omar said. The explosion occurred early Friday as civilians gathered to pick up the fuel, he said.