Month: July 2009

Will be happy if Ambani brothers come together: Deora

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Chennai, July 04: Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today said he will be “happy” if the Ambani brothers, locked in a legal battle over gas supply, come together.

Deora told reporters on the sidelines of a function here that the case over the supply of gas by Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries to RNRL was sub-judice and therefore he cannot comment on it.

“However, I will be happy if they come together,” Deora said without elaborating.

Earlier Deora declined comment on the Ambani brothers moving the Supreme Court.

“I must study and then reply,” Deora had said.

Air India won”t sack employees: Praful Patel

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Chennai, July 04: Cash-strapped public carrier Air India would not sack employees but financial and organisational restructuring was on the cards, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, said today. “There is no question of sacking;employees will be protected,” Patel said.

Patel, however, said it was time for for everyone — management and staff — to introspect. “It is a tough time and we have to cooperate.

we will have to go through financial and organisational restructuring to bring back the airlines on a healthy track,” Patel said.

BJP wants government to bear 75 percent of crop insurance

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Ranchi, July 04: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Saturday said the central government should bear 75 percent premium of the crop insurance cover for farmers to help them overcome drought conditions in many parts of the country.

‘The small-scale farmers are unable to meet the crop insurance premium. We demand that the central government should bear 75 percent of it. Due to delayed monsoon, drought like situation is prevailing in many parts of the country,’ Singh told reporters here.

Singh was taking part in the two-day BJP state executive committee meeting.

Six sharpshooters of Chhota Shakeel caught in Delhi: Police

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New Delhi, July 04: Six sharpshooters of Chhota Shakeel – one of India’s most wanted gangsters – were arrested from different parts of the Capital Saturday, police said adding “some VVIPs” were on their hit list.

“All the six work for Chhota Shakeel, who works for Dawood Ibrahim. They were planning to target some VVIPs in the national capital,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) PN Aggarwal told reporters.

“We have just arrested them and will interrogate them about their purpose and targets in the capital,” he added.

CPI begins review of poll performance

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New Delhi, July 04: The CPI today began a review of its debacle in the general elections and an exercise to chalk out action plan to oppose any ‘anti-people’ measures in the upcoming general budget.

The three-day meeting of the party’s National Council started with General Secretary A B Bardhan tabling the report of the National Executive on the poll performance of the party, whose strength in the Lok Sabha declined from ten to four.

Discussions began on reports from the states where the party had put up candidates, including Left bastions of West Bengal and Kerala, party sources said.

Mamata defends emphasis on pvt sector in budget

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Kolkata, July 04: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today defended the emphasis on private sector participation in developing railway infrastructure but said there was no threat to railway jobs. “You cannot always spend money from government funds.

You have to encourage private industries also. I don”t want to disturb railway employees.

Russia, China call for calm after North Korea missiles

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Beijing, July 04: Russia and China called for calm on Saturday after North Korea stoked regional tensions by firing ballistic missiles.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Russia and China had agreed that all sides should refrain from any steps that could further destabilise the region.

The two countries called for a return to six-party talks, the ministry said

—Agencies

20 hanged in Iran for drug trafficking

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Tehran, July 04: Twenty convicted drug traffickers were hanged Saturday in a prison in Karaj, a suburb west of this Iranian capital, the Fars news agency reported.

Fars said that 700 kg of drugs were confiscated from these people, who were arrested between 2004 and 2008.

Murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking of quantities in excess of five kilograms are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.

—Agencies

Pakistan likely to recall Asif for Champions Trophy

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Islamabad, July 04: Pakistan is seriously considering recalling Mohammad Asif in the 30-member preliminary squad for this September’s ICC Champions Trophy after the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it would not raise any objection against the pacer’s inclusion once he completes his doping ban.

An ICC spokesman has said that once Asif completes his one-year ban on Sep 22 this year, he will be eligible to take part in any international event including the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in South Africa. The biennial tournament is scheduled to get underway Sep 24.

Pakistan Army names new commander for Swat operation

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Islamabad, July 04: The Pakistan Army has named Maj. Gen. Ashfaq Nadeem to command the Swat operation against the Taliban, a media report said Saturday.

The army said the outgoing Maj. Gen. Ijaz Awan had completed his three-year tenure and would get a new posting.

Gen. Nadeem, recently promoted as major general, would take charge of the Swat operation in northwest Pakistan.

Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has approved the appointment, Online news agency said citing official sources.

Twenty major generals of the Pakistan Army have also been reshuffled, the report said.

Serena beats big sister Venus in Wimbledon final

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Washington, July 04: Serena Williams won her third Wimbledon title today, beating big sister Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the final.

The second-seeded Serena also beat Venus in the 2002 and ’03 Wimbledon finals, but lost to her older sibling in last year’s championship match at the All England Club.

Serena is now 6-2 against Venus in Grand Slam finals and has won 11 major titles in her career.
–Agencies

‘Sanjay Dutt as daring as ever’

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Mumbai, July 04: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt is going to complete three decades in the film industry but is still as daring as he was in his first film ‘Rocky’, says stunt director Allan Amin.

‘Sanjay has a scene in ‘Luck’ where he will be running towards five fast moving trains. I have been working with him since his first film ‘Rocky’ and it’s amazing how even today, he is as daring in nature as he was then,’ Amin told IANS.

Singer jailed for forced abortion

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Algeria, July 04: The Algerian singer Cheb Mami has been sentenced to five years in a French prison after being found guilty of forcing an attempted abortion on his former lover.

The 42-year-old star of Algeria’s popular rai music, whose real name is Mohamed Khelifati, was arrested on his arrival in France on Monday night, having fled to Algeria two years ago.

Qadir to reveal irregularities in Pakistan cricket board

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Islamabad, July 04: Former Pakistan chief selector Abdul Qadir is preparing ammunition for his July 14 meeting with a parliamentary committee and says he will candidly inform the Members of the National Assembly (MNA) about the irregularities in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Qadir, a former Pakistan Test leg-spinner, said that he would also try to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the chief patron of the PCB, as he wants to inform him about all the problems in the board.

Victim categorically said she was raped by Shiney: NCW

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New Delhi, July 04: Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja’s 18-year-old domestic help has categorically stated she was raped by him, the National Commission for Women (NCW) chief said here Saturday.

‘When we had talked to the girl in Mumbai, she had categorically stated that she was raped,’ Girija Vyas told reporters here.

Asked about Shiney’s statement that he had ‘consensual sex’ with the maid, the NCW chief said: ‘Even the medical and the DNA reports proved that she was raped. But now I cannot say anything as the case is in court.’

Strong quake rocks Panama City

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Washington, July 04: A strong earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted the Panama capital Saturday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The quake occurred at 1.49 a.m. local time. There was no report of casualties.

–IANS

Lalu Prasad against legalising gay sex

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New Delhi, July 04: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Saturday said the Delhi High Court had done a ‘very dangerous thing’ by de-criminalising homosexuality and he would raise the matter in parliament.

‘It is a very dangerous thing the Delhi High Court has said that it (homosexuality) is not a crime and the law must be amended. I will raise this topic in parliament and the amendment (to the law) should not be done,’ Lalu Prasad told a news channel.

‘It should never be legalized in India,’ the former railway minister said.

Perez plans ‘two more signings’; Ronaldo can’t wait for Monday

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Madrid, July 04: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has told television channel Cuatro that “with two more signings we will have enough.”Late on Friday, Cuatro carried out the most extensive interview with Perez since his return to Real on June 1, an interview printed by sports daily AS on Saturday.

Perez, a 62 year-old construction billionaire, has taken world football by storm with the most profligate spending spree ever seen.

Developing countries need N-tech: S Africa

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Durban, July 04: South Africa has underlined the need for global nuclear disarmament, even as it said that developing countries should not be denied access to advanced technology “needed for their development”.

“We should be vigilant that in advancing the peaceful applications of nuclear energy this is not based on the premise of denying developing countries access to advanced technologies needed for their own development,” said Abdul Minty, country’s Governor to the Board of the IAEA.

Is New Al-Qaida Lashkar-e-Toiba?

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New Delhi, July 04: The evidence is tumbling out of the closet: Pakistan’s creation Lashkar- e-Taiba is not merely allied to al-Qaida but can now be described as the new al-Qaida. With the UN Security Council listing LeT leaders Arif Qasmani, Mohammad Yahya Mujahid and Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari as terrorists allied to al-Qaida, yet another veil is being ripped off Pakistan’s terror claims.

The three, banned under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on June 29, are not mere footsoldiers of the Lashkar. In fact, the resolution brings out their importance for LeT and al-Qaida.

US Vice President Biden says US committed to Iraq withdrawal

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Baghdad, July 04: US Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the United States was committed to withdrawing its soldiers from Iraq by the end of 2011. Speaking from Baghdad on US Independence Day, less than a week after US soldiers withdrew from Iraqi cities, Biden said the White House would honour pledges to complete the military’s withdrawal from Iraq in two years’ time.

Iraqi army arrest suspect in Kirkuk vehicle bombs

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Baghdad, July 04: Iraqi army forces arrested a man on Saturday suspected of being behind two vehicle bombs in the northern city of Kirkuk that killed more than 100 people, an Iraqi army official said.

Iraqi troops backed by U.S. soldiers seized Mehdi Saleh in the town of Hawija, 210 km north of Baghdad, the senior official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. He gave no further details.

A truck bomb planted outside a mosque in Kirkuk on June 20 killed 73 people, many of them crushed under the rubble of their flattened clay brick homes. Some 250 were wounded.

Crew onboard hijacked ship are “desperate” – paper

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Somalia, July 04: The 24 hostages on board a German ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in April have no more water, food or medicine, a German weekly reported, citing comments emailed by the captain of the ship.

The 20,000-tonne container vessel, Hansa Stavanger, was captured about 400 miles off the southern Somali port of Kismayu on April 4.

“We just cannot carry on,” the captain wrote in an email to his wife on Friday, the first sign of life in over three weeks, Der Spiegel magazine reported.

“We have no water, no food and no medicine,” he wrote.

Sonam Kapoor And Amrita Rao Shop Till They Drop!

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Mumbai, July 04: The two young actresses have apparently bonded really well. In fact, we hear that the two spend a lot of time together, indulging in typically girlie activities like shopping, spa visits, partying and gyming. Recently the two girls went on a shopping spree at a popular designer’s store and literally ransacked the place. That’s not all.

150,000 evacuated as storms batter southern China

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Beijing, July 04: Torrential rains and flooding forced more than 150,000 people from their homes, cut power and destroyed crops across southern China, state media reported Saturday. More than 47,000 people were evacuated in the Guanxi region after three days of heavy rain flooded the Rongjiang River, destroying houses and inundating crops, the official Xinhua news agency reported.