Month: July 2009

Bhupathi-Knowles go down in Wimbledon QF

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London, July 02: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas went down to South African Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman of Belgium in a marathon five-setter in the Wimbledon men’s doubles quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded fourth, lost 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 4-6 in almost three and a half hours.

There was little to chose between the two teams as they served strong and kept coming back at each other.

Bhupathi and Knowles had only four break point opportunities in the match and they converted two to win the second and fourth sets.

Bolly Buzz: Deepika defends her older co-stars

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Mumbai, July 02: Bollywood is all fighting it out this rainy season – so while Deepika Padukone defends her co-stars being all older than her, Shabana Azmi’s fighting the flab she put on and Lara Dutta is fighting singledom quite happily. Get all the film gossip in CNN-IBN’s Bollywood buzz!

DEFENDING OLDER MEN!

Bollywood star Deepika Padukone is getting all defensive about her co-stars who are way too older than her 23-year-old self.

Publicity rounds begin for Shahid’s Kaminey

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Mumbai, July 02: The soundtrack is catching on and the buzz around Vishal Bharadwaj’s latest film Kaminey is growing by the day.

Starring Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra, the film is scheduled to hit screens on August 14 but the filmmaker and lead actor kicked off promotions on Wednesday morning itself, by making an appearance at an FM radio station in Mumbai.

CNN-IBN quizzed the director about the film’s unusual title.

Indian job market better off than western countries

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New Delhi, July 02: The global economic slowdown has also led to many job losses around the world. While India is better off than western countries, people have still suffered immensely.

Job loss is one of the worst fallout of any economic slowdown. What began as a housing mortgage crisis in the US last year quickly sipralled into a global economic meltdown and from September 2008 companies across the world began downsizing their workforce to cut losses.

Citibank cut 50,000 jobs globally; British Telecom cut 10,000 while Hewlett Packard cut 24,000 jobs.

June is deadliest month for Iraqis this year

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Baghdad, July 02: At least 447 Iraqi civilians were killed in June, double the toll from the previous month, according to an Associated Press tally, as insurgents took aim at crowded areas to maximize the number of casualties.

UPA govt fuels twin shock

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New Delhi, July 02: Less than two months after returning to power, the UPA government administered a shock to the ”aam admi” by increasing the retail prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 4 and Rs 2 per litre respectively.

The hikes came into effect from Wednesday midnight. The prices of kerosene and LPG, however, were left untouched.

Seat ‘aspirants’ present fake mark sheets

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Bangalore, July 02: It may be a way of guiding students to the course that befits their marks and aptitude, but officials at the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) counselling session on Wednesday had to deal with the ambition of a different kind — undeserving students trying to sneak their way into professional courses with fake mark sheets.

Out of the top 1,500 ranks considered for counselling, 13 were found with bogus documents and were instantly expelled from the process.

‘Media devoid of public concern’

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Bangalore,July 02: The market orientation of newspapers and the absence of genuine concern towards the common people and social issues was decried by speakers at a function organised to honour outstanding contributors to Kannada journalism.

At the Sixth Annual Award ceremony of Communication for Development and Learning (CDL) here on Wednesday, K N Hari Kumar, Managing Director, Kaveri Communications and former editor of the Deccan Herald lamented the prevailing state of journalism in the country.

Time for Left to quit: Mamata

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Kolkata, July 02: Encouraged by an unprecedented landslide in the municipal elections in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on
Wednesday reiterated that the state wanted “change” and it was time for the CPM-led Left Front government to quit office.

Building her case to bring forward the Assembly poll in Bengal, Mamata mentioned the results of the municipal polls to PM Manmohan Singh, highlighting the mood in the state. She also told reporters that the results proved the “winds of change” were blowing in Bengal.

World Bank spending at record levels during global crisis

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Washington, July 02: The World Bank Wednesday said it spent a record $58.8 billion on loans, grants, guarantees and social projects over the last year to help poor countries steer through a dramatic global recession.

The development bank said its budget jumped 54 percent between July 2008 and June 30 from a year earlier and is now at the highest level in its 60-year history.

The money keeps developing countries from cutting back on social programmes, and World Bank President Robert Zoellick said he expected the demand to remain high as the economic crisis continues through 2010.

US stocks rise after completing best quarter since 2003

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New York, July 02: US stocks climbed higher Wednesday on slightly rosier prospects for manufacturing and housing, a day after investors celebrated the best quarter on Wall Street since 2003.

The stock market was buoyed by figures showing the manufacturing sector shrank at its slowest pace in 10 months, the latest sign that the US economy is stabilizing.

The Institute for Supply Management’s index climbed in June to 44.8. Any figure below 50 indicates a contraction.

Mir Hossein Mousavi calls Iranian government illegitimate

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Tehran, July 02: An Iranian woman holds up a picture of the latest crackdown by Iranian police on reformist protesters in Tehran. Photograph: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images

Iran’s defeated presidential challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, declared today that he considered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new government illegitimate, and called for protests to continue.

Godhra carnage case: Court rejects bail plea of accused

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Ahmedabad, July 01: A special court hearing the 2002 Godhra train carnage case on Wednesday rejected the bail pleas of over 40 accused.

Designated Judge P R Patel observed that since the trial in the case has already begun and the offense is of serious nature, bail cannot be granted to the accused.

The trial is being conducted on the Sabarmati jail premises, where all the accused are lodged, for security reasons.

Karunanidhi rules out Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka

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Chennai, July 01: Discounting the possibility of creation of a separate Tamil nation in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said he believed that the day is not far off when a Tamil would head the government in the island nation.

“US President Barack Obama changed the compulsion that only a white-skinned person can rule US. And the day is not far off when a Tamil will rule Sri Lanka,” he told the state assembly.

Ban on new permits welcomed

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Bangalore, July 01: Contrary to expectations, it is mostly a sigh of relief among the autorickshaw drivers at the State government’s decision to not issue any more permits for autos in the city.

The crowding of autorickshaws in the City, apart from leading to increased air pollution had hit the autodrivers hard.

Voters’ card distribution will continue till Oct 10

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Bangalore, July 01: In another indication that the BBMP) elections may not happen before September last or the first week of October, the Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) distribution programme, a key element of the pre-election exercise, is now to be extended up to October 10.

Govt open to ‘new thinking’ on homosexuality issue

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New Delhi, July 01: Amid wrangling on legalisation of homosexuality, the Centre on Wednesday said it was open to bringing “new thinking” on the subject.

Addressing a press conference, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked Law Minister M Verrappa Moily, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and himself to discuss and take a view on the issue of repealing Section 377 of IPC,which criminalises homosexuality.

Call centre to replace complaints cell in BWSSB

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Bangalore, July 01: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has decided to replace its ‘defunct’ Complaints Management Centre with Call centre.

The Complaints Management Centre at Cauvery Bhavan has stopped functioning for the last ten days due to the malfunctioning of software in its systems and it may not function for another week.

The Board has finally decided to do away with the existing system of managing complaints and transform the office into a call centre.

HIV affected denied treatment, delivers outside hospital

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Faizabad, July 01: An HIV affected woman was forced to deliver her baby outside a government hospital after she was allegedly denied treatment by the doctors in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district.

The 28-year-old pregnant woman, a resident of Jahageeraganj locality in Amdedkar Nagar, went to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule district hospital last evening in the district, 60 km from here.

Shatrughan’s daughter to cast opposite Salman

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Kanpur, July 01: Putting rest to all speculations about his daughter’s film debut, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha today said he has allowed Sonakshi to be cast opposite Salman Khan as his father is a family friend.

“Our family has friendly relations with Salman’s father Salim Khan, and the script is also pretty clean, so I permitted my daughter to act with him,” Sinha said.

Hyderabad’s SoftPro acquires South African firm for $19 mn

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Johannesburg, July 01: Hyderabad-based software solutions provider SoftPro Systems has acquired South Africa’s Cura Software Solutions for $19 million.

SoftPro chairman Bala Reddy and Cura chief executive Avi Eyal inked the deal here Wednesday evening.

Cura, established in 2002, provides smarter software solutions for governance, risk management, compliance and performance management.

Bhupathi-Knowles lose in Wimbledon quarters

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London, July 01: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas lost a marathon five-setter to South African Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman of Belgium in the Wimbledon men’s doubles quarter-finals here Wednesday.

Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded fourth, lost 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 4-6 in almost three and a half hours.

There was little to chose between the two teams as they served strong and kept coming back at each other.

Bhupathi and Knowles had only four break point opportunities in the entire match and they converted two to win the second and fourth sets.

Relief for emperor’s descendent in government hands

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Kolkata, July 01: State-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) has asked an NGO, which approached it for providing a job to a descendent of India’s last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, to approach the central government for suitable relief.

In a statement Wednesday, the central public sector undertaking said: “A Delhi-based NGO, Bismillah, approached the chairman of Coal India Ltd for employment of daughter of Sultana Begum, descendent of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Johnny Depp to teach his kids how to handle guns

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London, July 01: Hollywood star Johnny Depp is to pass on his fascination for guns to his children as he plans to teach them how to handle weapons.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star has two children with his long term partner Vanessa Paradis – Lily-Rose, 10, and seven-year-old Jack – and Depp admits he began handling firearms at the age of six when he was growing up in Kentucky, and wants to pass on his experience to his kids, reports imdb.com.

Honduran president recounts horror of his ouster, vows to return home

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United Nations, July 01: During a speech at the UN General Assembly Wednesday, ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tearfully recounted how he was bundled into a flight to Costa Rica at gun point by the security forces.

Zelaya said he will return home Thursday with two international diplomats and two Latin American presidents.

Zelaya arrived in New York Tuesday from Nicaragua at the invitation of UN General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, a former Nicaraguan foreign minister, just hours before his address to the 192-member body.