Month: October 2009

Grasim to demerge cement business

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New Delhi, October 03: Aditya Birla Group firm Grasim Industries today said it will demerge its cement business into another group company, Samruddhi, as part of a restructuring plan.

“Under the scheme (of restructuring), Grasim will transfer its cement business, including related business/ investments but excluding its investment in UltraTech, to Samruddhi,” Grasim Industries said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

As part of the restructuring exercise, Samruddhi would issue one equity share of Rs 5 each to Grasim shareholders for every share they hold in Grasim.

Iran’s president says Obama made a big mistake

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Tehran, October 03: Iran’s president says President Barack Obama made a big mistake when he accused the country of hiding a newly revealed nuclear site that Iran claims it reported to the U.N. nuclear watchdog within the necessary timeframe.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments Saturday come just before the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, is scheduled to arrive in Iran to discuss the uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom.

Eight injured as vehicles falls into river

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Almora, October 03: At least eight persons were injured here today when a vehicle carrying them fell into a river in Gwalakot, 25 kilometres from here police said According to police sources, the injured were admitted at the Base Hospital here, where the condition of two passengers is said to be critical. The ill-fated vehicle was on its way to Haldwani from Tharali this morning police said and added that the reason of accident is yet to be ascertained.

—PTI–

SRK never got a gift from Gauri

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Mumbai, October 03: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan may have won many national and international awards, including 14 Filmfare trophies, but surprisingly he never got any gift from his wife Gauri in their 24-year-old relationship.

“Gauri has not given me a single gift….and the excuse she gives is ‘What can I give a man who has everything including me?’,” the actor said.

IAEA chief to visit Iran over enrichment site

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Tehran, October 03: The head of the U.N. nuclear agency will arrive in Iran on Saturday to discuss a timetable for inspectors to visit a newly disclosed nuclear enrichment plant, a senior official said.

“Mohamed ElBaradei will discuss details over the agency’s inspections of the new enrichment site,” the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. “He will not visit any nuclear site during his trip to Iran.”

Somali gunmen release 3 foreign aid workers

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Somalia, October 03: Somali gunmen released three foreign aid workers on Saturday who were kidnapped in July in northern Kenya in a cross-border raid, residents and a rebel official said.

“They have just been released and taken to Nairobi,” Sheikh Abdirisak, an official with insurgent group Hizbul Islam, told Reuters by phone from Luq in southwestern Somalia.

He said militiamen came to Luq several days ago and asked to use the airstrip. “The administration accepted their proposal and worked the security of the deal,” he said.

Pakistan prepares assault, eyes Taliban infighting

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Islamabad, October 03: The Pakistani army is keeping up pressure on the Pakistani Taliban as it prepares for an offensive on their South Waziristan stronghold and awaits the outcome of infighting between factions, an army spokesman said on Saturday.

The government ordered the army to launch an offensive against Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud and his men in South Waziristan near the Afghan border in June.

Mehsud, accused of numerous bomb attacks across the country, was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August.

Israeli planes strike Gaza tunnels and building

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Gaza, October 03: Israeli planes carried out strikes on tunnels used for smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border and a building east of Gaza city on Saturday, causing damage but no casualties, security forces and the Israeli military said.

An Israeli military spokesman said the operation was in response to the firing of a rocket and a mortar shell into Israel by militants late on Friday. Both landed in open ground.

US ‘pressured Abbas on UN report’

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Washington, October 03: Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) not to accept the findings of a UN report into Israel’s war on Gaza because of fears it might scupper attempts to restart peace talks, Palestinian sources have told.

Clinton reportedly called Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Thursday to encourage him to withdraw PA support for the report, which heavily criticised the conduct of Israeli forces during the December-January conflict.

Meeting Tendulkar made me mentally stronger: Hughes

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New Delhi, October 03: Young Australian opener Philip Hughes describes the meeting with his idol Sachin Tendulkar as a “dream come true” and said the encounter with the champion batsman helped him immensely to become mentally strong. Just after his unceremonious axing from Australia”s Ashes squad, Hughes met Tendulkar at hotel in Mumbai last month.

“I met Sachin (Tendulkar) a month or six week weeks ago. It was a dream come true moment for me.

Maoists blow up rail tracks, observe bandh

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Jamshedpur, October 03: Maoists triggered blasts damaging railway tracks at two places in Jharkhand and West Bengal, even as a bandh called by them today against the arrest of tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato evoked mixed response. Railway tracks were blown up at Poisaita in Jharkhand affecting train services in Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway on the Howrah-Mumbai route.

“Maoists triggered the blast to blow up about 18-metre rail track. None was injured in the incident,” Railway Police Superintendent Richard Lakra said.

Advani, Modi, virtual Vajpayee to campaign for assembly polls

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New Delhi, October 03: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on the troika of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, veteran leader L.K. Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to capture votes in the Oct 13 assembly elections in three states.

Vajpayee, 84, has not been well for a while and did not contest the April-May Lok Sabha elections. So the party will use the audio CDs and cassettes of his recorded speeches and poems for campaigning in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.

Gowda asks PM to visit flood-hit areas in Karna

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New Delhi, October 03: JD(S) President H D Deve Gowda today requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to undertake a visit to the flood-affected parts of Karnataka and assess the damage even as he charged the BJP-led government in the state with indifference to the plight of people. In a letter to the prime minister, Gowda said northern parts of the state bore the brunt of the floods which has claimed scores of lives and damaged thousands of homes.

PM to make 1st state visit to US in Nov

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Washington, October 03: Highlighting the strong and growing strategic partnership between India and the United States, President Barack Obama will welcome Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the White House on November 24 for the first state visit of his presidency, it was announced on Friday.

Five Pakistanis held for entering Indian waters in Kutch

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Ahmedabad, October 03: Five Pakistani nationals on board a boat were arrested from near the International Marine Border (IMB) in Kutch district of Gujarat, Indian Coast Guard officials said on Saturday.

“Five Pakistanis on board a boat had ventured into the Indian territory near the IMB yesterday,” they told a news agency adding that they have been arrested and their boat has been seized.

The five men will be taken to the Joint Interrogation Centre in Bhuj for questioning to find out their identity.

Rajnath blames Centre for ‘weak-kneed’ policy on China

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Itanagar, October 03: The ‘weak-kneed’ policy of the UPA government was responsible for China’s expansionist policy in the country, which it was merely terming as a ‘media hype’, BJP President Rajnath Singh said here on Saturday.

“When China was building pressure through incursions – 1040 times last year and 270 times this year besides, air space incursions by helicopter – to establish itself as a superpower, New Delhi was regrettably terming it as a media hype,” he told a press conference here before addressing a rally.

Drastic changes needed in judicial system: HC Judge

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Ahmednagar, October 03: Special law has been enacted to decide the cases filed by the foreign investors within one year, but for the common citizens the judiciary works according to the pattern set by the British, a Bombay High Court Judge has said.

This has led to large pendency of cases, which drag on for years. Therefore, there was a need to bring changes in the judicial system to clear the backlog, Justice Sambhajirao Mhase said here yesterday.

Govt mulling granting Indian citizenship to Lankan Tamils

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Chennai, October 03: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Centre would consider a proposal by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to grant Indian citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in the state.

“We have received a letter (from the state government) in this regard and the Centre would look into it,” Chidambaram told reporters here after meeting Karunanidhi.

Cong forgot austerity, spent crores at Nagaur event: BJP

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Jaipur, October 03: BJP on Saturday accused Congress of forgetting austerity and spending huge sums of money on Panchayati Raj Golden jubilee celebrations attended by party president Sonia Gandhi in Nagaur district in Rajasthan.

“The government forgot to maintain austerity measures here and crores of rupees were spent for the event yesterday. Advertisements were published in several newspapers just to please the party president,” state BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi said.

Indonesia calls for quake help as bodies rot in heat

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Padang, October 03: Quake-hit Indonesia appealed for foreign aid on Friday as the stench of decomposing bodies hung over wrecked buildings where overwhelmed rescuers scrabbled for survivors.

In the city of Padang, which was devastated by Wednesday’s 7.6-magnitude earthquake, emergency teams faced a third night of work to pull bodies from ruins that have claimed the lives of at least 1,100 people.

“Our main problem is that there are a lot of victims still trapped in the rubble. We are struggling to pull them out,” Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters.

UN atomic chief due in Iran as pressure mounts

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Tehran, October 03: The head of the UN atomic watchdog was expected to arrive in Tehran at the weekend after Washington and its allies demanded quick progress from Tehran in revived talks on the nuclear standoff.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei will meet Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, an Iranian official said in Geneva on Friday.

The visit will take place at the start of the Iranian week, which begins on Saturday, he added.

US Congress readies Iran sanctions if diplomacy fails

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Washington, October 03: The US Congress is ready to act swiftly to impose tough new sanctions on Iran if international talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme show signs of faltering.

Already, some lawmakers are demanding that the United States strike immediately with new penalties rather than wait for an uncertain multinational consensus.

Democratic Sen Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate’s banking committee, and others are working on plans to expand sanctions significantly if current diplomatic efforts to curtail Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme fall short.

Suu Kyi meets with junta minister: Myanmar official

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Yangon, October 03: Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi had a rare meeting with a minister from the ruling junta on Saturday, a Myanmar official said.

The Opposition leader, who is currently detained under house arrest, was in talks with Aung Kyi, the Labour Minister and official liaison between Suu Kyi and the government, the official said on condition of anonymity.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi are meeting now at the state guest house. They met at about 1pm,” (0630 GMT) he said.

Ahmadinejad defends disclosure of new nuclear site

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Tehran, October 03: Iraninan President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday defended Tehran’s “honesty” in disclosing the building of a new nuclear plant, in his first comments on Iran’s atomic work since high-profile talks in Geneva.

“Iran’s actions are based on honesty. We did not have any secret (nuclear) work because we gave information (about the new plant) ahead of time” to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony in Tehran.

Israeli jets bomb Gaza targets in retaliation

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Gaza City, October 03: Israeli jets early on Saturday bombed several targets across the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to militant rocket fire, the Army and Palestinian witnesses said.

A military spokesman said planes targeted a building used for manufacturing rockets on the outskirts of Gaza City as well as two smuggling tunnels linking the south of the impoverished enclave to Egypt.

No casualties were reported in the strikes, witnesses said.