Month: November 2009

Somdev goes down eight spots in ATP ranking

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New Delhi, November 09: India’s Somdev Devvarman dropped eights places to 124 in the Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) rankings released Monday.

Somdev lost the final of the Charlottesville Challenger to second-seeded American Kevin Kim Sunday.

Prakash Amritraj climbed 19 places to 204 in the charts.

In the Men’s doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes were unchanged at 7th and 8th places, respectively.

In the WTA list, Sania Mirza remained steady in the 58th spot in singles and 37th in doubles rankings.

—IANS

Samajwadi Party demands higher price for sugarcane farmers

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Lucknow, November 08: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav would lead a demonstration here Nov 15 to protest what he termed as “unfair” State Advised Price (SAP) fixed by the Mayawati government for sugarcane.
“The price fixed by the state was lower than the input cost of the farmer,” he said.

Mulayam Singh urged the state government to raise the SAP to Rs.300 per quintal from the current Rs.165 and Rs.170 quintal for the two key varieties of sugarcane.

Dinakaran case: Karnataka lawyers boycott courts

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Bangalore, Novwember 09: About 60,000 lawyers abstained from courts across Karnataka on Monday in protest against the continuation of controversial Karnataka High Court chief justice P.D.

Dinakaran for alleged land-grabbing and amassing assets disproportionate to his income.”The boycott of proceedings from lower courts to high court has been total and successful. Though courts were functioning, about 60,000 advocates stayed away from all proceedings,” Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB) general secretary R. Rajanna told.

CPI-M leader injured in Maoist attack

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Kolkata, November 09: Suspected Maoists opened fire at a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader in West Midnapore district Monday, injuring him seriously, police said.

A West Bengal police official said Jagananth Mahato, a prominent CPI-M leader of Salboni, was returning after bathing in the pond when a group of ultras fired at him.

Mahato, a former panchayat chief, has been rushed to the Midnapore district hospital. His condition was stated to be serious.

One killed, 18 injured as bus overturns

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Barabanki, November 09: One person was killed and 18 others injured, when a bus overturned in Deva police station here today. Police said that the bus of Barabanki depot, which was on its way to here overturned near Sharda canal killing one person on the spot and injuring 18 other passengers.

All the injured, including the driver of the bus were admitted to the district hospital, police added.

—Agencies

One killed, 18 injured as bus overturns

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Barabanki, November 09: One person was killed and 18 others injured, when a bus overturned in Deva police station here today. Police said that the bus of Barabanki depot, which was on its way to here overturned near Sharda canal killing one person on the spot and injuring 18 other passengers.

All the injured, including the driver of the bus were admitted to the district hospital, police added.

—PTI–

Cabinet ministers spent Rs.300 Cr on travels in last 3 years

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New Delhi, November 09: Cabinet ministers in the first term of the UPA government have spent more than Rs300 crore on their foreign and domestic travels in the last three years.

The data provided by the cabinet secretariat shows more than Rs137 crore were spent by ministers of cabinet rank on the foreign travels between fiscal 2006-’07 and 2008-’09, with highest in the year 2007-’08 when more than Rs115 crore were spent by them on such travels.

Raj Thackeray should be arrested for assault: Azmi

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Mumbai, November 09:Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Asim Azmi Monday demanded the arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray over the assault on him inside the Maharashtra assembly by MNS lawmakers.

“I have not done anything wrong by taking the oath as MLA in Hindi, it is our national language. I have respected my national language,” Azmi, the Samajwadi Party state chief, told reporters after the incident.

Infosys BPO planning acquisitions, hiring

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New Delhi, November 09:Infosys BPO Ltd, the business processing outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary of software major Infosys Technologies, is looking at fresh acquisitions and hiring people.

Speaking to reporters here Monday, Infosys BPO managing director and chief executive Amitabh Chaudhary said his company was “looking at acquisitions in the range of $80-200 million”.

“We will hire 2,000-2,500 people in four months,” he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit.

— Indo-Asian News Service

Was Headley in touch with 26/11 masterminds?

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New Delhi/ Mumbai November 09:Indian intelligence agencies along with Mumbai Police are probing if David Coleman Headley, who is currently in FBI custody, was in touch with the masterminds of the Laskhar-e Taiba (LeT) and if he attended any of the training camps the ten Pakistan-based terrorists went through for the 26/11 terror strikes.

NATO, Afghans claim to kill 130 Taliban in Kunduz

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Kunduz, November 09: NATO and Afghan officials claimed on Monday their forces had killed at least 130 Taliban fighters in a major operation over the past week in an area of Afghanistan’s north where militant activity has surged.

A combined force of 700 Afghan troops and 50 NATO soldiers cleared villages of fighters, killing more than 130 insurgents including eight Taliban commanders during a five-day operation, NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician said.

MNS legislators suspended for four years

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Mumbai, November 09:Four legislators of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were Monday suspended for four years by the Maharashtra assembly for assaulting Samajwadi Party lawmaker Abu Asim Azmi for taking the oath as legislator in Hindi.

Besides the stringent punishment of suspending them for four years, the house also barred the four legislators – all first-timers – from entering Mumbai and Nagpur whenever the assembly sessions are held in these cities.

The four legislators are: Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam, who had slapped and punched SP member Azmi, Vasant Gite and Ramesh Banjle.

IAEA report: Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design

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Tehran, November 09: The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has questioned Tehran about evidence that Iran has experimented with an advanced nuclear detonation technology. According to a new report by the Guardian, the technology would allow Iran to make smaller and simpler warheads than would be possible with first-generation nuclear weapons.

Obama, Netanyahu to meet as U.S. peace effort flounders

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Washington, November 09: President Barack Obama was due to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Monday amid floundering U.S. efforts to jump-start stalled Middle East peace talks.

The meeting between the two leaders is likely to anger Palestinians, who are already frustrated by what they perceive as backsliding by the Obama administration on the contentious issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Iraqi parliament passes crucial election law

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Baghdad, November 09: After nearly a dozen delays and a final, rowdy session, Iraq’s parliament on Sunday passed a law setting national elections for January, averting for now a political crisis that threatened to unravel the country’s slow progress toward stability.

Approval of the law eases a growing source of concern for the Obama administration. President Barack Obama is considering sending 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan , and successful elections here are key to a major reduction in U.S. combat forces in Iraq by next summer.

Zimbabwe lawyer: witness tortured in weapons trial

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Harare, November 09: Prosecutors want to prevent a top aide to Zimbabwe’s prime minister from arguing that evidence against him in a weapons trial was obtained through torture.

Roy Bennett’s trial, which has strained Zimbabwe’s coalition government, opened Monday with the attorney general asking the judge to bar a defense argument. Bennett’s lawyers say the weapons dealer who is the main prosecution witness was not only tortured, but did not implicate Bennett during his own trial.

Kingfisher in talks with private equity firms for raising $400 mln

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New Delhi, November 09: Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines today said it is in talks with private equity firms to raise 400 million dollars.

”The current discussions are for 400 million dollars,” Kingfisher Chairman Vijay Mallya told reporters here on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit, organised by CII.

He said rights share issue and global depository receipts issue worth 100 million dollars each will be completed by this fiscal-end.

—Agencies

Nana – Jaya Bachchan pair up for the first time

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Mumbai, November 09: Nana Patekar and Jaya Bachchan will be seen together for the first time in Aruna Raje’s forthcoming film ‘Jhoom Zindagi Jhoom’.

“That’s true. I have Nana and Jayaji in lead role for my film. It’s an interesting story which will go on floor by next year. We are in the process of signing more actors thus it won’t be right to speak more about the film now,” said the director Aruna Raje who has just finished a documentary film about mentally challenged people called ‘Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining’.

Iran still wants nuke talks with world powers

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Teran, November 09: Iran still wants talks with world powers over fuel supplies to a Tehran nuclear reactor — despite the country’s apparent rejection of a U.N. plan to curb Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.

The Iranian top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said late Sunday that Tehran “welcomes” talks on the nuclear issue with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. Jalili spoke during a meeting with visiting Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, according to Iran’s state television.

Shahid’s madly in love with his Black beauty

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Mumbai, November 09: Shahid Kapoor’s career has been going great post ‘Kaminey’ and the star decided to celebrate it by buying himself an all new 2010 black Range Rover. The star who owned a White Mercedes before decided to go for a SUV this time around and after contemplating on which colour to buy, he went for a chick Black.

Afghanistan is under influence of Indian intelligence: Musharraf

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Washington, November 09: Acknowledging that there is “an ingress of the ISI in every terrorist group”, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has alleged Afghanistan is under influence of Indian intelligence agencies and he has documentary evidence against it.

“Afghan intelligence, Afghan President, Afghan Government. Don’t talk of them. I know what they do. They are, by design, they mislead the world. They talk against Pakistan, because they are under the influence of Indian intelligence, all of them,” Musharraf told CNN in an interview yesterday.

Abhishek happy with his one pack

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Mumbai, November 09: If you are an actress you better be fair, skinny and gorgeous, if you are an actor you better be errr the same! It’s not just the actresses who are starving and working out to death to achieve the hour glass figure but the men too are following suit and Abhishek Bachchan seems to wonder why!

On a social networking site he in his typical witty self wrote, “By the way, what’s up with our obsession with fairness creams? Dude, be proud of who you are and what you look like!”

Hurricane warnings for US Gulf Coast for Ida

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New Orleans, November 09: Hurricane Ida chugged toward the Gulf Coast, and despite warnings extending more than 200 miles across several states, residents seemed to take the first Atlantic hurricane to target the U.S. this season in stride.

Authorities said the hurricane weakened early Monday to a Category 1 storm, with 90 mph winds, and could make landfall as early as Tuesday morning. The storm was expected to weaken further but remain a hurricane as it approaches the coast.

There were no immediate plans Sunday night for mandatory evacuations.

CPI(M) critical of US’s Af-Pak policy

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New Delhi, Nov 09 : Patronising anti-India outfits while cracking down on the Taliban by the Pakistan government will not work since these outfits are only loyal to terror, warns People’s Democracy, the CPI(M) journal, in its latest editorial.

Noting the alarming regularity with which terrorist attacks were taking place in Pakistan, the editorial said the vulnerability of the US’s Af-Pak policy was clear. The conflict in Afghanistan was engulfing Pakistan. India had not been spared either: the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul proved that.

Foodgrain prices to come down in a month: Pranab

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New Delhi, Nov 09 : Soaring foodgrain prices are set to come down ‘after a month or so’ as a result of steps taken to import food and build up a buffer, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

“Though the production of grains has been hit, there are adequate buffer stocks” – nearly eight million tonnes of wheat and more than seven million tonnes of rice, Mukherjee said Sunday.

“We have taken adequate care to maintain the demand and supply position by allowing commodities of shortfall to be imported without any duty.”