New delhi,January 28 :The centre has asked all states to follow Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to provide increased quotas for minorities under the OBC ambit. The move comes on Wednesday after the Centre found it tough to push through a quota for Muslims in educational institutes and government jobs on the lines of a model recommended by the Ranganath Misra Committee report.
Mumbai,January 28 :IN the wake of accelerating economic activity and rising prices, the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) is expected to not only hike the cash reserve ratio ( a portion of bank deposits kept as cash reserves with the RBI), but also tinker with the key policy rates on Friday.
Though bankers are expecting only a hike in CRR by 0.25- 0.5 per cent, economists feel the RBI cannot afford to wait for various factors, including inflation and growth, to threaten the economic balance before hiking the policy rates.
Bangalore, January 28: The bilateral initiative between India and South Korea in the field of science got a boost with the setting up of Indo-Korea Science and Technology Centre on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science here on Wednesday.
The centre, which is jointly initiated by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and the Indian Institute of Science to work together on many globally important issues, was inaugurated by the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
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Mumbai, January 28: A Cambodian cargo ship, m v Layla S, hijacked by Somalian pirates, could have Indian crew on board, a top maritime authority said here.
“The crew members of the hijacked vessel are said to be a mix of Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Somalian and possibly Syrian nationals. However, details are still scanty,” the Directorate-General of Shipping (DGS) said in a statement.
The vessel is believed to be owned by Al-Hufoof, an agency based in either Syria or the United Arab Emirates. The DGS has informed the Coast Guard and the Navy, of the developments.
—PTI
New Delhi, January 28: President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa on his re-election as the President of Sri Lanka and expressed the hope that under his leadership “all communities can live in dignity and harmony” in the island nation.
The President said she was confident that under Mr. Rajapaksa’s continued leadership, Sri Lanka would “attain greater heights and find lasting peace.”
Washington, January 28: Negotiations between the United States and Russia on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) were “nearly complete”, the White House has said.
The announcement came after US President Barack Obama had a telephonic talk with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
“President Obama spoke with President Medvedev of Russia to thank him for his hard work and leadership on the New START Treaty negotiations, as the two sides have made steady progress in recent weeks,” a White House statement said.
Dubai, January 28: A high-tech facility was inaugurated here in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to manufacture a drug required in PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan for cancer patients.
The drug, Flurodeoxglucose (FDG), has a short shelf life of only 10 hours. Therefore, importing it into the UAE was a cumbersome process.
To conduct a PET scan, the patient needs to be injected with a dose of FDG.
The PET scan is considered better than the regular scans as it can detect cancer early.
Toronto, January 28: With their worst fears of a prolonged recession over, CEOs worldwide are now confident about growth bouncing back, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in its annual global survey here Wednesday.
The survey found that 81 per cent of CEOs worldwide were confident about growth for the next 12 months. Only 19 percent were pessimistic about the return of growth. Thirteen percent CEOs went on to say that the global recovery has actually begun.
But amazingly 67 percents CEOs in China said that the recovery actually began in 2009 itself.
Dubai, January 28: A high-tech facility was inaugurated here in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to manufacture a drug required in PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan for cancer patients.
The drug, Flurodeoxglucose (FDG), has a short shelf life of only 10 hours. Therefore, importing it into the UAE was a cumbersome process.
To conduct a PET scan, the patient needs to be injected with a dose of FDG.
The PET scan is considered better than the regular scans as it can detect cancer early.
New York, January 28: US stocks secured gains after fluctuating most of the session Wednesday as Fed’s latest assessment on economy boosted market sentiment.
Fed decided to keep the key interest rates unchanged, in line with market’s anticipation, when it concluded its two-day policy meeting, Xinhua reported.
Investors were more encouraged after Fed said “economic activity has continued to strengthen” since its last policy meeting in December.
Fed’s brighter tone helped stocks pared early losses after a negative housing data.
Baghdad, January 28: Iraqi Security Forces on Wednesday arrested a suspected extremist during a joint security operation conducted in Ad Duluiyah.
Acting upon a warrant issued by an Iraqi court, Iraqi Police and U.S. advisors searched a residential building for a suspected Al-Qaeda member who is in direct association with the organizations leadership.
New Delhi, January 28: He sings soul-stirring Sufi songs – and he does it in Hebrew. Israeli composer Shye Ben-Tzur believes even if the language is unknown to listeners, they will enjoy if “the music touches their heart”.
Ben-Tzur, who has created his brand of “Hebrew Sufi” music, was in India to make his album “Shoshan”.
“For a long time, I have been passionate about Sufi music, culture and literature. Since I am from Israel and proficient in Hebrew, I decided to compose music with the influences of Sufi and Hebrew language,” Ben-Tzur told IANS in an interview.
Washington, January 28: The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to blast off Feb 7 in the shuttle programme’s final night launch, as the US space agency prepares to retire the ageing fleet.
Endeavour is set to launch before dawn on a 13-day mission, NASA said Wednesday after a flight readiness evaluation. The mission is the first of five final flights before the shuttle programme ends in September.
NASA is focused on completing and supplying the ISS before losing the shuttle, which is the only craft capable of ferrying large equipment into space.
New York, January 28: A US court has declared former Satyam Computers chairman Ramalinga Raju, who last year was jailed after admitting to falsifying his company’s accounts by over $1 billion, a pauper, thereby exempting him from paying court costs.
Besides Raju, New York judge Barbara S Jones also approved ‘pauper’ status for his brother Rama Raju, Satyam’s former chief executive officer, and Srinivas Vadlamani, the company’s former head of finance.
Washington, January 28: Brown University, a member of the prestigious Ivy League, will hold an exhibition of early masterpieces of Maqbool Fida Husain, one of India’s most famous living painters, from Feb 5 through March 26.
The exhibit, part of Providence, Rhode Island based Brown’s Year of India initiative, will be hosted by the Cogut Centre for the Humanities, in collaboration with the David Winton Bell Gallery.
Washington, January 28: US President Barack Obama has said that job creation would be his top priority this year and called on Congress to adopt a series of spending measures and tax incentives to bring down unemployment from a quarter-century high of 10 percent.
“Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that is why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight,” Obama said in his first State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress.
Washington, January 28: US President Barack Obama has credited his economic policies with pulling the country out of its worst recession in decades but promised a renewed focus on restarting job growth that has lagged behind the economic recovery.
“One year later, the worst of the storm has passed,” Obama said Wednesday in his first official State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress. “But the devastation remains.”
Mumbai, January 27: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has said the recent controversy over making knowledge of Marathi mandatory for issuing taxi permits in Mumbai was unfortunate and said the metropolis belongs to all of India.
“We are all Indians first. Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi belong to all Indians. That is the reality,” he said during a panel discussion at the London School of Economics organised to release Rajya Sabha MP N K Singh’s book, ‘Not by Reason Alone: The Politics of Change’.
Dubai, Januaary 27: A Dubai court Wednesday sentenced an Emirati man to death for raping and murdering a four-year-old boy in a Dubai mosque last November, in a case that has appalled the Gulf country.
Dubai’s Court of First Instance ruled that the crime had been premeditated, rejecting the man’s defence that he had been drunk and that he had accidentally smothered the boy to stop him from screaming after raping him in the bathroom of a mosque on the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
New Delhi, January 27: Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday recommended court martial of Lt Gen Awadesh Prakash for his involvement in a land scam in Sukhna cantonment in West Bengal.
Antony’s recommendation has come as Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor had ordered administrative action against Prakash while another officer held guilty in the scam Lt Gen PK Rath was ordered to be court martialled.
“The defence minister has recommended for disciplinary action against Prakash also and this includes court martial,” a senior defence official said on Wednesday.
Ahmedabad, January 27: Kolkata Knight Riders have exhausted their quota of foreign cricketers but they would have loved to have Pakistani players in their ranks, co-owner of the IPL franchisee Shah Rukh Khan said on Wednesday.
“We did have a number of them in the first IPL and in the second, no Pakistani player was allowed to play. This year, we don’t have any slot left. But if we had and they are made available legally, we would have loved to have them,” the actor said.
Jalna (Maharashtra), January 27: Around 21 girl students of a school in the district fell sick after they drank water stored in school tank today, police said.
They were admitted to a primary health care centre at Talni village of the district, they said, adding that one girl among them was shifted to Mehkar hospital after her health deteriorated.
The incident took place at Kasturabai Gandhi Residential School of Talni village in Mantha tehsil of the district, police said.
Surat, January 27: A youth was arrested for allegedly drawing donations from fans of Bollywood star Salman Khan through a fake website, Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials said today.
Intakhawab Alam was arrested yesterday from Rander for posing as Salman Khan on a fake website created by him, they said.
He used to reply to fans and keep the website updated, ATS officials said.
Alam had created a website under the name of Bollywood actor Salman Khan and used to send messages to fans and asked for their comments and opinions on articles written on the site.
Panaji, January 27: A nine-year-old Russian girl was raped by an unidentified man at Arambol beach in North Goa, police said on Wednesday.
According to the complaint filed by the victim’s mother at Pernem police station, her daughter was raped while she was playing in the beach waters on Tuesday, Deputy Superintendent Sammy Tavares said.