Month: February 2010

Hyundai sales soar in US amid Toyota recall

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Seoul, February 03: South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor said Wednesday its US sales jumped by almost a quarter last month, as Japanese rival Toyota grappled with a massive recall.

Hyundai Motor America said it sold 30,503 vehicles in January, up 24 percent from a year earlier. It said the new figure accounted for 4.7 percent of the total US auto market in January.

Hyundai is a major beneficiary of the woes of Toyota, whose US sales fell 16 percent last month after the recall of millions of vehicles and the sales suspension of eight models.

‘Your father has ruined this country’

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Mumbai, February 03: Shiv Sena today stepped up its attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the “Mumbai for all Indians” remark, raking up Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin.

“Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian mummy,” Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’.

“The ‘Prince of Congress’ is totally frustrated and it is in this frustration he has insulted Marathi people and Maharashtra,” he said.

The Sena leader said Mumbai was not a “dharamshala” (guesthouse) of the country that “anyone comes to Mumbai, spits here and leaves.”

China banks call back loans to satisfy regulators

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Beijing, February 03: Two of China’s biggest banks aggressively called back loans in the second half of January to fall into line with the government’s directive to slow lending, local media reported on Wednesday.

Regulators have also issued banks with strict lending quotas and begun demanding daily notification of loan volumes in order to avoid a start-of-year credit surge and keep lending flows more balanced over the coming months, media added.

Muslim cop dismiss for two wives

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New Delhi, February 03: After 23 years in court, a Muslim constable’s plea that he did not fall afoul of a bigamy charge as this was permissible in his religion, has been decisively quashed by Supreme Court which dismissed his special leave petition against a high court ruling.

The SC decision not to entertain the petition clearly establishes that those in government jobs cannot get around service rules that stipulate dismissal from service for bigamous employees. The SC said that religion-based personal laws cannot be invoked to prevent government rules from being enforced.

Head of America’s most expensive weapons programme fired

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Washington, February 03: Concerned by cost overruns and delay in developing America’s most expensive weapons system, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has fired the general in charge of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme.

“The progress and performance of the F-35 over the past two years has not been what it should,” Gates said, adding, “a number of key goals and benchmarks were not met.”

The Pentagon will also withhold USD 614 million in performance fees from lead contractor Lockheed Martin, Gates said.

Next in military technology: Unmanned Black Hawk?

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Hartford, February 03: Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. announced a billion-dollar venture on Monday that it hopes will respond to military demand for technology to fight two wars, including Black Hawk helicopters that can see and fly on their own.

The Stratford-based helicopter maker and military contractor said Sikorsky Innovations is intended to speed the transformation of the mechanical helicopter into a computerized aircraft.

Engineering Services Examinations from June 26

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New Delhi, February 03: Union Public Service Commission is going to hold the Engineering Services Examinations 2010 from June 26 at various centres across the country.

The details regarding the eligibility conditions, the syllabus, scheme and others have been made available on the UPSC’s website, said a press release.

The online submission of application forms could be made between February six and 22, while the candidates who wish to apply offline could do so on or before March two, 2010, it added.

—-PTI

Airplane bomb suspect said cooperating with U.S.

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Washington, February 03: The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is again cooperating and providing useful intelligence to U.S. authorities, a law enforcement official said on Tuesday.

The Obama administration has been widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats because the suspect was interviewed by FBI agents for about an hour before he stopped cooperating and he was then read Miranda rights, providing him full U.S. constitutional legal rights.

No French citizenship to men who make wives wear veil

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Paris, February 03:French Immigration Minister Eric Besson said Tuesday that he had transmitted a decree to the government that would ban from French citizenship any man who makes his wife wear the all-body Islamic veil.

In a statement, Besson said that preventing a spouse from going around with her face unveiled would be equivalent to rejecting “the principles of secularism and equality between men and women”.

The measure is the latest move in the continuing attempt by the French government to limit or ban women from wearing the garment, which is known here by the Afghan term burqa.

Obama to meet Dalai Lama despite China warnings

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Washington, February 03: President Barack Obama still plans to meet the Dalai Lama, the White House said on Tuesday, despite China’s warning that such a meeting would hurt ties already strained by U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

Digging in on two points of discord with the United States, China vowed to impose unspecified sanctions against U.S. firms selling arms to Taiwan and said any meeting between Obama and the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader would hurt bilateral ties.

The White House shrugged off Beijing’s warning.

Israeli jets strike Gaza smuggling tunnels

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Gaza, February 03: Israeli F-16s carried out an airstrike late Tuesday against underground smuggling tunnels at the Gaza Strip-Egypt border, witnesses and security sources said.

The witnesses said that the Israeli warplanes circled over southern Gaza before rocketing the border area and destroying several tunnels.

Israel imposed a tight Gaza blockade more than two years ago, when the Palestinian coastal territory was seized by the Islamic militant movement Hamas. Since then, Palestinians have burrowed hundreds of tunnels and smuggled goods and fuel from Egypt into the enclave.

Ponting furious at security breach

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Melbourne, February 03: Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he would have led a walk-off had any of his players been tackled by a gatecrashing fan, the way it happened with Pakistan’s Khalid Latif, at Perth.

Latif was fielding at deep square-leg in the fifth and last One-day international on Sunday, motioning to a teammate and walking forward as the spectator ran at him from behind. A security guard was ambling behind, too slow to keep up. The spectator rugby-tackled Latif, twisting and throwing him to the ground.

Latif complained of a stiff neck after the match finished.

Muslim clerics to protest Congress leaders’ Azamgarh visit

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Lucknow, February 03:Expressing resentment over alleged harassment of youth from the minority community by police on the pretext of tackling terror, a Muslim clerics’ organisation Tuesday said it would hold protests against Congress leaders, who would visit Azamgarh district.

“We will sport black badges and will also wave black flags at the Congress leaders, including Digvijay Singh and other party leaders, who are coming to visit Sanjarpur town in Azamgarh,” Ulema Council’s general secretary Tahir Madni told reporters in Azamgarh, some 300 km from Lucknow.

Australian police say Indian lied about petrol attack

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Sydney, February 03: Australian police allege a man of Indian descent who claimed he was doused in petrol and set alight last month was not the victim of a racist attack but injured himself while setting his car alight in a failed insurance scam, news reports said Wednesday.

Jaspreet Singh has been ordered to appear next month in a Melbourne court to answer charges of making a false report to police and criminal damage with a view to gaining financial advantage.

WHO raises alert over rising cancer deaths

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Manila, February 03: The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that annual global cancer deaths would jump to 17 million by 2030 from a projected 7.6 million this year if people do not take urgent action to avoid risk factors.

Cancer accounts for one in eight deaths worldwide – more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined – but many of these deaths can be avoided, the WHO said.

It added that each year, over 12 million people around the world are diagnosed with cancer.

‘U.S., Pak have shared understanding of war against terrorism’

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New York, February 03: The United States and Pakistan have a shared understanding of their joint responsibilities in the war against terrorism in the region and how to secure that country from such terrorist groups, a top Obama Administration official has said.

“We have very close collaboration with Pakistan on our shared struggle in combating extremism that exists in the tribal areas and through other parts of Pakistan,” the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, P.J. Crowley, told.

Iran ready to make uranium exchange deal

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Tehran, February 03: Iran is ready to complete a uranium exchange deal with world nuclear powers, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad said in an interview with state television that, after renewed talks with world powers, Iran was ready to exchange its low-enriched uranium for a more highly processed version to be used as fuel in the Tehran nuclear reactor.

He said a contract would be signed to guarantee that the deal would be properly and fully implemented.

India hands over $ 5 million in aid to Haiti

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New York, February 03: India has handed over $ 5 million to Haiti’s UN envoy Leo Merores, as aid for the victims of the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation in January.

India is now considering the second phase of its response that will be geared towards reconstruction and rebuilding of Haiti’s infrastructure and economy.

The ambassadors of both the countries discussed areas in which India would be able to best serve Haiti’s need in the coming months.

Nuclear energy key to climate change

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Washington, February 03: US President, Barack Obama, on Wednesday said nuclear energy and clean coal energy technology is key to the successful fight against climate change and on the latter it is important to bring India and China on board.

“I know it’s controversial in some quarters, but if you’re serious about dealing with climate change then you’ve got to take a serious look at the nuclear industry,” Mr. Obama said at a Town Hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire.

‘Cold war era regulations hampering India-US relationship’

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Washington, February 03: The cold-war era policies restricting technology transfer is coming in the way of strengthening and deepening of America’s relationship with India in the 21st century, a top Obama Administration official has said.

“Right now we are in a really — building, frankly, on the work of the last administration and that before, we are at a really critical and important point in our partnership with India,” said Michele Flournoy, the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy.

BJP municipal councillor shot dead in Junagadh

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New delhi, February 03: BJP chief whip and Junagadh Municipal Councillor Karmal Katara was shot dead from point blank range at the busy area of Bhavnath Taleti in Junagadh around 10.30 pm on Monday. Katara, a Rabari community leader, was previously the Deputy Mayor of Junagadh.

According to a complaint lodged by Bijal Katara, his brother Karmal was shot dead by a gang of drug and illegal arms dealers against whom the deceased had passed on information to the police.

CBI registers case to probe Sohrabuddin, Kausarbi encounter

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Mumbai, February 03: The CBI has registered a case against Gujarat police officials to probe the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi in 2005.

The CBI took up the case on directions of the Supreme Court which came down heavily on the Gujarat Government for failing to conduct impartial investigations and attempting to “mislead” the apex court by filing conflicting action taken reports (ATRs).

Expelled, Amar says ‘liberated’

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New delhi, February 03: Formally severing ties with its former general secretary after days of sniping, the Samajwadi Party today expelled Amar Singh and Rampur Lok Sabha MP Jaya Prada for “anti-party activities” and suspended four MLAs for “conspiring to engineer a split” in the party.

Doors were never shut for talks with Pakistan

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New delhi, February 03: India has never ruled out prospects of dialogue with Pakistan, and Islamabad must demonstrate its resoluteness to combat terror by continuing to act against the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that led to suspension of the dialogue.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said this while talking to journalists on the sidelines of a function to celebrate 60 years of cultural ties between India and the U.S. by the Fulbright Commission in India, here on Tuesday.

Aamir Khan’s father Tahir Hussain passes away

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Mumbai, February 02:Tahir Hussain, well-known filmmaker and Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s father, died of a massive heart attack here Tuesday morning, sources close to the family said.

He is survived by his wife and two sons, Aamir and Faisal, and two daughters, Farhat and Nikhat.

Hussain is known for producing hits like ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke’ (1993) that starred son Aamir, ‘Dulha Bikta Hai’ (1982), ‘Zakhmee’ (1975), ‘Anamika’ (1973) and ‘Caravan’ (1971).

In 1990, he made his directorial debut with ‘Tum Mere Ho’ with Aamir and Juhi Chawla.