Month: March 2010

Dubai commits 9.5 billion dollars to Dubai World

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Dubai, March 25: Debt-laden Dubai World said on Thursday it has proposed to repay its creditors in full through the issuance of two tranches of new debt maturing in five and eight years.

Creditors, apart from the government’s financial support fund which has pumped cash into the troubled group, “will receive 100 percent principal repayment through the issuance of two tranches of new debt with five and eight years maturities,” the company said in a statement.

Total, Qatar pair up for African oil production

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Paris, March 25: French energy giant Total signed a partnership deal with Qatar on Thursday to invest in joint projects to pump oil out of west Africa.

Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie said it was a first for the firm to pair up with a Middle East country to develop oil production in Africa.

“We have decided to unite our strengths,” said Margerie after signing an agreement with Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani at an investment forum in Paris.

Netanyahu’s bid to end US row ends in ‘humiliation’

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Tel Aviv, March 25: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to the United States to patch up relations ended in “humiliation” as Washington dressed down its close ally over illegal settlements, Israeli media said on Thursday.

Leading newspapers said Netanyahu now has his “back to the wall,” with US President Barack Obama demanding major steps to revive the peace process that threaten the premier’s mostly right-wing coalition.

40 militants killed in Pakistan

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Islamabad, March 25: At least 40 militants were killed Thursday in an artillery and air attack in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal district of Orakzai near the Afghan border, a security official said.

The strike by Pakistani troops occurred in the Mamozai area of the district, where security forces have stepped up ground and air attacks against Taliban militants in recent days, a security official said on the condition of anonymity.

BSP displays Sonia Gandhi photo with currency garland

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Lucknow, March 25: Hitting out at the Congress party for its tirade against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s mammoth currency note garland, a senior Bahujan Samaj Party minister Thursday displayed a photograph of Congress president Sonia Gandhi also wearing a currency note garland.

The display of Gandhi’s picture here was the highlight of the BSP’s state-wide protest in the party-ruled state against what they termed as “petty politicking by all opposition parties”.

SC to hear villagers’ petition on mining by Lafarge

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New Delhi, March 25: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a petition filed by villagers challenging allotment of forest land for mining to French cement manufacturing company Lafarge in Meghalaya.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal referred the petiion filed by Shella Action Committee formed by the tribals of Shella village to the forest bench which would hear the case tomorrow.

Bangaloreans fill stadium full, but RCB fail them

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Bangalore, March 25: Thursday was not a holiday in Karnataka but cricket crazy Bangaloreans filled the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium to near capacity, expecting local Royal Challengers to win their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) match in a row.

They cheered almost non-stop to pep up the home side against Delhi Daredevils and maintain their winning momentum.

All their boisterous shouting of ‘RCB, RCB’ went in vain as the home team batsmen returned to the pavilion in quick succession and finally could only manage 166 for nine wickets, falling 15 runs short of the Delhi Daredevils’ total.

Daredevils deny getting showcause notice from BCCI

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New Delhi, March 25: Delhi Daredevils Thursday denied getting a showcause notice from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for allowing captain Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra to travel to Colombo to treat their injuries without informing the board.

“We haven’t received any show cause notice from the BCCI. We will react only when we are showcaused by the board,” said Amrit Mathur, chief operating officer of Daredevils.

Both Gambhir and Nehra went to Colombo for ayurvedic treatment. The players were special guests of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Five killed as car falls into gorge

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Shimla, March 25: Five people, including a couple, were killed in a road accident in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district Thursday evening, police said.

The accident occurred when an Alto car, with six people on board, fell into a gorge near Nerva town, about 120 km from here, at around 5.30 p.m, Superintendent of Police R.M. Sharma told .

They were on the way to Nerva from Chopal in upper Shimla.

The dead have been identified as Sushma Sood and her husband Ramesh Sood, Madhusudan Sharma, Bal Mukand and car driver Rajesh.

Big B joins ‘save the tiger’ campaign

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New Delhi, March 25: Concerned over the dwindling number of tigers in India, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan Thursday joined a campaign to save the big cat, which he described as “symbolic” of the country’s wildlife wealth.

The awareness and tiger conservation initiative is a joint venture of cellphone service provider Aircel and national news channel NDTV.

CPI-M discusses Third Front against Congress

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New Delhi, March 25: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo met here Thursday and discussed the possibility of bringing together the scattered socialists to form a Third Front to take on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

The meeting, which was earlier scheduled for two days, ended Thursday as the legislative assembly sessions are on in party-ruled states of Kerala and West Bengal, CPI-M sources said.

Indian scriptures bar pre-marital sex: former CJ

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Bangalore, March 25: Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and BJP MP Rama Jois today said Indian scriptures bar premarital sex and Indian society still consider pre-marital sexual relationship not good.

Jois, also a former Governor, in a statement said “the oral observations made by one of the judges of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in the context of male and female having sexual intercourse prior to marraige and question posed by the learned judge Who says it is bad? has given rise to counter question: who says it is good”.

Osama issues fresh threats to US

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Dubai, March 25: Osama bin Laden today warned that al-Qaeda will kill American soldiers if the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is executed.

“The day America will take such decision [to execute Khalid Mohamed and any others] it would have taken a decision to execute whoever we capture,” Bin Laden said in the latest audio record, broadcast on Al-Jazeera.

He also said that US president Barack Obama was “following the footsteps of his predecessor”, a reference to George Bush, the former US president.

I never want to be anonymous: Shah Rukh Khan

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New Delhi, March 25: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan loves his celebrity status and admits he would never want to live without it even for a few moments.

“I don’t want to be anonymous… I’m very honest about that. I love being recognised, I love people liking me, I love the fact that people scream when I go out, I think I’ll miss all that when it’s taken away, and I don’t even think about it,” said Shah Rukh in an interview to CNN’s Talk Asia.

Maharashtra ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi removed

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Mumbai, March 25: The Maharashtra government Thursday transferred Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief K.P. Raghuvanshi as the new state additional director general of police (law and order), an official said.

Raghuvanshi’s post as ATS chief will be taken over by Mumbai Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria at the ATS headquarters.

Similarly, Maria’s post as the head of Crime Branch will be taken over by Himanshu Roy, who is at present the joint commissioner of police (law and order), the official said.

No politics in selling Gujarat tourism: Big B

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Mumbai, March 25: There is no politics involved in his being the brand ambassador for Gujarat, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has said, reacting sharply to the Left parties opposing his promoting Kerala because he was doing so for the BJP-ruled state.

“I would talk of the Somnath Temple, Gandhigram, the white sands of the Rann of Kutch, old civilisations of Harappa, the Gir lions and their extinction close by and try to entice as many visitors I could to this glorious land (of Gujarat),” Bachchan wrote in the latest blog entry.

Telecom VAS to touch Rs.200 billion by 2015

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Gandhinagar, March 25: Value Added Services (VAS) of the telecom sector are expected to touch Rs.200 billion by 2015 from the current Rs.650 million after the introduction of 3G services, an Airtel official said Thursday quoting industry estimates.

Shivan Bhargava, Airtel Gujarat circle chief, said: “VAS revenues contributed 10 percent of total revenues for any operator and this was expected to touch 20 percent in the near future led by growth of the youth segment and internet-based applications.”

Mulayam is insensitive, asserts BJP

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New Delhi, March 25: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday slammed an unapologetic Mulayam Singh Yadav for his controversial remarks about the women’s reservation bill, saying the Samajwadi Party chief was “insensitive”.

“(Mulayam Singh) Yadav has been unapologetic about his recent sexist remarks. Nonetheless, nothing better was expected of him,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said after the SP leader refused to apologise for his remarks against women who would get elected as law makers under a proposed quota.

Wipro unveils global delivery centre in Brazil

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Bangalore, March 25: Wipro unveiled a global delivery centre at Curitiba in Brazil to serve its global and near-shore clients, the Indian software major said Thursday.

Though Wipro’s global IT services business division has been operating in Brazil since 2006, the new centre will enable it to diversify its footprint globally.

“The Curitiba centre will serve as the regional headquarters for our offices located across the Latin American region at Sao Paulo in Brazil and Buenos Aires in Argentina,” the company said in a statement here.

US rushes envoy to ensure Qureshi not body-scanned in UK

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Washington, March 25: The extend to which the Obama Administration will go to humour Pakistan is highlighted by the fact that its envoy to UK drove four hours to Manchester to ensure that a zealous American airline security does not body-scan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi ahead of his arrival here.

When Qureshi’s commercial flight to the US stopped in Manchester this week, American Ambassador in London, Louis B Susman, drove four hours to be there for the hour-long layover.

World’s tallest tower to ‘go dark’ on March 27

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Dubai, March 25: Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure, will join tens of thousands of iconic buildings and landmarks from across the world for the Earth Hour on March 27.

To mark the occasion, the golden glow that cascades down the 828-metre tower will be turned off.

Other local landmarks such as Burj Al Arab, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Abu Dhabi Tower of Commerce and Hyatt Regency will also embrace darkness to express solidarity.

Schumacher steers clear of revealing title hopes

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Melbourne, March 25: Seven times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher refuses to divulge his personal goals on his return to the circuit after three years in retirement as he fears they could come back to bite him.

The German’s first race back yielded a sixth place finish at the season-opener in Bahrain, one behind fellow German and Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, a performance the 41-year-old said he was satisfied with on Thursday.

Drugs, illicit liquor seized, 15 arrested

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Srinagar, March 25: In their drive against drug peddlers and bootleggers, Jammu and Kashmir Police today arrested 15 persons and seized drugs and illicit liquor during separate raids in Anantnag district.

A dozen drug peddlers were rounded up and booked in a special campaign for the eradication of the menace of drug addiction in Anantnag town, 55 kms from here in South Kashmir, a police spokesman said.

Jet leases 3 Boeing planes to Thai Airways

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New Delhi, March 25: In a bid to rationalise its capacity and cut costs, the country’s largest airline by market share Jet Airways today said it will lease three of its wide-body Boeing planes to Thai Airways for three years with immediate effect.

The premier private airline signed a new dry lease agreement with the Thai national carrier for three Boeing 777 -300 extended range aircraft for three years with immediate effect, a spokesperson said.

Explosion in garbage dump in Sonebhadra

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Sonebhadra, March 25: An explosion took place in a garbage dump at Chopan railway station here this morning, police said.

According to police, the explosion took place as the garbage collected in the dump near the canteen at platform number one was set ablaze by the railways staff.

The explosion was so massive that a nearby wall collapsed under its impact, they said, adding nobody was injured in the incident.

Senior police and GRP officials rushed to the spot and carried out a thorough check. However, the cause of explosion could not be ascertained, police said.

–Agencies