Month: October 2012

Alleging that Congress has been following double standards on FDI policy, the BJP on Saturday said the party leading the UPA has no moral right to seek the support of the Opposition and the nation for its so-called reforms.

The Congress had opposed foreign investment in retail during the NDA regime and it was also against raising the FDI cap in insurance to 49 per cent. But now it is seeking support of the Opposition and the nation on these issues to suit its opportunistic politics, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that he is ready to face a defamation case if the corruption charges levied against Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, are proven false.

“I am ready to face defamation charges if the corruption charges against Robert Vadra are proven wrong. Why is the Congress silent on the merits of the case,” Kejriwal asked while speaking with reporters.

Days after his Republican rival Mitt Romney’s surprise debate win, Barack Obama had some good news as unemployment dipped below eight per cent to the lowest point of his first term in the White House, with a relieved President saying on Saturday that the US is “moving forward” again.

“Four years after the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, we’re seeing signs that, as a nation, we’re moving forward again. After losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office (in January 2009), our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two and a half years.

A group of American anti-war activists are in Pakistan to join a march into the country’s tribal belt to protest US drone strikes in the rugged Northwest Territory.

Their presence has energised organizers behind the protest but also added to concerns that Islamist militants will target the weekend event.

The two-day march, in reality a long convoy , is to be led by Imran Khan, the former cricket star-turned-politician who has become a top critic of the American drone strikes in Pakistan.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari asserted on Saturday that his party was neither anti-Muslim nor anti-dalit but had been victim of “false propaganda”, clearly carrying forward the campaign to reach out to sections which are seen as outside the party’s vote bank.

“It is our misfortune, image versus reality and ground reality versus perception. We are not communal, casteist or anti-Muslim or anti-dalit. We want welfare of everyone, of tribals, of dalits, of women, but due to false propaganda our image has been targeted,” Gadkari said.

Hundreds of supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Saturday set off on a motorcade “peace march” to the terrorists-riddled South Waziristan to protest US drone strikes in the tribal belt.

Khan and several key leaders of his Tehrik-e-Insaf party, including former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, set off in a motorcade of some 130 vehicles from the Islamabad Motorway this morning, apparently undeterred by government warnings of possible suicide attacks.

Pakistan is yet to implement a visa agreement it signed with India last month, though New Delhi has already begun enforcing the new policy, a senate penal heard.

The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was told Friday that the delay was caused by the interior ministry, which was yet to present it before the cabinet for ratification, the Dawn reported.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the delay was “procedural in nature”.

Unsatisfied with the explanation, committee chairman Haji Adeel censured the ministry for moving slowly on the matter.

World No. 2 Maria Sharapova took eight games in a row to cruise past home favourite Li Na 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals at the China Open tennis on Saturday.

Sharapova, who entered the final without dropping a set, demolished Li’s hope to become the first Chinese finalist here. The final drew some 15,000 crowd at the National Tennis Stadium, Xinhua reports.

The Russian second seed will bid for her first China Open title when she takes on Victoria Azarenka in Sunday’s final. The Belarusian top seed defeated Marion Bartoli of Germany 6-4, 6-2 in the another semifinal.

Thirty-seven Taliban militants have been killed in fighting with the security forces in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Saturday.

The deaths occurred during overnight joint operations by the Afghan police and army and NATO-led coalition forces.

The raids were conducted in Kabul, Faryab, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak and Helmand provinces, Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying.

IANS

A group of Sri Lankan Tamils based in Norway have demonstrated outside the Norwegian embassy here, claiming that the child welfare service in that country forcibly removed their children from the parental care.

T Anantharajah, one of those who demonstrated yesterday, told media here that his three children aged 12, 10 and 8 respectively had been forcibly taken away by the Norwegian authorities and placed under the care of foster families.

The Indian rupee continued to rule firm for the fifth week in a row, appreciating further by 100 paise to end at 5-1/2 month high of 51.85 against the Greenback during the shortened week under review on heavy dollar selling by exporters and some banks amid firm local equity markets.

Persistent capital inflows too boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

The Forex market was closed on October 2, 2012 on account of ‘Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti’.

Government on Saturday said it has decided to implement end-to-end computerisation of food supply in cooperation with states as part of efforts to fine-tune the Public Distribution System in the country.

“To modernise the Public Distribution System, we have decided to have end-to-end modernisation. That is from the godowns of FCI to state ration shops, every movement will be computerised”, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distribution, K V Thomas told reporters.

The benchmark Sensex continued its upward march for the fifth consecutive week, advancing by another 176 points to close the truncated week at 18,938.46 after crossing the 19,000 level on persistent buying from foreign funds on the back of a slew of economic reforms.

The BSE and NSE were closed for trading on October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

Troubled Kingfisher Airlines would have to submit a detailed plan to aviation regulator DGCA before they are allowed to resume flights, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Saturday.

Asked whether the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was likely to move ahead with suspending or cancelling the crisis-ridden carrier’s flying license, he said it was for the regulator to decide after it studies their reply to the show-cause notice issued to them.

A global conference that will deliberate on achieving targets for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for the next ten years begins here from October 8.

The 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to agree on the next steps in support of implementation of Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 will go on till October 19.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari asserted on Saturday that his party was neither anti-Muslim nor anti-dalit but had been victim of “false propaganda”, clearly carrying forward the campaign to reach out to sections which are seen as outside the party’s vote bank.

“It is our misfortune, image versus reality and ground reality versus perception. We are not communal, casteist or anti-Muslim or anti-dalit. We want welfare of everyone, of tribals, of dalits, of women, but due to false propaganda our image has been targeted,” Gadkari said.

Proud mom Sharmila Tagore is leaving no stone unturned to make her son’s wedding an affair worth remembering. As Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s D-day approaches and arrangements for the royal wedding get final touches, Sharmila’s busy preparing the list of elite guests who would be attending the function that is to be held at the Pataudi Palace on Oct 16.

Gold continued it downward spiral for the fourth straight day in the bullion market here today by losing Rs 40 to Rs 31,480 per 10 grams on poor demand due to ‘Shradhs’ and a weak global trend.

Silver held steady at Rs 61,000 per kg on restricted buying from industrial units and coin makers.

Traders said poor demand due to ongoing ‘Shradh’, which is considered as an inauspicious period to buy new things as per Hindu mythology, mainly kept pressure on gold prices.

She flaunts dimpled cheeks herself, but actress Deepika Padukone says superstar Shah Rukh Khan`s smile is the best she has ever seen.

“I think for me, Shah Rukh has the best smile because it`s not just about the smile. It`s also the energy that he sort of gives out with his smile and the dimples that he and I both share,” the 26-year-old said here Friday at the launch of National Oral Health Program by Orbit chewing gum.

The US and Pakistan have agreed to work together for improving their efforts to combat the threat posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the Af-Pak region.

During a meeting of the US and Pakistan Convene Law Enforcement and Counterterrorism Working Group yesterday, the two countries discussed means to disrupt illicit networks that supply the components and financing for IEDs in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Actress Vidya Balan, who played southern actress Silk in ‘The Dirty Picture’, says the movie`s director Milan Luthria should be given credit for sparking the trend of using southern flavour in the characters and songs of Bollywood.

“I did not start (the trend), Milan Luthria did. I am an actor and I work according to the demands of the story. It (`The Dirty Picture`) was the story of a southern actress,” the 33-year-old said here.

Vidya spoke on the sidelines at the launch of Munmun Ghosh`s novel ‘Unhooked’ here Friday.

A new study has found that free birth control leads to lower rates of abortions and teen births.

The findings come as a bitterly contested Obama administration policy is poised to offer similar coverage.

The project tracked more than 9,000 women in St Louis, many of them poor or uninsured. They were given their choice of a range of contraceptive methods at no cost from birth control pills to mistake-proof options like the IUD or a matchstick-sized implant.

Scientists have developed a new gene test that can detect pre-cancerous cells in patients with benign-looking mouth lesions with 90 per cent accuracy.

Researchers from the Queen Mary, University of London, have developed the quantitative Malignancy Index Diagnostic System (qMIDS) test based on a cancer gene `FOXM1` with a detection rate of 91-94 per cent.

The test was successfully used on more than 350 head and neck tissue specimens from 299 patients in the UK and Norway.

Researchers have discovered variant of an enzyme that can activate genes responsible for tumour progressions of colorectal cancer.

Researchers from the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) believe that a new line of drugs to inhibit enzyme IKK alpha specifically which is less toxic for the remaining body cells can improve treatment of colorectal cancer.

A convention on Urdu and minority issues will be held on October 6, 4 pm at Library Hall, Gandhi Bhawan. Mohammed Ismail-ur-Rab Ansari will preside over.

The government of India formed Sachar committee and Ranganathan Misra committee for the welfare and prosperity of minorities and both the committees submitted their reports to the government despite that government is evading implementation of the recommendations made by the committees.

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