Indonesia, August 08: Indonesian police stormed a house on Saturday where the regional militant leader suspected in last month’s attacks on hotels in the capital was believed hiding out with several followers, witnesses and police said.
The raid broke a 16-hour siege of the house in central Java province that had officers trading automatic weapons fire with the militants. At least five loud explosions have rocked the building since dawn.
New Delhi, August 08: Virender Sehwag, whose injured shoulder was operated on in England in June, might miss the tri-series in Sri Lanka since he has been advised rest till September 17.
The tri-series, also featuring New Zealand, starts from September 8. Sehwag had sustained the injury during Team Delhi’s semi-final match during the IPL in South Africa, following which he missed the Twenty20 World Cup and the series against West Indies.
New Delhi, August 08: SONY VAIO planned W series mini notebooks with colorful addition in the Indian market.
Sony mini notebook would have the same strength and performance that a usual Sony VAIO notebook offers.
This series is mainly designed to access email, instant messaging, Facebook, YouTube and more.
New Delhi, August 08: New Blackberry smartphone Curve 8520 is now available via T-mobile online service.
If we talk about the features of smartphone then Blackberry offers 2.64-inch 320×240 LCD display, QWERTY keyboard, standby time of 17 hours, 2 megapixel camera, it can synchronization with Microsoft Outlook, MP3 player with external controls that make easy for the users to go down with their headphones and drive music. The Blackberry comes with stereo Bluetooth wireless technology that allows users to connect their phone to PC.
Washington, August 08: The unemployment rate dipped slightly in the US in July as the rate of job losses reported slowed, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
July’s unemployment rate stood at 9.4 percent, representing 14.5 million people, down from 9.5 percent in June representing 14.7 million people.
The bureau noted that the average monthly job loss rate for May through July was 331,000, compared with the average of 645,000 for November through April.
Some analysts said this was the first sign that the ongoing recession might be coming to an end.
Albania, August 08: At least five people, including four policemen, were killed following an exchange of fire with a fugitive at the Albanian resort town of Durres Friday, officials said.
Dritan Dajti, 37, who has been on the run since 2003, was captured after the shootout. One civilian was killed in the incident, the police said.
Dajti opened fire when the police tried to arrest him.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing a businessman.
—Agencies
New Delhi, August 08: Indian manufacturing and service sector firms laid off a net 1.31 lakh employees during April-June period, mainly in textiles, gem and jewellery sectors as the exports continued to shrink, a labour ministry report said.
During the April-June, as many as 1.54 lakh employees lost jobs in textile sector followed by about 34,000 persons losing jobs in IT and BPO sectors.
However, there was slight increase in employment in leather, automobiles and handloom, powerloom sectors during the quarter, it said.
New Delhi, August 08: The government today announced that Bharti Airtel has approached the State Bank of India (SBI) for two different loans.
The Bharti Airtel has requested for two different loans of 1 billionD and Rs 5,000 crore which has not yet been confirmed.
Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena in written said; “Bharti Airtel has called up SBI for loans of 1 billionD and Rs 5,000 crore.”
On the other hand the Minister further told about the present status of the appealed loan by Bharti Airtel and clears that the loan has not been finalized by the bank.
Enjoy the fervor of Shab-E-Barat by cooking this lip smacking halwa at home.
Ingredients:
1 cup semolina (sooji)
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups water
2 tablespoons raisins
1/4 teaspoon cardamom seed
1/2 cup ghee
Procedure:
In a pan add water and sugar. Boil it till the water dries up into half. Turn off the heat & add the raisons (kish mish) in it. This would be yr sheera.
Vadodara, August 08: Gas leakage is reportedly continued from the well No. 33 of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) situated at village Raipura in Padra taluka as a blow out occurred in the ONGC Cambay rig while the drilling work over operations was underway.
According to the ONGC officials the gas is not harmful for human being. But the people living around the nearby areas of the well have been advised not to light any kind of inflammatory materials till everything is brought under control.
Chennai, August 08: A suspicious North Korean Ship, who illegally entered the Indian Territory, was detained by the Coast Guard on Thursday.
The Ship MV Musen was detained after it dropped anchor off Hut Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands without giving any signal.
According to the sources, the cost guard officials opened fire in the air and after not getting any response they seized the North Korean ship carrying 16,500 tonnes of sugar.
Mumbai, August 08: Bong beauty Rani Mukherjee who hasn’t had a release for quite sometime is now all set to come back with a new avtar.
Rani is clearly a Yash Raj films favourite for years and once again has been cast under their banner. And this time she is coming with a bang. Her soon to be released Yash Raj movie ‘Dil Bole Haddipa’ is already talk of the town because of the Sikh character she is portraying.
Patna, August 08: Hundreds of Buddhist monks in Bihar have been performing special prayers and rituals at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya to appease the rain god and end the ongoing dry spell in the state.
“We began special puja from Thursday at the Mahabodhi temple of Bodh Gaya to seek blessings of god for rains. Our puja will continue till Aug 12,” in-charge of Bodh Gaya centre of Mahabodhi Society of India P. Sivali Thera told IANS.
Bodh Gaya is considered the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment about 2,550 years ago at this place.
Toronto, August 08: Air Canada, the world’s ninth largest airline, Friday reported a second quarter profit of $155 million — 27 percent up from the same period last year.
During this period, the airline also reported foreign exchange gains of $355 million as against $48 million during the same period last year.
However, the struggling national carrier, which was on the verge of seeking second bankruptcy protection in six years, still posted an operating loss of $113 million as against a profit of $7 million during the same period last year.
Kedu, August 08: Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be leading Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, police sources said on Saturday.
Malaysian-born Top is a prime suspect in last month’s near simultaneous suicide attacks on Jakarta’s JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels which killed nine people and wounded 53.
Mumbai, August 08: It’s a bit late in the day, but Aamir Khan finally watched his nephew Imran Khan’s dud film, Luck.
Aamir had gone to see how Imran fared in the film but oddly, he ended up praising Sanjay Dutt more than Imran and Shruti Haasan.
It is very uncharacteristic of him to praise other actors so openly before other members of the industry.
“Aamir said Sanju was a rock star. And he even gave Sanju a call to tell him so. Naturally, he was pleasantly surprised,” reveals an industry source. May we say it’s truly delightful to see professional rivalry laid to rest.
Pune, August 08: With swine flu gradually spreading its tentacle across the country, as many as 53 new cases of swine flu were reported across Maharashtra on Friday. With the new cases, the tally of total number of people affected by the H1N1 virus in the state have reached 225, health authorities said here. Medical centres saw a steady flow of people getting themselves tested as a precautionary measure.
New Delhi, August 08: President Pratibha Patil will on Saturday inaugurate the Armed Forces Tribunal, providing a judicial forum to about 2.5 million armed forces personnel and ex-servicemen to redress their grievances, thus lessening the burden on various courts.
“The President will inaugurate the tribunal on Saturday. Aggrieved armed forces personnel will now be able to appeal against sentences handed down by the court-martial. The tribunal will also have powers to grant bail to any person in military custody,” a Defence Ministry official here said.
Washington, August 08: Amid signs of recession nearing an end with job losses tapering off and unemployment falling for the first time in more than a year, President Barack Obama took credit for rescuing the US economy from “catastrophe.”
“Today we’re pointed in the right direction,” he said shortly after the Labour Department Friday reported a net loss of 247,000 jobs in July, the fewest job losses since August 2008 with the unemployment rate surprisingly inching down to 9.4 percent.
Mumbai, August 08: Lalit Modi is back in India after four months and would be chairing the Indian Premier League Governing Council meeting in Mumbai on August 11.
“There are 28,000 items on the agenda of the meeting,” said Modi in a lighter vein when reporters buttonholed him at a function in which the book ‘Shadows Across The Playing Field’ was jointly unveiled by Sachin Tendulkar and Mukesh Ambani here last evening.
Muzaffarnagar, August 08: A Shariat court here has observed that a ‘talaq’ given under pressure cannot amount to actual divorce.
The court made this observation while hearing a 15-year-old divorce case in which the petitioner had claimed that his assent for ‘talaq’ from his wife was “forcibly” taken by his in-laws.
Shafiqullah, 45, a resident of Aligarh, had approached the Shariat court seeking reunion with his 42-year-old wife Farah, who had been living with his parents for last 15 years.
Nedw Delhi, August 08: What is it about Connaught Place, the sprawling entertainment and business hub in the heart of the capital, that makes Delhiites so nostalgic and draws thousands of people every day?
Keventers, the quaint pre-Independence milk bar, says Delhi-based artist Megha Joshi.
Colombo, August 08: Teenager Umar Akmal smashed an unbeaten 102 off 72 balls and skipper Younus Khan made 89 as Pakistan piled up 321-5 in the fourth one-dayer against Sri Lanka here on Friday.
Umar, 19, younger brother of the team’s wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, pounded four sixes and five boundaries in a maiden one-day century in only his third international.
Younus stayed rock-solid at the other end as Umar punished the wayward Sri Lankan attack during a fifth-wicket partnership of 176 runs after Pakistan slipped to 130-4.
Hyderabad, August 08: The city is all set to hold the prestigious World Badminton Championship as players from countries across the world have started pouring here.
Players from twelve countries have already reached the city for the mega event and another set of platers from twelve countries would reach the city tonight, Punnaiah Choudary, the Organising Secretary of WBC told PTI.
Top players like Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark, Lin Dan and Tine Rasmussen have already arrived and the visitors are happy with the arrangements and hospitality, he added.
Melbourne, August 08: After India, it’s now China that has raised concerns about the safety and security of its students in Australia following a vicious road rage attack on four students on the Gold Coast.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned its students in Australia to be “cautious about their security,” The Australian reported on Saturday.
In the third such warning, Beijing said the assault late last month on one of the young students was so severe he suffered a broken cheekbone, the report said.