NEW DELHI: Two days before the Lok Sabha election results get known, the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday stepped
up efforts to woo smaller parties expected to play a key role in government formation in a badly fractured parliament.
Setting aside the bitterness generated by weeks of election campaign, the Congress reached out to estranged partners Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) that fought elections as a three-member bloc in the crucial states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
And despite professing allegiance to its ally the DMK in Tamil Nadu, another politically crucial state, the Congress made its first public move to appease AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa whose alliance is widely expected to win a majority of the region's 40 Lok Sabha seats.
And even as the Congress asserted it was confident of forming a new government with Manmohan Singh as the prime minister, it hinted for the first time that it was willing to do business with new "like-minded, progressive and secular parties".
At the other end of the fractious political spectrum, the BJP dismissed Wednesday's exit polls that put the Congress slightly ahead of it and said it was supremely confident of emerging as the single largest party in the 545-member Lok Sabha on the way to taking power after a five-year gap.
"After the 16th, (BJP leader L K) Advani will become the prime minister of India," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media, referring to Saturday when the millions of votes polled during the April-May Lok Sabha battle will be counted.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi spoke on similar lines: "The Congress will emerge as the single largest party. We are confident we will form the government."
Parties go into huddle, Cong approaches miffed allies
New Delhi:Congress President Sonia Gandhi met NCP leader Sharad Pawar and spoke to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, as the scramble for coalition building among the three main political formations for government formation intensified on Thursday.
With less then two days to go for the vote count, the Left spearheading the Third Front was working out strategies to keep the constituents together amid reports that the combine will tactically let a Congress-led minority government run as a strategy to keep the BJP out of power at all costs.
The BJP top brass held two meetings during the day under the leadership of its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani for some "stock-taking" and to chalk out a strategy for wooing prospective allies to form the next government.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is likely to be deputed by the BJP to rope in AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa into the NDA fold, was also present at this strategy meeting.
Congress is also reportedly wooing the former Tamil Nadu chief minister who had said she had got "feelers from many places" for her support. The ruling party said its alliance is fully intact and was working with all likeminded parties.
The Congress and the Samajwadi party also tried to bury the hatchet with the mood being to put all acrimony during campaigning behind.
After speaking to Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Amar Singh whose Samajwadi party is a key member of the "Fourth Front" that also included Lalu's RJD and LJP"s Paswan, said it will decide on his group supporting the Congress only after the results are out.
UP govt withdraws NSA against Varun
LUCKNOW: Complying with the Supreme Court directive, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday revoked National Security Act against BJP leader Varun Gandhi for allegedly delivering hate speeches in Pilibhit.
"Following the Supreme Court order, the state government has revoked NSA against Varun Gandhi", a senior government official said in Lucknow.
Varun was arrested under NSA on March 29.
NSA was invoked on Gandhi by District Magistrate Pilibhit, the official said adding the state government had moved the Supreme Court challeging the decision of the advisory board of the Allahabad high court which recommended withdrawal of NSA against him.
About other cases pending against Gandhi, home department officials said the investigation in these cases were on and law would take its own course.
"The state governemnt will not spare anyone involved in criminal activities", they said.
Obama, UN ask LTTE to surrender
Washington, May 14: President Barack Obama and the United Nations Security Council have called on the Sri Lankan government to stop "indiscriminate shelling" of Tamil civilians and Tamil Tiger rebels to lay down their arms.
"Indiscriminate shelling" of Tamil civilians that has taken hundreds of innocent lives, must stop, Obama said in Washington Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also must stop using civilians as human shields, he said.
"Without urgent action, this humanitarian crisis could turn into a catastrophe," he said noting "Tens of thousands of innocent civilians are trapped between the warring government forces and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka with no means of escape."
"So I urge the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms and let civilians go. Their forced recruitment of civilians and their use of civilians as human shields is deplorable."
Obama said "the government should live up to its commitment to not use heavy weapons in the conflict zone," and should grant UN and Red Cross aid workers access to suffering civilians.
"The United States stands ready to work with the international community to support the people of Sri Lanka in this time of suffering. I don't believe that we can delay," he said.
"Going forward, Sri Lanka must seek a peace that is secure and lasting and grounded in respect for all of its citizens," he said.
"More civilian casualties and inadequate care for those caught in resettlement camps will only make it more difficult to achieve the peace that the people of Sri Lanka deserve."
In New York, The Security Council also called on the LTTE to lay down its arms and let civilians leave and said Sri Lanka should adhere to its commitment not to use heavy weapons in areas where civilians are sheltering.
Security Council members "express deep concern at the reports of continued use of heavy weapons in areas with high concentrations of civilians," the UN said in a statement.
It called on the government to take steps to evacuate civilians and allow international aid into the region.
The council condemned the LTTE for "its acts of terrorism over many years and its use of civilians as human shields". It also acknowledged the Sri Lankan government's legitimate right to combat terrorism.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters "a lasting solution to this problem, this problem which has gone on for many years and has caused such tragedy, is full participation of all of Sri Lanka 's peoples in the political process, including ethnic minorities like the Tamil."
Witnesses identify weapons in court in 26/11 case
Mumbai, May 14: Two witnesses in the November 26 terror attack case on Thursday identified weapons used by slain terrorist Abu Ismael and captured gunman Mohammed Amir Ajmal Kasab, while prosecution said assailants carried fake Identity cards of an Indian college to conceal they were from Pakistan.
Two AK-47 rifles, two pistols and a hand grenade belonging to the duo and a fake I-card of Ismael were produced in the court before the two witnesses, who identified them saying these were recovered from a Skoda car in their presence.
As weapons were displayed, Kasab sat expressionless along with co-accused Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed.
Two AK-47 rifles, two pistols and a fake I-card with Ismael's photo issued by Arunodaya degree and PG College, Hyderabad, was found from a Skoda car, one of the witnesses, Shashikant Pawar, told special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
It is the case of the prosecution that the duo had forcibly taken Skoda car from its owner at gunpoint and drove towards Girgaum Chowpatty to commit further crime. Kasab was using the AK-47 rifle he brought from Pakistan, while Ismael snatched one from police officer Ashok Kamthe after killing him.
One AK-47 rifle was recovered from underneath the driver's seat (indicating it was carried by Ismael as he was driving the car) and the other from Kasab. Also, one pistol was seized from Kasab while the other from the road on right side of the car where Ismael was sitting.
Another witness, a police officer, identified a grey coloured jacket belonging to slain terrorist Ismael in which a hand grenade was found. The bomb was taken to Chowpatty sands and diffused later, he said.
"This is the same jacket which was found in the Skoda car," police sub-inspector Rajendra Godse of Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad told Prosecutor Nikam.
Another witness, a doctor, told Judge M L Tahaliyani that he had examined police officer, Sanjay Govilkar, who was injured in the shoot-out with terrorists at Girgaum Chowpatty.
It is the case of prosecution that Govilkar was shot at by Kasab at the same spot.
The witness, Dr Sirish Bhagwat, told prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that Govilkar has sustained a wound in the waist and it could be due to a bullet passing through.
However, he told Kasab's lawyer Abbas Kazmi during cross-examination that such wound could be sustained due to some other reason also and not necessarily by a bullet. He denied that Govilkar did not sustain the injury and refuted a suggestion that he was falsely deposing at the instance of police.
In another development, the court allowed the plea of prosecutor Nikam to recall sub-inspector Bhaskar Kadam, the first witness in this case. The purpose to re-examine him was to throw light on the fake Identity-card recovered from terror assailants, Nikam said.
Indian Business News
Wipro unit bags $34 mn deal
NEW DELHI: Software exporter Wipro said its unit Infocrossing has bagged a 34-million-dollar four-year contract from US-based manufacturer and marketer of petroleum and petrochemical products Sunoco.
The contract is the extension of 13-year relationship Sunoco have with Infocrossing. Infocrossing has provided managed infrastructure outsourcing services to Sunoco since 1996, the company said in a release.
Peter Whatnell, CIO at Sunoco said, "It (contract) is aligned with our IT roadmap and is consistent with the intent of our IT outsourcing strategy to continue working jointly with Infocrossing to manage our mainframe, UNIX and Windows environments as well as take advantage of their shared infrastructure services such as their storage arrays."
Infocrossing provides comprehensive IT management solutions for large and mid-size enterprises.
BT plans to cut 15,000 more jobs
LONDON: British telecoms carrier BT cut its dividend and announced 15,000 further job losses on Thursday after a 1.58 billion pound ($2.4 billion) writedown tipped it into a quarterly loss and its pension costs almost doubled.
The writedown is to be taken at its Global Services unit, which supplies the IT needs of multinational companies and which the company had for years striven to make its growth engine.
The group also said it would almost double its pension contributions to 525 million pounds ($794.1 million) a year.
BT, which has twice previously in the past year warned about profits at the Global Services unit, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and contract and financial review charges were 1.35 billion pounds, down 14 per cent.
Profit before tax on an adjusted basis was down 40 per cent and on a reported basis showed a 1.28 billion pound loss. To help meet its increased pension obligations, BT cut its final dividend to 1.1 pence to give a full year dividend of 6.5 pence, which was down 59 per cent on last year.
The pension contributions will almost double from the previous 280 million pound annual payment to 525 million pounds a year for the next three financial years.
BT has been engaged in a three-yearly pension review to establish the size of its deficit and what it should contribute to the scheme on an annual basis, based on its asset values and liabilities.
The last review in 2006 put BT's deficit at 3.4 billion pounds and set annual contributions on a 10-year recovery plan at 280 million pounds. BT said on Thursday the contributions would rise to 525 million pounds but did not reveal the new deficit from the three-year review. A leading pensions expert said that BT's pension deficit now stood at 11 billion pounds.
Blackberry wins domain dispute against Indian firm
New Delhi:Research In Motion, the maker of popular Blackberry smart phones, has clinched victory in an internet domain name dispute against an Indian firm at the World Intellectual Property Right Organisation (WIPO).
The Canadian phone maker had challenged the registration of three domain names -- blackbberry.com, blckberry.com, and bllackberry.com -- by the MumbaiDomains, a Mumbai-based firm, at the WIPO, stating they were similar to its trademark Blackberry, and could be confused with it.
"Save for the addition/deletion of a single letter, the disputed domain names are visually and phonetically identical to the famous blackberry trademark, which also supports a finding of confusion," RIM had contended before the WIPO.
The Geneva-based WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre has ordered the transfer of all three domain names used by Mumbai-based firm to Research In Motion (RIM).
All the three disputed domain names are registered with eNom by MumbaiDomains.
RIM had alleged that the "disputed domain names are nearly identical to the famous blackberry trademark", and further the contended names are being used to attract internet users to the websites by creating confusion.
RIM is the proprietor of over 1,500 trademark registrations and applications worldwide containing, or comprising, the word "blackberry" and is one of the leading designers and manufacturers of innovative wireless solutions.
The Blackberry smart phone is available on over 300 networks in more than 100 countries.
According to the information available with WIPO, RIM had filed the complaint against the Indian firm on March 10 this year, although the domain names were registered in 2004 on two dates – May 6 and August 28.
IPL News|Cricket News
Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by 2 wickets
NEW DELHI: Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by 2 wickets to win the 44th match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.
Bangalore achieved the victory target of 130 runs with just 2 balls to spare to clinch a thrilling victory and climb to the fourth position in the points table.
Ross Taylor top scored for Bangalore hitting a six and 2 fours in his 50-ball 46 and was adjudged the Man of the Match. Virat Kohli hit 2 sixes and 4 fours in his 38-run knock that came off 35 balls.
Bangalore need 5 runs to win from the last over but Taylor got out on the very first ball, leaving Bangalore to get 5 runs in 5 balls.
Praveen Kumar took a single on the second ball, R Vinay Kumar took 2 on the third ball and hit the fourth delivery of the over for four to register a thrilling victory.
Earlier, Bangalore Royal Challengers were 57/3 in 10 overs.
Bangalore got off to a poor start when Jacques Kallis was adjudged leg before wicket off Albie Morkel by umpire Daryl Harper even though Kallis was on the front foot and the impact was outside off-stump.
Rahul Dravid hit 2 fours in his 7-ball 8 before hitting a Sudeep Tyagi delivery to backward point for Subramaniam Badrinath to take the catch.
Morkel got his second wicket soon after when he trapped Robin Uthappa (6) plumb in front of the wicket to reduce Bangalore to 30/3.
Holding fort for Bangalore are Ross Taylor (26) and Virat Kohli (14) with an unbeaten 27-run partnership.
Earlier, Bangalore Royal Challengers bowled out Chennai Super Kings for 129 runs in 19.4 overs.
Jacques Kallis, captain Anil Kumble and R Vinay Kumar took 2 wickets each as the Chennai middle and lower order squandered off the advantage given by Matthew Hayden's 60-run knock that came off 38 balls and was studded with 3 sixes and 5 fours.
The only partnership of substance for Chennai was of 45 runs that came between Hayden and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the third wicket.
That partnership was broken when Dhoni (18) hit straight and Roelof van der Merwe dived to his right across the pitch to take a fantastic catch off his own bowling.
Chennai Super Kings were 72/2 in 10 overs.
Batting first after winning the toss, Chennai got off to a poor start with Jacques Kallis striking in his first over having Murali Vijay (5) caught at fine leg by Robin Uthappa in the fourth over of the match.
Suresh Raina hit 3 fours in his 10-ball 13 before Kallis exposed his weakness against deliveries bowled at his rib cage. Raina edged a similar delivery to short mid-wicket where der Merwe dived forward to take the catch.
Chennai are unchanged from the last match while Bangalore have recalled Praveen Kumar and Roelof van der Merwe replacing KP Appanna and Jesse Ryder.
Shane Warne wins toss, Rajasthan elect to bat
Its a crunch game between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals as both teams are tied on points, and the winner goes to No.3 on the table and closer to a semifinal berth.
Shane Warne, even though suffering from a hamstring injury has come out to play. He also won the toss and Rajasthan elects to bat.
India to play four ODIs in West Indies
New Delhi, May 14, 2009:The Indian cricket team will take on the West Indies in a four-match one-day series in the Caribbean between June 26 to July 5.
The team will travel to the West Indies after completion of the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in England from June 5 to 21, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a release.
The first two one-dayers will be played at Sabina Park, Kingston on June 26 and 28 and the last two at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on July 3 and 5.
The trip is part of the International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme.
The itinerary:
June 26 (Friday): 1st ODI at Sabina Park, Kingston.
June 28 (Sunday): 2nd ODI at Sabina Park, Kingston.
July 3 (Friday): 3rd ODI at Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia.
July 5 (Sunday): 4th ODI at Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia.
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