Sena activists vandalise Mumbai theatres; 46 sainiks held
Mumbai: Shiv Sena activists held for demonstrations outside theatres in eastern suburbs against Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'My Name is Khan', prompting the police to arrest 46 troublemakers.
At Mulund area, the glasses of Mehul cinema were broken after one of the protesters pelted stones, police said adding that several gathered outside Huma Cinema at Kanjurmarg and R-City Mall at Ghatkopar area, shouting slogans against Khan and the movie, scheduled to be released on February 12.
"We have arrested 46 Shiv Sena activists protesting outside the theatres. More arrests are likely," Additional Police Commissioner (East) Ritesh Kumar said.
The protesters threatened the theatre owners to stop the advance bookings or face the severe consequences. The Sena activists were booked for unlawful assembly, rioting and further probe was on, police said.
The Sena had threatened to stall the screening of the film, protesting Khan's support for inclusion of Pakistani players in the upcoming IPL but party supremo Bal Thackeray later said that the film's release will not be disrupted.
Earlier today, Karan Johar, director and co-producer of film, met City Police Commissioner D Sivanandhan to discuss the security issues ahead of the movie's release.
Govt says no to Bt Brinjal for now
NEW DELHI: Facing intense opposition from within and outside, the government refused to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal,a genetically-modified version of the vegetable that is said to be more resistant to pests.
Announcing a cautious approach of the government, Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh said there was "no clear consensus" among the scientists and stake-holders on giving permission to Bt Brinjal and more studies needed to be conducted.
"There is no over-riding urgency to introduce it... When the public sentiments have been negative, it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary and principle-based approach," he told a hurriedly-called press conference which was originally scheduled for tomorrow.
"I will not impose a decision till such time independent scientific studies establish safety of the product from long-term view of human health," Ramesh said.
He said it was a difficult decision to take but he had to balance many issues of science and society and producer and consumer.
However, he made it clear that today's decision applied only to Bt Brinjal and does not cover future of genetically-modified crops, be it ladyfinger, cabbage or rice.
Ramesh's decision came after a series of public consultations in seven cities across the country that often turned acrimonious. A number of state governments, including Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, have publicly opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal.
Agni III doesn't pose threat, we share friendly relations with India: China
BEIJING: Describing its ties with India as "friendly and cooperative," China today said both countries did not pose mutual threat.
Dismissing reports that India's nuclear-capable Agni-III missile, which has a range of 3,500 km posed a threat to China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said China and India shared friendly and cooperative relations.
"I don't want to interpret or comment on the reports," Ma said when asked to comment on the February seven launch of Agni-III which put China's major cities within its strike range.
"The China-India relation is friendly and cooperative. China will not be a threat to India, and nor will India pose a threat to China," Ma was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu refused to comment on the reports at a regular news briefing, only saying that China-India relations maintain their good momentum.
"Bilateral ties will move forward with the joint effort of both countries," he said.
Chidambaram renews offer of talks with Naxals
Kolkata: After a meeting of four naxal-affected states, the Centre on Tuesday said it was ready to hold talks with the Maoists if they "halt" violence.
"My appeal to all the naxals on behalf of all the chief ministers who participated in the conference two days ago, on behalf of naxal affected states, if you abjure violence that is if you say a halt to violence, we are not asking you to do anything more, if you halt the violence we are prepared to talk to you on any matter," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
He was talking to reporters after a meeting of chief minister of Naxal-affected states which was not attended by chief ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand Nitish Kumar and Shibu Soren respectively.
Kumar told reporters in Patna that he could not be away from Patna for long and today is the scheduled day for the state cabinet to meet. Soren, who had cited illness for not attending the meeting, had deputed his two deputy chief ministers.
Against the backdrop of reports that Kumar kept away at the instance of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chidambaram sought to play down his absence.
He said Kumar had told him in Delhi on Sunday that he had some prior commitment and that he may not be able to attend the Kolkata meeting. "His senior officials are here.
Either I can go to Patna or he can go to Delhi (to discuss Maoist issues). That is not an issue," Chidambaram said.
On the naxal issue, the Home Minister said the "condition" is Maoist should "halt" violence. “Unfortunately, past appeals have been spurned. Therefore, we are obliged to continue the operations as long as naxals indulge in violence. These operations will continue and I am confident that further progress will be made in next six months”, Chidambaram said. “We made it very clear that the purpose of these operations is not to kill anyone. They are our own people. We care for them, we care for their lives”, he said.
The meeting, convened by the Union Home Minister, to help states to coordinate their campaign against Naxals, began an hour behind schedule as Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived late. The meeting was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
“Use of force alone will not solve the problem. We all agree on that. But in order to put an end to violence and re-establish civil administration, it is necessary to use force”, he said when asked about the Bihar Chief Minister's contention that the Maoist problem could not be solved by use of force. “The government must continue operations against Maoists in a careful, calibrated and controlled way if Maoists do not halt violence”, he said.
Race motive clear in some attacks, admits Oz FM
Under mounting pressure over attacks on Indians, Australia on Tuesday acknowledged that some of the recent violence against them had clearly been "racially motivated" and vowed to "punish the culprits with the full force of law".
Stating that the attacks had "considerably damaged" the nation's reputation, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the Parliament that "if any of these attacks have been racist in nature - and it seems clear that some of them have - they will be punished with the full force of law".
Smith said the attacks which have included robberies and beatings are "inexcusable" and were being taken very seriously by the government.
The foreign minister intervened on the matter after the government came in for a sharp attack from the opposition which accused the Victorian government of failing to tackle the racist attacks on Indians.
Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that he was worried over the narration by his Asian-origin son-in-law of racisms in Australia. Rudd said that his government's efforts were aimed at improving safety of foreign students who worked late at night.
Leaders and officials in Australian had earlier down played racism as a motive for attacks on Indians which have triggered outrage in India. Smith's remarks came just ahead of Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh's visit to New Delhi to brief the government on the steps taken by Australia to prevent attacks on Indians. Singh is excepted to be in New Delhi this week.
Describing the attacks as "contemptible", Smith said these had cast a long shadow over relationship and ties with India and said these were an "affront to our values and are anathema to a view of modern Australia."
Giving an update on the issue, the minister said, "we need to accept that it has considerably damaged Australia's reputation in India and among the Indian people. Indeed, it has widely been noticed beyond India and South Asia."
Offering condolences to the families of Indians attacked in Australia, Smith told the lawmakers that repairing the damage to the country's image was an "essential priority."
The foreign minister assured that India "was in the front rank" of nations in Australia's international partnership and was fast emerging as nation's third biggest export market behind China and Japan.
The two way trade between the two countries was nearly 22 billion Australian dollars last year, registering a quantum jump of 55 per cent. And a number of Indian companies were showing great interest in investing in Australia not only in mineral resources but agriculture and IT.
Addressing the Indian nationals in his country, Smith said, "we will continue to do our utmost to ensure that the children, Indian parents have entrusted to our care, remain safe and go back home with first class education." According to local estimates, there are 450,000 Indians living in Australia out of which 120,000 are students.
Referring to these figures, Smith said the government had "zero-tolerance" for racism and pointed out that 45 people had so far been arrested for crime against Indians.
He said it was regrettable that many Indian students in Australia, in particular Melbourne, found themselves in a higher risk profile for crime because they work in late night shifts in occupations like taxi driving and live near high crime neighbourhoods.
Business News
IT rally helps Sensex close above 16K
A rally in the IT and PSU counters aided the benchmark index Sensex record gains for the third consecutive day and close above the psychological 16,000-mark by adding 107 points on Tuesday, amid positive global cues following easing of the sovereign debt worries in the Eurozone region.
The 30-share BSE barometer touched a low of 15,862.90 at opening shedding 71 points, but gradually moved up and remained in the green for the rest of the day and hit a high of 16,087.83 before closing at 16,042.18, a rise of 105.57 points or 0.67 per cent over its previous close.
IT stocks were at the forefront on bargain hunting after the recent crash while PSU stocks too saw good buying support.
Marketmen said the IT rally was driven by the easing of sovereign debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal, which had sent the global markets into a tizzy last week.
The BSE IT index surged 2.52 per cent to 4,972.64 points and the rally was led by Infosys with a gain of 2.92 per cent or Rs 70.15 to Rs 2,470.90, Wipro by 2.49 per cent or Rs 15.85 to Rs 652.45 and TCS by Rs 10.40 to Rs 734.20. The domestic IT exporters get a third of their sales from Europe.
SMC Capital vice-president Rajesh Jain said, "the markets witnessed a counter-rally and short-covering to end in the green. Positive cues from Asia and Europe also helped."
However, realty counters suffered a sharp setback on profit-selling on fears of a hike in interest rate following rising inflation and a better-than-expected GDP growth, which would pressurise RBI to further tighten money supply.
Brokers attributed early weakness to a severe setback on the Wall Street overnight with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding by 104 points and closing below 10,000-mark.
However, firm Asian markets helped the recovery in the domestic bourses. All the key indices, barring the Nikkei, which ended flat, like Shanghai, Hang Seng, Strait, Kospi and Taiwan closed with gains.
European markets too resumed better today. The CAC was up by 0.28 per cent, the DAX by 0.48 per cent and FTST by 0.60 per cent.
Brokers said fresh selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks mainly led to fall in the stock prices in the first half. Also though Asia and Europe were in the green, the sentiment was not so strong, hence our markets too could not hold on to higher levels, they added.
The 50-issue Nifty of the NSE also rose by another 32.25 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 4,792.65 after touching the psychological 5800 market many times intraday. This is the third successive gain for both the indices.
With the buying activity picking up, barring realty which dipped by dipped by 40.34 points or 1.21 per cent and oil & gas sector which fell 0.23 per cent, all BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. And among the Sensex stocks, 19 ended higher, while 11 declined with moderate to deep losses.
From the BSE sectoral indices, the IT spurted by 122.01 points or 2.52 per cent, Tech rallied by 2.09 per cent, and the PSU by 153.59 points or 1.67 per cent.
China is now world's largest exporter
Berlin:China has zipped past Germany as the world's largest exporter after German exports slumped 18.4 per cent in 2009, the sharpest fall since 1950.
Germany's exports last year fell 18.4 per cent from the previous year to 803.2 billion euros, or USD 1,121.3 billion, allowing China with exports of USD 1,201.6 billion to replace the biggest European economy as the world's largest exporter for the first time.
Germany, which had remained the largest exporter since 2003, logged the heavy export drop due to the financial crisis in 2009, Kyodo news agency reported, quoting official trade figures released on Monday.
China has become the world's production base as major Japanese, U.S. and European companies have built manufacturing plants in the communist nation.
China also replaced the United States in domestic new vehicle sales in 2009 and is expected to become the world's second-largest economic power in terms of gross domestic product in place of Japan this year, the report said.
Sports News
India crash to innings defeat against Proteas
Nagpur:Sachin Tendulkar's defiant ton merely delayed the inevitable as India crashed to a humiliating innings and six runs defeat against South Africa in the first cricket Test in Nagpur on Tuesday.
The miracle that India needed to save the match did not happen and even though Tendulkar (100) starred in two brief partnerships and the tail wagged for a while too, it was not enough to avert what was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first Test defeat as captain that came with full one day to spare.
Following on, the home side that resumed on 66 for two this morning, folded for 319 in their second essay to allow South Africa to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Down the order, Wriddhiman Saha (36), Harbhajan Singh (39) and Zaheer Khan (33) showed the kind of grit that was missing in most of their frontline batting colleagues.
India will now have to win the next match in Kolkata, starting on Sunday, failing which they would surrender the number one Test team's tag to the South Africans.
The defeat also exposed the batting frailties of the home side which sorely missed veterans Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, both recovering from injuries, in the middle order.
Tendulkar's 46th Test century, his fourth against the South Africans and first at home against the Proteas, was the lone significant knock in the entire Indian innings.
Tendulkar added 72 runs with Vijay for the third wicket and another 70 with Dhoni for the fifth.
Tendulkar's 179-ball knock included 13 fours before he went for a sweep and missed the Paul Harris delivery which bounced on his thigh pad and hit the elbow guard before dislodging the bails.
But the joy was short-lived as Tendulkar could not add any more runs and fell to a Harris delivery.
Seventeen runs later, Harris was at it again as he scalped Dhoni, dealing a brutal blow to the Indian hopes. Dhoni got an inside edge that hit the pad before finding the silly point fielder.
With no real hopes of saving the match, Harbhajan batted with the recklessness and freedom. He hit Harris for back-to-back-fours and then cleared the long on ropes to score at a brisk rate before Parnell trapped him in front of the wicket to cut short his batting daredevilry.
Harbhajan's breezy, entertaining knock included six hits to the fence besides that six.
Wriddhiman Saha also tried to compensate for his first innings duck on debut with a gritty 101-ball knock but the writing was clear on the wall by then.
Zaheer took 57 balls for his 33, which included four boundaries and a couple of sixes.
Whatever ambitious hopes India had of saving the match died with this freaky dismissal and the rest was mere formalities for their opponents.
Down the order, Harbhajan Singh struck a run-a-ball 39 to frustrate the South Africans before Parnell sent him back. Saha and Zaheer also tried their best but it was too late and too little.
For South Africa, Dale Steyn returned a match-haul of 10 for 108.
Earlier, Tendulkar featured in a 72-run stand with Murali Vijay (32) and another 70 with Dhoni (25) to rekindle the Indian hopes.
Tendulkar and Vijay started the morning well with both looking determined to dig their heels.
Thirty runs were added to the score when Vijay, looking quite compact and sound in defence against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, fell to poor shot selection.
He could not resist the urge to sweep left-arm spinner Paul Harris and Morne Morkel took the resulting top edge at deep backward square leg.
S Badrinath (6) had raised hopes with his debut half-century in the first innings but he could not continue the good work and perished edging a Parnell delivery that nestled into Mark Boucher's safe hands.
Tendulkar, meanwhile, was lucky to see his glide off Parnell grassed by Jacques Kallis in the lone slip while the batsman was on 45.
Tendulkar subsequently was watchful but did not spare bad balls either. He and Dhoni rekindled India's hopes with a steady partnership and the sparse crowd at the VCA Stadium roared in appreciation after Tendulkar reached his 46th Test century.
Saha dropped, Sreesanth named in team for 2nd Test
Nagpur: Wriddhiman Saha got the axe while the trio of S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina were named in the 15-member Indian squad for the second cricket Test against South Africa starting on Sunday in Kolkata.
Veteran batsman VVS Laxman, who missed the first Test as he had not fully recovered from a finger injury, is certain to play, which is apparent from the fact that the selectors have withdrawn his cover Rohit Sharma from the squad. Pace duo of Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun, who were part of the 15-member squad for the first Test but could not make it to the playing XI, were also axed, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.
Saha’s selection for the first Test raised quite a few eyebrows and the Bengal stumper-batsman hardly helped his cause by scoring a three-ball duck in his Test debut here. In the second innings, Saha, however, showed grit and gumption and defied the formidable South African pacers to score a 101-ball 36 but the selectors were clearly unimpressed.
Instead, they called up Karthik, who has been in sizzling form in domestic cricket, hitting back-to-back centuries in the Duleep Trophy final. Sreesanth also made an expected comeback to the side and would be pushing for a place in the playing XI, especially with Ishant Sharma not looking at his best in the first Test.
