COLOMBO: The Tamil Tiger rebels will never surrender, the head of the separatists' peace secretariat said on Tuesday, despite their being
outgunned in an apparent final offensive by the Sri Lankan military.
Seevaratnam Puleedevan, secretary-general of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) peace secretariat, urged the international community to intervene by forcing a permanent ceasefire, which Sri Lanka has ruled out.
The military says around 50,000 people have fled the Tiger-held area so far since Monday, and had given the LTTE until noon Tuesday, a deadline already passed, to surrender or be destroyed. "LTTE will never surrender and we will fight and we have the confidence that we will win with the help of the Tamil people," Puleedevan said over phone.
He said he was near the border of the no-fire zone in Sri Lanka's northeastern coast. The LTTE is surrounded there by around 50,000 troops expected to soon deal a final blow to the Tigers, who have waged war since 1983 to create a separate state for Sri Lankan Tamils. LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran was inside the no-fire zone, Puleedevan said.
"He is with us and he is directing the war against the Sri Lankan armed forces and providing a lot of support and assistance to the people," Puleedevan said. The LTTE founder created its culture of committing suicide by taking cyanide in case of capture, and of pioneering suicide bombing as a weapon of war. The latter has landed the LTTE on U.S., EU, Indian and Canadian terrorist lists. Puleedevan accused the military of using Tamil civilians as human shields, an accusation the United Nations, a host of western countries and people who have escaped LTTE-held areas have made against the rebels. "The time is running out for the international community to intervene, because you know that a bloodbath is going to happen," he said.
Military spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara categorically rejected the accusation. "We have never used civilians as human shields. We were on the other side and the LTTE was shooting and killing people and using them as human shields. We went in and rescued them. How can anyone say we were using civilians as human shields?" he said. Puleedevan also accused the government of killing 1,000 people and wounding 2,000 on Monday via shelling.
The government has denied that and accuses the Tigers of creating a humanitarian crisis to build international pressure for a ceasefire to try and rearm, as they have done in the past. The United Nations and witnesses who have escaped Tiger areas have repeatedly said the LTTE was shooting people who try to flee and forcing others including children as young as 15 to fight.
"People are giving full support to us and they are fighting with us, because the LTTE is fighting for them," Puleedevan said. "That's why they are voluntarily joining and fighting with us. We are not taking any children with us in our armed forces."
Sri Lanka's air force on Monday released video taken from an unmanned drone showing what it said were people streaming out of the no-fire zone and congregating by the thousands at an army reception centre just outside of it. Another one said showed what the air force said were Tiger gunmen shooting toward hundreds of people corralled tightly together at the edge of the surf. Muzzle flashes could be seen.
Oracle Wants To Be The Apple Of The Enterprise, But It Just Became IBM
April 20, 2009:Larry Ellison has always wanted to be the Steve Jobs of the enterprise. With this morning’s announcement that Oracle will buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion, he took a big step towards making Oracle more of a soup-to-nuts provider of enterprise technology. With Sun, he will now be able to build and package together everything from chips and servers to operating systems, Java middleware, databases, and enterprise applications.
Here is the money quote from Ellison on the deal:
Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system - applications to disk - where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up
Like Apple, Oracle wants to take away complexity for its customers and bundle the entire IT stack neatly together so that it works without hassles and is optimized for Oracle’s software. With this deal, Ellison has come full circle from his early-1990s mantra of “best-of-breed” systems, which he abandoned long ago. Rather than look like Apple with its dedication to making the perfect product, Oracle just became IBM. It will use Sun’s existing server market share to push Oracle databases and software, and bundle it all with IT services. Sure, it will continue to support Dell and HP and even rival enterprise software, but the sales pitch will be around the bundled product. If that turns out to be a superior product at a lower price, then both Oracle and customers will win out. But to the extent that it takes away choice from IT buyers, it could be an even tougher sell than convincing them to give up their beloved Blackberries for an iPhone.
How different really is Oracle buying Sun than if IBM had bought it, other than the price? Sun’s powerful servers are a way to sell expensive software—always have been, always will be. A big motivation for the deal was to acquire Sun’s Solaris operating system and Java. As hardware margins keep getting squeezed, that software component becomes more and more important. At least with Oracle, Sun will stay in the Silicon Valley family, so to speak.
But what may be the most valuable part of the deal from Oracle’s perspective, although Ellison hardly mentioned it, is MySQL. Oracle now owns the open-source database Sun acquired last year for $1 billion. As MySQL grows in popularity, it keeps disrupting Oracle’s high-end database business from below. Now Oracle can at least try to disrupt itself, or kill MYSQL (which would be a bone-headed move).
What makes more sense is a two-pronged approach: On the high-end, sell highly optimized Sun servers running Solaris, Oracle databases, and Oracle enterprise apps. On the low-end, sell MySQL on Dell and HP servers running Linux.
Another unanswered question is what will happen to Sun’s cloud computing efforts, given Ellison’s disdain for the term.
Layoffs at Satyam last option: TechM
HYDERABAD: The new owner of Satyam Computer, Tech Mahindra, has said it has adequate working capital to meet the expenses of the company it is a
cquiring, and laying off Satyam's employees will the last option only.
"We have the requisite capital to meet the expenses including salaries. The cash flow will be maintained," Tech Mahindra Director and President of the IT sector, (Mahindra Group) Ulhas Yargop said.
Tech Mahindra Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Vineet Nayyar said after taking over Satyam, it will go into the entire gamut of the company and may decide upon retrenchment of employees, which would be the last option.
“At this stage, I can't tell it. But to make the company viable we may take some decisions and this will be last option," Nayyar said.
However, he said they would look for more and more customers. Reacting to a query on the status-quo of liabilities of the Raju family, if any, Nayyar said "As far as we are concerned we are not aware of what that liability is.”
"The forensic and investigative authorities are looking into the inflow and outflow of cash. We don't know anything. As and when that happens the law will deal with it," he said.
Answering to another query over job offers made to freshers to be hired by Satyam, Nayyar said "The fact is that it is the first time I am hearing about it. We will certainly look into that once the whole process is over. It's too early to say anything on this."
Once nominees of Tech Mahindra are appointed to the Board upon the closing of the initial allotment of shares to Tech Mahindra, they will focus
at strengthening corporate governance in the company apart from meeting customers and Satyamites at major locations, worldwide, Nayyar said.
"We would like to reassure stakeholders that priority focus is being given to retaining critical customer-facing resources, so that the customer experience continues undisturbed.
"This is also a new beginning for Satyam and TechMahindra. Both companies will now have access to enhanced talent and scale to compete in the global market," Nayyar said.
Tech Mahindra's investment in Satyam marks an expansion of the firm's interests in other vertical markets, including financial services, manufacturing and healthcare, among others, he said.
Earlier, government appointed Satyam-Board Chairman Kiran Karnik said the Board has given to Tech Mahindra, a list of 100 key employees to be retained.
Chairman of Tech Mahindra, Anand Mahindra said he along with his colleagues toured Satyam's Hyderabad campus and addressed associates globally through a live telecast and also interacted with leaders, adding "It was a unique opportunity and it has provided great amount of relief and enthusiasm."
TCS profits up 4.6 pc, says will focus on cost-cutting
Beijing: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT outsourcing firm, said on Tuesday that price competition will force it to focus on cost reductions in coming years.
Even though competition is intensifying as customers seek cost reductions, Tata's earnings in fiscal 2010 should be higher than the year earlier, Chief Executive S Ramadorai said after Tata announced profits that fell short of expectations.
"I would like to see a 10 per cent year-on-year improvement" in cost reduction, he said. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd posted a 4.6 per cent rise in quarterly profit, but it expects prices to fall by lower single digits in the coming year.
"Profits will continue to rise, but at a slow pace," he said. "That is what we hope. "The challenges are definitely cost rationalisation and offshore leveraging," Ramadorai added.
Despite the pressure on prices, he said the company would try to avoid being drawn into a price war with competitors. "Growth has come down dramatically from what we were used to ... So automatically, the focus of the organisation has been on looking at our internal efficiencies," Ramadorai said.
Prices of IT outsourcing services will shrink five per cent to 20 per cent through 2010 due to the uncertain economic climate, IT budget constraints and competition between vendors, research company Gartner predicted last month.
TCS's headcount has more than doubled over the past three years to about 144,500, but in fiscal 2010 – which began on April 1 – the company expects to add only about 16,000-17,000 new net hires, about half the number in the previous year.
The pressure on Tata is heavy because 43 per cent of its business comes from the global financial industry, which has taken the brunt of the economic crisis.
India's $60-billion sector, which provides services from software coding to managing computer networks and call centres, faces weak demand, cut-rate prices and rising competition from global rivals such as IBM.
Loans could become cheaper
In a move that could bring further relief to the home, auto and corporate borrowers, the Reserve Bank today cut short-term lending (repo) and borrowing (reverse repo) rates by 25 basis points. In its annual credit policy for 2009-10, the RBI reduced the repo rate to 4.75 per cent and reverse repo to 3.25 per cent with immediate effect, while retaining other key rates like the cash reserve ratio, the percentage of deposits that banks keep with the central bank.
In view of the ongoing global economic slowdown, the central bank has pegged the economic growth rate forecast for the current fiscal to 6 per cent, against 6.5-6.7 per cent estimated for 2008-09.
"Any upturn in growth momentum is unlikely in view of the projected contraction in global demand during 2009, particularly decline in trade," RBI Governor D Subbarao said in the policy, adding private investment demand was expected to remain subdued.
"The policy instance of the RBI indicates further softening of interest rates," Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) Executive Director S C Sinha said.
The good news, however, is on inflation, which is projected to remain at around 3 per cent in the medium term and 4 per cent by the end of March 2010.
IPL News
Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 11 runs
NEW DELHI: Kolkata Knight Riders were declared winners by 11 runs according to the Duckworth Lewis method in the sixth match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League against Kings XI Punjab at Kingsmead in Durban on Tuesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders were declared winners after a futile wait of 45 minutes for the rain to stop.
Blog: Golden oldies - 11 stars aged over 35
Kolkata Knight Riders were 79/1 in 9.2 overs in pursuit of 159 when rain stopped play.
West Indian captain Chris Gayle gave Kolkata Knight Riders a blazing start scoring 44 off 26 balls with the help of 4 huge sixes and 2 fours. With him at the crease is Brad Hodge (10).
Man of the Match Gayle put the Kings XI Punjab attack to the sword hitting Irfan Pathan for 2 fours and a six off successive deliveries and was dropped on 2 by Karan Goel at square leg in the second over and on 32 by wicket keeper Kumar Sangakkara in the seventh over.
McCullum brought up the 50 for Kolkata Knight Riders in the 6th over by Vikramjeet Malik with a four over the covers. Next ball he gave himself room and hit a flat six over point. McCullum tried to cut the next delivery, but edged to keeper Kumar Sangakkara to take the catch. The Kolkata Knight Riders captain hit 2 sixes and a four in his 21-run knock that came off 16 balls.
Earlier, Kings XI Punjab scored 158/6 in 20overs. Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene hit a six and 3 fours in his unbeaten 31-run knock that came off 19 balls.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly took the bowling honours for Kolkata Knight Riders with figures of 2/24.
The Kings XI Punjab total was built on the 56-run partnership for the fourth wicket between captain Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara, who came together at the crease after Ganguly took 2 wickets in one over.
The partnership broke when Sangakkara was run out after scoring 26 runs off 24 balls with the help of 2 fours.
Yuvraj mistimed a pull from outside off-stump to deep mid-wicket for Yashpal Singh to take the catch. The Kings XI Punjab captain hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his 38-run knock that came off 28 balls.
Sourav Ganguly took two wickets in his first over to halt the Kings XI Punjab run charge who were 67/3 in 10 overs.
Ishant Sharma dismissed Karan Goel for a duck in the third over by having him caught at first slip. Goel went for a big hit but the ball bounced a bit more, took an edge and was flying over the slips but the tall Chris Gayle, just raised his hands to take the catch.
Irfan Pathan raced to 32 off 16 deliveries with the help of and a six and 5 fours till Ganguly was introduced in the attack. Taking full advantage of the overcast conditions and the bouncy pitch, Ganguly took 2 wickets in 4 deliveries to peg back the Kings XI Punjab.
Ganguly took his first wicket when Pathan slog swept to deep square leg where Murali Kartik jumped in the air just in front of the rope to take a good catch.
Two deliveries later, Ravi Bopara (15) looked to cut but edgeed for keeper and captain Brendon McCullum to take the catch to reduce the Kings XI Punjab to 48/3 in 6.4 overs.
Kings XI Punjab were batting after Kolkata Knight Riders McCullum won the toss and elected to bowl first.
While Kings XI Punjab are unchanged from the last match, Kolkata Knight Riders have replaced Ajit Agarkar with Yashpal Singh.
Photo Gallery Of IPL matches:
Muthiah Murlitharan is congratulated by team-mates after taking the wicket of Robin Uthappa of Royal Challengers Bangalore during the IPL Twenty20 match
Kevin Pietersen of Royal Challengers Banglalore walks back after being dismissed by Muthiah Murlitharan during the IPL Twenty20 match at St George's Park.
Delhi Daredevil skipper Virender Sehwag hits the ball during the game against Punjab Kings XI at the IPL match in Cape Town.
Herschelle Gibbs of Deccan Chargers shakes hands with Sourav Ganguly of Kolkata Knight Riders after the IPL match at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.
Delhi Daredevil skipper Virender Sehwag hits the ball during the game against Punjab Kings XI at the IPL match in Cape Town.
Bangalore Royal Challengers' Anil Kumble reacts after taking a wicket during Indian Premier League match against Rajasthan Royals in Cape Town.
No comments:
Post a Comment