Melbourne, May 31: Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has termed the attacks on Indian students a "problem" and assured that the government would do everything to prevent further assaults.
"We have a particular current problem with Indian students," Smith told Network Ten.
"We're doing everything that we can, both with the Indian community in Australia and India itself ... but also working very closely with the relevant state authorities," he said.
Smith's comments came amid outrage and concern in India at the wave of allegedly racist attacks on Indian students, the Sydney Herald reported.
The issue has been discussed at the diplomatic level with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaking to his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd and urging him to take all possible steps to ensure the security of Indians in Australia.
The Australian government has assured India that a slew of steps, including increased patrolling and setting up of a hotline, have been taken to ensure the safety of over 80,000 Indian students in the country.
Smith said Australia was trying to bring the attackers to justice and ensure a safe environment for all international students.
"Australia generally has low crime and violence rates," he said.
Four attacks have taken place on Indian students. While a petrol bomb was thrown at an Indian student in Sydney last Sunday, three attacks took place in Melbourne.
One student, Sravan Kumar Theerthala, who was attacked in Melbourne last Sunday with a screwdriver, is battling for life at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Another student Baljinder Singh was stabbed outside a railway station. He is recuperating at home. A third student, Sourabh Sharma, was viciously assaulted in a train May 9.
Indian students take out rally in Australia against racial attacks
MELBOURNE: Shaken by a wave of racial assaults, thousands of Indian students chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' on Sunday rallied here demanding Indians protest justice for victims of recent attacks as Australia scrambled to contain the rising anger and frustration within the community.
The 'peace rally' organized by bodies like Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA) and National Union of Students kicked off from outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where 25-year-old Shravan Kumar is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit after being stabbed by a screwdriver by a group of teens on Sunday last.
The marchers numbering over 5,000 walked down to the Victorian Parliament House on Spring street, holding placards with slogans like 'We want Justice', 'We are the Economy Builders' and 'End Racist Attacks'. They also chanted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.
"We want justice for the victims of racist violence," demanded the students, who also displayed placards carrying messages like 'Save our Students' and 'Stop Racist Violence'.
Police were present in strength to maintain law and order as the rally led to traffic diversion at the Spring Street, which was completely blocked by the demonstrators who hoped to meet the Victorian Parliamentarians to put forward their demands.
Reacting to the students' rally, Indian Consul General in Melbourne, Anita Nayar, described it as freedom of expression.
"Australia is a democratic country and it (this rally) is freedom of expression," she said. However, she hoped that that event remained peaceful and did not turn ugly.
Television footage of Kumar fighting for life in the hospital sent shock waves among the 95,000-strong Indian student community in Australia, which is home to over 4 lakh international students.
FISA had said on Saturday that the rally was being organized in response to the growing anger in the Indian community against increasing hate crimes.
"The purpose is to create an awareness about an increasing number of hate crimes within the state (of Victoria) and to promote racial harmony and peace," FISA had said in a statement.
Another Indian student, Baljinder Singh, stabbed by two attackers recently, has been discharged from hospital while Rajesh Kumar, who suffered 30 per cent burns after a petrol bomb was hurled at him in his home, was being treated in a Sydney hospital.
Insisting that Australia is not a racist country, John McCarthy, its High Commissioner in New Delhi, said "we should cooperate to ensure that incidents of atrocities don't occur."
"We should ensure Indian students are well-informed about Australia which is generally a very safe country. We are proud of our record as a multi-cultural country," he said.
Meira Kumar meets Sonia Gandhi
New Delhi:Union Minister Meira Kumar met Congress President Sonia Gandhi here on Sunday amid indications from the party that she was the front-runner for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. The Minister for Water Resources, who is considered as Congress's Dalit face met Gandhi at 10 Janpath, a day after she emerged as the top contender for the post at a meeting of senior party leaders. The meeting included Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Kumar, 64, daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram, is an MP from Bihar's Sasaram constituency and would be the first woman to hold the office of Lok Sabha Speaker, if selected.
Details of what transpired in the meeting between Kumar and Sonia were yet to be known. Kumar, a five-time MP, came as a surprise choice as the name of veteran Congressman from Andhra Pradesh Kishore Chandra Deo was doing the rounds in the media for the last fortnight as the party's choice for the Speaker's post.
At the meeting on Saturday, the race appeared to have narrowed down to Kumar and former Union Minister Girija Vyas, sources said.
The post of Deputy Leader has been offered to BJP with the Prime Minister himself calling up senior BJP leader L K Advani to make the proposal, a convention that has been followed for a couple of decades.
Pakistan battles Taliban; Swat offensive 'to end in two-three days'
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani forces battled militants in South Waziristan on the Afghan border on Sunday as a government official said an offensive in the Swat valley could be over in two or three days.
Pakistani forces have undertaken their most concerted offensive against an expanding Taliban insurgency that has raised fears for the nuclear-armed US ally's stability and the safety of its nuclear arsenal.
The focus of the fighting has been the former tourist destination of Swat, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, which the Taliban virtually took as the government alternated between inconclusive military action and peace pacts.
But tension has also been rising in South Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold, with military officials saying an offensive was likely there after Swat is secured.
The United States and the Afghan government have long been pressing Pakistan to root militants out of South Waziristan and other enclaves on the Afghan border, from where the Taliban direct their Afghan war.
Militants attacked a paramilitary force camp in Jandola, 80 km (50 miles) east of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, late on Saturday, security officials said.
"Militants came in force and attacked a paramilitary camp and fighting lasted for eight hours. At least 40 militants were killed while four soldiers died," said an intelligence official in the region who declined to be identified.
A military spokesman said the militants had been pushed back after a heavy exchange of fire. Up to 15 militants and three soldiers were killed, he said.
There was no independent confirmation of the casualty estimates.
Militant violence in Pakistan has surged since mid-2007, with attacks on the security forces, as well as on government and Western targets.
There have been eight bomb attacks in various towns and cities since the offensive in Swat and neighbouring districts began in late April and the Taliban have threatened more.
EXODUS
The offensive in Swat has sparked an exodus of about 2.4 million people, according to government figures, and the country faces a long-term humanitarian crisis.
Bomb attacks in cities and the plight of the displaced could undermine public support for the offensive but for now, analysts say, the authorities are determined to defeat the Taliban in Swat.
The army said on Saturday it had regained full control of Mingora, the main town in Swat, and a top defence ministry official said on Sunday the military operation could be over in a two or three days.
"Only five to 10% of the job is remaining and hopefully within two to three days, the pockets of resistance will be cleared," Syed Athar Ali, secretary of defence for Pakistan, said at a regional defence meeting in Singapore. Military spokesman have been cautious about predicting how long the offensive would last, saying there was still resistance in the valley.
"It's very difficult to give a timeline," said chief military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas. "It's a very big area so nobody's in a position to give any timeline for the operation."
On Sunday, the military urged civilians to leave the town of Charbagh, about 15 km (10 miles) north of Mingora, and lifted a curfew there and in Mingora to allow people to get out.
Pakistan is vital for U.S. plans to defeat al-Qaida and cut support for the Afghan Taliban.
The United States, which is sending thousands of reinforcements into Afghanistan, has been heartened by the offensive in Swat.
Pictorial warnings on tobacco products from today
NEW DELHI: All tobacco products will have to carry compulsory pictorial warnings on their packs from today highlighting the health hazards of its consumption, a long- awaited step aimed at cutting down on the killer habit.
The government order in this regard has come despite stiff resistance from tobacco manufacturers.
The products will have to clearly display a "scorpion" and "lungs" as pictorial warnings. The picture should cover at least 40% of the principal display area of the pack.
The products cannot carry any message that directly or indirectly promotes a specific tobacco brand or tobacco usage in general, the health ministry had said earlier this month.
The government had in August last year asked the manufacturers of cigarette, bidi and gutka products to display a skull-and-bone sign and a warning saying "tobacco smoking kills" on the packets so as to sensitize the public against smoking and consuming these items.
However, it could not be implemented at that time. Then the government fixed December one as the deadline.
According to WHO estimates, 65% of men in India consume tobacco, with 22% chewing and 8% smoking as well as chewing. There has been an increase in the consumption of tobacco among women, with about 3% smoking 'bidis' or cigarettes and 22% chewing tobacco.
Indian Business news
Worst seems to be over for India Inc
New Delhi:India Inc has regained the much-needed business confidence with majority of 300 companies stating, in an industry survey, that they see better economic outlook in the next six months.
As many as 57 per cent of the companies measured on the quarterly Business Confidence Index (BCI) of FICCI, indicated that they expect the overall economic condition to be 'moderately to substantially' better in the next six months.
The FICCI survey of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008-09 is in sharp contrast with findings of the BCI of the previous quarter when only nine per cent firms had seen a bright outlook.
"The economy has bottomed out as was also indicated in the last survey and is clearly in the recovery mode," FICCI said.
The Gross Domestic Production (GDP) recorded in the last fiscal was 6.7 per cent, which was better-than-expected.
Improvement in business confidence comes amidst the new UPA Government working on a 100-day programme for putting the economy back on the fast track.
The BCI for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008-09 was up to 64.1 from 44 in the last quarter.
'Govt not to turn a blind eye to Satyam layoffs'
New Delhi:The Government on Sunday said it will not turn a "blind eye" to the issue of layoffs in scam-tainted Satyam Computer, which has now been acquired by Mahindra and Mahindra group firm Tech Mahindra.
"Layoffs -- this is something we are not going to turn a blind eye to as we have a relevant presence in decision making," New Minister for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed said.
He was responding to queries on the comments by Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar that there are 10,000 surplus people in the Hyderabad-based IT firm. Later there were reports that Satyam was planning to lay off about 8,000 non-billable (non-II) staff working in departments like marketing, HR and administration. Emphasising that his ministry will liaise with the company on this issue, Khursheed said, "We will not allow the company to be taken for a ride ... Our opinion and advice (are) important till Satyam reaches a Sundaram stage (till everything improves)."
Coining the strategy for the IT company as "Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram", the Minister said Satyam is passing through the Shivam stage, necessitating hard decisions. "At the Shivam stage, some hard steps ... will be taken for rebuilding the confidence...we will try to be as sensitive as possible. We would certainly coordinate on that (layoffs)," the Minister said.
When asked if the Satyam case was the tip of the iceberg and there could be more corporate frauds, Khursheed said, "I would call it a symptom of something wrong in the system. You need to treat the system, the root ... otherwise the symptom may reappear. If I call it a tip, it means I am saying there is an iceberg."
US-based LPO co to set up new unit in India; hire 1,450 people
NEW DELHI: US-based CPA Global, a Legal process outsourcing (LPO) firm, will set up its third centre in India and hire 1,450 people over the next two years.
"Like in the case of BPOs, there is a good level of expertise and costs advantage in India, which offers a good proposition to us...We are looking at setting up our third centre in India and also increase the headcount," CPA Global Country Head (India) Bhaskar Bhagchi said.
The third centre will be set up over the next three quarters and the shortlisted cities are Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, he added.
Bhagchi said that the company will hire 1,450 people in the next two years, taking the total headcount to nearly 2,000.
At present, it employs 550 people at its Noida and Gurgaon centres.
The company, which includes Microsoft in its client list, works in the area of document review, intellectual property (patent) management as well as contract management.
"According to industry tracking firm ValueNotes, the Indian LPO industry has grown from $146 million in 2006 to $225 million in 2007-08, and is expected to be worth $640 million by end 2010," Bagchi said.
Indian sports news|Sports News
Hiddink savours dream end to Chelsea reign
London:Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink admitted winning Saturday's FA Cup final against Everton was the perfect way to end his brief tenure at Stamford Bridge. Blues boss Hiddink will resume his role as Russia coach on a full-time basis in June and the Dutchman was granted a farewell to remember at Wembley thanks to Frank Lampard's second-half winner.
Chelsea's players presented Hiddink with an engraved watch and a signed shirt as a thank-you for his revitalizing four-month spell in charge, but the only gift both the manager and his players really wanted was the cup.
After Louis Saha's stunning goal just 25 seconds into the match, Chelsea showed the calmness that Hiddink demands of his players and equalised through Didier Drogba before Lampard hit the long-range strike that sealed a 2-1 win. Although he has enjoyed European Cup-winning success with PSV Eindhoven, as well as impressive World Cup campaigns with Australia and South Korea, Hiddink hailed the victory as one of his finest.
"It was one of the biggest achievements of my career, winning in the Mecca of world football, the FA Cup is something you cannot believe," Hiddink said. "We were very tough and the team has showed after a setback they react always, which is what I like.
"I loved it so much, I enjoyed it so much working with big stars but they knew what it's all about. They showed in the Premier League and Champions League and here, a lot of character," said Hiddink. When Hiddink replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari in February, Chelsea were a squad in danger of stagnating, but he led them to the Champions League semi-finals, third place in Premier League and now their first piece of silverware for two years. He admitted it had been quite an experience to work with so many talented and determined players. "We have worked so hard since February and I respect these guys very much," he added.
Djokovic dumped out, Federer battles his way into last 16
Paris:Roger Federer needed four sets to reach the last 16 at the French Open on Saturday, but in the biggest upset of the tournament to date fourth seed Novak Djokovic crashed out.
The Swiss second seed, who came through against home favourite Paul-Henri Mathieu 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, was not at his best but once again he managed to dig himself out of trouble when he needed to. Djokovic was totally out of sorts falling 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in a Court One shocker. The French started the day with five players in the bottom half of the draw and they ended it with just two, but in best friends Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga they have the players many here believe could end the long, painfull wait for another home winner of the Coupe des Mousquetaires. Monfils had too much firepower for Jurgen Melzer of Austria winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, while Tsonga blasted his way past Belgium's Christophe Rochus 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
Andy Roddick and German veteran Tommy Haas also made it through, both against French opponents, while top South American hope Juan Martin del Potro scored a comfortable 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win over Igor Andreev of Russia. Federer, who struggled at times in his second round tie against Jose Acasuso of Argentina, again looked below par against the dangerous Mathieu, who pushed Rafael Nadal to the limit here in 2006.
But after dropping the first set, Federer broke serve early in the second and used that as a platform to take control of the match. Mathieu faded badly in the middle of the contest but came battling back in the fourth set which Federer edged after breaking in the seventh game with a magnificent backhand passing shot from out wide. "It was tough conditions and hard to see the ball with the sun going down and that's why I think the rallies were short," he said.
Serena enters last 16, Dementieva crashes out
Paris:Ten-time Grand Slam title winner Serena Williams avoided the Roland Garros trap which claimed sister Venus to reach the French Open last 16 on Saturday. But Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up, was sent crashing out by Australian 30th seed Samantha Stosur.
Williams, the 2002 champion, survived a worrying health scare early in the third set against Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, when she appeared to struggle with her breathing, to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. Alexsandra Wozniak, the first Canadian woman to make the fourth round, now awaits the second seeded American who is attempting to win a second French Open and ensure all four Grand Slam titles are currently in the Williams family. Williams had struggled to impose herself on her 43rd ranked opponent and the Barcelona left-hander clinched the first set thanks to a crucial break in the fifth game.
But the world number two levelled before enduring her courtside drama just after she had broken to lead 2-1 in the decider.
The Spaniard hit back before Williams raced away to a 5-2 lead. She fluffed her lines when she served for the match in the eighth game, but wrapped up victory in the next. Stosur's 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win over Dementieva allowed her to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career, and the first time on the testing clay courts of the French capital. Stosur will now tackle France's Virginie Razzano, who put out Italian veteran Tathiana Garbin 7-5, 7-5, where a victory would make her the first Australian woman to make the quarter-finals here since Jelena Dokic in 2002.
Paes-Dlouhy reach French Open quarter-finals
Paris:Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy edged past the local pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3) 6-3 to enter the men's doubles quarterfinals at the French Open in Paris on Saturday.
It took the third seeded Indo-Czech pair more than an hour and a half to bury the challenge of their rivals, who fought valiantly.
With this win, Paes and Dlouhy improved on their last year's performance here as they had lost in the pre-quarterfinals.
Both the pairs played an engrossing first set, none conceding an inch.
The first break opportunity came for Paes and Dlouhy as late as in the ninth game but they failed to convert the chance.
In the tie breaker, Paes and Dlouhy raced away to a 5-2 lead and sealed the set comfortably. Unlike the first set, the Indo-Czech combine got numerous chances to break their rivals but squandered three breakpoints in the sixth game.
However they made amends in the eighth game and converted the second chance to go up 5-3 and served out the match in the next game.
They next face the winners of the match between Jaroslav Levinsky/Igor Zelenay and Bruno Soares/Kevin Ullyett.
Venus runs out of steam
Paris:A tortured and tormented Venus Williams whimpered out of the French Open on Friday. After labouring through her first match, surviving a match point in the second, American third seed Williams was finally put out of her misery in the third round when she was tossed out by rising Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-0 6-4.
Top seeds Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina made serene progress. Four-time champion Nadal barely broke into a sweat as he overcame potential banana skin Lleyton Hewitt in a 6-1 6-3 6-1 hammering to extend his Paris record to 31-0. The only drama came in the final point when Hewitt was unsure if Nadal had unleashed his seventh ace to win the match. The pockmark on the clay confirmed he had.
Russian Safina set up a last-16 date with France’s Aravane Rezai by thundering past teenage compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-0 and holder Ana Ivanovic pulled off an equally emphatic 6-0 6-2 drubbing of Czech Iveta Benesova.
Men’s fourth seed Novak Djokovic wasted little time in finishing off Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-4 6-1 in their interrupted second round match.
Williams barely raised a groan as she was hopelessly outclassed by 29th seed Szavay who never lost belief during the 81-minute encounter. In just 30 minutes, Williams saw the first set vanish before her eyes as she suffered her first love set drubbing since July 2007. On that occasion she rebounded to beat Nadia Petrova in the Fed Cup but there were to be no second chances on Friday.
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