NEW DELHI: At least four persons were killed--three of them in West Bengal and one in Rajasthan--as stray violence, police firing and booth-capturing attempts marred the fourth phase of polling in Lok Sabha elections which saw a turnout of 57 per cent of nearly 95 million voters.
A member of a political party was reportedly shot dead in Nandigram in West Bengal but there was no official confirmation of this, deputy election commissioner R Balakrishnan told reporters here.
A CPM worker was killed in a bomb attack by unidentified persons in Jangipur, where Congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee is in fray and a voter was killed and eight persons, including three policemen, were injured in Asansol Lok Sabha constituency in Burdwan district when armed men opened fire.
One person--stated to be a CPM worker--was killed in an attack allegedly by Trinamool Congress at Amta of Howrah district after the polling. Amta CPM MLA Prattyush Mukherjee claimed the deceased was his party activist.
One person was killed when paramilitary personnel opened fire to prevent a mob from capturing a booth at Olwara village in Rajasthan's Sawaimadhopur district.
Despite the violence, West Bengal, where 17 constituencies went to poll in the fourth phase, drew the highest voter turnout--75 per cent--followed by Punjab (65 per cent), Haryana (63 per cent), Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (50 per cent each).
To a question on CPM demand for a repoll in some polling stations in West Bengal, Balakrishnan said decision would be taken after examining reports submitted by the returning officers and observers.
Delhi, where seven seats are up for grab, saw a turnout of 50 per cent, outdoing Mumbai where the turnout was a little over 40 per cent.
Among the early voters were President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Union minister Kapil Sibal.
BJP president Rajnath Singh (Ghaziabad), SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri), RJD supremo Lalu Prasad (Pataliputra), RLD chief Ajit Singh and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar) besides Pranab Mukherjee are the big names contesting in this phase.
Polling for Srinagar constituency, where Abdullah is in fray, evoked a voters response of 24 per cent despite a boycott call by separatists, as against 11.93 per cent turnout in 1999 elections.
Balakrishnan said the poll process was totally peaceful in Uttar Pradesh barring an incident of forcible voting in a polling station in Agra parliamentary constituency.
The commission has sought a report from the state CEO and a decision on repoll will be taken later, Balakrishnan said.
Referring to the polling in three parliamentary seats in Bihar, he said two additional observers had been despatched to Patliputra constituency, where Lalu Prasad is contesting, and no complaint was received from the state.
Balakrishnan said reports of poll boycott in 22 polling stations--18 in Nalanda and four in Patna-- were received.
In Rajasthan, polling was vitiated in ten polling stations, another deputy election commissioner J P Prakash said. Most complaints pertained to forcible voting, he said.
Four incidents were reported from Tonk, two from Dausa and one each from Pali, Karauli-Dholpur, Jhalawar and Bharatpur, he said.
In Punjab, polling was by and large incident-free except for a couple of cases of EVM damage.
Polling was peaceful in Haryana barring some incidents of poll boycott by villagers on issues of water for irrigation and delimitation, he said.
In Faridabad, polling has to be stopped for about 40 minutes after some miscreants tried to enter a polling booth forcibly at 4:00pm., Shukla said.
9 soldiers killed, Pak vows 'decisive' win over Taliban
ISLAMABAD: Nine Pakistani soldiers were killed, seven in one ambush, during clashes over the past 24 hours in the northwest district of Swat, the top military spokesman said on Thursday.
"In 24 hours, we lost nine soldiers and about 10 of them (were) injured," Major General Athar Abbas said.
Seven of the soldiers were killed when militants ambushed a convoy at the entrance to Mingora, the main town in the northwest Pakistan district.
"The troop carrier was coming and there were seven soldiers killed in that. Two soldiers were killed somewhere in the valley north of Matta," Abbas said.
Pakistani attack helicopters and war planes pounded suspected Taliban hideouts Thursday, as thousands of people fled the deadliest fighting to erupt in Swat since a peace agreement was reached in February.
Army chief vows 'decisive' victory over militants
Pakistan's army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani vowed on Thursday to secure a decisive victory over Taliban militants.
"It (the army) will employ requisite resources to ensure a decisive ascendancy over the militants," a military statement quoted Kayani as telling senior officers.
Kayani, who chaired a meeting with top commanders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, said the army was "fully aware of the gravity of internal threat."
The present security situation "requires that all elements of national power should work in close harmony to fight the menace of terrorism and extremism," the statement quoted Kayani as saying.
"Pakistan is a sovereign state and the people of Pakistan under a democratic dispensation, supported by the army, are capable of handling the present crisis in their own national interest," he said.
"With resolute conviction and faith, Pakistan's army with the help of people of Pakistan will successfully confront current and future challenges," added the statement, which was released in English.
Pakistani helicopters and war planes pounded suspected Taliban hideouts Thursday in the northwest district of Swat, where thousands more people were fleeing their homes fearing a stepped up military offensive.
Countdown for 'counting' begins as parties look around for support
Ghaziabad (UP):
With just under 10 days left for election results, post-poll posturing gained momentum on Thursday with Samajwadi party setting conditions for their support while attempts were made to clear the air on Congress' ties with DMK and Trinamool.
Rival alliances--UPA and NDA-- also voiced optimism in winning new allies to shore up their numbers.
Though the general refrain was that all post-poll arithmetic can wait until May 16 when the votes will be counted, major players conjured possible scenarios with the Lok Sabha elections projected to throw up a hung House.
The Samajwadi Party said it may be "forced" to have a post-poll alliance with Congress but indicated that it would not be without conditions as the party wanted the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh to be dismissed.
"We will support whoever dismisses the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh," SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said. The Congress quickly rejected the demand.
Yadav's colleague Amar Singh said, "Since we cannot go with the Third Front as Mayawati is already there, for the sake of secularism, we may be forced to look at Congress."
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit hinted at post-poll tie-ups for Congress with parties like JD(U) and AIADMK while BJP president Rajnath Singh said his party is engaged in talks with several parties about post-poll alliances.
Following Rahul Gandhi's overtures to AIADMK which ruffled the DMK, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was rushed to Chennai where he said Congress's ties with Karunanidhi's party was "firm and enduring" and strong enough to win resoundingly. Tamil Nadu goes to polls in the final phase on May 13.
Qasab's lawyer wants to visit 26/11 targets
Mumbai terror attack accused Mohammed Amir Ajmal Qasab's lawyer has sought permission from the trial court to inspect the marine vessel 'Kuber', allegedly used by terrorists to reach the city's shores, and various places where they had struck on November 26 last year.
Abbas Kazmi moved the application last evening, saying the inspection of these places was necessary to prepare for Qasab's defence and study the material in the chargesheet filed before the court.
The lawyer said he may be allowed to inspect "Kuber" and terror target spots, including hotels Taj and Trident Oberoi, before witnesses step into the box to depose.
Kazmi said he wanted to inspect the boat as the prosecution has alleged that Qasab and nine other terrorists had reached the shores of Mumbai on November 26 last on board this vessel.
The police had seized certain articles from the boat and sent them to forensic laboratory for tests. These include Qasab's fingerprints. Qasab is also charged with killing the navigator of this boat, Amarsinh Solanki.
The court will decide Kazmi's plea after hearing the special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. The court hinted that it may also allow other defence lawyers to visit these places along with Kasab's lawyer.
In another development, Nikam tabled a list of documents including forensic reports and panchnamas which form part of the chargesheet.
Indian Business News:
Jet Airways launches low-cost service Jet Konnect
New Delhi: Leading private carrier Jet Airways will launch a new economy service, 'Jet Airways Konnect', from Friday on select sectors, the airline announced on Thursday.
The company said in a regulatory statement that Jet Konnect would offer almost all services of the parent carrier and would help the airline cater to the needs of the consumers opting for low-fare services.
"The only difference will be that Jet Konnect travellers will have to buy their meals on-board," the company said. Both Jet Airways and its low-cost carrier JetLite now offer food to their travellers on-board.
The ground and in-flight services of Jet Konnect will be handled by the airline employees, the statement said.
Initially, it will operate with two 737 and six ATR aircraft in sectors like Chennai-Coimbatore, Chennai-Madurai, Chennai-Kochi, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Bhopal, Mumbai-Udaipur, Bangalore-Pune and Bangalore-Mangalore.
"Consumer demands are changing rapidly in a dynamic global environment. We believe Jet Airways Konnect service will give us the flexibility and speed to deploy capacity to meet these changing trends," Jet Airways chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan said.
The company late last month had slashed salaries of its senior employees as part of its cost-cutting measures to cope with the slowdown.
Jet Airways' market share in the first quarter of 2009 stood at 25.3 per cent, while Kingfisher Airlines was ahead of it with 27.2 per cent.
GM posts $10 billion Q1 loss
DETROIT: General Motors Corp. posted a $6 billion first-quarter loss and said Thursday it burned through $10.2 billion of cash in the first three months of the year as revenue plummeted by $20 billion.
Chief financial officer Ray Young said talk of the company going into bankruptcy reorganization protection appeared to have scared some consumers away from buying GM vehicles. GM faces a June 1 government deadline to finish a restructuring plan or go into bankruptcy protection.
GM's loss for the quarter amounted to $9.78 per share, compared with a loss of $3.3 billion, or $5.80 per share in the year-ago period.
Revenue dropped sharply — 47% — from $42.4 billion to $22.4 billion in the quarter because of declining sales worldwide, mainly in North America and Europe, the company said.
Although the company cut structural costs by $3 billion, Young said that wasn't enough to offset plunging revenue.
``We cannot cut costs fast enough to offset that revenue loss,'' he said. ``People are concerned about bankruptcy, and that's the reason why we want to avoid it if at all possible.''
Young said a US government guarantee of GM and Chrysler warranties was not revealed by the Obama administration until March 30, so during most of the quarter, consumers were afraid that GM would not be around to honour its warranties.
He said people should be reassured by the warranty guarantee, but it might take time to get the word out.
``I think it takes time for the news to get out to consumers,'' he said.
GM's cash burn for the quarter was offset by $9.4 billion in US government loans GM received in the first quarter. GM got another $2 billion in April and received $4 billion in December, bringing total government loans to $15.4 billion.
As bad as the results look, analysts were expecting worse. Excluding special items, GM's fourth-quarter adjusted loss was $5.9 billion, or $9.66 per share, beating Wall Street's expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a quarterly loss of $11.05 per share on revenue of $20.2 billion.
The company reported an operating loss of $3.2 billion from its North American operations alone.
GM faces an almost impossible list of restructuring tasks to complete before the June 1 deadline. It must get new cost-cutting agreement with its unions, complete a debt-for-stock swap with 90 percent of its bondholders, close factories and cut jobs to prove to the government it can repay the loans.
The largest U.S.-based automaker also is trying to cut 2,600 dealerships and is in the process of selling or phasing out the Saturn, Saab and Hummer brands. GM has already decided to get rid of Pontiac.
GM shares were up 10 cents to $1.76 in pre-market activity.
Nooyi leads Indian contingent in 'US' best CEO' list
New York:Praising them for "being forthright and transparent with shareholders", a magazine has named three India-origin chief executives-- Indra Nooyi, Francisco D'Souza and Ramani Ayer among the best CEOs in the US.
Soft drinks maker Pepsico's Nooyi, IT services major Cognizant Technology Solutions' D'Souza and insurance entity Hartford Financial Services' Ramani Ayer have made the cut in the list of '2009 America's Best CEOs' compiled by US-based Institutional Investor magazine.
More than 900 buy-side investment professionals at over 460 institutions with combined assets of USD 6.6 trillion in US equities, were surveyed to prepare the list. The list has identified the best CEOs in 57 industry sectors.
According to the publication, these top-ranked CEOs score high marks for "being forthright and transparent with shareholders and smart with their companies' balance sheets.
"They also earn high praise for keeping their companies on course..."
In the "beverages" segment, Nooyi has cornered the first rank and is followed by arch rival Coca-Cola's Muhtar Kent at the second position.
D'Souza is placed at the third spot in the "Computer Services & IT Consulting" segment. In that area, Accenture's William Green is on the top position while Automatic Data Processing's (ADP) Gary Butler is ranked second.
Meanwhile, Ayer, who features at the third position in the ranking of CEOs in the "Insurance/Life" sector, is ahead of Lincoln National Corp's Dennis Glass (4) and John Strangfeld Jr (5) of Prudential Financial.
In that league, Aflac's Daniel Amos is at the top followed by C Robert Henrikson of MetLife. Other prominent names in the list include Google's Eric Schmidt, Microsoft chief Steven Ballmer, Lawrence Ellison of Oracle Corp, News Corp's Keith (Rupert) Murdoch and General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt.
IPL News:
Royals thrash 'Royal Challengers' by 7 wickets
NEW DELHI: Defending champions Rajasthan Royals beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets to win the 33rd match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.
Opener Naman Ojha slammed a 38-ball 52 that was studded with 3 sixes and 3 fours as Rajasthan achieved the victory target of 106 runs with 5 overs to spare.
Amit Singh was adjudged the Man of the Match for taking 4 wickets as the victory enabled Rajasthan Royals to climb to the top of the points table.
Yusuf Pathan hit 2 fours in his 19-ball 22 before he was caught at deep square leg by Wasim Jaffer off Dillon du Preez.
Rajasthan Royals were 62/2 in 10 overs.
Graeme Smith hit 4 fours in his 22-ball 20 before he clean bowled by Jacques Kallis, while Lee Carseldine was run out in a bizarre mix-up.
Carseldine hit a Anil Kumble delivery to mid-off and went for a single, Naman Ojha said no, Kohli threw the ball back to Mark Boucher to remove the bails and Ojha was adjudged out as Carseldine crossed him.
But the replays showed that Ojha had put his bat in the crease before Carseldine crossed him, so Ojha was called back and Carseldine was sent to the pavillion.
Earlier, Amit Singh took 4 wickets and Ravindra Jadeja took 3 as Bangalore Royal Challengers were bundled out for 105 runs in 20 overs.
Amit returned with figures of 4/19, while Jadeja registered his best bowling figures of 3/15 as none of the Bangalore batsmen could manage to score even 20 runs.
Bangalore were in trouble at 49/4 in 10 overs after Shane Warne won the toss and invited Bangalore to bat on a pitch that had moisture and steep bounce and none of the Bangalore batsmen looked comfortable as Rajasthan bowlers utilised the conditions to the hilt.
Wasim Jaffer (8), who was dropped by Amith Singh in the second over, failed to build on the dropped chance as he hit to mid-off for Lee Carseldine to take the catch off Amit.
Munaf Patel then struck in his first over when Jacques Kallis (10) looked to pull but top edged to fine leg where Niraj Patel took a fumbling catch.
Lee Carseldine too struck in his first over when Rahul Dravid (0) gloved down the leg side and wicket keeper Naman Ojha dived to his left to take the catch.
Ravindra Jadeja struck with his first delivery by trapping Robin Uthappa plumb in front of the wicket. Uthappa hit 3 fours in his 20-ball 17.
Jadeja struck again in his second over, the first after the strategic timeout, when Mark Boucher (6) made room to cut but edged the straighter delivery onto his stumps.
Jadeja registered his best bowling figures in his last over when Virat Kohli (15) cut to short third man for Morne Morkel to take a diving catch.
Amit struck in his second spell when Roelof van der Merwe (15) looked to pull but missed the slow off-cutter and was clean bowled.
Praveen Kumar (7) was run out and Amit took the last 2 wickets to end the Bangalore innings at 105.
Bangalore have not made any change to their playing XI which beat Mumbai Indians. For Rajasthan, Morne Morkel has come in for Shane Harwood and Munaf Patel has replaced Siddharth Trivedi.
Aussies set to join IPL after national duty
Five top Australian players are set to spice up the Indian Premier League in South Africa after finishing their national duty with controversial all-rounder Andrew Symonds expected to play his first match for Deccan Chargers on Saturday.
Cricket Australia has given the green signal to the players for the IPL second season and Symonds is expected to play against Kings XI Punjab at Kimberley on Saturday.
Symonds' four team-mates, Brett Lee and James Hopes (Kings XI Punjab), Nathan Bracken (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and David Hussey (Kolkata Knight Riders) are also flying down to South Africa after Australia's Twenty20 match against Pakistan in Dubai on Friday.
Australian team physiotherapist, Alex Kountouris, said he was not aware of any players carrying injuries that would prevent them from playing the final fortnight of the IPL.
"At this stage, I understand they're all okay. I don't know of anyone of IPL contracted players who is not planning to go," Kountouris was quoted as saying by a website.
Symonds' agent Matt Fearon said the all-rounder, bought for USD 1.35 million, is itching to play in South Africa.
"He has obviously missed a lot of cricket and he's keen to get out there and play as much as he can. He has loved being back around and performing with the Australian team, and he is looking forward to getting over to South Africa to join the boys at Deccan," Fearon said.
Symonds' powerful presence will add to the Deccan middle-order while the addition of Lee and Hopes should significantly boost Punjab's chances of qualifying for the semifinals.
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