New Delhi: An internal report of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is being discussed at the party's Chintan Baithak in Shimla, has reportedly blamed senior party leader L K Advani, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the party's chief election manager Arun Jaitely, besides other top leaders for the BJP's debacle in this year's general elections.
According to a report, there was a perceived lack of unity among the party leadership and the BJP squarely failed to advertise its agenda among the general public.
The report also says the projection of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate by certain members of the party and the personal attack on the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (which did not go down well with the people), were key factors in contributing to the BJP's electoral loss.
The other factors responsible were (1) The highlinghting of the Varun Gandhi issue, which pushed aside the other main issues; (2) The party failed to assess the public mood in Haryana and conceded a virtual walover to the Congress; (3) Elections were lost in Delhi even before campaigning began; (4) the BJP failed to corner the Congress on 26/11 and (5) Allowing the Congress and the media to corner the BJP on the Kandahar hijack issue. According to the channel, the internal report apparently targets issues and not individuals.
Swine flu claims nine more lives, nationwide toll up to 43
NEW DELHI/BANGALORE: Swine flu caused the first fatalities in Delhi where two persons died while seven more deaths were reported in Karnataka,Gujarat and Pune today as the nationwide toll due to the deadly virus mounted to 43.
Five persons died in Karnataka and one each in Pune and Gujarat. The day also saw a spurt in fresh positive cases — 159 — across the country taking the total to 2,401. Pune reported 66 cases and Mumbai 18.
Samrat Pandeya (31) died this morning at the government-run Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the capital, while Renu Gupta (38) succumbed to the virus last night there, hospital Medical Superintendent N K Chaturvedi said.
The H1N1 virus claimed its 16th victim in Pune and 21st in Maharashtra when a 27-year-old woman Dipti Pawar died at the state-run Sassoon hospital, officials said.
Karnataka accounted for the second highest number of deaths after Maharashtra as five more persons, four of them women, died in the southern state due to the disease.
Ratna Nagaraj (36) died at a private hospital today. Two women Krishnaveni (45) and Kalpana (36) died in hospitals on August 17 while N Prema (23) succumbed to the virus on August 16. The other victim 45-year-old Edward Mohan died in another hospital on Wednesdsay.
Besides the casualties in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the countrywide flu toll includes five deaths in Gujarat, two each in Delhi and Chhattisgarh and one each in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Uttarakhand.
Case filed in US against 26/11 attackers, Pak nationals questioned
Mumbai: A case pertaining to 26/11 terror attacks has been registered in USA in which some Pakistani nationals have been interrogated, a FBI agent said in his testimony before a special court here today, but refused to disclose the names of people quizzed during the probe.
The case has been registered in Los Angeles as six Americans had been killed in the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, the witness, whose name has been withheld, told special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
The witness said investigations were still on and some Pakistani nationals have been interrogated.
However, he refused to divulge the names of Pakistani nationals who have been interrogated.
Prosecutor Nikam said that investigations in the case filed by FBI in Los Angeles would cover conspiracy and role played by conspirators in the terror attacks.
Nikam said the case was registered in USA because six Americans were killed in the attacks. The US laws provide for initiating investigations in case of murder of American nationals outside the country, he added.
The lone surviving gunman from Pakistan, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, smiled all through out when the FBI officer deposed.
The prosecution has alleged that conspirators in Pakistan had opened accounts with Callphonex, a service provider in New Jersey, in fictitious name of Kharak Singh to make telephone calls to terrorists through Voice over Internet Provider (VoIP). Two instalments were paid by Mohammed Ashfaq and Javed Iqbal via e-mail id kharak_telco@yahoo.com.
The witness, who is investigating the case registered in USA pertaining to 26/11 attack, said FBI has carried out probe on how the money was transferred from people in Pakistan to Callphonex owner through Moneygram and Western Union.
We live in Michael Jackson’s world: SRK
MUMBAI: Now, Bollywood unites to pay a heartfelt tribute to the King of Pop in a video, which will be aired on Michael Jackson’s birthday on August 29. The initiative has been taken by Shah Rukh Khan himself.
Vishal Dadlani confirmed the story and said, “The song is titled, We lived in his world.”
Our source said, “Shah Rukh Khan is a huge fan of the late Michael Jackson and when the creative heads in Red Chilles pitched the idea, he loved it. He had cried when he learnt about MJ’s death. He was also supposed to attend one of the London concerts which never happened. So, the idea was finalised and they decided to make a music video as a tribute. The best talent for the song was Vishal of the Vishal-Shekhar duo. Vishal is a huge fan too and he was in shock for days when he learnt about MJ’s death.
He has written this passionate song and it has been composed by Vishal-Shekhar. They are also the performers in the video with singers Kay Kay, Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Goshal, among others. The video will have heartfelt messages by top stars like SRK, Hrithik Roshan, Prabhu Deva, Shahid Kapoor, Harman Baweja, Yuvraj Singh, Katrina Kaif, Kangna Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra, among others. The video, currently being shot, is directed by Samar Khan.”
The source further said, “None of the people associated with the video has charged a penny and it’s their love for the legendary singer that has brought them together. It’s been shot in low lighting and has a unique mood. The video will be aired on all the leading channels on August 29, MJ’s birthday. The song has been choreographed by Remo.”
Indian Business News
Sonia, ICICI's Kochhar among top 20 powerful women
New York: Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank India and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairman, Biocon India are the only Indians in Forbes annual list of the 100 most powerful women.
The list, which was released last night, includes fiery chief executives, brilliant politicians and beloved queens, but the model for all women who seek influence, is the cautious and uncharismatic German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Nooyi is listed as the third most powerful woman in the world, while Sonia Gandhi Kochhar and Shaw are ranked 13, 20 and 91 respectively. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the only other South Asian in the list and is ranked 78.
Americans make up 63 of the 100, while only four women from Britain make the grade
In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility - by press mentions - and the size of the organization or country these women lead.
Besides Gandhi and Kochhar, Biocon's chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw also featured in the list at number 91.
Gandhi improved her ranking from 21 last year to 13 this year, while Mazumdar-Shaw moved to 91 from last year's 99th place.
Nooyi retained her third position in the list.
Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who was ranked 59th in last year's list, did not figure in the latest list put up on Forbes.com.
US jobless claims soar to 576,000
Washington: The number of people in the US seeking unemployment benefits surged by 15,000 to 576,000 for the week ended August 15, reflecting the continuing turbulence in the country's labour market.
"In the week ending August 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 576,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 561,000," the US Labour Department said in a statement on Thursday.
The four-week moving average was 570,000 for the week ended August 15, as compared to previous week's revised average of 565,750.
These figures come at a time when the American economy is slowly signs of stabilisation and the jobless rate slipped to 9.4 per cent in July.
According to the latest data, the advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for the week ended August 8 climbed to 6,241,000, from the previous week's level of 6,239,000.
Indian Sports News|Sports News
Vijender becomes world number two in AIBA ranking
New Delhi: Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender Singh on Thursday achieved a career-high second spot in the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) official rankings in which three other Indians made the top-10 of their respective categories.
The Khel Ratna awardee, who also won bronze medals at this year’s European Grand Prix event in Czech Republic and the Asian Championships in China, sits behind Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa Bayeux of Cuba with 1700 points.
Vijender (75kg) had lost to Bayeux (2500 points) in the Olympic semifinals.
Olympic gold medallist James De Gale of England was not rated as he has turned professional.
“All the good things are happening in my life for the past one year. It feels fantastic to be rated so high,” Vijender told PTI from Patiala, where he is training.
Among other Indians, Beijing Olympics quarterfinalist Akhil Kumar has been placed ninth in the feather weight (57kg) rankings with 1050 points.
Akhil competed in the bantam weight (54kg) division in Beijing and shifted to feather weight only this year. The Haryana-boxer is yet to compete in any major international tournament since changing his division and will make his feather weight debut at the World Championships next month.
In the 48kg category, world youth champion Thokchom Nanao Singh has been ranked fifth with a tally of 1400 points.
New Zealand save follow-on against Sri Lanka
Galle: Resolute batting by New Zealand's eighth-wicket pair of Jesse Ryder and Daniel Vettori denied Sri Lanka a follow-on in the first Test here on Thursday. The duo, who came together with the Black Caps still needing 30 runs to avoid the follow-on in the rain-hit Test, put on a defiant stand of 36 after tea on the third day. Ryder was dismissed for 42, but skipper Vettori returned unbeaten on 33 as New Zealand ended the day at 281-8, still 171 runs behind Sri Lanka's first innings total of 452. tailender Iain O'Brien was the other batsman at the crease on three.
Sri Lanka have two days, weather permitting, to force a win at the Galle International Stadium on a wearing wicket that has already started to assist the spinners. Just 76 overs were bowled during the day after heavy rain delayed the start by 90 minutes and bad light ended play 20 minutes early.
The Black Caps, led by a gutsy 69 from left-handed opener Tim McIntosh, were sitting pretty at 180-3 when three wickets fell for 15 runs in the post-lunch session. The collapse was triggered by two wickets from left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara, who had Ross Taylor caught behind for 35 and bowled Brendon McCullum for one off the inside edge.
Star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan had two lucky breaks when he earned a leg-before verdict against the sturdy McIntosh and had Jacob Oram caught off the pad at short-leg for 12. Television replays showed Australian umpire Daryl Harper erred in both decisions.
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