NEW DELHI: Three more persons, including one in worst-hit Pune, succumbed to the swine flu on Saturday, pushing the country-wide fatalities from the HINI pandemic to 51.
A death each occurred in Pune, Tamil Nadu and Goa with four more testing positive for the virus in Assam even as close to 2,600 patients were undergoing treatment across the country.
With a 60-year-old man succumbing to the disease in Pune in Maharashtra, the city recorded its 20th swine flu death.
All educational institutions in Pune, which reported its first fatality on August 3, had been shut for the past one week to prevent the spread of the infection.
The flu claimed its third victim in Tamil Nadu when a 45-year-old man died at the government hospital in Chennai.
The man, whose throat swabs tested positive on August 19, was admitted to the hospital on August 12 with complaints of breathlessness and bleeding piles.
A 67-year-old man, suspected to be suffering from the swine flu, died at a private hospital in Goa, health officials in state capital Panaji said.
Shiva Murthy, who arrived from Bangalore yesterday, was admitted to the hospital with high fever, they said adding he breathed his last this morning.
His throat swabs had been sent for HINI testing to Delhi and the reports were awaited, the officials said.
Life term for prez guards in rape case
NEW DELHI: A city court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to two members of the president's bodyguard in the 2003 Buddha Jayanti Park gangrape case.
Assistant Sessions Judge S.K. Sarvaria awarded life imprisonment to Harpreet Singh and Satender Singh for raping a 17-year-old student of a Delhi University college, while two other members, Kuldeep Singh and Manish Kumar, were given 10 years' rigorous imprisonment each.
The four have been found guilty under sections 394 (robbery), 366 (kidnapping) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Harpreet and Satender have also been convicted for gangrape under section 376 (2G) of the IPC.
The victim, who had gone with her friend to the park near Rashtrapati Bhavan on Oct 6, 2003, was raped by Harpreet and Satender while the other two Kuldeep and Manish kept watch.
The prosecution examined 25 witnesses to establish the rape charge.
The four first roughed up the girl's friend and then took her to a secluded place inside the park where they raped her, the prosecution had maintained.
Advani stopped Vajpayee from acting against Modi: Jaswant
NEW DELHI: Firing a fresh salvo at L K Advani, expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh has claimed that the former home minister stopped Atal Bihari Vajpayee from taking action against Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots on the ground that it could trigger uproar in the party.
Prime Minister Vajpayee was "disturbed" and wrote down his resignation letter in his Parliamentary office. "Parliament was in session," Singh said in a TV programme.
"He (Vajpayee) pulled a piece of paper and he started writing his resignation by hand. I held his hand and he looked at me severely and I said what are you doing. Don't do this. He said chod do and I somehow I persuaded him. We went to his house. We were able to defuse the situation," Singh said.
Singh said he alongwith Vajpayee, Advani and Arun Shourie were flying to Goa for a BJP meeting when the conversation relating to the Gujarat Chief Minister cropped up.
"He (Vajpayee) asked, Gujarat ka kya karna hai (what should be done about Gujarat ?...there was silence for sometime. He then said Gujarat ke bare mein sochna chahiye. Then Advaniji went towards the bathroom...Atalji said poochhiye fir ky karna hai (ask him then what should be done)?
"I went and asked Advaniji. Advaniji just said one phrase-bawaal khada ho jayega party mein (there will be uproar in the party," Singh said.
Singh, who held the key portfolios of Finance and External Affairs in the Vajpayee government, said on that day, he was called from the House by Pramod Mahajan to the PM's office in Parliament.
"Come quickly Jaswantji", he told me. "I didn't know what had happened... When I went, I was told "sambhaliye, sambhaliye (control the situation). Istifa de rahein hain (he is giving his resignation).
Vajpayee called his Secretary. "I told his Secretary to go away and not come back. He (Vajpayee) sternly asked me kya kar rahe ho (what are you doing)".
Asked whether Vajpayee was inclined to act against Modi, Singh said, "factually to the best of my recollection, yes, this was the conversation.
Pressed further on whether Vajpayee was inclined to sack Modi, Singh said, "I would not use the word 'sack'. But certainly from the party to reflect and take some corrective measure.
Singh had sought to embarrass Advani yesterday by saying that the then Home Minister was well aware of his accompanying three terrorists to resolve the Kandahar hijack episode.
Advani had then claimed that he was against the decision to free terrorists in return of the passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814 in 1999 and went on say that he had nothing to do with the decision to send.
BMW hit-and-run case: Sanjeev Nanda out of jail
NEW DELHI: Sanjeev Nanda, convicted for his involvement in the infamous BMW hit-and-run case, was freed from jail three months before his two-year jail term ended due to his good conduct, a senior jail official said on Saturday.
Nanda yesterday walked free from Tihar Jail No 4, where he was lodged, Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said.
Tihar Jail Superintendent granted him remission for his "good conduct" during his stay in the jail, he said. According to rules, a convict can earn three months of remission every year if he conducts himself in a positive manner.
Nanda was convicted for a two-year jail term for mowing down six persons, including three policemen on Lodhi Road on January 10, 1999.
Delhi High Court had last month reduced his sentence from five years to two years.
However, Nanda, the grandson of former Navy chief S M Nanda, had to spend only four-and-half months in jail after the deduction of 19 months he remained behind the bars during trial.
India will keep providing 26/11 evidence to Pak : Krishna
NEW DELHI: A day after India gave "additional information" to Pakistan on the Mumbai terror attacks, foreign minister S M Krishna on Saturday said that New Delhi will keep providing more evidence to Islamabad "as and when" it is collected.
The statement comes in the backdrop of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's claim that India was not responding to Islamabad's request for intelligence sharing on possible terror attacks as indicated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently.
"We are in continuous touch with the government of Pakistan. It is an ongoing exercise between India and Pakistan. So, as and when, we collect more evidence we will keep sending it across to Pakistan and that is what Foreign Secretary did yesterday," Krishna said.
In her meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik yesterday, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao handed over "additional information" on Mumbai attacks including inputs on some of the key aspects and accused involved.
New Delhi had earlier given four dossiers to Islamabad providing inputs on the terror suspects and logistics including communication used by those involved in carrying out the attacks in Mumbai. They also contained responses to many queries raised by Pakistan relating to lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab and others.
Indian Business News
Govt's effort not to protect RIL's interest: Deora
Mumbai: Irked by allegations of favouritism, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today said his ministry had better things to do than go around supporting Mukesh Ambani-led RIL.
"How do you say that... Don't we have any other work," Deora shot back when asked about Anil Ambani group's ad-campaigns in newspapers alleging that the ministry was favouring RIL.
The Government will protect the interests of state-owned NTPC, he said, adding that its revenues from the RIL's KG-D6 fields was estimated at about Rs 84,000-crore and not Rs 500 crore as claimed by ADAG in the advertisement campaign.
Deora said the Ambani brothers' fight had impacted investor confidence in the oil and gas sector, but the response so far to the country's latest offering of oil and gas blocks was "very good".
"It would have been better (if there had been no dispute)," Deora said.
The Government had begun overseas roadshows to attract investment into the country's Exploration and Production sector through the latest offering under New Exploration Licensing Policy.
Food prices likely to stay high
NEW DELHI: While finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the government is ready to import foodgrains to contain the impact of drought on the availability of essential commodities, food prices in the country are likely to remain high.
Though the global prices of food products like rice, wheat, maize and edible oil have fallen in the last one year, the prices in India surged sharply.
While the global prices were rising in the second and third quarter of 2008, India banned exports of most of the commodities to keep domestic prices under control. But between October and December, the global commodity prices fell sharply due to the global financial crisis. However, commodity prices in India did not come down.
Despite WPI in the country declined year-on-year, showing a negative inflation, CPI is ruling at 10-14%.
According to the government data, prices of staple food items in WPI (wholesale price index) have risen sharply, led by rice, which is up by 15.2%, vegetable by 21.8%, pulses by 15.9%, sugar by 34% and tea and coffee by 25.6%. In its global economic monitor, Nomura Global Economics said that though India has sufficient buffer stock of rice and wheat at 32.3 million tonnes and 25.3 million tonnes respectively, the prices are rising mainly due to the fact that government machineries do not move quickly enough to sell buffer stock in the open market and take action against the hoarders.
The report said that prices for products such as pulses, sugar, oilseeds and coarse cereals, where no such buffer stocks exists, could rise further due to hoarding.
Increase in the minimum support prices (MSP) of commodities has also led to the spurt. But, government sources said that increase in MSP helped revive rural economy, which in turn has generated demand for steel, cement and other consumer items. This helped the other section of Indian economy tide over impact of the global slowdown.
The fear is that when India will enter the global market to purchase foodgrains, prices worldwide will also firm up fast.
This was evident in the case of sugar, whose prices in the global futures market jumped to 28-year high on the news of India’s decision to increase sugar import. Mukherjee said that government will not announce the timing of the import to ensure that prices are not jacked up artificially by the international players.
States not to review sales tax on jet fuel
New Delhi: States will not review the current sales tax rates on jet fuel as of now, even as the troubled aviation industry demanded reduction in the levy.
"The mood of states is not to review the (sales tax) rates of ATF," Value Added Tax (VAT) panel Chairman Asim Dasgupta told reporters when asked whether states will lower sales tax rates on jet fuel as global crude prices have come down drastically.
Dasgupta said states have asked the Centre certain questions on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), but have not got a response so far.
He said states also do not want the centre to bring ATF in the declared goods category which will bind the states to levy sales tax on jet fuel up to 4 per cent only.
Sales tax on ATF vary widely among states. The aviation industry is demanding a cut in the sales tax rates on jet fuel which constitute 40 per cent of their operation costs.
Dasgupta was talking to reporters after the empowered committee of state finance minister on VAT held a meeting to discuss the broad contours of the proposed Goods and Services Tax.
Dasgupta said the meeting discussed the items which have to be covered under GST, but did not disclose the list of items and the rate of GST as some more meetings are to be held before the agreement on these issues are reached.
Indian Sports News|Sports News
Sri Lanka thrash ailing Kiwis in Galle Test
Galle (Sri Lanka): An illness-depleted New Zealand were bamboozled in the face of pace and spin as Sri Lanka cruised to a 202-run victory in the first cricket Test on Saturday to lead the two-match series.
The Kiwis, set an improbable target of 413 runs, collapsed to 210 all out in their second innings before tea on the fifth and final day at the Galle International Stadium.
Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claimed 3-88 to take his world record tally to 777 wickets, while left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara and spinner Ajantha Mendis picked up two scalps each.
The tourists, who had 13 of their 15 players affected by a stomach bug and viral fever, had been left hoping the weather might do them a favour -- only for clear skies to break over the coastal town for the first time since the Test began.
Skipper Daniel Vettori battled bravely for two-and-a-half hours to make 67, his 20th Test fifty, sparking a brief resistance by the lower order after the Kiwis were reduced to 86-5.
Jesse Ryder, one of the players worst affected by the virus, defended for almost an hour to add 48 for the sixth wicket with his captain before he was caught behind off Muralitharan for 22 soon after lunch.
Jeetan Patel hit 22 and Brendon McCullum, who was confined to bed yesterday due to fever, made 29 before he was last man to be dismissed, a run-out victim of a direct throw from Muralitharan.
Wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, returning to the side after missing the previous series against Pakistan with a knee injury, chipped in with three catches and a stumping.
For Kalmadi, F1 is Family 1st
New Delhi: Two years ago, Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), proudly said that he had sealed an agreement to bring the Formula One Grand Prix to India. Just months later, the company that signed the contract with the organisers had his son as part owner — and a year later, his daughter and her husband joined it as directors.
In June 2007, Kalmadi — as IOA chief — announced that he had a letter of intent from F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone under which the IOA would “promote and back” the move to build infrastructure for the event in India and “elicit support from Central and State Governments to construct the circuit.”
In October that year, the UK-based Formula One Administration Limited — F1’s organisers — signed a Rs 1600-crore contract with JPSK Sports Private Limited.
Records obtained by The Indian Express show that JPSK’s stakeholders are Jaiprakash Associates (74%); Pune-based Sulba Realty Private Limited (13%) of which Kalmadi’s son, Sumeer Kalmadi, is Director; and Trackwork International Pvt Ltd, a Delhi-based firm (also 13%). SK in JPSK is an apparent reference to Sumeer Kalmadi.
As per the agreement between the three — signed on November 16, 2007 — JPSK acquired around 2,500 acres for the project. Approximately 1000 acres of this will be used for the race circuit and the “balance land” will be “developed” in the ratio of 80%-10%-10% between Jaiprakash Associates, Sulba and Trackwork.
Records from the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Commerce, show that a year after the company was floated, Kalmadi’s daughter, Payal Aditya Bhartia, and his son-in-law, Aditya Bhartia, joined JPSK as Independent Directors. Officials of the Jaypee Group say they regularly attend Board meetings.
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