Today's Latest News India

Seven students test positive for swine flu, total up to 30

New Delhi:Seven students in Jalandhar, who returned from the United States, tested positive for swine flu, taking the total number of people affected by the virus across the country to 30 even as Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad asked travellers to defer their plans of going abroad till the disease was globally under control.

A day after a boy tested positive in Jalandhar, seven out of the 10 students who had accompanied him to the US also developed flu symptoms and tested positive for the disease, a senior health ministry official said adding, however, all of them are stable and responding to treatment.

The remaining 24 children, their family and social contacts and those sitting in proximity to them in the flight have been identified and put on chemoprophylaxis.

A Central Rapid Response Team has been deployed in Jalandhar since last night.

Reacting to the increase in the number of cases, Azad told reporters that people, specially students, should defer travelling to flu-affected countries till the situation was under control.

"Till this disease is controlled globally, I would like to request young people from educational institutions going abroad that they can suspend their visits for the time being," he said adding "they can go after 2-3 months".

Maya slammed for calling Mahatma Gandhi 'natakbaaz'

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Maywati has come under severe criticism from opposition leaders for having made derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi.

While addressing a meeting of MPs and legislators of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) here Saturday, Mayawati called the Father of the Nation a "natakbaaz" (fake). She also distributed pamphlets condemning both Mahatma Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for being insincere about the improvement in socio-economic status of Dalits.

"Mayawati's attempt to run down the Father of the Nation will only prove counter-productive and she will have to pay for it," said state Congress spokesman Subodh Srivastava.

"This only reflects her frustration on account of her failure to keep her monopolistic control over Dalits. It is high time she realises that Dalits are not her private property and they are well aware to see and understand the difference between what Mahatma Gandhi did for them and what Mayawati was doing for them," he added.

Samajwadi Party state president Akhilesh Yadav said: "Mayawati's derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi are clearly a reflection of her having not only lost ground but even her balance."

Calling Mayawati's rant against Mahatma Gandhi "a shameful act", BJP spokesman Hriday Narain Dikshit said: "By terming whatever he did against untouchability as a drama, Mayawati has shown utter disrespect to the Father of the Nation."

Srivastava also condemned Mayawati's move to hold protest demonstrations June 19, which is Rahul Gandhi's birthday.

"Maybe she does not like the idea of a birthday being observed without forced collection of funds since she is so used to celebrating her own birthday solely to collect money and jewellery," he said.

BJP's situation is now volcanic: Sushma Swaraj

Bhopal, June 15: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has said that she would not like to comment on the situation in her party following its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

Sushma, who arrived here on Sunday on a four-day visit to her Vidisha Parliamentary Constituency, told reporters at her residence that the situation in the party was now "volcanic".

"When a volcano is on even a small spark (chingari) can make it flare up further," she said without making any remark on the state of affairs in her party.

Sushma said that in her view there was nothing wrong in LK Advani continuing as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha as he would have become the Prime Minister in case the NDA had won the Lok Sabha elections.

She said that as the party's election affairs in-charge for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand has come to an end and now she was only the MP from Vidisha.

Photojournalist identifies Kasab, provides photos as evidence

MUMBAI: A photojournalist on Monday identified Pakistani gunman Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, before a special court hearing Mumbai attacks case, as one of the persons who opened fire at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on November 26 and provided photographs to support his evidence.

Sebastian D'Souza placed before the court 100 photographs which he had shot on the night of November 26 capturing the gunmen who were firing indiscriminately at people at the rail terminus. Over 50 persons were killed in the attack.

The evidence of this witness is considered significant because he is not only an eyewitness but also is the first witness to provide documentary evidence of the terror attack.

The court has taken 20 of the 100 photographs on record, three of them showing Kasab holding a AK-47 assault rifle and also firing with it.

Four other photographs are of Kasab and fellow gunman Abu Ismail firing at people at the rail terminus.

When the photographs were being displayed in court, Kasab was seen curiously looking at them from the dock since he was unaware that they were taken at the time of the attack.

"The photographs are independent pieces of evidence and carry the value of an eyewitness and therefore is regarded as documentary evidence," special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.

Ten other photographs are of the main waiting hall of CST during the time of the attack, while two others are of slain policemen Ambadas Pawar and Shashank Shinde taking positions to fire at the gunmen.

One photograph was of a bookseller at the terminus who was also killed in the attack.

D'souza said he was working in a newspaper whose head office is located just opposite to CST and on the night of November 26, he came down from the building to go to Hotel Taj, another site of the terror strikes.

However, as he reached the gate of his office, he heard explosions inside CST and ran to the suburban rail section of the terminus.

As he went towards main waiting area of CST, D'souza said he saw two gunmen shooting but did not take the photographs due to lack of light.

He backtracked to the suburban rail section and clicked photographs of the gunmen from two platforms where he took cover, D'souza said.

Two other eyewitnesses, both police personnel, also identified Kasab as one of the gunmen at CST.

Harshad Kunju Patil, a constable attached to Vashi police station, said he had come to CST from Vashi aboard a local train as he was deputed in a ladies compartment for security, when he heard explosions in the main waiting area of the terminus.

Shiney Ahuja remanded to three day police custody

Mumbai:Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja was arrested on the charge of allegedly raping his 18-year- old maid and remanded to police custody till June 18 after preliminary medical tests indicated she was sexually assaulted.

"The tests have indicated that the victim was sexually assaulted, although the final report is still awaited," Additional Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said.

She had been taken to Nagpada police hospital in South Mumbai where medical tests were conducted.

The 35-year-old actor allegedly raped his domestic help at his flat at suburban Oshiwara on Sunday when she was alone.

Ahuja, who was arrested early this morning, was produced before a local court which, after hearing arguments of public prosecutor and defence lawyer, sent him in police custody till June 18.

Ahuja's wife Anupama said he was innocent and she stands by him. "I love my husband. He is a wonderful father, a great partner and most importantly, he is an innocent man...I stand by him with all my soul, with all my heart, with all my love".

She denied reports that Ahuja has ‘confessed’ to raping his maid. "It is a lie. It is utter rubbish.

Clad in yellow T-shirt and blue jeans, the actor did not utter a word in the court and avoided eye contact with those present.

Indian Business News |Business News

Rising crude may lead to fuel price hike: Deora


New Delhi:Concerned at the rise in international crude oil prices, the Government is looking at solutions to tackle the widening revenue deficit and one of the options on the table could be raising petrol and diesel prices.

"We are seriously concerned about the rise in crude oil prices ... we have to look for solutions," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters after meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with his Budget wishlist.

Deregulating petrol and diesel prices has been on the cards since the crude oil prices came down by USD 100 from the historic high of USD 147 a barrel, a few weeks back. But with the rates climbing again, doubts are being cast if prices can actually be freed.

Crude oil prices are ruling at USD 71-72 a barrel, a seven-month high.

"We have to seriously look at solutions... the alternatives before us are raising petrol and diesel prices, asking the government to make up for revenue loss (of fuel retailers) through issuing oil bonds and upstream firms (like ONGC) chipping in," he said. "It could even be all of the three as had been the practice till now," he added. Deora, however, was not categoric in saying if raising petrol and diesel prices was on table. "I cannot say that," he said when asked if the Government was considering a fuel price hike.

State fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum may together lose close to Rs 60,000 crore in revenues if they are to sell petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at current rates.


HC orders RIL to give gas to Anil's RNRL cheaper @ $2.34

Mumbai:In the bitter corporate battle with his elder brother, Anil Ambani got a major boost with the Bombay High Court ordering Mukesh-led RIL to supply gas to other's group firm at USD 2.34 per MBtu, 44 per cent lower than rates approved by the Government.

The High Court ordered that Reliance Industries honour a 2005 family agreement to supply 28 million cubic meters per day of gas from its Krishna-Godavari basin fields at USD 2.34 per mmBtu for 17 years to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.

The final price would reduce the outgo for Anil's group firm by about 11.8 billion dollars during the period of the contract. As per USD 2.34 mBtu, the outgo for 17 years would work out to 14.79 billion dollars compared to 26.55 billion dollars on the basis of government-approved USD 4.2 mmBtu.

RNRL counsel Mahesh Jethmalani claimed victory. "Prima facie it looks like we have won." By this order, RNRL will have to pay USD 870.26 million for 28 mmcmd gas a year against USD 1.56 billion claimed by RIL.

A division bench of Justice J N Patel and K K Tated said the new pact should be as per the MoU signed between brothers.

The supply of gas has become a bone of contention between the brothers who had signed a family settlement agreement in June 2005 over the division of Reliance empire.

But the fight continued inside and outside the court on various issues.

Indian Sports News| Indian Sports News |T20 World Cup News

Dhoni apologises to nation, admits promoting Jadeja a mistake


London:Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni apologised to the nation for his champion team's early ouster from the T20 World Cup and admitted sending Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj Singh in their Super 8 match against England was a mistake. "We are more disappointed (than you) and we respect the emotions of our fans and the country. We gave our best and we say that with an open heart, we have nothing to hide. But in the next Twenty20 world cup we would have an opportunity of proving ourselves," said a dejected Dhoni after India's heart-breaking three-run loss at Lord's last night.

Dhoni sent Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj and himself but the young all-rounder consumed 35 balls for his 25 in the middle overs to put pressure on his batting partners which ultimately led to India losing the match by three runs to crash out of the tournament. "Sometimes you don't know what would happen. We thought Jadeja could stabilise the innings as well as go after the bowling. He did try but somehow he always found the fielders. It was unfortunate it didn't work for us. We needed somebody to play percentage cricket at that stage."

Dhoni, however, defended his decision to include Jadeja in the playing eleven in place of Pragyan Ojha, as well as his opting to field after winning the toss. "We were looking at a combination in which our batting could be lengthened. We need lower order bats to contribute. Ojha may be a better bowler but Jadeja is an excellent fielder and both bat and bowl well. It also encourages us to include an extra fast bowler," he said. "As for fielding first, we realised that under lights the wicket became better for batting."

Pakistan end Ireland's T20 adventure

LONDON: Pakistan ended Ireland's slim hopes of qualifying for the World Twenty20 semi-finals with a 39-run victory at the Oval on Monday.

Pakistan made 159 for five and then held Ireland - the only non-Test side to have qualified for the second round Super Eights - to 120 for nine, with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal taking four wickets for 19 runs.

Victory all but assured Pakistan of a place in the last four with Tuesday's match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka set to decide which two teams qualify out of Group F.

Opener Kamran Akmal's 57 was the cornerstone of Pakistan's total in an innings where Ireland off-spinner Kyle McCallan again proved his worth with two wickets for 26 runs.

Meanwhile, pace bowler Boyd Rankin's four overs cost just 11 runs.

Akmal faced 51 balls with a six and five fours.

Ireland lost opener Niall O'Brien early in their chase when the wicket-keeper was caught and bowled off a miscued hook by 17-year-old paceman Mohammad Amir.

Paul Stirling, himself only 18, came in for his first match of the tournament with Ireland 13 for one but got off the mark first ball with a superb cover-driven four off left-armer Aamir.

But the teenager, on 16, became the latest batsman to be bowled playing across the line against leg-spinner Shahid Afridi, who struck with his sixth ball and Ireland were 42 for two off seven overs.

Ireland captain William Porterfield batted steadily for 40 off 36 balls but when he was caught by opposing skipper Younus Khan off the bowling of Ajmal, Ireland were 87 for three in the 14th over.

With six overs left Ireland needed 72 more runs to win.

John Mooney, trying to keep Ireland up with the rate, also fell to Ajmal after he was caught in the deep by Abdul Razzaq.

Then Umar Gul, who took a Twenty20 international record five wickets against New Zealand, got in on the act by bowling Trent Johnston for a duck.

At 99 for five in the 17th over the game was up for Ireland, who later saw four tail-end wickets tumble for three runs in six balls.

Both Akmal and fellow opener Shahzaib Hasan struck a six off Johnston, whose four overs went for an expensive 45.

The 19-year-old Shahzaib holed out off seamer Alex Cusack, who took four wickets in Ireland's narrow nine-run loss to Sri Lanka at Lord's on Sunday.

The hard-hitting Afridi showed glimpses of his talent while making 24 before striking McCallan's third ball straight to Mooney at long-on.

And 78 for two became 102 for three in the 13th over when Younus was bowled after an ugly slog sweep against New Zealand born left-arm spinner Regan West.

Akmal, looking to press on, was dismissed by a Johnston yorker as he went down the pitch.

Prakash advances, Somdev ousted from Wimbledon qualifiers

LONDON: Prakash Amritraj sealed a second round berth in the Wimbledon qualifying event but it was all over for Somdev Devvarman, who crashed out after losing his opening match on Monday.

Prakash, seeded 28 and ranked 161 beat Croatian world number 236 Antonio Veic 6-3, 6-4 in his first round match.

Somdev, seeded 14th, lost 3-6, 2-6 to Monaco's Jean-Rene Lisnard, who is placed 80 rungs below the Indian at 215.

Prakash broke his rival once each in both the sets, sixth in the first and third in the second, to advance.

Prakash played a flawless game as he faced just two breakpoints in the match and successfully saved both.

He will next face either Conor Niland of Ireland or Daniel Cox of Britain

Somdev, who has been struggling these days, had a disappointing day as despite putting up a tough fight he ended up on the wrong side.

Somdev began fantastically by breaking Lisnard in the very first game of the match but suffered two consecutive breaks, second and fourth games, to concede lead.

Somdev had his chance to come back in the set when he earned a breakpoint in the ninth game and also saved two set points but the Monaco player did not let the Indian comeback.

The second set too started on a disastrous note for Somdev as he dropped his serve. Lisnard broke him in the seventh game to create a 5-2 cushion and served out the match in the next game.

Latest News in India

8 killed, several injured in Pakistan blast.

Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan:

At least eight persons were killed and over 20 injured on Sunday when a bomb went off in a busy market in the restive northwestern Pakistani city of Dera Islamil Khan.

The blast occurred at Pir Market, which is located near a bus station. The bomb was planted in a rickshaw and went off at a time when a large number of people were present in the market, officials said. District Coordination Officer Mohsin Shah told reporters that eight persons were killed and over 20 injured in the blast. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital by people in private vehicles. Ambulances also rushed to the site. There were also reports of unidentified persons resorting to firing soon after the explosion.

According to officials, about five to six kgs of explosives were used in the bomb.

ARY news channel quoted an official as saying that a suspect was arrested from the blast site. No group claimed responsibility for the blast. Dera Ismail Khan has witnessed several bomb attacks on security forces and police. The city has also been hit by sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shias in recent months.


Mahalingam's body identified; handed over to family

Kaiga, Karnataka:The body of Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant scientist Lokanath Mahalingam, which was recovered from the Kali river, was handed over to his family on Sunday after identification. Mahalingam's wife identified the body, which was recovered by Naval divers from the river flowing along the Kaiga township. A team of doctors conducted post-mortem of the body, they said.

Police had said on Saturday that they were investigating whether Mahalingam had drowned or there was any foul play. Intelligence officials were also involved in the search operations to locate Mahalingam, a scientific officer in the Kaiga generating station of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) associated with its training department.

Earlier six days after he went missing, Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant scientist N Mahalingam's body was fished out by naval divers from the Kali river late on Saturday night. Forty-seven-year-old Mahalingam, was reported missing by his wife on June 8 when he failed to return from his morning walk, police said.

Police said they are investigating whether Mahalingam had drowned or there was any foul play in his death. The Kaiga nuclear power plant authorities have identified the body of Mahalingam, police said adding that his family members have also confirmed that the body, recovered from the river flowing near the Kaiga township, belonged to the scientist.

As the disappearance of Mahalingam caused concern, authorities of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) had said the scientist, involved in training at one of the simulator training centres, did not have any access to sensitive documents. They had also dismissed fears that Mahalingam was involved in any strategic programme. The scientist had earlier worked with Madras Atomic Power Project (MAPP) in Kalpakkam near Chennai.

BJP wide open, eyes wide shut

New Delhi:Just a fortnight ago, they elected L K Advani to lead the party in the Lok Sabha and “authorised” him to appoint its new faces in both Houses. Now the top brass are openly questioning him and his decision in what has become a very public fight over the spoils of defeat.

So barely minutes before BJP president Rajnath Singh imposed a gag order on leaders from airing their views in public and warned of disciplinary action today, vice president Yashwant Sinha quit from all his posts in the party and urged others to do the same in a four-page letter marked to his chief and circulated among the party’s core group.

In that letter, Sinha hit out at what he called the “conspiracy of silence” in the party over the electoral debacle and the “rat race for posts” from “whatever goodies were available.”

“It appears as if some people in the party are determined to ensure that the principle of accountability does not prevail,” he wrote, “so that their own little perch is not disturbed.” While Sinha underlined that the party leadership’s “reluctance to introspect and introspect comprehensively” on the BJP’s second successive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections was the key reason behind his move, the subtext was clear.

After Jaswant Singh’s letter earlier this week, Sinha’s note that “BJP puts a premium on failure,” exposes the deep resentment in a section of the party over the appointment of Arun Jaitley as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj as Advani’s deputy in the Lok Sabha.


Prabhakaran waited for Indian poll results

NEW DELHI: Velupillai Prabhakaran was waiting for the results of Indian elections to plan his next strategy in the 30-year-old civil war in SriLanka and was apparently hoping that either the NDA or the Third Front would come to power in New Delhi, but the army
there had different plans.

It has now emerged that the 54-year-old slain guerrilla leader was waiting till May 16, the day results of Lok Sabha elections were known, to decide on his and the outfit's future, but it was too late as the Sri Lankan Army had by then cut off all the escape routes.

"Till May 16, he (Prabhakaran) was hoping that someone will interfere and stop the army from entering the final 'No Fire Zone' where he was held up," Sri Lankan Army sources said.

On May 16th afternoon, LTTE announced that it would allow all civilians trapped in the area held by them to leave to safety, apparently after knowing that the Congress
, which it believed was hostile to him and the outfit, was set to return to power.

Sources in the Tamil polity in Sri Lanka said the LTTE was hoping that there would be a popular upsurge for it in Tamil Nadu, where the general elections were fought on the Eelam plank, and that the Third Front or the NDA could come to power.

"This (election results) might have upset Prabhakaran and other leaders of the outfit, but they did not have time to think or plan anything. They were boxed by the Army by that time," the Tamil sources said.

The LTTE chief would have thought that the Third Front and the NDA would not be so hostile as the Congress was, they said, adding that once the people started leaving the war zone, Sri Lankan Army swiftly rescued the civilians and took them to safe zones.

AIADMK's Jayalalithaa, who was part of the Third Front, expressed support to the Sri Lankan Tamils cause and had even promised to send Indian Army to carve out Tamil Eelam from Sri Lanka if a government of her choice came to power in New Delhi.

On May 16 afternoon, LTTE's International Relations head Selvarasa Pathmanathan issued a statement in which the outfit virtually accepted defeat and asked the "global community to save the people of Wanni."

They said Prabhakaran did not expect that the Sri Lankan forces would encircle him and his aides "so soon".

The army also got a tip off from LTTE Sea Tigers chief Soosai's wife, who was taken into custody while trying to flee the island, that Prabhakaran and the top brass were still inside the war zone.

"This emboldened the Army which went all out against the Tigers and virtually encircled them in a 2 sq. km area in the Wanni region on May 16. That gave no chance for any of the Tiger leaders to escape," the sources said.


Two more swine flu cases in India, total 19

NEW DELHI: Two more people - a 29-year-old woman and her three-year-old daughter who arrived from the US - have tested positive for swine flu,taking the total number of confirmed cases in India to 19 so far. ( Watch )

"The mother and child reached Bangalore on Friday from New Jersey. Tests confirmed Saturday night that they are infected with the influenza A (H1N1) virus," S. Buggi, director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bangalore, said over phone on Sunday.

"We have notified the test results to Delhi (health
ministry). The mother and child are under medical treatment at our hospital," he added.

With the number of swine flu patients in the country on the rise, the health ministry is holding a monitoring committee meeting on Sunday along with experts from the World Health Organisation and National Institute of Communicable Diseases.

"We will discuss about various issues related to the disease at the meeting," said Shashi Khare, head of Virology, NICD.

On Saturday, a 20-month-old boy from Hyderabad tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1) virus, a day after his six-year-old sister was confirmed with the infection.

According to the WHO, which has declared swine flu a pandemic, 74 countries have officially reported 29,669 cases of the influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 145 deaths.

Indian Business News

Top 10 firms lose Rs 5,100cr last week, ONGC major loser


MUMBAI: The country's top 10 firms saw their total market capitalisation falling by Rs 5,168 crore last week, with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation losing the most among the pack.

The total market valuation of the elite club, comprising four private sector and six state-run companies
, stood at Rs 16,83,045 crore in the week ended June 12 against Rs 16,88,213 crore in the previous week.

ONGC's market cap fell by Rs 11,518 crore to Rs 2,41,008 crore as shares of the company slipped by 4.56 per cent to close at Rs 1,126.80 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday last week.

Among the 10 most valued firms of BSE, five firms -- ONGC, Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation, National Mining Development Corporation, State Bank of India and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd -- witnessed a drop in their respective market caps last week.

Meanwhile, other five firms - Reliance Industries Ltd, National Thermal Power Corporation, Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies and Larsen & Toubro -- saw their valuations rising last week.

The country's most-valued firm, RIL, added Rs 22,812 crore to its market valuation of Rs 3,70,913 crore last week. The company had market valuation of Rs 3,48,101 crore in the previous week.

NTPC added Rs 1,113 crore to its market cap. On the other hand, ONGC lost Rs 11,518 from its market cap, which stood at Rs 2,41,008 crore this week.

NMDC slipped to the sixth position after losing Rs 12,528 crore from its amrket cap, while private telecom services provider Bharti Airtel jumped a place to fifth slot by adding Rs 1,073 crore to its valuation.

Power equipment supplier BHEL stood seventh as it lost Rs 3,500 crore from its market cap, while SBI slipped to the eighth slot losing Rs 11,485 crore from its market valuation.

While, IT bellwether Infosys Technologies added Rs 2,142 crore to its market valuation, L&T added Rs 3,702 crore to its market cap last week.

In the club, RIL is followed by ONGC (Rs 2,41,008 crore), NTPC (Rs 1,82,266 crore), MMTC (Rs 1,69,699 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,57,646 crore), NMDC (Rs 1,57,359 crore), Bhel (Rs 1,08,473 crore), SBI (Rs 1,03,930 crore), Infosys (Rs 98,980 crore) and L&T ( Rs 92,771 crore).

Satyam back in top 100 m-cap club; grows 13-times since nadir

NEW DELHI: Scam-hit Satyam Computer has entered again the elite club of the top 100 companies in terms of market valuation -- a status it had lost after being hit by the country's biggest corporate fraud.

Following a sharp rally seen in its share price last week on the back of disclosure about its profits, Satyam's market capitalisation has grown to about Rs 7,800 crore, placing it among the 100 most-valued firms in the country.

The company had moved out of this league soon after the disclosure about the fraud on January 7 -- the day when its founder and then Chairman B Ramalinga Raju admitted to multi- year financial fraud at the company.

Two days later on January 9 -- when the company's share price and market valuation hit their all-time lows at Rs 6.30 a share and about Rs 600 crore, respectively -- Satyam did not figure even among the 300 most-valued firms.

In contrast, Satyam was placed as the country's 34th most-valued firm with a market capitalisation of over Rs 15,000 crore on December 16 -- just before Raju unsuccessfully tried to acquire two firms promoted by his family in his bid to conceal the financial fraud at the company.

While it is still to recover about half of its lost value due to the scam, the shares have grown back to Rs 80-level -- representing a 13-times surged from its low.

Between the announcement of aborted attempt to acquire Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties and the disclosure letter about the fraud on January 7, the company lost more than 80 per cent in its market value, while its slide continued further till it reached an all-time low of about Rs 6.30 per share on January 9.

Prior to its fall, Satyam was the country's fourth most-valued IT firm after Infosys, TCS and Wipro, but had become one of the least valued on January 9.

Satyam now ranks at the seventh position among IT companies after TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech, Oracle and Tech Mahindra and at the 97th spot among the top 100 companies.

Tech Mahindra's market valuation has also increased significantly to around Rs 8,799 crore since it won the bid for acquiring controlling stake in Satyam.

Tech Mahindra's market capitalisation has increased by as much as Rs 4,420 crore, since April 13, while its shares have more than doubled to Rs 722 on June 12 as compared to Rs 359.45 on April 13.

Last week, Satyam shares got a boost from its results for October-December 2008 with Rs 160 crore profit in the quarter which points to a promise of a strong comeback under new owner Mahindras.

Reeling under the about Rs 10,000-crore financial scam that necessitated restatement of accounts, Satyam was at its nadir in January with a measly profit of Rs four crore before showing signs of revival by recording a Rs 52 crore profit in February. This was despite losing about two dozen clients.

In October-December 2008 -- a period that saw the beginning of Satyam's fall from grace -- the IT firm posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 160.50 crore and a total income of Rs 2,327.21 crore. The announcement came within a month of Tech Mahindra, an IT arm of Mahindra & Mahindra, acquired controlling stake that valued Satyam at Rs 5,800 crore.

However, analysts believe entering into Satyam stock at this moment may be a high risk move as still uncertainties prevail on the future of the two entities.

"Uncertainty about their future make both Satyam and Tech Mahindra a high risk investment, though Tech Mahindra seems relatively better as it may gain considerably with its increased size," Bonanza Portfolio Assistant Vice-President Avinash Gupta said.

Sports News|T20 World Cup News

South Africa inch closer to T20 World Cup semi-finals

London:Strong contenders South Africa inched closer to a semi-final berth in the Twenty20 World Cup after a convincing 20-run victory over giant-killers West Indies in a Super Eight match.

The South Africans first compiled a competitive 183 for seven riding on Herschelle Gibbs' rollicking 55 and then restricted the Caribbean team to 163 for nine to create a record of sorts by registering their sixth consecutive T20 triumph.

The victory at the Kenington Oval not only brought an end to West Indies' giant-killing spree but almost assured the Proteas a berth in the semi-finals. They play their last Group-E Super Eight match against India on Tuesday.

Lendl Simmons very nearly took West Indies to the target with with a blistering 50-ball 77 but could not get any support from the other top order batsmen.

It was yet another convincing performance by the South Africans who outplayed the islanders in all departments of the game.

The 35-year-old Gibbs was the batting star for the Proteas with a 35-ball 55 which contained eight boundaries and a six. The seasoned Jacques Kallis (45) and captain Graeme Smith (31) were the other notable performers for the South Africans.

The South African innings began on a brisk note with the experienced duo of Smith and Kallis finding the boundaries easy to come by against the West Indies pacemen who were a trifle erratic in their opening spell.

Smith set the tempo by clobbering Fidel Edwards for two consecutive boundaries in the second over of the match while Kallis also showed his aggressive intent by hammering Jerome Taylor for 16 runs in the next over.


Gul leads Pakistan to 6 wicket win over Kiwis


London:Umar Gul bulldozed New Zealand with a sensational five-wicket haul as Pakistan defeated New Zealand by six-wicket to keep their semifinals hopes alive in the World Twenty20 here today.

Gul's incredible fast bowling spell resulted in Kiwi's complete demolition as they were all out for a paltry 99 in 18.3 overs after deciding to bat in this Super Eight match.

Gul, introduced as late as in the 13th over, wreaked havoc in his three-over spell and emerged as the first bowler to claim five wickets in T20 Internationals.

Abdul Razzaq (2/17), playing first match for his country after quitting ICL, celebrated his return by rocking the Kiwi top-order at the start.

Pakistan almost made a mess of an easy chase before scoring the required runs with 6.5 overs to spare at the Oval.

The victory has strengthened Pakistan's chances of making the finals stage as they next play minnows Ireland on Monday.

Shahzaib Hasan (35) Kamran Akmal (19) began the chase in right earnest, putting up 36 runs in 4.2 overs but departure of the latter triggered a mini collapse.

Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori (2/20) dismissed Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik to jolt the Pakistani camp.

However, skipper Younus Khan and Sahid Afridi saw the team through with a 39-run partnership.

Kiwis had already lost four wickets when Gul came to bowl and heavily turned the match in favour of his side with his sparkling spell.

Gul first got rid of Scott Styris, who top scored for New Zealand with his 22, and just rolled over the rest of the batting line-up to complete his magical spell.

Today's Latest News India

Zardari vows to fight Taliban 'until the end'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday that Pakistan was battling for its "sovereignty" a day after scores of people were killed amid an escalating offensive against the Taliban.

Zardari said Pakistan would fight "until the end," as US defence officials in Washington confirmed that Islamabad plans to step up its offensive against militants in the country's troubled northwest.

"We are fighting a war for our sovereignty," Zardari said in a television address. "We will continue this war until the end, and we will win it at any cost.

"The Taliban are the enemies of innocent people. They want to terrorise the people and to take control of the country's institutions."

Zardari's pledge came after suicide bombings targeting Friday prayers at two mosques killed at least six people, including a prominent Muslim cleric, and wounded more than 100.

The bombings confirmed fears that Taliban militants are avenging an offensive against them in the northwest, where the military said Friday 39 insurgents and 10 soldiers had been killed in fresh fighting.

Religious scholar Sarfraz Naeemi, who had spoken out against Taliban suicide bombings, was among two people killed in one of the mosque attacks, in the eastern city of Lahore, police said.

Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore said a suicide bomber had entered the room where Naeemi was sitting with others after Friday prayers, and blew himself up.

Naeemi had issued a fatwa (edict) against suicide bombings carried out by Taliban militants.

In the other attack, four people died and at least 105 were wounded when an explosives-filled car ploughed into a mosque in the northwestern garrison town of Nowshera, police said.

The roof of the mosque caved in after the blast and a number of people were trapped under the rubble, police official Imran Kishwar said, adding that the death toll could rise.

A spokesman for militant leader Baitullah Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the mosque attacks, and Tuesday's bombing of Peshawar's Pearl Continental hotel that killed nine people.

"Anyone who will oppose us to please the Americans will face the same fate," Maulvi Omar said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

In Washington, senior defence officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Islamabad planned to step up its offensive against Taliban forces in the northwest tribal area of South Waziristan.

Confirming rumours so far denied by the Pakistani army, one of the officials said that, in addition to the major offensive in the northwest Swat valley, Pakistan is planning "a separate campaign in South Waziristan."

The region is a stronghold for the TTP, Pakistan's umbrella Taliban organisation, as well as for Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.

The TTP will be the primary target for the increased operations, the defence official said, but the United States hopes the offensive will also put pressure on Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, who were driven out of Afghanistan and into the region after the 2001 US-led invasion.

These groups are clearly interconnected, the official said, so "an offensive certainly can play an important role," noting that the strategy is to "have pressure on both sides of the border."

A 90,000-strong US and international coalition is fighting the Afghan Taliban and other insurgents on the Afghanistan side.

A second US defence official told reporters the Pakistani army has been redeploying forces to areas surrounding South Waziristan: "We think the initial phase of the operation has already begun," the official said.


Ban on defence firms will delay artillery upgrade: Army Chief

New Delhi:Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said today that the Defence Ministry’s ban on dealing with Singapore Technologies (ST), which is being investigated by the CBI in connection with the corruption charges against former Ordnance chief Sudipta Ghosh, will delay Indian plans to acquire light howitzers for the artillery.

“Till the time the CBI is able to carry out detailed investigation,” said Kapoor, “there will be a delay. To that extent, it will affect the acquisition of ultra light howitzers.” He was speaking on the sidelines of a defence function in the capital.

Interestingly, the Singapore-based firm is the only vendor offering its “Pegasus” gun to the Army for its requirement of ultra-light howitzers needed for deployment in mountainous regions. With the only other contender, BAE systems, backing out of the contract, the ST gun was the only one available that met the Army’s requirements.

ST was banned after its name figured along with six other firms in the CBI inquiry against former Director General of Ordnance Factory Board Sudipta Ghosh. The defence ministry has put all dealings with the seven firms on hold till the CBI completes its probe.

This is the second major blow for the Army’s artillery modernization plans after South African giant Denel was blacklisted in 2005 for allegedly paying kickbacks in a deal for anti-material rifles for the Army. General Kapoor also said today that the much-awaited comparative trials between the indigenous Arjun tanks and the Russian origin T 90 mainstay tanks of the Army will take place in October.


Six more bodies found in Air France jet crash: Brazil

Recife (Brazil), June 13: Six more bodies were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean where an Air France jet crashed, Brazilian officials has said, as the race to find the black boxes and gather key evidence from human remains and debris gained urgency.

On the coast, investigators examined corpses and received the first wreckage: two plane seats, oxygen masks, water bottles, and several structural pieces, some no bigger than a man's hand.

Almost two weeks after the crash, Brazil's military said the search is becoming increasingly difficult and a tentative June 25 date for halting efforts has been set. Beginning Monday, officials will meet every two days to evaluate when to stop the search, depending on whether they are still finding bodies or debris.

The black boxes - whose emergency locator beacons begin to fade after 30 days - along with debris and bodies from the jet, all contain crucial clues as to how and why Air France Flight 447 went down en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Navy Vice Adm Edison Lawrence said the Brazilians "have information" that a French ship has found six more bodies - which would bring the total found to 50. It was not clear when these bodies were recovered, Lawrence said he thought it was either Thursday or yesterday.

Opposition disputes Ahmadinejad's claim to Iran presidency


Tehran:Hard-line incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was heading for a surprise landslide with nearly 80 per cent of votes counted in Iran's stormy presidential elections, the Interior Ministry said Saturday. But his pro-reform rival countered that he was the clear victor and accused authorities of fraud.

The dispute sharply boosted tensions, raising the possibility of a standoff after an intense month long race between the combative president and his main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is backed by a growing youth-oriented movement. A large turnout at the polls had boosted victory hopes for Mousavi supporters.

At a press conference around midnight, Mousavi declared himself “definitely the winner'' based on “all indications from all over Iran.'' He accused the Islamic ruling establishment of “manipulating the people's vote'' to keep Ahmadinejad in power and suggested the reformist camp would stand up to challenge the results.

“It is our duty to defend people's votes. There is no turning back,'' Mousavi said, alleging widespread irregularities.

Before dawn Saturday, Tehran's streets were deserted, but there were worries of protests by Mousavi supporters if he is declared the loser. Bringing any showdown into the streets would certainly face a swift backlash from security forces. The political chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guard cautioned Wednesday it would crush any “revolution'' against the Islamic regime by Mousavi's “green movement.''

The Interior Ministry banned all rallies until after the formal announcement of results Saturday. A series of cyber-strikes - blackouts of text messaging, blocks on pro-Mousavi Web sites and widespread Internet disruptions - also raised worries that authorities were prepared to exert further pressures on the communications lifelines of the rejuvenated reformist movement.

Five quarantined for swine flu symptoms in Chennai

Chennai:A family of five, including a six-month-old infant, was quarantined at the airport in Chennai for suspected swine flu symptoms after they arrived from the US in the early hours on Saturday.

Airport officials said, Muralitharan (44), wife Sarika (35) and their three daughters, aged five and three and the baby were found to be suffering from cough, cold and fever, after they were examined by a special medical team stationed at the airport.

The doctors quarantined them immediately and sent them to the Communicable Diseases Hospital at Tondiarpet in Chennai for further medical attention, officials said.

The Coimbatore-based Muralitharan and his family had arrived at Chennai by a Lufthansa flight around 2.30 am.


Indian Business News|Business News


US protectionism: Infy hires Americans

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second-largest provider of software services, plans to boost hiring in the US if a proposal to restrict the country’s work visas becomes law, said B G Srinivas, a company executive.

The recruitment would be in addition to existing projects, Srinivas said in an interview from London, where the senior vice president heads the company’s operations in Europe and manufacturing-services unit worldwide. Bangalore-based Infosys has budgeted 1,000 new US employees by the end of 2010.

“We have already started the hiring engine, but we haven’t hired yet,” Srinivas said in the telephone interview. “All actions have been taken, including locations where this hiring will happen, what kind of profiles -- those plans are in place and we can execute at any time.”

Infosys, whose clients include General Electric Co and General Motors Corp, has about 10 per cent of its 104,900 employees in the US, mainly Indians on H-1B foreign work visas. The proposal by Senators Dick Durbin of the Democratic Party and Republican Charles Grassley would require the company to replace half of them with Americans. They submitted the bill in April as the US battles its highest unemployment rate since 1983.

“The first signs of protectionism are there,” Krishnakumar Natarajan, the chief executive officer of Infosys’s smaller rival MindTree Ltd, said in an interview this week in Bangalore. “The sentiment is clearly, ‘Hey, when there are job losses here, why should they go outside?’”

A possible US law limiting foreign visas comes as Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines Corp, the world’s largest provider of computer services, adds staff in India and challenges Infosys, larger rival Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and their peers in their home market.

Infosys has risen 57 per cent in Mumbai trading this year, compared with a 62 per cent gain at Tata Consultancy. The benchmark Bombay Sensitive Index has advanced 62 per cent.

The Durbin-Grassley bill “obviously is a concern if it gets implemented in full and with no time lag,” Srinivas said. “Over a period of two years, we can easily manage.”


1.3 mn may lose jobs in 2009-10: UNCTAD

New Delhi:About 1.3 million people are likely to lose jobs in the export units in the current financial year due to recession in the developed countries, an UNCTAD study said.

However, the net job loss in the export sector is estimated to be 7.48 lakh since some sectors like plantation may witness a positive growth.

The study said, during 2009-10, India's total exports are likely to dip by 2.2 per cent.

"Petroleum products will experience the maximum decline in export growth followed by gems and jewellery, ores and minerals and textiles and its products," it said.

However, the situation will improve in the next fiscal, when new jobs would be created in the sector, which employs about 50 million people.

"In 2010-11, about 5.22 million jobs could be created. "No job losses are expected as all sectors are expected to experience positive export growth," it said.

In 2008-09, about 1.16 million people lost their jobs due to negative export growth in sectors such as textiles.

With external shipments contracting for the sixth month in a row, the country's exports aggregated USD 168.70 billion in 2008-09, managing a paltry growth rate of 3.4 per cent.


Competition is catching up with India: Premji

Bangalore:IT major Wipro's chief Azim Premji cautioned the industry that competition globally is hotting up and warned the sector against falling into a mind trap of 'India Advantage'.

"We have talked a lot about India advantage. That makes me extremely worried. It's a huge amount of thumping on the back (by Indian IT industry)," Premji at the fifth India Innovation Summit 2009, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

He said BPO (business process outsourcing) exports from the Philippines this year would be "pretty close" to that of India's. Five years ago, BPO exports from the Philippines were probably 10 per cent of what India exported.

That shows that competition is universal and "we just cannot take success for granted", he said.

The growth of India's IT exports has come down to 12-14 per cent in 2008-09 from a compounded annual growth rate of 30 per cent-plus till the previous year. If one went by guidance of leading companies and less-leading ones, growth is going to be a huge challenge in 2009-10.

Echoing Premji, Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan said: "We have to be always on our toes. We cannot be complacent about the lead we have, we cannot be complacent about competition".

Indian Cricket News|Indian Sports News|T20 World Cup News

London:Let down by their much-vaunted top order, defending champions India flunked their first Super Eight test and sunk to a seven-wicket defeat against the West Indies in the Twenty20 World Cup.

Dwayne Bravo scalped four Indian wickets with the ball and then returned to hit an unbeaten 36-ball 66, studded with three sixes, to seal the match.

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bat first boomeranged as the Indian top order crumbled and it required Yuvraj Singh's (67) 43-ball blitzkrieg and Yusuf Pathan's (31) cameo to reach a competitive 153 for seven.

Bravo (4/38) and Fidel Edwards (3/24) shared seven wickets between them while laying bare India's frailty against short-pitch bowling.

India play England in their next Super Eight match here on Sunday.

Leading West Indies' chase, Chris Gayle (22) hit Zaheer Khan for two fours in the first over but had to exercise some caution when Irfan Pathan claimed the scoreless Andrew Fletcher with his second delivery.

Harbhajan Singh began with a maiden over to further straitjacket Gayle and the left-hander decided to go after Yusuf Pathan, only to manage a top edge and Zaheer positioned him perfectly under the skier at short fine leg.

While Gayle featured prominently in India's scheme of things, few spared a thought about Bravo. But in the end, it was Bravo who hurt India most, adding 58 runs with Lendl Simmons (44) and then completing the formality in Shivnarine Chanderpaul's (18 not out) company.

Earlier, Yuvraj celebrated the news of his elevation as vice-captain with an electrifying innings to turn an utterly miserable Indian innings into a respectable score.

Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 19 runs in Super 8 Match

London:Sri Lanka relied on a clinical bowling display to script a comfortable 19-run victory over Pakistan in their first Super Eight match of the Twenty20 World Cup.

After putting up a competitive 150 for seven largely bult around Tilakaratne Dilshan's 46, the islanders stopped Pakistan at 131 for nine to garner full points from the encounter at the historic Lord's.

Except for a 66-run run pertnership for the fourth wicket between captain captain Younis Khan, who top-scored with a 37-ball 50, and his deputy Misbah-ul Haq, Pakistan were never really in the run chase of 151.

They had a fumbling start with their opener Salman Butt out in the third ball and were in back foot losing two wickets in the sixth over before Younis and Misbah revived the innings.

But, once Younis was out in the 17th over wickets fell in a heap at the death and the last edition's runners-up side only tried to narrow down the margin of defeat.

For Sri Lanka, fast bowler Lasith Malinga was the wrecker in chief with a fine spell of 3 for 17 from his four overs.

Muttiah Muralitharan returned with 2/28 from his four overs while Angelo Mathew and Nuwan Kulasekara took a wicket apiece.

Earlier, electing to bat, Sri Lanka opening pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners by sharing an 81-run stand from nine overs before slow bowlers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal brought Pakistan back into the match.

Sri Lanka were threatening to post a huge total by scoring 86 for one at the half-way mark and 120 for four at the end of the 15th over largely due to the contributions of Jayasuriya (26 off 24 balls) and top scorer Dilshan (46 off 39 balls).

Ruthless South Africa enjoying Twenty20: Smith


NOTTINGHAM, England: South African captain Graeme Smith is ready for the challenges ahead in the World Twenty20 after a crushing seven-wicket win over hosts England.

The Proteas unleashed their firepower to bowl out England for a paltry 111 before coasting home in the 19th over in their first Super Eights match at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Smith said he can't wait to face the West Indies at the Oval in London on Saturday before the final second round game against defending champions India at Trent Bridge next Tuesday.

"We are pretty excited about the prospect of playing the West Indies and the next challenge will be India," he said.

"We played with the same intensity that we have been doing in the past and our plan was to squeeze England.

"Twenty20 is a very unpredictable game, but we are well prepared. We are ready for it."

Smith said his team had a simple plan to overcome the fast and furious nature of the shortest version of the game.

"We try to keep the essentials correct and try our best all the time," he said. "It is important to enjoy our cricket, enjoy our success."

Smith praised young left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell, who picked up three wickets to wreck England's batting before Jacques Kallis hit a half-century to guide the Proteas home.

"We performed well with the ball and everyone in the field played their role well with intensity," he said.

"Parnell has been superb. He's just come in, he's very young and he's handled everything really well. He bowled with pace and control. The crowd was against us but he handled the situation very well."

Kallis, who also chipped in with two wickets, said he has been concentrating on improving his bowling.

"I've worked on it for the last two or three years. I discovered lots of variations in the IPL (Indian Premier League)," said the veteran all-rounder who played for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

"We knew if someone stayed at the wicket and we got a run a ball, we'd be okay. I think this was a 140-wicket so our bowlers did really well to restrict them."

Owais Shah was the lone Englishman to withstand the Proteas' onslaught with 38 off 33 balls after four of the top seven batsmen managed only four runs between them.

All the six bowlers used by Smith were among the wickets, with Kallis and Roelof van der Merwe supporting Parnell with two scalps each.

Albie Morkel bowled the first maiden over of the tournament that also included the wicket of Kevin Pietersen, but was not called upon to bowl a second over as the others took care of the England batsmen.

South Africa have been in awesome form in the tournament so far, crushing minnows Scotland by 130 runs before defending their modest 128/7 against New Zealand by one run.

Indian latest News of Today

Ten-year-old girl identifies Kasab

MUMBAI: A ten-year-old girl, rendered disabled during 26/11 terror strikes, on Wednesday identified in court arrested gunman Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab as one of the two gunmen who had fired indiscriminately at passengers inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

Devika Rotawan, the youngest eyewitness to depose in the terror strikes trial, was asked by the court if she could identify the gunman among the three accused present in the dock. All three accused, including Kasab stood in the dock, and the ten-year-old pointed at the Pakistani gunman. He, however, did not react.

Describing the events on the night of November 26 Devika said, "There was a loud explosion, at that time my father said we should leave and holding me in his arms he started running in one direction while my brother ran in another direction."

"Just as we were leaving I saw two persons firing at people. I received a bullet injury in my right leg," she said.

"My leg broke, and blood spilled out," Devika said. Devika was among three witnesses to depose before the court regarding the terror strike at the CST rail terminus.

Her father, Natwarlal, and a Assistant Police Inspector who were injured in the firing at the terminus, also deposed before the court today.

The ten-year-old, who uses crutches to walk, was assisted by her father in walking inside the courtroom. She preferred to depose in Hindi as her brother and father looked on.

Devika Rotawan's father breaks down before special court

Natwarlal Rotwan, an eyewitness and father of a ten-year-old girl who was injured in the terror strike, broke down when asked by the court if he could identify the gunman who had fired indiscriminately at people in the busy rail terminus in south Mumbai.
"It is that fellow who is sitting there. He should be hanged," an emotional Rotwan told the court, pointing at Kasab.

"He has hurt my daughter and should be hanged," he said. When Special judge M L Tahaliyani asked him to calm down, Rotawan said, "only one who gets hurt understands the pain."

Looking at Kasab, he said, "Do such people have any compassion? Does he not have any parents? It's the question of my girl's life."

Rotawan, a 45-year-old who hails from Sumerpur in Rajasthan, told the court he was travelling with his daughter and son to Pune on November 26 night.

They were waiting on a bench at the main waiting hall of CST when he heard a loud explosion, Rotawan said.

Two terrorists were firing at people and one of them was tall while the other was short, Rotawan told the court. "I decided to leave the main hall but while I was running away my daughter was injured," Rotawan said.


Loans likely to get cheaper as Govt prods banks to cut rates

NEW DELHI: Home and other retail loans and industrial lending may become cheaper soon as public sector banks are likely to cut interest rates after the government prodded lenders to provide credit at reasonable rates to spur the economy.

"Our bank will decide on lowering interest rates by the end of this month," country's largest lender SBI's Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters after a meeting between PSU bank heads and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee here.

Expressing concern over non-availability of credit at affordable prices from banks, Mukherjee said, "As a financial intermediary, the banks have to stand-by to provide credit at reasonable rates. This is an area of concern in many quarters both within the government and outside," he said.

He said reduction in key rates by RBI is not getting adequately reflected in the reduction of prime lending rates by banks. "I would urge the banks to address these concerns expeditiously and in adequate measure. This will help restore the environment for rapid growth and ensure that the growth process benefits all our people," Mukherjee said.

To a query as to how much the rates could be cut, the finance minister told reporters, "All possibilities will be explored.I can't quantify it (rates cut)."

Now, racial attack on six Indians in Canada

Vancouver:Close on the heels of Indians being attacked in Australia, six members of the community were racially assaulted by a group of young Canadians while playing tennis on the outskirts of Vancouver.

Police have arrested four Canadians, including a woman, in connection with the assault for shouting racial slurs at and robbing a group of tennis players in Aldergrove on Friday last.

The four - all in their teens - have been charged with robbery, assault with a weapon and uttering threats.

The attack began when a group of four teenagers approached six players at the Jackman Park tennis courts. The youths allegedly used a metal bar and boards ripped off a fence to menace the six victims, all the while shouting racial slurs' local media reported quoting police.

The players were herded into a corner of the court, and one was hit on the head by a thrown board. Their personal belongings were taken by the teenagers.

The B.C. Hate Crime Team is helping the Langley RCMP with the investigation, said RCMP Cpl. Holly Marks. Rodney Mercieca, a 19-year-old Surrey man, and Lesley Rothwell, an 18-year-old Langley woman, have both been charged with four counts of robbery, one count of uttering threats, six counts of assault with a weapon, and one count of assault causing bodily harm.

Mercieca has also been charged with breaching his probation. He had been bound by a probation order on June 4, the day before the attack, said Marks.

Mercieca will now remain in custody until June 12 when he will be back before a Surrey Provincial Court judge for a bail hearing, while Rothwell has been released on several conditions, including no contact orders with the victims or her co-accused.


Wreckage of IAF plane found, all aboard dead

Itanagar, June 10: The wreckage of the IAF AN-32 transport aircraft, carrying 13 defence personnel, was found on Wednesday at a village in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, a day after it went missing, police said.

The defence personnel were feared to have died when the aircraft crashed over Rinchi hill above Heyo village, 60 km from Mechuka in the district, located closed to China border, they said.

Though a wireless message, received at the SP's office at district headquarters Aalo, confirmed the recovery of the wreckage, there was no word about any recovery of human remains.

The aircraft was on a routine food supply sortie and was carrying seven IAF personnel and six army personnel, an IAF spokesman said.

The message, sent by the officer in-charge of Mechuka police station, said two search parties of the Army and the border guarding paramilitary force, ITBP, left for the village this morning.

The police quoted some local people saying that they saw smoke billowing after a very loud sound from the distant hills.

Among the IAF men on board were two wing commanders, two squadron leaders and a flight lieutenant.

The plane had taken off from the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh to Jorhat in Assam at around 2 pm on Tuesday after which it went missing.


French submarine to begin search for black box

Paris:A French submarine with advanced sonar equipment is due to begin searching on Wednesday for the flight recorders of the Air France airliner which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last week, the French military said.

The nuclear-powered submarine Emeraude was dispatched to the area last week to help recover the "black box" flight recorders, which may contain clues to explain the disaster and which are believed to lie deep on the Atlantic ocean floor. "The Emeraude will begin its patrol during the morning in an initial search zone of 36 km by 36," Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French military said. He said the search zone would be changed daily.

If the recorders are found, unmanned robot submarines on board the Pourquoi Pas, a French exploration and survey ship which has also been deployed to the area, could be used to bring them in. All 228 people aboard Air France flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris are believed to have died when the Airbus A330 aircraft crashed into the ocean after flying into stormy weather more than a week ago.

Brazilian military search teams have recovered 41 bodies from the sea and moved some of them to the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha off Brazil's northeastern coast, which is being used as a base for the search operations. Several pieces of wreckage have also been found but a full understanding of the accident will depend on the black box recorders being recovered.

The doomed jet sent 24 automated messages in its final minutes on June 1, detailing a rapid series of systems failures. Speed sensors that gauge how fast an aircraft is flying have become the focus of the investigation after some of the messages showed they provided inconsistent data to the pilots.

Indian Business News|Business News


Sensex up 340 pts, closes at 10-month high

Mumbai:The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday, surged by nearly 340 points to close at a 10-month high as funds remained aggressive buyers on expectations of higher spending in the Budget to boost economic growth.

The 30-share index, gained 339.81 points, or 2.25 per cent, to settle at 15,466.81 points, a level last seen around mid-August 2008. It touched the day's high of 15,580.81 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty soared by 104.30 points, or 2.29 per cent, to 4,655.25, after touching the day's high of 4,688.95.

Marketmen said that expectations of high spending in the Budget to boost economic growth and the firming global stock markets remained a positive factor for the market.

Stocks in power, capital goods, consumer durables and banking segment were the major supporter to the rally. Metal shares spurted after the base-metal prices firmed up in global metal markets last night.

FM asks banks to cut rates for growth

New Delhi:Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked banks to cut interest rates and provide cheap credit to industry in order to spur economic activity.

"As a financial intermediary the banks have to stand by to provide credit at reasonable rates," Mukherjee said addressing the chief executives of public sector banks.

Mukherjee said reduction in key rates by the Reserve Bank is not "adequately (getting) reflected in the reduction of BPLR (benchmark prime lending rates) of banks".

Besides the officials of the finance ministry, the meeting is being attended by heads of major banks and financial institutions including SBI Chairman O P Bhatt, PNB chief K C Chakrabarty and IIFCL Chairman SS Kohli.


Indian cricket News|Indian Sports News|T20 World cup News


Sehwag admits sustaining injury in IPL


Nottingham:Opener Virender Sehwag on Wednesday admitted he was not fit going into the Twenty20 World Cup as he had hurt his shoulder during the Indian Premier League semi-final. "I had suffered the injury during our IPL semifinal clash against Deccan Chargers when I dived to stop a ball," said Sehwag, who captained the Delhi Daredevils in the event, after being ruled out of the T20 World Cup.

The semi-final against Deccan Chargers, which Delhi Daredevils lost badly, was held in South Africa on May 21, almost three weeks ago. The injury has been described by coach Gary Kirsten as "a Grade I tear" and with the urgency being shown on Sehwag's treatment, it raises question why no medical solution to get him in shape was sought for close to three weeks.

Reports now suggest Sehwag would leave for South Africa to show himself to a specialist, but he first intends to show himself to a specialist in London. "There is little I can do. At the moment I would leave for London with my wife (Aarti) and son Aryaveer," Sehwag said.

Kirsten had earlier said Sehwag's medical treatment, besides the physio's work, was restricted to just giving injections to the opener. "It's the type of injury we can't make a decision on, yet. He's had an injection and we want to see how he responds to that," Kirsten had said. "He was picked in the squad and he then had got injured which wasn't serious enough for him to miss the whole tournament." A Grade 1 injury is less than five per cent damage to individual muscle fibers. It's a mild strain which requires two to three weeks' rest.


South Africa will rise above Pietersen rivalry, says Smith

London:South Africa captain Graeme Smith has insisted the presence of Kevin Pietersen in the England side won't act like a red rag to a bull when the sides meet in their World Twenty20 Super Eights opener. Tomorrow' clash at Trent Bridge is set to be the latest high-profile match which sees South Africa-born Pietersen up against the Proteas.

Pietersen controversially quit South Africa and opted to play for England, where his mother was born, in protest at a policy of racial quotas in domestic cricket which he believed were hampering his prospects. Smith, another white cricketer, by contrast stayed and his relationship with Pietersen has often been fractious. England batting ace Pietersen labelled Smith "an absolute muppet" in his autobiography and Smith once said: "Kevin and I would get on a lot better if he kept his mouth shut."

But Smith, speaking after South Africa's one-run win over New Zealand in their final group match, insisted such ill-feeling was a thing of the past. "I don't think there's animosity there," he told reporters. "There will always be the competitiveness between players. He's a world-class batter. "There's no doubt he'll be up for the game on Thursday and tactically we will look at a few things."

"But I think South African teams have come a long way in terms of the way we play our game. We control our emotions very well now. We are tactically quite astute and calm under pressure," Smith said. "We'd rather look at executing good skills rather than get into scrambles that don't really need to be there." During the past year South Africa have won Test series in both England and Australia and Smith said that was proof of their increasing maturity. "It's shown in the results we've turned out in the last two years. We've travelled to pretty much every continent and won."

India await Irish treat

NOTTINGHAM: India take on Ireland in a meaningless Group A World Twenty20 match at Trent Bridge on Wednesday. Meaningless, because Bangladesh the third team in India's group are already out and India and Ireland are already through to the Super Eight stage.

Like the 50-over World Cup, teams that qualify for the next round don't carry the points forward with them ( a major flaw in tournament rules and a classic indicator of ICC's myopia). Hence, there is very little to gain for the two teams from the contest.

Tell that to the Indian captain though and he will quickly dismiss any such thoughts. "You cannot underestimate any team in this format. Ireland will play aggressive cricket. They have nothing to lose, they have already qualified for the super eight stage. There will be less pressure on them."

Does that mean that there is more pressure on India as there is every chance that an associate nation can upset a full-member country which can lead to a major embarrassment especially for the captain.

"I don't know what to say.When we go out, we want to give our best and perform. It's a dead rubber. Maybe the intensity will be a bit low as compared to the game against Pakistan and Bangladesh. But we want to win this game," Dhoni said.

Winning the game and winning it convincingly will also give the Indian team and Dhoni bragging rights over the rivals, who claim they have in Kevin O'Brien, a hitter on par with India's Yuvraj Singh.

The Indian captain had nothing but a sarcastic smile to offer to that comment. He also called Kevin, a good batsman. "But I won't compare him with Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj has proved himself over a number of years. He is one of the biggest hitters in the game. He hits sixes quite consistently."

Dhoni himself is quite a big hitter of the cricket ball. And now, he has more bats to choose from and he can use them to send the ball into orbit. "The more bats you have the better it is. It's a back up. But it's good to score more runs than the number of bats you have," he said jokingly.

The new bat, one hopes will help Dhoni to score big on Wednesday. But more importantly, he will want another thorough and professional performance from his team that will enable the Indians to enter the super eights on a high.

Todays Latest news of india

Some attacks on Indians are racial, Australian cop admits

SYDNEY: The police chief of Australia's Victoria state on Tuesday admitted that some of the attacks on Indian students in this country are "racially motivated" - as maintained by the victims of a series of crimes.

The southeastern state' chief commissioner of police Simon Overland told the media in Victoria's capital Melbourne that some of the robbery attacks are "racially motivated" and others are "opportunistic".

"Whatever the motivation, they (the attacks) are not okay. violence is not okay, being robbed is not okay," he said.

He also said that there is no place for racism in the community, according to the transcript of Overland's informal meet and greet with 50 members of Melbourne's multilingual media.

In the past one month, there have been at least 11 attacks on Indian students, leading to an outrage in India. Representatives of about 90,000 Indians studying here took out a protest march in Sydney on Sunday.

Asked if police used excessive force in breaking up a protest by Indian students in Melbourne last weekend, Overland said he watched from the police operations centre and believed that what he saw was entirely appropriate.

He said there was some force used after the students were given the opportunity for the last time to leave the traffic intersection and they refused to do so. He said students were moved on because the intersection needed to be cleared for peak-hour traffic.

Asked why students were asked to "move on", Overland said they had made their point.

Overland said police have been working on the issue of violence for 18 months with Indian students and universities, and are aware that this is a problem.

Police in Victoria are taking various initiatives to strengthen ties with culturally diverse communities, including Indians, he said.

"There is a shared responsibility between police and the media to provide important messages to the public and to have an open dialogue to understand where the other is coming from, and finding suitable solutions to problems," Overland said.

Earlier, Overland wrote in the Herald Sun: "Some of these crimes are racially motivated; however I also believe that many of the robberies and other crimes of violence are simply opportunistic."

He also urged the Indian community to continue to work with police to find an effective and sustainable solution to the series of crimes.

According to Victoria police officials, in 2007-08, there were 36,765 victims of crimes such as robberies and assaults in the state, of which 24,260 were Caucasian victims and 1,447 victims were people of Indian origin.

Police say 30% of assaults in Melbourne's western suburbs are against Indians, and it is a disproportionate figure in a city of nearly four million people.


IAF plane with 12 people goes missing


SHILLONG: A transport plane of Indian Air Force carrying six IAF personnel went missing on Tuesday over the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh and is feared to have crashed, an IAF spokesman said here.

The AN-32 plane had flown from Dibrugarh in Assam to Mechuka in Arunachal from where it took off again with the civilians for Jorhat at around 2 pm, after which the aircraft went missing, said IAF spokesman Wing Commander P Sahu.

He said the plane was feared to have crashed. The six civilians were being ferried as part of the IAF plane's regular sortie.

An aerial search operation over the dense forests and mountains of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Bhutan where the plane might have crashed was carried out but neither the wreckage nor bodies could be located, Sahu said.

The search would resume on Wednesday and army and paramilitary personnel in the area have been put on alert.


Sheetal Mafatlal gets bail in custom duty evasion case

Mumbai:Businesswoman and socialite Sheetal Mafatlal was released from jail after getting bail on certain conditions by a Mumbai court in a case of alleged evasion of duty on jewellery worth Rs 53 lakhs carried by her on return from London.

A magistrate released her on bail on Rs five lakh in cash or surety and asked her to deposit Rs 18 lakhs with the Air Intelligence Unit of Customs.

Sheetal was also asked to report to the Customs twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays and told not to leave the country without the permission of the court. Sheetal was detained at the Mumbai airport on Sunday after she was found to be carrying 61 items of assorted jewellery, two wrist watches and a ladies handbag valued by Customs to the tune of Rs 53.67 lakh.

However, Sheetal contended that the value of jewellery carried by her was Rs 20,000 and these items were gifted to her by her parents and in-laws. She denied the Customs allegation that they were purchased abroad.

Sheetal's husband, Atulya Mafatlal, scion of Mafatlal Industries, said he was happy that his wife has got bail but was miffed at the treatment meted out to her by the authorities.

"Women need to be treated with respect... They should not be harassed," he said outside the court after Sheetal was granted bail.

"I am very happy over the development and will now go to jail to get her released. My first priority is to bring my wife home and I am happy that Sheetal will be back soon," he told reporters.

More Bodies Pulled From Air France Debris

RECIFE, Brazil, June 9, 2009:Four more bodies from Air France Flight 447 were recovered Tuesday, and helicopters began ferrying other remains to shore. Air France rushed to replace instruments suspected of feeding false information to the doomed jet's computers, while Brazil announced it was doing the same on the president's plane.

The four bodies found Tuesday morning raises the total recovered to 28, meaning 200 others have yet to be found. Soldiers and medical personnel in surgical gowns carried off the remains in body bags at the island of Fernando de Noronha. They will be taken by plane to the coastal city of Recife, where experts will try to identify them using DNA and photos.

Identifying the bodies - knowing just where they were seated in the plane and studying their injuries - could provide clues to causes of the May 31 disaster, according to Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

With the plane's data recorders still apparently deep in the ocean, investigators have been focusing on the possibility that external speed monitors - called Pitot tubes - iced over and gave dangerously false readings to the plane's computers in a thunderstorm.

The L-shaped metal Pitot tubes jut from the wing or fuselage of a plane, and are heated to prevent icing. The pressure of air entering the tubes lets sensors measure the speed and angle of flight. A malfunctioning Pitot tube could mislead computer controlling the plane to accelerate or decelerate in a potentially dangerous fashion.

Air France said it began replacing the Pitot tubes on the Airbus A330 model on April 27 after an improved version became available, and said it will finish the work in the "coming weeks."

The monitors had not yet been replaced on the plane that crashed while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Brazil's air force, meanwhile, said that was replacing the Pitot tubes on an Airbus A319 used by President Luiz InDacio Lula da Silva because of a recommendation of the jet's manufacturer more than a month before the Air France crash. It did not say when the change was made.

All Air France jets taking off Tuesday will be equipped with at least two of the new Pitot sensors, Eric Derivry, a spokesman for the SNPL union, the main union for Air France pilots, told France-Info radio.

A memo sent to Air France pilots by the smaller Alter union Monday and obtained by The Associated Press urges them to refuse to fly unless at least two of the three Pitot sensors on each planes have been replaced, citing a "strong presumption" among its pilot members that a Pitot problem precipitated the crash.

The memo says the airline should have grounded all A330 and A340 jets pending the replacement, and warns of a "real risk of loss of control" due to Pitot problems.

Two companies manufacture the Pitot monitors for the A330 planes - France's Thales Group and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Goodrich Corp. Air France uses those made by Thales while Qantas uses those by Goodrich for its 28 A330 planes, said David Epstein, a Qantas executive.

Some airline industry officials rallied to defend the Airbus planes. At an industry conference in Kuala Lumpur, Emirates Airlines President Tim Clark said the Dubai-based company's 29 A330-200 planes have been flying since 1998 "and there is absolutely no reason why there should be any question over this plane. It is one of the best flying today."

Brazil's air force said search crews had recovered the vertical stabilizer from the tail section of Flight 447 - which also could provide key clues as to why the airliner went down in the Atlantic and where best to search for the black boxes.

The tail section includes the vertical stabilizer - which keeps the plane's nose from swinging back and forth - and the rudder, which controls the side-to-side motion. The data and voice recorders are also located in the fuselage near the tail.

From images of the recovered tail section, the damage looks like a lateral fracture, said William Waldock, who teaches air crash investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

"That would reinforce the idea that the plane broke up in flight," Waldock said. "If it hits intact, everything shatters in tiny pieces."

Goelz said the faulty airspeed readings and the fact the vertical stabilizer was sheared from the jet could be related.

The Airbus A330-200 has a "rudder limiter" which constricts how much the rudder can move at high speeds. If it were to move too far while traveling fast, it could shear off and take the vertical stabilizer with it.

"If you had a wrong speed being fed to the computer by the Pitot tube, it might allow the rudder to over travel," Goelz said.

Asked if the rudder or stabilizer being sheared off could have brought the jet down, Goelz said: "Absolutely. You need a rudder. And you need the (rudder) limiter on there to make sure the rudder doesn't get torn off or cause havoc with the plane's aerodynamics."

With the discovery of debris and bodies about 45 miles from where the jet was last heard from, searchers are narrowing their hunt for the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. They must move quickly - acoustic beacons or "pingers" on the black boxes begin to fade 30 days after crashes.

The U.S. Navy is helping out, providing devices capable of picking up the pingers to a depth of 20,000 feet that will be slowly towed in a grid pattern across the search area. The French nuclear attack submarine Emeraude, arriving later this week, also will try to find the acoustic pings, military spokesman Christophe Prazuck said.

France, Brazil and the Pentagon have said there are no signs that terrorism was involved in the crash.


Indian Business News |Business News

German retail giant goes bust, 43,000 jobs at risk


Berlin:German retail and tourism giant Arcandor filed for bankruptcy today, putting around 43,000 jobs at risk after Berlin dismissed the company's request for emergency state aid.

"Arcandor AG today filed with the Essen District Court to open insolvency proceedings," the group said in a statement.

"This will affect a total of around 43,000 employees of the Arcandor group in Germany. Employee salaries are secure for the months of June, July and August," the statement said.

The group, which employs 70,000 people in Europe, two-thirds of whom work in Germany, said its department store chain Karstadt, as well as mail-order company Quelle, would also be affected by the insolvency.

Travel agency Thomas Cook, in which Arcandor holds a 52-percent stake, "will remain unaffected by the insolvency proceedings," the statement added.

Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that Arcandor now had a chance to merge with another retail firm and named Metro, Germany's largest retailer, as a possible partner.

Metro, which employs 300,000 people in 32 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa quickly expressed an interest in taking over its stricken rival.

"We remain, as before, committed to our proposal of taking over some 60 Karstadt sites and thereby saving the majority of jobs," Metro said in a statement.

"The door for talks and negotiations is open," it added.

Satyam has Rs 373 crore bank balance

MUMBAI: India's fraud-hit IT giant Satyam Computer Services on Tuesday said it had a bank balance of Rs.373 crore (about $75 million) at the end of March 2009, but at the same time, it also had a Rs.460-crore loan outstanding.

At the beginning of the year, the IT giant's outstanding loan stood at Rs.200 crore. The company later repaid Rs.100 crore before raising Rs.369 crore in fresh loans in the first quarter, Satyam said in a regulatory statement.

"The company's total bank balances as on March 31, 2009, were Rs.373 crore. Out of the sanctioned loan limit, as on March 31, 2009, the company had availed loans worth Rs.469 crore ($93.8 million)," the filing said.

The company registered a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs.181 crore in the quarter ended Dec 31, 2008, the IT bellwether said.

Satyam had earlier furnished the details on a non-disclosure agreement to its bidders.

"Such information was provided to select bidders subject to the execution of a non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement," the company said.

Satyam's export turnover during the quarter was Rs.2,194 crore, while domestic earnings were reported at Rs.100 crore.

During January, when the gross discrepancies in the balance sheet came into light, the IT exporter reported a minuscule PAT of Rs.5 crore.

In February, its profit soared to Rs.52 crore though revenues dropped to Rs.676 crore, the statement said.

This is the first publicly disclosed earnings estimates from Satyam since the disgraced former chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed inflating the company's balance sheet and assets by Rs.7,800 crore or more than $1.6 billion.


IBM, EDS, Infosys win A$1.2 bn deal

SYDNEY: International Business Machines Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co’s Electronic Data Systems and India’s Infosys Technologies Ltd won orders worth Australian $1.2 billion ($949 million) over five years from Australia's Telstra Corp.

IBM received a renewed five-year contract worth Australian $750 million to manage the infrastructure at Australia’s biggest phone company, Melbourne-based Telstra said in an e-mailed statement today.

EDS and Infosys won orders worth Australian $450 million over five years for so-called application development and maintenance services, Telstra said.

Telstra said the contracts will allow the phone company to boost efficiency by working with fewer technology-services vendors.


SBI to hire 13,000 staff during current fiscal


New Delhi:The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, plans to recruit 13,000 persons at various levels during the current fiscal.

"During 2008-09, the bank absorbed 33,703 new employees and this year we have plans to induct 13,000 into the SBI system," a top official of the bank.

The new recruits will be deployed across various businesses with objective to drive productivity, he said.

There is also need to groom leaders for the future at all levels, the official added.

It is to be noted the bank last fiscal recruited 20,000 clerks across the country.

SBI is currently in the process of recruiting officers, marketing and recovery (Rural), and technical officers (farm sector).

Both the jobs, though contractual in nature, will provide employment opportunity to about 481 persons.

According to an initial estimate public sector banks are set to hire 30,000 personnel during 2009-10.

"As per the preliminary estimates, public sector banks are expected to hire over 30,000 people during 2009-10," Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) Director M Balachandran said.

Thus, SBI alone would hire close of 50 per cent of the total estimated number.


Indian Cricket News|Indian Sports News | T20 World cup News

Afridi sends Dutch spinning to defeat

LONDON: Shahid Afridi starred for Pakistan with the ball as the Test side ensured the end of the Netherlands's fairytale performance at the World Twenty20 at Lord's on Tuesday.

Leg-spinner Afridi took four wickets for just 11 runs in his four overs - the fourth best return in all Twenty20 internationals - as 2007 finalists Pakistan won by 82 runs to book their place in the second phase Super Eights.

The Dutch, shock four-wicket winners over England at Lord's in Friday's tournament opener and with a better run-rate at the start, needed to make 151 to get through and so deny Pakistan the minium 25-run margin of victory they required.

But Afridi, well supported by fellow spinner Saeed Ajmal (three for 20), sparked a collapse that saw the Dutch decline from 42 for one to 93 all out.

Victory saw Pakistan, beaten by 48 runs by England at the Oval on Sunday, join the hosts in the second phase after they had made 175 for five with wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, who later made four stumpings, top-score with 41.

By contrast, no Dutch batsman made more than Alexei Kervezee's 21.

"Afridi was outstanding and we struggled on this wicket," said Dutch skipper Jeroen Smits.

"We talked about Afridi and that we had to play him straight, but we didn't do it.

"However, it's still been a privilege to be here even if we didn't make it to the Super Eights."

Pakistan captain Younus Khan was relieved that his team had avoided suffering the fate of Australia who lost both their matches and were eliminated.

"We were much better today and the partnerships were important," said Younus. "Our spinners bowled very well."

The Dutch chase started briskly with Darron Reekers striking fours off left-arm quicks Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Aamir.

But Afridi struck with his first ball when he bowled former Sussex batsman Bas Zuiderent for 13.

That left the Dutch 42 for two in the eighth over.

It was the start of a collapse from which they never recovered.

Tom de Grooth, who made 49 against England, could not repeat his heroics this time and was bowled by Afridi, better known as a hard-hitting batsman, who took three wickets in the space of 10 balls.

Shoulder injury rules Sehwag out of T20 World Cup

Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag will not feature in ICC Twenty20 World Cup here, as he has a shoulder injury that requires surgery, sources said. Sehwag skipped the opening match against Bangladesh including all the practice matches. Indian skipper Dhoni has had to gamble with Rohit Sharma as Gautam Gambhir''s opening partner. Sharma is now likely to open for India. Further details are awaited.



Real Madrid sign Kaka from AC Milan

MADRID: Real Madrid have signed Brazilian midfielder Kaka from AC Milan, the Primera Liga club said on their website on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old international has agreed to a six-year contract to become the first player to join Real since Florentino Perez returned to the presidency this month.

Reports said the transfer fee was around 68 million euros ($94.05 million) which would make it the second biggest ever after Zinedine Zidane joined Real from Juventus for around 73 million euros in 2001.

Kaka completed a routine medical earlier on Monday in Recife, where Brazil face Paraguay at home in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

Kaka said he was leaving the Italians on good terms.

"Everything I've always done for Milan has been by mutual agreement, from the moment I arrived until my departure today," he said. "I'm leaving by the front door."

"I've won everything that I wanted as a player and this is a new motivation for me."

"I'm sure Real Madrid will build a competitive team which can start winning titles again."

The official unveiling in Madrid is likely to take place at the end of the month, after the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

"We are working on building a good team, an important team, and this has only just begun," Perez told radio station Onda Cero.

Milan thanked Kaka for his contribution.

"AC Milan thanks the man Kaka and the champion Kaka for his decisive contributions to so many victories obtained in the last six years," the Serie A club said in a statement.

"His loss on the field, though serious, can be filled. It will, however, be very difficult to fill the void left by Kaka the man."

Kaka has long been a target for Real Madrid since former president Ramon Calderon promised to sign him in his election campaign in 2006 but failed to deliver.

Calderon resigned in January paving the way for Perez to come back three years after he stood down, and he was returned unopposed to the post.

Perez has promised to deliver a "spectacular sporting project" built around the world's greatest players, and local media have spoken of a 300 million euro war chest which will be used to finance a second 'Galactico era' at the Bernabeu.

Having lured the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to Real earlier in the decade, Perez's flagship first signing on his return was Kaka, a move seen as both a declaration of intent and a dig at his predecessor.

He has also spoken of interest in Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery, Liverpool's Xabi Alonso and Valencia duo David Villa and David Silva.

New coach Manuel Pellegrini is the man tasked with blending these talents into a team capable of challenging treble-winners Barcelona.

Kaka will not face much competition in midfield which was one of Real's weakest areas last season as they lacked flair players capable of opening up sides in big games.

His arrival will also cheer Real fans clamouring for a more entertaining brand of football, and who had often chanted "Where is Kaka?" at player presentations under Calderon over the last couple of years.