Latest News of India

Multiplexes resume bookings for MNIK after govt's assurance

MUMBAI: Multiplexes today reopened advance booking for Shah Rukh Khan's new film 'My Name Is Khan', a day after suspending it, following Maharashtra government's assurance to provide adequate security to cinema theatres here.

"Advance booking of 'My Name..' has started again after police intervened in the matter and ensured tight security to all theatres," Minister of State for Home Ramesh Bagwe told reporters.

Despite the government assurance of providing security to cinema halls screening the movie which releases on February 12, some multiplexes had closed advance bookings yesterday, fearing violent protest from Shiv Sena.

"As per law, compensation for damaging the properties (of theatres) would be sought from Sena, if required," Bagwe said.

Police have arrested over 1,200 Shiv Sainiks, some of them office-bearers, since yesterday after they stepped up protest against the film over the actor's 'Pakistan -players-for IPL-3' remarks last month.

Pawar can't escape specific responsibility on price rise: Cong

NEW DELHI: Maintaining that food inflation is "most provocative and harmful" for the common man, Congress on Wednesday said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar could not absolve himself of the primary responsibility for it.

"All inflation is anathema to the Congress-led UPA. Food inflation is most provocative and harmful. It needs priority attention", party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.

While the responsibility is common, he said there was a "specific responsibility of a ministry in a collective context".

Seeking to point out that Pawar holds Agriculture and the concerned other Ministries regarding essential commodities, He said there is a "differential responsibility in the anonymous collective responsibility".

Singhvi steered clear of a question whether Pawar was giving strength to Shiv Sena by his meeting its chief Bal Thackeray. "I do not want to speculate on it".

The Congress statement came a day after NCP hit back at it for virtually holding Pawar responsible for spiralling food prices, saying it will be a "mockery" of the principle of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.

China's anti-ship missile not a threat: Navy chief

New Delhi: Dismissing China's anti-ship missile programme as a threat to Indian warships, Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma on Wednesday said it would be a difficult task to even spot the vessels in the vast expanse of high seas.

"Targeting ships at high seas is not an easy task or as simple as land warfare," Admiral Verma told reporters here on the sidelines of a seminar on aircraft carriers organised by the National Maritime Foundation here.

"There are hundreds and thousands of ships in the sea at any given time. It is extremely important to spot the ship before targeting it. There are limitations in terms of maritime reconnaissance and long-range searches," Verma said when asked about the threat posed by Chinese Anti-ship Ballistic Missile Programme.

He said it was "a complex problem" to use a conventional missile against a moving target at high seas.

Earlier, addressing the seminar, the Navy chief said aircraft carriers were expensive and there were questions on their affordability and survivability due to their large size while at sea.

"Some event talk about carrying out land-based missile attacks against an aircraft carrier. We must weigh this against the difficulties of targeting a mobile target out at sea," he said, noting that carriers can move 600 nautical miles a day, which translates into one million square nautical miles of ocean area which an adversary has to search.

Verma said this was a Herculean task for even the best of navies, satellite and aerial surveillance.

"Should an adversary manage to evade a plethora of air, surface and sub-surface escorts and be capable of hitting a carrier, sinking it or putting a carrier out of action is by no means easy," he said.

Drunk driver Nooriya tested positive for drugs: Police

MUMBAI: Nooriya Haveliwala, accused of drunk-driving and knocking a policeman and a man dead Jan 30, has tested positive for drugs and faces fresh charges under anti-narcotics laws, police said here Wednesday.

The medical reports of the 27-year-old woman's blood and urine samples tested positive for morphine and cannabis, Additional Police Commissioner (South) R.K. Padmanabhan told mediapersons.

He said the reports state that she tested positive but do not indicate the quantity of the drugs consumed.

Mumbai Police now plans to seek her custody at the next hearing Feb 16 and also slap her with Sec. 27 of the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act, Padmanabhan added.

The section pertains to consumption of drugs and could attract a punishment of one-year imprisonment on that count.

Nooriya has already been charged with the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a maximum of life imprisonment and the new developments will further strengthen the police case against her.

Incidentally, her breathalyzer test conducted by the police, which showed that she had consumed 457 mg of alcohol - nine times the permissible limits for driving - had been proved erroneous in a forensic test, which put her alcohol consumption content at only 144 mg.

The lower alcohol content in her body could have helped her secure bail, but the new report showing consumption of drugs would make it an uphill task.

Nooriya's medico father, Yusuf Haveliwala, had challenged the police claim and said that any person with that much quantity of alcohol would not be able to walk properly.

However, Nooriya was walking straight despite wearing high heels and he said that the breathalyzer readings could be wrong.

On the night of Jan 29, Nooriya had partied with friends at a flat in Malabar Hill area, then at a pub in Mumbai Central and then went to a wine shop to pick up more beer cans.

While driving her SUV Toyota CRV, she was sipping beer when it bumped into a taxi, a motorcycle and a police jeep at Marine Lines.

The motorcycle rider, Afzal M. (35) died on the spot, while sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde (40) died later at a hospital. Four other policemen suffered injuries in the accident.

Business News

Sensex sheds 120 pts on profit-booking

Mumbai: Snapping a three-day rally, the BSE benchmark index Sensex pared the early gains and shed 120 points at close on profit-selling by mostly funds.

The Sensex, which gained nearly 251 points in last three sessions, opened 99 points higher before ending 120.01 points down, or 0.75 per cent at 15,922.17, as funds sold heavily in blue-chips in the heavy machinery, PSUs, power, and banking counters on fears that government may withdraw a part of its stimulus package in the forthcoming budget.

However, the realty and consumer durables counters rose following reports that sale of building materials jumped 15 per cent in January, signaling continued economic growth.

The wide-based NSE index Nifty 50, too, lost 35.45points, or 0.74 per cent to 4,757.20, after touching a high of4,826.85.

The index had a 34 points gap-up opening on short-covering by speculators following a 1.52 per cent rally on the Wall Street after G-7 agreed to support the Eurozone nations facing sovereign debt crises.

Marketmen said the stocks are on a southward spiral on waning risk appetite among foreign investors and general investors seen booking profits at existing higher levels.

They also said the markets could not hold on to the early rally as soon after a strong opening the Asian indices stocks began to wear down. Also, the European indices were also only marginally up in their early morning trade.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 21 counters closed lower while nine ended with moderate gains. Brokers are of the view that the markets would move in a narrow range till the budget on Feb 26.

Economy to grow by 7.75 pct in FY10: FM

New Delhi: Referring to last year's economic survey projections that Indian economy could grow by 7.75 per cent this fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the economic expansion is expected to be in the upper range of most predictions.

"The Economic Survey 2008-09 had indicated that the upper bound of growth in real GDP for the year 2009-10 could be around 7.75 per cent. With the latest GDP data on 2009-10 indicating 7.9 per cent growth in the second quarter, the growth outlook for the next two quarters and for the whole year is expected to be in the upper bound range of most predictions for the Indian economy," Mukherjee said at Consultative Committee meeting of the Colombo Plan.

The Finance Minister said that the Central Statistical Organisation in its advance estimate has projected the economy to grow by 7.2 per cent this fiscal.

Recently the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy had forecast that the economy would grow at 7.75 per cent for this fiscal, while the Reserve Bank had pegged the GDP at 7.5 per cent.

The International Monetary fund has also said that the Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.75 per cent for the year 2009-10.

Govt talks fuel price hike with allies

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet is likely to discuss on Thursday a Petroleum Ministry proposal for freeing petrol prices from government control and a moderate increase in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene rates, ahead of which Oil Minister Murli Deora held consultations with key allies DMK and Trinamool Congress on the subject.

Deora met A Raja, Telecom Minister and senior leader of UPA's key ally, DMK, this morning and spoke over phone to Trinamool Congress leader and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee explaining the "precarious" situation that PSU oil firms would find themselves in, if fuel prices were not hiked.

Sources said that both Raja as well as Banerjee were non-committal on the stand that their parties may take if the proposal of freeing petrol prices – that would lead to a price increase of Rs 4.72 a litre - comes before Cabinet tomorrow.

Already, opposition from key allies has seen Deora drop the proposal on freeing diesel prices that would have resulted in rates going up by Rs 2.33 a litre. However, there is now a move to hike diesel rates by at least Re one a litre. Deora may, however, bargain for an increase in LPG and kerosene rates although it would not be in the range of the steep Rs 100 per cylinder and Rs 6 a litre hike, respectively, suggested by the Kirit Parikh panel on fuel pricing reforms.

Sources said he may bargain for half of the increases suggested by the panel, but may settle at Rs 25 per cylinder hike in LPG rates and Re one a litre raise in kerosene prices. The Congress party core group, which includes UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will meet to vet the proposal before it goes to the Cabinet.

Deora refused to say what his ministry may propose to the Cabinet. "At the time of presentation of the Kirit Parikh Committee report (last week), I had said that we will process and present our view on it to the Cabinet in one week. We are ready (with comments on the report) and will submit it to the Cabinet..."

He refused to elaborate but gave enough hints that the ministry's view would incorporate the Congress party's stand that may evolve at the core group meeting.

The experts group, headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, recommended deregulating of petrol and diesel prices, while raising kerosene and domestic LPG rates by Rs 6 per litre and Rs 100 per cylinder, respectively.

State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum sell fuel below cost on the orders of the government and expect a revenue loss of Rs 46,030 crore on that account this year. Of this, the government was meeting only Rs 12,000 crore, Deora explained to Raja and Banerjee.

Sources said Raja is believed to have told Deora that a position on the proposal will be taken by his party's leader M Karunanidhi.

Petrol is currently sold at a loss of Rs 4.72 a litre, diesel at Rs 2.33 per litre, kerosene at Rs 18.06 per litre and domestic LPG at a discount of Rs 287.59 per cylinder.

In case the government went for only marginal price hikes, the Cabinet will also have to decide on how the remainder of the revenue loss would be met. At present, the government does not allow state-running fuel retailers to fix petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG prices in line with international cost, resulting in huge revenue losses for the companies and subsidy burden on government.

Sports News

You can fire me but selection was not an issue: Srikkanth

New Delhi: Rejecting suggestions that selection goof-ups led to India's humiliating defeat in the first Test against South Africa, chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth on Wednesday said he is still ready to face the sack if held responsible for the debacle.

India lost the match by an innings and six runs yesterday and former players and critics felt the team desperately missed a specialist batsman in the absence of the injured duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

Laxman's cover Rohit Sharma injured himself just minutes before the toss, forcing the selection of rookie Wriddhiman Saha, who was initially picked in the squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.

But Srikkanth refuted the criticism, saying that the selectors could not be held responsible if a reserve batsman also ends up on the injured list on the morning of the match.

"The whole thing would not have blown up had Rohit played. The questions that are being raised are about Saha's selection. He is actually a wicketkeeper who can bat a bit. But he proved himself well in the match," Srikkanth said.

"As the chairman of the selection panel, I am willing to own up responsibility. It's a lesson learnt and from now on, we will not select players who are not 100 per cent fit," he said, referring to Laxman's selection in the squad despite the uncertainty over his availability ahead of the match.

"It's a team game and individuals cannot be blamed. You can blame the selectors. You can fire me, I would accept it gracefully. But let's admit that South Africa played really well. We should accept defeat gracefully and move on," said Srikkanth. Srikkanth insisted that the team selected was the best available given the injury list.

"I don't think selection was an issue. It's like if the team wins, all is fine but if it loses then everybody blames the selectors. I am not shying away from the responsibility. Whatever happened on the first morning of the match was freakish. If a player gets injured just 15 minutes before the toss, I don't think you can blame anyone," he said.

"In hindsight, we didn't have Rahul (Dravid), who is a fantastic player of fast bowling. Laxman was injured... we were hopeful of his recovery but unfortunately that didn't happen and then Rohit got injured. So, I would say it was fate," he added.

Srikkanth said despite the Nagpur debacle, which has left India trailing 0-1 in the two-match series, the home side was quite capable of bouncing back in the Kolkata Test starting on Sunday.

"The team is good. Laxman will definitely be back for Kolkata and that will bolster the batting. I am sure our team will fight back. Winning and losing are part and parcel of cricket," he said.

Gambhir still No. 1 batsman, Harbhajan drops out of top 10

Dubai:Indian opener Gautam Gambhir continued to top Test batsmen rankings despite a poor show in first Test against South Africa while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh dropped out of top 10 among bowlers in the ICC chart released on Wednesday

Gambhir, who scored just 13 in the first Test in Nagpur, remained world's top batsman with 840 points, ahead of Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene (836) and Kumar Sangakkara (835). Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, who both scored centuries in Nagpur, are the other Indians to feature in the top 10 at sixth and ninth places respectively. By virtue of their exploits in Nagpur, South African pair of Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla have made big upward movements in the latest batting chart.

Kallis, who scored his 34th Test century during the match, has returned to the top five by gaining four places to sit in fourth position ahead of his captain Graeme Smith, who slipped three places to fifth. Amla, meanwhile, broke into the top 10 for the first time in his career with the help of his magnificent unbeaten 253 in the first innings, which set up South Africa's victory against India yesterday by an innings and six runs.

In the ICC Players' Rankings for Test bowlers, India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is static at the sixth spot while Harbhajan, who took two wickets for 166 in Nagpur, dropped four places to find himself at 12th.

Boycott IPL if Hyderabad games shifted out: AP govt to Deccan

Hyderabad: Furious at the Indian Premier League for shifting its opening match out of the city, the state government on Wednesday asked local team Deccan Chargers to boycott the Twenty20 event if the organisers don't stick to the orginal schedule.

Andhra Pradesh Sports Minister K Venkat Reddy said he and Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday sent letters to Union Agriculture Minister and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar urging him to ensure that the opening match is held here as per the original schedule. The IPL starts on March 12 with Deccan Chargers taking on Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai. "We have asked Deccan Chargers to stay away from the event as an expression of solidarity and send the message that the whole state is united in demanding relocation of the (inaugural) match," said Reddy.

"I spoke to Deccan Chargers and they said they will get back to us, may be by tomorrow," he said. "They have insulted Andhra Pradesh by shifting out the match to Mumbai. In fact, Hyderabad is more suited to host the match than Mumbai," Reddy said. The government has demanded that the Indian Premier League's opening match should be held in the city as originally scheduled.

Indian Latest News

Sena activists vandalise Mumbai theatres; 46 sainiks held

Mumbai: Shiv Sena activists held for demonstrations outside theatres in eastern suburbs against Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'My Name is Khan', prompting the police to arrest 46 troublemakers.

At Mulund area, the glasses of Mehul cinema were broken after one of the protesters pelted stones, police said adding that several gathered outside Huma Cinema at Kanjurmarg and R-City Mall at Ghatkopar area, shouting slogans against Khan and the movie, scheduled to be released on February 12.

"We have arrested 46 Shiv Sena activists protesting outside the theatres. More arrests are likely," Additional Police Commissioner (East) Ritesh Kumar said.

The protesters threatened the theatre owners to stop the advance bookings or face the severe consequences. The Sena activists were booked for unlawful assembly, rioting and further probe was on, police said.

The Sena had threatened to stall the screening of the film, protesting Khan's support for inclusion of Pakistani players in the upcoming IPL but party supremo Bal Thackeray later said that the film's release will not be disrupted.

Earlier today, Karan Johar, director and co-producer of film, met City Police Commissioner D Sivanandhan to discuss the security issues ahead of the movie's release.

Govt says no to Bt Brinjal for now

NEW DELHI: Facing intense opposition from within and outside, the government refused to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal,a genetically-modified version of the vegetable that is said to be more resistant to pests.

Announcing a cautious approach of the government, Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh said there was "no clear consensus" among the scientists and stake-holders on giving permission to Bt Brinjal and more studies needed to be conducted.

"There is no over-riding urgency to introduce it... When the public sentiments have been negative, it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary and principle-based approach," he told a hurriedly-called press conference which was originally scheduled for tomorrow.

"I will not impose a decision till such time independent scientific studies establish safety of the product from long-term view of human health," Ramesh said.

He said it was a difficult decision to take but he had to balance many issues of science and society and producer and consumer.

However, he made it clear that today's decision applied only to Bt Brinjal and does not cover future of genetically-modified crops, be it ladyfinger, cabbage or rice.

Ramesh's decision came after a series of public consultations in seven cities across the country that often turned acrimonious. A number of state governments, including Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, have publicly opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal.

Agni III doesn't pose threat, we share friendly relations with India: China

BEIJING: Describing its ties with India as "friendly and cooperative," China today said both countries did not pose mutual threat.

Dismissing reports that India's nuclear-capable Agni-III missile, which has a range of 3,500 km posed a threat to China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said China and India shared friendly and cooperative relations.

"I don't want to interpret or comment on the reports," Ma said when asked to comment on the February seven launch of Agni-III which put China's major cities within its strike range.

"The China-India relation is friendly and cooperative. China will not be a threat to India, and nor will India pose a threat to China," Ma was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu refused to comment on the reports at a regular news briefing, only saying that China-India relations maintain their good momentum.

"Bilateral ties will move forward with the joint effort of both countries," he said.

Chidambaram renews offer of talks with Naxals

Kolkata: After a meeting of four naxal-affected states, the Centre on Tuesday said it was ready to hold talks with the Maoists if they "halt" violence.

"My appeal to all the naxals on behalf of all the chief ministers who participated in the conference two days ago, on behalf of naxal affected states, if you abjure violence that is if you say a halt to violence, we are not asking you to do anything more, if you halt the violence we are prepared to talk to you on any matter," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

He was talking to reporters after a meeting of chief minister of Naxal-affected states which was not attended by chief ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand Nitish Kumar and Shibu Soren respectively.

Kumar told reporters in Patna that he could not be away from Patna for long and today is the scheduled day for the state cabinet to meet. Soren, who had cited illness for not attending the meeting, had deputed his two deputy chief ministers.

Against the backdrop of reports that Kumar kept away at the instance of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chidambaram sought to play down his absence.

He said Kumar had told him in Delhi on Sunday that he had some prior commitment and that he may not be able to attend the Kolkata meeting. "His senior officials are here.

Either I can go to Patna or he can go to Delhi (to discuss Maoist issues). That is not an issue," Chidambaram said.

On the naxal issue, the Home Minister said the "condition" is Maoist should "halt" violence. “Unfortunately, past appeals have been spurned. Therefore, we are obliged to continue the operations as long as naxals indulge in violence. These operations will continue and I am confident that further progress will be made in next six months”, Chidambaram said. “We made it very clear that the purpose of these operations is not to kill anyone. They are our own people. We care for them, we care for their lives”, he said.

The meeting, convened by the Union Home Minister, to help states to coordinate their campaign against Naxals, began an hour behind schedule as Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived late. The meeting was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

“Use of force alone will not solve the problem. We all agree on that. But in order to put an end to violence and re-establish civil administration, it is necessary to use force”, he said when asked about the Bihar Chief Minister's contention that the Maoist problem could not be solved by use of force. “The government must continue operations against Maoists in a careful, calibrated and controlled way if Maoists do not halt violence”, he said.

Race motive clear in some attacks, admits Oz FM

Under mounting pressure over attacks on Indians, Australia on Tuesday acknowledged that some of the recent violence against them had clearly been "racially motivated" and vowed to "punish the culprits with the full force of law".

Stating that the attacks had "considerably damaged" the nation's reputation, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the Parliament that "if any of these attacks have been racist in nature - and it seems clear that some of them have - they will be punished with the full force of law".

Smith said the attacks which have included robberies and beatings are "inexcusable" and were being taken very seriously by the government.

The foreign minister intervened on the matter after the government came in for a sharp attack from the opposition which accused the Victorian government of failing to tackle the racist attacks on Indians.

Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that he was worried over the narration by his Asian-origin son-in-law of racisms in Australia. Rudd said that his government's efforts were aimed at improving safety of foreign students who worked late at night.

Leaders and officials in Australian had earlier down played racism as a motive for attacks on Indians which have triggered outrage in India. Smith's remarks came just ahead of Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh's visit to New Delhi to brief the government on the steps taken by Australia to prevent attacks on Indians. Singh is excepted to be in New Delhi this week.

Describing the attacks as "contemptible", Smith said these had cast a long shadow over relationship and ties with India and said these were an "affront to our values and are anathema to a view of modern Australia."

Giving an update on the issue, the minister said, "we need to accept that it has considerably damaged Australia's reputation in India and among the Indian people. Indeed, it has widely been noticed beyond India and South Asia."

Offering condolences to the families of Indians attacked in Australia, Smith told the lawmakers that repairing the damage to the country's image was an "essential priority."

The foreign minister assured that India "was in the front rank" of nations in Australia's international partnership and was fast emerging as nation's third biggest export market behind China and Japan.

The two way trade between the two countries was nearly 22 billion Australian dollars last year, registering a quantum jump of 55 per cent. And a number of Indian companies were showing great interest in investing in Australia not only in mineral resources but agriculture and IT.

Addressing the Indian nationals in his country, Smith said, "we will continue to do our utmost to ensure that the children, Indian parents have entrusted to our care, remain safe and go back home with first class education." According to local estimates, there are 450,000 Indians living in Australia out of which 120,000 are students.

Referring to these figures, Smith said the government had "zero-tolerance" for racism and pointed out that 45 people had so far been arrested for crime against Indians.

He said it was regrettable that many Indian students in Australia, in particular Melbourne, found themselves in a higher risk profile for crime because they work in late night shifts in occupations like taxi driving and live near high crime neighbourhoods.

Business News

IT rally helps Sensex close above 16K

A rally in the IT and PSU counters aided the benchmark index Sensex record gains for the third consecutive day and close above the psychological 16,000-mark by adding 107 points on Tuesday, amid positive global cues following easing of the sovereign debt worries in the Eurozone region.

The 30-share BSE barometer touched a low of 15,862.90 at opening shedding 71 points, but gradually moved up and remained in the green for the rest of the day and hit a high of 16,087.83 before closing at 16,042.18, a rise of 105.57 points or 0.67 per cent over its previous close.

IT stocks were at the forefront on bargain hunting after the recent crash while PSU stocks too saw good buying support.

Marketmen said the IT rally was driven by the easing of sovereign debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal, which had sent the global markets into a tizzy last week.

The BSE IT index surged 2.52 per cent to 4,972.64 points and the rally was led by Infosys with a gain of 2.92 per cent or Rs 70.15 to Rs 2,470.90, Wipro by 2.49 per cent or Rs 15.85 to Rs 652.45 and TCS by Rs 10.40 to Rs 734.20. The domestic IT exporters get a third of their sales from Europe.

SMC Capital vice-president Rajesh Jain said, "the markets witnessed a counter-rally and short-covering to end in the green. Positive cues from Asia and Europe also helped."

However, realty counters suffered a sharp setback on profit-selling on fears of a hike in interest rate following rising inflation and a better-than-expected GDP growth, which would pressurise RBI to further tighten money supply.

Brokers attributed early weakness to a severe setback on the Wall Street overnight with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding by 104 points and closing below 10,000-mark.

However, firm Asian markets helped the recovery in the domestic bourses. All the key indices, barring the Nikkei, which ended flat, like Shanghai, Hang Seng, Strait, Kospi and Taiwan closed with gains.

European markets too resumed better today. The CAC was up by 0.28 per cent, the DAX by 0.48 per cent and FTST by 0.60 per cent.

Brokers said fresh selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks mainly led to fall in the stock prices in the first half. Also though Asia and Europe were in the green, the sentiment was not so strong, hence our markets too could not hold on to higher levels, they added.

The 50-issue Nifty of the NSE also rose by another 32.25 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 4,792.65 after touching the psychological 5800 market many times intraday. This is the third successive gain for both the indices.

With the buying activity picking up, barring realty which dipped by dipped by 40.34 points or 1.21 per cent and oil & gas sector which fell 0.23 per cent, all BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. And among the Sensex stocks, 19 ended higher, while 11 declined with moderate to deep losses.

From the BSE sectoral indices, the IT spurted by 122.01 points or 2.52 per cent, Tech rallied by 2.09 per cent, and the PSU by 153.59 points or 1.67 per cent.

China is now world's largest exporter

Berlin:China has zipped past Germany as the world's largest exporter after German exports slumped 18.4 per cent in 2009, the sharpest fall since 1950.

Germany's exports last year fell 18.4 per cent from the previous year to 803.2 billion euros, or USD 1,121.3 billion, allowing China with exports of USD 1,201.6 billion to replace the biggest European economy as the world's largest exporter for the first time.

Germany, which had remained the largest exporter since 2003, logged the heavy export drop due to the financial crisis in 2009, Kyodo news agency reported, quoting official trade figures released on Monday.

China has become the world's production base as major Japanese, U.S. and European companies have built manufacturing plants in the communist nation.

China also replaced the United States in domestic new vehicle sales in 2009 and is expected to become the world's second-largest economic power in terms of gross domestic product in place of Japan this year, the report said.

Sports News

India crash to innings defeat against Proteas

Nagpur:Sachin Tendulkar's defiant ton merely delayed the inevitable as India crashed to a humiliating innings and six runs defeat against South Africa in the first cricket Test in Nagpur on Tuesday.

The miracle that India needed to save the match did not happen and even though Tendulkar (100) starred in two brief partnerships and the tail wagged for a while too, it was not enough to avert what was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first Test defeat as captain that came with full one day to spare.

Following on, the home side that resumed on 66 for two this morning, folded for 319 in their second essay to allow South Africa to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Down the order, Wriddhiman Saha (36), Harbhajan Singh (39) and Zaheer Khan (33) showed the kind of grit that was missing in most of their frontline batting colleagues.

India will now have to win the next match in Kolkata, starting on Sunday, failing which they would surrender the number one Test team's tag to the South Africans.

The defeat also exposed the batting frailties of the home side which sorely missed veterans Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, both recovering from injuries, in the middle order.

Tendulkar's 46th Test century, his fourth against the South Africans and first at home against the Proteas, was the lone significant knock in the entire Indian innings.

Tendulkar added 72 runs with Vijay for the third wicket and another 70 with Dhoni for the fifth.

Tendulkar's 179-ball knock included 13 fours before he went for a sweep and missed the Paul Harris delivery which bounced on his thigh pad and hit the elbow guard before dislodging the bails.

But the joy was short-lived as Tendulkar could not add any more runs and fell to a Harris delivery.

Seventeen runs later, Harris was at it again as he scalped Dhoni, dealing a brutal blow to the Indian hopes. Dhoni got an inside edge that hit the pad before finding the silly point fielder.

With no real hopes of saving the match, Harbhajan batted with the recklessness and freedom. He hit Harris for back-to-back-fours and then cleared the long on ropes to score at a brisk rate before Parnell trapped him in front of the wicket to cut short his batting daredevilry.

Harbhajan's breezy, entertaining knock included six hits to the fence besides that six.

Wriddhiman Saha also tried to compensate for his first innings duck on debut with a gritty 101-ball knock but the writing was clear on the wall by then.

Zaheer took 57 balls for his 33, which included four boundaries and a couple of sixes.

Whatever ambitious hopes India had of saving the match died with this freaky dismissal and the rest was mere formalities for their opponents.

Down the order, Harbhajan Singh struck a run-a-ball 39 to frustrate the South Africans before Parnell sent him back. Saha and Zaheer also tried their best but it was too late and too little.

For South Africa, Dale Steyn returned a match-haul of 10 for 108.

Earlier, Tendulkar featured in a 72-run stand with Murali Vijay (32) and another 70 with Dhoni (25) to rekindle the Indian hopes.

Tendulkar and Vijay started the morning well with both looking determined to dig their heels.

Thirty runs were added to the score when Vijay, looking quite compact and sound in defence against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, fell to poor shot selection.

He could not resist the urge to sweep left-arm spinner Paul Harris and Morne Morkel took the resulting top edge at deep backward square leg.

S Badrinath (6) had raised hopes with his debut half-century in the first innings but he could not continue the good work and perished edging a Parnell delivery that nestled into Mark Boucher's safe hands.

Tendulkar, meanwhile, was lucky to see his glide off Parnell grassed by Jacques Kallis in the lone slip while the batsman was on 45.

Tendulkar subsequently was watchful but did not spare bad balls either. He and Dhoni rekindled India's hopes with a steady partnership and the sparse crowd at the VCA Stadium roared in appreciation after Tendulkar reached his 46th Test century.

Saha dropped, Sreesanth named in team for 2nd Test

Nagpur: Wriddhiman Saha got the axe while the trio of S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina were named in the 15-member Indian squad for the second cricket Test against South Africa starting on Sunday in Kolkata.

Veteran batsman VVS Laxman, who missed the first Test as he had not fully recovered from a finger injury, is certain to play, which is apparent from the fact that the selectors have withdrawn his cover Rohit Sharma from the squad. Pace duo of Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun, who were part of the 15-member squad for the first Test but could not make it to the playing XI, were also axed, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

Saha’s selection for the first Test raised quite a few eyebrows and the Bengal stumper-batsman hardly helped his cause by scoring a three-ball duck in his Test debut here. In the second innings, Saha, however, showed grit and gumption and defied the formidable South African pacers to score a 101-ball 36 but the selectors were clearly unimpressed.

Instead, they called up Karthik, who has been in sizzling form in domestic cricket, hitting back-to-back centuries in the Duleep Trophy final. Sreesanth also made an expected comeback to the side and would be pushing for a place in the playing XI, especially with Ishant Sharma not looking at his best in the first Test.

Indian Latest News

Mumbai attackers could have been guided by an Indian: PC

New Delhi: The ten Pakistani terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008 could have been guided by an Indian handler whose true identity was yet to be ascertained, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

“When we say he could be an Indian, he could be somebody who acquired Indian characteristics. He could have been infiltrated into India and lived here long enough to acquire an Indian accent, familiarity with Indian Hindi words or he could be somebody who exfiltrated from India to Pakistan and was adopted by the militants there”, Chidambaram said.

While refusing to speculate on the name of the handler, the Home Minister said investigators had known for long time that there was a handler in 26/11 attack who could be an Indian.

“We know him by Abu Jindal that something we have known for many many months now... but he is not Abu Jindal. That is not his real name. We cannot put a finger who he is, unless we get a voice sample. And they won't give us voice sample. “There is a speculation that Abu Jindal could be....but how as a Home Minister I can speculate? I can’t speculate”, he told news channel.

India proposes talks, Pakistan seeks clarity

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign ministry has confirmed that India had proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Islamabad but said it was seeking clarification of the content of the talks.

Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit told media that that the agenda of the proposed talks Pakistan is not so far clear. "We have sought clarification from the Indian government about the agenda and substance of the proposed talks. We will respond to the proposal after we receive the reply from New Delhi," he said.

India adopted a very strict position with Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead. Since then, India has been blaming Pakistan for not doing enough to prosecute the perpetrators of the attack, while Pakistan was saying that the evidence provided by India was not sufficient.

The proposal comes ahead of a visit to Pakistan by India's minister of internal security for a regional meeting this month. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram is slated to travel to Pakistan on Feb 26 for a meeting of countries in the region, the first high-level diplomatic visit by a top Indian official in nearly two years.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry officials said Chidambaram would meet his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik.

Since the Mumbai attacks, there have been some meetings of high-ranking officials, such as when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last summer on the sidelines of a summit in Sharm-El-Shiekh, Egypt. But India has continued to express its reservations regarding Pakistan's lack of vigor to act against the culprits of Mumbai carnage on its soil.

Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also welcomed dialogue proposal from India, saying it was a positive development. Responding to Delhi’s call to Pakistan’s high commissioner for resumption of dialogue, he said Pakistan shares a viewpoint that bilateral talks is the only way for the resolution of all the issues and "we always focused on resumption of dialogue."

He further said that signals were already emanating from Indian side and their home minster P Chidambaram had already said, "if he went to Pakistan for the SAARC meeting later this month, there was a possibility of bilateral talks."

Replying to a question he said "Our agenda is very comprehensive, before Mumbai mayhem we had started fifth round of dialogue and I wish to resume dialogue from that stage."

The foreign minister said during meeting in Sharm-El-Sheikh, the prime ministers of Pakistan and India had reached the conclusion that dialogue is the only way forward and we raised the Baluchistan issue for the very first time which was also mentioned in the joint statement.

Show black flags to Rahul: Bal Thackeray

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Thursday asked partymen to show black flags to Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Mumbai tomorrow in protest the Congress leader's 'Mumbai for all' comment.

Thackeray has asked Sena workers to show black flags to Rahul during his visit to the city, senior party leader Sanjay Raut told PTI.

The directive from Thackeray has come at a time when there has been a war of words between Sena and Congress over the migrant issue.

Rahul has ticked off Sena by asserting that Mumbai is for all Indians and people have a right to go anywhere.

He has faced the ire of Sena chief who said the Congress leader was "totally frustrated".

Thackeray said the Sena will not tolerate anything spoken against "Marathi pride."

He also raked up Rahul's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying "Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian mummy?"

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has questioned the timing of the visit. "What was the need for this visit now? There may be elections in Bihar, but we will not tolerate anything spoken against Mumbai and Marathi pride," he had said.

During his short visit, Rahul will interact with college students at the Bhaidas Hall in suburban Vile Parle and then proceed to Ramabai Nagar slum colony in Ghatkopar to meet slum youth.

The visit is a part of the ongoing Mumbai Youth Congress membership drive for organisational elections.

India to have own panel on climate change: Jairam Ramesh

NEW DELHI: India would soon have its very own panel on climate change, union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced on Thursday and added that the country could not depend only on reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am all for climate science but not for climate evangelism. I think people misused the IPCC report," Ramesh told a news channel here.

Stressing that the IPCC's weakness was that it didn't do original research and derives assessments from published literature, the minister announced a climate change panel for India.

He said that IPCC has "had goof-ups on the glaciers, on the Amazon, on the snow peaks." However, he added that the IPCC with a network of 200 scientists worldwide was "a responsible body".

"I respect the IPCC. At the same time India is a large country... we can't depend only IPCC. So we have launched the Indian Network on Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment ... It's got 125 research institutions from across the country. We will have international collaborations. It's a kind of an Indian IPCC and not a rival to the IPCC. We will do our own assessment," Ramesh explained.

The first climate change assessment from this body would be brought out in November this year, he said.

The "four by four assessment" would look at four sectors -- agriculture, health, water and forests -- and four regions. These would be Himalayan ecosystems, coastal areas, western ghats and the northeast.

"Through this we will demonstrate our commitment to climate science," Ramesh concluded.

Ramesh also commented on the IPCC erring report's claim that the Himalayan glaciers would retreat by 2035.

"The health of glaciers is a cause for serious concern. Most glaciers are melting.... they are retreating. Overall, one can say incontrovertibly that the debris on our glaciers is very high, the mass balance is very low, the snow balance is very low. We have to be very cautious about the future of the glaciers particularly because of water security," the minister said.

Ramesh announced the setting up of the National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology at Dehradun (Uttarakhand).

"This is going to start a series of programmes on measuring, monitoring, modelling on what is happening to our glaciers and also look at what is happening to them in the regional context with Pakistan, Nepal and others," he informed.

Business News

Decision on Parikh Panel report likely before Budget

New Delhi: The government said on Thursday that it may decide before the beginning of the Budget session on the Parikh Panel recommendations of freeing the oil prices and increasing the rates of kerosene and cooking fuel. “By next week, the ministry will be able to offer its comments on the recommendations and it will then go to the Cabinet”, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters here.

Asked by when the Cabinet is expected to take a decision, he said, “it will be very soon, may be before the Budget itself” A Prime Minister-appointed expert group, headed by Kirit Parikh, yesterday suggested freeing petrol and diesel prices and suggested raising LPG rates by a steep Rs 100 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 6 a litre. Deregulation of auto fuel prices would result in a hike of Rs 4.72 a litre in petrol prices and diesel rates by Rs 2.33 per litre.

Earlier in the day, Deora's deputy Jitin Prasada hinted that the government may not accept the report in totality and would protect the common man's interest. “The Government will ensure that least burden is passed on to the poor and common man... while also ensuring that the financial health of (PSU fuel retailers) is protected”, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said here

State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose Rs 180 crore per day on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene below the imported cost. In full-fiscal, they are estimated to lose Rs 46,030 crore

Food inflation goes north, up 17.56 pct

New Delhi:The food price index rose 17.56 per cent in the 12 months to Jan. 23, strengthening the case for more government steps to tame rising prices in the budget, while the fuel price index was up 5.88 per cent, the government said on Thursday.

The rise in the food price index was higher than an annual rise of 17.40 per cent in the previous week.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present India's annual budget for 2010/11 on Feb. 26.

India's annual wholesale inflation picked up to 7.31 per cent in December 2009, compared with 4.78 per cent in November.

Air India likely to get Rs 1,200 cr in Buget

Aamby Valley, Maharashtra: Air India expects to get an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore in the forthcoming Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.

"We expect a Rs 1,200-crore provision for Air India in the budget," Patel told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Maharashtra.

Patel said he expected the process of equity infusion of Rs 800 crore into the airline by the government to be completed over the next eight to ten days.

Yesterday, Patel had said in Delhi that while the infusion was likely to occur over the next few days, the government wanted Air India to take "extraordinary" measures for its turnaround.

"We are moving the Cabinet (for equity infusion of Rs 800 crore), a note has already been circulated. I think by next week the Cabinet approval should come," Patel had said after a meeting of the Group of Ministers formed to look after the revival of Air India.

Further assistance would only be given on achievement of specific revenue enhancement and cost reduction targets by the airline, the Minister had said.

Sports News

Came here with plans to silence Sehwag and others: Steyn

The 2008 battering in Chennai still fresh in mind, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn on Thursday said he and his his bowling colleagues have arrived here with plans to tame Virender Sehwag in the forthcoming Test series against India.

Sehwag had blasted a 304-ball 319 in that drawn Test with the help of 42 fours and five sixes but Steyn said the Proteas have already sorted out the Delhi dasher.

"It is a challenge. He showed us in Chennai that on flat wickets, he could score runs. But once we exploited what his biggest weaknesses were, he wasn't able to get away again after that," Steyn said at an interactive media meet ahead of the Test series opening here on Sunday.

"We definitely have our game plans against somebody like him. What's happened in the past has happened in the past," Steyn. Putting behind the two-year-old plastering, Steyn said,

"It was definitely not the pitches, it was the mind-frame that we definitely got into. I am not giving everything away here, we still have got to play two Test matches against him. But whenever we go out to bowl in the Test match, you will obviously see what's going to be coming his way."

In fact, the 26-year-old right-arm pacer said, the South Africans have separate plans to silence all the Indian top guns.

"I am not going to single out Sehwag because (Sachin) Tendulkar is also a marvellous player and he has shown what a record he has got. (Gautam) Gambhir too has shown what a record he has got.

"It's not specifically Sehwag that we are afraid of not to say that we are afraid of anybody. I am just saying that he is not the only key player in their side. There are massive other players that we are prepared well for and we will go out there and try to exploit their weaknesses," Steyn said.

The lanky pacer was also of the view that India would struggle to fill the void created by injuries to Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and V V S Laxman even though they have drafted in Rohit Sharma as a cover for the stylish Hyderabadi.

"I guess you could say yes with the absence of guys like Yuvraj, Rahul, and Laxman with their massive experience. If they fill them in with a couple of debutants, obviously that will play in our favour," he said.

Steyn, however, warned his teammates not to underestimate the Indian youngsters, saying they were capable of springing a surprise or two.

"At Test level, you never replace experienced player with someone who is average or borderline average. You always replace him with somebody that has got equal quality. Certainly that's what we try and do in South Africa.

"Whoever steps in their places must have shown his worth at the domestic level and he will obviously step into those shoes knowing he is capable of playing at the highest level," Steyn pointed out.

Steyn said the key for fast bowlers to do well here was to bowl aggressively though they may not get the sort of bounce or seam movement they experience back home.

India start training ahead of big test

Nagpur: While Abhimanyu Mithun was looking to certify his surprise-elevation with a strong show against the South African batsmen at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) ground in Civil Lines, the rest of the 15-member Indian Test squad arrived for their first practice session — since returning from Bangladesh — at the VCA Stadium in Jaamtha, some 20 kms away. The Indians had landed at Nagpur in batches earlier on Wednesday morning.

Though it has been less than a week since they retained their No. 1 Test ranking by overcoming Bangladesh 2-0 in the away series, Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Co were involved in a thorough and strenuous practice session, which began with their customary football encounter. This was followed by a long work-out session under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff, which included Gary Kirsten, Paddy Upton and bowling coach Eric Simons. With the first Test of the series — billed as the battle for the Test crown pitting the two top ranked teams in the world — just three days away, the Indian batsmen, including Subramanian Badrinath, who is all set to make his debut, then spent the rest of the session getting stuck in at the nets.

The Indians have happy memories of the new VCA Stadium having won the only previous Test at the venue, when they beat Australia in 2008 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Afridi is a cheat, serial offender: Hair

Melbourne: Former Australian umpire Darrell Hair has labelled Shahid Afridi as a "cheat" after his ball-tampering act and is sure that the Pakistan all-rounder will be up to it again in future.

"Cheat is the only word for him," Hair said of Afridi, who was banned for two Twenty20 games for biting the ball during fifth ODI against Australia in Perth on Sunday.

"He has cheated before, he has cheated in this instance - he pleaded guilty - and I'm sure he will again. He is no angel. I remember that incident when he deliberately scratched the pitch when he thought everyone was looking the other way," Hair was quoted as saying by 'Daily Telegraph'.

Hair also said the after his sensational debut century Afridi has not achieved much success and was just an overrated player.

"He thought he would get away with it. Unfortunately he's become a highly over-rated player as well. His first innings at international level was a great century but he has lived off that and never really lived up to it," he said.

Former greats like Allan Border of Australia and Imran Khan of Pakistani along with current Pakistan skipper Mohammed Yousuf have also criticised Afridi for his ball biting act.

Indian Latest News

Cong fumes as Modi says will write to Sonia on price rise in Italian

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI: Whipping up Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin to flag the price rise issue, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi made a veiled attack on the Congress chief saying he would now write a letter to the Centre in 'Italian' to make it act to rein in food prices.

The Congress hit back at the BJP leader's personal attack suggesting he has become mad. "He has lost his mind. From an uncivilised person, you can only expect such a presposterous rhetoric. I would not even want to dignify such comments by speaking from this podium," Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said in New Delhi today.

Speaking at a Garib Kalyan Mela at Patan, about 130 km from here, last night, Modi said, "I have written a number of letters to Central Government on the issue of price rise. I have written letters in the language they can understand urging them to take steps to do something about the rising prices of food items.

"But, I think that they have no sympathy for the poor people and it seems that they are not willing to take steps to control rising prices. Now, I need to write a letter in Italian," he said.

Modi and Sonia have had a few run-ins during the Gujarat Assembly election campaign towards the end of 2008.

"They (Centre) had organised a meeting on the issue of price rise. But have now postponed it saying that they have some other work. I don't understand what work is more important than addressing the issue of price rise," Modi said.

"Keeping poor people hungry in this manner will lead to nemesis of the Central government," Modi said.

'Garib Kalyan Mela' is brainchild of Modi to provide the direct benefit of schemes meant for poor without involving middlemen.

"Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said that if Central government release one rupee for poor, only 10 paise reaches them. By organising such melas I have tried to solve this problem," Modi said.

Food prices to ease, but India to remain import dependent: Pawar

NEW DELHI: Food prices are expected to decline in the next fiscal on the back of higher farm output and the only worry then for the government would be on storage, food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has said.

He, however, said that the country would remain import dependent when it came to pulses and edible oils for the next 10 years.

On the possibility of prices coming down in the next financial year beginning April one, Pawar said in a TV interview: "100 per cent. In 2011-12 the problem which the government of India will have to worry about (is) what to do and where to store".

Food inflation touched 17.40 per cent for the week ended January 16 on account of high prices of vegetables and pulses.

On controlling prices of pulses, the minister said: "Pulses we have to import, edible oil we have to import even for another 10 years or so. Because day by day, demand is growing, purchasing power of the weaker section is also improving."

India imported a record 8.1 million tonnes of edible oils in 2008-09 season (November-October). The country imports 3-4 million tonnes of pulses every year to meet domestic demand.

The prices of essential food items have risen sharply in last one year, particularly of sugar, pulses and vegetables.

Sugar prices have more than doubled since January 2009 and is ruling at Rs 43 a kg in the national capital. Pulses are ruling high, with arhar being sold at about Rs 85 a kg.

India faced a severe drought this year affecting over 300 districts that resulted in loss of Kharif production. Rice output is estimated to decline by 13 million tonnes in Kharif.

The Centre has taken various steps to curb rising prices and give relief to consumers, including abolition of import duties on sugar, rice, pulses and crude edible oils.

Russian rape case: Main accused arrested

PANAJI: Aman Bharadwaj, the main accused in the rape of a Russian minor girl, has been arrested in Chembur, in Mumbai, Goa police said on Friday evening.

Bharadwaj was arrested by a Goa police team and is being brought to the state, the police said.

Earlier today, one of the two accused in the nine-year-old Russian girl rape case, who had engaged the victim's mother while the crime was being committed, was arrested by Goa Police.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ravindra Yadav told PTI that Anil Raghuvanshi, one of the two men, mentioned by Russian mother in her complaint, was arrested from Panaji bus stand this morning.

Yadav said the accused in his thirties was picked up from a bus which had arrived from Bangalore and was taken to Pernem police station, where the case is registered.

"He was on his way to Bangalore when we spoke to him yesterday," he said.

Goa Police on Thursday had identified the main accused as Aman Bharadwaj, from Uttar Pradesh, who allegedly raped the victim, holidaying in Goa with her mother on Arambol beach on January 26.

He did so when his accomplice Anil, who is from Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district, diverted the mother's attention by striking a conversation with her.

Yadav said that police had spoken to Anil on his cell yesterday and thereafter his mobile was out of coverage area or had been switched off.

The accused duo, colleagues in a pharmaceutical firm at Dhargal industrial estate, were part of a group that had gone to Arambol for a picnic on Republic Day.

Haldiram owner, four others sentenced to life

Haldiram Bhujiawala proprietor Prabhu Shankar Agarwal was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday along with four others by a fast track court for conspiring to kill a tea stall owner, whose shop came in the way of a food plaza he was building.

Judge Tapan Sen of the Bankshall Court awarded the sentence to Agarwal, history-sheeters Gopal Tiwari, Arun Khandelwal, Manoj Sharma and Raju Sonkar under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) besides 10 years rigorous prison terms under section 307/34 (attempt to murder/common intention).

Tiwari was also found guilty under the Arms Act and sentenced to seven years in one section and three years in another. All the sentences would run concurrently, the judge said in his order.

Agarwal, owner of the multi-crore food and confectionery chain, which has outlets in many cities and also in London and elsewhere, had failed to persuade tea stall owner Satyanarayan Sharma in Burrabazar area here to move out as the shop would spoil the facade of the food plaza he was constructing.

His hired goons had then raided the shop looking for Satyanarayan, but not finding him, shot his nephew Pramod Sharma, injuring him seriously on March 30, 2005.

Earlier, Agarwal pleaded for mercy before the judge stating that thousands of his employees and their families depended on him and his incarceration would hamper his business and put their livelihood in jeopardy.

PC calls Sino-India frontier 'most difficult border'

Bhanu (Panchkula): With a glint of pride in their eyes and armed with INSAS rifles, 209 women personnel on Friday joined the ranks of the ITBP to guard the Sino-Indian frontier, which Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram termed as "one of the most difficult and challenging borders".

Calling it a "historic event", Chidambaram, who took the salute of the first women constable's contingent of the force at the basic training centre here, said with this passing out parade, the women will be able to "regulate international trade between India and China at Nathu La and Sherathung trade markets besides escorting the Kailash Mansarovar Yatris".

The new contingent will also be used to provide security to vital installations, rescue and relief operations including disaster management, perception management and psychological operations in border villages and during festivals, public meetings and agitations.

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Chidamabaram congratulated the families of the women, "especially their parents for taking a bold decision to let them join a force entrusted with guarding one of the most

difficult and challenging borders of India."

Marching to the tunes of 'Kadam Kadam Badhaye Jaa...', the women staged an impressive parade as they became the first combat counterparts to their male colleagues in the 48 years of the history of the force.

Chidambaram said, "It is always a proud moment when you are the first. These 209 woman constables will always cherish this day even as today is written in golden letters in the history of the ITBP."

He lauded the women, who took the oath of duty dressed in blue beret caps and khaki uniforms, for "successfully completing the rigorous and gruelling training schedule of 44 weeks."

The women, drawn form various states of the country, started their training in February last year and are now adept in unarmed combat, weapon firing, commando tactics, map reading and other security-related drills.

ITBP Director General Vikram Srivastava said the women personnel would be further trained in counter-insurgency and jungle warfare and a Quick Reaction Team (QRT) and a Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad will also be formed in order to raise an independent women's battalion.

The women contingent took their oath before the tricolour besides the force's insignia and an array of weapons like Light Machine Guns, Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, INSAS rifles and rocket launchers.

The 50,000 personnel-strong Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) guards the 3,488-km long Sino-Indian border. It is also protecting the Indian embassy in Afghanistan and securing VIPs.

Business News

Equities erased early losses and nudged 0.3 per cent higher on Friday after the RBI kept key interest rates unchanged, but still posted their worst monthly loss in three months.

The 30-share BSE index fell 6.3 per cent in January, its biggest drop since a 7.2 per cent slide in October.

For the week, it was down nearly 3 per cent after losing 4 per cent the previous week.

Bank stocks led the pull back after the market fell as much as 2 per cent at one stage.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept short-term interest rates steady at its quarterly policy review on Friday but lifted banks' cash reserve requirements by more than expected and warned of mounting inflation.

"There were some expectations built that the RBI could hike rates at the policy, after we saw yesterday the food inflation data had accelerated," said Rakesh Rawal, head of private wealth management at Anand Rathi Financial Services.
"Since, that didn't take place, the policy seems to be better than expectations," he said.

ICICI Bank gained 5.3 per cent, its biggest one-day rise in more than 4-½ months, to Rs 830.40.

Bigger rival State Bank of India firmed 2.7 per cent, while No. 3 lender HDFC Bank added 2.3 per cent.

The BSE index closed up 0.31 per cent, or 51.09 points, at 16,357.96. Thirteen of its components gained.

"The next key event to watch for is the budget. I am optimistic that overall 2010 should be good, on the back of economic growth and corporate earnings growth," Rawal said.

Export-driven outsourcers, which get around half of their revenue from the United States, dropped on continued concerns over the order flow from US banks.

Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services shed 0.7 per cent each, while Wipro dropped 3.8 per cent.

Metal makers Sterlite Industries and Hindalco dropped 1.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively, hurt by a sharp fall in base metal prices.

A firm dollar and concern over the pace and scope of credit tightening in China drove Shanghai copper down nearly 4 per cent, following a drop in London prices in the previous session.

Tata Steel, the world's eighth-largest steel maker by output, fell 2.8 per cent to 569 rupees. It had rallied 4.8 per cent on Thursday after forecast-beating third-quarter results.

"Valuation looks expensive, coupled with structural demand concerns in the European market and poor returns on a long-term basis," brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher said in a note.It maintained its "reduce" rating on the stock.

In the broader market, 1,484 gainers led 1,370 losers on volume of 442 million shares, below last week's daily average of 534.4 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index closed 0.3 per cent higher at 4,882.05.

RBI hikes CRR by 75 bps, holds key policy rates

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Friday raised by 75 basis points the cash reserve ratio - the amount lenders need to keep with the central bank - to suck Rs 36,000 crore out of the system and cool down the surging inflation.

The RBI's move to absorb a large amount of liquidity is expected to have a bearing on interest rates, although bankers ruled out an immediate hike in lending rates as there is excess liquidity in the system.

The apex bank in its third quarter monetary policy review, however, refrained from raising short-term borrowing and lending rates (repo and reverse repo), primarily to encourage growth which is "is yet to fully take hold".

Encouraged by 7.9 per cent growth in the second quarter (July-September 2009), the RBI raised the economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.5 per cent, up from 6 per cent projected in October.

Promising to take more action to tackle the price rise, the RBI said inflation is likely to firm up to 8.5 per cent by March-end from 7.3 per cent in December. The Reserve Bank had earlier projected the inflation to be around 6.5 per cent by fiscal-end.

"Reduction in excess liquidity will help anchor inflationary expectations. The recovery process will be supported without compromising price stability," RBI Governor D Subbarao said in his policy statement.

Sensex rebounds, closes up 51 points

Mumbai: In a highly choppy trade, the benchmark Sensex recovered the sharp decline it suffered after the RBI announced a more-than-expected CRR hike by closing 51 points higher as the central bank raised the growth forecast and kept the key policy rates unchanged.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer, which sunk below the psychological 16,000-level after the Reserve Bank raised the amount of money that banks have to park with RBI (CRR) by 75 basis points--25 bps more than the market view--bounced back to close 51.09 points up at 16,357.96 as the RBI spared key policy rates such as banks buying and borrowing rates, and raised GDP growth outlook to 7.5 per cent from 6 per cent.

In a highly volatile trade, the key index dwindled between 16,390.31 and 15,982.08 points during the sessions.

Still, for every one stock that fell there was an equal number that gained. And among the 30-Sensex counters, 17 closed with gains while 13 ended with losses.

Banking, realty and capital goods sectors-- the sectors which are more interest sensitive and hence battered for long now--were the winners on Friday.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty 50, after dipping below the 4,800 level, closed in the green with gain of 14.80 points to 4,882.05.

The RBI increased the cash reserve ratio to 5.75 per cent from 5 per cent but kept the benchmark interest rates unchanged while raising its inflation estimate to 8.5 per cent by March end from 6.5 per cent. It has also revised upwards its GDP estimate from a low 6 per cent to a high 7.5 per cent for this fiscal.

Sports News

Fedex reaches final after demolishing Tsonga

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer cruised into his 22nd Grand Slam final with an effortless straight sets win over listless Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Australian Open on Friday.

The Swiss top seed had no problems disposing of the 2008 runner-up and 10th seed, winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in just one hour 28 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Federer will chase his fourth Australian Open title and 16th Grand Slam against British fifth seed Andy Murray in Sunday's final.

Tsonga looked a pale shadow of his best form as Federer did what he pleased to claim his 18th appearance in the last 19 Grand Slam finals.

The Frenchman had won their last encounter, in three sets at Montreal last August, but it was never a contest at their third career meeting.

"I'm very happy, you always have to deal with how your opponent plays and sometimes he plays exactly the way you want, so it's nice going through a match like this," Federer said.

"It won't be the same story in the next match I play here.

"Against top players it's always a huge bonus if you can win the first set because after that it always becomes more difficult.

"Maybe he was more mentally fatigued than physically, and that showed at the end."

Tsonga appeared to be physically struggling after his back-to-back five-setters against Nicolas Almagro and Novak Djokovic and Federer quickly capitalised.

The big Frenchman parked himself well behind the baseline as the cool Swiss dictated the rallies and controlled the points.

Federer, a renowned front-runner, broke Tsonga twice in the fourth and eighth games to capture the opening set in just 31 minutes and was quickly after the lethargic Frenchman in the second set.

The world number one was rolling through his service games and had Tsonga under pressure on his and broke him in the sixth game.

Federer, well in his comfort zone, raced to bring up two set points in the ninth game and served out for a two sets lead just over the hour.

It got worse for the ailing Tsonga in the final set, Federer breaking him again in the third and fifth games to stroll to victory.

Federer will now face Murray, who holds a 6-4 lead in their matches.

Paes-Black in final of Oz Open mixed doubles

Melbourne: Leander Paes earned a chance to equal the record for most Grand Slam title wins by an Indian after reaching the final of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with partner Cara Black, following a hard fought semifinal win here on Friday.

The top seeded Indo-Zimbawean pair came from behind to edge past seventh seeds Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie 6-7 7-6 (5) 10-7 at Melbourne Park. After losing the first set, Paes and Black were trailing 2-4 in the second set but their tenacity paid as they were successful in stretching the match to a Super Tie-breaker.

American Raymond and South African Davis Cupper Moody pushed the top seeds to limit but could not stop them from going into the title clash. Paes and Black will take on 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia, who beat seventh seeds Flavia Pennetta of Italy and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-0 4-6 10-8 in their semifinal match.

Paes has so far won 10 Grand Slam titles, including six men's doubles trophies.

Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi has won the highest number of Grand Slam of titles -- 11 -- for India with seven mixed doubles and four men's doubles trophies.

Paes won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2003 with Czech-American legend Martina Navratilova and finished runner-up the following year.

PCB cancels NOCs for Pak players for IPL

Karachi: In an apparent retaliation to the snub at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday revoked all the No Objection Certificates (NOCs) issued to its players for participation in the third edition of Twenty20 event.

The decision effectively means that no Pakistani cricketer can now take part in this season's IPL even if the franchises want to rope them in as substitutes. A statement from the board said all the NOC's issued to players for IPL-III stand revoked.

"In future, if any player receives an invitation for participation in IPL events, PCB will decide the matter on a case to case basis after consulting relevant government authorities," the statement said.

The announcement comes on the same day that the Indian hardline party Shiv Sena said it would not allow Pakistani players to play in the IPL and IPL commissioner Lalit Modi also said that no franchise could pick Pakistani players without his knowledge and approval.

All the 11 Pakistani players, including star all-rounder Shahid Afridi went unsold in the January 29 auction in Mumbai, prompting angry reaction in Pakistan.

The auction fiasco threatened to snowball into a diplomatic row between the two countries with top ministers also being drawn into the controversy.

Latest News of India

Telangana committee to be announced by next week: Govt

New Delhi: The much-talked about committee to examine the demand for separate Telangana will be announced next week, Home Minister P Chidamabaram said on Thursday.

"We are almost at the end of concluding that exercise. If all goes well, we should have a committee by the end of this week. We will announce the committee by next week," he told reporters declining to give out the names.

The Home Minister said the government would have more or less finalised the names and will do by the end of this week. "Perhaps by the next week, the committee will be announced," he said.

Chidambaram in the meeting with political parties from Andhra Pradesh on January 5 had said that its agenda was to "deliberate on the mechanism and lay down a road map for consultations" on the Telangana issue.

The meeting followed Chidambaram's statement on December 23, 2009 when the government put on back burner the formation of the separate state for which it had on December 9, 2009 promised to initiate the process.

On law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh, the Home Minister said much of the agitation has cooled down while there are some protests here and there.

"My greatest regret is that a couple of students reportedly committed suicide. That, I think, should have been completely avoided. Why should children commit suicide. Parents, teachers have responsibility to stop this. But keeping that apart, by and large, things are peaceful there.

There is no major law and order violation. We are sticking to our words," he said.

China mulls setting up military base in Pakistan

BEIJING: China has signaled it wants to go the US way and set up military bases in overseas locations that would possibly include Pakistan. The obvious purpose would be to exert pressure on India as well as counter US influence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"(So) it is baseless to say that we will not set up any military bases in future because we have never sent troops abroad," an article published on Thursday at a Chinese government website said. "It is our right," the article said and went on to suggest that it would be done in the neighborhood, possibly Pakistan.

"As for the military aspect, we should be able to conduct the retaliatory attack within the country or at the neighboring area of our potential enemies. We should also be able to put pressure on the potential enemies' overseas interests," it said.

A military base in Pakistan will also help China keep a check on Muslim Uighur separatists fighting for an independent nation in its western region of Xingjian, which borders the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Beijing recently signed an agreement with the local government of NWFP in order to keep a close watch on the movement of Uighur ultras.

"I have personally felt for sometime that China might one day build a military base in India's neighborhood. China built the Gadwar port in Pakistan and is now broadening the Karokoram highway. These facilities can always be put to military use when the need arises," Ramesh V Phadke, former Air Commodore and advisor to the Institute of Defense Studies told TNN.

Phadke said the article in very significant. "The purpose may be to see how the international community reacts to it," he said.

China, which has no military bases outside its territory, has often criticized the United States for operating such overseas bases. It has not just changed its standpoint but also wants to enter the lucrative protection business.

"With further development, China will be in great demand of the military protection," the article said. Pakistan, which buys 70% of its military hardware from China, is likely to be an eager buyer for such protection. Beijing may also be able to pressurize Islamabad to accept its diktat using the threat of withholding military supplies.

A Pakistani expert on China-Pakistan relationship has a different view on the subject. "The Americans had a base in the past and it caused a political stink. I don’t think it would be politically possible for the Pakistani government to openly allow China to set up a military base," he said while requesting anonymity. Pakistan might allow use of its military facilities without publicly announcing it, he said.

A Chinese military base can tackle several international relations issues, it said. One of them is "the relationship between the base troops and the countries neighboring to the host country." This is another indication that Beijing is considering Pakistan as a possible base. China’s argument is that a foreign base would actually help regional stability.

"If the base troops can maintain the regional stability, it will be probably welcomed by all the countries in the region," the article said. Beijing is conscious that the move might result in opposition from the US, UK and France which has overseas military bases.

“Thirdly, the relationship between the big countries in the world. The establishment of the troop bases is sensitive to those big countries which have already set up the bases abroad," the article said.

Arms sale to Pak justified as India buys from US: Chinese official

BEIJING: A senior Chinese defense official has justified Beijing's sale of warships and submarines to Pakistan on the ground that India was buying similar systems from Russia and the United States. He indicated that China was conscious India might be worried about the sales.

"The initiative may invite concerns from its neighboring countries. But the doubts are unnecessary," Zhai Dequan, deputy director of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, was quoted as saying in the official media.

The statement came in the midst of efforts by Norman Bashir, chief of Pakistan's naval staff, to persuade Beijing to sell higher capacity ships as compared to the F22P frigates that China begun delivering last June.

Zhai said Pakistan’s desire for high capacity systems is normal for an independent nation seeking to bolster its security. India has also entered into large deals for military hardware from the US and Russia, he said.

"India's aircraft carrier has already cost it billions of US dollars," Zhai said.

Bashir, who met Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on Friday, said Pakistan was keen on buying bigger ships and more JF-17 fighter planes from China apart from the submarines. Pakistan will buy more weapons including missiles from China in future, he said.

"The F22P frigate is about 3,000 tons, and now we are talking about 4,000-ton ships. These are very big projects and we think the cooperation is important for both countries, especially Pakistan," he said.

Pakistan booked four F22P frigates from China in 2005 and the first one began sea trials last year. Islamabad followed it up with another order of four more ships of same kind in 2007, the Chinese media said.

Bashir showered fulsome praise on Chinese warships saying they use the latest technology, and have the all-round capability to target surface ships, aircraft and submarine.

"The F22P frigate can be deployed to complete multitasks. The ship is balanced for offense and defense, and can be used in both peace and war time, if there is a war," he said. This is his third visit to China this year.

Fonseka attempted to assassinate Rajapaksa: Ministry

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan government on Thursday hit back at defeated opposition candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka, alleging he had attempted to "assassinate" President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family.

A day after Fonseka charged the Army with attempting to kill him and was seeking India's protection, the Defence Ministry today claimed there was "ample evidence" to prove that the former Army Chief Fonseka hatched the conspiracy from two hotels in Colombo.

Director of Media Centre for National Security Lakshman Hullugale claimed that the President and his family were to be assassinated along Galle Road in Colombo or at the Lake House Junction in the commerce hub of Fort.

He claimed nine army deserters, who were arrested from outside a hotel in the capital yesterday, were part of the plot and investigations into this are now underway.

In his letter to the Election Commission yesterday, Fonseka accused Rajapaksa of using the state media to attack him and of misappropriating public funds for his campaign and of preventing displaced minority Tamils from voting.

"The enthusiasm of the people we noticed during the campaign is not reflected in this result," Fonseka told reporters here. "We will never accept this result. We will petition (the court) against it."

Pak dragging feet on bringing 26/11 accused to justice: PC

New Delhi: India on Thursday said it would have to conclude that Pakistan is dragging its feet on bringing terror accused in Mumbai attacks to justice if it does not put on trial people including Hafiz Saeed, founder of terror group Lashker-e-Taiba.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, while reacting to Pakistan's claim that India had not provided any evidence against Saeed, said "Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is one of the masterminds. There are others. We know their names and Pakistan also knows their names.

"If they do not bring the others to trial, then I would have to conclude, reluctantly and regretfully that they are dragging their feet," Chidambaram told reporters here.

He was responding to questions that Pakistan had spared Saeed in its chargesheet filed in an anti-terrorist court accusing seven other Lashker terrorists including Lakhvi.

India has been demanding trial of Saeed, against whom Interpol also issued Red Corner Notice for his alleged role in the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Islamabad, however, claims that India had only shared information about Saeed and no evidence.

Pakistan Federal Investigating Agency, in its report to the court conducting the trial of seven accused, including Lakhvi, states that there is "sufficient incriminating evidence on record against those arrested for orchestrating the Mumbai attacks."

India dismayed over new attacks in Australia

New Delhi: India on Thursday expressed "dismay" over new incidents of attacks against Indians in Australia with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna once again expected to raise the issue with his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith on the margins of a conference in London.

"We have learnt with dismay on Thursday, of fresh incidents of violence against Indians residing in Australia, with the latest reports coming from Brisbane where four Indians, including three taxi drivers were attacked in two separate incidents on Thursday, 28th January," Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said in a statement here.

"....In view of the latest incidents reported today, EAM (External Affairs Minister) is likely to raise this issue once again with the Australian Foreign Minister later today on the margins of the meetings in London," she said.

Krishna had met Smith on Wednesday and had conveyed that these attacks are particularly worrisome as the Indian community members appeared to have been singled out and it was becoming increasingly difficult to accept these attacks as mere opportunistic crimes devoid of any racial motives.

He also impressed upon Smith that there has been no visible progress so far in most of the investigations into previous attacks including in the fatal murder of 21-year-old Nitin Garg earlier this month.

It was the responsibility of the Australian authorities to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book at the earliest and immediately put effective measures into practice to prevent any further attacks, Krishna had said.

Smith had informed Krishna that a high-level Working Group had been set up under his overall charge to deal on an urgent basis with this issue.

Kaur said meanwhile, the Indian High Commissioner in Australia is currently visiting Brisbane.

He "is meeting community leaders and members of the Queensland Police authorities to discuss and deal with the recent attacks, and to ensure that remedial measures are urgently undertaken," she said.

Business News

Obama-speak: Hello, war on recession; Goodbye, war on terror

WASHINGTON: Amid talk of fading allure and promises not kept, a feisty President Barack Obama, bruised by economic, political, and foreign policy crises in his first year in office, asserted that he was not a quitter and pledged he would deliver on the change he vowed to bring about in his rousing presidential campaign.

In his first state of the union address on Wednesday that was largely devoted to domestic issues, Obama also signaled to the international community that Washington intended to ease its way out of Iraq and Afghanistan while securing itself at home through better homeland security and preventing terrorists from getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

Only a few minutes and a bare 800 words of his 70-minute/7000-word address were devoted to foreign policy as the first African-American President in US history battled the perception that he has lost
his way in Washington. In sharp contrast to the many Bush speeches, he mentioned the word terror or terrorists only twice in his speech; there were nearly 50 references to jobs and economy, a clear indication of where the Obama administration’s emphasis will be in the remaining three years of its term.

As has now become the norm, the President invoked the growth of China and India to gee up the home constituency on the economic front, where a continuing slow-down and job loss has bedeviled his first year in office.

"Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse," he said, referring to the enervating political gridlock in the capital that he blames for stymieing some of his initiatives. "Meanwhile, China is not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India is not waiting. These nations -- they're not standing still."

"These nations aren't playing for second place. They're putting more emphasis on math and science. They're rebuilding their infrastructure. They're making serious investments in clean energy because they want those jobs. Well, I do not accept second place for the United States of America," he added.

Obama also repeated the mandatory mantras about loss of jobs to foreign markets, saying to encourage businesses to stay within the United States "it is time to finally slash the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the USA."

In an elaborate appraisal of the state of the US economy, President Obama explained how government’s bail-out of big banks was inevitable despite everyone, including himself, hating it (he compared it to a root
canal). But now that the "worst storm has passed" it was time for Democrats and Republican to "overcome the numbing weight of our politics" and address issues such as health care and initiatives for job creation and economic growth.

The president set a target of doubling US exports over the next five years, a goal that will inevitably bring pressure on countries such as India to open its markets, as he pledged "to continue to shape a Doha trade
agreement."

"We have to seek new markets aggressively, just as our competitors are. If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we will lose the chance to create jobs on our shores. But realizing those benefits also means enforcing those agreements so our trading partners play by the rules," he said.

But it was his quick glossing over of the crises in Afghanistan and Iraq, including promise of a rapid withdrawal of US troops, that was most striking. "In Afghanistan, we're increasing our troops and training Afghan security forces so they can begin to take the lead in July of 2011, and our troops can begin to come home," he said. "We are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people. We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August."

"This war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home," he said to repeated applause at a joint session of law-makers where 9/11 is a distant memory and there is clearly no appetite for continued attrition abroad amid severe domestic crises.

Oracle closes USD 7.4 bn Sun deal

New York: Software major Oracle Corp has completed the takeover of hardware company Sun Microsystems Inc for USD 7.4 billion.

The deal, which was announced nine months ago, would transform the IT industry, Oracle said in a statement on Wednesday.

The two companies, which have a significant presence in India, together employs more than 26,000 people in the country. Oracle has more than 25,000 employees in India while Sun Microsystem has 1,200 people.

The Sun Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database, Oracle's largest business. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimise Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris.

"With the addition of servers, storage, SPARC processors, the Solaris operating system, Java, and the MySQL database to Oracle's portfolio of database, middleware, and business applications, we plan to engineer and deliver open and integrated systems¿from applications to disk where all the pieces fit and work together out of the box," Oracle said.

The European Union's antitrust watchdog has approved the Sun-Oracle transaction last week saying the deal would not would restrict competition in the database's market. The approval from the EU came after months of investigation.

In April last year, Oracle has agreed to buy Sun Microsystems for USD 7.4 billion or USD 9.50 a share in cash.

Ramalinga Raju declared 'pauper' in US court

New York: Ramalinga Raju, former chairman of Satyam Computers, who last year confessed to have inflated his company's assets by over USD 1 billion, was declared a pauper by a court exempting him from paying court costs.

New York judge Barabara S Jones approved 'pauper' status for Raju, his brother Rama Raju, Satyam's former chief executive officer, and Srinivas Vadlamani, the company's former head of finance.

In October 2009, the defendants filed an "in forma pauperis" and for the appointment for a pro bono counsel.

According to court documents, the accused stated they are "unable to engage an attorney in the US to defend (themselves) in the class action litigation and to pay any court fees or to meet any financial obligations which might be imposed by this court".

"The court finds that defendants have adequately demonstrated that they are unable to pay costs as described in the federal law," US District Judge Jones said.

The judge however denied the request for a pro bono counsel as the "defendants are incarcerated in a foreign country and it would be unusually difficult for the appointed counsel to meet and otherwise competently represent Defendants under the circumstances".

On 7 January 2009, Raju, 55, admitted that Satyam's accounts had been falsified by over USD one billion, in what became India's largest corporate scandal.

In November, the CBI said that fraud was 40 per cent larger than originally estimated. The former CEO of Satyam is being held in India.

"It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten," he said, after the scandal broke. The IT company was taken over by Tech Mahindra.

Sports News

Murray reaches Oz Open final, revives British hopes

Melbourne: Andy Murray has beaten Marin Cilic to reach the Australian Open final and is again only a win away from ending a long British drought at the Grand Slam tournaments.

Murray started slowly but picked up momentum Thursday night in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over the 21-year-old Croatian.

Murray is the first British man to reach the final in Australia since John Lloyd in 1977 and the first to reach two Grand Slam finals in the Open era. Cilic had an upset win over Murray in the fourth round of the 2009 U.S. Open, where the Scot had lost the final the previous year to Roger Federer.

Fred Perry, who won eight major singles titles in the 1930s, was the last British man to win a Grand Slam event.

Mithun, Saha named in India's Test squad

Mumbai: Rookie Karnataka paceman Abhimanyu Mithun and Bengal wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha were on Thursday named in India's 15-member squad for the first Test against South Africa beginning in Nagpur from February 6.

Ravaged by injuries to key players like Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and paceman S Sreesanth, the national selectors brought in Tamil Nadu middle order batsman S Badrinath while opener Murali Vijay retained his place in the sqaud.

Apart from Mithun and Saha's inclusion, there were no major suprises in the squad announced by BCCI secretary N Srinivasan after a meeting of the selection committee here.

Rahul Dravid, who sustained a face injury in the second Test against Bangladesh, has been advised rest for three weeks while Yuvraj Singh has also been ruled out of the Test series due to an injury to his left wrist.

Uttar Pradesh paceman Sudeep Tyagi, who also featured in the squad that toured Bangladesh, has retained his place. Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been dropped with the selectors opting for the young Saha in his place.

Stylish batsman VVS Laxman, who had also suffered a finger injury during the Test series against Bangladesh, has recovered sufficiently to be drafted into the squad.

Indian Team for the First Test: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wridhiman Saha.

It's Serena vs Henin at Oz Open final

Melbourne: Defending champion Serena Williams has advanced to her fifth Australian Open final and will put her 100 per cent record at Melbourne Park on the line against Justine Henin, who is only two tournaments into her comeback from retirement.

Both advanced over Chinese players on Thursday to set up a championship match involving two former Australian champions.

Top-ranked Williams wasted four match points before finishing off a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) semifinal win with an ace against Li Na on Thursday, a day after her sister Venus lost to the Chinese player in the quarterfinals.

Henin overwhelmed 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-0 in 51 minutes, the shortest match of this tournament and the most lopsided semifinal at the Australian Open since Chris Evert beat Andrea Jaeger by the same score in 1982.

Williams leads Henin 7-6 in career head-to-heads, although they've never met in a Grand Slam final. Williams won their last match, at Miami in 2008, just before Henin retired suddenly while holding the No. 1 ranking.

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"I can't wait for the final. It's such an amazing chance that I have to play another final in Melbourne," said Henin, who won the 2004 title in Melbourne and retired with stomach problems during the 2006 final against Amelie Mauresmo. "It's a very special occasion, but the dream continues.

"I'm going to play the No. 1 player in the world in a Grand Slam final. She's a real fighter."

Serena Williams has a 100 per cent conversion rate so far in finals at Melbourne Park, winning the title every time she's played for the championship since beating Venus here in 2003. The winning sequence has been every odd-numbered year so far.