8 Oct, 2010 Protectionism would not help India-US relationship: Pranab

8th of Oct 10
WASHINGTON: The Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the US decision to hike H-1B visa fees, arguing that protectionism would not strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
Mukherjee and Clinton in their 30-minutes meeting at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department discussed Indian reservations about some US policy developments.
"Protectionism would not help," Mukherjee said, arguing for free flow of trade and money, which he said would benefit everyone.

Delhi-bound Kingfisher flight returns to Mumbai airport after bird hit Read more: Delhi-bound Kingfisher flight returns to Mumbai airport after bird

8th of Oct 2010
MUMBAI: A Delhi-bound Kingfisher Airlines flight with 120 passengers on board today returned to the airport shortly after take off due to a suspected bird hit.
The flight IT 331 Mumbai- Delhi took off at around 0615 hours but returned to Mumbai airport after being airborne for over 15-minutes, due to a suspected bird hit, Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said.
Airline engineers are inspecting the aircraft to assess the damage, the spokesperson said, adding another aircraft is being arranged to carry the passengers to their destination.

Muslim body rejects HC verdict on Ayodhya

8th of Oct 2010
A body of Muslim scholars and clerics, who gathered at Jama Masjid on Thursday, rejected the verdict of the Allahabad high court on the Ayodhya title suit. They also rejected any reconciliation bid and demanded that the Centre clear its stand on the issue.
Nearly 40 muslim scholars, led by Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, passed a resolution in which they claimed that giving away the mosque land or its partition is "haraam'' under Shariah (Islamic jurisprudence). Representatives of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board were not called for the meeting.
"We reject the judgment of the Allahabad high court and demand that the Central government express its stand clearly. T8th of Oct 2010
A body of Muslim scholars and clerics, who gathered at Jama Masjid on Thursday, rejected the verdict of the Allahabad high court on the Ayodhya title suit. They also rejected any reconciliation bid and demanded that the Centre clear its stand on the issue.
Nearly 40 muslim scholars, led by Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, passed a resolution in which they claimed that giving away the mosque land or its partition is "haraam'' under Shariah (Islamic jurisprudence). Representatives of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board were not called for the meeting.
"We reject the judgment of the Allahabad high court and demand that the Central government express its stand clearly. The Congress should do the same," said Bukhari. He said the body has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought time to meet him and discuss the issue further. The Shahi Imam had met Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday, said sources.
Maulana Abdul Lateef Qasmi, Darul-uloom Deoband, alleged that the Congress is directly responsible for all anti-masjid acts. Asked if he was seeking the support of other political parties as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had met him, the Shahi Imam said: "Support of anybody who is with the Muslim community is welcome".
He said the convention would be a party to the appeal before the Supreme Court.8th of Oct 2010
A body of Muslim scholars and clerics, who gathered at Jama Masjid on Thursday, rejected the verdict of the Allahabad high court on the Ayodhya title suit. They also rejected any reconciliation bid and demanded that the Centre clear its stand on the issue.
Nearly 40 muslim scholars, led by Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, passed a resolution in which they claimed that giving away the mosque land or its partition is "haraam'' under Shariah (Islamic jurisprudence). Representatives of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board were not called for the meeting.
"We reject the judgment of the Allahabad high court and demand that the Central government express its stand clearly. The Congress should do the same," said Bukhari. He said the body has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought time to meet him and discuss the issue further. The Shahi Imam had met Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday, said sources.
Maulana Abdul Lateef Qasmi, Darul-uloom Deoband, alleged that the Congress is directly responsible for all anti-masjid acts. Asked if he was seeking the support of other political parties as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had met him, the Shahi Imam said: "Support of anybody who is with the Muslim community is welcome".
He said the convention would be a party to the appeal before the Supreme Court.he Congress should do the same," said Bukhari. He said the body has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought time to meet him and discuss the issue further. The Shahi Imam had met Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday, said sources.
Maulana Abdul Lateef Qasmi, Darul-uloom Deoband, alleged that the Congress is directly responsible for all anti-masjid acts. Asked if he was seeking the support of other political parties as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Ya8th of Oct 2010
A body of Muslim scholars and clerics, who gathered at Jama Masjid on Thursday, rejected the verdict of the Allahabad high court on the Ayodhya title suit. They also rejected any reconciliation bid and demanded that the Centre clear its stand on the issue.
Nearly 40 muslim scholars, led by Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, passed a resolution in which they claimed that giving away the mosque land or its partition is "haraam'' under Shariah (Islamic jurisprudence). Representatives of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board were not called for the meeting.
"We reject the judgment of the Allahabad high court and demand that the Central government express its stand clearly. The Congress should do the same," said Bukhari. He said the body has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought time to meet him and discuss the issue further. The Shahi Imam had met Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday, said sources.
Maulana Abdul Lateef Qasmi, Darul-uloom Deoband, alleged that the Congress is directly responsible for all anti-masjid acts. Asked if he was seeking the support of other political parties as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had met him, the Shahi Imam said: "Support of anybody who is with the Muslim community is welcome".
He said the convention would be a party to the appeal before the Supreme Court.dav had met him, the Shahi Imam said: "Support of anybody who is with the Muslim community is welcome".
He said the convention would be a party to the appeal before the Supreme Court.

Somdev Devvarman cruises into final

8th of Oct 2010

Top seed Somdev Devvarman assured India at least a silver medal in the tennis competition of the Commonwealth Games by storming into the men’s singles final with a straight set win over Australia’s Matthew Ebden here on Friday.
Somdev, ranked 97th, outplayed third seed and world number 165 Ebden, 6-3 6-1 in one hour and 11 minutes in the men’s singles semifinals at the Centre Court of the R K Khanna Tennis stadium.
His next opponent will also be an Australian as the other semifinal is an all-Australian affair between second seed Peter Luczak and fifth seed Greg Jones.
Unlike the previous matches, the semifinal featured long rallies but Somdev had strong enough legs and stamina to outlast his opponent.
Ebden was coming into this match after playing an energy-sapping three-setter against British Joshua Goodall and perhaps had not recovered from the gruelling encounter.
Nevertheless, he did pose some questions for Somdev but the Indian was equipped with enough answers.
The match never rose to expected highs ever since Ebden dropped his serve in the first game. The Australian slowly picked up but Somdev gradually tightened his grip over the match.
The Indian broke Ebden twice in both the sets.
He is also in contention in the men’s doubles and is scheduled to play the semifinals with Rohan Bopanna later in the day.

Devvarman has it easy; Bopanna misses out.

6th of Oct 2010

It was time for wonders and surprises, blunders and crises in second round tennis action at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. Rushmi Chakravarthi came back from the dead to wrest a win over third-seeded Katie O'Brien of England, and Rohan Bopanna abandoned a golden chance to take his match against second-seeded Peter Luczak into a decider, to lose 2-6, 6-7(5).
Bopanna came back strongly in the evening to win his doubles match 6-3, 6-1, with Somdev Devvarman, against Scotsmen Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming, to enter the quarterfinals, and Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi escaped from 2-5 in the second set to wrap things up 6-1, 7-6(2) against the Scottish pair of Mhairi Brown and Jocelyn Rae in women's doubles.
Earlier, in women's singles, the dawning of Rushmi came in the nick of time, at 1-6, 4-5, when O'Brien served to complete what appeared a straightforward win.
The Indian effected a miraculous break to even things out 5-5. Since services had been swapped earlier in the second set (Rushmi, in fact, had six unconverted break points in the first) the home favourite knew that prying open O'Brien's serve was a possibility.
The players hung on to their hurlers to necessitate a ‘breaker', which Rushmi ran away with 7-2, taking the match into a decider, where her depletion disappeared into resolve.
She notched up an early lead (4-2), allowed the Englishwoman to equalise (5-5), and split once again the gates of O'Brien's resistance to close out the match 1-6, 7-6(2), 7-5. Calling it one of her best wins, Rushmi said, “I was missing a lot of shots in the first set. After that I was more consistent.”
A little earlier, Bopanna began with a blaze of aces — three in his opening game itself — but descended from sharp-shooting blunderbuss to blunderer in a matter of minutes. Luczak wrapped up the first set 6-2 on the strength of two breaks, and made sure all through that his part of the job, the hold of a serve nowhere near as booming as Bopanna's was carried out with efficiency.
The Banglorean's groundstrokes whizzed with top-spin, but his 26 winners (to Luczak's 20) were far outnumbered by unforced errors — 22 to the Aussie's 5. There were no break-points in the second set, which hurtled into a tie-breaker. Luczak served ahead, and surrendered a mini-break right away. Bopanna flung down an ace and a service winner for 3-0, before stealing another mini-break for 4-1. And that's when he got in a muddle.
A double-fault and a casual backhand negated the double advantage, as Luczak won five successive points to move to 6-4 and double match-point. Bopanna saved one with a service winner. But the second, on Luczak's serve, was put to rightful rest by the Aussie.
In other singles action, Somdev Devvarman entered the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-1, thrashing of Sri Lankan teenager Amresh Jayawickreme, Sania Mirza was almost as harsh (6-0, 6-2) on the Cook Islands's Brittany Teei, while Poojashree Venkatesha put up a stiff fight against fifth-seeded Heather Watson of Guernsey, before losing 6-7(6), 3-6.

29 NATO tankers in new Pakistan attack: officials

9th of Oct 2010
QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen Saturday torched at least 29 oil tankers in southwest Pakistan, the sixth attack in just over a week as Islamist militants continue to target a NATO supply route into Afghanistan.
Two police officers were hurt in the attack in remote Mitri area, 180 kilometres (112 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.
"Some 30 gunmen attacked the tankers, which were parked outside a roadside hotel and opened fire early Saturday morning, injuring two local police officials," Abdul Mateen, a senior administration official in Mitri, told AFP.
He said the fire engulfed 29 tankers, adding the local administration have called firefighters from the nearby Sibbi town to extinguish the fire.
"We will be able to have a precise idea about the losses only after the fire is brought under control."
Mateen said the tankers, which were on their way to Afghanistan had stopped in Mitri overnight.
Baluchistan's home secretary Akbar Durrani confirmed the incident and said the fire gutted all 29 tankers.
Abdul Qadir, an employee at the roadside hotel told AFP: "I was fast asleep and got up with sound of intense firing.
"When I came out, I saw a group of armed men warning other employees and vehicle drivers to stay away. The gunfire was so intense that it triggered massive fire engulfing all tankers that were parked in front of the hotel," Qadir said.
Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came three days after militants torched over 40 NATO oil tankers and containers in the northwestern city of Nowshera and in southwestern Quetta.
Taliban militants have launched five attacks on NATO supply vehicles in Pakistan in the past week to avenge a new wave of US drone strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the country's northwest.
Pakistani authorities have reported 26 drone attacks since September 3 which have killed more than 140 people in the region, a hub for homegrown and foreign militants fighting in Afghanistan.
The strikes have been linked to a US plan to disrupt an alleged plot by extremists to launch Mumbai-style attacks in Europe.
The latest tanker attack came as the main land route for NATO supplies crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan at Torkham in the northwest remained closed for tenth day running.
A second border crossing at Chaman in Pakistan's southwest remains open, a customs official said.
Pakistan shut the route at Torkham in protest at a cross-border NATO helicopter attack that officials blamed for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. The alliance said it's personnel had fired back in self-defence.
US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson Wednesday apologised on behalf of the American people over what she called the "terrible accident".

Don't internationalise Kashmir: BJP

9th oct 2010
NEW DELHI: The BJP has asked Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah not to internationalise Kashmir, which is a domestic issue, by involving Pakistan, when it is not required. While speaking in the state Assembly, Omar had asked the Centre to initiate dialogue with Pakistanis and Kashmiris.
Not sparing the Centre for being proactive ahead of the visit of US President Barack Obama, former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi wanted the Centre to ask Obama to pressurise Pakistan to stop the export of terror to India.
If that was not enough, Joshi also trained his guns against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for describing the Kashmir situation as a "unique problem," which required a "unique action."
Joshi wondered if the solution he was referring to was "azaadi." According to him, the Centre should ask Obama to tell Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure. He said that while most of the countries acknowledge that Pakistan is engineering terrorist violence in India, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others, but nothing has been done to stop Pakistan.
He said, while the US wants its hands off from Afghanistan, it is keen to take the assistance of Pakistan to check Taliban there and that is why it is offering packages to Pakistan. There was a danger of Taliban taking over Pakistan and then even sneaking into India.
Joshi asked Omar to read Article 1 of the Indian Constitution, which clearly includes the State of Jammu and Kashmir at the 15th number in the list of Indian territories. Even Section 3 of J K Constitution states that the state is an "integral part of India."
The BJP leader reminded Omar that all the princely states had acceded to India after signing the Instrument of Accession. That was the laid down procedure. Joshi said that this did not mean that the Instrument of Accession was less important than the merger.
Taking a dig at the Centre, Joshi wondered as to why the UPA Government was so keen to talk to the separatists and not to the majority of people in the Valley, who were keen to be part of India.

Trouble Stays: 40 nations nearing pact on generics seizure

9th of Oct 2010
NEW DELHI:The drug seizure agreement with the European Union (EU) may be an eyewash as another international treaty will allow 40 countries to seize in transit generic medicines.
Indian drugmakers and health activists have voiced strong concerns against Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA , which they allege emboldens EU's earlier move and will affect Indian drug exports . The final draft of ACTA released last weekend follows the 11th and final round of the negotiations held in Tokyo last month. Although some delegate countries had expressed reservation about certain parts of text, the treaty is expected to be signed soon with minor changes, Indian industry executives say.
DG Shah, secretary general at Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said the provisions under ACTA can be misused and legitimate registered Indian medicines can be seized. "ACTA goes beyond being a multilateral trade agreement and is seeking to formalise what the EU tried to do through the Free Trade Agreement with support of non-European countries," he said.
On Thursday, commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma said India will withdraw the complaint filed at the WTO over confiscation of Indian generic drugs at European countries after EU amended its rules.
In the last couple of years, Customs authorities in a number of European countries seized about 20 drug consignments shipped from India enroute various African and Latin American countries. This was based on complaints by European companies holding patents for those drugs in their countries, who claimed the products were counterfeit.
"The text (of the treaty of ACTA) still promotes an EU-style legal regime that would facilitate cross-border seizures of legitimate and lawful generic medicines that transit through any ACTA member," Sean Flynn, a law professor at Washington College of Law said in a statement.
Although, India is not a treaty member of ACTA, locally made generic drugs can be seized at the 40 countries who are going to be the signatories to the treaty. These include the EU countries, US, Canada, Mexico , Switzerland, New Zealand, Morocco, Japan, Australia, S. Korea and Singapore.
India is considered the pharmacy of the world because of its ability to produce and export drugs at low-cost and huge quantities . The ACTA could adversely impact exports of medicines worth about . 42,000 crore annually, say drug exporters. Prathiba Singh, a Delhi-based lawyer said, "The definition of Intellectual Property provided in ACTA brings into its ambit virtually all IP rights. ACTA should be restricted to trademarks, copyrights and its related rights only."

India students suspended for rude Facebook messages

9th of Oct 2010
By Asit Jolly Chandigarh
A leading school in India has suspended 16 students for posting rude remarks about a woman teacher on the popular social networking site, Facebook.
The comments were started by a student of Chandigarh's prestigious Vivek High School who was angry with his math teacher for giving him low grades.
Fifteen other classmates were suspended for allegedly egging him on.
Facebook has nearly 12 million Indian subscribers and the site is hugely popular with young urban Indians.
High school student Asaf Pervez initiated the online "thread" by posting images of his test scores alongside "rude and abusive" remarks, the school management said.
The "abusive" thread soon became a regular forum for the school's senior students to indulge in teacher-bashing, an official said.
The comments were discovered by chance a week later by a faculty member.
Shocked at what she saw, the teacher reported the matter to the school management, which responded by suspending the students.
"We cannot tolerate indiscipline, particularly disrespect towards any teacher," school director HS Mamik, who ordered a three-month suspension after individually meeting parents of each of the 16 teenagers, said.
"The comments posted are not just negative but obscene, rude and abusive."
The suspended students said the management's action infringed their privacy and right to free expression.
"The school has no business to peep into our personal and online lives," one girl student told a reporter.
Most parents agree that children must respect their teachers.
But they say the three month suspension is excessive, specially during the final year of school.
The school management has now agreed to review the penalty at a meeting on 18 October.
Many educationists and school principals in Chandigarh say internet allows easy access to obscenity which, they say, is increasingly finding expression in the lives of school children.
They have called for mandatory and stricter parental controls over children's browsing habits.

Toxic mud threatens Hungarian town

9th oct 2010

Kolontar, a village hit by the sludge spill, is being evacuated over fears of further leaks from "weakened" reservoir.
he Hungarian village of Kolontar, which lies close to the deadly sludge spill in the country's west, is being evacuated for fear of a new leak of the dangerous heavy metal waste, officials say.
Authorities ordered the evacuation on Saturday morning at 7am local time after further damage was discovered at a burst reservoir that spilled toxic sludge on Monday, according to the national news agency, MTI.
Kolontar and Devecser were the towns hardest hit when up to 700,000 cubic metres of red sludge from an industrial plant flooded from a burst reservoir at an alumina plant in Ajka.
Al Jazeera's Tania Page, reporting from Kolontar on Saturday, said the damage to the northern wall of the reservoir is minor, but 800 villagers are being evacuated as a precaution.
"The police have blocked off the area and are evacuating all 800 residents to a sports hall and two schools in Ajka, eight kilometres away," she said.
"Officials have decided to take this action because they have discovered new damage to the northern part of the reservoir and some toxic mud inside of it too. They insist that this is a precautionary measure, however, they have not detailed what the damage is exactly."
The death toll following the spill has risen to seven. Around 150 people have been injured.
Many have suffered from burns and eye irritations caused by corrosive elements in the mud, and hundreds have been evacuated from their homes.
MAL Zrt, the company that owns the metals plant, said the waste was not considered hazardous under EU standards and recommended people clean off the sludge with water.
Tibor Dobson, the disaster unit chief, said no new waste has escaped from the huge container "so far".
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, said the Danube river was no longer under threat of widespread pollution and that the situation had now been brought "under control".
Experts have been pouring large quantities of clay and acid into affected waterways in an effort to neutralise the alkaline pollutants.