Karnataka BJP MLA's wife found dead in Delhi

Karnataka BJP legislator Raghupathi Bhat's wife Padmapriya, 32, was found dead in an apartment New Delhi on Sunday. The wife of the MLA from Udupi had been missing since June 10.
According to the police, her body was found hanging in room number 29 of Kshama Apartments in Dwarka Sector-6.
On the day she went missing, Padmapriya was supposed to go to her parents house in Mulki, a town near Udupi. She had called her parents, informing them that she would reach there by afternoon. She never turned up. However, no police complaint was lodged till Friday.
Once the missing person complaint was lodged by Bhat, police found her car was found abandoned near a temple near Kunjalgiri, near Udupi. In the car police found bloodstains, Rs 8,000 in cash, broken bangles and a cell phone without a sim card.
A senior Karnataka police officer told rediff.com that they will be sending a team to New Delhi to ascertain whether it was a case of murder or suicide.
Reports had earlier suggested that she may have left the house due to strained relations with her husband. However, Bhat denied these and asserted that his relations with his wife were fine.
"When I filed my election nomination form, my wife came with me and she also helped me during my campaign," he said.
Another angle that was being attached to Padmapriya going missing was the role of Naxalites. However, state Home Minister V S Acharya had rejected this theory stating that there was no Naxal presence in and around Udupi district.
Padmapriya's brother Rajshekhar, who is in New Delhi , suspects foul play behind her death even though he confirmed that her body had been found hanging.
He alleged that a contractor from Udupi may have driven her to take the extreme step.
The incident has sent shock waves across Karnataka and the state Women's Commission has initiated a suo motu case.
Nirmala Venkatesh, chairperson of the commission, said they were deeply hurt and would like to probe into the matter.
Meanwhile, Bhat is on his way to New Delhi along with Acharya to complete the formalities.

Indian millionaires jailed

A high-flying British Indian businessman, Virendra Rastogi, on Friday began a nine-and-half-year jail sentence after being found guilty of defrauding some 20 banks across the Atlantic of more than £350 million in what was described as one of the biggest frauds in recent banking history.
The Southwark Crown Court here also jailed his associates, Anand Jain and Gautam Majumdar, for eight-and-half and seven-and-half years respectively.
Rastogi (39), who lived in style in London’s fashionable Mayfair area and had friends in high places, was hailed as one of the biggest success stories of British Indian enterprise and even featured in The Sunday Times’ famous Rich List as among the country’s wealthiest Asian businessmen.
But his charmed life came to a humiliating end when it was discovered that his international business empire comprised of a network of more than 300 fictitious companies whose supposedly high-value clients were fake. The supposed address of one such “client” in Muradabad, Uttar Pradesh, turned out to be a cowshed while the “head office” of another “client” in New Jersey, U.S., was a scrapbooks shop run by an old woman, the investigators found. Another American address was also found to be fictitious.
Rastogi and his associates ran their bogus operation from a fashionable address in Piccadilly, Central London, through a metal trading company RBG Resources. They got two peers, Labour’s Lord Cunningham and Liberal Democrats’ Lord Holmes, to become advisers to the company to give it respectability.
Fake documents
The fraud, which involved borrowing money from banks on the strength of fake business documents, was detected thanks to a simple fax error — by mistake an employee faxed some forged documents to a wrong address.
The recipient turned out to be the company’s auditors who became suspicious and raised the alarm, triggering a trans-Atlantic criminal investigation.
After a seven-year investigation and trial, Rastogi and his associates were convicted for running an “incestuous empire” of fictitious firms.
The judge called their actions a “crime of the utmost gravity” which had caused “enormous damage” to banks.

Bandh evokes mixed response in Tamil Nadu

The day-long general strike called by Left parties in Tamil Nadu on Saturday in protest against price hike in petro products evoked mixed response.
Buses and trains operated as usual. No major untoward incident was reported, police said. Seventy persons, who tried to stage a rail-roko at hosur, were arrested, police said.
A section of auto drivers kept off the roads while shops were closed in many parts of the city. However, shops selling essential items such as medicines and drugs as well as retail outlets owned by big giants remained open not responding to the strike call given by CPI, CPI(M) And other left parties.
The strike call was given following the recent fuel price hike where a litre of petrol was hiked by Rs 5 and diesel by Rs three while the customers had to pay Rs 50 more for a LPG cylender.

Jayasuriya Lacerate Chennai bowlers

Sanath Jayasuriya single-handedly led Mumbai Indians to a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
The Sri Lankan scored an aggressive 48-ball 114 not out that included nine boundaries and 11 huge sixes.
Jayasuriya and captain Sachin Tendulkar (12), playing in his first match in the IPL, put on 82 for the opening wicket in just 44 balls, Mumbai's best opening wicket stand so far in the competition, as the hosts made light work of the chase.
A packed crowd waited in eager anticipation to see Tendulkar perform but instead they witnessed Jayasuriya steal the thunder with the spectacular performance. Even Tendulkar was a mute spectator from the other end as the Sri Lankan severely punished the Chennai bowlers.Chasing a modest 157, the home team romped home with 6.1 overs to spare.Sanath was named Man Of the Match.

Shoaib Akhtar bowls Knight Riders to victory

Shoaib Akhtar produced a magical three-over opening spell to demolish the Delhi Daredevils top-order, as Kolkata Knight Riders scripted a sensational 23-run win in the DLF-Indian Premier League encounter at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.
Akhtar, who had to miss two matches on fitness grounds and was doubtful even for this tie, it was a memorable IPL debut. He began in spectacular fashion, sending back Delhi Daredevil skipper Virender Sehwag in the second ball of the opening over.
He removed Gautam Gambhir in his next over and dismissed A.B. de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary off successive balls in his third over to be on a hat-trick. Tillekeratne Dilshan, however, denied Akhtar a hat-trick.Akhtar was adjudged Man of the Match.

60 killed, 150 hurt in Jaipur blasts

Terrorists struck for the first time in Jaipur triggering seven blasts in a span of 12 minutes on Tuesday night in crowded market areas and near a Hanuman temple in the walled city leaving at least 60 killed and 200 injured.
"According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," said Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who rushed back to the state capital from Jodhpur.
Bangladesh-based Harkut-ul-Jehadi Islami is suspected to be behind the blasts that has taken the state authorities by surprise, home ministry sources said.
The sources ruled out the use of RDX in the carefully orchestrated low-intensity explosions which were suspected to have been set off from cycles in areas including near the famous Hawa Mahal which are frequented by domestic and foreign tourists.
The blasts rocked Tripolia Bazar, where large number of devotees turned up at a Hanuman temple, Johari Bazar, Manas Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal -- all located within a two-km radius in the old city. Inspector General (Jaipur) Pankaj Singh said in all there were seven blasts, a couple of them in the same area.
Police said one explosive was defused by bomb disposal squad near the Hanuman temple.

China quake Toll rises to 12,000

A Chinese disaster relief official says the death toll has risen to nearly 12,000 following a massive earthquake that struck the country
Disaster Response Director Wang Zhengyao said at a news conference Tuesday that 11,921 people had died so far from the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that was centered in Sichuan province.
The death toll from Monday's quake is expected to rise even higher, with state media saying thousands are still trapped in collapsed buildings.

The Red Devils Rule England

Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty and a late goal from Ryan Giggs gave Manchester United a 2-0 victory over Wigan at the JJB Stadium as they retained the Premier League title.
The Portugal winger collected his 31st league goal to help Sir Alex Ferguson's side lift their 17th league title which left them just one behind Liverpool's haul of 18.
United were handed an opportunity to break the deadlock after Emmerson Boyce brought down Wayne Rooney in the penalty area and referee Steve Bennett pointed to the spot.
Ronaldo stepped up to take the 33rd-minute spot-kick and calmly side footed the ball past goalkeeper Chris Kirkland who dived the wrong way.
Giggs, on as a substitute to equal Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for the club, added a second for United in the 80th minute although the result mattered little after Chelsea drew 1-1 with Bolton at Stamford Bridge.

China Earthquake Several thousands feared Dead

At least 3,000 people are feared dead after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale rocked South West China's Sichuan province on Monday, the Chinese local government said.
Nearly 900 students in southwest China's Sichuan Province were feared buried when a high school building collapsed Dujiangyan, Sichuan in an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale on Monday afternoon, Xinhua reported.
At least four third-graders -- two boys and two girls -- were confirmed dead at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometres from the epicenter in Wenchuan County, parents and witnesses said.
Xinhua reporters saw a three-story school building had partially collapsed. Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help.
Grieved parents watched as five cranes were excavating at the site and an ambulance was waiting, the agency said.The tremors were felt in Beijing and Shanghai and other cities in the country, official Xinhua news agency said.
China rushed its troops to the earthquake-struck Wenchuan County of southwest Sichuan province for disaster relief work, with President Hu Jintao ordering all out effort efforts to help the affected people.

Chengdu Military Area Command has dispatched the troops who would assist the local government in Wenchuan county to guage the situation and help in relief work, Xinhua said.Premier Wen Jiabao was also on his way to direct the rescue work.
Premier Wen described the massive earthquake as "disaster" and called for calm.
Meanwhile, 10 more people were killed and 14 others injured in China's northwest Gansu province due to major earthquake in Sichuan province today, Xinhua reported.
The epicentre Wenchuan, about 146 km northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, has a population of about 111,800. Chengdu is a fast growing metropolis of over 10 million people.
Before the strong earthquake struck, the Sichuan provincial seismological bureau detected a moderate quake measuring 5.4 on the Richter Scale in Mianzhu city of Deyang, Xinhua said.
Today's quake was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years. Overall, 44 aftershocks had been reported, the strongest one measuring 5.6, it said.
The Chinese Air Force has sent helicopters to assist in relief work in the quake-stricken areas, while the State Seismological Bureau is also dispatching a team to gauge the situation.
The airport at Chendgu was closed to flights in the afternoon and all domestic flights headed there were diverted to Chongqing, the biggest industrial city in Western China, local aviation staff said.
Tremors were also reported in Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Yunnan, Hunan and Hubei provinces and the Tibet Autonomous Region, the State Seismological Bureau said.
In Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan province, people rushed out of homes and offices. Many said they felt dizzy and saw the ceiling light fixtures swinging back and forth.
The local government informed citizens through mobile phone messages about the earthquake and schools told students to go home or gather them in the playground.
Xinhua reporters in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said they felt their office building rocking back and forth for about four minutes.
China said the Three Gorges Dam, largest hydro-electric project in the world, was not affected by the earthquake.
"There were no signs that the earthquake has affected the dam," Hu Xinge, an executive with the dam, was quoted as saying.
The National Stadium (Birds Nest) for the Olympics in Beijing was also not affected by the quake, Li Jiulin, an engineer in chief for the project said. The stadium, the main venue, was designed to endure an earthquake of 8 magnitude.
Major telecom firms said the quake had damaged power supplies to local telecommunication facilities, affecting cell phone services.
In Sichuan, about 2,300 local base stations stopped operating due to power shutdowns and transmission failures caused by the quake, Xinhua added.

Tornadoes in Missouri, Oklahoma

Many have fled this depressed, pollution-scarred mining town. Those who have chosen to stay or have not yet relocated face a new heartache.
A tornado ripped through a 20-block swath of Picher late Saturday afternoon, killing at least seven people. The same storm system then moved into southwest Missouri where tornadoes took the lives of at least 12 others, authorities said.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said Picher's victims included an infant. He said at least three people were confirmed missing.
"Trees are toppled over, ripped apart," he said. "There are cars thrown everywhere. It looks like a bomb went off, pretty much."
Brown said 32 people were transported to Integris Baptist Hospital in the nearby town of Miami. Of those, 26 were treated and released.
Many families have moved away from Picher to escape the lead pollution left by mining operations. The town's population has dwindled from a peak of roughly 20,000 to about 800 people.
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry issued a statement saying a major emergency response was under way. He planned to visit the area Sunday.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Picher and all of the other Oklahoma communities that have been impacted by the latest wave of severe weather," Henry said.
At least 12 people were killed after severe storms spawned tornadoes and high winds across sections of southwestern Missouri, the State Emergency Management Agency said. Ten of the dead were killed when a twister struck near Seneca, about 20 miles southeast of Picher, near the Oklahoma border.
"They're going over the hard-hit area and turning over everything and looking," SEMA spokeswoman Susie Stonner said of emergency workers' search for victims and assessment of damage. "It's hard to do in the dark."

Balaji shines with a hat-trick

lakshmipati Balaji registered first hat-trick of the Indian Premier League to help Chennai Super Kings assert their supremacy over Kings XI Punjab and beat them by 18 runs in Chennai on Saturday.
Balaji claimed five wickets, including a hat-trick in the last over of the match, and gave away just 24 runs in his four overs to seal his team's victory.
CSK set a target of 182 to win. Punjab Kings were restricted 18 runs short of the target.

Inflation climbs to 7.61%

Inflation rose to 42-month high of 7.61 per cent for the week ended April 26 as against 7.57 per cent in the previous week on account of rising food prices and some manufactured products.
The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation stood at 6.01 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.
During the week, prices of tea jumped by 11 per cent, fruits and vegetables by one per cent, fish marine by two per cent, spices and cardamoms by three per cent.
However, prices of pulses declined by nearly one per cent among manufactured products, prices of mustard oil and imported edible oil went expensive by one per cent and four per cent respectively.
At the same time, cement, aluminium ingots and other aluminium materials hardened.
However, steel prices declined during the week.
Sensex Dips
Sensex closed below 17000 and Nifty below 5000 today. Sensex shut shop at 16737, down 343 points and Nifty at 4982, down 99 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index was down 2.54% and BSE Smallcaps index was down 2.11%. There was selling pressure across oil and gas, banking, realty and capital goods stocks. Market breadth was negative with 213 advances against 1031 declines on the NSE

Rajasthan outplay Deccan

Rajasthan Royals rolled to the top of the table with an eight-wicket win over Deccan Chargers, who offered little resistance in a match that was effectively decided in the first innings. Deccan posted a below-par 140 and looked listless as Rajasthan's efficient batting chased the target with four overs to spare.
After their batsmen collapsed in spectacular fashion following Adam Gilchrist's dismissal, Deccan's fielders, perhaps hindered by the dust storm blowing across the stadium, failed to save runs and apply any pressure on Rajasthan. Deccan have now lost six matches out of eight and, with six games to play, their chances of making the semi-finals look dim.
A breezy 68 off only 37 deliveries by Yusuf Pathan saw Rajasthan Royals make short work of Deccan Chargers.
Yusuf was named man of the match.

Sensex south bound

Sensex is currently trading at 17,064, down 274 points from the previous close. Nifty is at 5072, down 63 points. CNX Midcap index is down 0.9% and BSE Smallcap index, down 0.7%. All sectoral indices are still trading low, with that of IT, banks and FMCG hit the most.

Supreme Court reinstate Dr Venugopal

The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the AIIMS Amendment Act that led to the removal of noted cardiologist Dr Venugopal as AIIMS director, and ordered his immediate reinstatement. The verdict came after Dr Venugopal challenged his removal as AIIMS Director following an amendment moved by Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss to fix 65 years as the upper age limit for the post.
It is belived that Ramadoss forced parliament to bring amendment in AIIMS Act to remove Dr. Venugopal. Dr Venugopal was removed from AIIMS in 2007. The AIIMS Amendment Act was passed by the Parliament in August 2007,

A security threat for India’s Internet users

Internet users now will have to be more watchful while carrying out their online financial transactions as Pharming, a new security threat used by hackers for making financial gains, is surfacing in the country.
“Pharming attack is a new security threat for the Internet users which is developing in the country and it is primarily launched by the hackers on the websites for getting financial gains,” Cyber Security Research Centre Associate Coordinator Divya Bansal said.
“Hackers redirect Internet traffic from one website to a different, identical-looking site in order to allure you to enter your user name and password on their fake site,” said Ms. Bansal.
Hackers try to acquire personal information in order to access the user’s bank account, steal the identity, or commit other kinds of fraud in his name. Banking and similar financial sites often become target of these attacks, she said.
Although there are few incidents of pharming happening in the country and they have not been largely reported, she said.
She further added that the problem could further deepen because of growing usage of Internet in India.India has about four million internet subscribers and 11 million users.Agreeing that it is a new security threat, Microsoft Corporation Director (Corporate Affairs) Deepak Maheshwari said, “this is just an extension of Phishing which also has a motive of making quick money.”

Indian-American DR to be honoured with 'Ellis Island Medal'

An Indian American doctor will be conferred with this year's Ellis Island Medal, one of America's most prestigious awards, for his contribution to strengthening of Indo-US relations and philanthropic work in both India and the US.
Sampat Shivangi will be presented with the honour at an award ceremony on May 10, at the historic Ellis Island in New York city.
The medal is given to American citizens for their outstanding contributions to their own ethnic groups, their ancestral countries and to the United States.
Past recipients of the medal, which is recognised by both US house of representative and the senate, include six former US presidents, nobel laureates and other leaders in the field of industry, education, arts, and Sports.
Shivangi was instrumental in obtaining a first ever large US congressional grant for the study of diabetes mellitus amongst Indian Americans, who have one of the highest incidence of the disease.
He served the American association of physicians of Indian origin as secretary, vice president and was the founding president of Aapi Mississippi.
He also worked as adviser to the US secretary of health and human services at NHSC and was the first Indian American member of the Mississippi state board of health.

Three women allege stripped by CPI-M cadre

Three women activists of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Commitee on Tuesday claimed they were beaten up and stripped by CPI-M cadres in Nandigram for refusing to support the Marxists in the ensuing panchayat polls.
Malati Das, Krishna Das and Tulsi Das of Simulkundu village claimed that they have filed a complaint but the Nandigram police refused to comment.
When contacted, Superintendent of Police of East Midnapore S Panda told PTI that he had no information on the matter and that the Nandigram police station could only say anything.The women alleged that around 40-50 CPI-M cadres, led by Mamata Das, came to their houses on Monday and laid a seize.
"The CPI-M cadres told us that we should vote for their party in the panchayat polls. When we refused to oblige, they started beating us. They even snatched the voter's identity cards," they alleged.
"They then started stripping our clothes. We ran for around one km without any clothes to escape from their clutches," they claimed.

Forest fires hit Uttarakhand

Forest fires have hit the famous Jim Corbett and Rajaji National parks and several other areas of Uttarakhand where eight persons have been arrested on charges of igniting some of them. With fresh squalls hitting Uttarakhand since Sunday night, the forest department has warned that the fires would rage further.
The forest fires are striking terror in several areas of the Corbett and Rajaji national parks, known for their tiger and elephant population, the forest department here said, adding that several other parts of the State have also been affected. Though the forest department is claiming that it has controlled the fires in Corbett Park, reports said they were still raging.
However, no loss of life or wildlife has been reported in the fire, said A.R. Sinha, Chief Conservator and the nodal officer for the fire fighting operations. Altogether, nearly 1,426 hectares of forests have been affected by the fires which have now become an annual feature.

Cyclone toll could reach 13,000: Myanmar Minister

The death toll from a devastating cyclone that swept through Myanmar is 4,000 and could rise to 15,000, the country' foreign minister said on Monday.
State radio said the number of dead in the country's low-lying Irrawaddy River delta from Saturday's Cyclone Nargis had reached 3,939, and that almost 3,000 people in a single town there were unaccounted for.
Foreign diplomats said Foreign Minister Nyan Win acknowledged the possibility of 10,000 dead at a briefing given to them and representatives of UN and international aid agencies. On Sunday, the initial death toll was given as 351.
At the meeting, Myanmar officials appealed for international humanitarian assistance, including urgently needed roofing materials, plastic sheets and temporary tents, medicine, water purifying tablets, blankets and mosquito nets.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed doors, said the foreign minister acknowledged 59 deaths in the country's largest city of Yangon.
The government radio station in the capital, Naypyitaw, said 2,879 people were unaccounted for in Bogalay, a town in the Irrawaddy delta where the storm wreaked the most havoc.The storm left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and without clean drinking water said Richard Horsey, a Thailand-based spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Yangon was without electricity except where gas-fed generators were available. Many roads remained littered with debris.
The situation in the countryside remained unclear because of poor communications and roads left impassable by the storm.

Cruise ship Mona Lisa runs aground off Latvian Coast

The cruise ship Mona Lisa with 984 people on board ran aground early on Sunday in the Baltic Sea, off the northwest coast of Latvia, the coast guard said.
Coast guard spokeswoman Liene Ulbina said all the passengers were safe and they were not at immediate risk. Most are German, she said.
Air force and border guards were on standby, but there are no signs of damage to the Bahamas-registered vessel, which was stranded in the Irbe strait outside Riga, a Latvian Coast Guard Service statement said.
Ulbina said coast guard ships had arrived at the scene, but it remained unclear whether they would attempt to evacuate the passengers or try to pull the ship off the ground.
The coast guard said the crew had been inspecting the ship and had not found any signs of damage or oil tank leaks.

Over 350 dead as cyclone hits Myanmar

More than 350 people have died in Myanmar in a powerful cyclone that knocked out power in the impoverished country's commercial capital and destroyed thousands of homes, state-run media said on Sunday.
Military-run Myaddy television station said five regions had been declared disaster zones following Saturday's storm, which packed winds of up to 190 kilometres per hour.
It said at least 351 people were killed by Tropical Cyclone Nargis, including 162 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country's southwest coast. Many of the others died in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta.
Seventy-five per cent of the buildings in the Irrawaddy's Labutta township had collapsed, it said.
"The Irrawaddy delta was hit extremely hard, not only because of the wind and rain but because of the storm surge," said Chris Kaye, the UN's acting humanitarian coordinator in Yangon.
The meteorological bureau had forecast the cyclone would cause tides to rise as much as 3.7 metres above normal levels, although no details of the actual rise were available on Sunday.

Bush remarks enrage political parties

All major political parties, including Congress, BJP and the Left, on Saturday lashed out at US President George W Bush for blaming growing demand in India for the spiraling global food prices as the opposition used the opportunity to attack the government.
Most parties said a major reason for spiralling global food prices was diversion of land producing food crops in the US to bio-fuel production, while Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said Bush was "completely wrong" in his assessment.
"George Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economics. And he has just proved once again how comprehensively wrong he is. To say that the demand for food in India is causing increase in global good prices is completely wrong," Ramesh said.
Congress criticised the US President saying the analysis was "completely erroneous" as India was not a food importer but a food exporter.

Delhi beats Chennai

Delhi Daredevils ended the four-match winning streak of the Chennai Super Kings with a comprehensive eight-wicket win in the Indian Premier League match at the M Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
The win opened up the tournament and ensured Chennai, Delhi and Rajasthan share the top spot in the table with four wins and a defeat each, and only separated by net run-rate.
Captain Virender Sehwag (71) and the in-form Gautam Gambhir (50) laid the foundation for the Delhi win with an opening wicket partnership of 115 off just 68 balls.
Sehwag was his usual aggressive self, hitting seven boundaries and four massive sixes in his 41-ball knock, while Gambhir again outlined his credentials in this version of the game with his third half-century in five games.

UPA will hold LS polls in October'

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has predicted that elections to the Lok Sabha would be held in October 2008, saying the United Progressive Alliance government cannot sustain the price rise issue any longer.
Advani, who was in Anekal in Karnataka as part of the election campaign for the Karnataka assembly elections, said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government was not able to handle the issue of inflation any longer. The Congress feels that the more they delay the elections, the more they will anger the voter, prompting elections in October.

Sharif-Zardari talks Cordial

Talks between the former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party Asif Ali Zardari over the reinstatement of judges appear to have made headway.
At the end of two rounds of marathon talks on Wednesday evening, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Federal Communication Minister who belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League (N), said substantial progress had been made in the talks. He said talks would continue on Thursday afternoon on a few sensitive issues which still needed to be addressed. The PML (N) delegation, led by Mr. Sharif, was earlier scheduled to depart for Pakistan on Wednesday night.
Both Mr. Sharif and Mr. Zardari earlier assured the media after the first round of talks on Wednesday afternoon that the coalition government was not in danger of collapse. “The coalition is strong,” Mr. Zardari told reporters outside the venue of talks. Neither of the two leaders referred to the 30-day deadline for the reinstatement of sacked judges that the PML (N) and the PPP had set under the Murree accord.
Mr. Zardari has been insisting that the judges’ reinstatement is part of a wider issue of judicial reforms in Pakistan. He has, therefore, advocated working out a constitutional package to be passed by Parliament as the basis of a lasting solution. According to him, persisting with a 30-day deadline, which expired on April 30, for the restoration of the judges is unrealistic.The talks took place in Dubai.

Jayasuriya and Bravo Engineers Mumbai's first win

Inspired by Sanath Jayasuriya's 3 for 14, the best figures of the tournament, the Mumbai Indians put their off-field troubles aside and pulled off their first win. On a slow Eden Gardens pitch, though not the minefield of the previous game, Mumbai had a nervy start and were 25 for 3 before Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa put on a century stand to see them home.
After Kolkata Knight Riders chose to bat, Mumbai's stand-in captain Shaun Pollock stunned the huge crowd, removing local hero Sourav Ganguly and the dangerous Brendon McCullum in the first over.
Jayasurya Inspired spin Bowling reduced the Knight Riders to 77-6 until LR Shukla smashed two fours and a six each off Bravo and Dilhara Fernando as 44 runs were scored in the last four overs.Mediocre total of 137 was set.

After losing 3 wiskets in the first 4 over Mumbai was rescued by some sensible batting by Bravo and Uttapa.Both of them saw their team register the first win in this Tournament.Bravo remained unbeaten on 64 of 53 balls and Uttappa 37 of 37 balls.

Sonia Blames State Government for Price rise

Accusing the UPA government of "mismanagement", senior BJP leader L K Advani on Tuesday said the Congress was trying to shift the blame for the price spiral on state governments.
Reacting to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's speech in West Bengal on Monday, the senior party leader said, "her attempt to shift the blame for price rise on state governments is a disingenuous attempt to hide the failure and mismanagement of the Central government."
Advani, who was addressing a meeting of the parliamentary party here, said Gandhi has "broken her silence" on the violence in Nandigram for the first time after the communist parties started protesting against the government's failure to contain price rise.
Gandhi in a public meeting at Behrampur had charged the West Bengal government with failure to contain violence in Nandigram and said there is no place for political violence in a democracy.

“Sonia knows nothing about West Bengal” Basu

Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said here on Tuesday there was no reason to give importance to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s remarks during her visit to the State on Monday.
Coming out of a Polit Bureau meeting, which he attended as a special invitee, Mr. Basu said “Her words cannot be taken seriously.”
Asked about Ms. Gandhi’s criticism of law and order in the State and comments on the sufferings of people in Nandigram during the unrest there, he said, “She knows nothing of West Bengal.” Ms. Gandhi had no comments to offer on the peoples’ hardships due to price rise. “Controlling the prices is the duty of the Centre and also a commitment in the Common Minimum Programme, which it is not abiding by.”

Sensex Gains 362 points

The Asian markets had a mixed day. The Indian market had a strong session today following positive news on two fronts. RBI announced its monetary policy (CRR hike of 25 bps) and government took fiscal measures to curb inflation (like tax exemptions for IT companies, 0% customs duty on steel). Sensex nearly ended at the day's high while Nifty closed above the 200 DMA for the first time in 40 days. Sensex ended the day at 17378, up 362 points while Nifty closed at 5195, up 105 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcap index was up 1.78%, BSE Smallcaps index was up 0.87%. The market breadth was positive with advances at 770 against declines of 467 on the NSE. Top Nifty gainers included DLF, Satyams and HDFC while losers included Grasim, Idea and Bharti Airtel.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS REGISTER THEIR 4TH WIN

It was almost a lost match for the Chenai super Kings,but a steady bowling line and astute leadership from MS DHONI saw the CSK pulling of a facile 13 run win from the jaws of certain defeat.Thanks to some insipid batting by the Royal challengers.Bangalore Royal Challengers were siting pretty with Wasim Jaffer and Ross Taylor cruising along toward the victory target(102-1in 11) at ease until Suresh Raina took a tumbling catch to dismiss Ross Taylor.This triggered the collapse.Bangalore never recovered for this and caved in losing all the wicket 13 runs short.Youngsters Manpreet Gony and Palani Amarnath Maintained steady Bowling line for the CSK.
Earlier it was MS DHONI blitzkriegs which saw the CSK posting a challenging score.Skipper made a cameo 65 of 30 balls.This almost sealed the chances of Challengers.MSDHONI was named MAN OF THE MATCH.
HARBAJAN BANNED
Ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was banned from playing in the Indian Premier League after he pleaded guilty to slapping Indian teammate S Sreesanth at the end of the match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians in Mohali last week.
The temperamental bowler was also fined 100 per cent match fees from the third IPL match.Lalchand Rajput, coach of his team, Mumbai Indians, was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for making no attempt to stop the physical attack on the Kings XI Punjab bowler.
Sreesanth was let-off with a warning that his "aggression on the field will in future be taken seriously".

PSLV-C9 successfully places 10 satellites into orbit

Setting a world record, India's Polar rocket on Monday successfully placed ten satellites, including the country's remote sensing satellite, into orbit in a single mission.
The ten pack launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) saw the 230-tonne Polar Satellite launch Vehicle (PSLV-C9) carry the heaviest luggage-824 kgs-and put into orbit an Indian Mini Satellite and eight foreign nano satellites besides the Cartosat-2A remote sensing satellite.
At the end of the 52-hour countdown, the PSLV-C9, with a lift-off mass of 230 tonne, blasted off from the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and soared into the clear sky in a textbook launch.
Fourteen minutes after lift off, the fourth stage of the ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle, in its 13th flight, injected the ten satellites, into the 635 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
This is for the first time that ISRO has put ten satellites in orbit in a single launch. This is also PSLV's twelfth successful flight.
It is for the first time in the world that ten satellites were launched in a single mission. Russia had earlier launched eight satellites together.
Besides the 690 kg Indian remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2A and the 83 kg Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1), the rest eight Nano Satellites were from abroad.

Lakshmi Mittal remains richest man in Britain

Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal remains Britain’s richest man for the fourth consecutive year with an estimated fortune of £27.7 billion, according to the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List regarded as one of the most authoritative independent guides to the country’s super rich.
While some of his Asian peers saw their wealth dip over the past year, Mr Mittal’s went up by nearly £8 billion, making him the world’s sixth richest man.
Britain’s ten richest Asians include Swaraj Paul, the Hinduja brothers and Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways.
All are way behind Mr. Mittal, who heads the overall list of Britain’s 1,000 richest persons followed by Roman Abramovich, the expatriate Russian oil baron and owner of Chelsea football club with a wealth of £11.7billion, and the Duke of Westminster with £7billion.

Gilchrist Ton sets up Deccan first win

Gilchrist slammed 10 sixes and nine fours in a cavalier unbeaten knock of 109 to power Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad to a 10-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians and break their duck in the IPL here on Sunday.
The left-handed Gilchrist looked in splendid form and carted the bowlers all around the park to delight the crowd of 55,000 at DY Patil Stadium while powering his way to a record-setting 42-ball 100. He remained unbeaten on 109 after facing 48 balls to hold complete sway over the home attack.
At the other end was captain VVS Laxman, with an attractive 37 not out as the duo piloted their team to their first win in four ties. Chargers achieved the target of 155 without any loss in only 12 overs.
The blitzkrieg by the wicketkeeper-batsman, who bettered his teammate Andrew Symonds' 47-ball hundred against Rajasthan Royals, helped Hyderabad romp home.

Karzai escapes assassination bid

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday survived an assassination attempt by suspected Taliban militants here at a high-profile military parade, with explosions and gunfire killing at least one person and injuring 11 others including lawmakers.
Karzai as well as scores of ministers from his Cabinet and foreign diplomats including the US ambassador escaped unhurt from the attack at the parade, organised to mark the 16th anniversary of the end Soviet-backed rule in Afghanistan.
At least one person has been killed and 11 were hurt in the attack, state run Bakhtar News Agency reported.
Security forces whisked 50-year-old Karzai away from the scene. Two MPs were reported to be among the wounded.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had deployed six militants, with suicide vests and guns, to target the president.
Karzai has survived at least three previous assassination attempts but this was the first attempt on him in the capital.

BJP respected Christanity, Jesus Christ: Advani

BJP leader L K Advani on Saturday said those who consider BJP as a party of communal, anti-minorities and anti-Christian were doing so it with "ulterior motives".
The BJP respected Christanity and Jesus Christ for his message of universal peace, love and brotherhood, senior BJP leader L K Advani said while inaugurating a function of Marthoma Church off Malabar here.
Advani said his association with Marthoma Church dates back to period of Emergency in 1975-77. Marthoma Church was one of the religious organisations that openly opposed the Emergency. "I had praised the Church for its bold stand", he said.
He also distributed keys of houses, that were built by the church to the weaker sections of society. A total of 1500 houses were built with an estimated expenditure of Rs 60,000 per house.

PM IN TROUBLED WATERS

The Congress-led UPA Government is in the dock on the issue of Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu misusing his position to favour his sons’ firms.
Heat is now on the PMO for having written eight letters to the Petroleum Ministry asking for renewing gas allocation to the two companies run by Baalu’s sons, in which both his wives are shareholders.

The PMO is expected to issue a statement on the issue. External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee may clear the Government’s stand on the PMO’s role in the issue on Monday.
The Congress is somewhat relieved that no gas was provided to Baalu’s sons’ companies despite the PMO letters. But the fact that the PMO wrote eight letters between November 2007 and February 2008 has put the party on the defensive.

Harbajan Slaps Sreeshanth after losing match

Sreeshanth seen weeping in the ground after being slapped hard by Harbhajan

Harbhajan Singh found himself embroiled in yet another controversy after allegedly slapping Kings XI paceman S Sreesanth during their Indian Premier League encounter on Friday.
The Kings XI team, led by Yuvraj Singh, is reportedly planning to lodge a complaint against the off-spinner, who later apologised to the paceman in the dressing room of the Punjab team.
BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said the board would wait for the report from the team management before deciding on the future course of action.
Harbhajan, leading Mumbai Indians side, allegedly slapped Sreesanth when latter said something to him which the off-spinner found offensive.
The paceman was seen crying bitterly on the ground at the end of the IPL match, which his team won by 66 runs.
While Harbhajan kept mum on the issue during the post-match conference, Sreesanth tried to play down the incident.
"It is normal. Nothing serious happened. It is all in the game. I am fine. We will still be part of the national team," Sreesanth said before leaving from the stadium.
As Sreesanth came to board the bus to return to the team hotel, waiting media mobbed him to listen to his version.
Harbhajan though did not speak on the issue. "Can we have questions on just cricket," Harbhajan said when asked about what happened between him and Sreesanth.
Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput also requested media to restrict their questions to just cricket.
The winning captain Yuvraj Singh though was upset by the unsavoury incident and termed it "ugly".

"This is really an ugly incident. You do not want to see such things off the field specially after such a win. I am pretty upset at what has happened. This is totally unacceptable," he said apparently criticising Harbhajan Singh.
Yuvraj though said he did not know what actually transpired between the two.
"I do not know what exactly happened but one does not want to see such things happening."
Kings XI coach Tom Moody was also visibly upset by the incident and termed as "unacceptable" Harbhajan's behaviour.
"At the end of the day, players shake hands. But today saw more that from Harbhajan and Sreesanth. It is unacceptable behaviour and I am sure officials will take of note.
"The positive thing is that Harbhajan had a long chat with Sreesanth. But I am not sure what ramifications this incident will have," Moody said.
Upset after his team's third successive defeat, the turbanator also looked unhappy with his teammates.
"When you lose nothing seems to be okay. I won't bowl and bat for other people. They have to be captain of their own bowling and own bowling. I can not do other's job," he said angrily when asked if captaincy was tough.
"I don't like losing. When you lose, you don't feel happy."

Bharti Results Propels Sensex beyond 17100

Indian Market is showing sign of Bullish trend.With Infosys showing the way couple of days back.It was Bharti Airtel turn today to see the market in Bullish Trend.Telecom in general performed very well today.R Com gained 45.Bharti was up 82.It closed at 925 up 9.61% from previous close.

Maha govt bans cheerleaders for IPL Match

Notwithstanding the glamour quotient brought about in the ongoing IPL cricket matches by the cheerleaders, the Maharashtra government on Thursday said it will not allow the specially hired girls to go on with their "vulgar and obscene" performance during the April 27 league match at Navi Mumbai.
Talking to reporters here, Minister of State for Home Siddharam Mhetre described the cheerleaders and their dancing at the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches as "absolutely obscene".
"We live in India where womanhood is worshipped. How can anything obscene like this can be allowed?" he asked.
Mhetre wondered why the organisers require "semi- nude" women to entertain people at cricket matches. "The organisers may have invested crores of rupees organising such matches. But this does not mean that they make semi-nude women dance in front of people," he said.
Mhetre suggested organisers can use animated characters when players hit boundaries and six or anybody gets out without scoring.
Bollywood superstar Shah rukh Khan, however, did not find anything vulgar about cheerleaders.
"What's wrong with cheerleaders? I am also a family person, I do not see anything negative in it," the actor, who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Cong rebels vandalise KPCC office

AICC general secretary and chairman of the screening committee to select party candidates for assembly elections, Digvijay Singh, on Thursday experienced the intensity of dissidence within the party.
Hundreds of frenzied supporters of Manjunath, a disappointed ticket aspirant from Hiriyur constituency, vandalised the KPCC office and gheraoed leaders. The protesters laid siege to the party office and refused to allow anyone inside.
They shouted slogans against the leaders, accusing them of selling party tickets. They could only be coaxed to disperse when it was declared that Manjunath will be the Congress candidate for Hiriyur constituency.
Some of the more volatile protestors stormed into the KPCC office and broke the window panes. They damaged furniture and gheraoed KPCC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Digvijay Singh. One of the protesters even attempted suicide. Police had to resort to mild lathi charge to clear the crowd.

Shane Warne upsets Deccan dream

Captain Shane Warne hit the fourth and fifth ball of the final over for two huge sixes to ensure Rajasthan Royals a three-wicket win over the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League match at Hyderabad on Thursday.
Needing 17 runs to win off the last over, Warne clobbered a hapless Symonds to snatch the match away.
South African Graeme Smith (71), playing in his first match, and Yusuf Pathan (61) were the other major contributors for the Rajasthan team while Mohammad Kaif also chipped in with an aggressive 16-ball 34.
Shahid Afridi was the most successful bowler for the home team for three wickets.
Earlier, Andrew Symonds struck form, hitting the fastest hundred of the tournament to steer Deccan Chargers to a challenging 214 for five.
Put in to bat, the hosts overcame early blows to pile up the huge total, thanks to some lusty hitting by Symonds and his 111-run fourth-wicket stand with Rohit Sharma (36).
Symonds hit an unbeaten 117-run knock, studded with seven sixes and 11 boundaries off 53 balls, making full use of a dropped chance at the individual score of 75.
Yusuf Pathan was named man of the Match for his allround display.

Govt should quit and go for elections: Advani

The BJP-led NDA on Thursday formed a human chain in Parliament complex to protest price rise while its leader L K Advani asked the government to quit and go for elections if it was unable to control inflation.
"If you can't stop price rise then you should quit and the country should go to polls," Advani said, adding that the Opposition was "ready" for the challenge.
Alleging that the government had "failed" on the issue, Advani joined NDA members including leaders like Rajnath Singh, George Fernandes and Manohar Joshi, in forming the chain.
The issue had its echo in both Houses as the agitated Opposition raised vociferous slogans seeking to expose the UPA's "aam aadmi" plank.
Taking a dig at the Left parties and key outside supporters to the government, Advani said that the coalition was "helpless" as its two major allies have diametrically opposite economic and foreign policies.
Claiming that such a coalition cannot work, Advani dubbed the UPA as an "opportunistic get-together" to keep the NDA out.

Police Seal Kalki Bhagawan Ashram

Five persons including a Lankan national were killed and over 40 injured during a stampede at Kalki Bhagwan's ashram in Chittoor district, police said.
The stampede occurred when a large number of devotees gathered at the inaugural function of Kalki Bhagwan's Oneness University and Golden Ball at Vardayapalem and scrambled for having dharshan of Golden Ball.The ashram has advertised widely through all media's a Newly laid Golden ball would be thrown open for dharshan,this would bring Peace and Prosperity to the devotees.In this context Devotees rushed madly to have a glimpse of the Ball.
The deceased are identified as Subramanyam Satirlingam, a Sri Lankan national from Jaffna, Srinivas Rao Forest Officer, Govindaiah . The fifth deceased is yet to be identified.
The injured have been admitted to nearby hospitals.

The ashram is run by Kalki Bhagwan alias V Vijay Kumar and his wife Bhagwati Amma alias V Padmavathi.
Chittoor district Superintendent of Police K Lakshmi Reddy said several devotees fainted due to atampede as ashram authorities failed to provide proper facilities.
As a precautionary measure, the district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 at Vardayapalem while ashram authorities have postponed the inauguration ceremony.
They also appealed to devotees not to come to the ashram.
Hundreds of thousands of devotees from across the country had gathered at the newly built ashram to have a darshan of Kalki Bhagwan.No adequate police protection were given, charged the ashram authorities.Police blamed the ashram for not anticipating crowd in large numbers.Police have sealed the Premises and warned the ashram not to open until further orders.