Govt would serve its term-: CPI

The CPI has indicated that in the event of the Left withdrawing support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the outside supporters would not bring it down.

CPI General Secretary, A B Bardhan, however, evaded direct replies to questions on whether the Left would move a no-confidence motion or support one moved by BJP against the government.

Bush admits US' economic slither

President George W Bush admitted on Friday that the United States is going through "tough times" amid fears that the economy has slid into recession, but assured Americans that the underlying strength of the economy would lead to a rebound.
The country is "obviously going through tough times," he said but expressed confidence that the action taken by the government would put the economy back on track.

Addressing the Economic Club of New York, Bush also called on the Congress to take steps to alleviate the difficulties faced in the housing market and modernise the Federal housing administration.

Cheaper Laptops for Students In TN

Uma Shankar, Managing Director, ELCOT, said that "notebook computers" will be provided to one lakh students in the state at a cost of below Rs 20,000 each this year.

Speaking at the 8th edition of "Connect Coimbatore 2008" jointly organised by CII, ELCOT and STPI in the city on Friday, he said that making available small laptops (notebook computers) at a cheaper cost was necessary to ensure that the technology reach out to students from low income families.

Market ends on Positive note

The Sensex is up 386 points at 15744.41, and the Nifty up 107 points at 4730.65.

About 1138 shares have advanced, 1844 shares declined, and 73 shares are unchanged.

Top gainers on the Sensex are DLF at Rs 653.40 up 7.72%, Jaiprakash Asso at Rs 236 up 7.7% and Satyam at Rs 378 up 3.69%.

AR RAHMAN to start A Music Conservatory

A music conservatory, the first of its kind in the country, teaching Indian and Western music and instruments, with no stringent budget constraints (“We’ve not yet calculated how much it costs. We’re just pumping in the money it needs,” Rahman naively said), along with a symphony orchestra, founded by AR Rahman himself.

KM Conservatory of music will work in collaboration with Audio Media Education, an Apple Authorised Training Centre. As a founder-principal, Rahman’s role will be conducting special classes and overseeing course curriculum.

Boy burnt to death

A 10-year-old boy was burnt to death allegedly by five drunk members of a marriage party in Alipur village on the outskirts of the capital, leading to tension in the area.

The burnt body of Sanjeev was found in an agricultural field in Alipur on Thursday night, a senior police official said.

Though police said it was not yet clear as to what led to the murder, locals claim the boy, who was riding a bicycle, was hit by the vehicle of a marriage party travelling to Alipur village from Meerut.

Gains not held

The market is not able to hold on to its gains. Sensex is trading at 15534, up 176 points from 330points and Nifty is at 4671, up 47 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index is up 0.22% and BSE Smallcaps index is down 0.44%. The market breadth is negative with advances at 512 against declines of 720 on the NSE

Gold @all time high

The yellow metal is slowly but surely going out of the common man’s reach. In the midst of wedding season, the price of yellow metal hit an all-time highs on Thursday on the back global rally that touched the psychological $1,000 an ounce, making the commodity almost un affordable for the retail user.

MDMK NOT CONTESTING FOR RAJYA SABHA

In an unexpected turnaround of events, the MDMK on Thursday declined to contest the Rajya Sabha elections in the seat offered by the AIADMK.

While thanking AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa for offering an RS seat to the MDMK, the party's general secretary Vaiko announced that the decision to keep away from the RS elections was taken after the issue was discussed at the meeting of MDMK parliamentary board.

Schoolgirls accuse PT teacher of sexual assault

50-60 students of Nehru Garden Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Jalandhar have in a written complaint to the principal said they were being "sexually exploited" by a sports coach.

The girls, mostly players in the kho-kho team, said they had to put it all on record against coach Shashi Sharma as it was getting unbearable.
Authorities have transferred Sharma and initiated an inquiry. A probe team visited the school on Wednesday and spoke to both students and teachers.

Scarlett was drugged, raped: Police

Claiming to have cracked the case of murder of British teenager Scarlett Eden Keeling, the Goa police on Thursday said the 15-year-old died due to "drug overdose and drowning" after a man allegedly gave her narcotics, raped her and left her on the beach.

"A prime suspect Placido Carvalho, who was arrested on Wednesday night (watch), has confirmed that he gave her drugs, raped her and left her on the beach. As the girl remained unconscious, she died during the high tide," a senior police officer and in-charge of the investigations said on Thursday morning.

Market Slips further

The post-sun outage figures for the market are, Sensex at 15469, down 658 points and Nifty at 4681, down 200 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index is down 3.41% and BSE Smallcaps index is down 3.14%. The market breadth is negative with advances at 117 against declines of 1087

Don't underestimate Al Qaeda

India has asked the international community to bolster its security action inside and outside Afghanistan to ensure that terrorists and their patrons are deprived of shelter, financing and ideological support.

"We should not underestimate the Taliban and Al-Qaeda nor fight terrorism with any less military and political determination than in the immediate post-2001 days after terrorist attacks on the United States," India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Rahul Breaches Security

Rahul Gandhi's 'Discovery of India' tour sparked off a bit of controversy when the Congress icon went missing in a Naxal-infested area.

Rahul seems to be following his father"s footsteps, particularly when it comes to breaking the security cordon to connect with the aam aadmi. During his recently concluded four-day-Orissa tour, Rahul who was staying in Nalco guest house at Damanjodi suddenly slipped-out at 8.15 pm with the SPG personnel without informing the local administration. He went to a village 25 km away, reportedly to see some developmental works under the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

BJP SEEKS AIYAR'S RESIGNATION

The BJP demanded Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's resignation and put the blame on the government for the unceremonious exit of Indian hockey team from the upcoming Beijing Olympic.

"He (Aiyar) is the first minister who is anti-sports. He must resign," BJP Parliamentary Party leader V K Malhotra said during a discussion on the Union Budget 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha.



He lashed out at Finance Minister P Chidambaram for allocating "mere Rs 3 crore" in the Budget for sports-related activities. He decried government's decision on shifting Hockey to non-priority 'B' category from being a priority game, which implied that import of hockey equipment would become costlier

Mkts end flat on disappointing IIP nos

The markets ended ended flat after trading in green for major part of the day. The weakness was seen despite encouraging cues from the US and Asia, which closed higher. Nifty was down nearly 150 points from the day's high and Sensex was down 550 points from the highs. Metal stocks were the worst hit with Sail, Tata Steel and Hindalco among the top losers.


The markets fell reasoning after the sun outage on account of lower IIP numbers.Jan Industrial Growth At 5.3% versus 11.6%, YoY; capital goods growth was at 2.1% versus 16% last year.
This has negatively impacted the markets and specifically the capital goods which are off the highs.

Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary Closed

The Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park near OOTACAMAND will be closed from Wednesday, according to the Wildlife Warden.

Stating that it would remain closed till May 31, Warden has stated that the decision had been taken as a measure of precaution due to the extremely dry conditions prevailing in many parts of the 321 square kilometre sanctuary.

IIM-A student gets Rs 1.44 crore offer

Annual placement at the premier management institute of the country, Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A) remained unaffected by the subprime crisis and slowdown in the US economy, with a student bagging highest salary package of Rs 1.44 crore.


"Our main concern this year was the subprime crisis. We are relieved that this has not affected the placement at all and the average salary offered has been about 30 per cent more in comparison to last year," IIM-A Director Sameer Barua told reporters here on Wednesday.

"The IIM-A enjoys a special status among the recruiters. That might be the reason they (companies) did not wish to break that relationships with us," Barua said.

The highest international annual salary of Rs 1.44 crore was offered by a company in finance marketing sector, informed IIM-A officials.

However, they refused to reveal the identity of either the company or the student, saying both have requested anonymity.

IPL is not international cricket

Runs and wickets at the Indian Premier League's Twenty20 competition will not gain official recognition, cricket's world governing body said on Tuesday.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) regards the multi-million-dollar IPL, promoted by the Indian board and featuring top stars from around the world, as a domestic Indian competition, a spokesman said.

“The IPL is not international cricket, it is a domestic tournament,” ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald said when asked if players' performances will gain official recognition.

“Therefore, the matches do not have Twenty20 international status.”
Mascarenhas first English player in IPL

England all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas on Tuesday became the first player from his country to become eligible to play in the cricket board-promoted Indian Premier League when he was bought at the second players' auction by the Jaipur team for USD 100,000.

Market Cools Off

The Indian market is cooling off but still looking good on the back of support from Asian markets. Sensex is trading at 16048, up 124 points and Nifty is at 4846, up 45 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index is up 2.03% and BSE Smallcaps index is up 3.1%. The market breadth is positive with advances at 1042 against declines of 190 on the NSE.European Markets are trading Positive.

Australia Postpones Tour

Australia have postponed their planned tour of Pakistan because of security fears, the two countries said in a joint statement on Tuesday.



The tour was scheduled to start at the end of this month but has been put on hold after a spate of suicide bombings following the general election, which had been postponed by the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto late last year.

Sonia Hints of Early Elections

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday asked her partymen to get ready for Lok Sabha elections with "harder work and meticulous preparation".

Although elections are due next year, Congress MPs said she has given a clear call for preparation to face the polls and to take the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's achievements to the people.
Addressing the Congress parliamentary party meeting, Gandhi said in the parliament house that the party has to go for elections "with an outstanding record of achievements".
According to MPs who attended the meeting, Gandhi said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech in parliament last week has given a new zeal to the partymen and would inspire them.

BJP Dares Sonia Gandhi on Farmers Issue

Taking note of the Congress attacks on the NDA holding its six-year regime as responsible for the plight of the farmers, the BJP on Monday dared the Congress president Sonia Gandhi to agree for a detailed debate so that people could decide as to who was responsible for the sad state of affairs.

Agriculture flourished and the interest rates were brought down from 13 per cent level to nine per cent during the Vajpayee regime and the government took several measures to improve rural infrastructure like Grameen Sadak Yojana, cleaning up of irrigation tanks, all of which had come to a halt during the UPA regime, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said.

Sensex recovers after Sun Outage

It was 534 points down when trading was halted for sun outage.When trading resumed fresh support were seen coming and market responded well by recovering its entire Intra-day Loss to close down 5 points.From an alarming 615 points down in the early trade market recovered much to the cheers of Traders, sowing them some hope that market may see some upside in the days to come.Hoping to be so..

Prabhakaran Makes Public Appearance

Making his first public appearance after claims of injuries he sustained surfaced over three months ago, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V Prabhakaran paid homage to a slain pro-LTTE lawmaker in the rebel-held Wanni area in northern Sri Lanka.

Market in deep Red

Markets are trading weak in the early deals of Monday with the benchmark index Sensex shedding 2.6 percent or 417 points. The index is trading at 15,557 levels.

In broader markets, Nifty is in red by 95 points or two per cent. The index is trading at 4,675 levels. Selling is evident in all the counters.

The other Asian markets are also trading weak on Monday with Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi slipping into red territory by 1.5 over per cent each.

Indian Hockey Hits Nadir

Eight-time gold medallists India failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time since their debut in 1928.
Scoring twice in the first-half, Britain ended India's Olympic dreams with a 2-0 win in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at the Prince of Wales Country Club, here.

Barry Middleton (4th minute) and Richard Mantell (10th) struck for Britain who then showed the discipline and character to withstand intense pressure in the late night match to emerge deserving winners while qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

While the Britain players celebrated to the accompaniment of the song "We are the Champions", the Indian, heads bowed, shoulders slumped, could only watch the jubilant scenes of a team that played smarter if not better hockey.

On the day, it was Britain who showed a lot of steel in dealing with the massive pressure they were subjected to by the Indian forwards. The difference was that Britain, who had beaten India 3-2 in the league, capitalized on the two early chances that came their way, while the Indians did not.

A man Arrested in Keeling Rape and Murder case

The Goa police have picked up a man named Samson D'souza for his alleged role in the rape and murder of Scarlette Keeling, the 15-year-old British tourist whose body was found at the Anjuna beach on February 18.

The Goa police, who have registered a case of murder, arrested D'souza, a local resident of Anjuna, and are questioning him to find out whether he had a role to play in the alleged rape and murder of the British tourist.

Inspector General of Police, Kishen Kumar said that D'Souza could have been involved as he was last seen with the girl. Apart from this, three others - Julio, Shanapai and Lui - have also been detained by the police for questioning.

Sensex enters Danger Zone

2008 has not been a healthy year so far for the Indian Stock market.After climbing 21000 Bse index touched 6 months low on 7th March dropping very sharply below 16000.Will indian markets recover or it is in the path of shedding all its rally from 2004,it remains to be seen.This the break situation for the Index,further downside from here can only see the sexsex in the 15200 range.All the sectors faired very poorly in the friday closing.The sentiments is very poor no volumme coming.Budget has not spurned the sentiment but on the other hand it has sulken further.US economic apathy continues to haunt Indian market.How long???can FM?? CAN Domestic Investors(Mutual funds)lend a hand in bringing this market up or they wait for the 4rth quarter results???Anyway the situation is very alarming SOS IS NEEDED.

Action sought against Harbajan

Cricket Australia has demanded action against Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh for allegedly calling Matthew Hayden "a liar" and Adam Gilchrist "no saint".

Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland wrote a letter to BCCI sectetary Niranjan Shah and urged the board to take nescessary actions to stop Harbhajan from making public comments about Australian cricketers.