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.

Many Killed in Sri Lanka

In a day of worst fighting since the end of the Cease Fire Agreement in January, at least 52 LTTE cadres and 38 soldiers were killed on the Muhamalai and Kilalay Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday.
The Defence Ministry said at least 38 soldiers were killed and 84 injured in the “fresh offensive”. It termed the pro-LTTE news website TamilNet’s claim that 150 soldiers were killed as “ridiculous.”
It said the Army put up “stiff resistance to LTTE-embarked fresh offensives”. “According to [the] latest information, the LTTE suffered a severe beating and was pushed some 500 metres back from its initial positions. The Army broke the first line of defence on the Muhamalai front, and are now engaged in consolidating the defences.”
Defence observers are surprised at the Army casualties considering the peninsula had been under its control since December 1995. Military estimates said the Army and the LTTE had 40,000 troops and 1,500 Tigers stationed there respectively.
Warplanes carried out three strikes in Muhamalai and the Jaffna theatre of battle to support soldiers. An Air Force spokesperson said the raid targeted two heavy gun positions located south of the FDL and a “rendezvous point” behind the LTTE’s second line of defence. The last raid was conducted as a close ground air support move by MI-24 helicopter gunship targeting bunkers.
TamilNet claimed the Tigers had found more than 30 bodies of soldiers so far in the Northern Front and that 19 were brought to Kilinochchi.

Chennai Super Kings beats Mumbai Indians by 6 runs

In a thrilling IPL match here tonight the Chennai Super Kings pipped Mumbai Indians by six runs. Harbhajan Singh (28) and Abhishek Nayar's (45 not out) spectacular rearguard action had the Mumbai side needing 19 off the last over when Dhoni tossed the ball to Joginder.
The bowler conceded two fours in a row and bowled a no ball as well. But he kept his cool in the end and kept it tight as Mumbai Indians eventually finished on 202 for seven.
Chasing 209, Mumbai looked in dire straits with its top order firing blank. The Abhishek-Harbhajan duo, however, refused to give up and waged a grim battle.
Earlier, Matthew Hayden blasted 81 and featured in a century stand with Suresh Raina (53) as Chennai Super Kings amassed 208 for five.
With a 46-ball knock that was studded with 12 fours and two sixes, Hayden once again proved the thorn in the flesh for Harbhajan, who led the Mumbai side in absence of their regular captain Sachin Tendulkar, down with a groin injury.

Tony Blair caught short of cash on train

Tony Blair may have earned millions since leaving office last year but when it came to paying his own train fare, the former British Prime Minister was found short of cash. The 54-year-old mega-rich Middle East envoy recently jumped on the Heathrow Express which allows passengers to buy a ticket on board.
But when the ticket collector came round to first class, a red-faced Blair could not cough up the 24.50 pounds fare as he did not have enough cash in his wallet, the 'Daily Star' reported on Wednesday.
However, he was bailed out by a co-passenger who paid the fare to save the blushes of the former British Premier. "We do not know if he had any money on him or not but one of the people with him paid for his fare," a spokesman for Heathrow Express said.
In 2001, Blair's wife Cherie was forced to pay a ten-pound fine plus a 7.90-pound fare when she was caught traveling to Luton from London Blackfriars without a ticket.

Minister demands KPS Gill's resignation

A day after the bribe scandal forced K Jothikumaran to quit as secretary general of the IHF, Sports Minister M S Gill trained his gun at its Chief KPS Gill, saying he should also step down to restore faith in the hockey establishment.
The Minister said Gill should "introspect and review" his position as the trust and faith in the fair selection of hockey teams has been shaken after the expose on a television channel.
"Since Monday, I have agonised long over the IHF. The recent disaster in Chile where the hockey team failed to qualify for the Olympics is still fresh in every Indian mind. Now, trust and faith in fair selection is shaken. I believe, in the totality of the situation, the IHF President must also introspect and review his position," he said in a statement.
"In full consideration of the situation facing Indian Hockey and the national need I urge him to consider withdrawing from his current responsibility. It is time to let other Indians, make an attempt, to lift our hockey," he said.
The newly appointed Minister was of the view that Jothikumaran should not be reinstated even if an enquiry found him to be innocent.
"The incident seen on television on Monday night, was most unfortunate for our hockey, and distressed every Indian. I indicated immediately, the necessity for Jothikumaran to resign from his office as Secretary General of the IHF. He has done so," he said.

Indian abducted in Afghanistan

Ten days after two Indians were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, a Mangalore-based worker has been abducted in that country’s Herat province.
Sarang Mohammad Naeem and a Nepalese working for a private logistics company were abducted on Monday evening while ferrying supplies - reportedly for a security training camp - from Herat, 70 km away.
The Indian embassy in Kabul said it was trying to gather more information from local police. There had been no demand for ransom and no group had claimed responsibility, an embassy official told this website's newspaper over phone.
The External Affairs Ministry expressed concern over the incident and said Afghan authorities were investigating. “We are keeping a close watch on the developments,” it said. The Afghan driver of the taxi, in which the two men from HEB International Logistics were traveling,was reportedly also abducted, but later freed.

Indian listed as top lawyer in U.K.

An Indian-origin woman, who heads a prominent human rights organisation in Britain, has been listed among the top 10 most powerful lawyers in the country.
The list of 100 most powerful lawyers, produced by The Times on Tuesday, listed at number 9 Shami Chakrabarti, Director of the human rights organisation ‘Liberty.’
The only other Asian lawyer on the list of 100 is Imran Khan, a prominent human rights lawyer.
“One of the most prominent commentators seen and heard in the broadcast media, the Director of Liberty is a fluent and highly persuasive voice in the civil liberties debate,” The Times wrote of Ms. Chakrabarti.
“Chakrabarti, 39, is no rent-a-quote: her responses can be counter-intuitive and she defends the government or the police, for instance, where she believes them [to be] right,” it said.
A barrister and bencher of Middle Temple, Ms. Chakrabarti worked as a lawyer in the Home Office between 1996 and 2001, before joining Liberty.

Heat wave claims 7 lives across India

The unbearable heat wave continued unabated with many states recording maximum temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius on Sunday, even as a traffic policeman perished in the torrid sun in Kolkata while on duty.
Akhliswar Kumar Rai, 58, who was on duty at Maniktala crossing, felt uneasy around 9.50 am and went to a nearby shop to sprinkle water on his head but soon fainted. He was taken to a local nursing home where he was declared brought dead.
In Kolkata, the highest temperature was 39 degrees Celsius. In nearby Orissa, people bore the brunt of the blazing sun as Jharsuguda had a high of 43.1 degrees and Hirakud and Sambalpura 42 each.
Though there were no official deaths in the state today, sources said six people died in Puri. The government, which had announced early summer vacations in schools from today, demanded declaration of the heat conditions as a natural calamity and adequate central assistance.
In the national capital, people were seen rushing to ice cream and juice stalls to beat the heat. In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi had a high of 43.1 degrees and capital Lucknow touched 41.4 Celsius. Mercury levels also rose in Rajasthan with Dholpur recording the highest of 42.4 degrees while Bundi, Barmer, Jalore, Churu and Ganganagar each had a high of 41.
The maximum temperatures in Punjab and Haryana remained three to six degrees above normal. Hisar in Haryana sizzled at 42.5 degrees while Chandigarh had a high of 40.8 and Patiala 40.6 degrees.

Good Volumes seen again in Indian Market

It was a good day for the market today that closed with good volumes. Sensex closed at 16783, up 44 points and Nifty at 5049, up 12 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index was up 0.40% and BSE Smallcaps index was up 0.52%. Real estate, metal and banking space looked good while IT got beaten down. The market breadth was positive with advances at 696 against declines of 553 on the NSE. Top Nifty gainers included BHEL, Unitech, Idea and HDFC while losers included TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Suzlon.

DMK wants Vivekanandha house Vacated

Similar to the Previous AIADMK Government move to vacate Queen Mary's College.Now the DMK Government wants the historic Vivekanandar Illam (Vivekananda House) on Beach Road vacated. Government engineers have offered to help the present occupants, the Ramakrishna Mutt, find an alternative location; a businessman, on behalf of DMK leaders, has advised the Mutt to leave by Thursday, April 24.
The lease was given on condition, according to ‘government order 89’ of the higher education department on February 24, 1997, that the building be used for a museum highlighting Swami Vivekananda’s teaching. The building was renovated and on December 20, 1999, Karunanidhi extolled Swami Vivekananda, and called the Ramakrishna mission “an Everest among NGOs”. The 10-year lease was given a month later.
The mission collected Rs 65 lakhs for a permanent exhibition, plus another Rs 30 lakh as corpus. The exhibition is now a major attraction for visitors to Chennai.
A businessman, close to both the CM and the Mutt, advised the monks to clear out by April 24. The DMK, it is said, wants to set up a classical Tamil centre. The Mutt has sought legal advice. The Mutt has a place in Mylapore, which they took in 1906 after moving out of Castle Kernan.

Smart Gains witnessed In Indian Stock Market

There were talks that the market would be negatively affected by the CRR hike announced last week, but positive cues from global markets, kept it buoyant. Not only that, the Nifty managed to trade and close above 5000 since February 29, 2008. The NSE 50-share stock closed at 5037, up 78 points from the previous close. BSE's Sensex ended the day at 16,739, up 258 points. CNX Midcap index gained 2.2% and BSE Smallcap index, 2.6%. Buying was seen across the board, but metal, banking and consumer durables stocks were the favorites today. But profits were booked in IT stocks. Top Sensex gainers include Tata Steel, JP Associates and Reliance Communications, while losers are Satyam, Infosys and Wipro, among others.

Zee TV to make its presence in Russia

To cash in on the immense popularity of Indian movies and serials in the former Communist nation, Zee TV, a leading entertainment channel of India, is scheduled to launch its satellite and cable service in Russia by the end of this year.
“Zee TV will be the first foreign television company to operate directly in the Russian market rather than dealing through a distributor, despite a requirement that the controlling stake in foreign TV broadcasters belong to a Russian resident,” business daily Kommersant said. With an initial investment of about $7 millions, the Zee plans to air Bollywood movies and programmes about India to be made and dubbed into Russian at its studios in Mumbai.
The Zee TV is trying to forge an alliance with Sistema Mass Media (SMM), a leading player in Russian TV market, according to reports. SMM Deputy General Director Artyom Kudryavtsev confirmed the negotiations were underway for interaction as the Zee was trying to obtain a broadcasting license for a 24-hour channel.

Priest killed in Sri Lanka

Father Karunaratnam, “Chairperson of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR),” was killed in a claymore attack on the Mallavi–Vavunikkulam Road in the Tiger-controlled territory on Sunday.
The LTTE alleged that the attack was carried out by the Army Deep Penetration Unit. However, the military denied the charge and said the attack had occurred deep inside the LTTE held area.
“Rev. Fr. Karunaratnam a longtime human rights activist was the founder — chairperson, of NESOHR which is the foremost human rights body operating in the LTTE administered areas.
“Rev. Fr. Karunaratam was also a working Catholic priest and he was serving in Jaffna until 2006, and the church transferred him to Vanni fearing for his life at the hands of the death squads operating in Jaffna. A tireless voice for the plight of the long suffering Tamils he was active till the very last minute of his life,” said the LTTE in a statement.

American gets jail term for attack on Indian taxi driver

Silicon Valley: A 21-year-old American, who attacked a Sikh taxi driver and called him an “Iraqi terrorist,” has been awarded nine months in jail for the hate crime after the victim told the court he had forgiven him.
Judge Judge Monica Benton also handed down Luis Vazquez, 21, 240 hours of community service for the November 24 drunken assault on Sukhvir Singh, hailing from India, in King County of Washington State.
Deputy Prosecutor Mike Hogan sought a two-year jail term, though he pointed out that Singh “has been forgiving of the attack from the beginning.”
The judge said that while racism was pernicious and hate crimes undermined society, forgiveness and remorse played a role in justice as well, the Seattle Times reported.
Vazquez pleaded guilty last month to reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and malicious harassment.
He told the court that he did not remember the drunken assault but was ashamed and shocked when he woke up in jail and learned what he had done.
“I’m really, really sorry for what I put you through,” Vazquez told Mr. Singh during the hearing that was packed with members of the Sikh community.
“I’m sorry for making you have to look back over your shoulder when you walk.”
Thrown out
A drunk Vazquez was thrown out of a football game and put into a cab driven by Mr. Singh.While Mr. Singh was driving down, Vazquez punched him, bit him on the scalp and called him an “Iraqi terrorist.”Mr. Singh pulled to the side of the freeway and sought police help.

Mayawati threatens to withdraw support to UPA

Stepping up her attack on Rahul Gandhi and the government at the Centre, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday asked him to stop his "political drama" and repeated her threat of withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance coalition.
Addressing a press conference a day after Rahul staged a dharna in Jhansi in Bhundelkhand region, she told him that instead of enacting a "political drama" to hide the Congess defeat in the recent by elections, which he has been doing for the last two days, he should, as an MP from the state, persuade the Centre to implement the special development package for Uttar Pradesh.
Mayawati told a press conference that the Congress "prince" has inherited political power and does not understand politics.
He has forgotten that inflation was the biggest problem facing the people and the Central government could fall anytime on the issue, she said.
Fresh from her triumph of sweeping all the five byelections this week, the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, whose party has 17 members in the Lok Sabha, repeated her threat of withdrawing its support to the government at the Centre if it failed to provide special economic package of Rs 80,000 crore for development of eastern parts and the Bundelkhand region and check inflation within 3 months.