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.