Sunday, July 31, 2011

News Flash BUSINESS LINE: VICEROY HOTELS TO RESTURTURE OPERATIONS, EXIT CHENNAI HOTEL PROJECT Expand * Article It's a deal: Obama, Congress will avert default

Ending a perilous stalemate, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced historic agreement Sunday night on emergency legislation to avert the nation's first-ever financial default. The dramatic resolution lifted a cloud that had threatened the still-fragile economic recovery and rattled global markets.

Shares of two-wheeler major TVS Motor Company surged by over 8 per cent in early trade on the bourses today after the company reported a smart growth in net profit for the quarter ended June 30.

The stock, which opened the day on a robust note, spurted by 8.61 per cent to touch an early high of Rs. 53.60 on the BSE. Similarly, on the NSE, TVS gained 8.50 per cent to touch an early peak of Rs. 53.60.

Defying the bullish market trend, shares of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) fell by up to 5.18 per cent on the bourses today to their lowest level in one year after the company reported a fall in first quarter net profit.

The company's stock went down by 5.18 per cent to hit a 52-week low of Rs. 119.80 on the NSE, while on the BSE, the scrip dropped by 4.94 per cent to hit a one-year low of Rs. 120.10.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday snubbed Congress MP and sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, who asked for permission to attend parliament, and said the government would not fall if he didn't attend the session.

"There is no such important issue going to take place in parliament that if you (Kalmadi) do not attend the session then the government will fall," Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw observed.

Bangalore, July 30 (ANI): Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, who has been indicted in Lokayukta Justice (retired) N. Santosh Hegde's report on illegal mining, met senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley here on Saturday morning and assured them that he will step down from his post tomorrow.

Now that Yeddyurappa is finally going out, Karnataka is looking out for a new chief minister. Here are some names doing the rounds, and what you can expect from them:
Jagadish Shettar: A Lingayat from northern Karnataka, the 56-year-old leader hails from a trader sub-sect, and is now the panchayat raj and rural development minister. The Lingayats, who can swing elections in the northern districts, had supported Yeddyurappa, so Shettar could be a smart strategic replacement. Shettar has been in the BJP for almost as long as Yeddyurappa, though he hasn't distinguished himself with any big initiative. He was unhappy when he was made speaker of the assembly when Yeddyurappa began his term. The Reddy brothers, now discredited by the Lokayukta report, arm-twisted Yeddyurappa into giving him a ministerial berth. Yeddyurappa hates him for that, and may short-circuit his chances.

Sadananda Gowda: True to his name ('always happy'), he is always sporting a 1,000-watt smile. Hailing from coastal Karnataka, Sadananda Gowda belongs to the Vokkaliga community, which the Deve Gowda family claims to represent. The Vokkaligas, an agricultural caste, hold sway in the southern districts, and the BJP may see Sadananda Gowda supported by Yeddyurappa a killer combination that brings together the two big vote banks of Karnataka. Sadananda Gowda is known for his honesty, and that attribute may help the BJP recover some of its dignity in a post-scandal situation. He is now the state BJP president. He has little to no experience in administration.
Ananth Kumar: This MP from Bangalore is articulate and speaks many languages well: Kannada, English and Hindi, besides his mother tongue Telugu. He has been a long-time rival of Yeddyurappa, which means one whole faction in the party is against him. The Brahmin leader is Advani's choice; Yeddyurappa belongs in the Vajpayee camp. Ananth Kumar was civil aviation minister at the centre during the NDA regime, and a recent book says Niira Radia rose to prominence because of her friendship with him. Ananth Kumar has more experience and charisma than Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, but may still lose out in the race.
One dark horse being discussed is S Suresh Kumar, law minister in Yeddyurappa's ministry. Suresh Kumar has a blemishless political career. It might be difficult for him to lead, and be answerable, for the many venal elements in the party. The mining lobby and Yeddyurappa's rowdy supporters, such as Renukacharya, are sure to give sleepless nights to any new leader who seeks to clean things up. Like Ananth Kumar, this Bangalorean is a Brahmin. The 'party with a difference' could get a real face-lift if it gave him the opportunity, but indications are that he will continue to remain a marginal presence.
So what will happen to Yeddyurappa? It looks like he will be retired for the moment, and brought back after some months as state BJP president. In Delhi, the talk is that he abused Advani in private when he was told that he would have to quit. Yeddyurappa as a rebel within the BJP could cause considerable damage, which is why the party is dealing with him so gingerly.

What Rafi Means To Me

I've been trying to get my thoughts on Rafi together for the better part of 30 years.
My most-loved childhood memories are of those lazy antakshari sessions with my family on those hot summer nights during the inevitable power cut, after dinner, caught between wanting to give in to those yawns and wishing those million buzzing mosquitoes away with our inspired warbling. Belonging to a fairly sizable family that held high-pitched discourses during dinner on who the better singer was amongst the ones that ruled the roost back then, -- those were the times when all the Alkas, Shabbirs and Udhases of the world didn't even merit a mention -- I learned to listen to the songs and understand what my family was trying to convey when it said, 'emotion', 'romance', 'feeling' (you know, with emphasis), 'that teasing quality', 'devotion' and suchlike, back when I barely knew what those words meant.

Guest write-up by @krtgrphr, who was born after Rafi's time yet makes sense of his life with "Geet hai Sahir Ludhianvi ke, Mohd Rafi ki awaaz". Send him a good recording of Pyaasa's songs at kartographer at gmail dot com.
Some quiet afternoons, I go on a silent, solo trip though the various emotions that make the curse of being human both painfully apparent and wholly worthwhile. A journey that seems to the outside world silent, but one that for me is immensely enabled by music. Music that gladdens, music that tempers, and music in a different form that winds a melancholy path through the heart. And my constant companion - my humsafar - through all these travels to the places of the mind and the heart is a single person in various forms - Rafi.

Indian movies on childhood have mostly focused on issues that adults believe children deal with. And real kids and their issues (for whatever reason) are rarely deemed worthy of being essayed on the screen. In the bargain, we're subjected to overtly dramatic, smart-ass little devils who spout one-liners like laughter show contestants. In such a state, Sanjivan Lal's 'Bubblegum' breaks the mould created for screen kids and even gets terribly close to at least one fragment from each of our childhoods.

Mumbai, July 29 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation has charged a former Air India general manager and an entertainment company with cheating the airline to the tune of Rs.14 million.

Anil Kumar Sharma was general manager in the airline's in-flight service department when he allegedly approved fake bills of in-flight entertainment programmes supplied by Eros International Media Ltd, a CBI official said Friday.

Hopefully, this isn't a one-off.

For the most part of Friday, India's bowling unit, much hacked at times (occasionally by this writer too) for its hapless demeanour, tardy execution and even ragged discipline, showed how good they were. Bloody good. The Indian bowling unit's display at Trent Bridge was not just a stupendously refreshing sight, but one that is reassuring or comforting, given that these events took place without Zaheer Khan, widely considered the leader/mentor of this fledgling bowling attack.

NEW DELHI (AP) — The only surviving gunman of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks has appealed a death sentence handed down by a trial court.

The Mumbai court convicted 22-year-old Mohammed Ajmal Kasab of murder, waging war against India, conspiracy and terrorism in May last year and sentenced the Pakistani national to death. The sentence was confirmed by the state High Court in February this year.

Police officer Rajinder Dhamante said Friday Kasab has appealed to the Supreme Court in New Delhi, which is expected to take the case.

The three-day siege in Mumbai in November 2008 killed 166 people.

Kat beats Ranbir to a rockstar look

Before her ex-beau Ranbir Kapoor hits the rock-n-roll mode with Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar in November, Katrina is all set to don the rockstar avatar in her upcoming film, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, slated to release on September 9.

London, July 28 (ANI): Tried every type of diet to get that slim figure but nothing worked? Well, then try using a fork to have your dinner.
There's no draconian reduction in calories for weeks on end. The only meal that has to be strictly controlled is dinner, when you are allowed to use only your fork.

And now a team of diet experts has checked that his theory really works, reports the Daily Mail.
The principle idea is that certain food types just won't make it on to any of those fork prongs. In particular, those containing fat or sugar.

Seaming conditions, the opposition has an outstanding pace attack, the team is down 0-1 in the series and it's up to the batsmen to build on the bowling attack's good work, and the team needs a volunteer to open the batting as one of the opening batsmen is injured. Sounds like pressure and a lot of work ahead? For most batsmen in international cricket probably, but not if your name is Rahul Sharad Dravid.
Dravid has already done it all half through the second of the four-Test series against England - he donned the wicket-keeping gloves at Lord's as India skipper MS Dhoni wanted to have a bowl, he has already faced 548 balls in the series to hold the Indian batting together, and in the absence of the injured Gautam Gambhir, the Indore-born batsman batted at the top of the order at Trent Bridge.Dravid and VVS Laxman survived a testing final hour on the first day's play, but both started in an aggressive fashion on the second day as conditions veered towards being "batting-friendly" with the sun peeping out before being circumspect in the face of some probing bowling from England's seamers.

The mystery surrounding the much hyped item song by Katrina Kaif has been revealed. Salman's real life Bodyguard ‘Shera’ is now a part of the item song along with Salman and Katrina. Shera will not only dance and grove with his boss in the song `Aaya re aaya bodyguard...' but will also put his acting skills to test with Salman's ex, Katrina.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Apple and Samsung Electronics ended struggling Nokia's 15-year reign at the top of the smartphone sales rankings in the second quarter, researchers said on Friday.

Nokia has dominated the smartphone market ever since its 1996 launch of the Communicator model, but competition from its two nearest rivals and a slump in its own sales sent it straight from first to third place in the three months to June as growth in the sector starts to slow.

Bihar stocks RSS books in government schools, says JD-U rebel

Chandigarh/New Delhi, July 31 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has supported veteran social activist Anna Hazare's forthcoming fast-unto-death protest over the draft Lokpal Bill.

Hazare's proposed fast is to protest the Lokpal Bill approved by the Union Cabinet that excludes the Prime Minster and lower bureaucracy from its ambit.

Kalmadi to be admitted to AIIMS Monday

New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Suresh Kalmadi, former chairman of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee who is in judicial custody, will be Monday admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here for a check-up, an official said.

'He will be admitted to AIIMS Neuro Sciences Centre tomorrow (Monday) morning for a few days as he needs to undergo some tests,' an official of the Tihar Jail, where Kalmadi is lodged, told IANS.

Kalmadi, 67, had complained of dizziness, depression and anxiety and was taken to the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital July 19 and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan was carried out on him.

Bangalore, July 31 (ANI): After almost three days of suspense, a defiant Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, who has been indicted in Lokayukta Justice (retired) N. Santosh Hegde's report on illegal mining, finally submitted his resignation to Governor HR Bhardwaj here on Sunday. Yeddyurappa was accompanied by scores of party activists and supporters on his way to the Raj Bhavan here.

Opposition has too many skeletons in cupboard: PM

New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) On the eve of parliament's monsoon session, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday sought to take the wind out of sails of the opposition on the 2G spectrum allocation row, saying it had 'too many skeletons in its cupboard' and that it should not 'pre-judge' a matter that is sub-judice.
'We are not afraid of discussing the issue of corruption. The opposition also has too many skeletons in its cupboard. We are not afraid of discussing any issue in parliament,' Manmohan Singh, who came to Parliament House to attend an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, told reporters on the sidelines of the event.

Live Blog: England vs India, Day 3, Trent Bridge

11.07 pm - A brilliant response by England on a day that they started under tremendous pressure. England started Day 3 on 24-1 and ended it at 441-6; adding a mammoth 417 runs on the day. India's bowling was shoddy as was their ground fielding to an extent; Dhoni's captaincy left a lot to be desired but his decision to call back Ian Bell will be a talking point for months, if not years. That apart, England were all over India today with Bell making 159 of the best Test runs one can hope to see. Pietersen, Morgan and Prior all chipped in with half-centuries. Prior and Tim Bresnan (47*) have so far added an unbeaten 102 runs in 18.2 overs for the seventh wicket as England lead India by 374 runs; and look all set to unseat India as the world's No. 1 Test team. England have shown the hunger and desire for most of the first eight days of the series; unfortunately the same can't be said of India. This was an eventful day of Test cricket that won't be forgotten in a hurry as much as for England's brilliance on the field that is likely to be overshadowed by the scenes just before Tea time.

BAGHDAD: A double bombing on Thursday struck an Iraqi bank in Saddam Hussein's hometown where policemen were picking up their pay checks, killing 12 and wounding 34 people, officials said.

The two midmorning blasts - one from a suicide bomber, the other from a car bomb - marked the fourth major attack this year on Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Tikrit, a former hotbed for Sunni insurgents bent on targeting the government and exposing the country's instability.

KABUL: A minibus ran over a roadside bomb on Friday in Southern Afghanistan, killing all 18 passengers, police said.

"The mine was very powerful and destroyed the vehicle," said Kamaluddin Sherzai, deputy police chief in the southern Helmand province. "They were all civilians. Some were children."

Police who responded to the morning explosion in the province's Nahri Sarraj district came under fire from insurgents, but there were no casualties among the policemen.

MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday sweltered in abnormally hot summer weather as the emergency services sought to control expanding countryside blazes to prevent a repeat of last year's devastating wildfires.

The central city of Volgograd was Russia's hottest city with temperatures hovering above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for the past few days, hotter than Cairo, Tashkent, Tehran and New Delhi, weather forecasters said.

Beijing: "After all the wind and storm, what's going on with the high-speed train?" read the prophetic message posted last Saturday evening on the Chinese microblog Sina Weibo. "It's crawling slower than a snail. I hope nothing happens to it."

They were a few short sentences, typed by a young girl with the online handle Smm Miao. But five days later, the torrent that followed them was still flooding this nation's Internet, and lapping at the feet of government bureaucrats, censors and the state-controlled press.

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New York: Barely two week after Victoria gave birth to their first baby daughter Harper Seven, David Beckham, speaking after a soccer match in New Jersey on, said he and Victoria would love to add more to their family.

"We'd like one more. We've always said we'd love a big family and five, was a number, if we're lucky enough then we hope to have one more. Victoria's doing amazingly well. So we'll see."

Website promises adultery, or money back!

London: Have a "successful" extra-marital affair or get your money back -- this is what an Australian website has promised.

Noel Biderman, founder of the adultery website "ashleymadison.com" says in a slogan - "Life is short. Have an affair".

The website that was founded in 2001 has now launched what it calls the "ultimate money back guarantee", the Daily Mail reported.

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Cairns, Australia: Locals in Cairns, Australia, had a dangerous surprise visitor to their streets on Thursday as a crocodile emerged from a drain.

A motorist first spotted the crocodile as it wandered onto a road.

The 1.5 meter (5 foot) reptile was kept contained at the side of the road by road workers and police with large brooms.

Shawal, Pakistan: The Pakistani Taliban have custody of two kidnapped Swiss tourists and will free them if the U.S. releases a female Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill Americans, the No. 2 commander of the militant group told The Associated Press.

Gunmen abducted the man and woman as they traveled in the southwestern Baluchistan province earlier this month.

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Washington: The US has promised to protect the interests of hundreds of Indian students at the University of Northern Virginia (UNVA), which was raided yesterday by investigating and law enforcement agencies on charges of visa fraud. In a day-long exercise, dozens of officials from different federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), entered the Annandale campus of the university and took away with them a large number of boxes full of documents and computer hard drives from its administrative division.

Egyptian plane catches fire at Cairo airport

Cairo: Airport officials say some 300 passengers were rushed off an Egypt Air plane that caught fire before takeoff from Cairo.

The officials say an electrical short in the cockpit caused the fire early Friday as the plane was scheduled to fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

I have stabbed my baby: British woman tells cops

London: A 23-year-old British woman stabbed her 11-month-old daughter to death, and called the police to say: "I've got a baby and stabbed her."

Jade Ruck, a resident of South Wales, carried out the knife attack on Harley before calling the police at 5 am, the Swansea Crown Court heard.

"I've got a situation here - I don't know what's happening. I've got a baby and stabbed her. I couldn't handle my life anymore," she was quoted as saying by The Sun.

Washington: President Obama called on Congress to produce a fiscal plan that could be passed with votes from both parties, as House Republican leaders sought support from their restive caucus and Senate Democrats suggested they might move ahead with their own plan.

"Any solution to avoid default must be bipartisan," Mr. Obama said. "I urge Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan that can get support from both parties in the House, a plan that I can sign by Tuesday."

Ankara, Turkey: The chiefs of staff of Turkey's military stepped down Friday as tensions dramatically increased over the arrest of dozens of officers accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.

The latest developments weren't expected to cause political or military instability in the short term. The government has presided over the strengthening of civilian institutions as well as an economic boom, sidelining the military's political role and reducing the public's appetite for the intervention of the armed forces in nonmilitary matters.

Washington: Thirty-six years after Richard Nixon testified to a grand jury about the Watergate break-in that drove him from office, a federal judge on Friday ordered the secret transcript made public.

But the 297 pages of testimony won't be available immediately, because the government gets time to decide whether to appeal.

The Obama administration opposed the transcript's release, chiefly to protect the privacy of people discussed during the ex-president's testimony who are still alive.

Le Bourget, France: A confused cockpit crew without proper training to head off high-altitude disaster flew toward it, instead, with wrong-headed maneuvers, no task-sharing and perhaps unaware their flight was about to end in the Atlantic Ocean.

Screeching stall alarms and incoherent speed readings from faulty sensors, bad weather in a darkened sky and growing stress make up the chaotic cockpit scenario in the final moments of the Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009. All 228 people aboard the plane were killed.

Cairo: Tens of thousands of ultraconservative Muslims in long beards, robes and prayer caps thronged Cairo's central Tahrir Square in a massive show of force Friday, calling for the implementation of strict Islamic laws and sparring with liberal activists over their visions for a post-revolution Egypt.

It was the first rally with religious overtones in Egypt, and one of the largest, since the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down in mid-February. The strong showing by the Islamists demonstrated their powerful organizational abilities, which will likely help them in parliamentary elections later this year.

UK man jailed for calling for attacks on lawmakers

London: A man who posted messages on an Islamic extremist website calling on Muslims to attack British lawmakers has been jailed for 12 years.

Bilal Zaheer Ahmad posted the threat against U.K. lawmakers who voted for the Iraq war on the U.S.-based RevolutionMuslim.com on Nov. 3 last year.

New York: A fugitive who taunted police on his Facebook page to 'catch me if you can. I'm in Brooklyn' has been arrested.

The Daily News says U.S. marshals and NYPD detectives tracked Victor Burgos down to an apartment in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood Monday night, sitting at a computer with his Facebook page open.

Baghdad: Frequent bombings, assassinations and a resurgence in violence by Shiite militias have made Iraq more dangerous now than it was just a year ago, a U.S. government watchdog concludes in a report released Saturday.

The findings come during what U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. called "a summer of uncertainty" in Baghdad over whether American forces will stay past a year-end withdrawal deadline and continue military aid for the unstable nation.

Chicago: Two Delta Airlines aircraft have collided on the tarmac at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly Singley says a plane headed to Minneapolis and one headed to Atlanta made struck each other before takeoff on Friday. Singley said there were no injuries.

Washington: In an unforgiving display of partisanship, the Republican-controlled House approved emergency legislation on Friday night to avoid an unprecedented government default and Senate Democrats scuttled it less than two hours later in hopes of a better deal.

"We are almost out of time" for a compromise, warned President Barack Obama as US financial markets trembled at the prospect of economic chaos next week. The Dow Jones average fell for a sixth straight session.

Brussels: NATO warplanes bombed Libyan state TV satellite transmitters in Tripoli overnight on Friday because they were being used to incite violence and threaten civilians, the military alliance said on Saturday.

A series of loud explosions echoed across the capital before dawn.

There was no immediate comment from Libyan officials on what had been hit, but state TV was still on the air in Tripoli on Saturday morning.

Oslo: The anti-Muslim extremist who confessed to a bombing and youth camp massacre that killed 77 people in Norway has told investigators he also considered attacking other targets linked to the government or the prime minister's Labor Party, police said Saturday.

During a 10-hour questioning session on Friday, Anders Behring Breivik asked interrogators how many people he had killed in the July 22 attacks, and "showed no emotion" when they told him, police attorney Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby told reporters in Oslo.

Georgetown, Guyana: Flight 523 from New York had just touched down and passengers were applauding the pilot's landing in the South American country Saturday when something suddenly went wrong.

The Boeing 737-800 slid off the end of a rainy runway, crashed through a chain-link fence and broke in half just short of a deep ravine. Yet all 163 people on board survived.

Another earthquake jolts northeastern Japan

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Another earthquake jolts northeastern Japan

Associated Press, Updated: July 31, 2011 08:04 IST

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New York: The US Geological Survey (USGS) is reporting that another strong earthquake has jolted northeastern Japan, the same region struck by March's massive quake and tsunami. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and no tsunami warning is in effect.

Turin, Italy: Winds of change are sweeping through the dusty palazzos and abandoned ruins of Italy - as budget cuts in tough economic times force the managers of famous monuments to seek revenues and investment.

Hong Kong: China imposed a widespread ban on coverage of last week's high-speed train crash, forcing newspapers across the country to scrap pages of stories, a Hong Kong newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Morning Post said that Chinese propaganda authorities issued a censorship order late Friday, banning all coverage of the crash "except positive news or information released by the authorities".

Stewartstown, New Hampshire: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an 11-year-old northern New Hampshire girl who's been missing for five days.

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Bangalore: BS Yeddyurappa has finally resigned as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Flanked by nearly 70 MLAs, Mr Yeddyurappa walked to the Raj Bhavan this evening to meet Governor HR Bhardwaj and handed over his resignation. Minutes later, a Raj Bhavan statement said the resignation has been accepted and a notification was issued.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Another earthquake jolts northeastern Japan

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