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BJP suspends Madan Lal Khurana for "gross indiscipline"
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Cracking the whip, the BJP today suspended party veteran Madan Lal Khurana on the charge of "gross indiscipline" after he repeatedly attacked party President L K Advani and topping it with his demand for removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to "clear the taint" of the post-Godhra riots.
The provocation for the disciplinary action came on a day when the 69-year-old former Delhi Chief Minister shot off a letter to Advani citing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and removal of Jagdish Tytler from the Union Cabinet and demanding a similar course in Gujarat.
Reacting to his suspension, Khurana said he was ready to face any action.
Announcing the action against him, BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said Khurana had been repeatedly indulging in anti-party activities and "water has gone above the head".
Soon after his latest missive against Advani became public, party functionaries discussed among themselves and then got in touch with Advani, who gave the green signal for the action. Later in the day, Advani reached Ahmedabad where dissidents are gunning for Modi.
Jumping on the Gujarat dissident bandwagon, Khurana had met former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel in the capital earlier this week supporting their demand and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday to complain against Advani's "style of functioning". PTI
Waqar questions official status of Afro-Asian Cup
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The International Cricket Council may have acted in haste in according official status to the Afro-Asian Cup one-day international series, currently being played in South Africa, according to former Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis.
The left-arm seamer, famous in his playing days for his toe-crushing yorkers, said he had "mixed" feelings about this concept of pitting continents against each other, which the Afro-Asian Cup is all about.
"Playing for your country and playing for a continent -- these are two entirely different scenarios. The players are relaxed and laidback in tournaments like this (Afro-Asian Cup)," he told PTI in an interview here today.
The inaugural edition of the Cup, comprising three one-day internationals, seems to have few takers as the first match was played out before empty stands in Centurion and some of the players like Jacques Kallis have also questioned its official status.
Waqar, who has been roped in by Zee Sports in its expert panel for the Afro-Asian Cup, said the concept might pick up slowly but the ICC would have to really work things out.
"There's not been much crowd. But since it is an international match, one will see the difference in players' approach as the two other matches are played.
"Also, the ICC will have to sit down and think how they will work out things. It is going to be a huge problem, how are they going to put down the records and all." However, he saw a better future for the Cup, saying once it was staged in countries like India and Pakistan, it was bound to be a hit. PTI
Afro-Asia Cup : Asia XI elect to bat
Durban, Aug 20 (PTI) Asia XI won the toss and elected to bat in the second match of the Afro-Asia Cup one-day cricket series here today.
Teams: Asia XI: Inzamam-ul Haq (capt), K Sangakkara, V Sehwag, Y Youhana, S Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Z Khan, S Akhtar, M Muralitharan, A Nehra, M Jayawardene. M Ashrafull (Sub).
Africa XI: S Pollock (capt), B Dippenaar, M Boucher, A B de Villiers, J Rudolph, A Prince, J Kemp, N Boje, H Streak, T M Odoyo, M Zondeki. S Tikolo (Sub). PTI
India wins 2-1 over England, finish seventh in the Rabo Trophy
Amstelveen (The Netherlands), Aug 20 (PTI) India just about managed to avoid the ignominy of finishing last as they laboured to a scrappy 2-1 victory over England to take the seventh position in the Rabo Trophy hockey tournament here today.
After three consecutive defeats, the beleaguered Indians managed to break the sequence of debacles with a face-saving victory but the performance still left much to be desired for a team which has shown no signs of a turnaround.
India shot into the lead just two minutes before the breather through Gagan Ajit Singh before Deepak Thakur consolidated the position in the 53rd minute in a lacklustre encounter at the Wagener stadium.
James Tindall scored a consolation goal for England in the last minute which saw some dramatic moments as the Englishmen got an opportunity to restore the balance with a penalty corner at the stroke of the hooter.
But the jittery Indians had some luck going their way and escaped to victory much to the relief of coach Rajinder Singh Jr who has blamed some "big-headed" seniors for the team's miseries in this prestigious eight-nation tournament.
The Indians owed their victory to rookie goalkeeper Bharat Chetri who was quite outstanding under the bar in his very first match in the tournament. Chetri pulled off a number of spectacular saves to keep his team afloat against the opponents who lacked the scoring prowess. More
CECA to boost trade, investment from Singapore
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, signed by the two countries in June, is expected to lead to substantial jump in two-way trade and investments, a senior government official said today.
"Singapore's total outward investments are to the tune of 275 billion dollar and India's share is a miniscule 0.6 per cent at 1.6 billion dollar. The CECA would result in greater FDI flow to India," Director in the Commerce Ministry Krishna Gupta said at a FICCI seminar.
Singapore is the 11th largest foreign investor in India with majority of the investments coming into telecom, financial services, fuels, electrical equipment and transport sectors and the CECA would open new avenues for investments from the Asian powerhouse, he said.
Bilateral trade is also set to go up with the agreement, he said, adding India's share in Singapore's total imports at present is much below potential. Singapore's total global imports are 162 billion dollars and India's share is just about 2 per cent at 4.7 billion dollar.
India's exports to Singapore have risen substantially during the past three years when negotiations on CECA began. Indian exports grew from 2.5 billion dollar in 2003 to 4.7 billion dollar a year later and 3.3 billion dollar in the first half of 2005.
Bilateral trade has grown over 76 per cent since 2000, Gupta said, adding the CECA would further boost trade between the two countries. PTI
India to submit more proposals on trade facilitation
New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) After submitting a joint paper with US on customs cooperation mechanism at WTO, India is preparing to submit more proposals on trade facilitation.
"We have already submitted a joint paper with US...We may be placing more papers in other areas of trade facilitation," Commerce Secretary S N Menon said here.
Inaugurating a UNTAD-Ministry of Commerce-DFID seminar on trade facilitation, he said India was playing a very proactive role in the multilateral negotiations on trade facilitation.
He said New Delhi was prime mover of the idea on having one multilateral body for customs violation and was actively working with its other partners on this.
Menon said the country has unilaterally initiated the reform process with regard to trade facilitation and introduced facilities like Electronic Data Interchange.
He said the domestic reform process could be dovetailed to international programme.
Asked about Maharashtra levying stamp duty on import consignments, he said he was taking up the issue with that state's Chief Secretary.
Ministry of Commerce Director Shashank Priya said New Delhi could consider a proposal on uniform standards in a customs union.
He pointed out that in a customs union where all members should have uniform standards and procedures, various members followed different procedures leading to confusion and additional costs on exporters. PTI
Austrian Airlines looking to fly to new destinations in India
New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Austrian Airlines, which will begin services from Vienna to Mumbai from September one with five flights a week, is looking at flying to new destinations in India like Bangalore and Chennai.
The airline, which is already operating daily Airbus A330 services to Delhi, is to link Mumbai with a Boeing 767 with two class configuration - 39 business and 209 economy class seats, Executive Vice President (Sales) Christian Schmid told reporters here.
Austrian, which is a member of the Star Alliance, is hopeful to switch over to Boeing 767s to Delhi by winter of 2006, he said.
Schmid expressed confidence that it would be allowed to fly to the two South Indian destinations in the near future, subject to approvals by Indian and Austrian governments.
The flight into Mumbai would arrive on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 10 pm and leave at 12.50 am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, Country Manager (India) Bernhard Baeck said.
The inaugural return economy fare to Vienna has been fixed at Rs 19,900, he added. PTI
Take informed decisions, SEBI tells small investors
Chennai, Aug 20 (PTI) With stock markets trading at all time high levels, the capital markets regulator SEBI today cautioned small investors to take "informed decisions" and asked them to look at safer instruments such as mutual funds.
"SEBI is not in the business of advising investors on investment decisions. But, I would urge small investors to take informed decisions," SEBI Chairman M Damodaran told reporters, replying to a query on the state of stock markets.
There were safer investment avenues such as mutual funds and urged the small investors to look at these instruments, rather than entering the stock markets directly, he said, on the sidelines of a seminar here.
The domestic stock markets is on a bull run with the Bombay Stock Exchange touching the all time high levels of 7,900 early this week.
Asked if he felt that the stock prices of all the companies were driven by their respective performances, the SEBI chief said he believed the stock markets, to a certain extent, were driven by the growth of the Indian economy.
However, there would be some companies which use the opportunity to drive up share prices. "There are thousands of companies (on Indian stock markets)," he said and promised action, once the manipulations come to light.
Replying to another question, Damodaran said the SEBI officials were working to "harmonise" the takeover guidelines and the listing norms. "Four of our best officers are working to put together the revised guidelines. The revised guidelines will be in place soon," he said. PTI
Govt sees no change in interest rate but keeps vigil on prices
New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said interest rates were expected to remain stable with the fall in inflation to 3.35 per cent, but that would not stop the government from keeping a vigil on prices of essential items.
"I don't expect any change (in interest rate) in medium term," he said while reacting to the dip in inflation.
Fall in inflation in the last few months have eased the pressure on interest rates.
"Inflation is down because the supply side is good and Reserve Bank is doing an adroit management of money supply," Chidambaram said.
However, Chidambaram chose to be cautious and indicated that there was no reason to be complacent.
"One has to be careful and vigilant. We are carefully watching five items -- sugar, wheat, rice, steel and cement," he said.
He also admitted that the upward spiral in global oil prices, which has crossed 64 dollar a barrel was bound to have an adverse impact.
"Crude oil prices is indeed impacting the balance sheets of oil companies. If it does not moderate, it is bound to impact oil companies," he said.
Rise in global crude prices have hiked under-recoveries and losses of oil companies. If domestic oil prices are not adjusted, some oil PSUs may become financially sick in 2006. PTI
Inflation dips to 3.35 pc during week ended Aug 6
New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Inflation fell to 3.35 per cent in the week ended August 6 from 3.84 per cent a week ago, due to cheaper food items, including vegetables, and furnace oil. PTI
Anti-bombing strike grips Bangladesh
Nadeem Qadir
Dhaka, Aug 20 (PTI) A nationwide opposition-sponsored general strike to protest the Wednesday bombings by suspected Islamic extremists gripped Bangladesh today, hours after Prime Minister Khaleda Zia returned home cutting short her visit to China.
Amid security clampdown following the unprecedented bombings, the one-day strike called by the 14-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League paralysed much of the country. The Communist Party of Bangladesh separately also called for the shut down.
No inter-district buses were operating and schools, private offices and banks were shut too. Few vehicles were seen on the streets of Dhaka.
Zia, who was on a five-day official visit to China, returned home early today cutting short her visit due to the bombings that left two people dead and nearly 150 injured.
The Prime Minister had condemned the bombings as a "heinous, cowardly, conspiratorial and well-planned act of terrorism." She also appealed for calm and ordered security agencies to crack down on suspects.
Islamic extremists are believed to be responsible for the bombings, according to media reports.
Police and security forces were patrolling the capital city in strength. PTI
Sino-Russia military drill commences in China
Anil K Joseph
Beijing, Aug 20 (PTI) Aiming at enhancing mutual understanding and combating new threats, China and Russia today kicked off the second phase of their first-ever joint military exercises in east China's Shandong Peninsula after two days of wargames in Russian coastal city of Vladivostok.
The new phase of exercise, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005", mainly focussed on delivery and outspread, adjusting decisions and organising coordinated actions.
Weapons and logistic and telecommunications support have all been ready for the joint drill, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese and Russian troops have already had their first joint practice on the three courses in the Shandong peninsula and its nearby seawaters from August 14 to 16, it said.
The three courses, or the actual combat practice, cover offshore blockade, amphibious landing and forcible separation.
The whole wargame is scheduled to go through three phases, including strategic consultation and battle planning, transportation and deployment of troops, and combat practice. The first phase was held in Vladivostok from Thursday.
The Russian troops involved include officers and soldiers from paratroops, marine corps, air forces and navy. They arrived in the Shandong peninsula and the nearby offshore seawaters on August 9. (More)
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Sensex: 7783.06, -28.27
The sensex closed at 7783.06, down 28.27
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1 U.S. $ = 43.5200 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.3938 INR
1 British Pound = 78.1010 INR
1 Canadian $ = 35.9283 INR
1 Singapore $ = 26.0349 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 11.8480 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 11.6038 INR
1 Euro = 52.8811 INR
1 Qatar Rial = 11.9590 INR
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