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20 hurt as Dera Sacha Sauda followers clash with police
Bathinda (Punjab), May 15 (PTI) Followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and police clashed here today, leaving around 20 people, mostly policemen, injured and 10 vehicles damaged.
The clashes came a day after 25 people were wounded in a clash between followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) over an advertisement in some newspapers purportedly showing Dera head Baba Gurmeet Singh Ram Raheem distributing 'amrit' (nector) while attired in tenth Guru Gobind Singh's dress.
The Dera followers have been protesting since yesterday in front of the district administration complex here against alleged police failure in checking the "disgracing" of their master by some Sikhs.
Police today fired in the air and carried out a baton- charge to disperse the protesters, who attacked policemen and went on a rampage.
Those injured in the melee included nine policemen, among whom was DSP (Rural) Amarjeet Singh, and four journalists. The mob even beat up fire brigade personnel and set on fire a police jeep.
They then attacked the deputy commissioner's residence and the circuit house where a high-level meeting was in progress.
The mob was later brought under control by some Dera leaders. PTI
Mayawati transfers 33 more IAS officers
Lucknow, May 15 (PTI) Continuing its series of transfers, the three-day-old Mayawati government has shifted 33 more IAS officers and given a new posting to former environment secretary R K Sharma, an accused in the Taj Corridor case.
The government late last night posted Sharma, who was earlier suspended after his name figured in the case, as principal secretary for Panchayati Raj.
It appointed a new director of information and one more secretary to the chief minister, official sources here said today.
Sub-Urban Development Authority (SUDA) Director Diwakar Tripathi was appointed the new director of information while Devendra Swarup will be the secretary to Mayawati, they said.
Several IAS officers awaiting postings were given new assignments, they said.
Lalit Srivastav, chairman of the Noida, Greater Noida and Taj Express Way Authority, was given additional charge as CEO of Greater Noida and Taj Express Way Authority.
Land Reform Corporation Managing Director Monika Garg was made CEO of Noida, sources said.
The chief minister had two days ago transferred 173 IPS officers shortly after assuming power on leading her BSP to victory in assembly polls. PTI
Sreesanth likely to return home
Chittagong, May 15 (PTI) The Indian team was staring at the prospects of another injury casualty as medium pacer S Sreesanth was likely to return home from the tour of Bangladesh ahead of the Test series.
Sreesanth, who suffered a calf-muscle injury during the first one-dayer and did not play the second game, was to be assessed later in the day by physio John Gloster.
Captain Rahul Dravid said the team management was considering retaining one of the fast bowlers from the one-day squad should the Kerala seamer show no improvement.
"We will see if he is not pulling up right or he is not recovering as we hope he would. Then we might consider keeping back one of the quicks," Dravid said.
"We will have a fair idea maybe today evening or tomorrow morning. If things are not good, then we may see him return." Rookie Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary earlier had his dreams of making India debut spoilt as a shoulder injury during fielding practice abruptly ended his tour.
India clinched the ODI series 2-0 after the third tie was abandoned due to wet ground conditions because of overnight rains.
Dravid sounded a warning to Bangladesh saying things would be more difficult for the hosts in the coming Test series. PTI
India-China bilateral trade to touch USD 40 bn
Anil K Jospeh Beijing, May 15 (PTI) Senior trade representatives of India and China today forecast that the bilateral trade volume will surge from the current USD 25 billion to 40 billion by 2009, a full year ahead of the target set by the two governments.
During the first quarter (Jan-Mar) of this year, bilateral trade has touched USD 8.2 billion, soaring by 58 per cent, Vice President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Wang Jinzhen said.
"The business communities in China and India are determined to raise bilateral trade up to USD 40 billion by the year 2010. But if we increase our bilateral trade at this speed (58 per cent), I think we can reach USD 40 billion by 2009, an year earlier than targeted," Wang said at a India-China Business Luncheon Meeting organised by ASSOCHAM, CCPIT and the Indian Embassy here.
Concurring with Wang's forecast, Member of Parliament and Managing Director of Videocon Industries Ltd., Rajkumar Dhoot said that as per an ASSOCHAM forecast, India-China bilateral trade could be more than double to USD 43 billion in the coming three years.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to India last November, both the countries set a bilateral trade target of USD 40 billion by 2010.
Dhoot, heading an ASSOCHAM delegation to China, noted that the growth in Chinese exports to India was among the fastest for the world's third largest trading power.
However, he noted that Chinese investment in India was very low, only accounting for .30 per cent of all foreign direct investment approved by the country. PTI
Srinath match referee for Abu Dhabi series
Dubai, May 15 (PTI) Former India paceman Javagal Srinath has been appointed match referee for the three-match one-day cricket series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan to be held in Abu Dhabi later this month, while compatriot Suresh Shastri will be one of the on-field umpires in two of the games.
The three matches will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on May 18, 20 and 22.
Srinath and Shastri are among the match officials announced by the International Cricket Council for the series.
For the first ODI, Shastri will partner Eangland's Mark Benson, while Zimbabwean Russell Tiffin will be the third umpire.
The next match will see Shastri and Tiffin on the field with Benson as third umpire.
The Indian will be the third umpire for the final match of the rubber with Benson and Tiffin standing in the middle.
Meanwhile, Australian Peter Parker and Tony Hill from New Zealand will be the on-field umpires for the Afro-Asian Cup to be held in India next month.
The three matches of the series pitting an Africa XI against an Asian selection will be held in Bangalore (June 6) and Chennai (June 8 and 10).
The International Cricket Council has appointed former England batsman Chris Broad at the Match Referee for the series. PTI
I was sidelined during Ashes tour: Vaughan
London, May 15 (PTI) Michael Vaughan has alleged that he was sidelined from the decision-making process during the ill-fated Ashes series in Australia in which he could not play due to his knee injury.
"A lot was spoken about me being involved. I was never involved at all," Vaughan said. "They could have used me more as an Ashes-winning captain with a huge amount of knowledge." The England captain wants that the mistake made in Australia should not be repeated during the first Test of the home series against the West Indies starting at Lord's on Thursday, which too he will miss owing to a broken finger.
He wants the right to advise Andrew Strauss, who will be leading the team in Vaughan's absence.
Vaughan would have led England against Australia had he not been injured and he believes he should have been allowed to help his replacement, Andrew Flintoff.
"That could have been a help to Andrew Flintoff so that he could get on with playing," Vaughan told 'The Times'.
"It was made clear that I was to be kept away from the team. I understood the reasons, but I thought I could have helped. That's why this week I want to be around.
"I want Andrew Strauss to get on and make a hundred when he opens the batting. If I can help him to settle, to talk to the young players or the bowlers or whatever, it will be a great help to him," the Yorkshire batsman said. PTI
Sania returns from injury with doubles victory
New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) Sania Mirza made a triumphant return to tennis courts, winning her first round doubles match with American Vania King in USD 145,000 Morocco Open at Fes.
The Indo-US pair came back from being 4-7 in the super tie-break to win 6-3 5-7 10-8 against Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Olga Savchuk of Ukrain on Tuesday.
It was the 20-year-old's first competitive match in nearly 2-1/2 months as she was out of action due to a ligament injury.
"It's always good to win a match when you're coming back after so long, especially a close one," Sania said after the match.
Sania, who played with Liezel Huber of South Africa most of last season, said she combined well with Vania.
"I think it's a good thing we got the toughest unseeded team first. We played well together for our very first time as a team.
"There were a few hiccups, but at the end of the day it's good to come through." Sania said her knee "was holding up very well".
The Hyderabadi girl said she felt a mix of excitement and nerves in her first match after a long break.
"While I was playing today, I was thinking about how much I've missed the feeling of competing," she said. PTI
India-Bangla:3rd ODI called off without a ball being bowled
Sirshendu Panth
Chittagong, May 15 (PTI) The third and final cricket one-dayer between India and Bangladesh was called off without a ball being bowled due to soggy ground conditions here today, dashing India's hopes of making a clean sweep of the series.
The Indians had to be content with a 2-0 victory margin as 'Hurricane Akash' ruined chances of any play at the Bir Sreshta Shahid Nurul Amin stadium, which was completely water-logged due to heavy overnight rain.
Hours of hard labour put in by the groundsmen went waste, as match referee Roshan Mahanama declared the game abandoned after the day's third inspection at 1 pm local time.
"The ground is wet. They will need at least two hours to dry the ground. Play is not possible under these circumstances," Mahanama said.
Mahanama, along with the two umpires Ashoka de Silva of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh's Enamul Haq, earlier inspected the ground at 9.20 am and 12 noon, and postponed the start of the match hoping the conditions would improve.
The super-sopper was pressed into action repeatedly to dry the ground, as the groundsmen did frantic mop-up operations using buckets and sponges to soak the water. PTI
Sensex ends 36 pts down in volatile trade; banks shares up
Mumbai, May 8 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today ended over 36 points down in volatile trading on emergence of selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks.
The 30-share Sensex, which remained in positive zone in early trade with a gain of over 58 points, fell back to close 36.53 points down at 13,929.33 on profit-taking in index-related stocks. It touched the day's high of 14,023.86 and a low of 13,885.46 points.
In similar fashion, the second wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty lost 14 points at 4,120.30 after moving between 4,150.45 and 4,102.45 points.
Stock brokers said selling in IT, oil and gas, consumer goods, auto and consumer durables sector stocks mainly pulled the Sensex down.
They said, however, that banking sector stocks led by State Bank of India and Punjab National bank continued their upward march for yet another session after country's largest lender SBI, posted excellent fourth quarter earnings.
The BSE bankex climbed 116.77 points, or 1.5 per cent at 7,074.23 points. PTI
G4 to meet in Brussels to review trade talks
New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) Trade ministers of four key WTO members - India, Brazil, the US and EU - will make another attempt in Brussels later this week to bridge the gaps on the contentious issues of farm subsidies and market access.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who will be engaged in several rounds of talks with his three counterparts, has expressed hope the recent paper on agriculture circulated by WTO would not hamper the Doha Round of trade talks.
Nath is likely to leave for Brussels tonight for the meeting that begins from May 17, a government official said.
The G4 had last met in New Delhi in mid-April and set an informal deadline of December 31, 2007 for completion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks.
The Round, launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, was originally supposed to have been concluded by the end of 2004. Deadlines have been repeatedly re-scheduled as differences have persisted over subsidies that rich nations give to their farmers and the trade barriers imposed by developing countries on goods imported from developed nations.
The Brussels meeting on May 17 and 18 would review the progress since the New Delhi meeting and identify the gaps which could be bridged, the official said. PTI
Bharti Airtel enters Sri Lanka; to invest USD 150 mn
Colombo, May 15 (PTI) India's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel Limited today forayed into Sri Lanka by inking an agreement with the island nation's main foreign investment promotion body to invest 150 million dollars in rolling out operations, a company official said.
Bharti, which will become the fifth mobile phone operator here, is currently scouting for locations to set up base stations and talking to equipment vendors to rollout its network here.
"If things go as planned, we are hoping to launch our services by the end of this calander year," Bharti's Director (Legal and Regulatory Affairs) Narendra Gupta told reporters here.
Airtel had recently got the permission from Sri Lankan Telecom Regulatory Commission to start 2G and 3G services. It bagged the license competing against Reliance Communications and Maxis Telecom.
The Sri Lankan operation would be the first international foray for the Indian company, with the Bharti hoping to use it as a base to expand into the South Asian region.
"Sri Lanka is a very promising market for telecom services, with lower phone penetration at 20 per cent," Gupta said.
The telecommunications field is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sri Lanka, with the number of mobile phone subscribers rising to 4.5 million by the end of 2006, according to the island country's Central Bank.
The market is dominated by Telekom Malaysia's Dialog Telekom with over 3.3 million subscribers on its network, distantly followed by Mobitel, Celltel Lanka and Hutchison. PTI
RIL finds gas in two blocks
New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, has made two natural gas discoveries on the east and west coast adding to the vast hydrocarbon reserves it has found in the past few years.
Reliance made its 18th discovery in the prolific KG-D6 block (KG-DWN-98/3) in the Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast, when well KG-D6-R1 encountered two gas-bearing zones, a company press release said here.
The company is the operator of the block with 90 per cent interest, while Niko Resources of Canada holds the remaining 10 per cent. The block is estimated to hold in-place reserves of around 50 Trillion cubic feet and oil reserves of one billion barrels.
The Mukesh Ambani-run firm plans to begin gas production from first two of the discoveries made in the block, that was awarded in the first round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy, in the second half of 2008.
Reliance also discovered natural gas and condensate in the block GS-OSN-97/1 off the west coast in Gujarat-Saurashtra basin.
GS01-B1 well flowed 18.6 million cubic feet a day of gas together with 415 barrels a day of condensate, the release said.
Reliance is the operator of the block with 90 per cent interest, while Hardy Exploration of UK has the remaining 10 per cent. PTI
No proposal to penalise airlines at present: Patel
New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) The Government today said that there was no proposal at present to lay down any policy to penalise airlines as it does not intend to regulate commercial aspects of the carriers.
However, airlines have been advised to publish on their website the details of facilities offered by each airline so that passengers are aware of them, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Patel also admitted that there was congestion at Delhi and Mumbai airports during peak hours and said that measures have been taken to reduce the overcrowding there which includes construction of new high speed exit taxiways, simultaneous use of both runways, improved ATC procedures, restriction on general aviation aircraft movement, ATC automation system etc.
He said the Delhi International Airport Ltd has started implementation of the Master Plan for the expansion and modernisation of India Gandhi International Airport.
The major developmental works undertaken by it in the first phase of modernisation include expansion of domestic terminal, construction of new runway and associated taxiways and new passenger terminal, he said adding that once completed by 2010,these facilities would cater to a traffic of 37 million passenger per annum.
Patel also informed the Upper House that pursuant to the decision of purchase of aircraft from M/s Boeing by Air India, as a part of its contractual obligation, M/s Boeing has signed an MOU with the Government of Maharashtra to facilitate setting up of maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility at Nagpur. PTI
18 killed in Pakistan blast
Islamabad, May 15 (PTI) A powerful blast suspected to have been triggered by a suicide bomber left at least 18 people dead and scores injured in a hotel in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar today.
The four-storey Marhaba hotel, situated in a busy market area in the capital of North West Frontier Province, was frequented by tribals.
The private Geo TV said that at least 18 people were killed in the blast. However, Inspector General of Police, S Virk, has so far confirmed the death of 12 people in the blast.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao and his son had on April 28 survived a suicide bomb blast in the province during a public meeting in Charsadha. Thirty people had died in that attack. PTI
Space ties with India,Japan a win-win situation: US scientists
Washington, May 15 (PTI) Senior officials of the NASA and scientists have told American law makers that there is a lot of merit in increasing international cooperation with leading space powers like India that will only see a win-win situation which benefits the United States and the partnering country.
At the same time at least one senior Republican law maker has voiced scepticism of going about with cooperation with such countries like China and Pakistan on the grounds that "tyrants and dictatorships" are actually a threat to the values of western civilisation.
At a recent Congressional hearing on Space programmes, Democratic Congressman Mark Udall asked Alan Stern, the Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate of the NASA, to assess international collaboration as a means to advance the priorities of National Academy's decadal surveys.
Stern said the US was ready to talk with any country who was on an acceptable list, who had a space programme and capability that could fly instruments or collaborate in missions.
"...And I mean that to be a win-win -- certainly, Asian nations like the Japanese and the Indians, who are space powers, the European Space Agency, the individual European national space programmes, the Canadian Space Agency and others all come to mind," he said.
Vice Provost of Physical Science and Engineering at Cornell University Joseph Burns said within one year the world will have three foreign spacecraft in orbit around the moon -- Japan, China and India.
"And they will provide a very significant part of our new kinds of understanding of what the moon is all about and thereby aid our exploration programme. I think we need to carry that into other spheres," he said. PTI
MQM attacks opposition for Karachi violence
Islamabad, May 15 (PTI) Under fire from various political parties for the deadly violence in Karachi, pro-Musharraf Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has accused the opposition of hatching a conspiracy to disrupt peace in the commerical hub and creating political instability in the country.
MQM's deputy convenor and parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Farooq Sattar criticised political parties and suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry for their allegations against the party and claimed the entire nation was confused as to who should be held responsible for the loss of precious lives in Karachi.
However, he said, with the passage of time, answers to many questions had started emerging.
Over 40 people were killed in the heavy violence which broke out when suspended chief justice Iftikar M Chaudhry arrived in Karachi on May 12.
Sattar also apologised for the May 12 attack on Aaj TV channel offices in Karachi and the treatment meted out to media people on the day.
"Maintenance of law and order is the responsibility of the provincial government and being part of the provincial as well as the federal government I fully accept the responsibility for what happened," he said.
Aaj TV owned by the Business Recorder newspaper in Karachi came under fire from unidentified gunmen who sporadically kept firing at its studios for several hours forcing the staff and news anchor to duck for cover.
Sattar promised an inquiry into the firing on the Aaj TV offices and violence against the media and said the basic membership of MQM workers found involved in any action against the press would be cancelled. PTI
Iran beginning to enrich uranium on larger scale: IAEA
New York, May 15 (PTI) UN nuclear watchdog inspectors have said that Iran appears to have solved most of its technological problems and is now beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before.
In a short-notice inspection of Tehran's main nuclear facility at Natanz on May 13, the IAEA inspectors found that Iranian engineers were already using roughly 1,300 centrifuges and were producing fuel suitable for nuclear reactors, the New York Times reported quoting diplomats and nuclear experts in Vienna where IAEA is based.
Until recently, the Iranians were having difficulty keeping the delicate centrifuges spinning at the high speed necessary to make nuclear fuel and often were running them empty, the report said.
Now, those roadblocks appear to have been surmounted. "We believe they pretty much have the knowledge about how to enrich," the paper quoted IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, as saying.
"From now on, it is simply a question of perfecting that knowledge. People will not like to hear it, but that is a fact." It is unclear, the paper said, whether Iran can sustain its recent progress. PTI
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