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Two Indian doctors held in connection with UK terror plot
H S Rao and Natasha Chaku
London/Melbourne, July 3 (PTI) Two Indian doctors have been held in Britain and Australia in connection with last week's failed terror attack in the UK as the hunt for conspirators intensified across the globe.
An unidentified 26-year-old Indian medico has been arrested in Liverpool in Britain in connection with the plot to target London and Glasgow, a media report here said today.
He is a post-graduate trainee doctor from Bangalore, Daily Telegraph said.
Another Indian doctor was detained in Brisbane, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in Canberra.
The person detained in Australia has been identified as 27-year-old Mohammed Haneef who has studied in Rajiv Gandhi Institute in Bangalore, Australian media reported.
The person "taken into custody is an Indian national who came to Australia sponsored by the Queensland health department under a 457 visa," he told reporters without giving details about him.
"The man has been taken into custody and questioning is underway," he said, adding "There is a second person who is currently assisting the police with their inquiries and the identity of that second person arose from the discussion that occurred with the first person taken into custody." Haneef, Registrar at Gold Coast Hospital, was held last night at Brisbane international airport when he was trying to leave the country on a one-way ticket, officials said.
"No charges have been filed yet (against Haneef)," Attorney General Philip Ruddock said.
Police in Bangalore said they were awaiting information about the detained person. PTI
Heavy rains lash Mumbai and suburbs
Mumbai, Jul 3 (PTI) Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds lashed this city and its suburbs in the early hours today while intermittent rainfall continued in surrounding areas.
Road, air and rail services were largely unaffected as there were only a few incidents of water-logging, authorities said.
However, several trees were uprooted by the strong winds, affecting vehicular traffic for a while.
The spokesperson for Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport said there was no water-logging at the airport and everything was functioning normally.
There are no delays or disruptions due to the weather, he said.
Fast trains were operating with a delay of 15 minutes on the Central lines and trains on the Harbour and Western lines were running on schedule, railway officials said.
The weather bureau recorded 95 mm of rainfall at Colaba observatory in south Mumbai in the 24 hours till 8.30 am while Santa Cruz recorded 30.3 mm of rains.
There will be thundershowers and occasional heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds till tomorrow morning, the met office said. PTI
UPA goes on offensive against Shekhawat
New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Going on the offensive, the UPA today suggested that Bhairon Singh Shekhawat quit as Vice President to take on Pratibha Patil in the Presidential poll as it debunked the NDA's plans to seek a conscience vote.
In a show of unity, Congress as also several constituents of the UPA addressed a joint press conference and hit out at the opposition for resorting to "smear campaign based on frivolous and unfounded allegations" against Patil put up by the alliance.
Leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, who addressed the conference along with leaders like Lalu Prasad and T R Baalu, condemned the "nature and tenor" of the current campaign in which the decor and dignity of the past campaigns is found absent.
"There are certain issues on which individuals are to take a decision at appropriate moment. I leave it at that," Mukherjee said when asked whether UPA favours that Shekhawat quit as Vice President to ensure a level playing field in the straight fight with Patil in the July 19 poll.
Seeking to take the bottom out of the opposition campaign for a conscience vote, the External Affairs Minister said "there is always a conscience vote because the elected representative exercise their voting right as per their conscience and vote according to the desire of the party. Who says there is no conscience vote." Mukherjee as also Prasad and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi singled out Leader of Opposition L K Advani for attack for remarks against Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Prasad said Shekhawat was a candidate of BJP and RSS notwithstanding the fact he was contesting as an independent. PTI
No hike in petrol, diesel prices as of now: Deora
New Delhi, July 3 (PTI) Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today said petrol and diesel prices will not be increased "as of now" even as he began consultations with Finance Minister P Chidambaram on ways of mitigating the spurt in global oil prices.
"Not as of now," was Deora's reaction when asked if the government was mulling a Rs 2 per litre hike in petrol and Re one a litre raise in diesel prices.
Public sector oil firms are losing about Rs 170 crore per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene as the government has not allowed them to raise fuel prices in step with rise in cost.
Indian basket of crude oil has risen more than 12 per cent since February when petrol and diesel were cut by Rs 2 a litre and Re one per litre respectively.
"We are closely monitoring the situation," Deora said adding his ministry would continue discussions with Chidambaram on ways to mitigate the Rs 50,700 crore under-realisation expected on petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene in 2007-08.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are losing Rs 4.97 a litre on petrol and Rs 4.45 per litre on diesel. The loss on sale of kerosene through the public distribution system is Rs 14.63 per litre and on LPG is Rs 189.14 per cylinder.
Official sources said Deora met Chidambaram this morning to discuss the quantum of oil bonds the finance ministry should issue to oil firms to partly compensate them for the loss on fuel sales. At least one-third of the under-recovery on fuel sale is being sought to be met through the bonds and a similar quantum would be met by discounts from upstream firms like ONGC and GAIL. PTI
Explosion rocks Lal Masjid area in Islamabad
Islamabad, July 3 (PTI) A huge explosion was heard outside the Lal Masjid in the Pakistani capital as security forces and radical Islamists of the mosque clashed.
People were seen running for safety after the sound of explosion was heard in the vicinity.
Details about the incident were not immediately known. PTI
Reliance Capital to invest Rs 2,000 cr in life insurance biz
Mumbai, July 3 (PTI) Reliance Capital is planning to invest Rs 2,000 crore to expand its life insurance business, besides seize every business opportunity that will enhance value to shareholders, its Chairman Anil Ambani said today.
"It (life insurance) is a highly-capital intensive business... Our focus is clear - how quickly and consistently we can create, on a sustainable basis, shareholder wealth," he told shareholders at the company's AGM here.
The company has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore investment over the next few years for the business, which it acquired from AMP-Sanmar in 2005.
Reliance Life Insurance had recently started operations in the Middle-East and Singapore and "we plan to open more offices abroad," Ambani said, adding that the company will soon consider putting in place a dividend policy.
"We will consider putting in a dividend policy that will specify a policy framework so that shareholders can have an idea of the payout ratio," he said.
Outlining the group's vision to be in the top three in every business segment it was present in, Ambani said: "We are a young group and it will take us sometime to get there. But we will get there in the next few years - it will not take us 20 years." Stating that Reliance Capital had been approached by various investors for strategic and financial stake in its businesses, Ambani said the company may consider strategic tie-ups, but ruled out sale of the mutual funds or general insurance businesses. PTI
Infosys selected as best outsourcing partner
Bangalore, July 3 (PTI) Infosys Technologies Ltd today announced its selection as 'Best Outsourcing Partner' by readers of 'Waters', a leading publication covering the needs of Chief Information Officers in today's global capital market firms.
Waters ranking recognises the outstanding achievements of solution providers that help financial institutions generate revenue and service their clients efficiently, an Infosys statement said.
The Bangalore-based NASDAQ-listed was named the Best Outsourcing Partner over nine competitors and by a margin of more than double that of the closest competitor in the survey.
In May, editors of Waters invited the publication's readers and financial technology professionals to vote for the best hardware, software, financial service vendors and trading venues in the industry across 22 categories.
Nearly 600 individuals voted for the 2007 rankings, it said. PTI
Cognizant to pump in USD 200 mn in India by 2008
Kolkata, July 3 (PTI) IT and business outsourcing company Cognizant today said it will invest USD 200 million by the end of 2008 to set up centres across the country.
"We will spend USD 200 million (about Rs 800 crore) to build techno-complexes in Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Kolkata," Cognizant President and Managing Director R Chandrasekaran told reporters.
The campuses, to be spread over total three million square feet area, would have capacity for over 30,000 employees, he said.
The present Cognizant employee strength is around 44,000.
The Nasdaq-listed company would be investing 46 million dollars (Rs 188 crore) to expand infrastructure here.
"The investment will go into the second fully-owned techno-complex to be spread over 500,000 sq ft in Phase 1 to accommodate about 4,000 professionals when completed," he said.
The Rs 188 crore (about USD 46 million) investment of the first phase of expansion would be utilised on land acquisition, construction of facilities and furnishing. It was expected to be completed by end-2008. The company already has a centre in Kolkata.
The new fully-owned techno-complex was coming up on 20 acre at Bantala, a Special Economic Zone designated area. PTI
Sensex zooms to record high at 14,806.51
Mumbai, July 3 (PTI) The benchmark Sensex zoomed to a new record high of 14,806.51 points today on heavy buying by foreign funds in blue-chip stocks led by banking and capital good segments.
The Sensex gained 142.25 points to surpass its previous closing peak of 14,664.26 points, scaled yesterday.
Earlier in the day, the index recorded an all-time intra-day high of 14,828.39 points, while beating its previous peak of 14,745.97 points achieved yesterday.
Similarly, the second wide-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, shot up further by 43.80 points to a record high of 4357.55, after touching an all-time intra-day high of 4365.35, and a low of 4313.55 points.
The current rally was attributed to banking and heavy-machinery stocks such as ABB, BHEL and Larsen and Toubro. Baking segment was led by stocks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.
The upsurge in the market was further fuelled by refinery stocks such as Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum following reports of an expected rise in petrol and diesel prices. PTI
Start of India-Pak one-day delayed
Glasgow (Scotland), Jul 3 (PTI) Rain and wet outfield conditions have delayed the start of the one-off limited overs cricket match between India and Pakistan here today.
Umpires will carry out an inspection of the Clyedesdale Cricket Ground at 2 pm local time (6.30 pm IST) as its is still raining here.
Toss was scheduled at 9.15 am local time (2.45 pm IST). PTI
Benjamin Silva sole Indian representative at Asian Cup
New Delhi, July 3 (PTI) India may not have qualified for the Asian Cup but at least one Indian, referee Benjamin Silva, will be seen in action in the premier continental football tournament.
Silva has been selected as one of the 22 assistant referees for the showpiece event to be held from July 7 to 29 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The final list was confirmed after the mandatory fitness test on the the probables yesterday which found two assistant referees - U Kway Win of Myanmar and Mohamed Ibrahim Ali of Qatar - unfit and they will not be part of the extravaganza.
There will be no replacements for the two assistant referees. The tournament begins with a match between Thailand and Iraq.
Silva is a FIFA referee hailing from Goa.
A total of 16 referees will officiate in the competition with the help of the 22 assistant referees. They will be officially cleared following a fitness test scheduled for July 2 in Kuala Lumpur.
The list includes one referee and two assistant referees from CAF (Confederation Africaine De Football).
"All the referees who have been selected have proved their refereeing skills in the past and under intense pressure," AFC Director of Referees Yoshimi Ogawa said.
This will be the first time Australia will participate in the Asian Cup. It will also be represented by two referees in the competition. PTI
Sardesai cremated in presence of ex-Test colleagues
Mumbai, Jul 3 (PTI) The mortal remains of former Test cricketer Dilip Sardesai, who died here yesterday due to multiple organ failure, were cremated today with the last rites performed by his noted TV journalist son Rajdeep.
Several past cricketers, including former Test captain Ajit Wadekar, were present at the Chandanwadi electric crematorium in South Mumbai to pay their last respect to the departed former Mumbai and India middle order mainstay.
The 67-year-old Sardesai, the only cricketer born in Goa to have represented the country, died last night at the Bombay Hospital where he had got admitted on June 19 with chest infection.
Among the ex-Test cricketers who attended the cremation were his former colleagues Bapu Nadkarni, Indrajit Sinh, Ajit Pai, Chandu Patankar, Sandeep Patil, Ghulam Parkar, Suru Nayak, Kenia Jayantilal and Umesh Kulkarni.
Former Mumbai cricketers Milind Rege and Ravi Thakkar were also present along with Mumbai Cricket Association officials and Cricket Board's CAO Ratnakar Shetty.
Former BCCI chiefs Raj Singh Dungarpur and Purshottam Rungta, along with Shiv Sena Executive President Udhav Thackeray, former Mumbai police chiefs Julio Rebeiro and Ronnie Mendonca, and current special IG Javed Ahmed, also attended the final rites. PTI
India-Japan ministers ask officials to speed up CEPA talks
New Delhi, July 3 (PTI) India and Japan have decided to expedite negotiations on a comprehensive economic pact, besides cooperating on multilateral trade talks under the WTO.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and his Japanese counterpart Akira Amari discussed the trade pact and asked officials to complete talks within the stipulated time, an official release said here today.
"The ministers reviewed the status of India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations and directed negotiators to expedite the conclusion of negotiations within the agreed timeframe," it said.
Nath and Amari signed a joint statement last night following conclusion of their discussions on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project.
The project, which has been scaled up in terms of cost to 90 billion dollars from 50 billion dollars earlier, is being mainly financed by Japan.
The Task Force on the project has been asked to finalise a concept paper on the project before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit here in August.
Nath and Amari also discussed global and regional issues such as Doha Development Agenda (DDA), Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) the release said.
The ministers decided to cooperate toward the successful conclusion of the DDA by the end of 2007, it added.
During last week's meeting, officials discussed coverage of trade in goods and services and investment in CEPA but wide differences remained as New Delhi demanded extra safeguards for its domestic industry but Tokyo opposed such concessions. PTI
Lanka on alert for Black Tiger day
Colombo, Jul 3 (PTI) Sri Lankan security forces have been put on high alert ahead of the 20th anniversary of the first-ever Tamil Tiger suicide attack, police said.
Troops are assisting the police in maintaining a high state of alert for Thursday's "Black Tiger" anniversary, a police spokesperson said here.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealam (LTTE) staged their first suicide bombing by driving a water bowser fitted with explosives into an army camp at Nelliyadi in the Jaffna peninsula, killing 40 soldiers, twenty years ago.
Since then, LTTE has claimed several lives.
The guerrillas will mark the day with religious services and by displaying photographs of over 260 Black Tiger suicide cadres, who have carried out attacks in the past 20 years. PTI
UN makes new appointments
United Nations, July 3(PTI) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named a Brazilian diplomat to advance the UN disarmament agenda and a US architect, who had worked on the preservation of Taj Mahal, to oversee the USD1.9 billion renovation project of the world body's New York headquarters.
Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, a 48-year veteran of the Brazilian Foreign Service with extensive experience in the field of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation has been appointed as the High Representative for Disarmament, the world body announced yesterday.
As High Representative, Duarte, who has also served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will head the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs.
The appointment of Michael Adlerstein of the US as executive director of the Capital Master Plan, it said, will enable the UN to move forward with the refurbishment of the organisation's New York headquarters complex.
Adlerstein was most recently the Vice President and Architect of The New York botanical garden.
During a long career with the US department of Interior, he oversaw the restoration of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. He also worked as a State Department consultant on numerous projects including the preservation of the Taj Mahal.
The renovations under the Capital Master Plan, which will take place over the next seven years, are expected to make the main UN Headquarters buildings more energy efficient and eliminate safety and health risks. PTI
Looking through the glasses-the way the stars do
Annie Samson
New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Rajnikant in his latest Tamil flick 'Sivaji' sports a stylish pair of sunglasses, Amitabh Bacchchan plays a bespectacled 64-year-old cook in 'Cheeni Kum', and the major cast of 'Metro' Irfaan Khan, Kangana Ranaut and Konkona SenSharma all sport zero power spectacles.
"No wonder seventy five per cent of the people do not follow the optical store salesman's suggestion. They are influenced by movies and various magazines, newspapers and printed matter. Market trends keep fluctuating and things are much different than a few years ago when where one particular trend used to dominate for years. Today fashion is changing very fast and the hot designs keep changing rapidly, says Tarun Sachdeva, of Eye Essentials, which deal in vision correcting aids, spectacle frames etc.
With more and more actors wearing glasses on screen, the common man is following suit and becoming choosy about the frames and quality of glasses.
Multicoloured and broad sized frames are 'hot.' "Sunglasses and frames are available for Rs 1,000 and Rs 60,000," says Lalit Kalra, Director, Dayal Opticals.
Also, with increasing brand consciousness people are aware of the varieties of frames and sunglasses available. "They have fixed ideas about the type of brand they want," says Manoj Soni, Laurence and Mayo, Connaught Place.
He says "Earlier people might have been vaguely aware of some sunglass brands but nowadays due to huge advertisments in the media there is a growing awareness in the market about the wide variety of choice available to them." Manoj Soni adds, "While customers may demand specific brands for frames awareness about lenses is still insufficient in the market." Vogue Prada, Versace, Bovigare, Gucci are the most popular brands. The latest trend is that of titanium metal because they are very flexible and strong and almost impossible to break," he says. PTI
Philately: A forgotten hobby
Sunandita Dasgupta
New Delhi, July 2(PTI) Once considered the "king of hobbies", fit for those who seek knowledge and aesthetic pleasure, stamp collection no more holds any attraction for the techno-savvy youth of this fast-paced internet age.
Detaching the stamps delicately from envelopes, rinsing and drying them before using paper hinges or "havids" to place them in albums, exchanging them with others to enhance the collection -- all these may have an old-world charm but the young have no time for such activities, say philatelists.
At times like this, when speed is the buzzword, the prominence of telephone, e-mail and SMS is spelling doom for traditional communication modes like letter-writing, in the process also sounding the death knell for the hobby of stamp collection, or philately, they say.
"More and more people are turning to internet to communicate with friends and relatives. Though the pleasure of receiving a well-written letter cannot be compared with anything else, nowadays the emphasis is on speedy communication," says a senior official of the New Delhi-based Indian Philatelic Museum. PTI
Maharashtra Newsletter: Saffron alliance under strain
Vilas Tokale
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) The Hindutva alliance in the state is under strain following Bal Thackeray's decision to support rival UPA-Left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil.
After its decision to back Patil evoked allegations of betrayal from BJP, the Sena has gone on the offensive, saying `nobody need teach us Hindutva.' This was after BJP charged the Sena with deviating from the Hindutva agenda by not supporting NDA-supported candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
It was not the issue of Hindutva but the question of supporting a Marathi person who has got an opportunity to become President for the first time since Independence.
The Sena supremo Bal Thackeray himself made it clear that the decision to support Patil was because she was a `Marathi manoos' (Marathi person) and `what else could be befitting than having a Marathi as President when the state celebrates its golden jubilee in 2010.' There were ample indications on the Sena's mood even before the party announced its support to Patil on June 25. The Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' had even front-paged a detailed write-up on the 'cordial' ties between the Sena chief and Patil's family.
Now, after the Sena announced that it would help enthrone the first Maharashtrian in Rashtrapati Bhawan, BJP's top leader in the state Gopinath Munde, who is also the party's national general secretary, said the Sena has betrayed his party by not backing Shekhawat. PTI
From the States: PSUs in Kerala make a turnaround
N Muraleedharan
Thiruvananthapuram, July 01 (PTI): For long dubbed as 'white elephants' eating up public funds, the public sector companies in Kerala are slowly making a turnaround with the LDF government's strategies beginning to show results.
Of the 67 public sector units under Industries Department, 22 this year made operational profits with five of them contributing a modest dividend of Rs.7.49 crore to the government.
The amount may look paltry, but for the ailing state-run industries and public utilities that have accumulated a huge loss of Rs.5706.96 crore, this has come as psychological boost holding the message that all hope is not lost.
Infusion of professionalism, success in bringing workers and trade unions round and strategic partnership with the central PSUs have helped the cash-sapping behemoth to regain some vitality.
According to state Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem, who is known to be personal monitoring and making tireless efforts to improve working of the PSUs, the government's aim is to take the number of profit-making units to at least 40 by the end of 2007-08.
Coming from the CPI-M's trade union wing CITU, Kareem has often said that the government did not have any illusion that it had a magic wand to turn all the units profitable by a single stroke. But, many of them could be saved and sustained through realistic policies that suit the changed times.PTI
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