Hindustan Times: April 2009

Pakistan goes to war with itself, 50 Taliban killed

The Pakistan government claimed successes in its war against militants in Buner on Wednesday after capturing strategic points and villages. However, the army action has led to internal displacement of hundreds of people, aid agencies have warned.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen.Athar Abbas told the media that 50 militants were killed in the operation when security forces, backed by gunship helicopters, pounded militant positions in Buner on Wednesday The military operation started on Tuesday .

General Abbas told a press briefing in Islamabad that two caches of arms belonging to militants were also destroyed in Buner. He said the military operation was underway in Ambela and Milandar and that stiff resistance was being faced by the troops in mountainous area of Ambela.

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Labels: ambela, buner, gunship helicopters, Pakistan, pakistan army action, pakistan government, taliban, war against militants

Government defends Quattrocchi waiver

The government on Tuesday attempted to distance itself from the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) decision to drop the name of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, accused of having received kickbacks in the Bofors bribery case, from its list of wanted fugitives.

The CBI's decision in October 2008 had led Interpol, the international organisation facilitating police cooperation around the world, to withdraw its 10-year-old red-corner notice - used to alert colmtries about an individual against whom an arrest warrant is pending against Quattrocchi.

The decision has been challenged in the Supreme Court and is likely to come up for an urgent hearing on Wednesday The exposure gave new lift to the two-decade-old Bofore scandal, and kicked off a political storm in the midst of elections.

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Labels: arrest warrant, bofore scandal, bofors case, cbi, cbi wanted list, Congress, interpol, italian businessman ottavio quattrocchi, red corner notice

7 years after Gujarat riots, Modi in trouble

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged role of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his administration in aiding and abetting the 2002 riots.

This is the first time that Modi, being projected as the BJP’s future prime-ministerial candidate, has come under the scanner for one of the worst riots in recent years, though fingers have been repeatedly pointed at him, his cabinet colleagues and top state officials for their alleged complicity .

The Supreme Court order came less than 72 hours before voting begins for the 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat. It was issued on a petition filed by Jakia Nasim Ahesan, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed by a mob on February 28, 2002 in Gulbarg Society in the heart of Ahmedabad.

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Labels: Gujarat, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, gujarat lok sabha seats, Gujarat riots, modi in trouble, prime ministerial candidate, riots cases, Special Investigation Team, supreme court order

Four metro trains set to get lengthier

The Delhi Metro is soon going to add two more coaches to some of its trains to beat the rush of commuters. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has ordered eight additional train coaches, which will be attached to some of the existing metro trains currently running in Delhi to increase their carrying capacity.

At present, all the 70 trains have four coaches and are running fully packed as over 8,50,000 passengers travel everyday on the system. Metro's Line 3 between Dwarka and Indraprastha, for example, runs packed almost throughout the day.

To handle the rush, the coaches will be added to four of the existing trains to make them into six coach trains. "Once the coaches arrive, we will decide which section they would be deployed in according to requirement," said DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal.

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Labels: delhi metro, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, existing trains, metro lines, metro trains, train coaches

Twin blasts rock Iraq, 76 killed

Two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks in Iraq on Thursday, killing 76 people.

Shortly after the two attacks, the authorities in Baghdad said they had arrested the purported leader of an Al Qaeda afmiated insurgent group, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

One of the attacks occurred in a crowded restaurant at lunchtime near Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of Baghdad.

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Labels: al qaeda, Baghdad, Iraq, separate attacks in iraq, shia muslim religious, suicide attack in baghbad, suicide bombers, twin blasts in iraq

Security tighter for round II

Anticipating Naxal violence in the second phase of polling, the Election Commission and the home ministry dispatched additional security forces and helicopters to Bihar and Jharkhand, from where attacks were reported on Tuesday and Wednesday .

Enforcing their 24-hour bandh call in the states, Naxals ‘hijacked’ a train in Latehar district, blew up the main building of the Untari Road railway station in Palamu, burnt down five bauxite-loaded trucks in Garhwa, and razed a village school and a health centre in Chatra district of Jharkhand.

In Delhi, home secretary Madhukar Gupta said after Wednesday’s attacks, the home ministry decided to provide better helicopters to the two states for aerial surveillance and to launch counter-attacks against Naxals.

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Labels: 24 hour bandh call, counter aatacks, Jharkhand, latehar district, naxal hijacked a train, naxal violence, palamu, second phase of polling, security forces, untari road railway station

Asthma or delay killed Akkriti?

A class XII student of Modern School, Vasant Vihar, died after an acute asthma attack on Monday She was rushed to hospital, but she didn’t make it. Her parents accused the school authorities of negligence.

Akkriti Bhatia, 17, a commerce student, complained of breathlessness to classmates and then called her mother on a friend’s mobile, asking for a car to fetch her. She sought her teacher’s permission to go home but noticing her condition, the school authorities rushed her to Holy Angels Hospital, a kilometre away in , her car. The hospital authorities said she died on the way .

Bhatia’s family and a few students said she could’ve been saved had the principal called an ambulance and not waited for her car to arrive.

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Labels: akkriti bhatia, ambulance, class 12 student, commerce students, modern school. asthma attack

Indian Premier League opened to big viewership but didn't stick

The Indian Premier League, hit by security concerns that took its venue to South Africa in its second season, had a thumping start on Set Max television channel last Saturday, with a big jump in overall reach.

However, average viewership ratings dropped for both matches that day compared with last year's ratings. In other words, more people tuned in, but fewer among them stayed on to watch the ties.

According to aMap (from Audience Measurement Analytics Ltd.), the overnight television audience measurement system, almost 7 million viewers (12.6 per cent, top six metros, age 4+) tuned into the first match, considerably higher than last year's 5.6 million viewers (11.9 per cent).

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Labels: chennai super kings, IPL, mumbai indians, set max television channel, South Africa, television audience, television audience measurement system, Television channels, viewership ratings

Prabhakaran is a friend: Karunanidhi

Electoral compulsions in Tamil Nadu appear to have driven DMK president and chief minister M. Karunanidhi to say on Sunday that LTTE chief V.Prabhakaran was a friend.

"Prabhakaran is my good friend," said the 84-year-old DMK leader during an hour-long interview to NDTV at his residence.

And then he added, practically in the same breath, "I am not a terrorist".

The Sri Lankan army has cornered said it has Prabhakaran in a small area of his former stronghold and that the Tamil Tiger chief is using civilians of the area as a human shield for his own protection.

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Labels: dmk leader, Karunanidhi, ltte, prabhakaran is a friend, sri lanka has become an election issue, sri lankan army, tamil civilians issue, Tamil Nadu, terrorist organisation

Grim Varun steps out

Aggression was palpable in his silence. Not a twitch appeared on his lips. But Varun Gandhi's unblinking eyes and a fist punching the air seemed to have conveyed a lot about what he was feeling as he walked out of the Etah jail around 6.25 pm on Thursday .

The young BJP candidate for Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat stepped out of the jail after 19 days in a purple kurta and white churidar without a smile on his face, waved and then folded his hands to the crowd and slipped into the front seat of a waiting SUV and drove off to Agra. Mother Maneka followed in another car. He reached Delhi late in the evening.

Earlier in the day the Supreme Court had rejected the Uttar Pradesh government's argument and ordered conditional release of BJP leader Varun Gandhi for 15 days from preventive detention under National Security Act to enable him contest the Lok Sabha election from Pilibhit.

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Labels: agra, etah jail, mother maneka gandhi, pilibhit lok sabha seat, varun gandhi, varun gandhi can campaign, varun gandhi released from jail

'Women jihadis at India's door'

The Mujahidaat or women terrorists have reached India's doorstep.

Army chief General Deepak Kapoor disclosed on Tuesday that women were being trained on the other side of the Line of Control to unleash terror in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said, "We have infbrmation that women terrorists are waiting to infiltrate into J&K." The army chief was responding to a question on the possibility of women handlers taking part in the Pulwama encounter that ended on Monday.

The female terrorist will be a new phenomenon in Kashmir and it could compel the army to fine-tune its counter-terrorism strategy. There are several reasons why terror groups use women.

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Labels: army chief general deepak kapoor, counter terrorism strategy, India, Jammu and kashmir, jihadis, line of control, pulwama encounter, terror groups use women, women fighters, women terrorists

Tech Mahindra buys Satyam for Rupees 2,890 crore

VenturePay, a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, emerged as the highest bidder for the assets of Satyam Computer Services, possibly ending one of corporate India’s most sordid tales of corporate mismanagement.

If the Company Law Board (CLB) clears the bid — according to agencies, CLB said it would clear the deal within 24 hours of receiving board recommendations — it will help Tech Mahindra leap into the big league of Indian IT sweepstakes. Its revenues will jump over three times to cross Rs 14,000 crore, taking it from No 6 slot to No 4 slot, after TCS, Wipro and Infosys.

The company will pay Rs 1,756 crore for buying fresh shares in Satyam, giving it a 31 per cent stake in the company. In addition, it will pay Rs 1,134 crore to buy another 20 per cent of the company in an open offer to shareholders.Since the market capitalisation of Satyam crashed following the confessions of disgraced former chairman B Ramalinga Raju, Tech Mahindra’s market capitalisation will rise only by 80 per cent to a little over Rs 7,000 crore, to the No 5 rank, after the big three and HCL.

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Labels: assets of satyam, cognizant bid, hcl, infosys, larsen and toubro, mahindra and mahindra, mahindra market, satyam bid, satyam board, TCS, tech mahindra buys satyam, tech mahindras bid, Wipro

Sania-Chuang duo qualifies for final

Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang extended their brilliant run by sailing into the final of the $US 220,000 MPS Group of Championships after a convincing straight set victory over Liga Dekmeijere and Angela Haynes.

The unseeded Indo Taipei pair carved out a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Latvian-American pair in the semifinal in just one hour and eight minutes.

In the summit clash, Sania and Chuang will fight it out against top seeded pair Kveta Peschke of Czech Republic and Lisa Raymond of United States, who scored a 4-6, 7-5, 15-13 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycov and Caroline Wozniacki in their semifinal match.

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Labels: indo taipei pair, latvian american pair, mps group of championships, qualifies for final, Sania Mirza, Tennis players

United States says India critical to Afghanistan solution

A day after Pakistan pointed to the “gap” with the United States in tackling terror, Richard Holbrooke, America’s special envoy said the Afghanistan situation can’t be settled without India’s full involvement.

Holbrooke, tasked by President Barack Obama to engineer a “regional solution” to the Afghanistan-Pakistan, or Af-Pak, region, told the press that India and the US had the same goals, but little coordination in Afghanistan.

Speaking in the presence of America’s top military official, Mike Mullen, he insisted on Wednesday that they were not visiting the region to negotiate between India and Pakistan.

“We didn’t come here to ask India to do anything. We did not come here with requests,” Holbrooke said, stressing that his mission was to “inform and consult” with Indian officials.

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Labels: afghan border, afghanistan solution, afghanistan-pakistan, americas special envoy, India, Joe Biden, osama hiding in pak, Richard Holbrooke, tackling terror, United States

Journalist tosses shoe at home minister over Tytler clean chit

A Journalist tossed a shoe at Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram during a news conference in Delhi to protest the Central Bureau of Investigation's clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The shoe didn't hit the minister who got out of the way just in time. The journalist, Jarnail Singh, was promptly led out of the conference being held at the Congress headquarters. Chidambaram carried on with the briefing.

But the incident touched a raw nerve in the Congress, prompting a section of the party to support a rethink on party tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar - who have faced charges of involvement in the anti-Sikh riots.

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Labels: cbi clean chit to jagdish tytler, congress headquarters, criminal conspiracy, delhi, journalist jarnail singh, p chidambaram, press conference, sikh journalist

Parents protest fee hike

Hundreds of parents protested the fee hike in front of Ramjas School, Anand Parvat, on Monday morning.Parents alleged the school had raised fees unnecessarily and was demanding more than the amount required to cover the salaries of teachers under the Sixth Pay Commission.

"The school has raised the development fee from Rs 660 to Rs 2,880. On top of that we have to pay Rs 1,258 extra as development fee from September 2008 to March 2009," said a parent, on condition of anonymity .

Parents demanded the school use the money lying in the students welfare fund.

"The school has crores of rupees in the fund. Why can't they use that money? We want an audit of the students welfare fund and also want the school to put all expenses incurred since 1999 on the website," demanded another parent.

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Labels: development fee, Parents protest fee hike, parents protested, salaries of teachers, school funds, sixth Pay Commission, students welfare fund

North Korea gain, now a rocket

North Korea defied the US, its allies and a series of UN resolutions by launching a rocket on Sunday that it said propelled a satellite into space but that much of the world viewed as an unsuccessful ef fort to prove it is edging toward the capability to shoot a nuclear warhead on a longer-range missile.

The US Northern Command issued a statement that North Korea's Taepodong 2 missile flew over Japan, with its payload landing in the Pacific Ocean. "No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan," the assessment said.

StW, the launching drew swift inter national condemnation and prompted the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on Sunday in which the US, Japan and South Korea vowed to penalise the North.

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Labels: Korean Peninsula, longer range missile, North Korea, obama threatens action, orbit, rocket launch, un security council

13 killed in hostage drama near New York

A gunman opened fire at an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton on Friday, killing as many as 13 people before authorities found him dead, officials said.

Governor David Patterson said at a news conference that 12 or 13 people have been killed.

A law enforcement official, on condition of anonymity, said the body of the man believed to be the gunman was found in an office of the American Civic Association building.

The gunman barricaded the rear door of the building with his car before entering through the front door, firing his weapon, the official said It wasn't clear whether the gunman was included in the number of dead provided by the Governor Indications were that the shooter was a young male, the official said.

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Labels: binghamton, gunman barricaded, hostage drama, immigration services center, new york, new york security, opened fire, refugees, us citizenship and immigration services

Trillion-dollar cash course

Globalisation is not dead - yet. Leaders of the Group of 20 countries on Thursday agreed to a $1.1 traion (Rs 55 lakh crore) deal to combat the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The G-20 leaders agreed that this sum will be made available to the world economy through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions. This will include $250 billion of the special IMF "currency" called Special Drawing Rights.

"This money will be available for lending to all IMF members," British Prime Minister and summit host Gordon Brown said at a press conference after the summit.

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Labels: British Prime Minister, G-20 leaders promise new jobs, Great Depression, International Monetary Fund, London, summit host Gordon Brown, worst economic

Namaaz resumes at protected mosque

Prayers are being offered again at the 16th century tomb and mosque of Jamali Kamali in Mehrauli. The only hitch is, the offering of namaaz is unauthorised-this being a centrally protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

An FIR in this case has been lodged at the Mehrauli police station following a complaint by ASI that has also written to Delhi police commissioner to stop offering of prayers.

Talking to HT, Superintendent Archaeologist (Delhi Circle) K.K. Muhammed said as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 and Rules 1959, if pooja/ prayer /namaaz was prevailing at any place of worship at the time of its notification as a monument of national importance the same would be permitted to continue.

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Labels: 16th century tomb and mosque, Ancient Monuments, Archaeological Survey of India, heritage mosques, Jamali Kamali, Mehrauli, namaaz, offer prayers, protected monument, worship

Indian in United States kills own kids, relatives and himself

An Indian engineer killed two of his children and three other relatives, including a toddler, before turning the gun on himself in a shooting rampage in Santa Clara, a town in Silicon Valley.

The shooting took place on Monday (IST). The lone survivor in the shooting was engineer Devraj’s wife Aabha, who escaped with multiple gunshot wounds and collapsed in a pool of blood outside her home, police said. They said a neighbour called 911 to report an injured woman outside a house.

Police arrived to find five bodies in the house, all shot dead. Devraj was dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, local media reports said.

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Labels: greencard holder, Indian engineer killed, Santa Clara, Silicon Valley, United States, US consulate officials in Chennai

Hindustan Times

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pakistan goes to war with itself, 50 Taliban killed

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Government defends Quattrocchi waiver

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

7 years after Gujarat riots, Modi in trouble

Monday, April 27, 2009

Four metro trains set to get lengthier

Friday, April 24, 2009

Twin blasts rock Iraq, 76 killed

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Security tighter for round II

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Asthma or delay killed Akkriti?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Indian Premier League opened to big viewership but didn't stick

Monday, April 20, 2009

Prabhakaran is a friend: Karunanidhi

Friday, April 17, 2009

Grim Varun steps out

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

'Women jihadis at India's door'

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tech Mahindra buys Satyam for Rupees 2,890 crore

Monday, April 13, 2009

Sania-Chuang duo qualifies for final

Thursday, April 9, 2009

United States says India critical to Afghanistan solution

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Journalist tosses shoe at home minister over Tytler clean chit

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Parents protest fee hike

Monday, April 6, 2009

North Korea gain, now a rocket

Saturday, April 4, 2009

13 killed in hostage drama near New York

Friday, April 3, 2009

Trillion-dollar cash course

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Namaaz resumes at protected mosque

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Indian in United States kills own kids, relatives and himself

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