Hindustan Times: May 2009

Another Indian student attacked in Australia

If you are an Indian wanting to study in Australia, take note: a 25-year-old Indian student has become the latest victim of a racist attack even as another battled for life in hospital after being attacked over the weekend.

Indian student Baljinder Singh begged for his life as he was stabbed with a screwdriver by his amused attackers after leaving a Melbourne railway station, the heraldsun website reported.

As Baljinder screamed for his life on Monday night, his attackers laughed and fled, the report said. “I bent down and one guy stabbed me…I just wanted to save my life and yelled just don’t kill me.”

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Labels: attackers, Australia, australian government, Indian government, indian student baljinder singh, Indian students, melbourne, melbourne railway station, racist aitack, screwdriver

Terror comes home to Inter Services Intelligence

Pakistan's political was attacked yet again when gunmen detonated a car bomb on Wednesday near police and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) offices that killed about 35 people and wounded 250.

The blast, in which several ISI agents were reported killed, flattened one building and sheared the walls off others in one of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan this year.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the bombing could be retaliation to the government’s military offensive to rout Taliban militants from the northwestern Swat Valley.

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Labels: bombing, intelligence report, isi agents, isi offices, Lahore, military offensive, Pakistan, pakistan attacks, taliban attack on isi, terror, terrorism

‘He is a third-rate president’

Ahmad Khorshidi, the father-in-law of Ahmadinejad’s daughter, expresses regret at having helped mastermind Iranian president’s 2005 win.

If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thought he could keep critics at bay by making his government a family affair, then he failed to anticipate the rancour that erupts when relatives start feuding among themselves.

The Iranian president has come under a withering assault from his daughter’s father-in-law,who helped mastermind his unexpected 2005 election victory.

Ahmad Khorshidi, a one time member of Ahmadinejad’s so-called “brains trust”, has thrown family loyalties to the winds by dismissing the president as “third rate” and expressing regret for having campaigned for him.

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Labels: ahmad khorshidi, brains trust, critics, father in law of ahmadinejads daughter, Iran, iran elections, iranian president, mastermind, mastermind iranian presidents 2005 win, third rate president

Cyclone Aila kills 31 in Bengal, Army helps with rescue

It was a devastation not seen in recent memory.

What started as a small trough of depression in the Bay of Bengal on Saturday, moved rapidly towards coastal West Bengal,gathered guile and made landfall near the Sagar Islands at around 2 pm on Monday.

Christened Aila, the cyclone blew over large parts of South 24-Parganas, kissed Kolkata at over 120 km per hour and moved away towards Howrah and Hooghly.

At least 31 people have fallen victim to the fury of Aila, most of them from South 24Parganas.

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Labels: bay of bengal, bengal, christened aila, cyclone, depression, fury of aila, hooghly, howrah, Kolkata, landfall, sagar islands

Indian Air Force drops Russia from 1 billion dollar deal

Russia is set to lose a billion dollar (Rs 48,000 crore) defence deal for midair refuellers, signalling a break in its over 50year-old monopoly as India’s preferred military supplier.

The former communist giant has clearly lost favour with the Indian military, as the air force has decided not to field any more Russian Ilyushin-78 refuellers to keep fighter jets airborne for considerably longer periods by tanking them up during flight.

After operating II-78 tankers for almost six years, the Indian Air Force has said the Russian platform does not meet its requirements and it wants to deploy the Airbus A330 multi role tanker transport (MRTT) offered byEuropean aerospace corporation EADS.

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Labels: airbus a330, billion dollar deal, defence deal, fighter jets airborne, iaf drops, indian air force, indian military, russia deal, russian llyushin 78 refuellers

2 held for corporate blackmail

Two commoners tried to blackmail a Rs 1,50,771-crore corporate giant. They demanded Rs 50 lakh — Rs 10 lakh of that as initial payment.

The deal they offered in exchange: an affidavit in Mumbai High Court against Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL merger with Reliance Petroleum Ltd would be withdrawn.

Jayendra Shah and Dilip Motwani are now in police custody.

RIL, the Reliance Group flagship, is India’s largest private sector enterprise and a Fortune Global 500 company.

An RIL spokesman told HT, “As this is corporate blackmailing,we filed a police complaint.

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Labels: affidavit, blackmail, corporate blackmail, corporate giant, demand, money, mumbai high court, police complaint, private sector enterprise, reliance, reliance group flagship, reliance indudtries ltd

Indonesian air force plane crash kills 98

At least 98 people, including 14 children, were killed and scores injured when an ageing Indonesian military plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed into homes in East Javaand burst into flames.

A total of 112 people were aboard when the US-made C130 Hercules transport plane crashed in Magetan,about 520 kms east of capital Jakarta.

The crash destroyed four homes and killed two people who lived in at least one of the homes, said Suwardi, the village leader of Karas in East Java.

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Labels: east javaand, hercules transport plane, indonesia, indonesia plane crash, indonesian air force, indonesian military plane, magetan, plane crash, soldiers, us made c130

Business chokes as ‘Lifeline of Delhi’ sabotaged

Tuesday, too, was a bad day for all those who wanted to book a railway ticket.

Due to the ongoing agitation by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) personnel, Indian Railways’ Passenger Reservation System (PRS) was severely affected.

PRS is a web of computers across the country managing train reservations.

“On Monday, eight PRS terminals ran slow. On Tuesday, the number came down to two,” said Sanjay Bajpai, Northern Railway spokesman.

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Labels: delhi, indian railway, MTNL, mtnl employees, mtnl strikes, passenger reservation system, phone lines, prs counters, railway ticket booking, train reservations, web of computers

Sensex soars to 14k on buying frenzy

It took the markets three seconds to give a thumbs up to Verdict 2009.

The Sensex rose by 10 per cent and the Nifty by 15 per cent on Monday when the first circuit prevented them from rising any further.

Two hours later, the two indices that capture more than 45 per cent of India’s companies by value closed the day after hitting a second circuit — jumping 17.3 per cent and 17.7 per cent, respectively.

To prevent undue volatility, stock exchanges apply 'circuit breakers' that automatically kick in when the rise or fall in a share or an index crosses a prescribed limit.

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Labels: circuit breakers, index crosses, indian companies, Sensex, sensex rose by 10 percent, sensex soars, stock exchanges

Kuwait elects its first women parliamentarians

Kuwaitis voted for change in the Gulf emirate's second poll in a year, giving women their first seats in parliament and punishing Sunni Islamic groups, according to results released on Sunday.

Four women candidates made history by winning the first female seats in the Kuwaiti parliament, with one of them coming on top of the 10 winners from her district.

Liberals Massuma al-Mubarak, Aseel al-Awadhi and Rula Dashti, besides independent Salwa al-Jassar won seats in the new house. The four women are all US-educated and hold doctorate degrees in political science, economics and education.

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Labels: first female seats, gulf emirates, gulf emirates second poll, kuwait, kuwait elects, kuwaiti parliament, kuwaitis, kuwaitis voted, political science, shiite muslim minority, sunni islamic groups

Olympic winner’s dad held for fraud

Industrialist A.S.Bindra, father of Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra,was arrested on Thursday from his house in Mohali, Punjab, on charges of fraud and cheating.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police arrested senior Bindra four days after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.

He will be produced in a city court on Friday.

The EOW had registered two cases of cheating and forgery against Bindra in 2006 and 2007.

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Labels: abhinav bindra, bindra, charges of fraud and cheating, economic offences wing, industrialist a s bindra, mohali, non bailable warrant, olympic gold medalist, olympic winner dad arrested

Coral Triangle at risk from climate change

Southeast Aisa’s biologically diverse coral reefs will disappear by the end of this century, wiping out coastal economies and sparking civil unrest if climate change isn’t addressed, conservation group WWF said on Wednesday.

The Coral Triangle, a reef network that spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor, has more than 76 per cent of the world’s reef-building coral species and 35 per cent of its coral reef fish species.

However, a new report commissioned by the WWF warned that much of this reef is doomed unless developed countries cut carbon emissions to 40 per cent below the 1990 levels by 2020 and developing economies cut emissions by 30 percent from their current levels.

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Labels: carbon emissions, climate change, coral reef fish species, coral species, coral triangle, emissions, fish species, global warming, indonesia, Malaysia, species, worlds reef building coral species

This man hasn’t taken a bath in 35 years

For the last 35 years, Kailash Singh ‘Kalau’, 63, hasn’t had a bath nor has he brushed his teeth. He says it is out of love for the country, but neighbours say it is for a son — Kalau has seven daughters.

Agni Snan, or “fire bath”, is his way of keeping clean. Every evening as villagers gather, Kalau, who lives in Chatav, lights a bonfire, smokes marijuna and stands on a leg praying to Lord Shiva.

“’It’s just like using water to take a bath,” said Kalau, who wears two pullovers through the year and only drinks warm water. “Fire bath helps kill all the germs and infections in the body.”

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Labels: agni snan, bonfire, chatav, drinks warm water, fire bath, ganga river, grocery store, kailash singh, ritual dip

12 cops killed in Naxal strike

Naxalite guerillas on Monday ambushed a police party and killed 12 cops and a civilian in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district, around 150 km from Raipur. Another 12 policemen were injured.

This is the first Naxal attack in Dhamtari and has taken the state police by surprise.

According to A.N. Upadhyaya, IG, Bastar Range, about 150 heavily armed Naxalites triggered landmine blasts on the route of the three-vehicle convoy that was carrying 41 policemen. They then opened fire from the nearby RisgaonMandgiri hillocks, killing 12 security personnel.

Seven seriously wounded policemen were airlifted to Raipur and admitted to a private nursing home.

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Labels: chhattisgarh, cops killed in chhattisgarh, first naxal attack in dhamtari, landmine blasts, naxalite, opened fire, raipur

381 civilians killed in Lankan offensive

Three days before Tamil Nadu goes to the polls, at least 381 Tamil civilians were killed and more than 1,100 injured in alleged indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan army (SLA) inside the no fire zone (NFZ) on Saturday night.

The SLA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are said to be locked in a pitched battle in a 3 sq km sliver of land in Mullaitivu.

Officials and doctors functioning inside the NFZ told HT over telephone that they could see bodies strewn across when the smoke cleared.

According to the pro-rebel website, TamilNet, 67 children were among the dead.

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Labels: lankan offensive, no fire zone, pro ltte website, sla and ltte, sliver of land, sri lankan army, tamil civilians killed, Tamil Nadu

In second year of quotas for backward groups, campuses struggle to cope

Finding enough water, electricity and hostel rooms are the issues troubling VK. Jain, registrar of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University as he tries to find place for the 300 new students from other backward communities (OBCs).

"We have built a new hostel, which should be opened this academic session," said Jain, whose campus has about 5,500 students. "But that will still keep more than 1,000 students on the waiting list." He'll also need 95 new teachers, and is planning new buildings for each of JNU's 14 departments.

As some of India's most well known educational institutions enter the second academic year since the Supreme Court upheld 27 per cent reservation for students from OBCs in centrally-aided institutions, campuses am still struggling to provide for the flood of students.

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Labels: academic session, delhi jawaharlal nehru university, delhi medical students protest, educational institutions, other backward communities, reservation for students, second academic year

The fall and fall of Kolkata knights

Given a choice, Shah Rukh would change the script. He did everything right to grab eyeballs and generate hype around his Kolkata Knight Riders.

Beyond that, everything that had to go wrong, did. Maybe that's why he's said on his blog: "The way to victory does not lie in how hard you can hit; but how hard you can take the hit." What went wrong with this multi-starred venture featuring one of the biggest names in Bollywood, India's most successful captain and the coach with the most enviable CV in internationa1 cricket?

That its players have become non-performing assets is clear - look no further than the catches dropped in the last two matches. "What can a coach or captain do if the team drops so many catches?" asked team CEO Joy Bhattacharya.

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Labels: biggest names in bollywood, ipl 2, ipl cricket players, Kolkata Knight Riders, kolkata knights players, non performing assets, shah rukh khan team, South Africa

On a pleasure trip with Hindustan Time’s Power Couples

In our starry-eyed nation, the power wielded by Bollywood’s stars is indisputable. It is evident not just in people aspiring to live like the stars and rake in crores, but also in how even the most seemingly insignificant aspects of an actor’s life influence millions.

In a celebration of this power, Hindustan Times kicks off HT Power Couples, a series that takes you into the homes of five of the most powerful couples in Bollywood.

They’ve been chosen after months of interactions with HT readers as well as analysts on the basis of career graphs, popularity brand , value, style quotients and the influence that they wield.

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Labels: akshay kumar and twinkle khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, bollywood actor, Hindustan Times, ht most powerful couples, Jaya Bachchan, saif Ali Khan and kareena kapoor, srk and gauri khan

India blamed as Nepal Prime Minister quits, Maoists take to streets

Nepal's first Maoist prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, announced his resignation on Monday in a televised address, sending shock waves through the nation and raising questions about peace and stability in the country .

Prachanda’s resignation came after two allies of his coalition government pulled out, following a long quarrel over the sacking of the army chief, leaving the government under the cloud of a no-trust vote in parliament and likely defeat.

The 55-year-old blamed political parties — the opposition as well as his own allies — and “foreign powers” for the lack of progress made by his eight month-old government.

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Labels: india blamed as nepal pm, Nepal, nepal first maoist prime minister, nepal government, nepal internal matter, prachanda quits, prachanda resignation, puspha kamal dahal prachanda

India joins race for land in Africa, China way ahead

After years of competing for overseas oil and mines to fuel their still-growing economies, India and China are silently scouring the world for their next great need: farmland to grow food.

The destination: Africa, where economies are poor and land is cheap.

Buying farmland abroad is not new, but it has gained urgency after a worldwide spike in food prices through 2007 and 2008.

So, more than a dozen companies from India, backed by the government, invested about $2 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) in leasing land and installing plants in Ethiopia last year to produce sugar, tea and several other crops.

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Labels: africa, china, ethiopia, farmland, farmland to grow food, food prices, India, leasing land and installing plants, verseas oil and mines

Hindustan Times

Friday, May 29, 2009

Another Indian student attacked in Australia

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Terror comes home to Inter Services Intelligence

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

‘He is a third-rate president’

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Cyclone Aila kills 31 in Bengal, Army helps with rescue

Monday, May 25, 2009

Indian Air Force drops Russia from 1 billion dollar deal

Friday, May 22, 2009

2 held for corporate blackmail

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Indonesian air force plane crash kills 98

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Business chokes as ‘Lifeline of Delhi’ sabotaged

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sensex soars to 14k on buying frenzy

Monday, May 18, 2009

Kuwait elects its first women parliamentarians

Friday, May 15, 2009

Olympic winner’s dad held for fraud

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Coral Triangle at risk from climate change

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

This man hasn’t taken a bath in 35 years

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

12 cops killed in Naxal strike

Monday, May 11, 2009

381 civilians killed in Lankan offensive

Friday, May 8, 2009

In second year of quotas for backward groups, campuses struggle to cope

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The fall and fall of Kolkata knights

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

On a pleasure trip with Hindustan Time’s Power Couples

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

India blamed as Nepal Prime Minister quits, Maoists take to streets

Monday, May 4, 2009

India joins race for land in Africa, China way ahead

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