Discordant notes

Violence marred the shooting of the Marathi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa when disgruntled junior artistes vandalised the show’s sets on Tuesday night

It was a musical evening gone horribly wrong. The shooting of the Marathi edition of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee) on Tuesday night was disturbed when a group of around 25 disgruntled junior artistes created havoc on the sets, breaking doors, cars and even assaulting three studio employees, one of whom was seriously hurt.

The trouble apparently started when a junior artiste association demanded that the audience should comprise entirely of their employees and asked the producers not to bring in any viewer audience. When the producers didn’t heed to their demand, they went on a rampage during the recording of the show, destroying property, breaking doors and even stoning host Pallavi Joshi’s car.

“We have a section of ‘paid audience’. These are usually taken from the junior artiste associations, but these guys were demanding that the entire audience be a ‘paid audience’. That is not possible since we have a lot of viewers who want to be part of the show. When we declined, they created a ruckus Business Head, Zee Marathi, Ajay Bhalwankar, said.

While three employees of Famous Studio (the location of the shoot) were hurt, one of them suffered head injuries. A police complaint was lodged and around 20 of the offenders were immediately arrested, sources said.

The recording will continue today under police protection.

News Source : Samachar

Campbell undergoes emergency surgery

aomi Campbell has been admitted to a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the removal of a small cyst. The British supermodel’s London representative said, “Naomi Campbell was admitted to hospital to have a small cyst removed.

Following the successful procedure, she is now resting and is looking forward to getting back to work. She would like to thank he doctors who have kindly looked after her.”

Campbell, 37, who often visits the South American country, reportedly underwent an emergency abdominal surgery. Gynecologist Jose Aristodemo Pinotti said, “I cannot reveal what Naomi had, nor how serious her condition was, but I can say I operated on her yesterday and that she is completely cured.”

News Source : Samachar

Whoopi Goldberg accepts Oscar apology

Whoopi Goldberg has accepted an apology from producer Gil Cates for not including her in a montage featuring Oscar hosts during Sunday's Academy Awards telecast. Cates called her Tuesday and "talked about the fact that he had made an oversight, pure and simple.

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He said, `You know I love you,'" Goldberg said Wednesday on ABC daytime talk show "The View."

Goldberg, who called Cates a "great gentleman," accepted his apology.

She said she has "moved on" since choking up on Monday's show when her fellow co-hosts discussed how she was left out of the clip.

The 52-year-old actress-comedian hosted the Oscars in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002.

News Source : Samachar

Belly good move

Even a perfectionist like Aamir Khan couldn't resist the charm of the new rage Ranbir Kapoor.

Aamir might have his share of disagreements with Sanjay Leela Bhansali over his film Black but he definitely seems impressed with Bhansali's discovery Ranbir Kapoor ,who Bhansali launched in Saawariya.

Aamir is all set to sign Ranbir for his next venture Delhi Belly which will be directed by Swedish director Robert Nylund and will be made in English.

Our source reveals, “Aamir was very keen to sign Ranbir for Delhi Belly and spoke to him. The director Robert has already met him and Ranbir has loved the script. He has given his go-ahead for the film and will be signing the film soon.”

The source further says, “Aamir Khan will not be starring in the film which is an action comedy, set in the backdrop of Delhi.

Although initially Aamir was very keen to play the role of a character called Nitin in the film, later he excused himself from the film as he plans to go on a vacation with son Junaid and daughter Aira after completing the shooting of Ghajani.”

The film is set to go on the floors in a couple of months and a substantial part of the cast and crew will be imported from Hollywood for it.

News Source : Samachar

‘The Monster’ of the seas

Scientists have claimed that a fossilised sea monster discovered on an Arctic island is the largest marine reptile known to science till date, measuring about 50 feet long.

Nicknamed ‘The Monster’, the 150 million-year-old leviathan from the Jurassic era was found 1,300 km from the North Pole, on Spitspergen in the Arctic island chain of Svalbard by Norwegian scientists two years ago.

According to expedition team leader Dr Jorn Hurum of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, the Svalbard specimen is about 20 per cent larger than the previous biggest marine reptile – a massive pliosaur from Australia.

“We have carried out a search of the literature, so we now know that we have the biggest (pliosaur),” said Dr Hurum. “It’s not just arm-waving anymore.”

“The flipper is three metres long with very few parts missing. We have assembled all the bones in our basement and we amazed ourselves – we had never seen it together before,” he added.

Pliosaurs were a short-necked form of plesiosaur, a group of extinct reptiles that lived in the world’s oceans during the age of the dinosaurs.

A pliosaur’s body was teardrop-shaped with two sets of powerful flippers that it used to “fly” or propel itself through the water.

The scientists had to remove tonnes of rock by hand in high winds, fog, rain, freezing temperatures and with the constant threat of attack by polar bears to excavate ‘The Monster’ in 2007, a year after it’s discovery.

The team had recovered the animal’s snout, some teeth, much of the neck and back, the shoulder girdle and a nearly complete flipper.

“The analysis suggests this beast belongs to a previously unknown species. It’s a large one, and has the same bone structure as the previous one we found,” said co-researcher Espen Knutsen.
The team have now identified a total of 40 marine reptiles from Svalbard. The haul includes many long-necked plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs in addition to this pliosaur.

News Source : Samachar

Apple affirms iPhone target

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) affirmed on Wednesday its iPhone sales goal for this year and said it will give details next week of how outside programmers can create software for its iPhone, a move expected to spur demand for the multifunction device.

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Apple's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, speaking at a Goldman Sachs investment conference, said he had "really good confidence" the company could hit its oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.

Apple shares rose 3.7 percent in extended trading, building on a 3.2 percent increase to $122.96 in the regular Nasdaq session. The stock has fallen 30 percent in the past three months on concerns a slowing economy could hit sales of its Mac computers, iPods and iPhones.

Apple also said it will unveil new iPhone features aimed at businesses, potentially stepping up competition with Research In Motion Ltd's (RIM.TO) popular Blackberry devices.

Apple will detail the software road map for the iPhone on March 6 at its Cupertino, California headquarters, the company said in an invitation sent to reporters.

When Apple launched the iPhone last June, it only allowed outside software developers to make Web-based programs, not ones that could be installed and run on the device itself.

The policy sparked an outcry among developers, who quickly found ways to crack Apple's restrictions and offer unauthorized programs. Within months, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs backtracked and promised to open the phone up to outside software.

"Apple has understood the importance of local applications and they are responding to that, and it will help them sell more iPhones," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst of Creative Strategies.

"It should release a plethora of creative applications and it will make the iPhone much more practical as a mobile applications tool," Bajarin said.

"UNLOCKING" CONCERN

Analysts have expressed concern in recent weeks over iPhone sales and the practice of "unlocking" them to run on networks other than that of AT&T Inc (T.N), the exclusive U.S. carrier.

Bernstein Research last month estimated that more than a quarter of iPhones were "unlocked," pressuring Apple's business model since the company does not collect a portion of carrier fees from those users.

Cracking down on unlocked phones could scare some users away and cause Apple to miss its sales target for the device, whereas allowing them could erode profitability and make it tough to sign more carriers to similar revenue-sharing deals, Bernstein said.

Apple also gave no hint of what enterprise features would be unveiled, but many professional users have clamored for "push e-mail" that sends full messages from a corporate mail network to the phone.

That is how Research In Motion's Blackberry devices work, but iPhone users must manually pull the messages down from their accounts.

"Apple has acknowledged that there has been great interest in the enterprise community for the iPhone," Bajarin said. "There's no question it has great potential in enterprise given the right application."

News Source : Samachar

Kalam lays out 'World Space Vision 2050' in Israel

Seeking the creation of a 'World Space Council' to carry out tasks like large-scale societal missions and low-cost access to space, former President APJ Abdul Kalam on Wednesday asked space-capable countries to pool their resources and technical capabilities to tap the potential for the common benefit of the mankind.

"Aerospace science and technology has been cradle for a number of innovations. It has brought a culture of a number of disciplines working together to achieve state of the art systems. It has connected people from remotest parts of the world," Kalam, the keynote speaker at Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences here, told the audience while laying out his 'World Space Vision 2050'.

However, he also cautioned that the dreams of aerospace research have created a mindset of "competitiveness and possessiveness" that has led to the underutilisation of its potential.

Emphasising on cooperation at the global level, the renowned scientist said, "standing alone has caused certain feelings of insecurity and suspicion".

"The goal should be utilisation of space technology to improve the quality of life. The concept should be space for six billion people.

More the stakeholders, the safer the system is," he emphasised.

In order to make space technology a thing for the common good of the makind, he suggested creation of a "World Space Council" which could oversee the planing and implementation of exploration, space, security and societal missions.

"Such a unified approach will enable the world to see a quantum jump in the progress in space science and technology for the benefit of all the nations of the world," the former President said.

Kalam stressed that the three major goals of such "World Space Council" should be carrying out large-scale societal missions and low cost access to space, achieving comprehensive space security and space exploration and current application missions.

Pointing towards the large number of satellites in the geosynchronous orbit leading to a clutter, he emphasised on the need for immediate steps to enhance cooperation between the space faring nations.

As a first step towards achieving these goals, he suggested the Israel and Indian aerospace agencies consider establishing a world knowledge platform to enable joint design, development, cost-effective production and marketing of the aerospace systems and products.

"India and Israel should consider investing in equitable proportion to the tune of $ one billion for implementing certain selected missions based on the mutual core competence," Kalam said.

A spokesman for the organisers of the conference told PTI "Kalam has been invited as the keynote speaker at the conference in view of the reputation he commands in aerospace sciences and for his contribution in strengthening Indo-Israel cooperation".

The former President also addressed the students and the faculty at Tel Aviv university in a science and technology workshop on 'Nation Empowerment and Space".

News Source : Samachar

India beat New Zealand, enter U-19 World Cup final

Champions in 2000, India overcame a mini collapse to beat New Zealand by three wickets in a rain-affected semi-final to enter the final of the Under-19 World Cup cricket here on Wednesday.

Needing 191 to win off 43 overs, following rains soon after the start of their chase, India lost four wickets for 33 runs. They eventually won with nine balls to spare after the target was adjusted as per Duckworth-Lewis method for truncated matches.

India's opponent in the final will be the winner of the Friday semi-final between Pakistan and South Africa.

New Zealand scored 205 for eight in 50 overs, with Corey J. Anderson the top scorer with 70 off just 68 balls (6x4s, 4x6s). Captain Virat Kohli, Siddarth Kaul and Tanmay Srivastava took two wickets each.

India, riding on Shreevats Goswami's 51 (76 balls, 5x4s) - the only half-century of the innings - and Kohli's 43 (53 balls, 5x4s), finished at 191 for seven in 47.1 overs. Fast bowler Tim Southee's four-wicket haul went waste.

Saurabh Tiwary remained unbeaten on 29 and Pradeep Sangwan on five.

Kohli was adjudged the Man of the Match for his all-round performance. He also bowled tightly and took two wickets.

India were cursing along nicely when suddenly the middle order batsmen lost way and four wickets fell at quick intervals, worrying coach Dav Whatmore.

India were coolly placed at 150 for three - thanks largely to an 84-run partnership for the third wicket between Goswami and Virat Kohli - when they collapsed to 183 for seven.

But left-handed Tiwary kept his cool and helped India reach the final for the third time in eight years.

Earlier, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat.

New Zealand had a disastrous start as they lost their first two wickets cheaply. But a 57-run stand for the third wicket between Williamson and Fraser Colson steadied the ship.

Two other good partnerships helped the Kiwis to put up a fighting total. Tim Southee Corey Anderson raised 47 for the fifth wicket. Anderson and Michael Bracewell added 58 for the seventh wicket.

Most of the seven Indian bowlers performed well though some of them did not get many wickets. Pacer Ajitesh Argal was the most economical as he conceded 13 runs in six overs and took one wicket. Ravindra Jadeja gave away 21 in six overs and bagged one scalp.

India had defeated Sri Lanka in the final to win their first under-19 World Cup in Colombo in 2000. In 2006, India again reached the final but this time they lost to Pakistan, again in Colombo.

News Source : Samachar

BJP warns of protests on DU textbook issue

BJP on Wednesday warned of countrywide protest if Delhi University failed to remove the "atrocious" remarks against Lord Ram in its history text books.

"The remarks against Lord Ram in books taught in Delhi University are atrocious and obnoxious. They should be scrapped or else we will resort to nationwide protests on the issue," party spokesperson V K Malhotra said at a press conference here.

Several members of ABVP, student organisation of the BJP, were arrested by police on Tuesday for their violent protest at the university campus on the issue.

"The stories by Ramanujan taught in the history subject in the university is compiled by none other than the daughter of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dr Upendra Singh. She should disassociate herself from such a compilation," the saffron party demanded.

The party would call on Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who is also the Chancellor of the central university, to press their demand, he said.

BJP is also planning to meet President Pratibha Patil on the issue, Malhotra added.

On being asked if the party was changing stands by opposing the textbook after supporting Taslima Nasreen on her controversial writings, he said, "that was a case of book, here it is a text which is taught to children."

News Source : Samachar

Sagarika will spark arms race: Pakistan

India’s underwater test-firing of a new missile would spark an arms race in the region, but Pakistan would endeavour to ensure that it did not have any adverse impact on the region, Navy chief Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir said in Karachi on Wednesday.

He was responding to a question from a journalist on the test-firing of Sagarika, a nuclear-capable missile fired from underwater.

“A serious issue”

“Well, my reaction is that this is going to start a new arms race in the region. We are aware of these developments and these developments are taking place with a view to putting nuclear weapons at sea and it is a very, very serious issue.” The official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Admiral Tahir as having said “the impact of this on the regional situation will be looked into and our best efforts would be that it has no adverse effect in the region.”

News Source : Samachar

Power Grid Corp (Rs 108.40): Buy

We recommend a buy in Power Grid Corporation of India from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts of the company that the stock has been on an intermediate-term downtrend from its 52-week high of Rs 167 marked on November 19, 2007. However, the stock found support at around Rs 95 recently and bounced off. The positive divergence in the daily momentum indicator supports the stock’s recent bounce.

Following this, the stock breached the medium-term down trendline, which is drawn from the January peak of Rs 155.

On February 27, the stock gained momentum by surging more then 5 per cent on good volume. The stock is currently trading well above the 21-day moving average. The daily momentum indicator is rising in the neutral region towards the bullish territory. Our short-term outlook for the stock is bullish and we expect the stock to move up to our target price level of Rs 123 in the upcoming days. Investors with a short-term perspective can buy the stock while keeping the stop loss at Rs 99.

News Source : Samachar

Gold peaks on weak US currency

Prices of precious metals continued to scale to new highs in the international market, tracking which the domestic market zoomed to record prices.

Gold in the London spot market marked a high of $965.70 an ounce on Wednesday.

While gold in the domestic market was quoted at Rs 12,345 per 10 gm.

Silver which zoomed past to $ 19.51/oz up on Wednesday in the international market boosted the local prices to a record Rs 23,765 per kg. In a lighter vein, a bank official said: “Thank God, we don’t sell silver, as we would not have been able to sell at such high prices.”

“Fear (concerning the US economy) leading to investment is driving gold at the moment, and lower interest rates also help,” said Mr Paul Walker, CEO of GFMS, a London-based precious metals consultancy.

Poor economic data coming from the US and the weakening dollar is supporting the rally in the gold prices, said a bank official.

Dollar weakened below $1.50 per euro for the first time. There has been speculation that the US Federal Reserve will indicate that it is ready to cut interest rates from a three-year low, an analyst said.

The dollar also dropped against 15 of the 16 most-active currencies today. It reached a 23-year low against the New Zealand dollar while it fell the most against Taiwan’s dollar and South Africa’s rand as investors bought higher-yielding currencies, he added.

News Source : Samachar

13 crushed to death by train in Surat

At least 13 people were crushed to death under a train in Udhna district on Wednesday night, Railway police said.

Bodies of victims, including two women and two children, were spotted besides the track by a driver of another train, they said.

The driver of train 'Flying Rani', which runs between Surat and Mumbai, immediately informed the authorities of the incident, Railway Police Inspector H M Patel said.

Investigations were on to determine the circumstances under which the accident took place, he added.

News Source : Samachar

Who cares about the Budget?

The longest session of India’s Parliament is traditionally the Budget session, which underlines the importance of the business of getting the legislature to scrutinise the Budget.

In reality, however, Lok Sabha in recent years has spent less and less time discussing the Budget — in fact, it spends much more time interrupting the session.

The result is that year after year an overwhelming majority of the government’s expenditure plans — the demands for grants of the various ministries and governments — have been passed by Lok Sabha with no discussion on them in the House.

The practice of applying the "guillotine" — under which all demands outstanding when the allotted time for discussion is over are put to vote without discussion — is now applied to most ministries.

Information available on the Lok Sabha website shows that in a typical year, the House manages to discuss the spending proposals of at best three or four of the 50-odd ministries. There have even been certain years — two years, to be precise — when the demands for grants of all ministries have been guillotined.

It is true that standing committees go into the demands for grants of each and every ministry and prepare reports on them during the mid-session recess, but that is obviously no substitute for the House itself debating the proposals.

The data in the accompanying graphic is collated from the "resume of work" put out on the Lok Sabha website for each session.

News Source : Samachar

Suchitra Sen's condition stable

The condition of legendary Bengali film actress of yesteryears Suchitra Sen, who was admitted to a city nursing home with fever and chest infection, was on Wednesday stable, a doctor attending on her said.

''She has complaints of breathlessness due to chest infection'', Bellview Nursing Home administrator Dr P Tandon said.

''But other than that, she is fine and stable,'' Tandon said adding there was no other complication.

However, 76-year-old Sen would be kept under observation in intensive care unit of the nursing home for 72 hours, he said.

The reclusive actress was admitted to the nursing home on Monday night.

As Sen has not come out of her private world ever since she quit acting decades back and guards her privacy zealously, the nursing home kept the news of her illness and admission a under a wrap.

This is the second time she has been admitted to a nursing home within six months.

Sen, who featured in on-screen romantic partnerships with late Bengali megastar Uttam Kumar from the 1950s to the 70s, had been admitted to the same nursing home in the second week of October last.

News Source : Samachar

Reliance Fresh aims to become end-to-end food retailer

Mumbai, Feb. 27 After spinning off Reliance Fresh as an independent company, Reliance Industries is planning to make its foods vertical an end-to-end business with a fresh impetus on all its categories ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to having its own FMCG brands for general trade.

Speaking to Business Line, a senior official from Reliance Fresh said, “We will continue to have fruits and vegetables as one of our categories in spite of the protests in several States and our business will be extended beyond retail to having our own FMCG brands for general trade.”

In the recent past, Reliance Fresh has introduced its own brand, in categories such as milk and ghee. “There is tremendous size and opportunity in the foods business as most of the players are still small in size except, perhaps, Amul. We have been in the FMCG business with Dairy Pure for the past four-five months and see huge opportunity for growth in this area.” In the foods business, the retailer has consciously segregated its vegetarian and non-vegetarian items by having a separate brand of stores under Delight for the latter. “We understand the sensitivities of our customers and have kept the non-vegetarian and vegetarian businesses separate. There is a separate distribution centre and staff to cater to the non-vegetarian stores and now we are poised to open our first Delight store in Thane in Maharashtra,” said the Reliance official. There are 15 Delight stores already operational in Chennai and Delhi.

M&S speculation

On the recent report of a proposed joint venture with M&S (Marks & Spencer), the Reliance official said, “There are all kinds of speculation which we would not like to comment on.” However, market sources indicated that Reliance Industries is in talks with M&S and an announcement may be on the anvil.

According to sources close to the company, “M&S has not exactly done well in the foods business and it is but natural for it to tie with a giant like Reliance to enter the food retailing business. However, it cannot form a joint venture as the retail laws do not allow it. It has to be a franchise agreement and not necessarily a joint venture.”

News Source : Samachar

Tender deadline for fighters extended

The government on Wednesday extended by eight weeks the deadline for opening bids for the multibillion-dollar tender for purchasing 126 fighter aircraft.

No reason was given for the decision, though the Indian Air Force is facing a serious depletion of its force levels. The selection process for the deal is largely in the hands of the civilian bureaucracy.

The original deadline was March 3. Some sources suggested that it was extended at the urging of some of the competitors.

Under the contract, estimated at Rs. 42,000 crore, India would buy 18 fighters in a readymade condition and assemble the remaining 108 domestically.

In contention

Six companies — Lockheed Martin and Boeing (both from the U.S.), Gripen from Sweden, Rafale from Dassault, Eurofighter of the EADS and Russian MiG MAPO — are in contention.

News Source : Samachar

Aussies jittery of losing crown: Bhajji

Harbhajan Singh reckons that Matthew Hayden's stinging verbal attack at him stems from the frustration of realising that the Australians were "no longer the undisputed champions" and that India was the only team giving them a run for their money.

"Maybe, they realise that they no longer are the undisputed champions of the world. Maybe, they feel the crown is slipping. Otherwise, why a cricket veteran would ask a 19-year-old (Ishant Sharma) to join him in a ring?" he said in reaction to the latest provocation by Hayden.

Hayden called Harbhajan an "obnoxious little weed" and invited Ishant Sharma "into a ring" to sort out issues in an interview to 'Brisbane Radio' on Tuesday.

He also had a frontal attack on Harbhajan saying "his record speaks for itself in cricket... that's why he has been charged more than anyone else who's ever played in the history of cricket..."

Harbhajan, who seemed to have read the personal attack by Hayden in entirety, said he preferred to keep himself in control instead of enjoining the matter with the belligerent Aussie opener.

"I don't want it to be a slang match," Harbhajan said adding that he didn't want to open a Pandora's box for a lot that the Australians have said this summer would then come tumbling out.

"But you only need to speak to international cricketers and international teams to know in what opinion they hold Hayden," he said looking at the broadside as just "one more instance of what our hosts have been up to all this summer.

The visiting Indian team feels all along they have been "provoked" by the Australians and a written complaint with the match referee Jeff Crowe after the Sydney game earlier this week was in response to it.

Harbhajan was also surprised at the Australian opener's statement, which said that Indians were complaining "because they are losing every game they are playing".

"Really, you think so? I would have thought we are the only ones who have got the Australians on the run this summer," he said.

Cricket Australia (CA) held an emergency meeting in Melbourne this morning to discuss if Hayden had breached rules as the Board has the authority to stop its contracted player from commenting on television, radio or print if it feels that it is not in good taste about an opposition players or Board.

The word from CA on its meeting though is awaited.

Besides Hayden getting embroiled with Harbhajan and Ishant, there was another specific incident of Ricky Ponting having a go at Harbhajan during the game between the two teams in Adelaide on February 17.

Apparently, Ponting kept having a go at Harbhajan in Adelaide, asking him "to show what he had got" in the middle.

Harbhajan, on his part, had then cheekily remarked: "Mate, whatever I have shown in the middle has been better than yours' in the series so far."

It appeared to have stung the Australian captain who asked Harbhajan to "**** off" after the latter was dismissed.

A departing Harbhajan, on hearing so, stopped and turned round only to see Ponting disappear among celebrating Aussies.

"They do it so well," Harbhajan said grudgingly "they keep the back to you when they have something nasty to say to the opponent."

News Source : Samachar

Bangalore hub of techie-terror network

Bangalore appears to have turned into a hub of radical techies.

Under the banner of Muslim Information Technology Professionals’ Association, these techies in the city are said to be networking and aiding radical groups.

With members across the country, the network is concentrated in Bangalore.

Intelligence officials and police had information about the existence of this network but did not have any proof to act upon. Meanwhile, they kept surveillance.

Now, arrested terror suspect Yahya Iyash Kamkutty, a BTech who was a former employee of GE, has revealed details about the activities of MITA. He has told terror investigators that he was also a member of the network and had attended its meetings.

He has also revealed the name of another active member of MITA, K M Shariff. Police are looking for Shariff.

Under the banner of discussing ways to improve the lot of Muslim youths, the group used to meet once a week or fortnight at various places, like hotels or halls.

Yahya told police that MITA members had met a number of times on M G Road, Bangalore’s main business district, and once at Darus Salam on Queen’s road. The meeting expenses were shared by the members.

MITA is said to have several members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India.

Cops investigating the terror network in Karnataka suspect the group was providing logistic support like crucial data and financial support to SIMI and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

MITA’s existence was detected during surveillance after an incident in 2006.

In January 2006, immediately after the attack on IISc on December 28, 2005, four young men were found photographing a software company office.

Security guards there spotted the four and when they tried to question them, the youths escaped in a car.

However, security personnel had noted down the vehicle number.

News Source : Samachar

Prolific Tamil writer Sujatha passes away

Sujatha, one of the most prolific writers of contemporary Tamil literature, passed away in a private hospital here late Wednesday after a brief illness. He was 72.

S. Rangarajan, who wrote under the pen name, Sujatha, was known for his versatility in writing. He had a way with words, whether it meant writing short stories, science fiction, plays, pieces on history or screenplay for films.

He played a significant role in taking information on trends in science and technology to the common man through his simple articles.

An engineer, Sujatha was instrumental in designing and producing the Electronic Voting Machine when he was working with Bharat Electronics.

His columns for Tamil weeklies such as Ananda Vikadan, Kumudam and Kalki were widely read and fetched him numerous fans in all age groups. He had drawn thousands of youngsters to Tamil literature with his lucid and engaging style.

Born at Triplicane, Chennai, Sujatha had an exciting childhood at Srirangam, near Tiruchi, where he grew up under the care of his paternal grandmother.

After his schooling at the Boys High School, Srirangam, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in physics at St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchi, where he and former president Abdul Kalam were classmates.

He then did his engineering in electronics at the Madras Institute of Technology.

Many of his pieces reflected his academic background, especially those of the science fiction genre.

All the same, his writing was very accessible to all kinds of readers.

Playwright Crazy Mohan, who visited the writer recently, said, “He is one of the most multi-faceted writers in Tamil. His writing was terrific, consistent and extremely informative. He could write just about anything with amazing ease. Sujatha was certainly a genius.”

News Source : Samachar

Demonstrations against Jodhaa Akbar: 40 hurt in Sangli

Demonstrations against the screening of Jodhaa Akbar at a cinema in Sangli turned violent on Thursday as nearly 40 people received minor injuries when police baton charged them leading to pelting of stones at state transport buses by the mob.

According to the demonstrators, the police action was "without any provocation".

The incident followed the protest staged by Shivpratisthan and other saffron groups in front of the cinema hall. The theatre owner complied with the demand to close the show and also removed the posters of the film, which the demonstrators alleged, has hurt sentiments of Rajputs.

Trouble, however, started when the protestors later gathered in front of the Shivaji statue in the city to hold a rally, leading to the baton charge.

The mob then swelled in numbers and indulged in widespread stone throwing at state transport buses.

Police, who have detained eight persons, described the situation to be under control.

News Source : Samachar

China claims about 90,000 km of Indian territory: Mukherjee

China illegally claims approximately 90,000 square kilometres of Indian territory including Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday.

"Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and the government has conveyed this fact to the Chinese side," Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

In reply to another query, he said China disputes the international boundary with India. Since 1993, the two governments have agreed to maintain peace and tranquility along the line of actual control (LAC) in the India-China and border areas, without prejudice to their respective positions on the alignment of the LAC as well as on the boundary question, he said.

Mukherjee said both sides have agreed to clarify the LAC and to take up perceived violations through established mechanisms including the Joint Working Group, the Expert Group, border personnel meetings, flag meetings and diplomatic channels.

Kaladan: The Kaladan multi-modal transit transport facility providing connectivity between Indian ports on the eastern seaboard and the Sittwe port in Myanmar will be completed in five years from its date of commencement, Mukherjee said in reply to a separate question.

Work on the project will begin after the Agreement and protocols are signed by India and Myanmar, he said.

The project will provide an alternate route for transport of goods to north-east India through Myanmar, Mukherjee said.

News Source : Samachar

Interpol tightlipped on Dawood Ibrahim

It seems that even the Interpol is helpless when it comes to the fugitive Don Dawood Ibrahim.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, the Interpol chief Ronald Nobel said there is little they can do.

Mafia boss Dawood Ibrahim is a man wanted by India for 15 years. A tug of war between Interpol, the world's premier intelligence agency and Pakistan, where the fugitive gangster allegedly enjoys sanctuary.

It is a standoff that boils down to Dawood's Karachi residence.

In a special notice issued in April 2006, Dawood's address listed on the Interpol website was Karachi. And though Pakistan has asked the agency to delete the address, Interpol clearly hasn't.

Instead, Interpol chief Ronald Nobel throws the ball back in Pakistan's court.

''If sovereign countries like this do something, this man would have been caught,'' said Ronald Nobel, Secretary-General, Interpol.

Till date, three notices issued by Interpol against Dawood, the first a red corner notice issued after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and later, in 2003, the US labelled Dawood as a global terrorist. And then came the above mentioned special notice in April 2003, with the contentious address.

With even with the global intelligence agency looking helpless against the likes of Dawood, it will be a long wait to see the home-grown Don return home.

News Source : Samachar

Pakistan’s Big Three stand united

Three victorious parties of the February 18 election in Pakistan that claim a near-two-thirds majority in the newly elected National Assembly met on Wednesday for a power lunch intended to give a signal to President Pervez Musharraf that nothing can stop them from forming the country’s next government.

It was a historic and unprecedented show of strength and unity by the country’s largest democratic parties. More than 170 members-elect of the new Parliament representing the Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Awami National Party were in attendance along with the top leadership of the three parties.

As the big three — PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, PML (N) leader Nawaz Sharif and the ANP’s Asfandyar Wali Khan — and their close aides, including the likely new Prime Minister, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, held hands for the cameras and ate together at the head table, the talk was all about “collective responsibility” towards the nation.

Mr. Zardari said the parties that had been given the mandate in the election had a “joint responsibility” to set Pakistan right.

“For 40 years, the establishment has been trying to tarnish politicians. It is time we stand united and, once and for all, get rid of this establishment and change the system,” he said. Mr. Khan also spoke of the “collective responsibility” of the political parties to the nation.

For his part, in a strident speech, Mr. Sharif reiterated his party’s position on the reinstatement of the pre-November 3 judiciary, the restoration of the 1973 Constitution, and restricting the Pakistan Army to its constitutional role.

While he did not make any reference to the PML (N)’s plan of staying out of the government, he promised to ensure that all the democratic parties would stay together to fulfil this agenda.

Claiming that together they had a near two-thirds majority present in the room, Mr. Sharif said the winners were not prepared to wait “even for a single more day” for the National Assembly to convene, and demanded that the retired General Musharraf summon Parliament “as soon as” the Election Commission notified the results.

The Election Commission has 14 days from the date of the election to notify the results.

The day’s other important development was the government dropping all corruption cases against Mr. Zardari, minutes after the Supreme Court lifted the stay on operationalising the October 2007 National Reconciliation Ordinance, part of an agreement between General Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto for amnesty from the charges against her and her husband.

News Source : Samachar