Prime Minister warns Pak on terror

Hinting at external links to the terror attacks in Mumbai, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, warned that India would not tolerate the use of the territory of neighbouring countries to carry out such attacks on India.

In tough message, while cautioning neighbouring countries of the “cost” they will have to pay, Dr Singh said India would not only take up the issue strongly with them, they would be told in no uncertain terms that use of their territories “for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated.”

“It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, based outside the country, had come with the single-minded determination to create havoc in the commercial capital of the country,” Dr Singh said.

He said the “well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high-profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners”.

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Ravi Teja, Seeya stuck in Bangkok

Crew of the Telugu film Nenu Inthe (I’m like this only) including actors Ravi Teja and Seeya and director Puri Jagannath was stuck in Bangkok, where protestors have taken over the international airport.

The crew had gone to Bangkok on November 22 to shoot a song and was to return on Wednesday.

There were reports earlier that the crew had been attacked. It was later confirmed that the crew had escaped and everyone was safe.

“As they reached the airport to take the flight back to the city, there was unrest at the airport. So went to a hotel nearby,” said Mr S Ravi, spokesperson and manager for the film.

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Andhra Pradesh road shows banned

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday imposed a temporary ban on road shows by political parties stating that they were causing much inconvenience to people.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice R. Subhash Reddy directed the police not to allow any party to conduct road shows till further orders.

The bench gave this order while dealing with a petition filed by Mr Narendra Sarma, general secretary of Abhipraay, an NGO, seeking a ban on road shows. Before passing the orders, the bench sought the opinion of the Advocate General, Mr C.V. Mohan Reddy, who replied that the state government did not have any objection if the court passed an interim order.

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‘Dead’ jawan alive in Pak jail

After the 1971 Indo-Pak war, he was given up as dead and awarded the Vir Chakra ‘posthumously’.

Thirty-seven years later, comes the news that Subedar Rajjab Ali is still alive and languishing in Pakistan’s Lakhpat Kot jail.

For Subedar Ali’s wife, Ms Jannatul Nishan, the news was ‘shocking’ — to put it rather mildly.

“Mehboob Ilahi, another 1971 PoW, who was released a while back, happened to meet my son Anwar, also a soldier in the Indian army and is stationed in Kolkata. Ilahi saw the photograph of Anwar’s father and recognised him. He said Ali was alive and languishing in a Pakistani jail,” said Ms Nishan, who lives in Bhoyein Kathar village of Sultanpur district.

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Ragging: The shame of campuses

Ragging continues to plague many college campuses in the state despite all attempts made by authorities to curb it.

Last week, senior students of a reputed engineering college in the city attacked juniors in the hostel with chilli powder after forcibly undressing them.

Such incidents of physical abuse and stripping have been reported from many other professional colleges in the city as well as Dundigul, Keesargutta, Vijayawada and Guntur.

However, most college managements usually prefer to hush up such incidents for fear that they would mar their reputation.

There are stringent provisions against those who indulge in ragging in the AP Prohibition of Ragging Act 1997. Cases can also be booked under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code. However, the strength of the law has not succeeded in ending the pernicious practice.

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Shah Rukh to miss Dakutship

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan will not be able to receive his Datukship, the traditional Malaysian title akin to British knighthood, on November 29 due to his busy schedule.

It is learnt that officials of Malaysia’s Malacca state, which conferred the title on the Bollywood superstar, are now trying to arrange an alternative date for the ceremony. The state Chief Minister, Mohammed Ali Rustam, said he had received information about the postponement but refused to comment on the matter. “I understand it has been postponed. For any details, you will have to ask the state secretary,” he told reporters.

Khan, who is immensely popular among Malaysians, was among 77 people conferred the darjah mulia seri melaka (DMSM) which carries the title Datuk, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Malacca’s Yang di-Pertua Negri (governor), Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob last month.

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Seal-maker, sans flame

Ever heard of flameless seal-maker? It is very much here in the state, invented by a teenager who had also been appreciated for her earlier inventions such as a high-tech toilet train.

Meet Masha Nazeem, 16year-old plus-1 student of Vidya Vikas school in Namakkal, who has invented the flameless seal maker.

Masha, who had noticed her father Kaja Nazeemudeen working with seals as sub-treasury officer in Nagercoil, felt it was time government offices gave up the 350 year-old seal making system.

Besides being a long drawn-out process, the system uses inflammable materials such as match box, sealing wax, candle and kerosene lamp.

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Michael Jackson sued by Arab monarch

The son of an Arab monarch took the “King of Pop” to court on Monday, charging that Michael Jackson took $7 million as an advance on an album and an autobiography that he never produced.

Lawyers for Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa say their client paid Jackson expenses as an advance on the book and joint recording project with the sheikh, who is an amateur songwriter. Jackson claims the money was a gift.

Al Khalifa, 33, was due to testify at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday. Jackson’s lawyer Robert Englehart said he was seeking permission to have Jackson testify by video link from Los Angeles.

A lawyer for Al Khalifa said the royal first spoke to Jackson, by telephone while the singer was on trial for his 2003 arrest on child molestation charges.

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Citi to cut 53,000 jobs

Citigroup Inc. is cutting 53,000 more jobs in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

The plans, posted on the company’s website, are being discussed by the CEO, Mr Vikram Pandit, at the company’s town hall meeting in New York on Monday with employees.

The company said total headcount is being reduced by 20 per cent from its peak of 3.75 lakh at the end of 2007, the company had already announced in October that it was eliminating about 22,000 jobs from those levels. The total workforce reductions include thousands of jobs that will be lost when Citigroup completes the sale of Citi Global Services and its German retail banking business.

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Student from Andhra Pradesh shot at

Barely two weeks after an IT professional from Andhra Pradesh was killed in the US, a student from the state was shot at by unidentified persons in the southern American state of Tennessee on Saturday.

Shashank Pulluru, 24, underwent two surgeries and his condition is stated to be out of danger.

He was fired at by an unidentified gang of African-Americans in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Pulluru was returning to his apartment, across the road from the university campus, after attending classes when he was attacked. The victim, a resident of Hanamkonda in Warangal district, is a 2nd year student of MS in management science at the Middle Tennessee State University.

Bleeding profusely, Pulluru managed to run to his apartment. His roommates, also from Andhra Pradesh, alerted the police and shifted him to Nashville Hospital where he was operated upon.

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Telangana state in 100 days: Advani

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr L.K. Advani, promised to declare statehood for Telangana within 100 days if the NDA returned to power at the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting organised as part of the Vijay Sankalp Yatra at Parade Grounds here on Thursday, Mr Advani said BJP was known for its credibility and would fulfil the dreams of the Telangana people.

“As Union home minister, I signed on the files to create Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal. I assure all Telangana people that the creation of separate state is possible only with the NDA,” he said.

Mr Advani said the separate state would have been a realty if the TD had supported the proposal during the NDA regime. He said the Praja Rajyam should also support Telangana state, but remained silent over a tie-up with the party.

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Babus get richer, earn six-digit pay

Top babus of the state had big smiles on their face this month after drawing a six figure salary for the first time.

The Chief Secretary, Mr P. Ramakanth Reddy, and the Director General of Police, Mr S.S.P. Yadav, were among those who drew more than Rs 1 lakh as salary, thanks to the hike given by the Sixth Central Pay Revision Commission.

There was a double bonanza for All India Service officers as they were also paid 40 per cent of the arrears leaving each of them richer by Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakh.

Arrears were paid in cash only to top bureaucrats while that of other employees was adjusted to the Provident Fund. The new payscale is being implemented with retrospective effect since 2006.

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Navy thwarts African pirates

In two separate incidents in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, just half an hour apart, an Indian naval attack helicopter with marine commandos on board repulsed pirates who were attempting to hijack an Indian merchant vessel and a Saudi ship.

The first incident took place at 9.58 am when about five motorboats with pirates aboard, approached a Saudi ship Tihama, which flashed a distress signal. The Indian Navy stealth frigate INS Tabar immediately dispatched a helicopter with marine commandos to its aid.

The pirates fled on noticing the helicopter. At about 10.30 am, the INS Tabar received another distress call, this time from the Indian-owned merchant vessel MV JAG Arnav (which was 25 nautical miles away). Two to three motorboats with pirates were closing in on the Indian ship to hijack it.

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Seven-year itch ends, India triumph

Amid the ear splitting blasts of trumpets and frenzied waving of the tricolour, India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a gap of seven years at the VCA Stadium here on Monday. India bowled Australia out for 209 to register a 172-run victory and with it a 2-0 series win.

It was a fitting farewell for India’s most successful Test captain, Sourav Ganguly, who played his final Test here. It was under Ganguly that India had won the trophy the last time in 2001.

New captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni handed over the reins to Ganguly in the closing stages of the match. “I did not expect Dhoni to ask me to lead the side. I managed to do it for three and told him that it’s not mine any more,” Ganguly said.

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The lure of deadly waves

The beaches in Vizag look inviting but are dangerous. A signboard on the Ramakrishna Beach warns people not to venture into the waters. Local people also caution visitors not to trust the sea. Still, hundreds of people casually ignore the warnings and get into the waters to enjoy a swim. Children, teenagers, married couples, honeymooners-the list of victims is long.

On August 21, five women came to RK Beach to have a bath in the sea after attending the ninth-day obsequies of a relative at Akkayyapalem. A powerful wave took away Kanakamahalaksmi, 32, Satyavathi, 42, and Laksmikantham, 65.

Similarly, a group of friends from a Hyderabad college came down for holidays. Just before leaving the beach, they decided to take a dip. Two of them — a boy and a girl — drowned.

Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao, son of noted actor Gollapudi Maruthi Rao, died after falling into the water near Yarada Beach.

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Nagarjuna to act for Congress

Taking the ongoing star wars in state politics to a new high, the actor Akkineni Nagarjuna is all set to support the Congress in the coming elections.

The Congress, which is looking for some glamour to take on the Nandamuri clan of the Telugu Desam and Chiranjeevi of the Praja Rajyam, received a shot in the arm with the actor acting in government-sponsored publicity films on its welfare schemes.

Sources said Nagarjuna, 49, had agreed to act in the publicity films because he was “impressed by the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s programmes and policies.” Nagarjuna completed a couple of publicity films while shooting in Bengaluru for a Telugu feature film. The ad films would be beamed on television and screened in theatres.

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Obama Beats History

The Democratic Senator, Mr Barack Obama, overcame a 400 year history of racial subordination to become the first African-American elected President of the United States as voters turned to a young, inspirational leader at a time of economic turbulence and military engagement in two wars in Asia.

Powered by a campaign organisation that raised more money than any other in US history, Mr Obama swept to victory in Tuesday’s election by promising to tend to the financial needs of the middle class, wind down the war in Iraq and step up combat against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

South Asia experts predicted US relations with India would change little with Mr Obama as President, with the possible exceptions of new tensions on global warming and nuclear weapons testing.

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City girl found dead in the United States

Arpana Jinega, 24, a software engineer from Hyderabad, was found dead in her flat in Seattle in the United States on Monday.

Her father, Dr Basvaraj C. Jinega, a professor in the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, said the family got the information in the early hours of Monday.

Arpana is the sixth person from the state to be killed on foreign soil in the last two years. She was working as a software quality engineer in EMC Corp and called her family on Friday when she told them that she was going to a Halloween party.

“We usually get calls from her daily,” said Prof. Jinega. “But we have not heard from her since then and became anxious.” On their request, one of their friends in Seattle, Mr Jairam, went to Arpana’s flat in Valley View Apartments at Redmond Woodinville Road and found that the door had been broken open.

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Hamilton has the last laugh

Lewis Hamilton did not know if he should laugh or cry after his dramatic world championship-clinching fifth place finish in Sunday’s tense, dramatic and nerve jangling Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old Englishman became the youngest drivers champion in Formula One history and the sport’s first black champion, beating local hero Felipe Massa of Ferrari by one point over the season.

He did it in the native city of his childhood hero and racing inspiration Ayrton Senna, only after a nail-biting rain-hit finish in which, after appearing to be in control of his destiny in fourth place, he slipped back to sixth and had to recover at least one place to be sure of the title.

That recovery was completed at the final corner of the 71st and last lap of the race when he pulled clear of German Timo Glock’s Toyota to cross the line in fifth, not knowing immediately if it was good enough for him to take the title.

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Bush’s political team on job hunt

As The US President, Mr George Bush, prepares to leave the White House, his political appointees, numbering nearly 3,000, would be working overtime to find decently paid jobs, as adverse economic conditions have liquidated sky-high pay-packets.

The job hunt has become tough especially for senior management level people in a deteriorating market forcing some officials of the current Bush administration apparently bracing up for less paid jobs.

“Many of the roughly 3,000 political appointees of Mr Bush are beating the bushes harder than expected for post-election employment,” the Wall Street Journal said in a report.

Attributing to recruiters, the report said the unusually tough job hunt reflects the depressed market for senior management talent, with some Bush administration officials bracing for lower paying jobs than they anticipated.

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Gambhir faces ban for 1 Test

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, suspended for the fourth and final Test against Australia by ICC match referee Chris Broad for tangling with Shane Watson on the first day of theShane Watson third Test here, will appeal, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

After the four umpires jointly charged the double centurion with not playing “within the spirit of the game (and) the laws of cricket”, he was hit with the ban following an extended hearing on Thursday.

Gambhir had elbowed Watson while taking a second run on Wednesday after facing verbal provocation as he ran down towards the bowler. He pleaded guilty to the Level 2 offence. Broad had held back announcing a decision on Gambhir after he fined Watson 10 per cent of his match fee for his role in the altercation following Thursday’s hearing.

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