Archive for: December 14, 2009

Jamshed Dasti, chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Sports, has asked the Pakisan Cricket Board (PCB) top officials to appear at the Parliament House hearing December 17 over participation of the country’s players in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The committee wants to probe the issue after hearing contradictory report on the IPL future of leading Pakistani cricketers.

The committee’s decision to summon PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and other senior board officials coincided with a board …

The bilateral trade between India and Italy is expected to reach 12 billion euros ($17.5 billion) in the next five years from 6.5 billion euros in 2008, says an industry report.

“With deeper business engagement, trade between the two countries is expected to double to 12 billion euros in the next five years,” said the report prepared by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Yes Bank.

The report coincides with the visit of …

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will leave for Copenhagen Thursday to participate in the heads of state meeting at the climate summit, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

“Yes, he will leave Thursday and it will be a small team that will accompany him. He will also be leaving in a smaller aircraft to send a bigger message on improving India’s carbon footprint,” said a senior PMO official.

Speculation was rife that the prime minister would not attend the summit and that India would be represented by …

Sri Lankan Tamils in Canada have called for an international trial of the Sri Lankan president for allegedly ordering the killing of surrendering LTTE leaders during the ethnic war that ended in May.

Former Sri Lankan army chief and opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has alleged that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered troops to kill three top LTTE leaders when they raised white flags to surrender.

The defence secretary is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The killed Tamil …

News of a $10-billion bailout of Dubai World by the Abu Dhabi government had a positive impact on Indian equities markets Monday, sending a benchmark index up 137 points during afternoon trade.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,118.14 points, was ruling at 17,257.54 points around 1.30 p.m., up 138.51 points or 0.81 percent from its previous close at 17,119.03 points.

Around the same time, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), …

Bollywood churns out hundreds of films and many more songs year after year since music is an integral part of Indian cinema. The year gone by had chartbusters like “Emosanal attyachaar” and “Masakalli” that thoroughly entertained listeners.

IANS has picked 10 best songs of 2009 from various genres that created waves in the music industry and remained audiences’ favourite once released. The list shows that Pritam Chakraborty and A.R. Rahman rule the chart.

“Emosanal attyachaar”: Bollywood music got …

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday criticised External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna over Katchatheevu, a small island ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 and a source of recurring irritation in ties between the two countries.

In a statement here, the AIADMK leader accused the foreign minister was ignorant of the basic facts about the issue.

“In fact, gross ignorance of facts has been the basis on which Katchatheevu was gifted to Sri Lanka. The same ignorance …

The demand for a separate Gorkhaland state to be carved out of West Bengal brought senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani and expelled party leader Jaswant Singh together in parliament Monday.

Leader of Opposition Advani responded positively to Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh’s request in Lok Sabha Monday to support his demand that the government take steps to end the hunger strike by activists seeking the creation of Gorkhaland.

Recalling his three-decade long association with Advani and addressing the BJP MPs as his “former colleagues” during zero hour, Jaswant …