United States House rejects $700-billion Wall Street bailout Bill, shaky markets plunge

In a moment of historic drama in the US Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted today to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry. The vote against the measure was 228 to 205. Supporters vowed to try to bring the rescue package up for consideration again as soon as possible. Stock markets plunged sharply at midday as it appeared that the measure would go down to defeat.

The Dow, which had been trading down about 300 points for most of the afternoon, fell to a 600-point deficit before recovering slightly. The index was down more than 550 points as lawmakers scrambled, but failed, to round up votes to pass the package.

House leaders kept the voting period open for some 40 minutes past the allotted time, trying to convert “no” votes to “yes” votes by pointing to damage being done to the markets, but to no avail.

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Kashmiris pray for peace on Shab-i-Qadar

Lakhs of people offered night-long prayers in the mosques and religious shrines across Kashmir valley to observe Shabi–Qadar. Reports said that devotees including women and children offered prayers for the return of peace to the turbulent valley and the night also marked with the recitation of Quran and ‘Naats’.

The biggest congregation was held at Hazratbal shrine, which houses the holy relic of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Senior separatist leaders, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik and care taker general secretary of Hurriyat Conference (G), Pir Saifullah threw light on the importance and significance of Shab-i–Qadar and later addressed people with regard to prevailing situation in Kashmir. Chairman Hurriyat Conference (G), Syed Ali Shah Geelani continued to remain under house arrest and could not offer night long prayers in the masjid.

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United States House begins action on Nuclear deal

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Washington on Thursday (US time) for a meeting with US President George W. Bush later in the day while the Indo-US nuclear deal, which was approved by the Senate foreign relations committee, was tabled before the House of Representatives.

This was seen as the final leap before the Manmohan dream turns into reality. Reports that US House international affairs committee chairman Howard Berman has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives linking passage of the nuclear deal with diplomatic support on US engagement of Iran was denied by committee staffers.

There was speculation all through Wednesday after the Indian American Republican Council said Mr Berman was going to incorporate language on Iran that would lead to the bill being defeated on the House floor. This was denied by the committee’s chief spokeswoman Lynne Weil, who said: “That is not true. Congressman Berman has not introduced any legislation on the US-India nuclear agreement.” The Indian team remained tightlipped.

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Saudi varsity, IBM to build fastest computer

Saudi Arabia’s upcoming King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) has announced it will build one of the world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputers in collaboration with IBM.

The joint project will build and conduct research on the most complex, high-performance computing (HPC) system in the region and among academic institutions in the world, according to a KAUST statement.

To be named Shaheen, the new system will serve the university’s scientific researchers across dozens of disciplines, advance new innovations in computational sciences, and contribute to the further development of a knowledge-based society in Saudi Arabia.

Shaheen is the Arabic name for the Peregrine falcon which can fly at speeds of up to 342 km per hour.

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Gurgaon Collapsing

It was to be the signpost of the new, globalising India.

But the unedifying, unprecedented sight of CEOs protesting the dumping of garbage of Gurgaon’s streets is an indication that a shiny Indian dream is collapsing.

“Millennium City”, as its administrators and builders often call Gurgaon, where 2 million live and work, accounts for more than 10 per cent of India’s $40 billion (about Rs 18,400 crore) in annual software exports.

It is home to offices of some 200 Fortune 500 companies, from General Electric to Coca Cola.

Gurgaon was to do to Delhi what Pudong did to Shanghai — put it on the global business map.

Pudong made that jump into the first world. Gurgaon is sliding further and faster every day into the third world.

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Via phonetap, 3 held for Hurriyat man’s killing

Almost 40 days after the killing of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz during the massive protest march along the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road on August 11 in which three other protesters were killed in police and CRPF firing — the J&K Police have arrested three neighbours from Baramulla for their alleged role in Aziz’s killing.

They are: unani doctor Tariq Ahmed Teli, salesman at a shoe shop Irfan Akhoon and a former militant Ashraf Akhoon, who now runs a poultry farm. They were arrested six days ago after late-night raids at their homes in Khanpora, Baramulla.

Incidentally, the first casualty in police firing that day was Manzoor Akhoon, cousin of prime accused Ashraf Akhoon.

According to a report based on Ashraf’s interrogation — a copy of which is with The Indian Express — Ashraf’s cellphone was under surveillance right through the rally from 9 am to 11.45 pm.

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Reliance Industries Limited creates history with first deep-sea oil in India

Reliance Industries has created history by flowing oil from the nation’s first deep-sea oilfield but gas production from the eastern offshore KG basin will begin in January, four months behind the deadline.

Reliance began oil production from its predominantly gas-rich KG-DWN-98/3 or D6 block on September 17 with initial oil flowing at the rate of 5,500 barrels per day, the company Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced today in Mumbai.

Crude oil production will reach 20,000 barrels per day (1 million tonnes a year) in a month’s time and the peak output of 40,000 barrels (2 million tonnes) of oil will be achieved in the first quarter of 2010.

Company CEO and President Oil & Gas P M S Prasad said Reliance had internally set 2008 as the target for oil and gas production from D6 but officially it had always stated that gas production will begin in second half of 2008-09 .

Reliance is selling the first oil from D6 to HPCL’s Vizag refinery on spot basis and will look for long-term contract when the production stabilises when it reaches peak.

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Livni eyes Prime Minister's office after bagging Kadima leadership

Fresh from her election as the head of Israel's ruling Kadima party,Tzipi Livni on Thursday set out to become the country's second woman prime minister and avert snap elections that could stall Middle East peacemaking.

In her victory speech, the foreign minister said she wanted to form a new government as quickly as possible, a daunting challenge for the new leader of a party dogged by corruption scandals and involved in uneasy alliances with groups that include religious fanatics and advocates of ethnic cleansing.

Livni, 50, narrowly won Wednesday's party leadership vote to replace scandal-plagued Premier Ehud Olmert, who is standing down to battle a number of corruption allegations.

Livni secured 43 percent of the vote and a lead of just one percentage point – or 431 votes – over her main rival,Transport Minister and hawkish former military Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz.

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Pressmart says it turned down Google overtures

Hyderabad based Pressmart Media Ltd, a company that generates and maintains e-papers for global and Indian newspapers and magazines, says it has turned down an acquisition bid by Internet search engine firm Google Inc.

Last week, Pressmart raised $6 million (Rs 27.8 crore today) in private equity funding from US-based venture capital companies Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA-Indo US Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to open marketing offices in the US, the UK, Singapore and Dubai to expand its international client base.

Pressmart chief executive Sanjiv Gupta said Google executives approached the company in early March, expressing an interest in Pressmart and its licensed technology.

The Hyderabad company owns patented technology for digitizing newspapers and making them searchable on the Internet while preserving the same-as-in-print feel.

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Crew, including 18 Indians, of hijacked ship safe

Eighteen Indians are among 22 crew aboard a Mumbai-bound ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden near the Horn of Africa on Monday.

The Hong Kong-registered MT Stolt Valor was bound for Mumbai from the Suez Canal with a load of oil products when armed pirates seized it about 38 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen.

The pirates have taken the ship to Somalia but no demands have yet been made. The crew is reported to be safe.

The Indians aboard the Stolt Valor are mostly from Mumbai. The other crew includes two Filipinos, a Bangladeshi and a Russian.

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No cut in fuel prices

The Union petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora has said that the government will consider a cut in fuel prices if international prices fell to $67 per barrel.

Mr Deora said (current) domestic retail prices were pegged at $67 per barrel and a retail price cut would be considered if prices fall below this level.

“We welcome reduction in oil prices but still public sector companies are losing money. Oil companies have to square off their losses for us to consider a price cut,” said the minister.

Mr Deora said that the Indian oil basket has averaged $118.56 per barrel during the fiscal, which is higher than the level at which domestic retail prices are pegged. He said that gains from oil’s decline have been offset by the Rupee’s fall.

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Recovery after panic on Dalal Street

On a fate-changing day for Wall Street, the Indian stock market saw panic selling on Monday morning in the wake of news that Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest US investment bank, had succumbed to the bad mortgage finance and that Bank of America would buy the trouble-torn Merrill Lynch for $50 billion.

In the drastic early sell-off Sensex plunged 850 points. However, the market recovered in the latter half on short covering and bottom fishing. The index ended the day with a less severe loss of 469.54 points. What triggered the short covering was a decline in crude oil prices by more than $4 while the Indian market traded. “I don’t believe in the decoupling theory.Whatever happens in the US will have repercussions around the world, be it Brazil, Europe, China or India,” said Leslie Menkes, Morgan Stanley head of onshore private wealth management for Asia. “We don’t see markets breaking away from the trend.”

With Monday’s decline, Sensex lost 1,413.7 points, or nearly 10 per cent, in a week’s time — equivalent to a loss of Rs 4,39,535.2 crore in investor wealth in six trading sessions. The NSE’s S&P CNX Nifty index fell 3.68 per cent, or 155.55 points, to close at 4,072.90.

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After Orissa, its Karnataka

Two pastors and six others were injured in simultaneous attacks carried out on 14 churches and prayer halls by suspected Bajrang Dal activists in Mangalore, Udupi and Chikmagalur districts on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses told the police that some motorcycle-borne miscreants barged into prayer halls and ransacked them.

A statue of Jesus Christ was damaged in a prayer hall next to Milagres' Convent in Mangalore City. While some of these churches belonged to the Pentecostal Mission, the rest were of Roman Catholics. The pastors were injured at Sirur in Udupi and Jayapura in Chikmagalur.

The attackers apparently were protesting against an alleged conversion drive by missionaries in the region.

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Re hits two year low

The rupee on Wednesday weakened to below 45 against the dollar for the first time since November 2006 as crude oil prices fell in New York, tempering concerns that inflation would accelerate. The Indian currency declined for a second day on fears that equity sales by FIIs and the country's current-account deficit would result in capital outflows.The rupee's slide cam e as the dollar advanced against many currencies, and dollar demand from banks in India increased.

The Indian currency on Wednesday ended at 45.12/13, 0.62% down from the previous close of 44.83/84, against the greenback after data from capital market regulator Sebi showed overseas funds were net sellers of Indian equities on nine out of the past 14 trading days. The rupee dipped as low as 45.20, intra-day.

In global markets, crude oil pared earlier gains, dipping briefly below $100 a barrel on Tuesday, on concerns that slowing economic growth would trim demand. Oil rose briefly earlier after Opec agreed to limit production levels.

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Six vendors bid for $9 billion BSNL tender

Six telecom vendors have put in bids for the biggest Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) tender, worth $9 billion. Motorola was not one of them.

The six that put in bids are Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network, Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel-Lucent and Nortel. The mega contract is for 93 million GSM lines in the four zones. Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL chairman and MD, said that orders for the first phase of the 93 million lines would be out by early 2009. “Three to four vendors have applied in each of the four zones. Two of the six vendors have applied for all four zones,” he said, declining to name them.

Goyal said he expected the cost per line would be less than the $107 per line quoted by vendors in the last tender. BSNL expects the price to be below $100.

The tender is divided into four components: 2G lines, 3G lines, infrastructure and operating & business support systems (OSS and BSS).

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Collision course

Falling A collision with an unforeseen asteroid or an invasion from Alpha Centauri, the world will probab1y not end on Wednesday, but a lot of people will be holding their breath anyway.

At roughly 12.30 pm Indian time, scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, say they will try to send the first beam of protons around a 27-km-long racetrack known as the Large Hadron Collider, 300 feet underneath the Swiss-French border.

And a generation of physicists, watching from control rooms and auditoriums on the scene, on Webcasts at webcast.cern.ch or on Eurovision will meet their destiny.

The collide14 years and $8 billion in the making, is the most expensive scientific experiment to date and is designed to accelerate protons to energies of 7 trillion electron volts and smash them together.

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Raj targets Bachchans

MNS leader Raj Thackeray on Monday declared that no film involving any member of the Bachchan family will be allowed to be released in Maharashtra. “Now, Mrs Jaya Bachchan will know at least one thing. She will know who Raj Thackeray is,” Mr Thackeray said Monday after announcing a “ban” of Bachchan family films and all products endorsed by them.

Accusing Jaya Bachchan of showing “disrespect” to Maharashtra and the Marathi language, he said no film involving any Bachchan family member could be released in Maharashtra unless she gave an unconditional apology.

“The hoardings of products endorsed by the Bachchans will be blackened,” he said, adding: “Guddi buddhi zali, tari ajun akkal nahi aali (Guddi has grown old, but has not learnt wisdom).” After Mr Thackeray’s announcement, MNS supporters tore posters of Amitabh Bachchan’s forthcoming film The Last Lear, due for release Friday, at Bandra and Dadar.

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United States takes over mortgage giants Fannie, Freddie

The US government on Sunday seized control of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an aggressive move to help the distressed US housing market and economy.

Officials were concerned mounting losses at the two companies, which own or guarantee almost half of the country's $12 trillion in outstanding home mortgage debt, was sapping their vitality and threatening to undermine them at a time other sources of housing finance have largely run dry.

"Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said at a news conference. "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner on housing."

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Pakistan using US anti-terror funds to prepare for war against India: Obama

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said that Pakistan is using US aid meant for the war on terror to “prepare for a war against India”. He will hold Islamabad accountable for these massive funds and increase pressure to bust terrorist safe havens if he becomes President, Obama said on Fox News.

“What we can do is stay focused on Afghanistan and put more pressure on the Pakistanis,” Obama said, adding the US was providing Pakistan military aid “without having enough strings attached”.

“So they’re using the military aid... Pakistan... They’re preparing for a war against India.

“What we say is, look, we’re going to provide them with additional military support, targeted at terrorists, and we’re going to help build their democracy.... We’ve wasted 10 billion dollars with Musharraf without holding them accountable for knocking out those safe havens.”

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Ishani gets her twin brother, 3 years later

Her twin brother was in a refrigerator for three years. Ishani met him for the first time on Wednesday at a south Kolkata nursing home - thanks to a medical marvel.

Ishani and her 'embryological twin' Vinayak's births had been separated by three years, as their mother Rubai Choudhuri was not ready for twins three years ago. Both the babies were born with the help of Invitro Fertilisation (IVF), popularly known as the test tube process.

Thirty-four-year-old Rubai, an MCA, and 35-year-old Debayan Choudhuri, an IIT graduate, met Dr Siddhartha Chatterjee, a fertility physician at Repose fertility clinic in Kolkata, five years after their marriage. Dr Chatterjee suggested the IVF process for the couple.

In the IVF process, the ova and the sperms are fertilised in laboratory environment and is then implanted in the mother's womb.

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Microsoft faces new browser foe in Google

This time, Microsoft's opponent is Google, a familiar foe.

On Tuesday, Google will release