India's flag carrier Air India, which is struggling to cope with a cash crunch, will ask for a Rs.10,000-crore (about $2 billion) bailout package from the central government, a senior official said.
Airline officials, who discussed the airline's financial problems with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Tuesday night, will meet top government officials again seeking help.
The minister arrived here Tuesday after attending the Paris air show.
'We are looking for at least Rs.10,000 crore bailout package. I am not sure if the government would agree on this,' said the Air India official, who did not want to be named.
Air India earlier said it was looking for a bailout package worth at least Rs.15,000 crore from the government.
Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav, Civil Aviation Secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar and other senior ministry and airline officials had met the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, T.K.A. Nair, Monday with the demands.
But they did not get any assurance from Nair.
Jadhav last week met Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar.
National Aviation Co of India Ltd (NACIL), which owns Air India, had earlier announced that it would delay the salaries of its over 31,000 employees for 15 days. The management has also asked the top executives of the airline to forgo their one month's salary.
The employees, however, did not accept the management's decision and said they would go for an indefinite strike from July 1 if the management delays their salaries.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global aviation industry is expected to lose about $9 billion this year.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) says the Indian aviation industry is likely to incur around $2 billion losses this year.
StatCounter
Ford Motor Co will receive nearly $5.9 billion in U.S. government loans to build fuel-efficient vehicles as the Obama administration deepened its commitment to reshaping the cash-strapped auto industry.
Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd will receive $1.6 billion and start-up Tesla Motors Inc will receive $465 million in low-cost loans to build all-electric cars in the first wave of financing from an Energy Department program intended to offset the cost meeting sharply higher new fuel economy standards.
"By supporting key technologies and sound business plans, we can jump-start the production of fuel-efficient vehicles in America," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at an event at Ford's sprawling engineering and product development campus.
"These investments will come back to our country many times over by creating new jobs, reducing our dependence on oil, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
The Energy Department has $17 billion remaining in funding under a program first authorized by Congress in 2007. Chu said the agency would work quickly to approve further loans in the coming months to other auto companies.
The announcement of the first round of funding at Ford represented a win for the automaker, the United Auto Workers union and Michigan's congressional delegation after an intense lobbying effort to get the long-stalled funding approved.
One of the conditions of receiving the subsidized loans was a determination of viability. That ruled out Ford's rivals Chrysler and General Motors Corp since they have been pushed through a federally funded bankruptcy process.
The Union Cabinet has appointed the Infosys Chief Nandan Nilekani as the Chairman of National Authority for Unique Identity.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said the new authority will function under the planning commission, and Nilekani will be enjoying cabinet tatus.
Ms Soni said the authority will have the responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the Unique Identification Scheme and will operate the unique identification number database for the citizen's of the country.
In January the Government of India has notified the creation of the National Authority of Unique Identity.
The ambitious plan of unique identification has been allocated Rs 100 crore in the interim budget of 2009-10.
The unique identification number aims at eliminating the need for multiple identification mechanism prevalent across various government departments, and it will ensure that each Indian citizen will carry a permanent identifier from birth to death.
The permanent identifier which will also cover children, will help in at establishing citizenship, reducing identity related frauds, addresses security issues and prevent leakages in different government schemes.
In the beginning the Unique Identity number will be given to all voters who are on current electoral rolls, and gradually, the other persons including those below 18 years of age will be added to the database. Photographs and biometric data will be added to make the identification perfect.
According to a global study jointly released by IBM and InfoTech Research Group, even in a very difficult economic environment, Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are eager to actively invest in initiatives that reduce the environmental impact of their information technology.
The study is based on a survey of more than 1,000 information technology executives at companies with between 100 and 1,000 employees across industries and in a dozen countries including the India, United States, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The findings show that more than 55 per cent of Indian companies are going to, or have already commissioned third-party environmental audits, purchased emission credits, or have made improvements in their supply chain efficiency to reduce energy consumption. 63 per cent of Indian IT enterprises have completed a retrofit of existing server rooms to increase energy efficiency, or have a pilot project underway.
Almost two-thirds of all companies globally are currently, or are planning within the next 12 months, to add virtualization technology to their servers, consolidate storage systems, or retrofit their server rooms.
�Businesses around the world have discovered that going green isn�t just good for the planet; it�s good for their bottom line,� said Ramesh Narasimhan, Director, General Business, IBM India/South Asia. �Green IT strategies are leading to savings in operational expenditure; lower space and power and higher ROI. The findings in this report highlight how mid-size companies are realizing significant cost savings when they adopt Green IT initiatives.�
Significantly, there are compelling business benefits associated with �going green� and reducing the negative impact on the environment is a welcome addition. The driving factor pushing companies to adopt Green IT to reduce their costs while reducing the negative impact on the environment is an obvious additional benefit.
The study found companies typically fall into one of four IT personalities; green advocates, smart spenders, green observers and green seekers. Green advocates, companies that integrate environmental considerations into all areas of their business, makes up about 25 per cent of the companies surveyed. Smart spenders make up 38 per cent of the survey group and are defined as SMBs willing to make upfront investments to achieve a long-term cost reduction. Green observers, who make up 30 per cent of the survey group, do not have specific environmental goals and need management support for initiatives to improve energy efficiency. Green seekers, at 7 per cent, are interested in adopting energy efficient technology but are unsure of where to start and how to quantify results.
Saving electricity requires the measurement of IT electrical consumption, something many companies cannot do. However, the survey finds that more than 50 per cent of companies have implemented some form of energy measurement for their information technology infrastructure, and about one-quarter plan to do so in the year ahead.
About 60% of the total respondents weigh the importance placed on business benefits against environmental benefits, suggesting that IT initiatives to help improve energy efficiency must yield financial returns in order to get the green light.
Countries with some of the highest fuel prices in the world have not, up to this point, turned to remote conferencing and telecommuting initiatives to reduce both cost and energy consumption. The survey found while 50 to 60 per cent of Indian, Brazilian, North American and British businesses are up and running with telecommuting and virtual conferencing capabilities, Germany, France, and, to a lesser extent, the Nordic countries have been slower to adopt these technologies. Initiatives intended to reduce travel are clearly receiving the most attention from geographically �big� countries over the next 12 months. From Brazil to Canada, more than 30 per cent of businesses will aggressively pursue remote conferencing and telecommuting strategies.
Virtualization is also being perceived as a major step in help achieving energy efficient business operation. The rate of server virtualization across most regions (with an average implementation rate of 48 per cent) is evidence that initiatives with a business case comprised of clear cost savings and environmental benefits will win first. For new initiatives to gain acceptance from stakeholders who may be sceptical, a clear case for cost containment, savings or other business benefits must be made first.
Data indicates that IT equipment recycling has shown good progress. Overall, 56 per cent of the companies surveyed have either completed or are implementing outdated hardware recycling programs.
Approximately 23 per cent of IT departments report plans to adopt IT equipment recycling and energy measurement practices within the next 12 months. 65 per cent of all implementations, the study found organizations� initial goals for these projects are met or exceeded.
The Indian marketplace boasts of more than 35 million small and medium businesses and is now competing globally. They will need to gain a competitive edge to win amidst global competition and technology provides them this edge. IBM offers services, research, hardware and software specifically tailored for the SME market in India that can help mid-size companies to be both greener and leaner.
President Barack Obama said on Saturday he is "ready to fight" for a tough new agency to protect consumers from risky loans and other financial products and lashed out at groups that might stand in the way.
"These interests argue against reform even as millions of people are facing the consequences of this crisis in their own lives," Obama said in a weekly radio address.
"These interests defend business-as-usual even though we know that it was business-as-usual that allowed this crisis to take place."
Obama said opponents were already "mobilizing" against his proposal earlier this week to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency as part of the most sweeping set of financial regulatory reforms since the 1930s.
The new agency, which Congress would have to approve, would have the power to write rules and design or ban financial products. It could also examine firms and impose fines and other penalties on almost any institution that offers products such as home loans or credit cards.
Critics argue that the new agency would stifle financial product innovation, boost the cost of regulatory compliance and cause prices for consumers to rise.
"It's going to create exactly the type of duplication, second-guessing and layering that we feared," David Hirschman, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Capital Markets, said earlier this week.
Obama said the proposed agency was badly needed to help consumers make sense of complex financial instruments and to keep loan companies honest.
"Today, folks signing up for a mortgage, student loan, or credit card face a bewildering array of incomprehensible options. Companies compete not by offering better products, but more complicated ones -- with more fine print and hidden terms," Obama said.
"The American people sent me to Washington to stand up for their interests. And while I'm not spoiling for a fight, I'm ready for one."
Senior lawmakers have said they expect to pass financial reform regulation by the end of the year.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, at a Senate hearing on Thursday, faced the most opposition to Obama's proposal to give the Federal Reserve new powers to police broad risks in the economy.
Some lawmakers believe the central bank failed to halt practices that led to the global financial crisis.
Giving the Federal Reserve more authority "is like a parent giving his son a bigger, faster car right after he crashed the family station wagon," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.
The Qatar Investment Authority could acquire more shares in ailing German sports car maker Porsche SE than previously thought, German magazine Focus said.
In an advance copy of an article due to be published on June 22, the magazine referred to details of a paper outlining the future ownership structure that it said Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking had presented to the Porsche and Piech families.
It said there had been a provision for an external investor to hold 29.9 percent, when so far only a 25 percent share had been mentioned. However, there was no direct mention of Qatar.
Qatar has been discussing the possible size of a stake with Porsche and is due to reveal the outcome in two to three weeks, according to media reports.
Focus also said a Qatari delegation would discuss possible details with the state of Lower Saxony, which is home to Volkswagen. The state owns just over 20 percent of VW and has to approve any deals related to Porsche and VW.
Porsche amassed a 9 billion euro ($12.5 billion) net debt pile in its aborted attempt to acquire 75 percent of Volkswagen AG votes and has looked to rescue itself by uniting with its cash-rich subsidiary, which is Europe's largest carmaker.
Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piech is a member of the family that controls Porsche.
German car maker Daimler is also in advanced talks to buy a stake in Porsche, German magazine manager magazin reported on Friday on its website, citing financial sources.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should look at eventually reversing the expansionary policy pursued in the wake of the global economic crisis, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Saturday.
"All of you would agree around the world also there is concern, there is attention being paid to reverse these expansionary policies," Subbarao told students at a banking institute. "In the Reserve Bank of India, we will be looking at reversing the expansionary policy at an appropriate time."
Subbarao did not say how or when the policy will be reversed but said he will not do it right now or in the near future.
In its efforts to stimulate the economy, the RBI has cut its key lending rate by 425 basis points to 4.75 percent since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. The rate at which it absorbs surplus cash from the banking system has been cut by 275 basis points to 3.25 percent.
As well, it has cut the ratio of cash that banks must deposit with the central bank to 5 percent from 9 percent in the middle of last year.
Subbarao said the stimulus measures of both the government and the central bank have worked to some extent. "Certainly we are seeing our own versions of green shoots in certain sectors like cement, steel and coal," he said.
He also said growth in vehicle sales as well as a pick up in rail freight traffic were encouraging. "But as I said, this is not a complete picture and there are a number of sectors of the economy which have to see a significant revival," he said.
In April, the RBI said it expected Asia's third largest economy to expand by about 6 percent in the fiscal year 2009/10 ending in March, below last fiscal year's 6.7 percent.
Many private sector economists forecast growth of between 5.8 to 7.2 percent. The head of prime minister's economic advisory council predicted on Saturday that growth would match at least last year's level.
Subbarao said although the wholesale price index fell in the first week of June, food and primary articles inflation was significant. Consumer price index inflation was 9 percent, he said.
The governor said the central bank looked at a number of variables of inflation including an assessment of inflationary expectations to formulate its policy.
India's wholesale price index fell 1.61 percent in the 12 months to June 6, compared with the previous week's annual rise of 0.13 percent, government data showed on Thursday. The fall was the first in at least three decades.
"There are definite trends coming through although the headline index is negative ... Oil prices are firming up and commodity prices are increasing around the world. Food production is below the trend level," Subbarao said.
Subbarao declined to comment on whether he expected the government to increase the borrowing programme at its final budget to be unveiled on July 6.
The government has stepped up the pace of its borrowing in recent weeks. It is scheduled to borrow 150 billion rupees via bonds next week compared with 120 billion indicated in the auction calendar. This will be the sixth straight week where the government will be borrowing 25 percent more than originally scheduled.
Security forces today entered Lalgarh to reclaim it from Maoist-backed tribals and were closing in on the police station there. The personnel of paramilitary forces and the state police were just two km away from the Lalgarh police station, which is under Maoist control, a senior police officer said.
The securitymen from CRPF, BSF, State Armed Police, Eastern Frontier Rifles and the Kolkata Police entered the besieged area after crossing a five-km stretch of the Jhitka forest, a Maoist stronghold, he said. They were moving in armoured vehicles fitted with anti-landmine devices and mortars and were carrying mine-detecting units.
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Friday said that Taliban was a threat to the world peace. Antony said that India has been trying to impress upon Pakistan to take more proactive actions to ban the Taliban.
Elaborating more on India's ongoing process based on the security scenario, he also assured about the implementation of all kinds of required measures.
In a move that will give relief to thousands of tenants residing in centuries-old wadas in the city, the Urban Development Department of the State Government has allowed tenants to carry out the wada repair work at their expense without having to submit a no-objection certificate from the wada owner or any architectural plan of the wada, which had been the pre-requisites till now.
Wada tenants can now forward an application to the ward office of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) before the repair work and the permission will be given within 48 hours. However, the tenants are not allowed to make structural changes to the wada.
The decision, that was taken at a meeting here on Saturday, is likely to be implemented on Monday, said BJP MLA Girish Bapat who briefed the reporters on the development. Urban Development Department Principal Secretary T C Benjamin, Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band, civic commissioner Mahesh Zagade, city engineer Prashant Waghmare, Congress MLA Chandrakant Chhajed and Bapat attended the meeting, besides Town Planning officials.
Bapat said, "There are 17 Peth localities in the city, including Kasba Peth, Somwar Peth, Raviwar Peth, Nana Peth and Navi Peth. These Peth areas house about 10,000 wadas. The PMC has carried out a survey of only 1,600 wadas till now and have issued notices to around 750 wada owners about pulling down the dilapidated structures."
He said it was decided at the meeting that if the tenants and occupants of these wadas submit an application to carry out repair work of their place at their own expense, they will be given permission within 48 hours by the civic officials, without having to submit any extra documents. "Less submission of documents will speed up work and save them from turning homeless."
He said the tenants will not be allowed to make any structural changes to the wada or increase the carpet area under this pretext. "This permission will be applicable only for repairs like plastering or raising support to the structures."
The widely condemned brutal attack on Ludhiana (Central) Tehsildar Major (Retired) Gurjinder Singh Benipal by alleged supporters of SAD councillor Kanwaljit Singh Karwal saw a major development with Karwal's surrender on Sunday.
Karwal surrendered here before the Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg following the articulation of deep anguish against the incident across all sections of society.
Terming the attack on Benipal as extremely unfortunate, various represenatives said there was no place for such incidents in civilised society. In a meeting of the Democratic Employees' Front held under the chairmanship of its president Ramanjit Singh Sandhu, the employees demanded stern action against the accused who mercilessly beat up the Tehsildar.
The Universal Human Rights Organisation (UHRO) also convened a meeting condemning the incident. Expressing his concern, UHRO president Satnam Singh Dhaliwal said the incident confirms the possible fate of a common man in face of the government's failure to provide security to its officials.
S S Channa, president of the Federation of Pollution and Park Management Committees, strongly condemning the incident stated, "In fact the councillor should have set an example for other people by coming to the Tehsildar's office in queue that too on his terms.
Being an elected representative of the people, councillor should lead the people by example than throwing his weight on the government officials and pressurising officers to do their work out of turn."
The Colonisers and Property Dealers' Association President Kultar Singh Jogi and General Secretary Jatinder Pal Singh Saluja, though condemned the alleged attack but stated the behaviour of some government officials towards general public was not good. Jogi and Saluja said certain officials harrassed the general public and this incident is an indication that people are fed up of the government officials' attitude.
"She was brutally killed even though she kept on begging for her life" — This has been mentioned by the Delhi Police in a chargesheet it filed in the Jigeesha Ghosh murder case on Saturday.
Ghosh, a 28-year-old executive with Hewitt Associates Pvt Ltd (Noida) and resident of the CPWD Colony in Vasant Vihar, was abducted by Ravi Kapoor and his friends from outside her home early on March 18 and later killed.
Having finished its investigations, the Vasant Vihar police have filed a chargesheet against Ravi Kapoor, the main accused, and two of his friends, Baljeet Singh, alias Poppy, and Amit Kumar Shukla. They along with two others, Ajay Sethi and Vijay Kumar, were also involved in the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan on September 30 last year. These murders had raised concerns over security for working women in Delhi. The accused were arrested on March 24.
DCP (South) H G S Dhaliwal said, "An intensive investigation was conducted in this case and our teams have done a lot of hard work. The challan (chargesheet) has also been filed in time."
In the Jigeesha Ghosh murder case, a 448-page chargesheet has been filed under various sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 365 (abduction), 397 (robbery with attempt to cause grievous hurt or death), 34 (common intention), several forgery sections including 468, 471 and the Arms Act against the three accused.
The chargesheet, filed 90 days after the accused were arrested, includes the testimonies of 59 witnesses, among them Jigeesha's family, police officers, forensic experts and others. The police have also submitted 10 photographs related to the accused persons and crime spots, and one CD and documents related to recovery of the weapons used by the accused persons while committing robberies and murders.
Since the courts are closed for summer vacations, the chargesheet was filed in the court of Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Jitendra Mishra at the Patiala House complex.
During their investigations, the police found that Ravi Kapoor, Baljeet Singh and Amit Kumar Shukla abducted Jigeesha in a Hyundai Santro (HR18C3409) from the CPWD Colony around 4 am. She had been talking on her mobile phone. The accused then drove towards Mahipalpur. They asked her for her ATM pin at gunpoint and withdrew Rs 20,000 from an SBI ATM in Mahipalpur. After this, they strangled her and threw her body near Bhadkal Lake.
The police also found that Ravi Kapoor also roamed around the city using fake police uniforms, police badges, stickers on cars and arms, for which he was booked for forgery and under the Arms Act.
In the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case, sources said the Vasant Kunj police would be filing a chargesheet against the five accused — Ravi Kapoor, Baljeet Singh, Amit Shukla, Ajay Sethi and Vijay Kumar — by next week. "Investigations are over in that case too and almost all the documentation has been completed," a source said.
The South district police will also file a supplementary chargesheet against the five accused in the coming months under MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act), which was imposed on the accused later, in April.
US President Barack Obama has written a letter for his daughters on the occasion of Father's Day Sunday, saying that he could not be a perfect father.
'I know I have been an imperfect father. I know I have made mistakes,' said Obama in the letter that will be published in a magazine reported people.com
'I drove Michelle and newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 11 years ago and I think about the pledge I made to her that I would give her what I never had. And that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father,' he added.
Obama has two daughters Malia,10, and Sasha, eight.
After a thorough interrogation and search Indian authorities confirmed that the military cargo aircraft, which has landed in Mumbai air port yesterday was carrying medicines to the US troops operating in Afghanistan and no weapons or ammunition were on board said IAF spokesperson Wg Cdr Tarun Kumar Singha.
Speaking to ANI Wg Cdr Singha said the aircraft was hired by the US military, from a Russian agency. All the 18 persons including the crewmembers who were in the aircraft were civilians and belonged to the Russian agency.
The hired military cargo aircraft violated the Indian air space near Gujarat yesterday and was forced to land at Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
The aircraft was travelling from Diego Garcia island, a military base of the US near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Wg Cdr Singha said that according to norms any hired civilian aircrafts for the military purposes has to get an AOR clearance form the IAF on this case the Russian agency did not obtain the clearance, the Mumbai ATR instructed the captain to land the aircraft.
He denied the report of IAF planes escorting the intruded aircraft and said the pilot followed the instruction given by the ATR, so the question of escort does not arise.
The Indian authorities have given the clearance to the aircraft to fly. Shreeraj Gudi
Infosys Technologies Ltd chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy Saturday hoped the union budget for 2009-10 would focus on inclusive growth, which he termed as 'the need of the country'.
'I don't have any specific expectation for the IT sector from the budget. But I hope the government will try to bring in an inclusive growth, as it is the need of the country to make sure the poorer people will also benefit from the economic progress,' Murthy told reporters here.
Elaborating on his budget wishes, Murthy said the government should have better focus on healthcare, education, shelter and nutrition for the betterment of the needy.
'We are very happy there is a stable government and that is good thing to the country. I am sure this stable government will do quite a lot for the country because it is free to implement its policies,' he said on the margins of the IT bellwether's 28th annual general meeting (AGM).
Expressing relief over the outcome of the recent general elections, Murthy said a two-party system was a stable model, as evident from such a system in the US, Britain and many other countries.
'By and large, two-party system is a stable model. It is an evolved system,' he pointed out.
Commenting on the severe financial crisis that had led to a global recession of a magnitude never anticipated by critics of the free market system, Murthy said compassionate capitalism had proved to be the only viable system because communism had failed and socialism had not worked as well as everyone wanted.
'Though I don't believe the free market system has failed, as critics have pointed out in light of the global meltdown and financial crisis, I do admit there are negatives in all systems. But I think, by and large, compassionate capitalism has proved to be the only viable system,' Murthy noted.
Noting that India was "deeply anguished" over continuing attacks on its students in Australia, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today said New Delhi expects "better measures" from that Government. "We are deeply anguished over the attacks.
India wants to see better measures taken by the Australian government," the Minister of state for External Affairs said. "We have conveyed our concerns at the highest possible level.
Our Prime Minister has spoken about it to his Australian counterpart," he said at a meet-the-press programme here organised by the Ernakulam Press Club. However, Tharoor said the Australian government has reciprocated with certain measures.
Referring to the controversy over his earlier comments that it was a domestic issue, he said certain remarks of his were taken out of context and "misinterpreted" by some people. "This is a domestic issue and it is not equivalent to the South African apartheid where we were opposing the measures taken by the government and in Australia we are working on the same side of the government," the minister said.
Indian government cannot protect their students in Australia as it is a sovereign country. In the same way, India will not allow foreign countries to protect their citizens in India.
Some of the attacks have racial connotations, he said.
West Bengal's principal opposition party Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Saturday said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee 'is a bigger Maoist' and threatened a stir if allegations that her party had links with leftwing rebels were not withdrawn.
'We will wait for 48 hours. If nothing happens within that time, then we will hit the streets,' Banerjee told mediapersons at her Kalighat residence.
'We don't support Maoists. If you search the chief minister's house, you will get Maoist literature. He is a bigger Maoist,' the Trinamool chief said.
Banerjee also demanded Bhattacharjee's resignation for the atrocities committed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres in various parts of the state.
'This chief minister should be sacked. He is wholly responsible for all the atrocities. He is the lead actor of all the atrocities across Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, Mangalkot and Keshpur,' Banerjee said.
The railway minister also questioned why the state government took so much time to crack down on the Maoists.
'Why didn't you ban the Maoists in the state, when it is banned in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh?' she asked pointedly.
'I am condemning the atrocities, whoever is doing this. But who created the Maoists? Who has carried out atrocities against common people in the name of Maoists? The people who are arrested in Lalgarh are not Maoists,' she thundered, denying her party's links with the rebels.
She alleged the CPI-M was trying to establish its sway in Lalgarh in the name of the operation. Neither the central nor the state government had apprised her party about the ongoing operation beforehand, she added.
'They didn't tell us anything about the operation that is going on for three days. We have not been informed by the state or the central government. Law and order is a state subject. It is their joint operation. I don't want to talk on this.'
Asked about the Maoist leader Kishanji's comment that they participated in the Singur and Nandigram along with Trinamool, Banerjee said: 'There were no Maoists during the Singur and Nandigram fights. I don't know any Kishanji. It is a drama created by the CPI-M. They are very good at creating new drama.'
An Italian woman, who arrived late for the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic, was not so lucky after all. She has been killed in a car accident in Austria.
Johanna Ganthaler was holidaying in Brazil with her husband and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31, The Times reported.
All 228 people aboard lost their lives after the plane crashed into the Atlantic four hours into its flight to Paris.
The couple, from Bolzano-Bozen province, had managed to pick up a flight from Rio the following day.
Ganthaler died when their car turned across a road and swerved into an oncoming truck.
Her husband was seriously wounded.
President Asif Ali Zardari today responded to a spate of deadly terrorist attacks that have killed dozens across Pakistan by pledging to continue his government's fight against militancy till the end. Addressing the nation a little after 1 am on national television, Zardari said, "We will continue this fight till the end.
This fight is backed by the parliament, the political parties and the people of Pakistan". Noting that recent suicide attacks by terrorists, including Tuesday's bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar, had killed members of the armed forces and civilians, he said: "We must win this war at all costs.
We will win with the help of the people. "There will be a new morning and we will all see this morning.
It will be the victory of the people," he said, adding that the "whole country has risen up against the terrorists". Pakistan is fighting "those who want to impose their agenda forcefully on the nation," he said.
He pointed out that the militants had targeted his slain wife Benazir Bhutto shortly after her return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in October 2007 and assassinated her two months later after "she challenged them and vowed to take them on".
Conceding that the Third Front experiment has failed, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Friday said there was a need to remodel it as the formation's utility still remained.
'Utility of the Third Front is still there. We have to remodel it,' Karat said on the concluding day of the two-day meeting of the party's West Bengal state committee, which discussed the defeat of the state's ruling CPI-M-led Left Front in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The state committee pointed out that the call for the alternative Third Front government did not earn the confidence of people.
'As such, we have faced reverses in some states. This has been reflected in West Bengal poll results too,' state CPI-M secretary Biman Bose told newspersons.
Bose said issues such as the party's electoral tactics and all related matters will come up for discussion in a meeting of the party's politburo - the highest policymaking body - on June 19 and the central committee on June 20-21.
'I will refrain from passing any comment on our all India tactics and national issues which will be deliberated upon in these meetings,' he said.
To a query on the party's relations with the central government in which the Trinamool Congress is a constituent, Bose said: 'Such issues are not discussed in the state committee meeting. The meeting did not discuss it.
'But I would like to point out that the government role does not depend on who is with it or who is not. It is the government for the entire country.'
Describing the results as 'unexpected', the party identified a clutch of reasons for the debacle which saw the LF win only 15 seats in West Bengal, while conceding 27 to the opposition parties. The Trinamool won 19 seats, the Congress six, and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) one each.
The party said the Congress-Trinamool alliance got additional impetus from the two years of lawlessness created in the state by a combination of parties from the extreme Left to the extreme rightwing under the Trinamool's leadership.
It also admitted that activities of a 'small section' of cadres who had deviated from the communist principles formed one of the prime reasons for the defeat.
'The behaviour, lifestyle of a section of our activists are among the deviations. They have become victims of a new-liberal society. But such deviations are not rampant,' Bose said.
Naming organisational weakness as one of the contributory factors, Bose said the ruling alliance failed to counter the campaign issues raised by the opposition. 'There were shortcomings on our part in carrying out intensive mass contact programmes.'
Bose said 53 state committee members participated in the 'frank' discussions to pinpoint the reasons.
'With all humility, we accept people's verdict. Our task now is to unite the poor against the conspiracies of the forces of separatism and isolation as also the reactionary forces, both from the country and abroad,' he said.
The meeting also chalked out future agitational programmes and said the party will hit the streets to protect democracy and people's rights which were being threatened by the 'forces of lawlessness'.
Bose said the party will agitate on issues like extension of the Public Distribution System, in overcoming the delays and probelsm in giving scheduled caste/scheduled tribe certificates and also for minority development and rural electrification.
Another state committee meeting will be held in the coming days to discuss the party organisation, and the inconveniences faced by the people due to administrative shortcomings and sloth.