Thirty Close Circuit Televisions at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus may hold key to probe

Thirty Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, installed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station in the aftermath of the 7/11 Mumbai train bombings in 2006, hold the key to investigations into Wednesday night’s Terror attack on Mumbai.

Having “roamed around firing indiscriminately” inside the station premises for more than two hours, the images of men unleashing terror at CST are learnt to have been captured by these CCTVs. While Railways Protection Force (RPF) officials were sceptical about the usefulness of CCTV footage given their “skeletal” presence at the station, security agencies were still hopeful of finding some important leads into the identities of the perpetrators through the recorded footage. “The CCTV footage has been sealed and will be handed over to the Anti-Terrorism Squad,” Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Srinivas Mudgerikar said.

The attack at CST railway station, which began around 9.55 pm on Wednesday, left four persons, including three railway employees, dead and seven injured.

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Mumbai’s night of terror without end

A city in siege and a horrified nation watched perhaps the most audacious attack by terrorists at home as heavily armed men, with automatic weapons, grenades and low-intensity bombs, struck at least nine locations killing over 70 people and wounding some 200.

Landmark symbols of cosmopolitanism and affluence as well as public hubs were targeted. The dead included top police officers such as the chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner (East) Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Inspector Vijay Salaskar. All were killed fighting the attackers.

The attacks, sophisticated and co-ordinated on a scale never seen before, continued well into the night as reports trickled in of fresh explosions and continuing gun battles.

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Malegaon probe trail now leads to Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts

The investigation into the September 29 Malegaon bomb blast has stumbled on new leads to support the suspicion of police that recent unsolved bomb blasts such as the ones in Ajmer and the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad could be linked to it.

Sources said that some of the 11 arrested for the Malegaon blast are said to have told investigators that it was Sunil Joshi who had planted the bomb at the popular Ajmersharif Dargah in October 2007 which killed two people.

A former RSS pracharak from Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, Joshi was named by Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur as the man to whom she had sold her motorcycle in 2004 and which was used to plant the bomb in Malegaon. The motorcycle was the most significant lead in the Malegaon probe and led investigators to the former ABVP activist who has since been arrested and is in judicial custody.

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Another Army officer joined Abhinav Bharat, Lt Col had told Central Bureau of Investigation

Lt.Col. Prasad Purohit, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast, told his interrogators from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that another serving officer in the Army, a Colonel who was Purohit’s neighbour in Panchmarhi, was recruited by Abhinav Bharat and made an office-bearer of the radical Hindu group in April 2008.

The Colonel also attended an Abhinav Bharat meeting held in Faridabad, which, Purohit said, was also attended by Samir Kulkarni and Ramesh Upadhayay — arrested in the Malegaon blast case and Dr R. P. Singh, a Delhi based doctor, among others.

Purohit also told his interrogators that he went to Kolkata in February to attend a programme organized by Tapan Ghosh, a radical Hindu activist, where he was introduced to two Bangladeshi nationals, one of whom was identified as Raju Saha.

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My state calm, give me Rs 500 crore peace bonus: Arunachal CM to Centre

Peace is rare in the North-East,soon estate has demanded that it should be rewarded for maintaining it. Earlier this week, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu sought Rs 500 crore as peace bonus from the Centre for the continuing calm in his state.

Khandu met senior Central ministers to tell them there were no local militant outfits operating in Arunachal, unlike neighbouring Assam and Nagaland.

Khandu’s plea found resonance in the ministries of Home and Finance, and it has been decided to set up an officers’ committee headed by Secretary (Expenditure) to ascertain the state’s revenue generation and shortfall to be funded.

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Crisis hits home, IIM-Lucknow class waits for summer job offers

For perhaps the first time since it was established in 1984, there are not many takers for the MBA students of IIM-Lucknow—a grave reminder of the economic crisis gripping the world.

Two weeks after their summer placements exercise began on campus on November 7, about 55 students in the first year of the MBA programme at IIM-L are still waiting for an offer. Senior members of the faculty at this institution of excellence could not remember the last time this had happened—a few students were sometimes left behind after the first week of placements, but ultimately everyone got placed. Never was it so bad.

For 285 students last year, IIM-L got 424 summer placement offers. “This year, of the 325 students that we have, around 270 have been placed, the rest are left,” said Prof Prem Chandra Purwar, officiating director.

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I signed the letter, took the cheque and walked out... it was over in five minutes

Sandeep Jadhav, a 27-year-old professional in India’s outsourcing industry, had only seen the good times. He worked hard as a support technician in the local subsidiary of an American software company and took home an annual salary of about Rs 5 lakh.

He frequently bought expensive sarees for his wife, toys for his eight month-old son and cricket gear for himself, maxing out on his two credit cards. In December, he planned to take a home loan and buy an apartment in the Kanakapura suburbs of Bangalore. Last week on Tuesday, Jadhav was called in by the vice-president of his company, handed a month’s salary and sacked on the spot.

“I signed the letter, took my cheque and walked out without speaking a single word. It was all over in five minutes,” said Jadhav, reliving the moment.

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Thaksin seeks to nurture Asia’s future leaders

Thailand’s fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has launched a foundation that aims to nurture Asia’s future leaders, a spokesman said Tuesday. ‘The Building a Better Future’ Foundation opened offices on Monday in Hong Kong and Dubai, said Pongthep Thepkanjana, a Bangkok-based spokesman.

Thaksin was in Dubai and planned to travel elsewhere next week, said Pongthep. He, however, declined to say where the destinations would be.

In an open letter on the foundation’s Web site, Thaksin said he wants to recruit Asia’s “rising stars” to tackle the economic crisis in the region and confront other pressing issues faced by developing nations.

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Now, Japan falls into recession

Japan became the latest major economy to fall into recession on Monday with France close behind, and the IMF said it needed at least $100 billion to fight an economic crisis enveloping the world.

Meanwhile, the battered auto industry came into focus. The US Senate was to begin debating a bailout later in the day, Germany was to hold talks with General Motors unit Opel, and Japan’s Toyota came under ratings scrutiny.

Wall Street looked set for a poor start to the week to follow sharp losses on Friday and European shares were down 2 per cent.

In something of a surprise, figures showed Japan, the world’s second biggest economy, sliding into its first recession in seven years in the third quarter as financial crisis curbed demand for Japanese exports. The 0.1 per cent contraction in July-September was worse than consensus forecasts.

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Hyderabad cops want to question Purohit on Mecca Masjid blast

The Hyderabad police, which has so far failed to find any evidence to back its earlier claims that the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Harkat-ulJihad-al-Islami (HuJI) were behind the Mecca Masjid blast — nine people were killed in the explosion on May 25, 2007 — is now looking to interrogate Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blasts. The CBI, entrusted investigation later, too drew a blank and the case remains unsolved till date.

A team of Hyderabad Police is camping in Mumbai, awaiting an opportunity to question Purohit who is in the custody of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). Last Friday, the team missed a chance to question Purohit as he was taken to Bangalore for a narco-analysis test.

“We will interrogate Purohit about the Mecca Masjid blast which remains unsolved,” a Hyderabad police officer told The Indian Express. “We have only exchanged information with the ATS so far, we will interrogate Purohit in a day or two.

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Tricolour is set to hit the Moon this evening

The Tricolour will be on the lunar surface on Friday evening when the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board Chandrayaan-I is ejected from the mothership, ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters today. This will pave the way for future touch downs, including manned missions.

Apart from the symbolism that the flag bears, the 35-kg MIP has the scientific objectives of learning and perfecting pin-point accuracy in landing, studying the atmosphere during its descent, and to qualify technologies related to soft landings for moon rovers.

After its journey that started October 22, the main orbiter has zeroed in on the moon at an altitude of 100 km to study its poles through a mission period of two years. The landing would be on the southern pole.

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Ties very good, let’s do better: Prime Minister to Obama

US President-elect Barack Obama has described the India-US strategic relationship as a “very important partnership”, and said his administration would like to work with New Delhi on all important global issues.

Obama called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning, the PMO said. The PM had earlier clarified that Obama and he had been unable to talk because of scheduling constraints.

The PM congratulated Obama warmly and said that his “historic victory was a source of inspiration for oppressed people all over the world”, a PMO statement said. Obama “praised the Prime Minister’s contribution to the progress of India both as Minister of Finance earlier and now as Prime Minister”. Singh told Obama that “relations between India and the United States were very good, but we cannot be satisfied with the status quo”.

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Obama-Prime Minister call scheduled today, Singh says time restraint earlier

To dispel all speculation over “no phone call” from Barack Obama to India after becoming the US President-elect, the government is firming up arrangements to schedule a call tomorrow between him and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Official sources said there was nothing beyond scheduling issues that had prevented the call from taking place so far. In fact, India was in the first list of countries that Obama wanted to reach out but the proposed time slot was too close to the PM’s departure time for Oman and Qatar on November 8.

Singh too mentioned this to reporters on board the special Air India aircraft last night while flying home from the Gulf. “This is not true (that he chose to ignore India). He wanted to talk to me the day before yesterday (Saturday).

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India may miss export target

In what has put a question mark over India’s ability to meet its $200 billion exports target for the current financial year, exports for October have actually dipped compared with October 2007, the first monthly decline in over five years.

A senior commerce department official said total exports in October have dropped 15 per cent compared with a growth of over 35 per cent and total exports of $13.3 billion last October. If petroleum product exports are excluded, the decline is sharper at 20 per cent, said director general of foreign trade RS Gujral.

What is worrying is that the decline is across all sectors. Gujral said, barring a few small sectors and petroleum products, exports of all other sectors took a hit. Official data for October exports is expected to be released early next month and a clear picture of disaggregated data for the month will take more time.

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No Vishwa Hindu Parishad links, we condemn riots in Gujarat: Sonal Shah’s brother

Anand Shah, brother of economist Sonal Shah who has been put by US President-elect Barack Obama on his advisory board, has said his family and their NGO has nothing to do with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Gujarat government.

As a “coordinator” of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad America (VHPA), Sonal Shah helped raise funds for victims of the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat. Her brother, who said that she couldn’t comment given her present responsibilities, criticised the 2002 riots.

“We strongly believe that no one in their right mind would ever approve of violence. The riots in Gujarat are not the way our society should deal with conflicts. Our entire family believes in this. We follow a compassionate Gandhian ideology that underlines pluralism, diversity and the need to take all sections of the society along in whatever we do,” Anand Shah told The Indian Express.

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Reserve Bank of India will allow banks to unlock their corporate bonds for cash

To ease the liquidity crunch, the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry will soon allow banks to avail of a refinance facility by depositing their corporate bond holdings as collateral.

The proposal, pushed by some state-owned and private sector banks, was discussed recently by the government and the RBI. A favourable view has been taken,a government official told The Indian Express.

As on March 31, 2008, total bank investment in corporate bonds is estimated to be about Rs 80,000 crore. State-owned and private sector companies issue interest-bear ing bonds to raise funds and these are subscribed by banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, NBFCs, etc.

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Bhutan to crown world’s youngest king today

After Barack Obama, yet another young leader will begin his sojourn as the head of a country on Thursday. At 29, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the world’s youngest monarch and with the newly drafted Constitution of Bhutan,he will also be one of the youngest ones to step down.

The new Constitution — drafted with a group of Bhutanese and foreign,including Indian, experts on constitution — which came into force in 2008, makes it mandatory for a King to retire by the age of 65, putting to an end the concept of monarchy in perpetuity for an individual. Earlier, Kings in Bhutan have ruled as long as they were alive.

The only exception to this was the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who announced his decision to abdicate the throne in 2006. At the age of only 53, he is officially going to hand over the mantle to his son, the Fifth King of Bhutan, at a coronation ceremony on Thursday.

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President Obama? They began to line up before sunrise

Americans went to the polls on Tuesday to choose the next president of the United States, deciding whether Senator Barack Obama or Senator John McCain was better suited to guide the nation through an economic crisis at home and two wars abroad.

In voting booths in every corner of the land, people collectively wrote the ending to a political saga that had been unfolding for nearly two years, during a tumultuous, uncertain period of American history in which record numbers of people expressed concerns that the country was heading down the wrong track.

Voters began lining up before dawn at polling locations up and down the East Coast, in what election officials said was an unusually large turnout. Some voters waited for as long as an hour in Virginia and others stood in lines that stretched out the door at polling stations in Cleveland.

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Minority scholarships see a 14-fold increase in applications

AS India debates the question and methods — of minority uplift and integration with the mainstream, there are indications that within the communities at least, the spirit is willing. In what must appear as a clear sign of aspiration and desire to move ahead, candidates from minority communities have applied in overwhelming numbers for educational scholarships offered by the central government this year.

The UPA Government instituted pre-matriculation, post-matriculation and merit-cum-means scholarships for minorities (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis among others) last year. Following widespread advertising in print, broadcast and Internet media, the scholarships drew around 3.5 lakh applications in 2007-’08. This year, the number has jumped a staggering 14-fold to nearly half a crore applications.

The scholarships, meant for meritorious minority students lacking financial means, are offered in all states, allocations being proportionate to the minority population.

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Right arm... over

Like his bowling, and his personality, the end of his extraordinary career was understated.

In the serenity that comes on the fifth day of a drawn Test, the batsmen practising their shots, the bowlers perfecting the line for the next match — after India had done enough to ensure there were no mishaps, and not well enough to pull off a miraculous win — Anil Kumble revealed to the world what he had decided the previous night.

As the Sunday afternoon crowd was getting in a festive mood, relishing VVS Laxman’s elegant flicks and Sourav Ganguly’s last few silken drives at the Kotla, a sign went up on .the two giant screens in the stadium. It read: “Anil Kumble has decided to retire after this Test match”.

The applause, at first muffled, became a deafening roar as Kumble waved from the dressing-room balcony, and reached a euphonious crescent do as the Indian captain walked on to the field through a corridor lined by his teammates,raising his faded Test cap.

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Sri Lankan President to visit India on November 12

Pressure from key UPA ally, DMK, to act on the Sri Lanka situation may have eased for the time being, but India will get Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a visitor by mid-November.

It is learnt that Rajapaksa has confirmed his participation at the BIMSTEC summit on November 13. He is expected to arrive late on November 12.

BIMSTEC is a trade grouping of seven countries in the region around Bay of Bengal, which includes Bangladesh, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, besides India and Sri Lanka.

The Lankan President’s one on-one meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being worked upon by the diplomats of both sides, on the sidelines of the summit, which is likely to be attended by heads of other countries as well.

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