NEWS OF THE DAY
SPECIAL FEATURES:
CITY NEWS
BACHCHAN SORRY FOR "SMOKING"
SANJAY TO APPEAR IN TADA COURT
GENERAL STAMP OFFICE CLERK NABBED
TELGI'S NEPHEW ARRESTED
HC RESTRAINS SIT FROM PERFORMING SCIENTIFIC TESTS ON ACCUSED
GOTE USES INSIDE-OUTSIDER ISSUE AGAINST DIG JAISWAL
CITY HAWKERS TO RALLY AGAINST SC JUDGEMENT ON JAN 6
MATUNGA BHAJANA SAMAJ FELICITATES VEDIC SCHOLARS
NATIONAL NEWS
JAYA SACKS 2 TN MINISTERS
BAIG QUITS
PAWAR MAY REWRITE POLITICAL EQUATIONS
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
INDIAN PM HAILS PAKISTAN'S WARM HOSPITALITY
BHUTAN APPRECIATES INDIA'S SUPPORT
AFTER SATURN A BRIGHT CHANCE TO DATE VENUS
US ROVER LANDS ON MARS
BUSINESS NEWS
MATUNGA BHAJANA SAMAJ FELICITATES VEDIC SCHOLARS***HEGDE : THE NEW SHERIFF OF MUMBAI***ETHIOPIAN GETS A NEW LOOK
BSNL SIGNS MOU WITH ONGC
MAD COW DISEASE IN US
MTNL INTRODUCES 3 NEW ISDN PLANS
NAIK APPOINTED L&T CHAIRMAN
VSNL LAUNCHES TOTAL INTERNET
TV TODY TO RAISE RS.138 CR VIA IPO
US BASED WEBEX TO ACQUIRE CYBER BAZAAR
MAHARASHTRA KEEN TO BUY POWER FROM DABHOL: SHINDE
SPORTS NEWS
PAKISTAN CLINCH SERIES AGAINST NEW ZEALAND
AUSSIES LEVEL SERIES WITH 9-WKT VICTORY
CITY NEWS
Apologizing to an anti-tobacco in an ad showing him smoking a cigar, Amitabh Bachchan has clarified that the banner was from a forthcoming film in which he plays a don and he had no role in designing the campaign.
Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Sabha felicitated the veteran Mrudangam artiste Uamayalpuram
Sivaraman recently
After a gap of fifteen years Umayalpuram Sivaraman visited Shanmukananda Sangeeta Sabha
where he was felicitated by Shankar - the president of the sabha. He later unveiled the
photograph of yester year's musician's maestro T. Brinda. Speaking to mumbainewsline.com
on this occassion he said "I feel great and honoured to be considered by the
Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Sabha for this grand occassion and I have been deeply associated
with T Brinda and her family since a long time". The unveiling of the photograph was
followed by a concert by Vocalists Santanagopalan and Pathamadai Mani Sundaram with
Umayalapuram Sivaraman on the mrudangam and other eminient instumentalists.
ASPIRING FILM ACTRESS HELD
The Oshiwara police arrested a twenty year old Khushi Aziz, an aspiring film actress for
stealing gold jewellery and ornaments worth Rs.1,12,200 from her friend's house at the
Lokhandwala complex. She was arrested from her Oshiwara residence. The police officers
from Oshiwara police station said that Aziz used to visit her friend Sara Sheikh's
Lokhandwala residence frequently since both were struggling for roles in Hindi films.
Police sources said that the incident took place
CITY DOCTORS HEAVE SIGH OF RELIEF AT APEX COURT JUDGEMENT
The recent Supreme Court judgement that a doctor will not be criminally liable if the
patient dies due to an error of judgement committed by him has been welcomed by the city
doctors. Earlier, an aggrieved party could approach the police station and file an FIR,
after which the police arrested the concerned doctor if there was evidence to prove that
the doctor had been criminally negligent. Criminally negligent acts are those where a
doctor wilfully and knowingly resorts to risky and reckless behaviour that will endanger
the life of the patient without sufficient and reasonable grounds to do so.
PAREKH AND BACHCHAN ALL SET TO MAKE APPEALS
Actress of yesteryears Asha Parekh and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan said they were
ready to appeal to the abductors of Indian truck drivers, as hopes for the release of the
hostages suffered a fresh blow with the breakdown of the talks between the Kuwati firm
which employs the drivers and Iraqi tribal leader Sheikh Hisham Al-Dulaimi. The Kuwati
firm apparently opted out of negotiations following a fresh demand made by the militant
group for more money.
40 TRAPPED IN KULLU TUNNEL AFTER THE RAINS
About 40 labourers were trapped in a tunnel at the Parvati hydel power project site as
flash floods caused by a cloudburst trigerred landslides and washed away heavy machinery
worth crores of rupees in Manikarna area of this district.
Russia has made a grand return to the arms market with a massive sale to India that analysts say underscores Moscow's reliance on cheap Soviet-era technology as it tries to challenge the richer military whizzes in the west. A post-Soviet record of 4.8 billion dollars in arms sales were signed in 2002 and 2003 was supposed to be even richer for the Russian military industry, according to the Kremlin. Analysts say this is in part due to the fact that countries like India and China are so reliant on Russian equipment , that they have no choice but to purchase spare parts from Moscow.
AFTER SATURN A BRIGHT CHANCE TO DATE VENUS
If Saturn set the date rolling for Earth in 2004, come May 2 and this planet will have a bright evening with Venus - the goddess of love and beauty. Sources in the Positional Astronomy Centre said that Venus can be seen at its brightest best on May 2 this year, when it comes close to the earth and would be in a straight line with the Sun and Earth on June 8. Venus would be seen this time after 111 years and perhaps nobody alive has seen Earth and Venus in such close proximity. Last time this phenomenon occurred was in 1892 on June 8. On January 1 last, Earth had its tryst with Saturn when the later came closest to Earth after 30 years. Saturn was in the Northern declination and 1204.3 million km away. Earth's planetary dates seem to be on an all time high as some months before, Mercury became visible from this planet. BUSINESS NEWS ETHIOPIAN GETS A NEW LOOK
Successfully flying as one of the leading African carriers for over 57 years,
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES has taken yet another significant step forward in modernizing its
visual image with a new logo and a new look. Speaking through Selamta, the latest issue of
ETHIOPIAN'S In-flight magazine, Bisrat Nigatu, chief executive officer says, "On-line
booking is fast becoming a convenient and economically feasible tool for meeting the
changing requirements of customers in the airline industry. In line with the global
airline market trend of doing business over the web, ETHIOPIAN has introduced Internet
booking in October 2002 and the system can be accessed at www.flyethiopian.com." As
this web site is the primary gateway to the on-line booking engine, ETHIOPIAN has
redisnged its web site making it a modern, well developed and easily navigable site. The
upgrading of ETHIOPIAN'S image is paralleled by a major fleet expansion as announced
earlier this year with the acquisition of 12 new aircraft - six Boeing 767-300ERs and six
Boeing 737-700s. Speaking to Mumbainewsline.com, Ayenew Alemneh, the Regional Manager of
the Airlines said, "After recently moving over to our new office at the World Trade
Center in Cuffe Parade, the city's prime business center, coupled with new Aircrafts, new
Logo and New Look, we are looking forward to continue offering ETHIOPIAN's outstanding and
unparalleled service to the passengers". Aptly named ETHIOPIAN, the Airlines is
indeed Africa's link to the World. Through the growing Addis hub and over 100 city pairs
every week, ETHIOPIAN continues to be the link between Africa, the Middle East, Gulf,
Asia, Europe, North America and more. In Mumbai, ETHIOPIAN can be contacted at 30-B, World
Trade Center, Cuffe Parade on Phone 22166066/67, Fax: 22153725 or Email:
ethiopian@vsnl.com GOVERNMENT TO BUILD 5 MT OF STRATEGIC CRUDE OIL RESERVES
Recognising the need for oil security amid the ongoing petroleum sector reforms. Government today decided to build 5 million tonnes of strategic crude oil reserves for 15 days at an estimated cost of Rs 1650 crore.
MTNL INTRODUCES 3 NEW ISDN PLANS
The state-owned Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) has launched three additional basic plans for its Integrated Subscriber Digital Network (ISDN) customers 'General' , 'Special' and 'Super'. The company would levy a monthly rental of Rs 500 under 'General' plan and the calls would be billed at Rs 1.10 per unit with a 90 second pulse rate. There would be no free calls under General plan and the calls would be billed at Rs 1.0 per unit. Under the 'Special' plan, MTNL would charge a monthly rental of Rs 1,500 with 1,200 free calls and under 'Super' scheme the rental would be around Rs. 3300 with 3,600 free calls.
BSNL SIGNS PACT WITH VSNL
The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam has signed an agreement with the Tatas-controlled Videsh Sanchar Nigam to use latter's network for offering its international long distance services. BSNL would not be making any investment for rolling out its own ISD network initially and instead share the infrastrucure of VSNL in which the government has 26 percent stake.
BSNL SIGNS MOU WITH ONGC
BSNL signed a MoU with ONGC to provide full gamut of telecom services - basic telephony, mobile services, internet and various other value added services to the latter. BSNL would meet all the telecom requirements of ONGC from their network as and when required by ONGC. Under MoU BSNL will provide basic telephony services including WLL, Intelligent Network services to ONGC throughout India. BSNL will also provide GSM mobile services through its CellOne sevice besides offering ONGC's remote locations and mobile stations through fixed cellular terminals.
TRAI ENABLES ACCESSIBILITY TO NET SERVICES FOR CELL USERS
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India directed cellular and basic telecom operators to provide accessibility to Internet services for cellular subscribers. That would enable cellular subscribers to enjoy internet services on their personal computers and laptops just like their landline counterparts.
NAIK APPOINTED L&T CHAIRMAN
The board of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has appointed A M Naik as the company's whole-time executive chairman, even as the board gave its approval to sell of the company's glass container business valued at around Rs. 100 crore. Naik, who is currently the managingg director of L&T, will assume charge of chairman from today and his appointment was unanimous. He would be the first wholetime executive chairman in the last 15 yearsand would initially have a five-year and four-month tenure.
VSNL LAUNCHES TOTAL INTERNET
Internet and telecommunication services major Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) has launched an integrated solution, 'Tata Indicom Total Internet' even as it has sought regulatory approvals for bandwidth price reduction on three of its connectivity nodes. Terming this as a "virtual credit card" Prateek Pashine - VSNL Head (retail business) said the new product would enable Tata Indicom dial-up customers use a range of features without purchasing different coupons or products. VSNL has also launched its internet telephony services in the country along with "Total Internet" which can be used for making "calls across the globe from a PC".
BEST HAS WORLD BANK LOAN AGAINST HC ORDER
In the recent wake of the High Court order to phase out all Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) buses exceeding 15 years of age on the contention of curbing vehicular pollution in the city. BEST General Manager, Swadheen Kshatriya assured that the World Bank project of Rs. 125 crore, which the undertaking is to get for purchasing 600 new buses, which would act as a substitute for the outgoing buses, would be completed by the first month of the new year. The undertaking presently has a fleet of 730 buses which fall under the preview of falling out.
TV TODY TO RAISE RS.138 CR VIA IPO
The TV Today Network, which runs one India's popular news channel is all set to raise upto Rs. 138 crores through an initial public offering due to open on December 18, 203. The IPO which will run till December 27 will be through the book building process. The company is offering 14.5 million shares comprising a fresh issue of 10 million shares and 4.5 million from existing share holders. Post issue, the promoters holding will come down to 56 percent from the current 71 per cent. The valuation is based on Rs. 80 to Rs. 95 per share.
US BASED WEBEX TO ACQUIRE CYBER BAZAAR
The US-based WebEx Communications a leading global provider of Web Communications Services announced its decision to acquire India's leading conferencing company, CyberBazaar, in $4 million cash deal. Under the deal , Bangalore headquartered CyberBazaar would become 100% subsidiary of WebEx based in Silicon valley, with CyberBazaar continuing with its India offices, management team and 120 staff employed in India.
QATAR AIRWAYS
93-B , Jorawar Bhavan
Maharshi Karve Road
Marine Lines
Mumbai - 400 020
