Factbox: Five facts about Germany’s “Love Parade”

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

- The Love Parade has been called the world’s largest techno dance party. It started in West Berlin in 1989 just four months before the Berlin Wall collapsed as a demonstration for peace, tolerance and understanding through love and music.

– The event is now held against a backdrop of electronic dance music such as House, Trance and Techno, flamboyant outfits and energetic dance moves.

– It was held almost annually in Berlin between 1989 and 2006, attracting more than one million participants. It moved to the western German Ruhr region in 2007.

– During the 1990s it was heralded as one of Berlin’s biggest attractions after the Berlin Wall fell.

– More than one million music lovers from around the world regularly crowded into Berlin for a six-km (four-mile)-long gyrating party fueled by dance, drink and drugs.

– Internationally, similar Love Parades have taken place in Zurich, San Francisco, Mexico City, Acapulco, Vienna, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Sydney, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo and Budapest.

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Myra MacDonald)

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STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-CS overweight UK stocks, cuts Japan

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Credit Suisse raises UK equities to 5 percent overweight, citing better economic and earnings momentum than global peers.

The broker says in a note that it keeps continental European equities holding at 13 percent overweight as the region “has the best economic momentum of any region and less aggregate leverage than the U.S., the UK and Japan, while concerns over the euro and fiscal tightenting are overstated.”

It downgrades Japanese equities to benchmark, saying the Japanese equity market “typically underperforms four months after lead indicators peak,” though it increase its overweight on Asia excluding Japan to 25 percent from 20 percent.

“We believe the next two years will be about balance sheet concerns — and private sector, banks, government and central bank balance sheets all look in much better shape in the developed world,” Credit Suisse analysts say.

Reuters Messaging rm://dominic.lau.reuters.com@reuters.net

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Colt Launches Highly Efficient, Modular Data Centers

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Colt, a communications and IT services company, has launched a new method for building data centers and bringing them to customers.

The Colt Modular Data Centre approach includes building and testing the entire data center, including all power and cooling equipment, in a manufacturing facility and then transporting it to its destination in either in a Colt-managed data center site or a customer’s site.

Colt says the process will allow it to deliver data center halls to customers in less than four months and the ability to build large data centers in 500 square meter (5,300 square feet) increments.

The data centers would have a target power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.21; PUE is a measure of a data center’s energy efficiency, with a PUE of 1 being the best efficiency rating.

Colt’s Modular Data Centre services and solutions will be handled by the newly created Colt Data Centre Services division.

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Straumann CFO to step down after 4 months in job

July 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ZURICH, July 9 (Reuters) – Straumann’s (STMN.S) finance chief will step down after four months in the job because it didn’t fit his expectations, the world’s second-largest maker of dental implants said on Friday.

Chief Financial Officer Wolf-Ruediger Daetz, who joined Straumann from Siemens Building Technologies, will leave in the autumn and his role will be covered on an interim basis by Chief Executive Beat Spalinger, the Swiss company said.

“Basically the job just didn’t fit his expectations. He is staying until the end of September and he will fulfil his responsibilities,” a Straumann spokesman said.

“Spalinger was the previous CFO. He knows the team. He has done the job before,” the spokesman added.

(Reporting by Katie Reid; Editing by Erica Billingham)

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Sterling hits day’s low after weak UK services PMI

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 5 (Reuters) – Sterling slipped to the day’s low against the dollar and the euro on Monday after a weak reading of the UK services sector underlined fragility in the country’s economic recovery.

The UK CIPS/Markit services PMI headline activity index fell for the third time in four months to 54.4 in June from 55.4 in May. That was weaker than the consensus forecast and the lowest level since August 2009. [ID:nSLA2IE685]

Sterling GBP=D4 hit the day’s low of $1.5160 after the figures were announced, compared with around $1.5170 beforehand.

The euro EURGBP=D4 edged up to a session high of 82.73 pence from 82.64 pence.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu)

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UPDATE 1-Keller sees FY results within expectations

June 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) – British ground engineer Keller (KLR.L) said on Friday it expected its full year results to fall within current market forecasts adding that there would be no significant change to its trading outlook.

“The expected results for the full year remain within the current range of market expectations,” Keller, which laid the foundations for the London Olympic Stadium, said in a statement.

In May the company, which will release its full year results in August, warned earnings could be well below expectations because falling construction sales and volumes would wipe out first half profits in the United States.

Revenues at its U.S. unit, the largest part of its business with 40 percent of group sales, were down about 20 percent in the first four months of the year.

Concerns about public spending cuts in Britain hitting building and construction companies were soothed earlier in the week when the new coalition government announced a regional growth fund to finance capital projects in its budget.

Shares in the company closed at 550 pence, giving the company a market value of about 350 million pounds. (Reporting by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Myles Neligan)

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China stocks rise 0.1 pct, investor enthusiasm wanes

June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 22 (Reuters) – China’s key stock index closed up 0.1 percent on Tuesday, inching to a fresh three-week high although investor enthusiasm waned about potential yuan appreciation as the currency retraced after a rally against the dollar.

Shanghai shares had surged on Monday in their biggest one-day rise in four weeks after the central bank relaxed currency controls and unexpectedly allowed the yuan CNY=CFXS to reach its highest against the dollar since a July 2005 revaluation.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended at 2,588.7 points, holding steady after Monday’s 2.9 percent gain.

The country’s stock market remains one of the world’s worst performers this year, however, down 21 percent after authorities unleashed a range of policies to ease speculation in the red-hot property sector.

“The index appears to be trying to get past psychological resistance at 2,600 but has been unable to break through,” said Zhang Qi, an anaylst at Haitong Securities.

Gaining Shanghai shares outnumbered losers 595 to 262 while volume eased to 66 billion yuan ($9.71 billion), in one of the three lightest sessions of the past four months, versus Monday’s 81 billion yuan. ($1=6.796 Yuan) (Reporting by Chen Yixin and Edmund Klamann)

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Swiss businessman Goeldi flies out of Libya -lawyer

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 13 (Reuters) – An aircraft carrying Max Goeldi, the Swiss businessman at the centre of a diplomatic row between Libya and Switzerland, has taken off from Tripoli airport, Goeldi’s lawyer said on Sunday.

“My client has left Libya,” Salah Zahaf told Reuters. Goeldi was earlier given clearance to return home, ending a row during which Libya barred him from leaving the country for nearly two years and sentenced him to four months in prison. (Reporting by Salah Sarrar; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Semiconductor Industry Association Forecast Projects Industry Will Grow to $290.5 Billion in 2010

June 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(Business Wire)–
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today released an updated industry
forecast that projects worldwide chip sales will grow by 28.4 percent to $290.5
billion in 2010. The forecast projects 6.3 percent growth in 2011 to $308.7
billion, followed by 2.9 percent growth in 2012 to $317.8 billion.

“Healthy demand in all major product sectors and in all geographic markets drove
sales of semiconductors to record levels in the first four months of 2010,” said
SIA President George Scalise. “While the year-on-year growth rate will moderate
through the remainder of the year, we expect modest sequential sales growth in
line with historic seasonal patterns. The industry began the year with
inventories in balance and we do not see evidence of excess inventory
accumulation at this time.

“Economic forecasts project global economic growth rates of 4.6 percent in 2010
and 4.4 percent for 2011, with the fastest growth expected to be in emerging
economies. These emerging markets – especially China and India – are creating
demand for Information Technology products, which in turn fuels demand for
semiconductors,” Scalise concluded.

About SIA

The SIA is the voice of the U.S. semiconductor industry, America`s second
largest exporter. SIA seeks to continue U.S. leadership in this critical sector
that employs 185,000 people in the U.S., and provides the enabling technology
for America`s $1.1-trillion high-tech industries with a U.S. workforce of nearly
6 million people. More information about the SIA can be found at
www.sia-online.org

Semiconductor Industry Association
John Greenagel or Anne Craib, 408-436-6600
mailbox@sia-online.org

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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‘BJP will support bill for separate Telangana state’

June 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Hyderabad, June 6 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Sunday said his party was ready to support a bill for the formation of a separate Telangana state if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government brings it in parliament.

Asserting that BJP was ’100 percent’ for separate statehood to the Telangana region, he told reporters here that the Congress party was playing with the sentiments of Telangana people.

‘If Congress party is sincere on Telangana issue, let them bring a bill in Parliament. BJP will support it,’ he said.

Gadkari, who arrived here on a three-day visit — the first since he took over as party chief, blamed the Congress for complicating the Telangana issue.

‘The Congress party declared that it will carve out a separate Telangana state but later backtracked. It is playing vote-bank politics on the issue,’ he alleged.

‘This is not the way to solve a problem. The Congress party is, in fact, creating more problems. The present confusion is because of its policies,’ Gadkari said.

He also said that the Srikrishna committee formed by the central government to look into the Telangana issue was a waste of time. ‘This is just a time-pass,’ he remarked.

The BJP president blamed the policies of the UPA government for the miseries of farmers in the country. He alleged that farmers’ suicides were continuing due to the ‘anti-farmer’ policies of the government.

He said that the BJP, for the last four months, has been demanding a halt to future and forward trading in essential commodities. ‘The government is exploiting farmers. Neither the farmers are getting remunerative prices nor the consumers are being benefited,’ he said.

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Saks Incorporated Announces May Comparable Store Sales

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

NEW YORK–(Business Wire)–
Retailer Saks Incorporated (NYSE: SKS) (the “Company”) today announced that
owned sales totaled $177.4 million for the four weeks ended May 29, 2010
compared to $166.0 million for the four weeks ended May 30, 2009, a 6.9%
increase. Comparable store sales increased 5.8% for the month.

On a year-to-date basis, for the four months ended May 29, 2010, owned sales
totaled $834.3 million compared to $781.1 million for the four months ended May
30, 2009, a 6.8% increase. Comparable store sales increased 6.0% for the four
months.

For May, the strongest categories at Saks Fifth Avenue stores were women`s
apparel, shoes, handbags, and accessories and men`s tailored clothing and
accessories. The Company reduced its year-over-year promotional activity in May.

Saks Incorporated operates 53 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 55 Saks OFF 5TH stores,
and saks.com.

Saks Incorporated
Julia Bentley, 865-981-6243
www.saksincorporated.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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ADP National Employment Report Shows U.S. Employment Increased by 55,000 Private Sector Jobs in May

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ROSELAND, NJ, Jun 03 (MARKET WIRE) —
According to today’s ADP National Employment Report(R), private sector
employment increased by 55,000 from April to May on a seasonally adjusted
basis. The ADP National Employment Report, created by Automatic Data
Processing, Inc. (ADP(R)), in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers,
LLC, is derived from actual payroll data and measures the change in total
nonfarm private employment each month.

Nonfarm Private Employment Highlights – May Report:

— Total employment: +55,000

— Small businesses* +13,000
— Medium businesses** +39,000
— Large businesses*** +3,000

— Goods-producing sector: -23,000

— Service-providing sector: +78,000

Addendum:
— Manufacturing industry: +15,000

* Small businesses represent payrolls with 1-49 employees
** Medium
businesses represent payrolls with 50-499 employees
*** Large businesses
represent payrolls with more than 499 employees
Note: all data included
in the ADP National Employment Report is based on size of payroll. In
some cases, small and medium-size payrolls belong to businesses employing
more workers than indicated by the size grouping.

According to Joel
Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, “Nonfarm private
employment increased 55,000 from April to May 2010 on a seasonally
adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report. May’s
rise in private employment was the fourth consecutive monthly gain.
However, over these four months the increases have averaged a modest
39,000. The slow pace of improvement from February through May is
consistent with the pause in the decline of initial unemployment claims
that occurred during the winter months.”

Prakken added, “Unlike the
estimate of total establishment employment to be released on Friday by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), today’s ADP Report does not include
any federal hiring in May for the 2010 Census. For this reason it is
reasonable to expect that Friday’s figure for nonfarm total employment
reported by the BLS will be considerably stronger than today’s estimate
for nonfarm private employment in the ADP Report.”

“May’s ADP Report
estimates nonfarm private employment in the service-providing sector rose
by 78,000, the fifth consecutive monthly increase. Employment in the
goods-producing sector declined 23,000 during May. However, while
construction employment dropped 41,000, manufacturing employment rose
15,000, the fourth consecutive monthly increase,” said Prakken.
Prakken
went on to say, “Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more
workers, saw employment increase by 3,000 and employment among
medium-size businesses, defined as those with between 50 and 499 workers
increased by 39,000. Employment among small-size businesses, defined as
those with fewer than 50 workers, increased by 13,000 in May.”

The
matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was
derived from ADP data, which during the twelve month period through
December 2009, averaged over 360,000 U.S. business clients and
represented over 22 million U.S. employees. This approximately represents
the size of the matched sample used this month.

Small Business
Highlights – May Report:
Due to the important contribution small
businesses make to economic growth, employment data that is specific to
businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be reported in the ADP Small
Business Report(R) each month. The ADP Small Business Report is a subset
of the ADP National Employment Report.*

– Total small business employment: +13,000
– Goods-producing sector: -24,000 small business jobs
– Service-providing sector: +37,000 small business jobs

*All size data included in the ADP National Employment Report is
based on size of payroll. In some cases, small and medium-size payrolls
belong to businesses employing more workers than indicated by the size
grouping.

Private employment among small businesses increased by 13,000 in May,
according to the ADP Small Business Report released today. Additional
information about small business employment, including charts on monthly
job growth and employment levels, along with historical data, is
available at http://www.smallbusinessreport.adp.com.

“Small businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, saw
employment increase by 13,000 during May. Small business employment in
the service-providing sector increased by 37,000, the fifth consecutive
monthly increase,” said Joel Prakken.

To obtain additional information about the ADP National Employment
Report, including additional charts, supporting data and the schedule of
future release dates, or to subscribe to the monthly e-mail alerts and
RSS feeds, please visit www.ADPemploymentreport.com. The June 2010 ADP
National Employment Report will be released June 30, 2010 at 8:15 AM ET.

About the ADP National Employment Report(R)
The ADP National Employment
Report, sponsored by ADP(R), was developed and is maintained by
Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. It is a measure of employment derived from
an anonymous subset of roughly 500,000 U.S. business clients. During the
twelve month period through December 2009, this subset averaged over
360,000 U.S. business clients and over 22 million U.S. employees working
in all private industrial sectors. The ADP Small Business Report(R) is a
monthly estimate of private nonfarm employment among companies in the
United States with 1-49 employees and is a subset of the ADP National
Employment Report. The data for both reports is collected for pay periods
that can be interpolated to include the week of the 12th of each month,
and processed with statistical methodologies similar to those used by the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to compute employment from its monthly
survey of establishments. Due to this processing, this subset is modified
to make it indicative of national employment levels; therefore, the
resulting employment changes computed for the ADP National Employment
Report are not representative of changes in ADP’s total base of U.S.
business clients.

For a description of the underlying data and the statistical properties
of the series, please see “ADP National Employment Report: Development
Methodology” at http://ADPemploymentreport.com/methodology.aspx.

About ADP
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP), with nearly $9
billion in revenues and over 560,000 clients, is one of the world’s
largest providers of business outsourcing solutions. Leveraging 60 years
of experience, ADP offers the widest range of HR, payroll, tax and
benefits administration solutions from a single source. ADP’s easy-to-use
solutions for employers provide superior value to companies of all types
and sizes. ADP is also a leading provider of integrated computing
solutions to auto, truck, motorcycle, marine and recreational vehicle
dealers throughout the world. For more information about ADP or to
contact a local ADP sales office, reach us at 1 (800) 225-5237 or visit
the company’s Web site at www.ADP.com.

About Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC
Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC (MA) has
been the most trusted source for U.S. macroeconomic forecasts and
commentary, monetary and fiscal policy analysis, and econometric modeling
for 25 years. MA’s clients include leading financial service firms,
nonfinancial corporations, key policymaking agencies of the U.S.
government, as well as State and Foreign Government agencies. Additional
information on Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC is available on the company’s
Web site, www.MacroAdvisers.com.

The ADP National Employment Report and ADP Small Business Report are
registered trademarks of ADP, Inc.

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Media Contacts:
ADP Public Relations
ADP
(973) 974-7612
Public_Relations@adp.com

Rhena Wallace
Cohn & Wolfe for ADP
(212) 798-9832
rhena.wallace@cohnwolfe.com

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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Woods’ No. 1 reign to end?

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

History may be about to be scripted. But Tiger Woods may not have much to do with it. Or can he force it to go the way it has doing over the last dozen years or so?

It has been 12 years since the creation of the Mark H. McCormack Award, given to the player who has been ranked No. 1 in the world for the most weeks during a calendar year.

Tiger Woods is still the only name engraved on the trophy.

Along with his 14 majors, 82 official victories and more than $100 million in earnings worldwide, Woods’ dominance of his generation is reflected in the world ranking. Dating to the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club, he has been at the top 93 percent of the time.

Woods doesn’t stay there forever. He just doesn’t vacate the spot for very long.

David Duval took it away from him by winning The Players Championship in 1999 and stayed there for 14 weeks. Five years later, Vijay Singh replaced Woods at No. 1 by beating him at the TPC Boston for one of his nine victories that year. Singh finished the final four months at No. 1 – not long enough to win the McCormack Award – and didn’t give it back until Woods won the Masters the next April.

Phil Mickelson appears to be next in line.

The Masters champion needs only to win Colonial this week to become the 13th player to occupy No. 1 since McCormack, the late founder of IMG, devised the ranking system in 1986. Colonial is more meaningful than ever for Mickelson, for it was last year when the tournament staged a “Pink Out” to support his wife, Amy, who had just learned she had breast cancer.

Mickelson has never been No. 1 at anything in a career that has been second to one. Despite his 40 worldwide victories and four majors, he has never won the money list, player of the year, the FedEx Cup, the Vardon Trophy or reached No. 1 in the world.

If it doesn’t happen at Colonial, it figures to happen soon. A change at the top seems inevitable, more because of what’s going on with Woods – chaos in his personal life, back-to-back weeks out of the money for the first time – than with Lefty.

What makes this amazing is how quickly it changed.

Even after Mickelson won the Tour Championship last September, Woods’ average was nearly twice as high.

But the longer Woods stayed away from golf while dealing with the fallout from his infidelity, the more points he lost. Mickelson took a big step by winning at Augusta National, his only victory this year, and finishing second alone at Quail Hollow with a birdie on the last hole.

What makes this different from previous times that Woods gave up the No. 1 ranking is that if Mickelson fails to catch him soon, there’s no shortage of players right behind him.

Lee Westwood of England is No. 3, not quite in range but getting closer. He has finished no worse than third in the last three majors, and he appears to have figured out how to play his best golf in the biggest events. Steve Stricker is No. 4, although Colonial will be his first tournament since the Masters because of a chest injury. Jim Furyk, a two-time winner this year, is next at No. 5.

“Tiger’s performance and schedule and things like that are unpredictable at the moment, aren’t they?” Westwood said last week.

“We have all seen that the last few weeks. Phil is obviously a world-class player and has already won a major this year, but you know, his performances are very much up-and-down as well.

“I suppose No. 2 and No. 1 are more achievable than they have been in the last few years.”

Ian Poulter, who is No. 6, was quoted in a British golf magazine a few years ago as saying that when he reaches his potential, it will be him and Woods at the top of the ranking. But is it a given that Woods will be there at the end of the year?

“I can see anybody in the top 10 in the world – if they play great for a spell of three, four months, have a couple of wins and a couple of big finishes – certainly get to the points that Tiger is at now, for sure,” Poulter said.

One thing hasn’t changed. Losing the No. 1 ranking depends more on Woods than the players chasing him.

The other two times Woods lost his No. 1 ranking, he was revamping his game. He won only two tournaments in 1998, and when the changes with Butch Harmon finally took hold, Duval had passed him in the spring of ’99. Woods reclaimed No. 1 for good by winning the PGA Championship that year at Medinah, and he kept it for the next 264 weeks.

Woods was going through a swing change with Hank Haney for most of 2004 when he won only one tournament. Those changes kicked in at the end of that year, and Woods left everyone behind in 2005 with seven victories (including two majors) and five runner-up finishes.

He has been No. 1 for 259 consecutive weeks going into the Colonial. Woods made it sound as though he was going through more swing changes at The Players Championship, and that figures to be the case now that he and Haney no longer are working together. It remains a mystery who – if anyone – will be Woods’ next swing coach.

In the meantime, No. 1 is up for grabs. Mickelson is in the best position to seize this opportunity. And if it takes Woods more than a year to sort out his personal life and his game, there might finally be another name to be engraved on the McCormack Award.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top golfers say just one season away from claiming Tiger’s `lair’

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 20 (ANI): A clutch of golfers have said they are just one season away from claiming Tiger Wood’s number one ranking.

The latest is Ian Poulter, who has talked about the possibility of challenging Tiger Woods at the top of the rankings.

When announcing yesterday that he could become world No 1 this summer, Poulter affected only the odd raised eyebrow in a roomful of agreeing nods.

This recognition was in large part down to the forlorn state of Woods at the moment and also because Poulter was not merely referring to himself.

According to The Independent, this was no rerun of the flamboyant Englishman”s famous “When I reach my full potential it will be just me and Tiger” declaration of a few years ago. This was more “just me and eight others and Tiger”.

“It”s closer at the top of the rankings than it ever was because of all the points Tiger has dropped,” the paper quoted Poulter, as saying.

“If they play great for three or four months, get a couple of wins and a couple of big finishes, I can see anybody in the top 10 getting to the points that Tiger is at now – including myself,” he added.

Poulter was speaking on the eve of the BMW PGA Championship, an event which tees off at the West Course boasting five of the world”s top 10.

Four of them happen to hail from the United Kingdom (Ernie Els being the other).

Yet with respect to Poulter, of this quartet Lee Westwood holds the most realistic chance of usurping Woods.

On Monday the 37-year-old awoke to find himself in the career-high position of No 3 and with the tag of “world”s best” in tantalising focus.

Unlike Poulter and many other of his fellow professionals, Westwood does not include an algorithm book as a fixture in his luggage set so will not be aware of the complex calculations. Victory here in the European Tour”s flagship tournament will earn him not only 640,000 pounds but more importantly enough ranking points to bring him within a top-two finish at next month”s US Open of the No 1 spot.

Listening to Westwood yesterday it was clear he does not believe that anyone right now can depend on the form of Woods or even of Phil Mickelson.

“Tiger”s performance and schedule are unpredictable at the moment, aren”t they?” said the man who has finished third, third, second in the last three majors.

“We have all seen that the last few weeks. Phil is obviously world class and already has a major this year, but his performances are very much up and down as well. And the world rankings are all about consistency. So, I suppose yeah, No 1 and No 2 are more achievable than they have been in the last few years.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rizwan case: Calcutta HC directs CBI to initiate fresh probe

May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kolkata, May 18 (ANI): The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to start fresh investigation into computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rahman”s murder case.

The court has affirmed that the investigation is inadequate and asked the agency to start a fresh investigation in the case.

The court has also asked the CBI to submit its report within four months.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kolkata industrialist Ashok Todi and his brother Pradip Todi in connection with the case.

The apex court told the Todis to surrender their passports and not to move out of Kolkata without the prior permission of the CBI. They have also been prevented from communicating or influencing witnesses.

Ashok Todi and his two relatives-Pradip Todi and Anil Saraogi, Rizwanur”s family friend Pappu and three Police Officers- Former Deputy Commissioner Ajoy Kumar, ACP Sukanti Chakraborty, Sub-Inspector Krishnendu Das, have been accused of abetment to suicide, criminal intimidation and conspiracy by the CBI in connection with the death of Rizwan.

Rizwanur”s body was found on the railway tracks between Biddhanagar Road and Dum Dum Junction on September 21 last year, almost a month after his marriage to Priyanka, Todi”s daughter.

Though police is convinced that it was a case of suicide, Rizwanur”s family members are not convinced and have moved the higher courts for a CBI inquiry. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

T20 winning captain Collingwood back in team as regular trooper

May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 18 (ANI): England’s Twenty20 World Cup winning captain Paul Collingwood will join the team as a regular player at Lord’s on Monday for the first Test against Bangladesh.

Collingwood will not even be the vice-captain of the England cricket team. Andrew Strauss will be back as skipper, with Alastair Cook his No. 2.

Strauss has not led England for four months. In that time England played in Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh and the Caribbean, while he has been struggling to make early-season runs for Middlesex, The Sun reports.

“I don’t think Straussy will have trouble going back into the dressing room, despite not being part of this victory. He is our leader at the moment.

“Colly has become a lot more confident. He has led from the front with his attitude,” the paper quoted Flower, as saying.

Bangladesh on the other hand are confident that their captain Shakib Al Hasan will recover from chicken pox to face England in the first Test at Lord’s. (ANI)

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Nepal Maoists flip-flop on rebel integration continue

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, May 14 — Change of stance by opposition Maoists regarding integration and rehabilitation of former People’s Liberation Army rebels continues to affect the fragile peace process in Nepal. Two days after UCPN (Maoist) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ announced possibility of solving the vexed issue within four months, the party did a flip-flop on Friday. Maoist members of the special committee on integration and rehabilitation of the nearly 19000 former PLA rebels abstained from a meeting to resolve the key issue that has brought the peace process to a standstill. The Maoists who orchestrated a six-day strike earlier this month are demanding removal of the government and formation of a national unity government led by them before holding any formal talks on the peace process. Worried at developments, the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) has termed the need to arrive at a consensus among the parties as “extremely urgent”. Established in January 2007 and entrusted with the task of monitoring arms and personnel of PLA as well as Nepal Army, UNMIN’s tenure has been extended six times till date. The last extension for a period of four months till September 15, 2010 came on Wednesday. “The Security Council is not happy about the extensions and expects to see positive development,” said UNMIN chief Karin Landgren. She also expressed concern at the political parties not capitalizing on the conducive environment created last week after Maoists withdrew their strike. The Security Council has asked the Nepal government as well as UCPN (M) to agree on a time-bound action plan on integration and rehabilitation of Maoist rebels with help from the special committee.

The deadline for drafting a new constitution and tenure of the Constituent Assembly expires on May 28. The country could come under emergency rule if the tenures of both are not extended.

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UNMIN”s term extended by four months

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, May 13 (ANI): The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) by four more months.

With the latest extension, the UNMIN will remain in Nepal till September 15.

This is the sixth time that the UNMIN”s term has been extended.

The Government of Nepal had written to the UNSC last week to extend the current mandate of UNMIN.

While extending the mandate, the UNSC called on Kathmandu to work with Maoist combatants to implement a timetabled action plan with clear benchmarks for integration and rehabilitation into the Nepal Army.

The UNSC also called Nepal to start working on the UNMIN”s exit plan.

Nepal”s U.N. Ambassador, Gyan Chandra Acharya, told that the UNSC adopted a resolution to this effect upon the request of the government for extension of the UNMIN”s mandate.

Acknowledging that Nepal was going through a difficult time, Acharya said: “We are confident that we will be able to conclude the peace process with tangible progress in the days ahead.”

The UNMIN is tasked with assisting the peace process in Nepal, which endured a decade-long civil war that ended with the signing of a peace accord between the Government and the Maoists in 2006, Xinhua reported. (ANI)

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When Helen Mirren met Helen Mirren

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 12 (ANI): Helen Mirren is now a timeless beauty in every sense of the word. She has met her wax double at Madame Tussauds, in London.

The Oscar-winner, 65, joked that her husband, director Taylor Hackford, could not tell the difference and was “very taken” with the silent lookalike.

“My husband wants to marry her. I’m much more argumentative than she is,” The Daily Star quoted her as saying.

The waxwork took 20 modelers four months to make at a cost of 150,000 pounds and Dame Helen donated her favourite black Asprey lace dress for it.

The dummy will be placed in the museum’s A-list room, which is designed to make visitors feel that they have stumbled upon a celebrity party.

Liz Edwards of Madame Tussauds said: “Dame Helen has frequently topped visitor surveys to find out who the public want to see.” (ANI)

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Hizbul Mujahideen militant says Kashmiris still receive training in PoK camps

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Jammu, May 12 (ANI): Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant-cum-trainer Mohammad Ashraf, has said thousands of misguided Kashmiri youth are still receiving training in camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Ashraf, who was held by the Army near the fencing at Sawjian in Poonch District along with his wife Asima, said the youths, who were getting training in different militant training camps in PoK wanted to return homes and lead a peaceful life.

He further said that neither he nor other militants had any knowledge of the state government”s proposed rehabilitation policy for them.

He said he had crossed over to PoK along with 25 other Kashmiri somewhere from Poonch in 1999 when he was 13.

He confessed to have received training at a militant training camp in Kacharban, PoK.
Senior Superintendent of Police Manmohan Singh, said: ” The duo was taken into custody last evening.”

Preliminary investigation has revealed that Ashraf of Budgam district had crossed over to PoK via Poonch in 1999, Singh said, adding that he had received three-months arms training in a camp across the border.

Ashraf claimed he had married Asma, a resident of Kota district in PoK about four months back and crossed over to Poonch to join his family.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Poonch, has sent them to seven days police custody. (ANI)

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