Stricter rules in United Kingdom for foreign students

Britain on Thursday announced stricter rules for foreign students wishing to study in the country.

The home office confirmed that the student tier of the Australian-style points system would be implemented from March 2009. Britain introduced a new points-based immigration system for non European Union migrants in a major overhaul of its immigration system earlier this year.

The points-based system has five tiers — highly skilled migrants come under the first tier, Tier 2 comprises of skilled workers with a job offer, Tier 3 covers low skilled workers, Tier 4 is for students, and Tier 5 for temporary workers like musicians, actors and sportsmen.

Foreign students contribute £2.5 billion annually to the UK economy in tuition fees alone and an overall estimated contribution of £8.5 billion every year, according to official estimates.

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Lalu warns Mumbai: Stop, or I’ll halt trains

In a veiled threat to the Maharashtra government over continuing violence against North Indians in Mumbai, railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday virtually “threatened” to seriously consider stopping train services in parts of the state.

“The railways are a soft target for any kind of protesters as it easy to attack our property. It is the responsibility of the state government to protect rail assets. We will seriously consider blocking services to violence-affected parts of Maharashtra if the violence continues,” he said.

Railway ministry sources said train services were halted in parts of Bihar too following widespread attacks on railway property recently, but political watchers said Mr Yadav’s remarks were a “clear warning” to Maharashtra.

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Rizwan case: NBWs against Todi brothers

A city court on Monday issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against industrialist Ashok Todi, his brother Pradip Todi and their relative Anil Saraogi for their alleged involvement in Rizwanur Rehman’s suicide. When CBI officers went to arrest them, none of them was found.

On Monday, 7th metropolitan magistrate (MM) Bibhas Chatterjee at the Bankshall Court issued the accused’s arrest warrants and asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to produce them before the court within November 3.

On September 22, the 17th MM at the Banksall Court had issued summons against seven accused, including the Todis, asking them to appear personally before the court on October 27.

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Nepal sets its calendar back by 8 centuries

Nepal’s former Maoist rebels, who came to power pledging revolution and progress, have now endorsed a decision to switch over from the existing calendar to an ethnic one that will take the former Hindu kingdom back more than eight centuries.

While the world ushers in the year 2009 in two months’ time, from Wednesday the Maoist-led government of Nepal will change over to the Nepal Sambat calendar according to which it would be year 1129 in the new Himalayan republic.

The change is certain to add to the complexities of a nation guided by its own peculiar cultures and traditions. Currently, Nepal uses the Vikram Sambat calendar, which was established by the great King of India’s Gupta dynasty, emperor Vikramaditya.

According to the Vikram Sambat calendar, it is now the year 2065, putting Nepal ahead of the internationally used Gregorian calendar by 57 years. However, Nepal will relinquish its progressive status, in terms of years, and go 879 years back officially from Wednesday following a long campaign by the rich and powerful Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley.

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Good news for Diwali: Fuel prices to be cut

You can hope to save on your fuel bill soon. In a possible Diwali gift to the nation, the government said Thursday an announcement on a fuel price cut would be made in a week.

“The matter is being examined and an announcement will be made within a week,” petroleum minister Murli Deora told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, as Opposition members demanded an immediate cut with global crude prices falling.

The international crude price has plummeted from $147 per barrel in September to $61.47 per barrel in October. Mr Deora said that despite this the government was still losing money as the Indian rupee had also got devalued in the same period by 25 per cent.

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McCain catches right hooks

When Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama last weekend, he became the most prominent voice yet to join a growing chorus of disillusioned conservatives now openly criticising Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Last month, the Pulitzer prize-winning conservative columnist George F. Will compared Senator McCain’s response to the financial crisis with that of “a flustered rookie playing in a league too high” and described his temperament as “dismaying”.

Shortly after Will’s baseball analogy, columnist Kathleen Parker wrote in the right-wing National Review that, to her great disappointment, governor Palin was “clearly out of her league” and urged her to bow out as contender for the vice-presidency.

New York Times columnist David Brooks, himself a former National Review writer, then joined the fray, making the now infamous remark that Palin represented “a fatal cancer to the Republican Party”.

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Somali militia frees Indian ship

Somali gunmen acting as freelance coast guards freed a hijacked Indian dhow and its 13 crew members after a battle with pirates off the country’s northern coast, a Somali official said on Tuesday.

Four of the pirates were captured during the shootout while another four escaped, said Ali Abdi Aware, the foreign minister of Somalia’s semi autonomous region of Puntland. None of the dhow’s crew was wounded. Somalia does not have a formal coast guard, but groups of heavily armed clan-based militias sometimes do the job for local authorities.

The cargo-laden vessel was en route to Somalia from Asia when it was seized over the weekend, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

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Warrant to be served on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Raj: Cops

The Mumbai police said on Monday it would serve the non bail able warrant issued by a Jamshedpur court against MNS chief Raj Thackeray soon, and arrested over 500 party activists in order to prevent a violent backlash.

“I have not seen the warrant myself and don’t know about the date by when it ends. However, we can serve the warrant on him (Raj) wherever he is,” Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Gaffoor said.

Earlier, a Jamshedpur police team delivered the warrant issued by a first class judicial magistrate in Jharkhand on September 30 to the Mumbai police. The warrant directs Mr Raj Thackeray to appear before the court on November 17.

Mr Raj Thackeray is now a tour of the Konkan region and western Maharashtra and is expected to return here by October 23, MNS officials said.

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Mishra floors Aussies, puts India in command

Not for nothing do Australia look at India as their most serious opposition in the Test arena. Having let the hosts wiggle off the hook in the first Test, Ricky Ponting’s men found themselves under the hammer at the close on Day III of the second Test at the PCA Stadium here, having conceded a thumping 201-run first innings lead and thereafter unable to stop the Indians from coasting to 100 for no loss in the second innings.

In between, little Haryana leg-spinner Amit Mishra helped skittle Australia out for 268, one run short of averting the follow-on in reply to India’s healthy 469 with a five-wicket haul on debut and it is already evident that this Australian side has travelled here badly under-equipped in terms of personnel needed to make a winning difference on Indian pitches.

Already heavily in arrears, the visitors were further undone by a combination of good batsmanship from openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir who have put together an unbeaten 100 runs to further widen the gap. Already statistically India are in an impregnable position for no team has scored over 276 in the fourth innings of a Mohali Test.

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Navy to hunt pirates in Gulf of Aden

In a historic move, the Government of India on Thursday approved the deployment of an Indian naval warship with helicopters and marine commandos on board in the Gulf of Aden to carry out anti-piracy patrols on the route followed usually by Indian commercial vessels between Salalah (Oman) and Aden (Yemen) in West Asia. The government also announced that “the patrolling is commencing immediately”. The Gulf of Aden is known to be a happy hunting ground for pirates, who have often hijacked ships from several nations in the region.

This is the first time that the Government has sanctioned a specific anti-piracy measure that is so far away from Indian shores. The move follows the hijacking of a foreign tanker, MT Stolt Valor, with 18 Indians aboard last month from the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen by Somali pirates.

“The presence of (the) Indian Navy warship in this area will be significant as the Gulf of Aden is a major strategic choke point in the Indian Ocean region and provides access to the Suez Canal through which the sizeable portion of India’s trade flows,” the government said.

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First snowfall of season in Valley

The famous Ski resort of Gulmarg experienced the first snowfall of the season, while the plains across Kashmir valley were lashed by rains for the second day on Wednesday.

However, the movement of traffic on all vital roads, including 300-km Srinagar-Jammu and 434-km Srinagar-Leh national highways was smooth, official sources said.

It started to snow in Gulmarg hill resort, 52 km from here, around 11 am, much to the delight of the hoteliers and other people connected with tourism, which was hit hard by the agitation sparked by Amarnath land row.

“We are hopeful that the snowfall will attract tourists back to the valley,” said a hotelier, who claimed that the occupancy in the hotels in the hill resort fell to zero after the eruption of the agitation in the Valley in July.

Although the snowfall lasted for a brief period, small groups of tourists were seen enjoying the snow flakes.

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Computer glitch led to Airbus nosedive

A faulty computer unit likely caused a Qantas jetliner to experience two terrifying midair plunges within minutes last week, an Australian investigator said Tuesday. More than 40 people were injured when the Airbus A330-300 briefly nosedived twice during a Singapore-Perth flight last Tuesday.

Julian Walsh, chief air investigator at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said an initial investigation indicated the cause was a computer unit that detects through sensors the angle of the plane against the airstream. One of the plane’s three air data inertial reference units, known as ADIRUs, malfunctioned and sent the wrong data to the main flight computers.

He said Airbus had notified all operators of A330 and A340 aircraft, equipped with the same sensors, about how crews should respond to such a malfunction. But aircraft are unlikely to be grounded over a malfunction that had never happened before, he added.

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From 2010, passports in just 3 days

The ministry of external affairs has contracted a Tata Group company for issuing passports within three working days.

Where police verification is required, passport will be available within three days of the completion of the verification process.

Tatkal (instant) passports will be issued on the day of submission of the application.

The ministry of external affairs on Monday signed the agreement on the Pass port Seva Project with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

TCS will open 77 Passport Seva Kendras all over the country. Bengaluru and Chandigarh would be the first to get the new Passport Seva Kendras by June 2009 on a pilot basis.

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ICICI files police case on brokers

With its stock dip ping over 20 per cent on Friday, ICICI Bank on Sunday filed a complaint with the Mumbai police’s economic offences wing against sub-brokers of a Mumbai-based brokerage house, alleging they were involved in “malicious rumour-mongering.” The bank also filed a case with the Coimbatore police against a broker or sub-broker indulging in misinformation through SMS and other means aimed at creating panic among depositors, causing withdrawal of deposits.

The bank’s complaint said: “We conducted preliminary investigations with our own machinery (on) the source of such misleading statements, emails and SMSs based on false, baseless information.” It said these were sent by a mass SMS sending website.

The spokesperson, describing this as “economic terrorism“, added: “We will approach all regulators, including Sebi.” ICICI Bank managing director K.V. Kamath has talked to finance minister P. Chidmabaram about “vested interests” deliberately hammering down the bank’s share price and also asked Sebi for a proper probe.

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Hindu wins battle of nose stud in United Kingdom

A Hindu schoolgirl in Britain has won the battle against her school and has now been allowed to wear a nose stud to school.

Thirteen-year-old Shannon Connolly, who has a Hindu mother and lives in Skegness, a seaside town in Lincolnshire, England, was not allowed to wear the nose stud since last September as it was against the school’s jewellery policy. Shannon, who joined St. Clement’s College last year, was informed that students could only wear a watch and earring studs and no facial jewellery, according to the school’s jewellery policy.

In July, a Sikh teenager won a religious discrimination case in high court after being excluded from her school in southeast Wales for refusing to take off her kara, a religious bangle. The 14-year-old teenager of mixed Welsh-Punjabi origin had been excluded from school over the issue.

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Bush will sign United States nuke deal law today

US President George W. Bush is scheduled to sign the India-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Bill on Thursday. New Delhi expects its misgivings on certain provisions will be cleared in a presidential statement when Mr Bush signs the legislation.

The “US-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act, HR 7081” is due to be signed into law at 2.50 pm Washington time Wednesday (12.20 am Thursday IST).

The Indo-US 123 Agreement, to operationalise the nuclear deal, could not be signed last week during US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s visit to New Delhi as India insisted it would do so only after seeing Mr Bush’s signing statement. India wants the US President to clarify matters such as US fuel supply assurances.

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Suicide blast at Pakistani MP’s house: 30 die

At least 30 people were killed and over a hundred others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at PML (Nawaz) leader Rashid Akbar Nawani’s residence in Bhakkar district.

Mr Nawani, a member of Pakistan’s Parliament, was meeting people from his constituency to exchange Id greetings when the blast occurred, injuring him and killing more than 30 people.

Mr Nawani was in critical condition in hospital. “Several of the injured are critical... We only hope the death toll will not rise,” said a doctor.

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Queen getting ready to retire?

The Queen is reportedly keen on shifting her work from the Buckingham Palace to her favourite royal residence, Windsor Castle, where she will be holding the investiture ceremonies, for the first time.

Her Majesty is said to be eager to give herself long weekends and more days in the week in the castle, keeping in mind her advancing age, reports the Daily Express.

Though she allegedly wants to spend more time in the castle, Bucking ham Palace shall remain her office and residence. The 82-year-old monarch has always insisted on fulfilling her vows to serve her country until her last day. However, she might hand over the reins to her heir, if her poor health stopped her from performing her royal duties. Though no royal official has confirmed her retirement, the ceremonies at Windsor perhaps might just be it’s beginning.

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Sensex down by 529 points

Heavy selling by foreign institutional investors and domestic funds and total lack of buying saw the Sensex tank over 500 points in the last hour of trade. FIIs were sellers in pivotal stocks.

Reliance Industries which has a 15 per cent weightage in the Sensex lost Rs 146.83 as the Singapore gross refining margins were falling said Mr Alok Agarwal, head research, K.R.Choksey Securities and Shares Limited.

It also has several court cases pending and there has been a delay in its gas production. Commodities too took their cue from the London Metal Exchange and steel and metal stocks were down. The Baltic freight rates indicate that there is less demand and supply for exports and imports, said Mr Agarwal.

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Everything in 123 not binding on United States: Envoy

Everything in the 123 Agreement is not binding on Washington, US ambassador to India David C. Mulford said here Thursday shortly after the Senate vote.

“The language is intended to indicate the 123 Agreement is law, but not every single thing... is binding because it can’t be. It’s not possible for the US to compel its companies to do things [offer technology; supply fuel at a certain price] which may in fact be against our law,” he said at a press conference.

In response to a question on India’s concerns over fuel supply in the absence of a legally-binding commitment, Mr Mulford elaborated on what he thought was a “simple and well-understood point”, that “the US cannot compel other governments to provide services or to undertake certain action. The world doesn’t work that way.” The assurances, he added, were a “presidential commitment” which will “no doubt be honoured in the future”.

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Television journo shot dead on Vasant Kunj road

A 26-year-old woman journalist was shot dead early on Tuesday in Vasant Kunj.

Soumya Vishwanathan, a production assistant with TV news channel Headlines Today, was found dead in her Maruti Zen car on Nelson Mandela Road some time soon after 3.30 am, the police said. Her car was found rammed into the road divider and she was in the driver’s seat, the police said. She had been on her way back from her Jhandewalan office. “She spoke to her father at 3.35 am telling him she was safe in her car and would reach home very soon. Ten minutes later the Vasant Vihar police station received a call that an accident had occurred on the Vasant Vihar-Vasant Kunj stretch,” a police source said.

When the police arrived, Soumya’s head was resting on the steering wheel and she was bleeding. She was immediately rushed to AIIMS where doctors declared her brought dead.

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