David Miliband Meets With Shah Mahmood Qureshi For Current Situation

ISLAMABAD: The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in foreign office here on Friday.

Foreign Minister Qreshi received Miliband on his arrival in foreign. Pakistani foreign secretary, British High Commissioner and other top ranking officials are also present in the meeting.

According to sources, foreign ministers of both countries exchanging views on several issues, including a joint investigation of Mumbai attacks and ways to defuse tensions between the neighbouring countries and regional situation.

News via

Pakistan rejects allegations of India’s PM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has emphatically rejected the allegations levelled by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh that the Mumbai attackers must have had support of Pakistani spy agencies. “Instead of responding positively to Pakistan’s offer of co-operation and constructive proposals, India has chosen to embark on a propaganda offensive”, says a foreign office statement issued here on Tuesday.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh earlier accused Pakistani intelligence agencies of backing the perpetrators of Mumbai terrorist attacks. It will not only ratchet up tensions but also occlude facts and destroy all prospects of serious and objective investigations into the Mumbai attacks, says the foreign office statement.

Pakistan said that the approach of Indian government is fraught with grave risks and will further vitiate the situation in the region. “Only a day before, the Indian government was advised not to embark on political point scoring, but regrettably the advice was not heeded”, it added. Pakistan itself is a victim of terrorism and this pernicious phenomenon is regionally pervasive, as Pakistan has suffered more terror attacks than India, says the statement.

Rejecting the allegations, the foreign office said that Pakistan is not a state sponsor of terrorism as our civilian and armed forces causalities over the past years in terror attacks and in countering terrorism have been far more than that of India. The foreign office underlined in the statement that many South Asian states have been victims of all kinds and manifestations of terrorism.

Pakistan urged India to show restraint and stop the policy of casting accusations without uncovering full facts as investigations are still underway. Vilifying Pakistan or for that matter any of its state institutions on this score is unwarranted and unacceptable and this is a sure way to close avenues of co-operation in combating this menace, it added. It called upon India to be co-operative to uncover the full facts behind Mumbai terrorist attacks. In this regard, Pakistan awaits response to its constructive proposals, including joint investigation, a joint commission under the NSAs of the two countries and high level visit from Pakistan.

“We need no exhortations from India. Indian government is well advised to take careful stock of its own policies and conduct that are contributory to the problems faced by the region”, the statement concluded.

News via

Ghajini's Actress Not Shifting To Mumbai

MUMBAI: After Aamir Khan, the one factor that is appealing to the audience in the Murugadoss directed super success, Ghajini, is the fresh, petite and almost child like innocence of its lead actress, Asin. And there is no doubt that after Genelia D'Souza (who also hails from the south), its Asin who has won the hearts of the common cinegoer through a heart warming performance. Post Ghajini, Asin has another biggie up her sleeve in the form of London Dreams, which is being produced by Vipul Shah and stars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan. She is at present quite busy with the shoot, although she is thoroughly enjoying the success of Ghajini. As is known, Asin has recently bought an accommodation in Bombay. So, the obvious question that comes to mind is whether Asin is shifting to Mumbai? Well, the answer is no. It's true that Asin has bought a flat in Mumbai but that is only because she was uncomfortable living out of a suitcase. And since her shooting schedule required her to spend a lot of time in Mumbai, she thought its better to buy a flat, rather than live in a hotel or a make-shift arrangement. In fact Asin also reveals that she has an international project in the offing and is open to the fact that she will go anywhere where her work takes her. Thorough professional we must say! And that's the way to reach out to the top Asin!

News via

Sensex tumbles over 750 pts as Satyam chief resigns

MUMBAI: Indian equities markets were reeling under tremendous selling pressure Wednesday after a shocking scam by the promoters of Satyam
Computers came to light.

Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computers resigned from his post and confessed to indulging in fraudulent activities like inflating the books for several years. ( Watch )

Raju has written a letter to the board giving details of the balance sheet. Balance Sheet has inflated cash balances of Rs 5040 crore and accrued interest of Rs 376 crore is non-existent. Rs 1230 crore was arranged to Satyam and is not reflected in the books. As per the revelations, second Quarter numbers were inflated to Rs 2700 crore vs Rs 2112 crore actual numbers. No board member had any knowledge of the real situation of the books. ( Watch )

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex breached support of 10,000 mark. At 1:45 pm, Sensex was at 9564, down about 772 points.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 2908, down about 200 points.

Satyam Computers (-61.42%), Jaiprakash Associates (-13.24%), Reliance Communications (-10.91%), DLF (-10.29%) and Reliance Infrastructure (-8.11%) were the major Sensex losers.

Tata Steel (1.32%), Infosys Technologies (0.21%) and Maruti Suzuki (0.20%) were the only gainers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 1670 losers and 541 advances.

News via