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Karva Chauth observed with solemnity

        New Delhi: Women across India, but mostly in the north of the country, on Sunday celebrated "Karva Chauth", a Hindu festival when women keep a fast for the well-being of their husbands. On Saturday and Sunday, married women and to an extent some of their young children applied Henna or Mehndi, considered to be auspicious for them as part of the Karva Chauth ritual. Bangle sellers are also in great demand as bangles are a symbol of prosperity and zest for life. "I am feeing good that I am fasting for the long life of my husband. I am doing all this for the long life of my husband," said Krishna Malhotra, the wife of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra. On the day of "Karva Chauth", women keep a strict fast and do not drink even a drop of water. The fast, observed from sunrise to sunset, is broken only after the moon rise. The festival, which falls about nine days before Diwali, is considered important by married women. The festival is particularly special for a newly-wed woman who decks up in her bridal finery and many visit beauty saloons to look their best. Fasting has become a symbol of the sacrifice and hardship a woman is ready to bear in her love for her husband. On this occasion, women receive gifts from their husbands and relatives.

Bangladesh FM on India visit (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan will arrive here today on a two-day official visit. Khan is expected to deliver Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the 13th SAARC summit in Dhaka in January next year. He will also meet his counterpart K.Natwar Singh, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and a number of other senior Indian leaders.

Sharif, brother and wife barred from father's burial (Go To Top)

      Islamabad: Mian Sharif, the father of former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif will be buried in Lahore on Monday, but his sons and daughter-in-law Kulsoom will not be present. According to the Daily Times, the Pakistan government has refused permission to Nawaz Sharif, former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and Kulsoom to visit Pakistan to attend the burial of Mian Sharif. Shahbaz told the paper from Jeddah that the Sharif family had not submitted a travel request to the Pakistani government to allow him and his brother, Nawaz, to return to Pakistan with their father's body. Shahbaz said the Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia informed the Sharifs that all family members except for him, Nawaz and Nawaz's wife, Kulsoom, could travel with the body. The Sharif family would not submit any application to the Pakistani government in this regard, he added. Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that Nawaz Sharif had told the ambassador that he and his family wanted to visit Pakistan without preconditions. Mian Sharif's body would reach Lahore tomorrow at 9:30a.m. The funeral prayers would be held at the Data Sahib's shrine after Zohr prayers. Shahbaz Sharif's eldest son, Hamza Sharif, said that his grandfather would be laid to rest in the courtyard of Sharif Medical Complex at Raiwind. The Sharif family members expected to arrive in Pakistan include Hassan Nawaz, Capt (r) Safdar, his wife Mariam Safdar and children, and Abbas Sharif, his wife and children. Shahbaz's wife Nusrat, his son Hamza Shahbaz and daughters are already in Pakistan.

Japan confirms death of hostage in Iraq (Go To Top)

       Tokyo: The Japanese government on Sunday confirmed that a decapitated body found in Iraq is that of a Japanese hostage taken hostage by Islamic militants earlier this week. NHK, the country's national broadcaster, the identity of the body found in central Baghdad on Saturday was that of Shosei Koda, 24. According to foreign news agencies, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been notified and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura would confirm the news publicly.

Afghan group sets Nov 3 deadline for hostage execution (Go To Top)

       Kabul: Militants holding three foreign United Nations workers in Afghanistan have threatened to kill them by Wednesday (November 3) if the government does not convince the United States to release all Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners. Mullah Sayed Mohammed Akbar Agha, the leader of Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims) was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying that the U.N. must also cease its operations in Afghanistan, or the hostages would be killed "in such a way by which Muslims will be happy." The group also released a video of the hostages to the Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera on Sunday, showing the hostages in sound health. Filipino Angelito Nayan, Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland and Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo were kidnapped during rush hour traffic on October 28. They had been helping to organise Afghanistan's first presidential election, which was held on October 9. The kidnappers reportedly want four of their demands to be met. -The U.N. should leave Afghanistan and it should call Britain and America's meddling in Afghanistan as illegal. -Those who have no military involvement in Afghanistan, such as Philippines, must call Britain and America's meddling in Afghanistan as illegal and must stop its contributions through the U.N. for America and Britain's activities. -Kosovo and Britian must immediately withdraw their forces from Afghanistan -All Muslim prisoners in Afghanisan and Cuba, "be they Taliban or Al Qaeda", be freed.

Ganguly virtually ruled out of Mumbai Test (Go To Top)

       Mumbai: Captain Sourav Ganguly was today virtually ruled out of the fourth Test against Australia after coach John Wright termed his recovery from a thigh strain "pretty slow". Wright, however, said a final decision on Ganguly, who pulled out of the third Test in Nagpur just before the start of match, would be made after the skipper underwent a fitness test tomorrow. Ganguly pulled out of the Nagpur Test citing an upper thigh strain. He was included in the 15-member squad for the fourth and final Test beginning at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday subject to proving his fitness. Though he batted in the nets today, he was clearly in pain while playing on the back foot. He also refused to speak to the media.

No oil price hike, says Aiyar (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: The Centre has decided that it will not hike oil prices inspite of the spiralling international cost of crude. An announcement to this effect was made on Sunday by the Public Relations Officer of the Indian Oil Company. Petrol and diesel prices were supposed to be increased by Rs 1.22 and Rs 2.24 per litre respectively to bring domestic prices in line with the international crude oil prices. But the CPM requested the government to delay the hike till after the US elections on November 2, when international prices are expected to plummet. On Sunday, international crude oil prices fell from a high of 55.50 dollars last week to 51.78 dollars. Analysts say the government had refrained from raising retail fuel prices since August 1 on fears such a move may stoke inflation -- already hovering at a three-year high of between 7 and 8 percent. Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said he hoped international crude prices would soften soon. "One would expect the speculative elements at this rise in prices to burst at some stage. I am not an astrologer so I can't tell you when it will burst, but I am deeply convinced that the underlying international situation is not such to want such a steep prices in international oil prices...let's see what happens," Aiyar told reporters on the sidelines of the Santosh Trophy final that was played between Kerala and Punjab today. Oil is India's biggest import item and its prices are watched closely in the country, which imports 70 percent of its crude oil needs. Prices are reviewed every 15 days.

        Earlier this month, India's central bank said higher crude oil prices posed a risk to demand in Asia's fourth-largest economy. India is the third-largest consumer of oil in Asia after China and Japan. Analysts say stagnant prices will hit state-run oil companies, such as Hindustan Petroleum Corp, which have suffered a revenue loss of around 32 billion rupees since April on account of government controls on petrol and diesel prices. Their shares, too, have underperformed the wider market since refiners are unable to pass on higher fuel costs to customers. While the 30-issue Bombay Stock Exchange index has fallen 2.85 percent so far in the year, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is down 5.5 percent, HPCL has declined 29.6 percent and Bharat Petroleum Corp's shares have slid 23.4 percent.

 

BOTTOMLINES

 

No kisses for Russian politicians anymore (Go To Top)

      London: A ban has been imposed on Russian politicians from kissing each other at meetings, as the ceremony takes too much time. According to the Russian Daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, officials of regional governments have been advised to shake hands as this will make time for extra meetings every year. Politicians are also said to be annoyed at local media using pictures of them kissing to make fun of them and entertain readers.

Nichols Cage scared his ghost with a pillow (Go To Top)

      London: With the entire continent gearing up for Halloween, Oscar winner Nichols Cage narrated his own encounter of the spooky kind, saying that at first he mistook the ghost for his old aunt. The 'Con Air' actor said that he was in bed when he saw "this pitch-black silhouette of a woman with big hair," thinking that it was his aunt he said goodnight to the woman but she did not reply and kept moving towards him. The actor then let out scream and threw his pillow at the ghost after which it vanished. "I said, 'Goodnight,' and it didn't say anything. Then it moved toward me, and my body froze up and I let out this bloodcurdling scream and threw my pillow at it. Then it disappeared," Star magazine quoted him as saying.

Reasons behind crossing fingers and 'Friday the 13th revealed (Go To Top)

      London: Almost all of us say touch wood when we are narrating something we are happy about and cross our fingers while waiting for something good to happen but very few have actually asked why we continue to adhere to these age old superstitions and now a new book, called 'A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles,' has demystified several myths including 'Friday the 13th.' According to the Sun, the author of the book Steve Roud, who has been studying folk fare and superstitions since the past 30 years, says that although people are far less superstitious these days, some myths will live forever because people are basically romantics at heart.

      Some of the age-old superstitions explained in his book are: -Friday 13th: Fridays have been considered unlucky since at least Medieval times, and the number 13 being unlucky is a Victorian invention. People believed that 13 people at a gathering or meal meant one of them would die within a year. This is also why in London houses are never numbered 13th. -Touching wood: One of the most popular superstitions, which originates from a popular children's game in the early 19th century. In the game Tiggy-touch-wood, children would chase each other and were only safe from being tagged when touching wood. -Birth: Since at least the 17th century, the first time a newborn baby was taken from its mother and carried outside the bedroom it was unlucky to take it downstairs. Instead, people would carry the baby upstairs to make sure it went "up in the world". -Rabbits: Saying 'Rabbits' On the first day of the month: Since the first half of the 20th century, families marked the first day of the month and sometimes the night before by saying out loud 'rabbits' or 'hares'. They believed it would make a wish come true or bring luck for the month ahead. -Christmas: Eating 12 mince pies, from 12 separate friends in 12 different houses, during the 12 days of Christmas, meant a lucky 12 months to follow. -Fever: people in ancient times used to eat spiders to cure fever. -Bed-wetting: the cure for bed-wetting was to eat a fried mouse.