India's Somdev Devvarman entered the final of the $450,000 ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament without hitting a ball and will take on third seeded Marin Cilic who Saturday outclassed Marcel Granollers (Germany) 6-4, 6-3.
Wild card entry Devvarman's scheduled semi-final opponent, fifth seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany, withdrew citing a wrist injury.
Devvarman thus became the first Indian to reach the final of ATP Chennai Open.
In an official statement, the 32-year old Schuettler, a Wimbledon semi-finalist and ranked 33, said: "During yesterday's doubles match, I started feeling pain in my left wrist. As I warmed up for the semi-final, I wasn't able to hit a double-handed backhand. I felt a strong pain.
"I would only be able to slice and I am also afraid that the injury would get worse. I had the same (injury) a few years ago, it was not as bad.
"I also have to pull out of Sydney (ATP tournament). I will now fly to Melbourne and see if I can be ready in time for the Australian Open. I feel sorry for the crowd and the tournament. It is a very disappointing moment for me."
The other semi-final between Cilic and Granollers provided little cheer for the capacity crowd that was hoping to see Devvarman continue with his giant-killing act. The 23-year old Indian defeated two seeded players, Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic, en route to the semi-final.
It was a near-flawless exhibition from the 20-year old Cilic, a semi-finalist here last year when he lost to eventual winner Mikhail Youzhny, and ranked 27. He repeatedly drilled winners with deep and powerful ground strokes while cranking up some huge serves.
In contrast, Granollers, ranked 55, was inconsistent and after initial fight when he kept pace with Cilic, his game crumbled.
The first went with serve until the ninth game when Cilic came up with two searing winners for two breakpoints. Granollers, 22, saved one with a service winner wide to Cilic's backhand, but on the next point, netted a backhand return that hit the netchord and bounced out. Cilic then served out the set with a brilliant inside-out winner to Granollers' backhand to go 1-0 after 37 minutes.
Cilic stepped up the pressure and broke Granollers in the third game of the second set for a 2-1 advantage with the German committing a couple of unforced backhand errors.
With Granollers repeatedly fumbling on his returns and his first serve going to pieces, Cilic broke again in the fifth to go 4-1 up.
Thereafter, it was a routine workout for Cilic and though he dropped serve in the eighth, the Croatian had built up sufficient. He broke back in the ninth to close the match.
It was Cilic's second win against Granollers in as many meetings, the previous coming in the Paris Masters last year.
The results:
Singles (semi-finals): 3-Marin Cilic (CRO) bt 8-Marcel Granollers (ESP) 6-4, 6-3; Somdev Devvarman (IND) w/o 5-Rainer Schuettler (GER).
Britain's biggest workers' union and key regional newspapers have launched a massive campaign to save beleaguered Indian-owned marques Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from collapsing in the credit crunch.
Campaigners have also taken their fight to the Internet, with a Save JLR page launched on Facebook and an e-petition put up on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's website.
Amid a serious downturn in the global auto industry, Unite, the union representing the British manufacturing sector, has urged Brown to match the cash that owners Tata have injected into JLR, the country's best-known luxury marques.
Simultaneously, some of the biggest newspapers in the Midlands and Merseyside manufacturing regions have launched a campaign in support of JLR, which was bought by Tata Motors last year for $2.3 billion.
JLR, which is responsible for tens of thousands of British jobs in its plants and ancillaries, has asked the government for a short-term loan on commercial terms. The campaign aims at pushing the JLR case.
"This was a crisis made in the City - not on Merseyside or in the Midlands. The blame lies with the greedy bankers and certainly not with the skilled, hard-working employees of Jaguar, Land Rover and Vauxhall," United General Secretary Tony Woodley said in a newspaper article.
He urged the government to support JLR financially.
"Ministers have rightly argued that the owners of Jaguar Land Rover - the Indian company Tata - should play its part and put serious money into the company. I am delighted that it is doing so.
"So now is the moment for Gordon Brown to be bold and give our car industry the sort of backing already offered to the financial services and construction sectors," Woodley said.
Unite's views were echoed by a clutch of powerful regional newspapers that launched a campaign this week to save jobs in the Midlands and Merseyside - important British manufacturing regions.
"Owner Tata is a successful international conglomerate, but no company has limitless cash flow," argued the Birmingham Post. "Without access to credit, JLR and others in the automotive industry will simply run out of the fuel they need to power their operations."
"A cash-strapped JLR would be forced to rein in its spending on research and development, and sit and wait for the recession to blow over. However long that may be, the company will inevitably fall years behind the developments of those international competitors who have already been helped by their governments."
The Birmingham Post campaign has been joined by its sister newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, and by several other titles, including the Coventry Telegraph, the Liverpool Echo, the Liverpool Daily Post and the Western Mail.
The newspapers have urged their readers to specifically target Finance Minister Alistair Darling, saying he must release between 500 million and 1 billion pounds to JLR.
"Owners Tata have already pumped in an estimated 600 million pounds of extra cash to help JLR stay in production. They are also in negotiations with the government over help, but none has yet been forthcoming," said the Liverpool Daily Post.
The newspapers have urged readers to sign an online petition at the Downing Street website www.tinyurl.com/no10jlr and to join a Facebook group, Save Jaguar Land Rover.
It’s not just coffee. It is conversations, connections and more! Baristas,
Costas and Café Coffee Days are considered no less than Orkut or
Facebook—only with a better face value. Ankita Khare sips
numerous cups of coffee watching the drama unfold within the cafes.
Just as every man has his hobbyhorse; coffee has its own fans. It enjoys a long history and rich culture. Complimenting this heritage, the modern coffee corners in New Delhi, have created a special niche for themselves. There is no doubt that these coffee joints create an ambience which is more addictive than the caffeine itself.
“The hip-hop music, an economical menu and a ‘classy’ feel acts like opium for people of all genres. It is amazing to watch an old staunch man reading his newspaper while the couple sitting next to him continue to get more intimate with every passing moment. It is a perfect place for social interactions,” says Parth Goswami, a Delhi University final year law student and a self confessed Barista-addict.
The hip-hop music, an economical menu and a ‘classy’ feel acts like opium for people of all genres
It all started with the economic boom in the nineties. One indicator of change was the sudden mushrooming of Baristas and Café Coffee Days, not only in the metros, but also in small towns. It was refreshing for the young who till then frequented local chai shops and dhabas.
Confirms K S Rao, a middle-aged real-estate agent and a casual Barista visitor: “Some two decades ago, there were hardly any coffee shops in the city. I can only recall Indian Coffee House at Connaught Place. The environment there was extremely different. The crowd was mainly dominated by old people. Students hardly approached these places...Baristas and Café Coffee Days are a welcome change from that scenario.”
Almost everything within is adorable. Loud music. Semi-formal interiors. Decorated coffee froth. Acoustic guitar. Air conditioned Wi-Fi environment. And most importantly, an affordable menu.
Yet, there are some who want a change. “The arrangement is not very comfortable. The music is too loud. It is better in America. They have more options there. We have a lot of catching up to do in India,” suggests Harsha Misra, an America-returned business executive.
Some even blame these new social networking places for “westernizing our good old Indian Culture.” Says 50-year-old home-maker Aditi Asthana: “The youth have suddenly discovered a new meaning of being in love—it is all about hanging out at a coffee shop, blowing their parents’ money and getting cozy. Youngsters are turning into nocturnal animals, courtesy these 24X7 coffee bars.”
However, despite the criticism, the city’s coffee culture continues to gather steam. And when it comes to social networking, Baristas, Costas and Café Coffee Days are considered no less than Orkut or Facebook—only with a better face value.
So as people continue to discover new meanings of networking at these bars, even a coffee hater is compelled to tell his buddies… “see ya at the coffee shop.”
Indian origin author Jhumpa Lahiri, with her "hypnotic eyes", has been named among the top 10 "sex symobls of the thinking man" for 2008, which put Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic in the number one slot.
The list, prepared by the popular website The Daily Beast run by former New Yorker journalist Tina Brown, places US-based Lahiri at No.8.
"Jhumpa Lahiri is the gorgeous author of three seriously literary books including, this year, a collection of short stories called 'Unaccustomed Earth'. Those hypnotic eyes are devastating," wrote Touré, a TV journalist, columnist and author.
Clarifying the concept, he notes: "Before we dive into the Top Ten Thinking Man's Sex Symbols for 2008, let's make sure we're all on the same page. TMSS is a term that's thrown around a lot. So let's quantify.
"A man has two minds. The lower mind is brainless ... The upper mind, which works with actual grey matter, is more persnickety. The upper mind, when employed, is moved by intelligence, success, power, self-confidence, a smart sense of humour, and, of course, not having a castrating nature.
"And that's the challenge. Can a woman be independent, creative, sharp, witty, strong, and self-empowering without making me feel like she wants to be a man?"
According to the columnist, a TMSS is someone "we imagine having great conversations with, laughing with, revelling in her success with, and getting drunk on her power with. Where Maxim girls are purposefully brainless, we look at a TMSS and say she's hot because she's smart and beautiful".
The list for the past year is topped by 21-year-old tennis player Ivanovic with British novelist Zadie Smith in "honourable mention".
"If Zadie Smith had published a book in 2008 she'd be #1 (not only is the chick beautiful and brilliant and literary and into hiphop, but she's also got this really sexy deep voice, not Kathleen Turner deep, but a really nice, full, low tone that always kills me). But she didn't, so she's the obligatory honourable mention.
"...And when tennis produces a woman so gorgeous that it's unbelievably hard to take your eyes off her, she's an insuperable TMSS. And unlike that pathetic cream puff Anna Kournikova, my #1's not a frequently double-faulting, habitual first-round loser. No, my #1 won the French Open this year and reached the finals of the Australian Open weeks before winning in Paris.
"Ana Ivanovic from Serbia is currently the fifth-best woman in the world. She's got a mean forehand, is studying finance online as she travels the world, winning tournaments, and is blowing men away with a butterscotch-coloured face that's all smooth slopes and haunting eyes. Ivanovic is the most beautiful female professional athlete of all time."
The list:
No.10: Jennifer Granholm, governor of Michigan.
No.9: Samantha Power, Irish American journalist, author and academic
No.8 Jhumpa Lahiri
No.7: M.I.A., stage name of Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, British song writer and artist of Tamil descent
No.6: Meredith Vieira, American journalist and TV celebrity
No.5: Lisa Ling, American TV journalist
No.4: Katie Couric, American TV journalist
No.3: Sarah Silverman, American singer, actor, comedian, writer
No.2: Tina Fey, American TV actor, producer
No.1 Ana Ivanovic and Zadie Smith (Honorable Mention)
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Monday strongly denied allegations of any foul play in the draw for over 5,000 flats, but politicians demanded a high-level enquiry into the alleged scam and the resignation of Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken.
Delhi Police, enquiring into the matter, said no "cognisable offence" has been found so far in the allotment process.
DDA's Housing Commissioner Asma Manzar, addressing a press conference, said: "As far as the draw of lots is concerned, there is absolutely no possibility of any wrongdoing. We can assure you that no demand letter would be issued to any undeserving candidate."
DDA had invited applications for 5,238 flats for which there were more than 566,000 applicants. The draw of lots took place Dec 16 last year after which several unsuccessful applicants alleged the draw was rigged.
Several media reports suggested that many applicants had used forged documents and there were irregularities in the information provided and discrepancies in the reserved category forms.
"We had made clear earlier that verification of documents would be done after the draw is completed. Before the draw, we scrutinised the forms on the basis of photographs, addresses and PAN cards," Manzar said.
"The second round of scrutiny will start now. Let the process be completed and I assure you that not a single undeserving candidate would get a flat," she added.
Manzar said the housing authority would take extra care in the case of reserved category candidates. "We will first call them and verify their documents and then double check the documents with the issuing authorities. In the case of general category applicants, we will verify their addresses, PAN card details and photographs," she said.
Manzar said the DDA was ready to face "any investigation by any agency at any forum".
DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar said: "If any one is found with fake documents, their allotment would be cancelled, the amount will be forfeited and an FIR registered against them. We will try to issue the demand letters to the genuine successful candidates by January end."
The DDA officials added that refund cheques of the unsuccessful applicants have been sent to them.
A Delhi Police officer said: "If we find any cognisable offence, we would register a case. But so far we have not questioned anyone. We are still in the process of collecting the information." The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police's Crime Branch is investigating a complaint received Dec 16.
According to the complaint, some real estate agents allegedly connived with DDA officials under fictitious names to get the flats under the SC/ST quota.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and the All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes and Tribes Organisation chief Udit Raj Monday demanded the resignation of Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken over the alleged scam.
Udit Raj said, "Maken should resign till a probe into the allegations is completed - the CBI should carry out a thorough investigations."
After media reports based on the account of Udit Raj, who alleged the whole affair was rigged, the housing authority's draw came under the scanner.
The reports suggested that several applicants from Rajasthan whose names appeared as successful applicants had denied having applied. Other discrepancies like different people having submitted the same phone numbers were also reported.
BJP-led MCD standing committee chairman Vijender Gupta said: "After this housing scam has come out in the open, Urban Development Minister Ajay Maken should resign on moral grounds and there should be no less than a CBI enquiry." He said he has written to the prime minister raising the demand.
Senior BJP leader V.K. Malhotra demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged scam.
Udit Raj claimed that he got hint of the scam from an insider in the "property-dealing cartel".
"This is a deep rooted team work," he said, adding that many officials were in cahoots with property dealers in the scam.
Raj said: "We will hold a protest Jan 8. We want everything to be scrutinized in the public domain. The draw should be stopped and the CBI should probe the matter."
What a biffing our eyes have received during the recent Mumbai terror attacks. A nation glued to the idiot box like never, watched in horror and disbelief the terror drama unfold in Mumbai.
The media coverage of the attacks broke all the barriers of sensible journalism. The terrorists may not have been able to bring down the Taj Mahal, Oberoi Trident, Café Leopold and Nariman Point, but they have been successful in achieving their main objective, which was making the nation feel the tremors of what happened in Mumbai through media. Media especially television gave wide coverage as if they were watching a cricket test match. Terrorist were provided a running commentary of what commandoes and police were doing. Even if terrorists had no access to television, their masterminds surely had. Who were regularly on phone with them. Media called the events in Mumbai as a war, but the way it was covered it had no element of war journalism.
In a war, the armed forces take every care that their adversary is not aware of the strength of the opposing forces but the anchors of television channels were constantly breaking news about the reinforcements and their details and the images of people locked up in their rooms surely gave the terrorists concrete targets to go after. The disclosure of the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Viajy Salaskar and many others surely boosted the morale of terrorists.
Most of the television channels have been around for less than five years. For some the Mumbai terror seize was the first major event that have covered live and they rushed to provide live non stop coverage. In the way amplifying the general hysteria and panic.
It has been impossible to ignore the countless times news channels claimed to be the first to report a certain incident in the 60 hours long terror seize. It is almost sickening, before the incident is reported; they remind us that they are the first to report the incident. Is that really the most important side of a developing crisis?
For more than 60 hours of Mumbai seize, resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said Pronoy Roy’s channel on the left side of channel spectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Times Now. Similarly CNN IBN was also not left behind in the game of upmanship over TRPs. They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling terrorism.
The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and in market killings. The resilience of the ordinary man suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work, manufacturing and even film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves.
Media also declared the attacks as 9/11 of India, even a CIA official on CNN called it the same. Yes, indeed it was 9/11 of India, but what CNN did when 9/11 happened. They did not try to show the exclusive rescue action and they did not invade ground zero. But India’s television channels surely seemed to do one thing that CNN did during 9/11. They did not take commercial breaks for a day.
Advertisements were not shown because viewers could switch to other channels in the meantime. All the news channels wanted the highest TRPs in troubled times so that they later can demand higher rates for advertisements and stay up on charts.
Worst was the conduct of so called celebrity reporters, who wanted their cameraman to zoom on everything as they lay on ground. A star reporter cum anchor spoke lying on the ground to create the impact that he was reporting from war zone.
The most maligned journalist has been Barkha Dutt, the anchor cum reporter of New Delhi television. The Facebook group, "Barkha Dutt for worst journalist in the world," has attracted nearly 1,600 members since its creation following the attacks. The group accuses her of being melodramatic, arrogant, and insensitive to relatives of victims.
The implicit assumption that information should be available universally and in real time is interesting. The right to be informed is not the same thing as the right to be a spectator. Nature of 24X7 television has made us transit from wanting to know to wanting to see. Information on TV has been recast in present continuous tense. The trouble is that we now construe our fundamental right to know as right to see.
Terrorism in its present form is a post media phenomenon. For terror to be produced from symbolic acts of violence, information must be conveyed to millions of people as quickly as possible. Media has become terrorism’s new best friend.
The recent Mumbai seize underlines that media is fast becoming a crucial part of terrorists’ calculations. Media needs to restrain itself from sensational journalism and must rise on the occasion. The rating driven nature f today’s media leaves less chances for an introspection and way towards sensible and efficient journalism.
Tsunami has struck, not the poor east, but the rich west in the form of sub prime crisis and housing market collapse. This financial fury claimed mortgage leaders like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, high profile investment banks like Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers and one of the most venerable insurers in the world, the American International Group.
The collapse of subprime mortgage market and housing bubble lead to destruction of wealth worth trillions of dollars across the world. And since, most of the United States companies do business in India and with companies in India; It is sure that India wont go unscathed from this crisis. The impact is already visible in the form of volatile sensex, layoffs and depreciating value of Rupee.
Most economists think that current financial crisis is the worst since the Great Depression of 1929. Many believed India was sufficiently decoupled from the western financial markets. We have no subprime mortgage crisis like many nations in the west. For example, India has witnessed rapid growth and wealth creation in recent years. There was increased western investment in India.
However this financial crisis has shown that in an increasingly inter-connected world, there are always knock-on effects as a result, India has increased exposure to problems stemming from the west. Bombay stock exchange suffered huge losses and rupee value underwent a suffering.
A slowdown in wealthy western nations means risk of job losses. Companies like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Morgan Stanley, to name a few, have their captive research units, brokerage arms, investment banking arms in India employing several hundred thousands in what are popularly called as BPOs and KPOs.
Lehman Brothers’ Powai unit itself employed about 2,200 people, most of whom will be rendered unemployed unless some company buys out Lehman’s India operations, but except the rumors about a possible deal with Nomura, Japan’s top brokerage group, its future is in doldrums.
Now as all the top financial giants have been either sold out, have filed bankruptcy, or surviving on Fed’s bailout, It would be difficult for them to maintain profits and to just cut even they will start downsizing their workforces. Layoff news is becoming quiet frequent in India nowadays. Sectors like real estate, aviation, IT have already started downsizing. There were news reports about DLF and Kingfisher reducing their staff strength by 300. Technology giants like TCS and IBM had removed more than 500 people citing poor performance even before the Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
In the end October 2008, a major meeting between the EU and a number of Asian nations including India resulted in a joint statement pledging a coordinated response to the global financial crisis. However as Inter Press Service reported, this coordinated response is dependent on the entry of Asia’s emerging economies into global policy-setting institutions. There is good news for consumers, if experts are to be believed real estate prices in India are likely to come down by 10-15 pc in next few months. The reason is simple mathematics, as most of the US companies that had bought stakes in Indian real estate companies, and now are facing a cash crunch. The outcome could be real estate developers lowering prices to lure buyers to fulfill liquidity gap.
Another area of concern for Indians is the rise of gold prices. We, Indians are very fond of jewellary, whether its marriages, festivals or family functions, jewellary is second to none – but because of financial problems in the United States global investors are losing their faith in Dollars as the store of value. They are turning towards Euro or Yen. In that case, they fill flock to ultimate source of value called Gold. The prices have already hovering around 13,000 for quiet sometime.
Indian growth story has been investment-driven and a decline in foreign investment will impact the growth prospects in the equity market. Though the spreads have lowered in recent days because of numerous policy measures, they are still high compared to 2007 levels. The Reserve Bank has been effectively able to manage domestic liquidity and monetary conditions consistent with its monetary policy stance. This has been enabled by the appropriate use of a range of instruments available with RBI such as the Repo I Reverse Repo rates, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), the Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS) and the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF). So everyone is keeping fingers crossed and expecting this Tsunami does not lead to any major destruction in India.