India     Sports     Business     World
India
Pak hit man vows swift death for Chhota Rajan
BANGKOK: A Pakistani man arrested for the gangland shooting of three Indians here has vowed that his mates will soon hunt down and kill the intended victim who survived with grievous injuries, a newspaper said Friday.

Sports
Two more Bulgarian lifters test for drugs
SYDNEY: The International Olympic Committee said Friday that Bulgarian gold medalist Izabela Dragneva - the first women's weightlifting champion in Olympic history - and men's bronze medalist Sevdalin Minchev tested positive for banned diuretics at the Sydney Games.

Michael Johnson easily wins first-round

SYDNEY: On the opening day of the Olympic track competition, reigning 800 world champion Ludmila Formanova of the Czech Republic dropped out of her heat with what appeared to be a leg injury.

Camilla, Gong enter badminton finals
SYDNEY: Denmark's Camilla Martin, the first non-Asian to reach the medals round of Olympic women's singles, was a confident underdog heading into Friday's badminton showdown with world No. 1 Gong Zhichao of China.

Three Clarks in 800 semifinals
SYDNEY: Running was the easy part for the Clark clan in the first races held at the Olympics on Friday. The second, third and fourth heats of the opening round in the women's 800 each had a Clark running, leaving two of them cheering at all times, while a third was on the track.

Business
Sensex opens weak, down 121 points
MUMBAI: Stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell 2.9 percent in early trade Friday on fears of a steep rise in domestic fuel prices, brokers said. The benchmark 30-share BSE sensitive index was down 121.55 points at 4,135.65 points just minutes after opening for trade.

Rupee posts handsome gains in early trade
MUMBAI: The rupee posted handsome gains against the US currency early on Friday, boosted by news that the Centre may go in for dollar bonds to meet the surging oil bill.

British Airways, KLM break off merger talks
LONDON: British Airways PLC and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines broke off talks about a long-planned merger Thursday, blaming intractable commercial and regulatory issues.

Goldman, Schwab exploring merger possibilities
NEW YORK: Top executives at Goldman Sachs Group and Charles Schwab, two titans in the US securities industry, have been in sporadic talks recently about a possible merger, an unidentified investment banker was quoted as saying in BusinessWeek's Inside Wall Street column on Thursday.

GM, Fiat reject binding bid for Daewoo
TOKYO: General Motors and Fiat have rejected demands from the main creditor for Daewoo Motor urging them to submit a binding takeover bid for the South Korean carmaker, the Financial Times said on Friday.

World
Arafat agrees to land swap
JERUSALEM: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agrees to trade land with Israel to accommodate Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and proposes to deal with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon before those in other countries, an American Jewish leader who met with him said Thursday.

Group criticises Hindu prayer in Congress
WASHINGTON: A major conservative group is complaining that an invitation to a Hindu priest to give the prayer at the opening of a House session is another indication of the nation drifting from its Judeo-Christian roots.

Moderate earthquake jolts Tokyo
TOKYO: A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 jolted Tokyo and neighboring areas to the northeast early Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Suu Kyi forcibly removed from station
YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was back home Friday after being forcibly removed from Yangon station by security personnel early in the morning, witnesses said.

Fuel protests to resume in Spain as talks fail
MADRID: As Swedish truckers outraged by soaring fuel prices lifted a blockade of ports Thursday to help ease negotiations with their government, Spanish farmers pledged another month of protests after their talks faltered and a meeting of European Union ministers proved equally fruitless.

Taliban lobbies with UN, US for recognition
UNITED NATIONS: Afghanistan's ousted government called Thursday for increased sanctions against the Taliban at the same time the religious militia was lobbying the United Nations for official recognition four years after taking control of most of the country.

US judge accepts suit against China's Li Peng
NEW YORK: A New York federal judge has ruled that he can hear a civil lawsuit against China's former prime minister Li Peng filed here by survivors of the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square.

Scheme to stem flow of blood diamonds
JOHANNESBURG: African diamond producers have endorsed the introduction of an international certification scheme as a practical and reliable means of halting the trade in illegal and conflict gems onto the global market.