Sensex ends 118 points down

Mumbai, Dec 7: A key indian equities index ended trade 118 points in the red on Monday as heavyweight stocks came under selling pressure.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that opened at 17,106.74 points closed at 16,983.14 points, down 118.4 points or 0.69 percent from Friday’s closing at 17,101.54 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed at 5,066.70 points, against the previous close at 5,108.9 points, a loss of 0.83 percent. Broader market indices were also in the red, with the BSE midcap index closing 0.79 per cent down and the BSE small cap index 0.41 per cent lower.

BJP slams Liberhan panel as biased

New Delhi, Dec 7: The BJP today said the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya was a result of public anger and asserted that it would build a Ram temple at the same site for “national justice”, as it slammed the Liberhan Commission report as “a political document” which is “biased”.

Opening BJP’s defence on the report which has indicted a number of its leaders, party chief Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha that the Liberhan Commission report was “a bundle of grave errors” and its intent appeared to be “pre-decided” and aimed at “character assassination” of certain political leaders and parties. The Commission has reached “bizarre” conclusions, he said during the debate and took strong objection to the adverse comments made against former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior leaders L K Advani and M M Joshi.

He said the report was “not unbiased” and said it was a “political document of character assassinations” as legal criteria for indictment had been ignored. “Whatever happened on December 6, 1992, was a result of public anger. There was no mosque at the site since 1936,” he said, amid repeated disruptions caused by objections from Congress and some other parties like Samajwadi Party.

Lawsuit filed against Paa

Patna, Dec 5: A lawsuit has been filed in a court here charging Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan with violating the disabilities act through his latest film Paa in which he plays a 13-year-old boy suffering from progeria, which accelerates the ageing process. Big B has been accused of poking fun at people with disabilities. The case has been filed by Patna High Court lawyer Shruti Singh in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate under The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. It has also been filed against Paa director R Balkrishna. “I filed a case in the court demanding a probe into whether Paa violated the act or not,” Singh said on Saturday. “My stand is simple: If it violated the disability act, the authorities should act against the producer and actors of the film for making a joke of disabled people,” she added. She said the court will hear the case next week. According to Singh, the act is guided by the philosophy of empowering people with disabilities and their associates. (IANS)

Expanding civil nuclear cooperation tops PM’s Russian agenda

New Delhi, Dec 5: Close on the heels of his visit to Washington, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh heads for Moscow on Sunday on a three-day trip with expansion of civil nuclear cooperation and an extended defence pact topping the agenda.

The agreement, expected to be inked during the annual summit talks between Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, will ensure continuation of Moscow’s support for the ongoing civil nuclear programme in India and will ensure any unforeseen disruption of fuel supply and technology from Russia for nuclear power projects in India.