Indian eves confident of upsetting Australia

India skipper Jhulan Goswami is confident of stopping the Australian juggernaut when they clash in the first semifinals of the Women T20 World Cup at the Beausejour Cricket Ground on Thursday.

India's men's cricket was routed by Australia in the Super Eights stage but the Indian girls are quite confident of derailing Australia and making it to the summit clash, slated for May 16 at Barbados.

The Australian women have had an unbeaten run in the World Cup but Goswami is hardly worried.

"We have beaten Australia in the 50 overs World Cup Down Under. So we are pretty much confident that we can beat them in this format as well," said Jhulan.

Sulakshana Naik (59 vs Sri Lanka, 28 vs New Zealand and 11 vs Pakistan), Mithali Raj (52, 44, 33) and Poonam Raut (54 against Pakistan) have been the hub around which India have made match-winning scores.

And team manager Vidya Yadav said the girls were fit and raring to go.

"Our girls have been in good form. We are hoping they will continue to perform. All are fit and fine. They are in great frame of mind and are looking forward to the game against Australia," Vidya said.

Diana David has been the pick of the Indian bowlers, accounting for nine wicket in three matches. She has two four wicket hauls against Sri Lanka (4/12) and New Zealand (4/27).

"Left-arm spinner Gouhar Sultana, leg-spinner Priyanka Roy have also been impressive. Then we have Jhulan and Rumeli Dhar who can perform in big matches," said Vidya.

En route to the semifinals, India lost to New Zealand by 10 runs while crushing Pakistan and Sri Lanka by emphatic margins.

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Sports Ministry hits back at IOC in strongly-worded reply

In a strongly worded reply, the Sports Ministry has written back to the International Olympic Committee, emphasising on the fact that the decision they took to limit the tenure of the chiefs of the various nationals sports associations was in accordance with the laws framed by the IOC itself.

“We understand that you have in your own organisation changed your internal rules in 1999, in order to have a reasonable age limit of 70 years, a maximum presidential term of 12 years, and an office bearer’s term of 8 years, to be followed, by a break,” wrote Injeti Srinivas, the joint-secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

He accused the IOC of double standards stating, “Your present position, seems to indicate, that what is eminently desirable for the IOC, and has been put in place by the votes of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), need not be followed by the NOCs themselves, and they may continue to have office bearers, of unacceptable lengths of tenure, going on to advanced ages.”

The Sports Ministry’s decision to limit the tenure of the officials had not gone down well with most of the office bearers of the Indian Olympic Association and other bodies that receive government funding to run their show. So agitated were the likes of Suresh Kalmadi, the IOA president, Randhir Singh, the IOA secretary and Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the president of the Archery Association of India that they even went to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking his intervention.

Srinivas’s letter reiterated that the ministry was not going to act in haste and the various associations would not be forced to seek elections any time soon. “Our guidelines dated 1st May 2010 have explained, that no immediate action is required, and these will apply only to future elections, which are some distance away.

Our preparations, for the Commonwealth Games are in full force, and we will give the world, a great show. The Asian Games will follow, soon after in China,” added Srinivas in the letter.

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Cabinet may take up issue of caste census next week

A meeting of the Union Cabinet is likely to take a decision on the issue of caste-based census next week, amid indications that the government may concede to the demands from various parties for such an exercise.

"The issue of caste census is expected to come before the Cabinet next week," government sources said.

The indication to this effect came after a meeting of Congress Core Group presided over by party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram, senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel attended the meeting.

Finance Minister Mukherjee has already justified the demand for conducting a caste-based census and said it should not have been discontinued post-independence.

"The caste-based census was last conducted in the year 1931 and the practice should have continued in the post-independence period also but it did not happen. Now the UPA government has taken an initiative in this regard," he had said at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh a few days back.

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SAP to Buy Sybase, Ally in Software

AN FRANCISCO — SAP’s top executives, who have recently talked about making bolder and more decisive moves, did just that on Wednesday by agreeing to buy a fellow business software maker, Sybase, for $5.25 billion.

Enlarge This Image

John Chen, chief executive of Sybase. The sale to SAP is expected to close in months.

The acquisition puts SAP into the database software market, where its products will overlap with those of its longtime rival, Oracle, more than ever. As such, the deal heats up competition to gather, store and analyze the huge amounts of sales, customer and employee data being produced by modern companies.

Executives of SAP and Sybase said they intended to focus on creating new types of number processing software that rely on Sybase’s strengths in transporting data to and from the smartphones of customers.

“This will literally connect the shop floor to the corner office,” said Bill McDermott, the co-chief executive of SAP, during a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the deal.

Under the terms of the deal, SAP plans to pay $65 a share for Sybase through a tender offer, a 56 percent premium to Tuesday’s closing price of $41.57. A report by Bloomberg News on Wednesday about the merger talks sent Sybase shares up 35 percent, to $56.14. SAP will also assume Sybase’s debt of $400 million.

Sybase, based in Dublin, Calif., will operate as a stand-alone unit within SAP under its current management. Assuming a majority of Sybase shareholders tender their shares to SAP, the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, will finance the deal with cash on hand and a 2.75 billion euro ($3.5 billion) loan arranged by Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank.

SAP’s traditional strengths revolve around selling often complex business software that helps companies deal with their day-to-day computing jobs like payroll, inventory tracking and sales.

Oracle has been invading SAP’s turf with its own products and by acquiring smaller companies at a furious clip. I.B.M. and Microsoft are also rivals.

All of these SAP competitors sell the database products that are needed to connect with the business applications, leaving SAP in the position of partnering with its foes — a situation that may change by acquiring Sybase and its database business.

Noel Yuhanna, an analyst at Forrester Research, chided SAP for not acquiring the database technology sooner because Oracle has been able to offer customers a more complete, tightly linked collection of software. “SAP is feeling the impact of that,” Mr. Yuhanna said.

SAP’s flagship software does not currently work with Sybase’s database. Mr. Yuhanna expects it to take at least six months to rectify this situation and about a year before customers would start buying a combined product from SAP.

An Oracle spokeswoman said the company declined to comment on the deal.

Sybase trails Oracle, I.B.M. and Microsoft by a significant margin in the database market, according the research firm Gartner. Sybase closed out last year with 3 percent of the market, compared with 43 percent for Oracle, 24 percent for I.B.M. and 19 percent for Microsoft.

But Mr. McDermott and other executives argued that the combined company has a chance to shake up both the business software and database segments. SAP has spent years working on a new type of data-handling technology that it claims will run jobs much faster than standard databases. The idea would be to create a fresh breed of business software that blends software from SAP and Sybase and uses this technology as its underpinning.

While Sybase trails its larger competitors, John S. Chen, the chief executive of Sybase, highlighted the company’s strength in dealing with investment banking customers, stock exchanges and insurers. Last year, Sybase sold about $800 million worth of database software and increased its software licenses 22 percent during the recession.

Sybase’s chief value may be the prominent position it has carved out in the mobile business software market. A flagging company when Mr. Chen stepped in to run it in 1998, Sybase now handles the short message (S.M.S.) traffic for close to four billion mobile phones and links the message systems of the phone companies, Mr. Chen said during a recent interview.

Executives from SAP and Sybase have already started talking about creating more involved mobile applications that will give remote workers access to floods of information.

Yvonne Genovese, an analyst at Gartner, described this mobile technology as “a big deal.” Large companies already started to push their standard business software out to mobile phones, and now they are trying to do more with the data that returns from the devices.

In February, SAP tapped Mr. McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe as its co-chief executives. Léo Apotheker, the previous chief executive, resigned as the company struggled through the recession.

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Ramesh did not offer to resign, asked to respect party limits

Hours after he met Home Minister P Chidambaram as a peace offering, sources in Jairam Ramesh's party say he has not offered to resign from the Cabinet. Ramesh has, instead, been reprimanded by the Congress high command, which reportedly told him to stop speaking out of turn, and to "stay within party limits."

In China last week, Ramesh, who is the Environment Minister said Chinese companies looking to enter India were being met with "alarmist" and "paranoid" policies of the Home Ministry.

An unhappy Chidambaram wrote to the Prime Minister about Ramesh's remarks. Ramesh was reprimanded by the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi for speaking out of turn. The Congress also publicly censured him.

Ramesh met Chidambaram on Wednesday evening for ten minutes in what was seen as a make-good attempt.

What has some speculating about his role in the Cabinet is that Ramesh's term in the Rajya Sabha expires in June. He has to be re-nominated as an MP to stay on as a minister. Also, the government is expected to reshuffle the cabinet after its one-year anniversary later this month. Sources say the party has decided that Ramesh need not exit the cabinet over his China gaffe.

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Major fire in Mumbai mall, no casualty

As per inputs, the fire occured at the basement of the shopping center at the wee hours of the morning. No casualty has been reported in the incident.

13 security personnnels have been rescued.

Around 25 fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse the fire.

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No one forced players to party

Speaking to MiD DAY, a fuming Mehr Jessia, co-organiser of the glitzy IPL nights, slams allegations of forcing cricketers to attend parties and womanising during them, and much, much more

The IPL's Pandora's Box just refuses to close.

Former Miss India Mehr Jessia, wife of Arjun Rampal, whose jointly-owned event management company, Chasing Ganesha, organised the much-hyped IPL nights, has not taken kindly to M S Dhoni laying part of the blame of the team's poor performance on the parties.



Under fire after India's exit in the Super8 stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup, the Indian skipper said yesterday that the team's jaded performance could, in part, be attributed to the glitzy IPL post-match parties and the extensive travelling during the league.

"I have been watching television and have heard what is being said about the IPL nights. Dhoni is welcome to

"If you are playing late night matches and then go to the parties, it takes a toll on your body" -- M S Dhoni

blame these nights. I do not need to stand up and defend them," Mehr said, promising that she would talk when the time is right, but added, "Today, this has become a joke. The IPL party nights have been misunderstood.

But, well, if people are saying things, let them. I also have enough people patting my back saying it (the IPL nights) was a job well done."

"A lot of foreign players attended these IPL nights and their teams are doing brilliantly in the T20 World Cup.

What about them? Even the common man has the same question," Mehr pointed out.

No such clause
Rubbishing claims that a clause in the players' IPL contracts forced them to attend the parties, Mehr said, "Nobody can force any sportsman to attend the parties. Some players did not attend the IPL nights. It was not binding on them."

"I think it is very demeaning. Now, it is all about 'let us blame late night matches and parties.' Where was this thought when the players took the cheque for the IPL -- they always knew there were late night matches."
Womanising?
When asked about allegations of womanising and alcohol being served in large quantities at the parties, a fuming Mehr said, 'Excuse me? We had a mix of international and Indian models at these parties. Besides, the players brought along their friends and families, the team owners and designers had their invitees, and the playing teams had backup personnel, so it is absolutely ridiculous to say such things. We have had great IPL nights in Ahmedabad, where not a drop of liquor was served."

Mehr also slammed allegations that players did not have time to recover from parties. "I challenge you to show me any itinerary in which a team had a match, attended a late night party and then had to play the next morning. They all had a break in between, so these accusations are absolute rubbish."

Media bashing
The media did not escape the supermodel's ire either. In fact, it came in for rather pointed criticism. "People, including, the press, need to get the facts right. A lot of negativity has crept in about these parties, also because the press was not allowed to attend them. We had done this keeping in mind that the parties would not be the proper forum for the players to be asked questions or interviewed."

When asked about the fashion shows, with leggy models sashaying down the runways at these events, Mehr said, "Yes, we had fashion shows. A lot of players wanted to buy things for their wives and families. It was all done in good spirit. You know, cricket and Bollywood entertainment are on the same platform. The IPL nights were a great success, even if I do say that myself. They were a good way for the players to have a break and chill out."

"What the IPL nights meant to do was to bring the cricket fan closer to the player. We have had some fabulous parties and, when the time is right, I will bring the entire group of people behind the nights' success together to talk about them," Mehr signed off.

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'Shoe bomber' arrested in Pakistan

Karachi: Pakistani officers arrested a man at Karachi airport on Sunday after batteries and an electrical circuit were found in his shoes as he tried to board a plane for the Middle East, an official said.

The 30-year-old civil engineer allegedly told interrogators he came from Pakistan's northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Taliban and Islamist militants have a presence, and had been scheduled to travel to Muscat by Thai Airways.

Mohammad Munir, Airport Security Force spokesman, said the bearded man, whom he named as Faiz Mohammad, was arrested when a scanner sounded an alarm.

The suspect was not found in possession of explosives, but Munir described the circuit discovery as "worrying".

"He was on the way to board flight TG 507 for Muscat. After the machine gave the alarm, we checked him manually," said the spokesman.

"We have recovered four live batteries and a circuit, with a button to switch it on and off," Munir said.

The suspect allegedly told investigators he was living in Karachi, Pakistan's southern city, but was planning to return to Muscat, where he had previously worked for a construction company, to set up his own business.

"The devices found from the suspect suggested that if he was carrying explosive material, he could have easily blown the explosives up in the plane," said Munir.

Sunday's arrest comes a week after US agents arrested a Pakistani-American man, Faisal Shahzad, for allegedly attempting to blow up a car bomb in New York, as he sat on a plane preparing to take off for Dubai.

Although the circumstances of the Karachi case were murky, the detention is likely to ratchet up US pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Islamist extremists operating in safe havens in tribal areas along the Afghan border.

The United States on Sunday accused the Pakistani Taliban of being behind the plot to detonate a car bomb in Manhattan's Times Square on May 01.

"We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack," Attorney General Eric Holder said on ABC television.

"We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he was working at their direction."

General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, has reportedly urged Pakistan's army chief of staff to launch an operation in the tribal district of North Waziristan, an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold.

John Brennan, the White House deputy national security adviser, said Shahzad had travelled back and forth to Pakistan, working with the Pakistani Taliban over several months before returning to the United States in February.

US authorities have said the Shahzad case reflects a change in tactics by Islamist extremists, who have been hard hit over the past year by US missile strikes and Pakistani military offensives.

On Christmas Day, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested for trying to blow up a US-bound airliner with explosives sewn into his underwear.

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Victims of violence speak out in Afghanistan

KABUL - Mothers of slain teenage sons, men wounded by mine blasts and tearful widows were among Afghans who spoke out Sunday at a conference billed as the first major gathering of victims of decades of war in their country.

The so-called "victims' jirga" at a Kabul hotel brought together dozens of Afghans from across the country to build pressure on the government ahead of a national peace assembly called by President Hamid Karzai for later this month.

Legal advocates who organized the gathering in the capital want to make sure the voices of the Afghan people who have suffered at the hands of insurgents, warlords and under the former Taliban and Soviet regimes are heard at the government's peace assembly.

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Acharya Mahapragya is no more

According some Private and confirm sources Shree Acharya Mahapragya 1oth acharya of Jain Swetembar Terapanth samaj has no more now , Acharya Mahapragya is now in sardar shar of rajashthan , More reports will come.

Acharya Shri Mahapragya is Tenth Acharya, supreme head of Jain Swetembar Terapanth group.

He promotes nonviolence and leads the Ahimsa Yatra movement.^[2][3] Followers refer to him as Gurudev, the Godly Teacher.

He has traversed more than 100,000 km on foot covering more than 10,000 villages reaching out to the masses spreading the message of harmony and peace.

Walked across the length and breadth of India From Kachchh in Gujarat to Kolkata and from Punjab to Kanyakumari, Mahapragya undertook travel on foot earlier under the leadership of Acharya Tulsi and later himself being the leader.

During these travels, he addressed thousands of public meetings.

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IMF approves 30-billion-euro loan to Greece

Washington, May 10 (DPA) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Sunday approved a three-year, 30-billion-euro ($38-billion) loan to Greece, the IMF said at its headquarters in Washington.

The loan is part of a 110-billion-euro, European Union-IMF aid package to help Greece out of its financial woes.

The IMF will make 5.5 billion euros immediately available to Athens, with 10 billion over the course of the rest of the year from the IMF and 30 billion from the EU this year.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the step would “contribute to the broad international effort underway to help bring stability to the euro area and secure recovery in the global economy”.

The help from the international community should help return Greece to economic growth, he said.

“The Greek government should be commended for committing to an historic course of action that will give this proud nation a chance of rising above its current troubles and securing a better future for the Greek people,” said Strauss-Kahn.

The IMF believes austerity measures instituted by Athens will help Greece overcome the crisis, IMF vice director John Lipsky said.

“The Greek authorities have now developed a bold program with strong upfront policies to re-establish credibility and regain market confidence,” he said.

Central to recovery are Greece’s effort to bring its deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2014, as well as efforts to create a more flexible job market, increase competition and slim down the public sector.

The country is in urgent need of funds before May 19 in order to finance a 9-billion-euro 10-year bond.

Concerns about Greece’s economic woes led the euro to a 14-month low last week and prompted an emergency meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels Sunday to debate proposals to set up a 600-billion-euro ($765-billion) rescue facility for eurozone states that fall into financial difficulty.

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IPLgate: Modi won't appear before BCCI today

New Delhi: Suspended IPL chief Lalit Modi, who was expected to respond on Monday to the allegations levelled against him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in their showcause notice to him, has sought more time to build his defense against the allegations. He is likely to respond by May 15. BCCI is expected to respond to his request later today.

In the Capital on Sunday to consult his lawyers for a reply to the first showcause notice issued to him, Modi had said he would personally hand over his response to the accusations on Monday.

"I have just come to wrap up my reply to the showcause that I have to submit on Monday. I am going to reply personally because there is nothing to hide," he had said.

Sources say that Modi's reply will run into 1000 pages in response to the notice which alleges impropriety and misdemeanour on his part among other charges. However, it is the second notice sent by the BCCI, on a complaint by England Cricket Board chief Giles Clarke that Modi seems to be on an even stronger wicket.

An e-mail in possession of CNN-IBN does seem to suggest that it will be hard to indict Modi on the charge of trying to divide world cricket. The mail shows that Modi met the heads of three counties informally in Delhi and it was the counties who were pushing for a high-profile T20 tournament in England.

Meanwhile, Modi handed over all the relevant documents to the BCCI on Sunday, both original as well as notarised copies, including all franchisee agreements, global media rights agreements, global media rights packages, all bid documents, media rights licensee agreements, eligibility letters of all

bidders with details and all sponsorship agreements entered into by the IPL, sources said.

The documents were handed over to the BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Professor Ratnakar Shetty by Modi's lawyer Mehmood M Abdi, sources

added.

All these documents were missing from the BCCI office and Shetty had been entrusted by the IPL governing council at its April 26 emergency meeting to collect them.

Shetty has also acknowledged the receipt of the documents of which one set has been retained by Modi's counsel for his records, sources further said.

Modi was suspended soon after the final of IPL-III by the BCCI which has levelled charges against him alleging, among other things, financial irregularities and bid-rigging in conducting the tournament and his deadline to reply to these charges ends on May 10.

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Ten rupees for hanging Qasab

Sources say Qasab's hangman will be paid Rs 10. Kripashankar Singh suggests he be paid Rs 75,000

The State spent Rs 36 crore on security for Aamir Ajmal Qasab. Yet, the hangman who will put the noose around the neck of India's most hated man will get a measly Rs 10 to Rs 25 for the job.

However, a senior official from the home department at Mantralaya clarified, on condition of anonymity, that

	Six years on, they wait
	On June 21, 2004, Arthur Road prisoners Vikky Singh (22) and Rajesh Dhudwani (30) attacked jailer Shiv Shankar Patil (37). "I had heard that blast accused Shaikh Mohammed Ehtesham Shaikh had assured them Rs 10,000 and bail if they joined Chotta Shakeel. So I separated them, and they attacked," says Patil, who filed a complaint under Section 332 of the IPC with the N M Joshi Marg police. Then state home minister (prison) Kripashankar Singh announced a Rs 1 lakh reward for Patil and Rs 51,000 for constable Bhausaheb Patil. They are still waiting. When asked, Kripashankar said, "If they are not paid even after follow up, I promise to use the chief minister's relief fund."

the post of "hangman" doesn't exist. The Maharashtra prison manual of 1970 directs that anyone can be trained as a hangman.

"This amount was fixed during the British regime, and has not changed even after Independence. But the hanging allowance is in addition to the monthly salary paid to him," said the officer, who said the hangman should be paid at least Rs 10,000.

Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Kripashankar Singh also feels that whoever does the job of hanging Qasab should be given a reward amount of no less than Rs 75,000. In 2004, Singh himself had announced rewards of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 to two Arthur Road jail staffers for their bravery. They are still awaiting their reward, though.

Medha Gadgil, principal secretary (prison), revealed that the prison department has spent only around Rs 5.21 crore on the bulletproof makeshift high security cell for Qasab inside Arthur Road jail.

"I don't know how people have arrived at the figure of 36 crore rupees," said Gadgil.

Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian was paid a mere Rs 1,500 per month when she was chief public prosecutor. Said Salian, "It's high time the State reconsiders the measly pay scale set in the pre-independence era and makes necessary amendments. Hopefully, this will happen before the death sentence of Qasab is executed."

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'3 Idiots' bags 14 nominations in IIFA

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) Aamir Khan-starrer '3 Idiots' has bagged maximum number of nominations at the 2010 International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards to be held in Colombo from June 3.

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, '3 Idiots' marked its presence in all categories except best supporting actress. It has received 14 nominations including best film, best actor, best director and best actress, among others.

Other films nominated are Saif Ali Khan's 'Love Aaj Kal' that has bagged nine nominations, while IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan-starrer 'Paa' and Shahid Kapoor's 'Kaminey' both got eight nominations each.

'Colombo marks the second decade of IIFA. The nominees for the Micromax IIFA Awards 2010 are a compilation of the best work from the previous year and the suspense and celebration of these worthy nominations will undoubtedly create another magical IIFA,' said Sabbas Joseph, one of the directors of Wizcraft, in a statement.

The nominations were released after voting in March. Results were audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The event will take place June 3-5 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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Government undisputed owner of natural resources: Supreme Court

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2006 file photo, Chairman Reliance Communications Ltd. Anil Ambani looks on at an event in New Delhi, India. Anil and his brother, Mukesh, the world's 34th and 7th richest people, have been locked in an increasingly bitter feud over New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday said the government was the undisputed owner of natural resources and had the right to fix its price. It was delivering the verdict on the dispute over Krishna-Godavari gas between companies led by the two Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil.

Keeping the interests of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources, the apex court also directed that an agreement be reached with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries within six weeks over supplies of natural gas from the fields, off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

The case, one of the most-followed legal battles in India, was heard by a three member bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice B. Sudershan Reddy.

At the core of the gas dispute was the validity of an agreement reached between the two brothers -- and blessed by their mother Kokilabehn -- at the time of the de-merger of the erstwhile Reliance Group in June 2005.

It concerned the price, quantity and tenure of gas supplies by Reliance Industries to Reliance Natural Resources. The agreement called for 28 million units of gas a day to be supplied by Reliance Industries to Reliance Natural Resources at $2.34 per unit for 17 years.

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Election 2010: First hung parliament in UK for decades

The Conservatives have won the most MPs in the UK general election but fallen short of a majority, leading to the first hung parliament since 1974.

As counting continues the Tories have gained 92 seats, Labour have lost 86 and the Lib Dems six, despite hopes of a breakthrough for the third party.

The battle is now under way to see which leader can form a government.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the situation was "fluid" but the Tories had the first right to seek to govern.

Arriving back at Lib Dem headquarters in London, he said: "It is vital that all parties, all political leaders, act in the national interest and not out of narrow party political advantage."

'National interest'

He said he "stuck by" his view that the party with the biggest mandate - in terms of votes and seats - should have the right to seek to govern first. "It seems this morning, that it's the Conservative Party that has more votes and more seats though not an absolute majority.

"I think it's now for the Conservative Party to prove that it's capable of seeking to govern in the national interest."

Conservative leader David Cameron will make a statement at 1430 BST in which he will set out how he will seek to form a government that is "strong and stable" with broad support that acts in the national interest.

The Tories have won 291 seats so far but it is now not possible for them to reach the 326 seats needed to win an overall majority.

Mr Brown, whose party has 251 seats so far, has returned to Downing Street with aides and is expected to make an offer to Mr Clegg's Lib Dems, who have so far won 51 seats, to try to form a coalition government.

He said earlier: "My duty in all of this is that there be a stable, strong and principled government and to play my part in making that possible.

Downing Street has authorised the civil service to support other parties in hung parliament negotiations - essentially giving the go-ahead for talks to begin.

The BBC projection suggests David Cameron's Conservatives will have 306 seats. If there are 10 Unionists elected in Northern Ireland then Mr Cameron might be able to command 316 - probably still slightly too few for him to be sure of winning a Queen's Speech.

But Labour and the Lib Dems together would have 317 seats, according to the BBC figures, which even with three SDLP MPs would still leave them at 320 - again a few votes short of a majority

In other election night news:

• Northern Ireland's first minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson has been defeated in East Belfast by the Alliance party
• The Greens gained their first MP at Westminster - party leader Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavillion
• Education secretary Ed Balls hung on in Morley and Outwood by just over 100 votes but former Home Secretary Charles Clarke narrowly lost to the Lib Dem candidate in Norwich South
• Jacqui Smith, who stood down as home secretary over her expenses, lost her Redditch seat to the Conservative but Hazel Blears retained her seat in Salford
• Labour's Margaret Hodge beat the BNP's Nick Griffin in Barking and Dagenham, with a 5% increase in her vote
• Esther Rantzen came fourth in Luton South, which went to the Labour candidate
• Lib Dem frontbencher Lembit Opik has lost his Montgomeryshire seat after suffering a 13.2% swing to the Conservatives
• There were angry scenes and calls for an inquiry after people were turned away from polling stations as long queues formed ahead of the 2200 BST voting deadline.

Senior Labour figures have said that under the rules of Britain's constitution, the sitting prime minister in a hung parliament makes the first attempt at forming a ruling coalition.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said Mr Brown had returned to Number 10, and was going to rest and "catch his breath" adding: "We have to be patient for some time more."

"It's not possible to make definite claims or reach final conclusions about the outcome of the election because there are results still to come in," he said.

"You could say the electorate have voted for change but what they haven't done is voted decisively in favour of the Conservatives."

Asked if it would be "inconceivable" to have a Labour minority or coalition government which did not have Gordon Brown as prime minister, Lord Mandelson said: "Frankly there are quite a number of permutations."

But he added it was "premature" to "start getting into hypotheses".

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said voters would not be "entirely happy" if Mr Brown "after a defeat like this, were to try to cling on and try to form some sort of coalition of the defeated, some sort of alliance of the dispossessed".

He said: "David Cameron has secure a larger number of votes and a larger share of the votes than Tony Blair secured in 2005 when he became prime minister. The logical next step is for David Cameron to form a Conservative-led government."

Mr Clegg - whose party have not performed as well as expected after a poll surge for the Lib Dems after the first live TV debate - cautioned other leaders against "rushing into making claims or taking decisions" which did not stand the test of time.

He urged everyone involved to "take a little time" to ensure people got the government they deserved during these "difficult times".

But he admitted it had been a "disappointing night" for the Lib Dems.

The Conservatives are predicted to take 297 seats in England, with Labour on 194 and the Lib Dems on 41. The Tories have also made significant gains in Wales - where Labour also regained their former stronghold Blaenau Gwent - but the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru failed to gain target seats.

But in Scotland the Tories failed to make a significant breakthrough, while the Labour vote held up, with the party re-taking two seats it lost in by-elections - Glasgow East and Dunfermline and West Fife. The SNP and Lib Dems fell short of their targets.

Northern Ireland's First Minister, DUP leader Peter Robinson lost his seat in the first shock result of the night. The other main unionist leader - the UUP's Sir Reg Empey, was also defeated in South Antrim.

With 17 of 18 Westminster seats declared - the DUP have eight, Sinn Fein have four, the SDLP have three, the Alliance Party has one and one has gone to an independent.

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Tchaikovsky's Google doodle shows music matters more than politics

Thank goodness for the hung parliament. One welcome, unforeseen consequence of our collective lack of decisiveness is that Google has proved what we all know to be true: music matters more than politics. The search engine replaced its 10 Downing Street doodle this morning, when it became obvious that no-one had won a majority, with the balletic fantasy of dancers throwing some Google-ish swan shapes. They're commemorating – of course – Tchaikovsky's 170th birthday.

I think this is their best composerly commemoration yet, more artful than their Stravinsky-sketch, less obvious than their Vivaldi-violins. And here's Yuri Temirkanov and the orchestra of La Scala with an impassioned performance of Pyotr Ilyich's Pathétique symphony to remind you that the dramas of real life are still happening, despite the pathetic, grubby comedy of politics and power going on at Westminster.

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Dual-purpose condom for both gay and straight couples

CMR to come up with a dual-purpose condom for both homosexuals and straight couples; Delhi gays not enthused

A much-needed breakthrough. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Wednesday it will soon come up with a dual-purpose condom, which will benefit gays as well as straight couples. The merchandise is almost ready for production and would be available in the market very soon.

Talking about the new condom an ICMR official on condition of anonymity said, "The regular condoms available in the market are basically developed for vaginal sex. The condoms needed by gay community needs to have extra lubrication and strength for anal sex. Anal sex often leads to breakage and slippage of the regular condoms exposing the user against all kinds of infections and medical complications."

But it seems the gay community is not particularly enthused. Sharing her view on the development Anjali Gopalan the founder of Naz Foundation said, "The gay community always asked for a condom with better lubrication. It is not the need of gay community particularly but a lot of heterosexual people who engage in anal sex need a better quality condom with extra strength and lubrication."

While ICMR is about to launch the product there is very little information available about it. The factor of inhibition is also expected to play a big deterrent. "It's a good initiative as it would prevent a number of infections and diseases. The gay people are using the condoms which are in fact meant to be used for vaginal sex only," said photographer Sunil Gupta.

But Ashok Row Kavi, a gay celebrity from Mumbai completely negated the theory. "Gays don't do anything different and thus they don't need any different kind of condom. What we always asked for was better lubrication," he said.

But Gupta pointed out the importance of physical strength of the condom. "Lubrication does help but strength is also important. At the same time there should be focus on advertisement to make it more accessible," he said.

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Disproportionate assets cases: BJP accuses govt of misusing CBI

NEW DELHI: Accusing the government of misusing the CBI in disproportionate assets cases against politicians, BJP today said its members would stage a dharna on the issue in Parliament premises tomorrow.

At the weekly meeting of BJP parliamentary party, senior leader L K Advani commended his party MPs for working as an effective opposition and raising contentious issues like IPL, phone tapping and misuse of CBI by the government.

"We demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the IPL scam and phone tapping issue. There should be a check on misuse of CBI," Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia said, quoting Advani, who heads the Parliamentary Party.

Ahluwalia said that BJP MPs will sit on a dharna tomorrow at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament to protest alleged misuse of CBI by the government.

BJP had earlier alleged that government had misused the CBI to speed up or slow down disproportionate assets cases against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD head Lalu Prasad and BSP supremo Mayawati. The three parties voted with the government in the recent cut motions moved by BJP and Left parties.

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Australia take on Bangladesh in quest for Super 8 berth

BRIDGETOWN: Determined to win the only trophy missing from their cupboard, formidable Australia face potential giant-killers Bangladesh in their second and final Group A match for a place in the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup here on Wednesday.

With a morale-boosting win over defending champions Pakistan under their belt in the tournament-opener, Australia are aiming to shed the tag of being Twenty20 duds.

Skipper Michael Clarke, leading the team in his first major international tournament, has claimed that the Aussies have improved a lot over the past one year and the results here would reflect that.

"There's extra motivation from within the squad, we want to perform better in Twenty20 cricket then we have in general. I think our form has improved over the last 12 months and we've started really well," Clarke has said.

"The key is going to be adapting to conditions and I think we've got a really good squad to do that."

But having lost by a run to Zimbabwe in a practice match, Clarke is well aware of the pitfalls of taking Bangladesh lightly.

The Tigers, as Bangladesh are popularly known, have a history of upstaging big teams in big tournaments.

"We certainly would not be taking Bangladesh lightly. They've got some wonderful Twenty20 players who are very aggressive with the bat," said a cautious Clarke.

On paper, however, Australia are hands down favourites. A batting line-up studded with Twenty20 specialists and a bowling attack that has the variety to unsettle any team, Australia seem to be finally finding their foothold in a format that they didn't take too seriously till a few years ago.

The intimidating trio of David Warner, Shane Watson and David Hussey is capable of ripping apart any attack in the world and Bangladesh can hardly claim to have the bowling to keep them in check.

Bangladesh go into Wednesday's match after losing their tournament opener against Pakistan but they can take heart from the fact that their top batsmen Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan seemed in good touch in the match.

But their bowling is a major worry as it conceded 172 runs against Pakistan.

Australia, on the other hand, have a quality line-up in both the pace and spin departments. The in-form Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris have more then made up for Brett Lee's absence from the pace attack.

The spin department has useful part-timers like Clarke himself.

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