Microsoft to challenge Google again

Microsoft Corp. has announced that it had reached out to Yahoo Inc. with a possibility of a fresh deal that does not involve an acquisition of the Internet company.

“Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo,” Microsoft said in a brief statement.

The announcement comes on the heels of Yahoo shareholder and billionaire investor Carl Icahn launching a proxy fight to wrest control of the Yahoo board at the upcoming July three annual shareholders meeting.

Microsoft withdrew its unsolicited $33-a-share buyout bid on May three, after the two sides failed to agree on a price.

Icahn has called the Yahoo board’s decision to reject Microsoft offer as irrational and wants to force Yahoo to return to the bargaining table with Microsoft.

Microsoft did not elaborate on the new proposal. Microsoft said that it was not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but was continuing to explore and pursue its options to improve and expand its online services and advertising businesses.

“Microsoft reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or  Mrosoft or with other third parties.” Microsoft noted that there could be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.

The New York Times cited “people involved in the confidential discussions” as saying that Microsoft has in mind a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising

I don’t wish to have a bout with any Indian: Great Khali

WWF wrestler the great Khali alias Dalip Singh on Monday said that he does not wish to challenge any Indian to have a bout with him.

Talking to reporters on the sets of Ramaa-The Saviour here, Khali refuted media reports that noted actor-cum-wrestler Dara Singh has challenged him to a fight.

“I spoke to him and he has denied having ever said so. In fact, he has given me his blessings,” Khali said.

Responding to a question that singer Mika Singh’s seven feet tall bodyguard has been quoted that he wants to fight with Khali, the wrestler asked, “Have I challenged any Indian in the wrestling ring? People can go abroad and fight other wrestlers to make a name for themselves.”

When asked about his meeting with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Khali said, “SRK is a good man,” and added that they have become good friends.

Khali refused to dwell into reports that film production banners like UTV and Ashtavinayak films were on the verge of signing him for their upcoming projects.

“I will speak on such issues only when I sign on the dotted line,” he said.

“I am confused. But it is much easier than wrestling. Wrestling is injury prone and I have undergone a surgery in 2006,” Khali replied when asked about his experiences of doing dancing and stunt sequences for Ramaa-The Saviour.

When asked about his favourite actors and with whom he would like to work with, Khali said he had no particular favourites but would like to work in movies in which he feels comfortable and ones which offer good money. “Script and my role is also very important,” he added.

PM rules out price controls to check inflation

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday ruled out price controls to rein in inflation that has a scaled a 44-month high, but assured more administrative steps to ease the burden on the average citizen. During a meeting with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Reserve Bank of India Governor Y.V. Reddy in New Delhi, the prime minister said the imposition of price controls would send a wrong signal to the world regarding India’s economic reforms.

Yet, he hoped that steps taken by his government and the central bank over the past month - such as the ban on export of some commodities and duty cuts on some imports - would take effect soon and bring down the inflation rate from the present 7.83 percent. Imposition of price controls has been among the demands made by the opposition as also the Left parties - that propped the UPA government - to rein in prices.

The prime minister maintained that the focus of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was on controlling inflation without interrupting India’s high economic growth of 8-to-9 percent over the past four years.

The meeting was called to review the price situation in the country, which has become a major source of worry for the government that is entering an election year

Mukesh Ambani enjoys Rs 44 crore pay package

Top business house Reliance Industries has given its chief Mukesh Ambani, the country’s richest person and presumably top-paid executive, a hefty pay hike of about 45 per cent to take his annual remuneration to over $10 million.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, got a total payout of Rs 44.02 crore in financial year 2007-08, marking an increase of about Rs 13.5 crore from the previous fiscal.

In fiscal 2006-07, Ambani’s annual remuneration had increased to Rs 30.46 crore, from Rs 24.77 crore previously.

However, a large part of Ambani’s full-year pay cheque comes in the form of commissions that the company pays to select executives as a ratio of its net profits.

Perquisites and allowances

According to the company’s annual report being sent to shareholders, Ambani got a salary of Rs 60 lakh (Rs five lakh per month) and another Rs 48 lakh (Rs four lakh per month) in the name of “perquisites and allowances”.

In addition, he got Rs 18.75 lakh under the head of “retiral benfits” and Rs 4,275.44 lakh toward commission on net profit, taking his total to Rs 4,402.19 lakh for 2007-08.

RIL Chief was the top-paid executive in fiscal 2006-07, followed by Madras Cement’s Chairman and MD P R R Rajha, who had an annual payout of about Rs 24.8 crore.

Mukesh Ambani world’s fifth richest

However, Ambani, who was ranked as world’s fifth richest by Forbes magazine earlier this year with a net worth of $43 billion, may not find a place even among the 200 most paid chiefs globally.

In a separate list, Forbes named Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellision at the top of 500 most paid CEOs in the US with a pay cheque of $192.9 million. A total 177 CEOs in the list had a salary of over $10 million.

It is not yet clear whether Ambani would be highest paid executive in India for 2007-08, as most of the companies are yet to disclose the remuneration figures for that year.

Top-management salaries of other Indian firms

Among the Indian companies that have disclosed their top-management salaries so far for 2007-08, Managing Directors of Merck, ICI India and Crisil have their annual pay cheques running into crores – but they are way behind Ambani.

Merck’s M Dziki got Rs 2.02 crore, while ICI India’s Rajiv Jain and Crisil’s Roopa Kudva got Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 1.1 crore respectively in the latest fiscal.

Mukesh Ambani has been CMD of RIL since July 31, 2002. His current term expires on April 18, 2009. RIL’s board of directors at a meeting held on April 21, 2008 approved re-appointment of Ambani for a further five years at a remuneration determined by the concerned committee.

The shareholders would vote on these board decisions at the company’s 34th AGM to be held on June 12, 2008.

Addressing the shareholders, Ambani said in the annual report that the company “set new records for turnover, net profits and dividend payout.”

He said that RIL has become India’s first private sector company to surpass cash profit of Rs 25,000 crore and net profit of Rs 15,000 crore.

Ambani’s pay hike of about 45 per cent is even higher than the rise in total managerial remuneration given by RIL in the latest fiscal

Maruti raises car prices by up to Rs 18,000

Reeling under increasing input costs, especially steel, country’s biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki India has hiked prices of its products across various models between Rs 1,000 and Rs 18,000.

The company has hiked the price of its latest model Swift Dzire by Rs 18,000. It had launched the sedan with an introductory price ranging Rs 4.49 lakh and Rs 6 lakh across different variants.

It has also hiked the prices of all petrol variants hatchback Swift by Rs 9,000 along with SX4, Gypsy; while the diesel version of Swift has become costlier by Rs 15,000.

MSI has also increased the price of all variants of Zen Estilo and WagonR LPG by Rs 1,000 while Alto and M800 has become costlier by Rs 1,500.

Prices of all variants of Omni and WagonR Petrol has also been hiked by Rs 2,000 and that of multi-utility vehicle  Versa by Rs 8,000. 

The company has, however, spared its SUV Grand Vitara from the price hikes.

Delhi keep semis hopes alive

Delhi Daredevils recovered from a mid-innings wobble to hand Bangalore Royal Challengers yet another defeat, even as they strengthened their own chances of making it to the last four of the IPL.

Having asked the Challengers to bat, Delhi were set a challenging target of 155. It would not have been possible without Misbah-ul Haq’s late charge against Delhi’s bowlers. Delhi got there with five wickets and ten balls left.

Delhi got off to yet another speedy start, thanks to their in-form openers Gautam Gambhir (39 from 31 balls) and Virender Sehwag (47 form 19). But after their nexus was broken at 90, Anil Kumble briefly worked his magic that left Delhi stuttering at 133-5.

It still wasn’t enough for Bangalore to come back into the game after the vicious opening partnership that was scored in just seven overs. Shikhar Dhawan and Ferveez Maharoof knocked off the remaining runs with ease to round up a comprehensive dismantling of Delhi.

The win had been set up by another fine performance by Delhi’s seamers. Glenn McGrath (4-0-15-2), Maharoof (4-0-13-2) and Yo Mahesh (4-0-25-0) had Bangalore’s batsmen under control.

For Bangalore, Sreevats Goswami was promoted up the order at opener Bharat Chipli’s fall. The youngster, who kept wickets for India in the U-19 World Cup, aggregated 52 runs with fluent strokes.

Goswami kept at the pace going after Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid perished for small scores. Kallis (25) was caught behind to Maharoof’s first ball. Dravid (9) slogged against Tilakaratne Dilshan and missed.

Bangalore had a late order collapse where they lost Craig White (1), Praveen Kumar (2) and B Akhil (3) in quick time. But Misbah provided the boost to the innings.

He made an unbeaten 47, the last 24 of which were scored against Rajat Bhatia’s final over of the innings.

With the win, Delhi have now moved to 12 points to tie with Mumbai. However, Delhi have played 12 games to Mumbai’s six and the Daredevils must win their remaining two matches to have a realistic chance of reaching the semifinal.

France confirms informal talks to Hamas

France has had informal contacts with Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules Gaza, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Monday.

Kouchner, speaking on Europe-1 radio, was confirming a report in the daily Le Figaro that quoted a retired diplomat as saying, that he met with the Hamas leaders a month ago.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States. Fatah had dominated Palestinian politics for decades, but was trounced by Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary elections. In June 2007, the militant Islamic group took Gaza by force, triggering a crisis among Palestinians.

France has had contacts with Hamas leaders ”for several months,” Kouchner said, adding that France was not in formal negotiations. ”These are not relations, they are contacts. We must be able to talk if we want to play a role,” the minister said.

A former ambassador to Iraq, Yves Aubin de la Messuziere, told Le Figaro that he had met a month ago in Gaza with Mahmoud Zahar, the Hamas strongman, and Ismael Haniyeh, the Hamas Prime Minister. Apparently, de la Messuziere was acting on behalf of the French government.

”They assured (me) that they were ready to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, which amounts to an indirect recognition of Israel,” the moderate Palestinian president and Fatah’s leader, de la Messuziere said. He was also quoted as saying, ”they said they were ready to stop suicide attacks and, what surprised me is that the Islamist leaders recognise the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas.”

Abbas’ West Bank government is in a bitter rivalry with the Hamas regime in Gaza.

Kouchner, in the radio interview gave nuanced response, saying that Hamas was ”more flexible than before”, but for the moment does not recognize the state of Israel.

Kouchner said, the talks with Hamas were not held on a regular basis.

”We must try, but we must do so clearly and with (full knowledge) of our partners,” Kouchner said.
In June, during an official visit to Israel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ”will go to Palestine for several hours,” the foreign minister said, adding that Sarkozy will not be meeting with Hamas.

During his visit to Israel this month to honor the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding, US President George W Bush predicted Al-Qaida, Hezbollah and Hamas will one day be defeated as Muslims
”recognise the emptiness of the terrorists’ vision and the injustice of their cause.”

Bush hopes to achieve a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israel before he leaves office in January, and international Mideast envoy Tony Blair is working towards that end.

Mosul’s Al-Qaida figure arrested in Iraq

Iraqi officials said police on Monday arrested a man suspected of being a top Al-Qaida figure in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, where security forces have been carrying out an intensified crackdown to root out the terror network.

The US military said it was looking into the report. Reports of high-level Al-Qaida arrests in the past have sometimes proven incorrect.

Maj Gen Ahmed Taha, of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, identified the detainee as Al-Qaida in Iraq’s ”wali” - or ”governor” - in Mosul, which would make him the terror network’s top figure in the city and surrounding region.

But a security official involved in the detention said officials were still interrogating the detainee, Abdul-Khaliq al-Sabawi, to confirm whether he is the Mosul wali. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the arrest.

Al-Sabawi was captured in a morning raid in Salahuddin province, which neighbors Mosul’s Ninevah province to the south, said Taha, director of the ministry’s internal affairs office. He did not elaborate.

Some of Mosul’s Al-Qaida figures are believed to have fled or stayed out of the city before the sweep began more than a week ago - the latest in a series of high-profile operations launched by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to break the hold of armed groups in several areas around the country in the past two months.

So far, more than 1300 people have been arrested in and around Mosul in the operation, though 240 were cleared of suspicion and released, said Maj Gen Hussein Ali Kamal, the deputy interior minister for intelligence and security affairs.

Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been the most prominent Al-Qaida in Iraq urban stronghold since the group lost control of cities in the western province of Anbar over the past year.

Al-Qaida presence

Al-Qaida militants and other Sunni Arab insurgents have used the city to carry out major attacks in northern and central Iraq in recent months.

US-backed Iraqi forces have been carrying out targeted raids on suspected militants in the city and so far the sweep has seen almost no clashes a sign insurgents are seeking to lay low or escape.

The Defense Ministry reported the first death in the crackdown, saying raids Monday left one militant dead, along with 78 people arrested. The ministry statement gave no details on how the death occurred.

On Sunday, US-Iraqi forces increased a parallel operation in regions between Mosul and the Syrian border aimed at intercepting fleeing al-Qaida figures, an official in the Iraqi security forces’ Ninevah command center said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the press.

Al-Maliki ordered the Mosul sweep after two similar crackdowns against Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad’s Shiite stronghold of Sadr City. The Basra crackdown, which began in late March, sparked a wave of violence by Shiite militias across the south.

The intensified fighting has since been calmed by fragile truces, but skirmishes, raids and sporadic attacks have continued.

Lt Col Farhan Qassim, the police chief of the southern town of Suq al-Shiyoukh, was killed on Monday morning by a bomb that exploded in his office, police in the nearby city of Nasiriyah said. The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared becoming targets themselves.

The town, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, was the scene of heavy fighting on April 19 between police and members of the Mahdi Army the militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that left 22 people dead.

The attack was the latest sign of infiltration of police by Shiite militiamen. A week ago, a bomb detonated in the province’s main police command in Nasiriyah, wounding two officers. Four policemen were arrested soon afterward.

Farther south, Iraqi solders and police launched pre-dawn raids in four neighborhoods of Basra, including two Shiite militia enclaves, arresting several suspects, Basra’s operations command Maj Gen Mohammed Jawad Huwaidi said, without giving a precise number of arrests.

The sweep was targeting gunmen believed to be behind an attack on a police checkpoint in the center of the city that killed a policeman and wounded three others, Huwaidi said.

Also on Monday, Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab party said it rejected an apology made by the US military after an American sniper used a Quran for target practice. The unidentified soldier was disciplined and removed from Iraq, the military said on Sunday.

Zardari acquitted in drug trafficking case

A Pakistani court on Monday acquitted chairman of ruling PPP Asif Ali Zardari in a decade-old case linking him to drug trafficking, saying there was no ‘’substantial evidence” against him.

This was the last of numerous cases filed against Zardari, 51, in the 1990s after the dismissal of the Pakistan People’s Party government led by his slain wife Benazir Bhutto.

Additional Sessions Judge Ejaz Hussain Awan acquitted Zardari, who took over Pakistan Peoples Party leadership after Bhutto was killed in an attack on her rally in December, after the public prosecutor requested that the charges be dropped, as the government had found no substantial evidence.

Zardari’s counsel Latif Khosa said the case was designed to victimise his client and there was no evidence against him.

The judge agreed with the arguments and acquitted Zardari whose slogan-shouting supporters were present outside the court in large numbers.

After the verdict, Khosa told reporters that the case was based on falsehood and no witnesses had made statements against Zardari.

Zardari had been charged with providing ”aid, assistance, facilitation, abetment and shelter” to six persons allegedly involved in drug trafficking.

The prosecution had claimed that he received a ‘’share” in the narcotics business from persons who sent a major drug consignment to Europe and India in 1995 and 1996.

The PPP leader had maintained that he had been framed. All graft charges filed against Zardari in Pakistan and abroad have been scrapped in line with the controversial ordinance issued by President Pervez Musharraf last year to grant amnesty to PPP leaders.

Zardari was acquitted by Sindh High Court, last month of involvement in the murder of Murtaza Bhutto, brother of his wife.

Myanmar allows ASEAN aid effort

Myanmar agreed on Monday to an international relief effort led by its regional allies to help more than two million cyclone victims still critically short of life-saving food, shelter and medicines.

As the junta declared three days of national mourning, the UN’s top aid official John Holmes got a first-hand look at the scale of a disaster that has left at least 133,000 people dead or missing.

The regime agreed to allow its Southeast Asian neighbours to help but stopped short of permitting a full-scale aid operation, despite warnings the most vulnerable survivors would soon start to die unless they get help soon.

Nor did it indicate any softening in its refusal to allow in foreign aid workers in anything like the numbers needed to reach an estimated 2.4 million people still in desperate need 17 days after the tragedy struck.

Instead it struck a compromise at emergency talks here for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to coordinate assistance.

”The foreign ministers have agreed to establish an ASEAN-led coordinating mechanism,” Singapore’s George Yeo said after hosting his counterparts here, including Myanmar’s Nyan Win.

He said Nyan Win told the meeting the estimated damage from the cyclone was ”well over 10 billion US dollars” and that the regime had agreed to accept the immediate despatch of medical teams from other ASEAN nations.

Thirty medical personnel from each of Myanmar’s nine fellow ASEAN members will be sent to Myanmar in addition to contingents from India, Bangladesh and China.

Yeo said ASEAN would work with the United Nations to hold an ”international pledging conference” in the impoverished country’s main city Yangon on May 25 to pool aid.

”We have to look at specific needs and specific offers of help. There will not be an uncontrolled entry of foreign personnel into Myanmar,” Yeo said.

ASEAN has been frequently criticised over its reaction to regional crises and its failure to force Myanmar’s junta to respect human rights and promote democracy, notably when last year’s pro-democracy protests were crushed.

The regional grouping warned donors that ”international assistance given to Myanmar, given through ASEAN, should not be politicised.”

”On that basis, Myanmar will accept international assistance,” Yeo said.

The May 2-3 cyclone was Southeast Asia’s worst natural disaster since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, but the junta long suspicious of the outside world had stonewalled on offers of help.

Its reluctance to allow in all but a tiny proportion of the relief that is needed has frustrated UN and other humanitarian agencies as well as the French and US navy waiting off the coast with aid-laden ships.

The United Nations says only a fraction of the supplies needed are getting through to people in the Irrawaddy Delta, where whole villages were lost.

”This is not of the quantity or frequency required to meet the needs of the affected populations,” it said in a daily update.

The delta region has been all but closed off to reporters and most other foreigners, making it impossible to get an up-to-date independent picture of the situation on the ground.

People who have slipped through say the situation is almost unbearable - hungry people in leaking huts, stinking corpses rotting by the roadside, and most survivors still without any government aid.

Holmes, the UN’s relief coordinator, arrived on Sunday in Myanmar carrying a letter to junta leader Than Shwe from UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

Ban himself is to visit the country later in the week, after failing to get Than Shwe even to take his phone calls.

A UN spokesman in Myanmar said Holmes visited the disaster area earlier in the day but gave no details about his trip.

Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said after the Singapore talks that the aid effort was ”better late than never,” and the ASEAN-led mechanism ”will be the driving force to mobilise resources and humanitarian assistance from countries around the world.”

Myanmar was ”more receptive” to receiving medical teams and after that, it ”might be more willing or receptive” to foreign aid workers, he added.

Nyan Win for his part insisted his government was never opposed to foreign aid, vowing that, ”If we need to issue the visas (to foreign aid workers), we will issue it.”