Saina Nehwal Wins the Swiss Open Grand Prix

Saina Nehwal ended her title drought by winning the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title in Basel at the expense of former world No. 1 Shixian Wang on Sunday. 

The Hyderabad girl's last international title was at the same event (March 20, 2011) and by making a successful title defence, Saina has reasons to feel happy in the run-up to theLondon Olympics, especially for the way she got the better of two Chinese stars - Xin (F) Liu (quarters) and Wang - here. 

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RIM slashes Playbook 64 GB price in India

RIM slashes Playbook 64 GB price in India apnaaadfun.blogspot.in

Canadian firm Research in Motion (RIM) has slashed the price of its 64 GB version of tablet PC PlayBook by around 18 per cent to Rs 19,990.

In December last year, RIM had slashed the price of its PlayBook to Rs 24,490 for the 64GB version. It was retailing for Rs 37,990.

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Jet discontinues JetLite, merges with Konnect

As part of a strategic rebranding and restructuring exercise announced last July, Jet Airways, on Monday, said, effective March 25, its low-cost arm JetLite would cease to operate, after being merged with the other no-frills brand JetKonnect.

“Effective March 25, JetLite will cease to operate separately, but will come under the JetKonnect brand, enabling guests to avail themselves of a single superior in-flight product in the full service (Jet Airways) and low-fare categories,” group Chief Commercial Officer Sudheer Raghavan said in a statement.

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Mamata has her way, Trivedi to quit

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The embattled Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi, agreed to resign on Sunday evening, four days after he presented the Railway budget that angered his leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

“She [Mamata Banerjee] spoke to me. The Trinamool Congress wants me to resign,” Mr. Trivedi told journalists. “I told her [that] I will abide by the party's [decision] and resign.”

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), however, said no resignation letter was received from Mr. Trivedi.

Mr. Trivedi succumbed to pressure from the party after he had a telephone conversation with Ms. Banerjee on Sunday. “Dinesh Trivedi called in,” she told journalists in Kolkata, stressing: “He will resign. And he will stay in the party.”

Ms. Banerjee also said she was flying to New Delhi on Sunday night. She will preside over a meeting of the Trinamool Parliamentary Party scheduled for Monday afternoon.

While Ms. Banerjee is determined to see that her nominee for the Railway Minister, Mukul Roy, replies to the debate on the budget, it is not yet clear whether the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will agree to that.

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VICTORY FOR INDIA

Mirpur: VICTORY FOR INDIA AS DHONI SLAPS ONE PAST COVER 

9.22 pm 47th Over: Ind 318/3 First ball. low full toss andFOUR!!!. down the leg side Kohli clips to fine leg boundary. Last ball of the over, Raina picks up another FOUR!!!through midwicket region. 

9.12 pm 46th Over: Ind 307/3 OUT!!! F.O.W 305/3 Rohit Sharma 68 (83b) went for a pull but ended up top edging it straight to Shahid Afridi at midwicket. 

9.09 pm 45th Over: Ind 300/2 KOHLI ON FIRE 300 up for India as Kohli slaps one past extra cover for his 20 boundary of the innings. 8 runs of the over. 30 runs needed off 30 balls. 

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Two Italian tourists abducted by Maoists in Odisha: Police

BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR (ODISHA): Two Italian tourists have been abducted byMaoists from the tribal-dominated Kandhamal-Ganjam border area in Odisha, said police on Sunday, which is monitoring the situationclosely.

"There is information about abduction of two persons by Maoists in Kandhamal district. Further details are awaited," Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj told PTI over phone.

Home secretary UN Behera today confirmed the incident and said the abduction took place last night.

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Polling for Andhra by-elections begins

Polling for by-elections to seven Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh started this morning amid tight security.

Six of these constituencies - Kollapur, Nagarkurnool, Mahbubnagar, Kamareddy, Adilabad and Station Ghanpur - are in Telangana region, while the seventh, Kovvur, is in coastal Andhra.

Voting began at 8 a.m and will continue till 5 p.m. The total number of eligible voters is about 13 lakh. The state’s Chief Electoral Office Bhanwar Lal said that the election machinery was geared up for a smooth polling.

The by-elections to five of these constituencies were necessitated by the resignations of sitting MLAs in support of the separate Telangana demand. At Mahabubnagar, sitting MLA died, while in Kovur, the sitting TDP MLA quit in support of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohana Reddy.

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NTPC to execute three projects in Uttarakhand

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 Power major NTPC on Saturday said it is implementing three big hydel projects with a total capacity of 942 Mw in Uttarakhand.

These three projects include Tapovan Vishnugad (520 Mw), Rupsiyabagar-Khasiabara (261 Mw) and Lata Topovan (171 Mw) in the hill state, NTPC’s Regional Executive Director (Hydro) Malvinder S Soin told reporters here.

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Hundred x 100: Sachin's tryst with destiny

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Mirpur: One year and five days since he scored his 99th international century, Sachin Tendulkar reached the unprecedented landmark of 100. For over a year a legion of fans had watched in anticipation as Tendulkar strode to the crease in India, England and Australia, and at 17:07 local time, when he nudged towards square leg for a single, there was a collective release of emotions.

Tendulkar, 38, had been stuck on 99 international centuries since March 12, 2011 when he scored a century against South Africa during the World Cup. During the time he took to move from 99 to 100, so much has changed for the Indian cricket team. In the last 12 months they have won the World Cup, slipped form their No. 1 perch in the ICC’s Test rankings, been whitewashed in consecutive overseas Test tours, failed to make the finals of a tri-series, and have seen Rahul Dravid make his exit from the international scene.

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Budget 2012 Live: Pranab’s effort is a mouse. Forget pizza, order some booze

LAST WORD: Sorry, folks. This is not the big bang the market was hoping for. It’s a whimper. As Pranab Mukherjee concludes his speech, it’s clear that there have been no serious efforts to fix anything. Fuel and fertiliser subsidies have not been cut. Fiscal consolidation is a mixed bad. Higher taxes will raise inflation by a bit. This budget won’t achieve much. Your tax reliefs are piddly. Forget the pizza. Order more booze to drown your sorrows.

12.45: Gold buffs – here’s your comeuppance. Basic customs up on gold doubled. Also on platinum. Sin taxes also up on big bang some cigarettes and bidis. Small customes cuts on cigarettes, too.

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