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        China has called a US ban on its seafood 'indiscriminate' and 'unacceptable' and urged closer cooperation on food safety between the two trading partners, State media informed on Saturday. 'China cannot accept the indiscriminate and automatic detention of four kinds of Chinese seafood by the US and the ban on those products entering the US,' Li Changjiang, the head of China's top quality watchdog was quoted as saying. Li made his comments on Friday during a telephone conversation with US Health and Human Services secretary Michael Leavitt, the official Xinhua reported. The US Food and Drug Administration announced that it would detain three types of fish - catfish, basa and dace - as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs unapproved in the US for use in farmed seafood. Trade barriers add to the growing Sino - US rivalry in world affairs.

        The US has joined the 'banana war' at the World Trade Organisation, alleging the European Union treats Latin American producers unfairly. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the US has requested a WTO panel to review 'whether the EU's banana import regime breaches the WTO obligations' of more than a decade ago. The US claims the EU has failed to implement WTO rulings in a 1996 action initiated by Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the United States. That WTO ruling said the EU banana regime discriminates against producers of Latin America as well as their distributors, including several US companies, the USTR said Friday. Restrictive practices still rule between the US and EU.

        In what could be seen as a possible obstacle to the growing ties between India and China, a recently declassified paper of the CIA has said that the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was consistently taken for a ride by the Chinese in the months and years prior to the 1962 war. The top secret documents of March 1963 was approved for release only in May 2007. The declassification of documents pertaining to several aspects of domestic and international politics has been seen by the CIA brass as part of a new transparency which would provide glimpses into the thinking and workings of the nodal intelligence outfits. One set of documents called the Cesar-Polo-Esau Papers deal with Communist countries notably China and the erstwhile Soviet Union and three sections of which are devoted to an analysis of the Sino-Indian relations leading up to the 1962 debacle. Will this CIA revelation affects border talks between the neighbours?

        Even as the Centre is yet to notify regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that developmental works should be expedited in such areas. After chairing the first meeting of the Board for Development of Unauthorised Colonies, Dikshit said, 'we would definitely find ways and means to expedite developmental works and remove bottlenecks in the illegal colonies.' Legislators who attended the meeting suggested permission to utilise MLAs fund in unauthorised colonies, scrapping of phased manner of development and announcement of new cut-off date for regularisation. Dikshit hoped that 'the Centre would soon issue a notification of regularisation of unauthorised colonies.' Will settlers and traders make peace with the government?

        As the government attempts to get back Mahatma Gandhi's letter due to be auctioned in London on 3 July, his key aide says he never sold this manuscript and there was no copyright on them. 'They must be from me. Nobody else. If they are in English, nobody else would have typed but me. I was the only person. No one possesses such manuscripts. I must have given them,' V Kalyanam, a stenographer to Mahatma, told media. He was asked whether the manuscripts facing auction were from him. 'I was the only person typing and had no free time. There would be MLAs and MPs sitting when I was typing. They say can we take that piece of paper written by Gandhi. I will not give them, they would pick it. Many people including foreigners have taken manuscripts from me like that only. But to many others after his death also I have given. Because I attach no importance,' a news channel quoted him as saying. Gandhi's works still carry weight!

        A day before nominations closed for the Presidential polls, NDA on Friday continued to target Pratibha Patil appealing to the UPA-Left to replace her with any other 'suitable' candidate 'of their choice', a demand stoutly rejected by the ruling combine. The day also saw the NDA approaching the Election Commission to seek action against Patil, alleging she had given her consent to the Congress to seek disqualification of Rajya Sabha member Natwar Singh for supporting Shekhawat. The Congress, however, dismissed the move as 'laughable' and sought to bring Shekhawat in the dock by saying that the Vice President allowed the 'main accused' before him to become his 'main proposer'. Controversy over Pratibha is growing.

        Two persons, including the chairman of the Sivaganga Municipality P Murugan of the DMK, were killed and ten injured when a powerful bomb explosion ripped through his car in front of the Municipal office near the bus stand in Sivaganga on Friday. Police, quoting eyewitnesses, said the bomb exploded the moment Murugan got into the car around 1.30 pm after finishing his morning work at the office. Ten passengers of a Madurai-bound bus which passed by that way at the time of the explosion were injured as parts of the car hit them, they said. The explosion was so powerful that the roof of the car broke into pieces and flew away. Murugan, whose legs were blown away, and his driver Pandi were rushed to the Government Rajaji Hospital at Madurai but died on the two died on the way. Bomb culture has spread deep in Tamilnadu.

        The Congress on Friday increased its tally of seats in the Tamilnadu Assembly from 34 to 35 by wresting Madurai West seat from AIADMK, when its nominee K S K Rajendran trounced the rival party's Sellur K Raju by 31,115 votes. The result was also a shot in the arm for DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi's elder son and its pointsmen in the southern districts, M K Azhagiri, who spearheaded the campaign for Rajendran. The Congress candidate was leading since the counting began at 8 am on Friday. The by-poll, on 26 June, was necessitated due to the death of rebel AIADMK member S V Shanmugham. In 2006 polls, Shanmugham defeated the Congress nominee by over 3,000 votes. The emphatic win would further cement the allies to the DPA front.

        The Hindu Munnani on Friday said it would announce its stand on the Rama Sethu issue on 22 July at Madurai. Munani committee member S Vellaiyappan told reporters that the Rama Sethu Protection Committee would take a decision on that day, when a Protection Conference would be held. The Rama Sethu, he said, should not be demolished, but preserved for historical purposes. Alleging that both the Centre and State governments had failed to control terrorism, he said Naxalite activities were on the increase. He demanded that more security personnel should be posted in the Vellore, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts bordering Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, as extremist elements were transporting arms into the state. Will the Hindu outfit's campaign have the right impact on the ship canal project?

        Tamilnadu Governor S S Barnala has appointed five persons as members of the Tamilnadu Public Service Commission. The appointments made under under Article 316(1) of the Constitution would take effect from the date of taking charge for a period of six years or till they attain the age of 62 years, whichever earlier, an official press release said. Those appointed are T Sankaralingam, civil judge (senior division) of small causes, Chennai; Dr K Lakshmanan, reader in Department of Commerce, Periyar EVR College, Tiruchi; M Shobini, former Assistant Manager of the RBI; P S Mohammed Ali Jinnah, former chief engineer at PWD, Chennai; and Dr S Xavier Jesu Raj, reader in Loyola College. Hope the members would live up to their responsibility.

        UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday congratulated DMK president M Karunanidhi for his contribution in the victory of the Congress candidate of K S K Rajendran in the Madurai West Assembly bypoll. Gandhi in a telephonic chat with Karunanidhi conveyed her best wishes for the success of the women's rally scheduled to be held in the city on 1 July in support of UPA Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, a DMK press release said. Thanking the electorate of Madurai West for electing the Congress nominee K S K Rajendran in the by-poll, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi came down heavily on the Election Commission for 'causing hurdles right from when the poll date was announced'. Everything is going right for the DMK, a major ally of the UPA.

        Apparently not closing the option of demanding the Vice President post from the ruling UPA, the DMK, a key constituent of the ruling alliance, said it had not made any demand in this regard so far. 'We have not made any such demand till now,' said Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. He was replying to reporters when he was asked whether his party's nominee would contest the Vice Presidential polls. On the allegations against UPA's Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, he said 'the Prime Minister himself has denied all the charges'. Taking exception to the Election Commission seeking a clarification on the Madras High Court's order for taking action against AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa for filing nominations in four Assembly constituencies in 2001, Karunanidhi said it raised apprehensions that EC was trying to delay the proceedings against the AIADMK leader. Being a key constituent of the ruling alliance, DMK is keen to have its say.

        TCS, Infosys and Wipro, the country's top three IT firms, accounted for about USD 9 billion (Rs 39,260 crore) software exports during 2006-07, a Dataquest survey has said. The exports from top 10 IT companies crossed USD 15 billion (Rs 68,236 crore) during last fiscal, according to the industry survey and analysis by CyberMedia's flagship magazine. The top software exporter Tata Consultancy Services earned revenues of Rs 15,881 crore during the year at a growth rate of 38 per cent from exporting software and services. Infosys' revenues stood at Rs 13,025 crore growing by 45 per cent rate while Wipro's revenues touched Rs 10,354 at a growth rate of 39 per cent, the survey said.

        Sachin Tendulkar reached yet another milestone in his illustrious career by becoming the first cricketer ever to score 15,000 ODI runs in the second ODI against South Africa on Friday. Playing his 387th match, Tendulkar hit Andre Nel for an awesome six — his 160th six—in the fourth ball of the 18th over to get to 45 and after a dot ball, he drove the pacer into covers and darted for a single, while the overthrow from covers raced to the boundary to complete his half century. With this, he completed his 15000 runs in the shorter version of the game. Before this match, Tendulkar had 14950 ODI runs under his belt with 41 centuries against his name and an average of 44.10.

        Sania Mirza crashed out of the Wimbledon ladies singles losing 6-2, 6-2 to Nadia Petrova of Russia in a second round match on Thursday.

        Nothing went right for Sania after being broken in the second game of the match. Another break in the eighth game gave Petrova the first set in 28 minutes.

        Sania came back strongly at the start of the second set, extending the 25-year-old from Moscow in the first game, where she had two break-points but failed to convert them.