free seats

Delhi High Court today directed all unaided, recognised and private schools to mandatorily slot minimum 10 per cent free seats for economically weak students and another five percent for children of its staffers, including those in teaching and non-teaching category, for the next academic session of 2008-2009. The court explained in its order that “financial viability” of the institution would suffer if an increased percentage of freeship was decided upon, even as it took note of submissions by the schools that they would have to substantially hike the fee of the “able-bodied” students to afford the free seats.

Miss Universe

Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, became the new Miss Universe late Monday at a gala held at the National Auditorium as Miss India Puja Gupta finished among the top 10 beautiful women in the contest.Mori, 20, received the crown adorned with 800 diamonds and 120 pearls - valued at 250,000 dollars - from Miss Universe 2006, Puerto Rican Zuleyka Rivera.Miss Brazil Natalia Guimaraes was the first runner-up while another Latin American, Venezuelan Ly Jonaitis, took the third place.The remaining finalists were South Korean Honey Lee and American Rachel Smith, despite the fact that the latter fell to the ground on stage during the evening gown competition.China's Ningning Zhang was chosen Miss Congeniality and Filipino Anna Theresa Licaros was named Miss Photogenic.

Parimarjan Negi

World`s youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi had to be content with a shared first position in the World Youth Star Chess Tournament after losing the final round against GM Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus.The losses of tournament leaders in the final round paved the way for Mamedov and top seed Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia to finish in a four-way tie at the top on 7 points each. In the final round game, Nepomniachtchi drew with GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine. In the final standings, Nepomniachtchi was declared the winner on the best tiebreak score while Mamedov, who was the only undefeated player in the tournament finished second. Negi ended third while Andriasian had to be satisfied with a fourth place finish.

trillionaire

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is now the only trillionaire in the country. A sharp surge in the share prices of his group companies has helped him cross the landmark.The combined market capitalisation of the four Mukesh Ambani-group companies — RIL, Reliance Petroleum, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd — has crossed the Rs 2,50,000-crore mark. The promoter holding in these companies is over Rs 1,30,000 crore.Younger brother Anil Ambani is also close to the landmark. He has around Rs 90,000 crore of wealth in the stock market through his holdings in various group companies. The investor wealth in the four Anil Ambani- group firms — Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd — has reached Rs 1,42,384 crore, while the total promoter holding is estimated at Rs 87,000 crore.PTI

WTO REPORT

India needs further reforms to sustain its rapid economic growth, particularly in the infrastructure sector that continues to cripple its potential, the world trade organization said in a report today."India's economic performance has continued to be impressive since 2001-02 and growth has been particularly rapid since 2003-04 averaging over 8.5 percent with over 9 percent expected for 2006-07," the WTO said its trade policy review on India. However, if India's high rates of economic growth are to be sustained, reforms need to be deepened, in particular to address infrastructure bottlenecks such as transport and electricity, which continue to constrain growth, it added.

FDI

The union Cabinet has hinted that it is likely to consider a proposal to increase FDI cap in joint sector refinery projects to 74 per cent from the current 26 per cent.The government move will allow India-born billionaire Lakshmi Narayan Mittal to have 49 per cent in state-run HPCL's Bhatinda project.The Petroleum Ministry has moved a Cabinet note for raising the FDI limit. The proposal is likely to be considered at today's meeting of the Union Cabinet.The proposal has come after a cooperation agreement that Mittal signed with HPCL in January to acquire 49 per cent in the PSU's three billion dollar refinery project in Punjab.

top 10 expensive locations

As India witnesses a spurt in property prices, its financial capital Mumbai has been ranked as one of the world's top 10 expensive locations in terms of accommodation cost.Mumbai, which is ranked seventh, is followed by Shanghai, on whose lines the government is planning to develop the Indian financial hub.The list comprises Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Seoul, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Caracas (Venezuela) and Paris (in order of their position), according to a study by International Human Resource organisation ECA International.

service tex

The tax on seven new services, brought under the net in this year’s budget, will be payable from June 1. Other service tax changes made through the Finance Act, 2007, will also be effective from that date.now in the case of renting out of commercial properties, the service tax is payable on the rental amount received less the property tax paid.In situations where property tax is paid after the payment of service tax on the rental (and the deduction of property tax paid from rental could not be availed of at the time of payment of service tax), Rule 4C of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, provide for self-adjustment of excess service tax paid without any limit.Commercial or industrial construction services provided in relation to the execution of work contracts in relation to construction of a port have been exempted from tax. Services such as completion and finishing, repair, alteration, renovation, restoration, maintenance or repair provided in relation to existing ports, however, will be leviable to service tax.For services provided in relation to the execution of a works contract, the service provider can avail of an optional scheme for paying the tax. As a trade facilitation measure and also for ease of administrative convenience, the Works Contract (Composition Scheme for Payment of Service Tax) Rules, 2007, has been notified. Under this, the service provider has an option to pay service tax equivalent to 2% of the total value of the works contract instead of paying service tax at the rate specified in Section 66. Rule 2A of Service Tax (Determination of Value) Rules, 2006 provide for valuation of services provided in relation to the execution of a works contract.

Prithvi-1 missile

The Indian Army successfully conducted on 9 may a user trial of the surface-to-surface medium-range Prithvi-1 missile from a military base in Orissa.The missile soared at 10.40 a.m. from launch complex no. 3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Balasore district, 230 km from Bhubaneswar.Prithvi is one of the five missiles under various stages of development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Prithvi-1 has already been inducted with the Indian Army's Hyderabad-based 333 Missile Regiment.The 8.56-metre-high and one metre thick missile, with a launch weight of 4.4 tonnes excluding the payload, has a range of 50-150 km. It can carry a 1,000 kg payload.

tomb of Herod

Israeli scientists said on Tuesday that they had discovered the tomb of Herod the Great - the notorious, Rome-appointed 'King of the Jews', who ruled over the Biblical kingdom of Judaea at the time of the birth of Jesus.Herodium is one of the main palaces built by Herod during his nearly four-decade rule over Judaea as a Roman client king in the first century BC.Located around 12 km south of Jerusalem, it is a double-walled structure whose outer ring was filled with earth, creating an artificial hill.Historians and archaeologists led by Netzer had been searching for the tomb since 1972, but initially excavated in the wrong sections of the compound.Herod the Great, who ruled over Judaea from about 37 to 4 BC, is perhaps best known for his cruelty as described in the New Testament, but also for the grand ancient buildings he constructed in what is now Israel.

Airbus

European aviation giant Airbus plans to invest over one billion dollars in the Indian aviation industry in the next 10 years.The investment will cover training, setting up a maintenance facility, and a design and engineering centre.Airbus, part of the EADS group, has said it expects Indian firms to place orders for 1,100 passenger and freighter aircraft valued at about $105 billion over 20 years.

COROT

COROT has provided its first image of a giant planet orbiting another star and the first bit of 'seismic' information on a far away, Sun-like star- with unexpected accuracy.COROT, a CNES project with ESA participation, is a mission with a dual goal. It is the first space mission dedicated entirely to the search of extra-solar planets. It provides a wide-field survey of planets like our own at an unprecedented level of accuracy. It is also making the most comprehensive study ever of the interior of stars other than our Sun. Both objectives are achieved by analysing the behaviour of light emitted by a target star.