Sentosa (Singapore), Nov 12 (IANS) Rookie Anirban Lahiri followed Himmat Rai into the main draw of the $ 5 million Barclay’s Singapore Open starting Thursday. Lahiri benefitted from the late withdrawal of Ian Poulter of England who decided to pull out after learning that the replacement for his driver, which was stolen in Shanghai last week would not arrive until Friday evening.

Ahmedabad, Nov 12 (IANS) Describing the deal between the state government and Tata Motors to set up Nano small car plant as a “sell-out”, the Gujarat Congress has said the government is giving huge incentives to the Tatas while thousands of closed industrial units are not getting any help to revive operations.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) In India, sex selection poses a major challenge but cultural gatekeepers can be used to end such discrimination against girls, says the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) state of world population report for 2008 released globally Wednesday.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) Japan’s leading mobile telecom operator NTT DoCoMo will pick up a 26-percent stake in Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion (Rs.13,070 crore/Rs.130.7 billion), it was announced Wednesday.

Washington, Nov 12 (IANS) Bolivia has asked the US to extradite a former president and two ministers in his 2002-2003 administration to face genocide charges, EFE reported Wednesday.

Rome, Nov 12 (IANS) Brazil and Italy have said they would propose creation of an economic system that would lay more stress on production than speculation during the upcoming financial summit in Washington, EFE reported Wednesday.

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 12 (IANS) The Goethe-Zentrum, known as Max Mueller Bhavan in India, will launch its first centre here Friday.

Mumbai, Nov 12 (IANS) Two officials of the Nashik-based Bhonsala Military School (BMS) have quit from their posts after they were interrogated in connection with the Malegaon bomb blast, a school authority said Wednesday.