GM Canada doubles aid request to government

TORONTO - General Motors (GM) Canada, which had sought $3 billion of the about $4 billion government rescue package announced in December, has now doubled its request to the government.

GM Canada doubles aid request to government

TORONTO - General Motors (GM) Canada, which had sought $3 billion of the about $4 billion government rescue package announced in December, has now doubled its request to the government.

GM, Chrysler ask for $21.6 bn more, plan to cut 50,000 jobs

WASHINGTON - US auto giants General Motors and Chrysler LLC have told the government they could need an additional $21.6 billion in federal loans between them because of worsening demands for cars and trucks. Presenting their updated turnaround plans by the government set Tuesday deadline, the two firms also detailed plans to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year.

GM, Chrysler submit restructuring plans in bid for survival

WASHINGTON - US automotive giants General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC scaled up their restructuring efforts Tuesday in a bid to hold onto emergency government loans and avoid declaring bankruptcy.

Giant strawberries for over $500 a piece

TOKYO - A Japanese farmer has succeeded in breeding giant strawberries with a price tag of up to 50,000 yen ($560) apiece, media reports said Thursday.

GM to cut 10,000 more jobs worldwide

WASHINGTON - General Motors Corp, the largest US automaker, has unveiled plans to eliminate 10,000 salaried jobs around the world and cut pay by up to 10 percent in an effort to prove to Washington it is a viable company.

Tit-for-tat ‘Buy Canadian’ policy against US sought

TORONTO - Labour unions in Canada, which as the biggest trading partner of the US will be worst hit by the ‘Buy America’ clause in President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, have urged their government to hit back with a ‘Buy Canadian’ policy.

GM cutting 10,000 jobs; Nike another 1,400

WASHINGTON - Troubled automaker General Motors is cutting 10,000 workers or 14 percent of its salaried jobs worldwide, with a third of layoffs coming in the US. Nike Inc, the world’s largest athletic shoe and clothing maker, is also planning to slash 1,400 jobs out of about 35,000 globally.

US octuplet mum already had six children

LOS ANGELES - The mother of octuplets born Monday in California already had six children under the age of seven, but declined to abort some of the eight foetuses, her mother said in a Los Angeles Times interview Friday.

Laxman downs Solodovnichenko to share lead in Gurgaon chess

GURGAON - International Master R.R. Laxman outwitted Ukrainian Grandmaster Yuri Solodovnichenko in the eighth round of the Gurgaon International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament at Suncity World School here Tuesday.

Noida doesn’t have a bomb disposal squad

NOIDA - Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Budh Nagar, where two suspected Pakistani terrorists were killed early Sunday in a shoot-out with the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and weapons and explosives including lethal RDX seized, does not have a bomb disposal squad of its own. Noida, the headquarters of the district, is adjacent to New Delhi.

Sethuraman beat Shukhrat in Gurgaon International chess

GURGAON - Grandmaster norm holder S.P. Sethuraman outwitted Uzbek Grandmaster Safin Shukhrat in the fifth round of the ongoing Gurgaon International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament at Suncity World School Saturday. A group of 12 players are now sharing the lead with 4.5 points in this Rs.1 million prize money tournament.

Areshchenko, Lalith share lead in International Open Grandmasters Chess

GURGAON - Top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexander Areshchenko and the talented Indian youngster M. R. Lalith Babu shared the lead with 5.5 points at the end of sixth round in the Gurgaon International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament at Suncity World School here Sunday.

Abhijeet wins in Group C, Sasi held in group B

WIJK AAN ZEE - India’s Krishnan Sasikiran played a long 65-move draw against Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine in the sixth round, as the 71st edition of Corus chess approached the halfway mark here.

GM India plans new launches, mass hiring for 2009

NEW DELHI - General Motors India has chalked out ambitious plans for 2009, including new launches, developing powertrain facility and mass hiring for its research and development centre, a top official said here Friday.

Upsets galore in Gurgaon Open chess

GURGAON - Grandmasters Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia and Petr Kostenko of Kazakhstan suffered shock defeats at the hands of unheralded P. Saravanakrishanan and Laltu Chatterjee of India, respectively, in the second round of the Gurgaon International Open Grand Master Chess tournament at Suncity World School here Thursday.

Pune school to take on UK ‘Debating Matters’ finalist in London

NEW DELHI - Pune school students, who proved to be a formidable force in the first-ever indigenous edition of the popular British school debate series ‘Debating Matters’, will now take on the competition’s Britain finalists in London in July.

For 10 grams gold bought, India Post offers half a gram free

NEW DELHI - Buoyed by the ‘very good response’ to its scheme for selling 99.99 percent purity gold, state-owned India Post Monday launched its Makar Sankranti offer of half gram of gold free with every 10 grams purchased.

Nine-year-old Shah beats GM Ibrayev Nurlan to create history

NEW DELHI - Nine-year old Hetul Shah created history in the first round of the seventh Parsvnath International Open Chess tournament, defeating Grand Master Nurlan Ibrayev of Kazakhstan Sunday.

GM may not need additional loans to survive: report

WASHINGTON - General Motors Corp has adequate funds from government loans to cover the worst-case scenario it described in December and won’t need additional help unless the economy deteriorates further, it was reported Wednesday.

Triumphant Hasina takes oath as Bangladesh PM

DHAKA - Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League (AL), the daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was Tuesday sworn-in prime minister for a second time following her landslide victory in last month’s general election. She was premier previously 1996-2001.

Gunpowder in van causes a scare at Delhi airport

NEW DELHI - Five people were detained at Delhi’s international airport Sunday after crackers and gunpowder were found in their vehicle. But they were let off after it came to be known that the men were innocent and that the stuff had been used for a film shooting.

China quake survivors get over $1 bn in government aid

BEIJING - China Sunday said that more than 10.7 billion yuan (about $1.6 billion) in government aid were distributed to the survivors of the devastating May 12 earthquake last year.

Chrysler receives $4 bn US government loan

WASHINGTON - US car maker Chrysler confirmed Saturday that it had received an initial infusion of $4 billion from the US government.

US stocks reach two-month high after disastrous 2008

NEW YORK - US stocks reached a two-month high Friday, the first day of trading in 2009, buoyed by news that General Motors had received its first money lifeline from the US government.

Stop genetically modified food in Tamil Nadu: Greenpeace

CHENNAI - ‘If genetically modified (GM) food is not stopped from entering India, we will have no surety for the youth of our nation or even our health,’ Greenpeace activist Jai Krishna said here Tuesday while releasing an international NGO’s report on GM foods.

$6 bn bailout package for US auto giant GM

WASHINGTON - The US Treasury Department has announced that it would commit $6 billion to supporting GMAC LLC, the financing arm of General Motors Corp., to save the ailing car
giant from bankruptcy.

Hope for Chiru, as Pashmina shawls make comeback

NEW DELHI - There was a time when the Tibetan antelope Chiru used to be slaughtered en masse for wool to make expensive Shahtoosh shawls. But today more and more Kashmiri artisans who produced these are switching to Pashmina, giving the endangered species a new lease of life.

Fed grants GM’s financial arm to avail bailout funds

WASHINTON - The US Federal Reserve Wednesday approved General Motor’s financial arm GMAC Financial Services’ request to become a bank holding company, allowing it to tap into the $700 billion federal bailout funds.