Today a warning was extended to private airlines, which are hiking their airfares by forming cartels, by Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel who announced that strict action would be taken against those indulging in such activities.

Mr. Patel said, "As far as raising airfares is concerned, they are outside the domain of the government as airfares are fixed by market forces."

Mingora (Pakistan), Feb. 21 : Taliban and Pakistani officials have agreed to a permanent ceasefire in the Swat Valley, a senior government official said on Saturday.

"They have made commitment that they will observe a permanent ceasefire and we''''ll do the same," said Syed Mohammad Javed, the Commissioner of Malakand.

Swat Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah was expected to announce the ceasefire on the illegal FM radio owned by Taliabn. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Reuters that Fazlullah would make an announcement on the radio shortly.

It has recently come to vision that investment of Rs 450 crore would be made by Areva Transmission & Distribution India in calendar 2009 in order to increase equipment-making capacity at its three new plants as also existing ones. The company may make further investments, if required.

On Friday, it was stated by Rathin Basu, managing director at Areva T&D India that the construction and commissioning of the three greenfield manufacturing sites is going as planned.

The competitors have yet again been surprised by the State Bank of India (SBI), which earlier created hype in the home loan market and this time it has slashed interest rates on loans for new cars. Furthermore, SBI, the country's biggest bank has also reduced its lending rate against warehouse receipts for farmers.

The industry has been requested by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee to cut salaries instead of cutting jobs to fight the bad times of financial meltdown across the globe, which has led to major cut in jobs in recent past.

According to Mr. Mukherjee, who also holds the charge of the finance ministry, there was a need to protect the labour force, even if it meant a slight reduction in emoluments.

Prague - The European Union condemns Israeli plans for settlement expansion in the West Bank, the Czech EU presidency said in a statement delivered on behalf of the 27-member bloc.

The EU called on Israel in the statement issued late Friday to reconsider plans for construction in the vicinity of the Adam settlement in the West Bank, as it would violate international law and Israel's commitments made to the Palestinians in the Annapolis peace talks.

The union said that expansion of the settlements "is a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East."