The 7th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) took off to a colourful start at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch on January 8. The week long gala event inaugurated by, Anand Sharma, Minister of state for external affairs, will showcase around 150 films from about 42 countries. In World Competition Section, 109 films from 30 countries would be screened. French-Iranian-English animation film 'Persepolis' was screened at the inaugural ceremony.

Debutant opener David Warner declared his arrival into the global vista with a blasting innings of 43-ball 89 to help Australia beat South Africa by 52 runs in the first Twenty20 fight.  

Warner, who became the first Australian player to play in any format of the game without a first-class experience, raided the South African bowlers cruelly with seven fours and six clean hits over the ropes.

Set to chase a intimidating target of 183, South Africa was off to a terrible start and was bowled out for 130 with JP Duminy (78) once again proving his worth as a top quality batsman for the Proteas.

With the intention to boost its declining sales figures, two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto Ltd is all set to roll out six (6) new models in 2009.

The company will start with a new product, which is due for debut on January 21. It will directly target rival Hero Honda’s most-popular Splendor/Passion range, the 135 cc XCD priced at Rs 45,000.

After this, the company will launch two new models under value-segment (125-135 cc engine size) by April and July 2009 respectively.

It seems that the recent terror attacks in country’s financial capital, Mumbai, have awakened the West Bengal government. The state government has decided to brace up the security arrangements in the city-based medical college and hospitals.

After visiting the SSKM Hospital recently, state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen held a meeting with senior police officers and health department officials to sketch the security needs. The government has decided to have armed guards to man the wards of some premier city hospitals.

In an important move, the district authorities on Sunday declined permission to the proposed congregation of the Dera Sacha Sauda, which was to be held in Jalalana here on Monday. It may be here recalled that Dera Sacha Sauda organises a congregation in Jalalana on January 12 every year. The village is considered as the birth place of the former sect head.

With this move, all the Dera followers who had gathered from far-off areas of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and other neighbouring states to participate in the congregation were disappointed.
 

In a significant move, the government on Sunday appointed Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd, NASSCOM's former president Kiran Karnik and former SEBI member C Achuthan as the three musketeers of its choice to guide the software exporter Satyam out from the disaster. The new team is considered as a true combination of experts from banking, IT and law backgrounds.