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Pneumonia virus kills four more people in Hong Kong, Canada

          Hong Kong, Apr 6: The lethal pneumonia virus has killed four more people, including three in Hong Kong and one in Canada, taking the toll to more than 84 people worldwide. The Hong Kong authorities reported 39 new infections of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on Saturday - bringing the total number of cases there to 800. seventy-four people have contracted the illness in Canada - the worst-affected country outside Asia.  (Contd)

Bush, Blair to discuss Iraq's future

          Washington, Apr 6: President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet in Northern Ireland on Monday and Tuesday to plan Iraq's future, the White House has formally announced. The United States plans to install an all-American government in Iraq after its troops capture Baghdad. Washington is also forming a parallel interim Iraqi authority to advise on the proposed government, likely to be headed by a US general. The White House said Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will also participate in the Bush-Blair meeting in Belfast as it will take up a proposal to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

Washington, Baghdad review war situation (Go To Top)

          Washington, Apr 6: US President George Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussain held meetings with aides over the war situation, a Western news agency reported on Sunday. The White House said Bush conferred by teleconference with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers and their deputies. With Bush at his retreat in Camp David, Maryland, for the teleconference were the president's chief of staff Andrew Card, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and CIA Director George Tenet.

           In Baghdad, Iraqi television showed footage of Saddam chairing a meeting of top political and military advisers, including his two sons Uday and Qussay. Saddam, wearing military attire, appeared at ease at an undisclosed location. Besides Uday, who heads the Saddam Fedayeen volunteer paramilitary force, and Qussay, leader of the elite Republican Guard, the meeting included Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Defence Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmad and Latif Nuseif Jasem, a member of the ruling Baath party's leadership.

Badges for US, British armymen made in Varanasi (Go To Top)

          Varanasi, Apr 6: Most of the U.S. and British soldiers fighting in Iraq have something in common. Their badges are made in India. Around 500 skilled artisans in Varanasi, famous for its golden brocade embroidery, make hundreds of badges every day. The cottage industry of making badges came to Varanasi in 1899 when India was under the British rule. All the badges are handmade and the artisans skilfully weave golden threads on blue, green and red woollen cloth.

          City exporters said on Sunday that they got huge orders for badges from the US and the British armies ahead of the war on Iraq. Mehboob Ali, a badge exporter, said the Iraq crisis did not make any dent on their business. "Orders have not been cancelled though their numbers have been reduced. They are not giving orders now because they already have stocks. But we expect that later on the number might increase, but not now," Ali said.

Samata Party on the verge of split (Go To Top)

          Patna, Apr 6: Samata Party is all set for a vertical split after two factions emerged at the party's Bihar state legislature party meeting on Saturday. At a stormy meeting in Patna, supporters of Defence Minister George Fernandes and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar traded charges. Nitish Kumar supporters accused party president George Fernandes of encouraging anti-party activity.

           They later tabled a resolution condemning Fernandes. "Since George Fernandes has encouraged those indulging in anti-party activities, we passed a resolution to condemn him. Nitish Kumar is our leader. The people of Bihar are attracted to the leadership of Nitish Kumar because of his development activities. There was a general consensus that Nitish Kumar is authorised to take any action against those involved in anti-party activities. We are with Nitish Kumar and will remain with him for ever," said Upendra Kushwaha, deputy leader of Samata Party in Bihar.

           Supporters of both the factions claimed majority. Samata Party has 30 legislators in the Bihar state assembly. Fernandes' loyalist Bhai Birendra accused Kumar of hijacking the party. "The party can't run under anybody's pressure. The party can't run on dual policy. If anybody makes a comment against George Fernandes, then action should be taken against him. We can't remain in this party. We have expressed our faith in the leadership of George Fernandes. Majority of the legislators are with Fernandes," said Birendra.

          The party has been rocked by frequent tussles of power between Fernandes and Kumar. Early this year, the split in the party was averted when Fernandes' confidant and Bihar unit president Raghunath Jha resigned. The rebels, mostly with socialist background, are particularly annoyed over Fernandes' apparent tilt towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Vajpayee prefers single party rule (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 6: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Sunday his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in favour of a single party rule in the country. BJP, launching a strategy session to ready the party for a slew of state polls in November and general elections in 2004, said on Saturday it aimed to win a clear majority nationally rather than form a coalition government.

           "We have to keep our organisation strong and then go to the people as a single party and win their confidence. We have been in favour of a single party forming the government," Vajpayee said, launching the BJP's foundation day celebrations in the capital. Vajpayee, however, added the BJP was not averse to coalitions and had proved it could coexist with parties of different ideologies. "If required we can work in coalition with others and we have shown and proved that. To move forward keeping all together, removing problems not only for the sake of power, it is a matter of different states and organisations and solving their problems ... and analysing this on the regional basis that how we can move forward. When we will move then there is no reason why the foundation day is not a day of rejuvenation for us," he said.

          The BJP, which shot to prominence in the 1980s on the back of a Hindu revivalist programme, was accused of using religious riots in Gujarat last year to rally the Hindu majority against minority Muslims and win the state election. Analysts have been uncertain about how much the party would play up religion in the forthcoming elections. They say the BJP is unlikely to win a majority based solely on Hindu revivalism as it is more popular in the north than the more tolerant south.

          Critics have accused the BJP of prejudice against India's 120 million Muslims and of using religion to divert attention from issues like poverty in the mainly Hindu but officially secular nation. The BJP denies any bias and says it sees Hinduism as a binding cultural force rather than an exclusive faith. The BJP's 20-odd secular coalition allies have put a brake on its divisive religious agenda but winning a majority in the 545- member parliament could give it a freer hand.

New Agni missile test soon: Fernandes (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Apr 6: Agni-III, a long-range surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, will be test-fired this year, said Defence Minister George Fernandes. "The test firing of Agni-III is overdue and we feel the need for that long-range missile as part of our policy of deterrence," said Fernandes. According to the Defence Minister, the strike capacity of new missile is longer than Agni-II, which has a range of over 2000 km. Both the missiles are available for deployment with the armed forces.

           Visa rules to be relaxed for Chinese tourists Beijing, April 6: India's Ambassador to China Shivshankar Menon has said that visa rules for Chinese will be relaxed to promote tourism and better understanding between the two neighbouring countries. Now they will get their visas within 24 hours if their papers are in order. "This is a significant improvement compared to the past when Chinese tourists had to wait for days for an Indian visa," he said. According to official sources, this relaxation is the result of bilateral agreement on tourism between the two countries signed on December last year and Beijing granted Approved Destination Status (ADS) to India from April 1, 2003, allowing its citizens to visit India in groups.

Six militants killed in Assam encounter (Go To Top)

          Guwahati, Apr 6: At least six militants were killed by security forces in Assam in separate encounters, official sources said Sunday. A police spokesman said four heavily armed militants belonging to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) were killed in an encounter with police and paramilitary soldiers in Assam's Bongaigaon district.

           The militants were on a mission to blow up the Bongaigaon oil refinery, he claimed. Police recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives from the dead militants, besides a map of the refinery. The ULFA, fighting for an independent homeland, currently operates out of fortified bases in the adjoining Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

           Elsewhere in Assam, two rebels of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were shot dead in an encounter with army columns in the adjoining district of Kokrajhar.

Korea rejects any UN resolution on nukes (Go To Top)

          Seoul, Apr 6: North Korea has said that it would never recognise any United Nations resolution regarding its nuclear programme, saying the world body has lost its authority because of the US attack on Iraq. "The nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula is not a matter that the United Nations should take up," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "North Korea will declare any UN resolution null and void," it was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency, an official monitor of news from Pyongyang. The statement came ahead of the UN Security Council's discussions on the North Korean nuclear crisis on Wednesday, according to John Negroponte, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Pneumonia virus kills four more people in Hong Kong, Canada (Go To Top)

          (Contd) China has promised to release more information on the virus, which emerged in the southern Guangdong province last November, before spreading to Hong Kong and around the world in March. The latest death in Canada occurred in Ontario province, but authorities there gave no further details. Officials in Ontario say a ninth person is suspected to have died from the illness, but a positive post-mortem diagnosis has not yet been made. Two Ontario hospitals have been closed down and staff at others have been ordered to wear masks and gloves at all times, the report said.

          China, for its part, has come under fire for failing to report early and openly on the disease. Deputy Prime Minister Wu Yi called for "the immediate establishment of a national medical emergency mechanism, with emphasis placed on a public health information and an early warning reporting mechanism".

          A team from the World Health Organization (WHO) visiting the province has urged Chinese authorities to re-examine samples taken from victims killed by the virus. They want to see whether the illness might involve multiple viruses or bacteria. WHO officials have said that they hope to make a breakthrough on the virus in "weeks rather than months", the report noted.

           More than half of the people killed by SARS across the world are from China. More than 2,000 people have been infected with the virus across the world. Moreover, Hong Kong remained concerned about further spread because of the important Ching Ming festival on Saturday, when thousands of residents traditionally go to southern China to visit ancestors' graves, it added.