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Re-structured UTI Goes to Banks NEW DELHI: The Government on Wednesday bifurcated the State-run fund manager Unit Trust of India (UTI) by handing over the net asset value-based UTI-II to State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). (Details) Eight Cops Injured in Vidisha Violence VIDISHA: Eight policemen were injured as tension rose in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district on Tuesday after communal violence erupted. Passions were aroused after villagers in Ganjbasoda in Vidisha district, about 80 km north-east of Capital Bhopal, said they had found the body of a cow, which is sacred to the Hindus, in the house of a local Muslim. The authorities have now imposed curfew in the area. According to reports, eight policemen were injured during clashes with members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, another fundamentalist group. Both belong to the ideological family which includes Bharatiya Janata Party. Madhya Pradesh is ruled by the Congress, the main Opposition party at the Centre, and is among the major States the BJP aims to wrest from its rival in elections due later this year. US to Crack Down on Illegal Residents(Go To Top) WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department has warned that it is the duty of the immigration authorities to detain any individual living in the country illegally, reports Dawn. In an interview released by the US State Department here on Tuesday, Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez defended the arrest of hundreds of immigrants in Los Angeles last month, saying that many of them were common criminals who would have been a potential threat to the society had they not been detained.
Since September 11, 2002, when the current registration rogramme was introduced, US authorities have identified 250 known terrorists, wanted criminals and other suspects, said Martinez, indicating that the registration could prevent future terrorist attacks. "Due to changing intelligence and national securityrequirements, the Saudi and Pakistani registrations due in February might not be the last (call in) notices," he said. The INS programme, whether used to register visa applicants abroad or those already in the United States, would verify the stated purpose of the visas, residential addresses, and would include photographs and fingerprints of the visa holder. The fingerprints, said Martinez, would be matched against databases of anted terrorists, felons or other criminals. Also, should a visitor overstay his or her visa, "the system would automatically give you a notice that this is happening, something that we didn't have before," he said. As a first step toward implementing a comprehensive system by 2005, visitors in the US from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria - all countries designated by the State Department as "State sponsors of terrorism" - were asked to register with the INS by December 18. A second group of non-immigrant male aliens over the age of 16 who are citizens of Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen were ordered to register by January 10, and a third group consisting of Saudi and Pakistani citizens have until February 21 to comply. UK
Sikhs Campaign to Save Activist Bhullar from the Noose(Go
To Top) LONDON: An international campaign has been launched to save Sikh activist Davinderpal Singh Bhullar from the gallows. It began in London on Tuesday, with protest demonstrations by British Sikhs, and will now spread to Europe, America, Australia and the Far East, in an attempt to get Governments to intercede with the Indian authorities on behalf of the condemned man. Bhullar, a Khalistan activist in the eighties, sought asylum in Germany in 1994. But before his appeal could be approved (which it eventually was), he was deported to India where he was accused of conspiracy to murder Congress politician Maninder Singh Bitta in 1993. He was convicted in 2001. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction by a two-to-one majority in April 2002 and the death sentence was confirmed last month. Bush to Help Russia Destroy Chemical Weapons (Go To Top) WASHINGTON: US President George W Bush has released about 450 million dollars to help Russia destroy its most theft-prone stocks of chemical weapons, and prevent their ending up in the hands of terrorists, US officials said. In a memorandum to Secretary of State Colin Powell released by the White House on Tuesday, Bush said he had waived restrictions imposed by Congress on such aid because it "is important to the national security interests of the United States." The released funds would be used to build a weapons destruction plant in the Siberian town of Shchuch'ye, where two million gas-filled artillery shells and Scud missile warheads - or nearly 14 per cent of the entire Russian chemical weapons arsenal - are currently stored. Policeman Killed, 4 Injured in UK Anti-terror Raid (Go To Top) LONDON: A British policeman was stabbed to death and four others were injured in an anti-terror raid which police said was linked to last week's discovery of a chemical weapons agent in London, said a report in the News on Wednesday. Prime Minister Tony Blair said the first killing of a British police officer in an anti-terrorist operation since the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 was "an appalling tragedy and wicked in the extreme". Unarmed officers swooped on an address in the northern English city of Manchester to detain a man under anti-terrorism laws but found two other men in their 20s there, Manchester's assistant chief police constable Alan Green said. 51 kg Cake for Mayawati's B'day(Go To Top) LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati celebrated her 48th birthday at the grounds of LA Martiniere College here on Wednesday. Amid applause by a huge gathering of BSP supporters, she cut a huge 51 kg cake, which was offered to her by party leader Kanshi Ram and BJP leader Lalji Tandon. There were adulatory songs too. Those who braved the cold weather to attend the celebrations under a huge pandal included BSP ministers, MPs, MLAs, senior Government officials and office-bearers. -ANI |