 |
|
Cabinet Reshuffle Likely on Wednesday NEW DELHI: A Cabinet reshuffle is likely to take place tomorrow (Wednesday), according to official sources. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee held consultations with Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, BJP president Venkaiah Naidu and finance minister Jaswant Singh for three hours in this regard on Monday night Ram Naik reportedly may be shifted from Petroleum to another ministry as he is not very happy about the move to disinvest the oil PSUs. Former health and family welfare minister CP Thakur may get back his old job, with the BJP feeling the need to focus on the upper caste vote. Shatrughan Sinha may be shifted to Labour. The incumbent, Sahib Singh Verma, will in that case get a new portfolio. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel may be inducted as a reward for his services rendered in Gujarat elections. This, it is calculated, will keep the Patel lobby happy and he will also be out of Narendra Modi's way. Speculation is that he may get Law, in case K Jana Krishnamurthy is dropped because of poor health. Eight Congress MLAs in UP Form New Party LUCKNOW: Eight members of the Congress Legislature Party in UP have quit the parent organisation and floated a new outfit called Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal. It has been recognised by the Speaker, Kesri Nath Tripathi, as a separate entity. The leader of ABCD is Akhilesh Singh. Those who met the Speaker this morning were K Upadhyay, Shyam Narain Tewari, Kasim Ali, Virender Singh Bundela, Vinod Kumar Singh and Dinesh Singh. The Speaker reportedly cited the rulings of the Supreme Court and Guwahti High Court, and said the unattached member, Akhilesh Singh, who was expelled by the Congress some time ago, has been treated as a member of the break-away group. The new party had also requested for recognition of the split in the CLP, Tripathi said. The leader of the CLP, Pramod Tewari, however , said he would challenge the decision of the Speaker in the court and bring a no-confidence motion against him for his "unconstitutional act." Pakistan Too to Finger-print Foreigners(Go To Top) ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Government has planned to begin "finger-printing" of foreigners coming to the country to check the movement of terrorists and control immigration, official sources told Dawn on Monday. Iran too had announced earlier a plan to finger-print foreigners as a tit-for-tat following the US adopting this practice. The Government has also directed local intelligence agencies to detect people on the payroll of foreign agencies allowed to operate in Pakistan. The authorities plan to crack down on its nationals allegedly spying for US intelligence agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation . "Pakistan has also decided to take up with the US authorities the unnecessary role of the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency agents and their increasing interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan," Online quoted unnamed sources as saying, "the FBI and other foreign intelligence agencies have taken locals on their payroll to provide certain information that is prejudicial to the interests of the country". Kasuri to Discuss Kashmir With Powell (Go To Top) WASHINGTON: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Monday the country has not and will never indulge in activities that "endanger our own security and cause unnecessary risks to our allies." He was talking to newsmen after the talks he had with defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. On Wednesday, Kasuri will meet secretary of state Colin Powell for talks on various issues, including Kashmir and INS registration. On Thursday, he will meet national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and CIA director George Tenet. Both Rice and Tenet are considered tough customers. As some Pakistani diplomats indicated, the two leaders may confront the foreign minister with information they might have received from their field agents in Pakistan - information that is not easy to deal with in such meetings. 40 Killed in Bus-Truck Collision in Howrah (Go To Top) KOLKATA: About 40 people were burnt to death when a Kolkata-bound luxury bus from Orissa collided with a truck laden with paint containers and caught fire after falling into a ditch on the national highway at Baliara in Howrah district on Tuesday morning. The bus was going to Kolkata from Baripada in Orissa when it collided with the truck on the Mumbai-Kolkata highway at 4.30 am. After the collision, the bus fell into a nearby ditch and caught fire. Forty bodies were retrieved from the completely burnt bus and efforts were on to identify them. Chinese Restaurant's Breast Milk Delicacies Banned (Go To Top) HONG KONG: Local health authorities in China have slapped a ban on a restaurant located in Hunan province, which recently added delicacies cooked in breast milk to its menu. The authorities said the dishes did not meet hygiene standards. Even the public disapproved of them and response was poor during the restaurant's promotional launch, the Straits Times reported. (Details) Jude Law Preferred as Next James Bond (Go To Top) LONDON: The readers of Total Film, a British magazine, want Jude Law to take over from Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. Having received 25 per cent of the vote in a survey conducted by the magazine, Law edged out fellow-British actors Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale, who came second and third, respectively. "I think Jude Law has that upper-class, debonair sophistication about him that people associate with James Bond. More so than Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale," Matt Mueller, the magazine's editor, told the press. -ANI |