ASI Team Arrives in Ayodhya Amid Tight Security 

          AYODHYA: Following an Allahabad High Court order, a 12-member Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) team arrived here on Sunday to excavate the disputed site to ascertain whether a temple existed at the place where Babri masjid was built. The ASI team led by Dr BR Mani would start excavation on Monday amid tight security, inspector-general of police, Lucknow, AK Jain told reporters here. A human wall would be formed between the makeshift Ram temple and the excavation site and no visitor would be allowed inside the area, Jain said. Pilgrims would be allowed to offer prayers at the makeshift temple but would not be allowed at the excavation site, the IGP said. .

Saddam on a Diamond-buying Spree: Plan to Flee?

          LONDON: Saddam Hussein's personal jeweller has been in Thailand on a secret mission to buy millions of dollars worth of diamonds, according to a report in the Sunday Times. The trip has prompted speculation that the Iraqi leader may be planning to flee or to send his family into hiding. Quoting "sources with knowledge of the trip", the report says the jeweller travelled to Bangkok via Jordan and bought the diamonds in the Thai Capital in a pre-arranged deal. This was his second trip, Saddam's son Uday having sent him there three months ago to buy a ring from an American dealer for 750,000 dollars, the report adds.

           Saddam has been a perennial member of Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people. Before the 1991 Gulf war he was said to be worth 10 billion dollars, but that estimate has now been reduced to 2 billion dollars, following sanctions imposed by the United Nations on Iraq. Since the Gulf war he has not left the country, and only a week ago he declared in a defiant address that he would never desert in the event of war. But if, as reported, he is converting some of his fortune into jewels that can be transported easily, he may not mean what he says.

UN Council Vote Likely on Wednesday (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: Despite intense diplomacy and closed-door meetings for many days, the 15-member United Nations Security Council remains polarized on the Iraqi situation. The UK and tjhe US say they plan to ask Security Council to vote on their resolution sometime after Tuesday next. Sources say that Wednesday, March 12, may be the day when all permanent and non-permanent members of the Council may be asked to vote on the modified resolution by the US and Canada. The resolution gives a deadline of March 17 to comply with UN resolutions, failing that, use of force will be authorized under the new resolution.

          Russia and France remained deadly opposed to the US and UK-sponsored draft with the deadline of March 17 for Iraq to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions. According to UN observers, US is facing difficulty in getting the support of nine members. President Bush wants all Security Council members to 'show their cards', stand up and be counted.

Osama Manhunt Leads to Confusion (Go To Top)

          PESHAWAR: For the fourth day running, there were conflicting reports that military and intelligence operations to capture Osama Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members were under way in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Claims and denials by Pakistani, Afghan and US Government officials about raids, clashes and arrests have added to the confusion. The whereabouts of the world's most wanted man is still a matter of conjecture. The initial euphoria in the wake of last week's arrest of Al Qaeda's alleged military planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and its financier Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi in Rawalpindi seems to be ebbing away. Amid speculations that joint Pakistan-US military and intelligence operations were continuing in places like Chagai district in Balochistan province, officials of the intelligence agencies vehemently denied reports that any major activity was under way. They said most of the media reports were untrue and, in some cases, even misleading. They maintained that it was wrong that military operations had been launched in Chagai or Chitral.

Nawaz to Head for UK, Shahbaz for Pakistan (Go To Top)

         PESHAWAR: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to proceed to London within a couple of weeks while his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif is due to return home shortly, as Islamabad has permitted Sharif family to move out of Saudi Arabia. Sources told the News that "Islamabad has finally cleared Nawaz Sharif's passport and he has been allowed to travel outside the Kingdom." The sources added that Nawaz Sharif would soon be returning to Pakistan, but first he has to stay abroad after leaving Saudi Arabia. "We have been informed that Nawaz Sharif's name has been cleared by the Government and the PML-N chief is on his way to London," said Zafarullah Khan Marwat, PML-N's deputy parliamentary leader in NWFP Assembly and nephew of Nawaz Sharif's staunch supporter and ex-MNA, Haji Kabir Khan.

           Earlier reports and statements from the presidential spokesman suggested that entry of Nawaz Sharif into politics and his return to the country has been banned for 10 years. Younger brother of Nawaz Sharif and former chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif is in the United States for medical treatment while PML-N sources believe Shahbaz will soon be returning to Pakistan.

Khalid's Arrest to Help Prevent Terror Attacks: Bush (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: President George W Bush has said that the arrest of a key Al Qaeda leader, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, will help prevent future terror attacks. In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush said that US forces and their allies had so far "dealt with 3,000 terrorists." Some of them, he said, had been detained or arrested while some will "otherwise be not a problem for the United States."

           Dawn quoted Bush as saying the United States was currently working with more than 90 countries in the war against terror and was determined to defeat the terrorists wherever they might be hiding. On Friday, the White House issued a statement from Bush warning Al Qaeda leaders and operatives that sooner or later they would all be caught. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer that time was no constraint in the hunt for terrorists. He said: The president's message to all Al Qaeda, whether it's Osama Bin Laden or any of his other lieutenants, is they will be caught whatever time it takes.

New Islamic Forum Set Up to Counter 'Atrocities' on Muslims (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: A prominent separatist leader on Sunday accused New Delhi of victimising Muslim schools and organisations in Jammu and Kashmir and announced the formation of an Islamic forum to counter the "anti-Muslim" propaganda. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up campaign to weed out illegal madrasas or Islamic schools which they say are propagating "anti-India" sentiments. Recenty it banned a 100-year-old madrasa in the restive State saying it had links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intellingence (ISI). India accuses Pakistan of fuelling a 13-year-old rebellion in the State, in which more than 38,000 people have been killed. Pakistan denies the charge.

           The Kashmiri leader reacted strongly to the move saying his people would stand no interference in matters relating to Islam. "It is a matter of great concern and sadness that the Government of India is planning to and has imposed bans on our schools and religious institutions. I want to announce from this podium that the Muslim (people) of Jammu and Kashmir can bear pain, they can bear atrocities but on matters of Islam we will not agree to any interference," Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, former chairman of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, told a congregation of Muslims in New Delhi. Muttahida- Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), as the organisation will be called, has the ideological support of 60 Muslim groups from Kashmir and is being seen as a prototype of the radical Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

           An enraged Farooq raised alarm over the rising influence of Hindu forces and urged Muslim organisations to come together to counter them. "The need of the hour for us is to get united ... all institutions need to bury their differences. We cannot afford these differences and carry on with different views. The time has come for us to get united and face these forces," he said.

           There are thousands of Madrasas in India, most being concentrated in the border areas and north-eastern States where infiltration and insurgency are rampant. Indian authorities say more than 40 per cent of such schools operate privately outside the Government's control and have links with terrorist organisations.

           In Bihar, Laloo's Cadres Take to Lathis to Counter VHP, RSS: Spearheading the secularists' cause, Bihar strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav has given a call to his supporters to buy a lathi each for "self-defence" as a befitting reply to VHP's trishul. He appealed to his partymen to bring along lathis to the May 1 rally called by him against communalism. The proposed rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna is particularly aimed at checking the fast spread of the VHP and RSS. It may be noticed that during the past few months around 1500 new RSS shakhas have been opened across the country as a part of RSS' action plan to activate the organisation. It is learnt that following Laloo's call, lathis are in great demand in Patna.

RSS Regrets Opposition to Savarkar Portrait in House (Go To Top)

          NAGPUR: Apex decision-making body of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, ideological parent of all Hindu groups, on Saturday said that opposition over unveiling of a portrait of Hindu nationalist Veer Savarkar in Parliament House was "politically motivated". Several political parties have condemned the installation of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's portrait in the Central Hall of Parliament saying it was an insult to India's secular commitment as enshrined in the Constitution. RSS joint spokesperson Ram Madhav termed the opposition to the installation as "unfortunate."

           "Today the way there is a controversy relating to Veer Savarkar, we feel that it is the most unfortunate type of activity that is happening now. Although the target outwardly is Savarkar and attack is on Savarkar, we feel that it is a politically motivated campaign against Hindutva. He was the propounder of the Hindutva ideology in the early 20s. So it's an excuse whose real objective is to attack the Hindutva forces because they find that this Hindutva is something unstoppable so they are resorting to all such techniques," Madhav told reporters on the sidelines of the party's three-day conclave in Nagpur. RSS and its affiliates have also passed a resolution against what it termed as a denigration of national heroes like Savarkar.

          Savarkar, who spent long years in prison during British rule, is considered the fountainhead of RSS when it took shape in 1925. Savarkar is known as the Hindu counterpart of Mohammad Ali Jinnah - Pakistan's founder - for preaching the two-nation theory. Some historians say the fiery revolutionary pleaded clemency to the British after his decade-long incarceration in dreaded Cellular Jail, located in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Savarkar died in 1966 at the age of 83. Savarkar's portrait joins the august gallery of Mahatma Gandhi, first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and others, never before disputed.

24 People Killed in TN Road Accidents (Go To Top)

          CHENNAI: Twenty-four people, including nine women, were killed in two separate road accidents in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Fifty seven people were injured, eight of them seriously. Around 17 persons, including seven women and two children, were killed and 13 injured when a bus collided with a van in a remote village early in the morning. The deceased belonged to a place near Ernakulam and were returning home after a pilgrimage to Velankanni in Tiruvarur district. Those injured were later admitted in a local hospital. In another bus-truck mishap which occurred in the afternoon at Kaveripakkam town, at least seven persons lost their lives and 44 suffered injuries.

Oprah Is No. 1 Again (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: After having earned the title twice before, in 1998 and 2000, Oprah Winfrey has yet again been crowned the No. 1 TV star in the United States. As per the new Harris Poll - surveying Americans on their favourite TV stars of 2002 - the 49-year old is followed by Ray Romano of 'Everybody Loves Raymond' fame, David Letterman, Katie Couric, Bill O'Reilly, 'Friends' star Jennifer Aniston, Dr Phil McGraw, Tom Brokaw, Jay Leno and Dan Rather. The poll surveyed 2,201 adults across the country from January 21 to 27.

Doubts over Homeopathic Cure (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: Homeopathy treatment may have proved beneficial for you, but a new research has found little evidence in the scientific literature that proves the effectiveness of homeopathy in the treatment of most medical conditions. An American research team under the leadership of Dr Wayne Jonas, from the Samueli Institute in Virginia, conducted a review of all the data from studies on the effectiveness of homeopathy and discovered, that in most cases, homeopathy fell short.

          The study authors, however, do emphasise that a lack of evidence does not necessarily mean a lack of effect. A German scientist developed homeopathy in the late 1700's. It makes use of dilute drug solutions that stimulate the immune system to defend itself against disease. Jonas advises patients to only turn to homeopathy as a last resort once they have "exhausted known and effective cures".

Seinfeld Becomes Father for the Second Time (Go To Top)

          NEW YORK: US comedian Jerry Seinfeld became a father for the second time when his wife, Jessica, gave birth to a boy, Julian Kal Seinfeld, recently. The couple also have a two-year-old daughter, Sascha. All four are "happy and healthy." Seinfeld, 48, has been married to Jessica, 31, for more than three years now.