Holi Celebrated With Fervour

          NEW DELHI: The commoners as well as the elite across northern India celebrated Holi with fervour on Wednesday. The festival signals the end of winter and the onset of spring. The occasion, according to Hindu mythology, symbolises victory of good over evil. People apply 'gulal' or coloured powder on each other, distribute sweets and take out processions beating drums and singing traditional Holi songs. Hundreds of school children in New Delhi met President APJ Abdul Kalam and performed a special folk dance. In Patna, the residence of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Laloo Prasad Yadav wore a festive look with friends and relatives splashing coloured water on one other. For people who gathered it was a treat to watch Laloo and his chief minister wife Rabri Devi splashing 'gulal' on each other.

Iraqi Parliament Unites Behind Saddam

          BAGHDAD: The Iraqi parliament on Wednesday unanimously rejected the US ultimatum to President Saddam Hussein to leave the country. At an emergency session here just hours before a US deadline for war, the deputies voiced their support for Saddam. In a statement they said history will recall how the people of Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, had inflicted a heavy blow on the "worthless".

US Admiral Says War in a Few Days, Army in Position (Go To Top)

          NICOSIA: War against Iraq will in most likelihood begin within a few days. Vice-Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the US Fifth Fleet, gave this information to the crew aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft-carrier statined in the Gulf, on Wednesday. Jets are going to be off the front of the Lincoln in a couple of days, he said. The US-led coalition forces are taking up battle positions as President George Bush's 48-hour deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave the country expires at 0100 GMT (0630 IST) on Thursday. About 150,000 American and British combat troops are poised for attack.

           Pentagon officials have indicated that hostilities will begin with an intense air campaign, followed immediately by soldiers on the ground, US army's vice-chief of staff, Gen. John Keane has been quoted as saying by BBC. Tanks, armoured vehicles and trucks have been snaking across the Kuwaiti desert towards the Iraqi border. The troops are ready for hard battles, probably involving weapons of mass destruction. They walked into the demilitarised zone at 11 am local time (0800 GMT). However, nature has put a spanner in the works - a fierce sand-storm has cut visibility in some areas to a few metres.

           In UK, Prime Minister Tony Blair has won key parliamentary support for the use of British forces in Iraq, despite a major rebellion within his own Labour Party, while US secretary of state colin Powell says that 45 nations have joined Bush's "coalition of the willing".

           In another development, the Turkish Government is to ask parliament to allow American planes to use its air space, with a vote expected on Thursday. This, of course, signals the end of Washington's efforts to deploy forces on Turkish soil.

Italy Refuses to Take Direct Part in Iraq War (Go To Top)

          ROME: Italian prime minister and staunch US ally Silvio Berlusconi told parliament on Wednesday that Rome would not take direct part in a US-led military assault on Iraq. Berlusconi said Italy would provide logistical support for the United States, but will not participate directly in military operations, and will send neither men nor means to Iraq.

Britain Warns of Terror Strikes in Indonesia (Go To Top)

          JAKARTA: Britain warned on Wednesday its citizens in Indonesia that tension over Iraq could prompt attacks on Western interests, and suggested they avoid places frequented by foreigners, said a press report. Extremists may be planning additional attacks targeting Western interests and may take advantage of heightened tensions over Iraq to launch an attack, the British Embassy said in an advisory. It is likely that extremists will harass Westerners in bars and night clubs frequented by foreigners, it said.

Relatives of Indians Working in Iraq Are Worried (Go To Top)

          PANAJI: As Iraq braced for a possible US-led attack, Indians are anxious over the fate of their relatives in Baghdad. War in Iraq was a trigger squeeze away on Wednesday after President Saddam Hussein defied US demands that he flee his country to spare it from an invasion. There are about 50 Indians, including embassy staff, in Iraq. The families of a few of them live in Goa. The family members sit glued to their television sets to catch the latest developments on the impending war.

           Candolina, whose husband is working in an oil company in Iraq, is tear-eyed as there has been no news of him for the past week. "I want him to come back. I am alone here with children. I feel scared what will happen," Candolina said on Wednesday. Valent Fernandes, whose father is working in Kuwait, wants a peaceful resolution to the crisis. "US should come back and should not fight war and try to end this peacefully. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein also should listen to what US is saying and it should not have so much arms as he is having now," said Fernandes.

          An estimated 10,000 people from Goa work in the Gulf countries. Despite their experiences in the 1991 Gulf war a majority of them are reluctant to come back to India. India, which is an old friend of Iraq, has not directly criticised the United States over its plans to attack Iraq in what is seen as an effort to avoid souring ties with Washington which have improved in recent years. But under pressure from Opposition parties to make a clear statement on the Gulf crisis, Prime Minister Vajpayee said last week India was opposed to any unilateral action against Iraq, adding that it would have disastrous consequences for the United Nations and the world order.

A Blessing in Disguise for Musharraf (Go To Top)

          ISLAMABAD: The withdrawal of the US-UK-backed resolution from the United Nations Security Council has proved to be a blessing in disguise for President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf luckily escaped a tough decision and inevitable repercussions because of the withdrawal of the draft resolution from the Security Council, US-based intelligence think-tank Stratfor said in a report made available to the News.

           The American decision ended the diplomatic wrangling within the United Nations and set the stage to launch strikes against Iraq, sparing Pakistan the agony of deciding on a vote, the report says. "Of the 15 nations on the UN Security Council - many of which were torn between competing international powers and their own political interests - Pakistan is the most pleased not to see the question of attacking Iraq come to a vote," Stratfor says. "Caught between a Muslim constituency that contains many militant Islamist groups and severe US pressure, Musharraf would have been damned no matter which way his country voted," it adds.

           Pakistan, like other rotating council members, for weeks, has avoided committing to backing or rejecting a resolution authorising war, it says. Several powerful religious parties in Pakistan have led large-scale protests against a war in Iraq while many Pakistanis view an attack there as an attack on Islam. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal urged the Government to vote against a US and British-backed resolution, warning the group would bring down Musharraf's Government if Pakistan sided with the United States.

           "As intense as the domestic pressure against Musharraf has become, he still had to worry about appeasing Washington," the report says. "The Bush administration has used the ever-present threat of Pakistan's arch rival, India, to squeeze Musharraf's support in its war on al-Qaeda, and officials had hoped to use the same tool to win Pakistan's support regarding the Iraqi issue in the Security Council," it adds. "As Islamabad and New Delhi continue a sporadic, decades-long conflict, the US administration not-so-subtly has reminded Pakistan that it is in its interests to maintain strong ties with the United States, or face dealing with its more powerful southern neighbour unilaterally," the report says.

           "Since a vote in favour of a US-British resolution would have ignited a powerful domestic backlash - and a vote against would have brought strong reprisal from a strategic ally - Musharraf hoped to endure the crisis by abstaining," it continues.

Kaleem Saadat New Pak Air Chief (Go To Top)

          ISLAMABAD: Air Marshal Kaleem Saadat was appointed new chief of air staff of the Pakistan air force, an official communique announced Wednesday. Air Marshal Kaleem Saadat was also promoted to the rank of air chief marshal.

NDA Government Completes Five Years in Office (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: It was a colour of victory this Holi for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as his Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition completed five years in office on Wednesday. The National Democratic Alliance came to power in March 1998 but collapsed a year later before going on to win a five-year term in October 1999. Jubilant legislators danced, sang and smeared each other with 'gulal', as the the party's victory celebrations coincided with the Holi.

          With the Gujarat riots, in which at least 1000 people had died, and the internationally-hailed elections in Kashmir forming its backdrop, the Hindu nationalists have had a mixed bag rule. But despite odds, the coalition has become the first non- Congress Government to stay in power for a five years, breaking what its leaders call the 50-year jinx.

Mamata Rejects BJP for Panchayat Polls Tie-up (Go To Top)
-by Gautam Ghosh

          KOLKATA: Trinamul Congress chairperson and BJP ally Mamata Banerjee intends to have unofficial seat adjustments with the Congress to avert multi-cornered contests and ensure the ruling Marxists' defeat in as many panchayats as possible. She has already directed her party functionaries to initiate an unofficial dialogue with the Congress at the district level before finalising the list of nominees for the three-tier panchayat elections scheduled for May.

           Ms Banerjee feels finalisation of the list of candidates at the earliest will help her launch a vigorous poll campaign targeting the CPI(M)'s "corruption and misrule." The BJP leaders, including party president Venkaiah Naidu, who addressed a training camp of party workers here last week, wanted the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine to target the ruling Marxists as well as the Congress as their common political enemy in the panchayat elections.

           The Trinamul Congress chairperson, who has already cemented her party's alliance with the BJP, however, has no intention to give up her move to have a "Mahajot" or "grand alliance" of all anti-CPI(M) forces, including the Congress, in the panchayat polls. Unlike the BJP leaders, Ms Banerjee does not consider the Congress as her party's political enemy in West Bengal and has been stressing the need for joining hands with the party as well as some major Left Front partners like the RSP, Forward Bloc and the CPI to isolate and defeat the Marxists.

           The Trinamul Congress legislature party's floor co-ordination with the Congress MLAs inside the State Assembly clearly indicates that the two parties will not mind an unofficial understanding at the block level to put up common candidates against the CPI(M) nominees in the May panchayat polls. There is, of course, complete unanimity among the Congress, Trinamul Congress and the BJP over the main issues in the panchayat elections. Besides corruption in the CPI(M)-controlled panchayat bodies, the recent rape cases involving CPI(M) functionaries in different districts will be a major election plank of all the three parties.

           The Trinamul Congress-BJP combine intends to exploit the CPI(M)'s current predicament over the rape incidents and the arrest of party functionaries. State CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas' initial denial of the party workers' involvement in the shameful incidents and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's subsequent admission about the same have naturally prompted the Opposition parties to launch a campaign against the Marxists, holding them solely responsible for the "current sense of insecurity among the womenfolk in rural Bengal."

           One of the factors which has come in handy for the mainline Opposition parties to attack the Marxists over the rape incidents is the critical stand adopted by other major Left Front constituents on the issue. This is the first time that the RSP, Forward Bloc and the CPI have publicly criticised the "big brother" for the latter's failure to rein in errant party cadres engaged in criminal activities, including assaults on women. The rape of a member of Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti, CPI(M)'s women's wing, at Gokshadanga in Cooch Behar and the wife of an RSP functionary at Gosaba in South 24-Parganas and the subsequent arrest of some CPI(M) workers in connection with the ghastly incidents have naturally evoked Left Front partners' indignation and forced the Marxists to be on the defensive.

           The CPI(M) is also worried about the erosion of its public image at the national level in the wake of the rape incidents. The Marxists, who had been quite vocal against the BJP over the gang-rapes in Gujarat during the recent communal violence, do not have any credible explanation for the involvement of party workers in similar incidents in their stronghold. The Trinamul Congress and the BJP's combined criticism of the CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha over the gang-rape incidents has made the Marxists' position all the more vulnerable. Anil Biswas, State CPI(M) secretary and politburo member, has tried to put up a brave front in the wake of severe criticism from different quarters, saying the party expelled about three hundred members last year for their involvement in "corrupt practices and unlawful activities." Opposition parties, however, believe that the expulsion has no bearing on the present crime scenario in Bengal since "real culprits have been left untouched as they help the ruling party win elections through unfair means."

It's Official - Kylie in Love With 'Unfaithful' Oliver (Go To Top)

          LONDON: Singer Kylie Minogue has for the first time admitted she has fallen head over heels for handsome 'Unfaithful' actor Oliver Martinez. Kylie has admitted that he is much sexier than Justin Timberlake, with whom she gave a sizzling stage performance for the Brits awards last month. Kylie performed a raunchy act and he grabbed her shapely bottie. But despite the on-stage chemistry, she only has eyes for Olivier.

           Kylie was quoted as saying in the Sun: "It was so great working with Justin. His talent is obvious and he's very down-to-earth. But my Oliver is even more lovely." Kylie spent a week with Oliver - dubbed the French Brad Pitt - in Paris after they bumped into each other in the lobby of a swanky Los Angeles hotel. The pair then openly kissed during a French football match. Oliver comforted Kylie when her ex-boyfriend, James Gooding, revealed details of their relationship. He admitted that he cheated on her with model Sophie Dahl.

Vin Diesel to Turn `Romantic' (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: Movie actor Vin Diesel, known for 'XXX' and 'The Fast and The Furious', will be starring in and producing his first romantic film. The Hollywood hero has opted for a radical career change with this movie. He is famed for his roles in high octane action-fests, says a report in TeenHollywood.com. The film is the story of a hot-headed American football player who has to deal with an uptight female etiquette tutor or risk losing his lucrative endorsement deal. Vin is, however, set to return to a more familiar guise in upcoming release 'The Chronicles of Riddick,' a follow-up on the 2000 action adventure 'Pitch Black'.

Oscar Winner Day Lewis to Star in Wife's Film (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: Daniel Day Lewis, who won the Oscar for his incredible performance in 'My Left Foot', is once again a strong contender for the award in 'Gangs of New York'. Lewis plays a psycho butcher in the movie. Away from the arc lights, he is a person who doesn't suffer the fools of Hollywood gladly. But soon he will be the one taking the orders - from his wife Rebecca. She will direct her husband in a film she has also written, the black comedy, the Rose and the Snake, reports the Sun.

           Daniel, 45, has much to thank his talented wife for. Friends say it was her fierce independent spirit that first drew him to her. Rebecca - daughter of legendary playwright Arthur Miller who was once married to Marilyn Monroe - has been at her husband's side as he famously immerses himself in his roles. She has had to put up with him eating prison slops, skinning wild animals and being spoon-fed at restaurants to train for parts. For Gangs he learned butchery so well that co-star John C Reilly said: "He could have butchered a pig for real himself." Daniel admits he became so consumed by playing violent, evil Bill that his personality changed. He says: "I got into some scrapes in parking spots - short-fuse stuff. My wife was rather concerned."

          Rebecca, 40, met Daniel at her father's house after he finished shooting Miller's play, the Crucible. She says she was attracted to him because he had a strong personality, like her dad's. They married in 1996 in Vermont. It was the first wedding for both. Daniel had had a long affair and a son with French actress Isabelle Adjani. He then dated Julia Roberts for a year. Rebecca could have settled for a life of luxury, enjoying her man's fortune. Instead, she juggles writing, directing and raising the couple's two sons - Roman, five, and baby Cashel Blake. In the Rose and the Snake, Daniel plays an obsessive loner who is the single father of a 16-year-old girl.

Elizabeth Defies Dad Jagger, Re-unites with Boy Friend (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: Much to the chagrin of her famous dad, 18-year-old Elizabeth Jagger has re-united with her 44-year old boy friend, actor Michael Wincott. Dad Mick Jagger is concerned about the age gap between the pair, the reason why they had split up a few months back. Elizabeth - who has a 150,000 pound contract with Lancome - started dating Canada-born Wincott (whose credits include 'Along Came a Spider' and 'Alien Resurrection') before Christmas.

           Mick was so concerned about the burgeoning romance that he called a 'crisis meeting' with his ex-wife Jerry Hall to ensure the relationship was brought to an end, reports People News. The report says that the pair has defied the wishes of Jagger and were spotted together last Friday at the Hollywood hang-out, Chateau Marmont.