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A newborn needs a mother

          Hyderabad, May 4: Nobody wants a new-born baby girl, she is lying unclaimed at Hyderabad's Niloufer Hospital. The baby girl was born in Hyderabad Government Maternity Hospital, but when the mother refused to feed the baby, it was shifted here. Latha says that she gave birth to a baby boy and the baby was misplaced by the hospital staff.

          The health authorities initially said that the controversy arose out of a technical error of a wrong sex tag attached to a female baby. To settle the dispute a DNA test was conducted on the abandoned baby girl. The test turned out to be negative, confirming Latha's claim. Now the hospital authorities have to solve two problems: first to find out the biological parents of the baby girl and secondly to find out where the male baby has gone.

Space crew in capsule falling to earth off target found and safe

          Moscow, May 4: The capsule carrying three astronauts who were stranded on the International Space Station by the shuttle disaster has been found safe after a nerve-wracking desert search. It took rescue teams a tense two hours to locate the Soyuz capsule, which returned to Earth at least 400 km from the designated target site in Kazakhstan.

          Russian officials appeared to lose track of the craft - carrying two Americans and a Russian - as communications with the module went down minutes before landing. A search party of 15 planes and 50 cars scoured the deserts of Kazakhstan for the Soyuz module, which had touched down shortly after a three-and-a-half hour journey. Americans Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit were the first astronauts from US space agency Nasa to land in a foreign spacecraft. It was the only way home for the Americans, as Nasa grounded its shuttles following the Columbia disaster in February in which seven astronauts died.

          Helicopters were sent to the site to pick up the crew. After a brief medical check-up, the men were flown to Astana from where they were to head to the Star City astronaut Centre, near Moscow. Cramped in the capsule with the Americans was Russian Cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin.

Jamali working out 'appropriate' response (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, May 4: Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on Sunday that his government is working out an appropriate response on the latest peace initiatives from India. Last Monday, Jamali had telephoned Vajpayee and invited him to visit Pakistan, which was the first high-level contact between the two countries in 18 months. In an interview to a TV channel in Islamabad, Jamali said his government would also respond positively to the efforts made by India and was ready for talks on the issue.

           "It is a good thing for the people of both the countries. He (Atal Behari Vajpayee) has talked about air links and other things...We are also trying the same and working out on that and our response too will be positive. It will not be negative. You can imagine about one-fifth of world population lies in this sub- continent. If peace comes to the region. Both the countries can sit together and talk and are talking too. No third party has any interest in this," he said.

          Vajpayee had announced in parliament on Friday that India would restore overflights rights to Pakistan International Airlines and soon appoint a high commissioner to Pakistan. Air and rail links were cut and diplomatic relations downgraded between the two rivals after an attack on India's parliament in December 2001, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir.

LCA named 'Tejas' (Go To Top)

          Bangalore, May 4: India held the first public demonstration of one of the world's lightest combat aircraft on Sunday and said it would explore prospects for its export. The eight-tonne aircraft, delayed by Washington's sanctions against India's nuclear policy, has been designed by the government's Aeronautical Development Agency and built by state- run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Cheers rent the air in Bangalore's airport as one of the two light combat aircraft (LCA) performing in a public fly-past dipped its wings in salute to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who later named the aircraft 'Tejas', or 'Radiance'.

          "The Light Combat Aircraft which you have demonstrated to us should now be inducted into Indian Air Force squadrons. We need to make the necessary investments for commercial production of the LCA (Light Combat Aircraft). We should also expolore its export potential," said Vajpayee.

          The aircraft, which can carry about half its weight as external loads such as bombs, is described by officials as "the world's smallest lightweight multi-role supersonic fighter" and is expected to be inducted into the air force later this decade. India tested its first LCA in 2001 and another version last year, and has used software-driven "fly-by-wire" technologies and advanced lightweight composite materials to build the aircraft which can be used for attack, defence and spying. The LCA project was stopped in its tracks in 1998, when the United States imposed sanctions against export to India of high- technology components that might have use in defence. The sanctions imposed after India staged underground nuclear tests matched by Pakistan were lifted later, but New Delhi had pushed forward on its own steam with the LCA programme, now two decades old.

Kolkata reports new Sars case (Go To Top)

          Kolkata, May 4: Kolkata reported a new case of Sars on Sunday, three days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the country was free of the deadly flu-like disease, a press report said. Health officials said a 25-year old man who had returned from Hong Kong a week ago was suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Another state health official said a medical report on the patient, who was found coughing and with a fever at Kolkata airport, was being sent to New Delhi.

Schools closed in China for another two weeks (Go To Top)

          Beijing, May 4: Schools would stay closed for an additional two weeks in China to avoid further spread of the killer disease SARS, it was reported on Sunday. Authorities planned to hold correspondence classes for the students using TV broadcasts and the Internet. The decision to keep the schools closed affects 1.37 million students.

Togadia distributes tridents at Delhi rally (Go To Top)

         New Delhi, May 4: Firebrand VHP leader Praveen Togadia distributed tridents at a public rally in the capital on Sunday weeks after he was booked for anti-state activities in Rajasthan on defying a local ban on a similar ceremony. The Delhi function, however, passed off without creating ruccus. The ceremony was not banned by the Delhi government headed by the Congress. The Congress government in Rajasthan had earlier banned such public distribution of weapons there. No comments were available why the rally was not banned by the Congress government in New Delhi but analysts believe, law and order being a federal government portfolio in the capital, the ban could not have been expected from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government.

          Togadia was arrested in Ajmer on April 13 for distributing tridents at a religious rally. A local court slapped him with sedition besides charges of inciting communal tension and violating a ban on distributing tridents. Earlier the state government had banned distribution, possession and carrying of tridents, a Hindu religious symbol, in the region except at religious places. Besides Rajasthan, the Congress -led government in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh has also banned religious articles like tridents, swords and weapons at public meetings to prevent religious tensions.

          The move has been strongly opposed by BJP and other Hindu groups like VHP, Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal who say the ban on tridents is an insult to Hinduism.