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Women's Bill shelved again

          New Delhi, May 6: The Centre on Tuesday postponed tabling of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha after an all- party meeting on the subject failed to reach a consensus. Earlier, the House was forced to adjourn till 2 pm as the members of the RJD and Samajwadi Party, the two anti-Bill parties, disrupted proceedings during Question Hour. They trooped onto the well and raised a din. Speaker Manohar Joshi could not restore order. He then called the all-party meeting which found no unanimity. The Bill can be passed if presented and voted upon as the Congress and the CPI(M) have pledged support.

Dual citizenship for Indians in eight countries

          New Delhi, May 7: The Union Cabinet has decided to grant dual citizenship to the countrymen living in the US, UK and six other countries, it was reported on Wednesday. The decision was reportedly taken late on Tuesday. The six other countries are Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy. But such persons of Indian origin would not be eligible to enjoy voting rights, nor would they be allowed to hold any post in constitutional offices or the three defence services. After the Union cabinet meeting which lasted more than an hour, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters, "Indians living there will have to apply for dual citizenship and government could grant it after due verification." A Bill to this effect would be introduced during the current session of Parliament to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, the minister said. The eight countries have been chosen as they already had dual citizenship laws and a large number of Indians are residing there.

Armitage begins South Asia peace tour (Go To Top)

          London, May 6: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Tuesday met Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra in London as he begins a tour to promote peace in South Asia. Armitage's trip coincides with a dramatic thaw in relations between India and Pakistan - the two nuclear rivals in the Indian subcontinent.

          On Monday, the Pakistani Government said it would get rid of its nuclear arsenal if India were prepared to do the same. And last week, the two sides said they would re-establish full diplomatic relations, in what is being seen as a significant first step towards peace. There has been speculation in South Asia the United States has been behind the recent improvement. BBC says that although Armitage - who will visit India, Pakistan and Afghanistan - says he is not bringing a peace plan, Washington has a big interest in improving relations between the two historic enemies, now both American allies.

          Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali received a major boost after the country's main political parites extended their support to his peace moves. Jamali had hosted a meeting on Monday of the parties which was attended by the Islamic partiess as well as representatives of former premiers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto's parties. Earlier Islamabad indicated that it was ready to begin talks with Delhi to discuss nuclear disarmament. "As far as Pakistan is concerned, if India is ready to denuclearise, we would be happy to denuclearise," foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said on Monday. "But it will have to be mutual." He also said Pakistan had had a "positive response" from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee after Jamali invited him to Islamabad for talks.

          Last Friday, Vajpayee said that careful planning was needed before any meeting took place. However, Vajpayee said there would be no role for any "third- party" to mediate in the Kashmir dispute, rebuffing a long- standing demand of Pakistan. The emphasis now seems to be on a more graded and cautious approach, with both Delhi and Islamabad apparently agreeing on initiating official level discussions first, ahead of a possible meeting of the two prime ministers later this year.

Bus, train and air links to be resumed soon, says Jamali (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, May 6: Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Tuesday said that bus, train and air links with India would be resumed shortly and sought "serious and substantive" dialogue on all issues including Kashmir. Addressing a crowded press conference after an all-party meeting here, Jamali favoured resumption of dialogue from where these were left at Agra.

          Calling for confidence-building measures on nuclear issues, he said possession of nuclear weapons by the two countries has put a responsibility on them to "seek nuclear and strategic stability" in the region. Jamali also said he had ordered the release of 40 Indian sailors as a goodwill gesture and proposed bringing their respective embassies back up to full strength. Unveiling a series of confidence building measures, Jamali also announced restoration of full diplomatic ties by sending a High Commissioner to India.

China reports eight more Sars deaths (Go To Top)

          Beijing, May 6: China on Tuesday reported eight more deaths from Sars on its mainland and 138 new cases of the disease. The newly-reported fatalities raise the mainland's death toll to 214, the Health Ministry announced. The total number of deaths after four new fatalities in Beijing rose to 107. Seventy of the new infections were in the Chinese capital, while the total number of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China grew to 4,409, the ministry said. It was the third consecutive day that Beijing reported fewer than 100 new cases, following more than a week of daily triple-digit increases. Meanwhile, six more people died in Hong Kong after contracting Sars, while nine new cases of the disease have been recorded. Hundreds of protesters in a village in central China and a nearby city tore down fences around two hospitals after hearing that they would be treating suspected Sars cases. Motorola said Tuesday it has shut down its China headquarters in Beijing after an employee was found to have contracted Sars.

US varsity bans admissions to students from Sars-hit countries (Go To Top)

          Washington, May 6: Berkley University in California has banned admission of students from Asian countries affected by the Sars epidemic, the British TV channel reported on Wednesday. Berkley University is the first academic institution of the United States which has banned admission of students belonging to the Asian countries affected by the epidemic. Hundreds of students belonging to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore will be affected by the ban.

Every second house in this village has twins (Go To Top)

          Varanasi, May 6: It may be called a quirk of nature. A remote village in Varanasi boasts of twins in almost every second house. Located near the Bamrauli airport in the city is Umri Mohammadpur village which is a Muslim majority area. While the village had a population of 90 people in 1968, it now has some 1,500 people. The villagers attribute this rise in population to the rising number of twins in the village. Almost every second mother is conceiving twins and in some instances this has even happened thrice. "It has been happening for the past 30-35 years. Nearly every house has twins. At least 15-20 houses have twins. In many cases women have even conceived twins three times and it is still going on," said Akshan Meeyan, a local villager.

          The biggest problem due to this trend is being faced by the local madrasa (Islamic school) where maximum number of children are twins from the village. Mazhar Shafiq, a teacher, said the trend has given rise to a comedy of errors as the teachers are facing problems in differentiating between similar looking children. "The main attraction of our madrasa is that maximum of our inmates are twins from Mohammadpur village. Though it is not difficult to teach the twins, we are facing problems in differentiating between the identical children," he said.

          The village has become a subject of scientific research and doctors attribute the rise in the number of twins to the genetic constitution of the parents. As most of the people in this village are Muslims and encourage inter-related marriages, inbreeding is common and the genes as well as genetic problems are passed on and are replicated again and again.

          Indu Singh, a gynaecologist, attributes this trend to hereditary reasons within the family. "If there is a tendency in the family either from the mother's side or from the father's side, then it passes on, specially in Muslims because inter-related marriages are permitted there," she said. She says inter-related marriages increase the chances of having a twin by at least 4 per cent. Twins may be born out of a single fertilised egg, which separates into two. They are known as monozygotic twins and are generally identical. Alternatively, twins may be born from two eggs fertilised at the same time. Such twins are called dizygotic and are non-identical.

Kullu operation on to destroy poppy crops (Go To Top)

          Kullu, May 6: Customs officials in Kullu valley are carrying out massive operations to destroy hundreds of acres of illegal poppy cultivation. Officials said the Chuhur valley in Kullu has the largest poppy cultivation in the country which was recently detected by satellites. More than 2,000 hectares of land has been under poppy cultivation. Officials have already destroyed 878 hectares of poppy. Poppy growers said they didn't know that the cultivation was illegal. "We never knew it was illegal. We were ignorant.," said Taj Singh, a poppy grower. The farmers get only Rs 5,000 for one kg of poppy which fetches about 10 million rupees in the international market. Customs officials said they were also educating the farmers about the illegality of poppy cultivation.

Tornadoes lash US, kill 35 (Go To Top)

          Washington, May 6: One of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in recent years killed at least 35 people in three US states, wrecking entire neighbourhoods and knocking out power, official sources said on Tuesday. Missouri reported 17 deaths, and neighbouring Kansas seven, while 11 died in Tennessee from Sunday's twisters. "These people have lost everything. There isn't much left of the city," said a Red Cross worker in Pierce City, Missouri, a town of 1,400 about 150 miles south of Kansas City. Commercial buildings around the town were hit hard and "there are homes behind them that are just flattened," he said. Cranes were brought in to help rescue workers search the ruins of a National Guard armoury in Pierce City where some residents had sought shelter.

British doctors, nurses refuse to work in Iraq (Go To Top)

          London, May 6: As many as 250 British doctors and nurses have declined to obey British medical authorities' directives for their posting in Iraq, a British newspaper reported on Tuesday. Over 500 British doctors and nurses were offered posting in Iraq till September but 250 among them refused to accept the order and threatened to resign from their jobs, the report further said.

Yet another rape charge against Mike Tyson (Go To Top)

         Washington, May 6: Mike Tyson is in legal trouble again. The latest accusation against him is from a woman who says he raped her and fathered her 12-year-old son. Wonda Graves has employed the legendary lawyer Raoul Felder to fight the case. On Monday, Felder stood by Wonda and Mike was ordered to take a blood test. Another court date is set for next month, reports New York Post. Tyson's lawyer had no comment. Felder previously represented the former champion's first wife Robin Givens as well as Kimberly Scarborough, with whom Tyson admitted fathering a child in 1991.