Sriharikota blast kills six (Go To Top)

        Chennai: Six people were killed and six others injured in a blast on Monday at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 120 km from here. According to initial reports, the blast took place inside the high-security complex. It was not immediately known whether the victims were scientists. Involvement of the outlawed Naxalites in the blast has been ruled out.

Bank, insurance employees to strike work on Tuesday (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Staff and officers of banks and insurance companies will observe a daylong strike on Tuesday in response to a wage revision call by major central trade unions. Of the 10 banking unions, six of them will take part in the strike over demands which include early revision of wages and one more pension option for the bankers. Of the five unions in the insurance sector, three of them will join, the Co-ordinator of All India Coordination Committee of Unions in Finance Sector (AICCUFS), Shantha Raju, was quoted as saying. Over 15 lakh workmen and officers working in the sector, including RBI and its associates, UTI and other institutions like cooperatives and rural banks will join the strike.

Vijay Anand passes away (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: Famous director and actor Vijay Anand passed away here early this morning. He was 71 Anand, who suffered a massive heart attack on Saturday, was admitted to Mumbai's Lilawati Hospital for treatment. He was put on life-support on Sunday. Later on, he was taken to his Bandra Pali Hill residence where members of his family and close friends came to offer their condolences. Vijay's brother, Dev Anand, and his family, were the first to come. He was short of words and was too chocked to say anything. The Bollywood director and actor, who was also a former chairman of the Censor Board, was advised bypass surgery earlier, but ignored it.

          He started his career with Nau Do Gyarah in 1957, starring Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik. He had also acted in many films like Kala Bazar, Haqeeqat, Kora Kagaz, Double Cross, Barood Road, Mein Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki and Hum Rahe Na Hum. Goldie was the youngest of the four Anand siblings and took up to films after his elder brothers, Chetan and Dev Anand. Goldie also directed some famous Bollywood flicks like 'Guide', 'Johnny Mera Naam', 'Teesri Manzil', 'Jewel Theif', 'Nau Do Grayah' and 'Tere Mere Sapne'. He had plans in the pipeline for the launching of a television channel.

          Karan Johar, Yash Johar and Suchitra Krishamoorthy were among those who attended his funeral. He is survived by his wife and son Vaibhav.

13 escape from Bihar jail (Go To Top)

          Chhapra: Thirteen inmates of the Chhapra district jail in Bihar escaped on Monday scaling the wall after exploding bombs in which three people, including a sentry, were injured, official sources said. Jail Superintendent Ramchandra Jaiswal said that the 13 inmates, led by dreaded Siwan outlaw Rajkishore Chaudhary, exploded three bombs around 2.30 pm to intimidate the inmates and security staff in which sentry Dudhnath Sharma and two prisoners were seriously injured.

Ayodhya 'not an issue': Vajpayee (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on Monday, "the Ram temple is not an issue. It is linked to the people's emotion. We should resolve it. I hope efforts in this direction will succeed," Vajpayee told reporters here. Rejecting Opposition charges that a cult was being built around his persona, Vajpayee said that the feel-good factor reigning in the country could not have been achieved by him alone, and that the BJP's partners in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had all played a very significant role in the achievements of the past five years. "I have not become any cult. We (in BJP) work together and no one individual takes decisions," he said.

          Asked if the temple's construction would form part of the BJP manifesto, Vajpayee, who was flanked by former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minster Kalyan Singh, said "when the manifesto comes out it will be before you." Commenting on former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's return to the BJP, the Prime Minister said that he was sure that with Singh's return, the BJP would secure 60 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. He also said that even if the BJP secured a majority of its own in the elections, it would continue with the NDA formula, as coalition politics had come to stay in India.

          On the clandestine export of nuclear technology from Pakistan, Vajpayee said that New Delhi had taken serious note of this development, but was confident that under the supervision of the United Nations, a system would be put in place to check proliferation in the future. "It is a serious issue. On the one side, non-proliferation talks are going on, on the other, the clandestine transfer of nuclear technology to other countries has taken place. We have taken serious note of it. We are taking all steps necessary to safeguard the country's security," Vajpayee cryptically said. "We are confident that under UN supervision, a system will be successfully evolved to ensure that there is no room for such proliferation," he added.

BJP rules out separate Koshal state (Go To Top)

          Balangir: BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu has said that though his party supported the concept of smaller states, it is not for a separate Koshal state in Orissa. Talking to reporters here on Monday, he said the creation of the Koshal or Mahakoshal state is not on the agenda of either the BJP or the NDA. He claimed there was no unanimity among political parties on the issue and the creation of such a state was not enomically or geographically viable. The demand for the creation of a new state comprising the western Orissa districts has been hanging fire for over two decades, but there had been no concerted efforts or agitation supporting the plea so far.

EC says no IAF plane for Advani (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday rejected a government request to allow Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani to use an Indian Air Force aircraft for election campaigning. "The Commission has said that the existing instruction will continue. The IAF aircraft will be only for the Prime Minister," EC spokesman A.N. Jha said, adding that this decision should not be seen as marring rlations between the commission and the government.

          Jha said that the commission had been able to reduce poll expenditure with the help of electronic voting machines. The use of EVMs had enabled the commission to rationalise voters' list at polling stations. Besides reducing the number of polling booths, the number of persons deployed at a booth had also reduced from five to four. "All these measures result in savings to the commission, other wise expenditure would have been much higher," Jha added. EVMs would be used in all 543 Parliamentary consitutencies in the coming general elections, making the electoral process virtually paperless. "We have procured 10.75 lakh voting machines and decided to use these machines in all the Lok Sabha constituencies as well as in all Assembly elections," he said.

Karnataka Assembly dissolved (Go To Top)

          Bangalore: Karnataka Governor T.N.Chaturvedi on Monday dissolved the state legislative Assembly, paving the way for holding elections to it along with the coming Lok Sabha polls. Chief Minister S.M. Krishna has been asked to continue in a caretaker capacity till the completion of the election process. Krishna's Cabinet had decided on February 16 to recommend the dissolution of the House to enable the ruling Congress to seek a fresh mandate eight months ahead of the end of its tenure. The Election Commission has now been given the responsibility of fixing the dates for the Assembly polls.

Congress mobilises youth cadres (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday mobilised its youth cadres for a massive election campaign covering thousands of towns and villages, in the run up to an early national election. Party president Sonia Gandhi launched the campaign in New Delhi with a symbolic handing over of a torch to the youth activists. The young men and women, mostly university students, will hit the roads, interacting with the grassroots, in what analysts term as the Congress' bid to regain its fading influence over the crucial voter base.

           "We will carry forward the message of Sonia to every state and village. We are going to launch 50,000 contact programmes in next one and a half month, spreading the message of unity of Congress and its leader," youth Congress president Randeep Singh Surjenwala said. The Italy-born Sonia Gandhi herself has been on a campaign spree across villages, walking to the people, listening to their problems personally, as she strives to present herself as a people's leader. Opinion polls show that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is much ahead of Sonia Gandhi in popularity.

Iran admits to using nuclear dealers (Go To Top)

          Tehran: Iran on Monday acknowledged for the first time that it had bought nuclear equipment on the black market. A foreign ministry spokesman said certain items were bought from international dealers, including from the Indian subcontinent. Hamid Reza Asefi, however, did not say what had been bought or from which countries. The admission follows recent revelations by Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Dr. A.Q. Khan that he sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, sold Iran nuclear centrifuge parts for three million dollars in cash and also arranged to send enriched uranium to Libya when he was at the helm of Pakistan's nuclear programme. This was disclosed by a Sri Lankan businessman, identified by U.S. President George W. Bush as the deputy of Dr. A.Q. Khan. He has also named seven key European middlemen responsible for the "Nuke Gate".

          According to Malaysian intelligence authorities probing the international nuclear proliferation scam, businessman Buhary Syed Abu Tahir has named citizens of Germany, Turkey, Britain and Switzerland as the alleged middlemen involved in the nuclear arms black market. The 12-page report, which will be handed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), names the following middlemen alleged as having links to Dr. Khan: Switzerland: (1) Friedrich Tinner, a mechanical engineer, is alleged to have had dealings with Khan since the 1980s (2) Urs Tinner, Friedrich's son. Germany: (1) The late Heinz Mebus, an engineer, is alleged to have been involved in discussions between Khan and Iran to supply centrifuge designs about 1984/85. (2) Gotthard Lerch, a German living in Switzerland. Britain: (1) Peter Griffin, a British citizen who is believed to have once owned Gulf Technical Industries based in Dubai Turkey: (1) Gunas Jireh and (2) Selim Aguadis. Malaysian police have also alleged that Dr. Khan sent enriched uranium to Libya in 2001 and sold nuclear centrifuge parts to Iran in the mid-1990s, The News reported.

          The report also clears the company, Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE), owned by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son Kamaluddin, of any wrong doing, saying that Tahir never told the truth about the nature of the parts he had ordered and the company thought it was involved in a legitimate business. Tahir named a Swiss citizen, Urs Friedrich Tinner, as being "actively involved in the manufacturing operations in the SCOPE factory", according to the police report. The report says Khan developed a "network of middlemen" that involved not only Tahir, but also "several people and companies from Europe who sought to make profits by selling certain materials and equipment."

          According to police, Tahir said Khan asked him to send centrifuges to Iran in 1994 or 1995. Khan told Tahir that a "certain amount of UF6 (enriched uranium) was sent by air from Pakistan to Libya" around 2001, according to police. According to the report, Tahir and Khan met Libyan representatives named as Mohamad Matuq Mohamad and Karim in Istanbul in 1997 when the Libyans asked for centrifuge units. Between 1998 and 2002 several more meetings were held, one in Casablanca and others in Dubai. The enriched uranium was sent from Pakistan to Libya by air around 2001, and "a certain number of centrifuge units were sent in 2001-2002".

          A senior Malaysian official said that Tahir will not be arrested because he had broken no laws in Malaysia or in other countries, but that his passport could be impounded if he tries to leave. The document concludes with a call on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to "start investigations on several individuals from Europe allegedly involved in the proliferation of nuclear weapons."