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Soren's supporters take to the streets

           Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren Šhas managed to at least queer the pitch for both the UPA government and the opposition. This could be seen today here when hundreds of supporters took to the streets in support of him, demanding that he be absolved of charges of murder and rioting in connection with the 28-year-old Chiruddih massacre case. Soren, who until last Saturday was the Union Minister for Coal and Mines, came out of hiding earlier this week after a Ranchi High Court issued orders asking him to surrender before law enforcement authorities by August 2. He said that he would do so at Jamtara. The order to surrender was based on a warrant relating to Soren's participation in arson and violence during a rally in which 10 people were killed in 1975. JMM activists say their leader is innocent. "To show our support to our leader, we are organising this demonstration in all the district headquarters of the state. We are trying to tell the world that our leader has been framed in a conspiracy. We will give an application to the Indian President to dismiss the present chief minister who is himself tainted," said Premchand Mahato, the district president of the JMM, here.

Sonia, PM in UPA Coordination Committee (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: A 12-member Coordination Committee featuring among others Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been formed to sort out issues between the United Progress Alliance (UPA) government and the Left. Gandhi and Singh would be among the six members from the Congress side. The other four members from the Congress would be announced after Singh returns from Bangkok, AICC Media Department Chairperson Girija Vyas said today. The names doing rounds for inclusion are Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni and P Chidambaram. It is not immediately clear how many leaders from non-Congress and non-Left parties including RJD, DMK and NCP would be in the committee. The Left has reportedly forwarded the names of H S Surjeet and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), A B Bardhan and D Raja (CPI), Abani Roy (RSP) and Devabrata Biswas (FB). The sources said the first meeting of the Committee would be held next week.

          Earlier, veteran Marxist and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today called on the Congress president reportedly to discuss the modalities for formation of a coordination committee to oversee the Common Minimum Programme of the ruling UPA. Talking to reporters after the meeting, CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said: "First of all, the meeting was a courtesy call. We also discussed the formation of the Coordination Committee. We expect it would be announced by this evening." Yechury said the Left parties have given six names for the Committee and the UPA Chairperson would decide about the names from the ruling side. Asked on the need to set up the Coordination Committee, Yechury said:"We want this government to run smoothly and that too for five years. That is why we need a Coordination Committee between the Left, which is supporting the government from outside, and the ruling alliance".

Police record statement of Nafisa's fiance (Go To Top)

           Mumbai: Police today recorded the statement of Mumbai-based businessman Gautam Khanduja, the fiance of former Miss India Nafisa Joseph who committed suicide on Thursday night at her Versova residence here. Gautam went to the Versova police station along with his lawyer Dipesh Mehta to give his statement. Usha, Nafisa's mother, had on Friday claimed that Nafisa had been upset over problems she was facing in her relationship with Gautam, police said. Nafisa was to marry Gautam, but he decided to back off after she grilled him regarding some papers of his earlier divorce. She was reportedly depressed following her squabbles with Gautam.

Tailmiz Ahmad deputed to negotiate with Iraqi militants (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: India's Ambassador to Oman, Talmiz Ahmad, has been asked to fly into Baghdad to help in negotiating the release of three Indian truck drivers held hostage by an Iraqi militant group. Zikrur Rahman, one of the government's best Arabic interpreters, will assist Ahmad. Ahmad is expected to reach the Iraqi capital later this evening or early on Sunday, Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahamed, said in a statement. A diplomat with 28 years experience, Ahmad has served with distinction in various places, including Iraq, New York, Saudi Arabia and Oman. He has also been the ministry's official spokesman. His deputation to Baghdad is being seen as significant, given his association with matters concerning the Middle East. A concerned Indian government has said that it has deputed its most experienced personnel in the hope of convincing the militants not to go through with their threat to execute their Indian hostages, starting from today. The militants are reportedly negotiating through Sheikh Hisham Al-Dulaimi. Several rounds of talks are reported to have already taken place with representatives of the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, but no tangible result in sight so far.

Pasheco withdraws support to Goa Govt (Go To Top)

         Panaji: Even as senior BJP leaders were discussing measures to revive the party and formulate a strategy for the forthcoming Assembly elections at a "Chintan Baithak" here today, independent MLA Fransico Pasheco has decided to withdraw his support from the BJP state government. Pasheco, who is the alone MLA of the UGDP, was until a month ago the tourism minister in the Parrikar government. With his withdrawal, the Parrikar government is left with 22 MLAs in the 40-member House.

Manmohan Singh bats for regional integration  (Go To Top)
by Vikas Khanna

          Bangkok: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday underlined the importance of India's "Look East Policy" as he addressed the inaugural summit of the BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, Indian, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand-Economic Cooperation). "Regional integration is not antithetical to globalisation, but can be a useful building bloc. Our collective endeavours can be more than the sum of our individual efforts. BIMST-EC offers us the hope and the opportunity to fulfill this imperative of our time," he said. Calling for closer and mutually beneficial ties with neighbours to tackle the issues of poverty, inequity and disease, Singh said the governments should step up efforts to provide a better life for the people of the region. Singh also called upon the member nations to work for peace and for security to meet the challenges posed by the scourge of terrorism. "The scourge of terrorism is unfortunately one with which we all must grapple-as a global phenomenon and as an everyday reality. The areas of conflict are coming closer to us. But we cannot stay our efforts. We have to work for peace and for security," said Singh. Singh also called for reforming the United Nations and restructuring the Security Council to make it better representative and more responsive to the changing needs. Singh also proposed to set up a BIMST-EC Centre on Weather and Climate in New Delhi. He said India was willing to share its expertise in remote sensing for agriculture, environment and disaster management. He also announced 150 scholarships for next year for BIMST-EC countries, in addition to the 150 scholarships offered by India at the Phuket ministerial meeting in February this year. Earlier in his opening address, Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra described BIMST-EC as a bridge between South Asia and South East Asia. He said the region had tremendous potentials and could be harnessed to improve the lives of the people. Thaksin called for early implementation to the six areas of cooperation identified by the member nations. The six areas of cooperation include tourism, transport and communications, trade, fisheries and energy cooperation. "We should fin the will and means to succeed together," he said.

Acronym of BIMST-EC retained, but with changed reference  (Go To Top)

        Bangkok: Leaders of the South Asia and South East Asia on Saturday decided to retain the acronym of BIMST-EC. But the seven-nation grouping will henceforth be known as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The change has been necessitated after two more countries Bhutan and Nepal joined the group early this year. Earlier the nomenclature BIMST-EC stood for the participating countries.

PM ready for a consensus on tainted ministers issue   (Go To Top)

           Bangkok: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today admitted that the very nature of coalition politics made it a sort of compulsion to induct "tainted" ministers into the government. He, however, added that personally he was in favour of a law banning tainted ministers from attaining ministerial berths in the Cabinet and that he was more than ready for a political consensus on such matters. "Sometimes in politics the best becomes the enemy of good," he was quoted as saying while addressing a press conference.

Arun Prakash takes over as Navy Chief (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: Admiral Arun Prakash today took over as India's 20th Chief of Naval Staff. He succeeds Admiral Madhvendra Singh. Calling for the modernisation of the Indian Navy, Admiral prakash said that the immediate priority was to enhance the fleet with nuclear submarines, but added that the final decision for their procurement lay with the government. "The Navy needs nuclear submarines but it is up to the Government to take a decision on the acquisition," he said. New Delhi is reportedly in talks with Moscow to acquire two nuclear-powered 'Akula' class submarines on lease. A winner of the Vir Chakra, Admiral Prakash, an ace naval fighter pilot, also said that there was a need to augment naval manpower as well. He said that his thrust would be to make the Navy "network centric".

Curfew in Manipur relaxed, but protests continue (Go To Top)

          Imphal: Indefinite curfew, imposed since July 15 in the Manipur valley, was relaxed for 14 hours today from 4 am. Areas that heaved a sigh of relief over the decision included Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishenpur districts. Meanwhile, protests continue to rock the state over the killing of 30-year-old woman Manorama Devi. The protesters are reportedly insisting on the immediate withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Hannah murderer Maninder Pal Singh Kohli sent to judicial custody (Go To Top)

          Kharar: Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, the prime accused in the rape and murder case of British teenager Hannah Foster, was sent to judicial custody till August 14 by a local court today. Kohli was in police custody till August 5 in connection with a passport forgery case. According to the Punjab Police, he was not required any longer for the investigations into the case.

Showers end dry spell in oilseed-growing Gujarat (Go To Top)

         Ahmedabad: Monsoon rains across Gujarat on Saturday brought relief to residents and farmers alike in the parched state. Oilseed-growing Gujarat, where it has rained for the past two days, saw people happily wading through the ankle-deep water. "After a long time, it has been raining in the city since the last two days. This is welcome news. There was a drought-like situation, the farmers were facing problems, we were also facing electricity problems. But after these rains, I think a lot of problems will be solved," said Sunil Markhand, a resident. Nikhil Patel, another resident, enjoyed the weather as the city experienced a cool breeze with temperatures falling to 25 degrees Celsius. "The way it has been raining for the last two days, we think that Guajart now will not be declared a drought-hit state. The farmers will also be very happy. We are also enjoying the rains," Patel said. Monsoon rains, vital for the farm-dependent economy, have been below normal so far, but weather officials have said that the forecast is good for the rest of the four-month season, barring the largely dry northwest.

Indian students win NASA's space design contest (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: A group of Indian students who won a NASA research competition on setting up a human settlement on the moon arrived here on Saturday. The students were received warmly by their parents and relatives on their arrival. The 18-member team from the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET) and the Buddha Dal School in northern Patiala town was one of eight teams selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for developing a multi-trillion dollar human settlement project in space and the moon. The group, which was the only non-US team short-listed for the mega space design project, called the Space City to be stationed in Earth's orbit, also became the first Asian country to win the competition. Abhishek Aggarwal, 20, a first year electronics and instrumentation engineering student at TIET, was the brain behind the selected project. Mani Kumar, an assistant professor at the TIET, said that their presentation went ahead as planned. The Space City was to be designed for 16,500 people and made viable for habitation by 2024. The city would take care of their living needs and create artificial gravity, atmosphere, trees, farms, entertainment centers and other basic facilities for sustenance.

Suspension of Amarnath Yatra continues (Go To Top)

        Jammu: At least 34,000 pilgrims have been left stranded on the route leading up to the Amarnath shrine because of inclement weather conditions. The yatra remained suspended for the second consecutive day today. Officials said that because of the rush of pilgrims, many have not been allowed to proceed from the base camp at MAM stadium for the onward journey. They further added, that the pilgrims would be allowed for their onward journey in batches only after the rush subsides. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jammu Range, has reportedly convened a high level meeting of police and civil officials to review the situation and make necessary arrangements for the pilgrims.

Did John Kerry have an extra-marital affair? (Go To Top)

         New York: Despite the fact that he has always denied it, reports in various newspapers claim that the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, had an extra- marital affair with lawyer, Roanne Sargow, which also led to his divorce in 1988. According to the New York Post, Kerry's affair with the top-notch lawyer is public knowledge, but he has always maintained that it had nothing to do with his separation from his first wife. However, papers say that he had an affair with a woman for two years before he and his wife finally decided to split in 1982. "Kerry had a "passionate affair" with an unnamed woman. She was in love with John and he broke her heart," a report in the National Enquirer said.