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VIP treatment for Rahul and Priyanka (Go To Top)

          Lahore: The red carpet will be rolled out for Congress party president Sonia Gandhi's children - Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra - when they land in Karachi to see the first one-day international between Pakistan and India at the National Stadium there. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that both of them will be provided VIP protocol when they arrive in Pakistan on March 13. "We know Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra have applied for visas and are coming to watch the first match at Karachi. We are making necessary arrangements to extend IP protocol to them," a PCB spokesman said.

India to open visa office in Karachi soon: Menon (Go To Top)

         Lahore: Pakistan government has decided to allow India to open a visa camp office in Karachi for facilitating the increasing number of its nationals wishing to visit India after the recent thaw in relations between the two countries, said Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shanker Menon here Sunday. On the other hand, he said, New Delhi was contemplating to allow Islamabad to open a camp office at Amritsar for issuing visas to Indian cricket fans to witness the upcoming Indo-Pak series. "We have sent proposal to the Pakistani authorities for opening visa camp office at Karachi while the Indian government is also allowing the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to open a camp office at Amritsar for issuing visas to Indian cricket fans to witness the long-awaited series between the two countries," the News quoted the High Commissioner as saying while speaking to reporters. Allaying security fears for the Indian team in Pakistan, he said the host country would try to maintain its tradition of friendship and brotherhood. About re-opening of Khokhrapar border, Menon said an Indian delegation would be in Islamabad by the end of March to hold dialogue with the Pakistani government in this regard.

Munabao-Khokhrapar bus service talks (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: An Indian delegation is likely to arrive here today for holding two-day talks on the revival of Munabao- Khokhrapar bus service, the News reported. While Munabao is in Sindh (Pakistan), Khokhrapar lies in Rajasthan (India). According to the paper, the technical level talks would discuss whether any formal agreement was needed for running the bus service. Besides, the task before the two sides will be to verify its conditions and ways and means to make it fit for buses. The Indian team comprises of officials from the ministries of external affairs, road transport and highways and the Rajasthan government.

          Both the countries had pulled off their buses on this route after the 1965 war. Since then on several occasions people from both sides have voiced their concern over the lack of a bus service in the area. The visit of another delegation from India for the Srinagar- Muzaffarabad route is also on the cards. This team would come to Pakistan on March 29 to discuss modalities to run a bus service on this route.

Pawar's NCP to retain party symbol (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday recognised Nationalist Congress Party headed by Sharad Pawar as the "real" NCP allowing it to retain the election symbol of 'clock.' "In the present case, the Commission is satisfied beyond any doubt that the group led by Pawar has far superior numerical support in the organisational and legislature wing of the party, and it sees no reason at all for any interim order allowing the matter to linger on," an Election Commission order said.

Rameshwaram fishermen to boycott election (Go To Top)

         Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu): Fishermen from Rameshwaram on Monday said they have decided to boycott the forthcoming national elections to protest the government's inability to provide them security. The fishermen are accusing both the Tamil Nadu and Central governments of failing to take necessary steps to check attacks on them by Sri Lankan Navy and fishermen. N.J.Bose, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Federation, said that they were left with little option as it was a question of survival for them. "This is our toughest decision because we are feeling ourselves neglected. All our boats are standing idle. We are struggling for our survival each day, so we don't have any other option other than this," he said. "The both governments have done nothing to solve our problem. And to show our resentment against the irresponsible attitude of the government we have gone to this extreme step of boycotting polls," says Palanikumar, a fisherman. Around 200,000 people in the district depend on fishing for their livelihood. Since June 28, 1974, when India ceded Kachativu to Sri Lanka, it has been a source of controversy between the two countries. This is because the sea around Kachativu is rich in prawns, and attracts fishermen from Rameshwaram.

          The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition called elections in April and May, nearly six months early, in a bid to capitalise on an economic boom, strong gains in state elections last December and a nascent peace process with Pakistan. BJP is expected to win easily in elections starting next month, riding on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's personal popularity. The BJP is campaigning on a platform of development and good governance, and is expected to continue a gradual liberalisation of India's economy, Asia's third largest, if it wins another five-year term.

Mufti Government defers Kashmiri women residents Bill (Go To Top)

          Jammu: A major crisis loomed large over Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Muft Mohammad Sayeed's government as it deferred its decision to pass a draconian Bill that will deprive Kashmiri women of their permanent resident status if they married a non-state subject. Early on Monday, one of its coalition partners threatened to withdraw its support over the passage of the Bill. The leader of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), Professor Bhim Singh, today said that he was seriously considering the option of walking out of the government over the issue. The women's wing of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the state staged a demonstration in the streets in protest against the possible passage of the Bill, while the Congress has summoned its representatives in state to the Indian Capital to take stock and possibly reassess its decision to go along with the legislation. The National Conference, the largest Opposition party in the Assembly having 28 MLAs, accused the government with working to erode the "special status" of the State guaranteed under Article 370 of the Constitution. The Bill was meant to give a legislative form to an executive order that was struck down by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on October 7, 2002. The Bill was the last item in the Legislative Council's schedule.

Musharraf to be in 'safe house' by month end (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will shift to the Aiwan-e-Sadr, his official residence by the end of this month. Official sources were quoted by the Dawn as saying that Musharraf had finally decided to leave the Army House in Rawalpindi where he has been residing with his family since taking over as the country's chief of army staff in 1998-99. This change of residence has been necessitated in the wake of the two assassination attempts on the President in December 2003, as also the great inconvenience caused to the public because of the extraordinary security arrangements made for him.

          Simultaneously, it has also been decided to shift the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army to highly secured Sector E-11 area of the Pakistan capital. Justice (retired) Mohammad Rafiq Tarar was the last President to occupy the Aiwan-e-Sadr before he left the post in July 2001, 18 months before the completion of his five-year term. Ghulam Ishaq Khan was the first occupant of the presidential residence. Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari was the second occupant.

Dhaka asked to act against anti-India insurgents (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: New Delhi on Monday said Bangladesh should act against anti-India rebels operating from its soil under a regional protocol. Indian foreign secretary Shashank said Bangladesh was bound by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) protocol and commitments in the UN Security Council. "This is a commitment all the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countires have undertaken, firstly, under their 1987 convention of suppression of terrorism (in Kathmandu) and now taking into account the new commitments in the UN Security Council and elsewhere. So we have this additional protocols. Bangladesh has like any other SAARC countries have committed to take action against any kind of terrorism activities," Shashank, who uses only one name, told Asian News International before emplaning for Dhaka for a two-day official visit.

          The neighbours share a 4,200 km porous border and New Delhi says most of the rebel groups active in its troubled northeast operate from across the border. India's demand to eliminate the insurgent camps from Bangladesh comes in the wake of a succesful crackdown on anti-Indian rebel camps by Bhutan. The tiny Himalayan kingdom launched a massive military offensive last year killing 150 guerrillas and capturing more than 500 while running over more than 30 camps of three insurgent outfits. New Delhi says over 100 such camps are active in Bangladesh. Shashank said he hoped that his meeting with the Bangladesh foreign secretary would help to sort out mutual concerns. "We are discussing everything from the point of view of increasing our bilateral cooperation. And whatever concerns Bangladesh may have, we will try to see to what extent they are really genuine concerns, to what extent they are only perceived fears. Perhaps, we can sort it out. Maybe there is a lack of communication, which we should be able to work out," he said. India and Bangladesh are expected to set up working groups to tackle all outstanding border issues.

          India's army helped Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan in 1971 and the two countries have maintained good relations since. But ties between the neighbours soured after India said it will deport some 20 million Bangladeshis living on its soil and prevent more from entering.

Maoist strike affects life in Nepal (Go To Top)

         Kathmandu: A strike called by the women's wing of the rebel Maoist outfit today affected life across Nepal. Public vehicles were off the roads and very few government vehicles could be seen plying amid tight security. Educational institutions also remained closed. It was the second strike called by the Maoists over the last week. Last week, the trade union wing of the Maoists had organized a strike in Bagmati and Narayani zones. Security has been beefed up in the capital and other parts of the country in view of the series of bomb blasts in the last two days. Three pedestrians were injured yesterday when a bomb exploded in a bus in the capital. More than 8,500 persons have been killed in the insurgency since 1996 in the Himalayan kingdom.

3 Indians arrested for trafficking, poaching in Nepal (Go To Top)

         Kathmandu: Three Indians - a woman and two men - have been arrested by Nepal police for allegedly trafficking in children and for poaching and killing wildlife here. Biju Masari, 21, of Assam was caught by the police at Sindhulimadhi, the district headquarters of Sindhuli district, yesterday as she was trafficking in three girls aged between 13 and 15 and three boys aged between 14 and 24 to India with the promise of providing them a job, they said. Police arrested the woman as she was taking the children to India through Birgunj, bordering Raxaul, reported the Rising Nepal daily. The Indian poachers were arrested in Damauli, West Nepal, the National News Agency reported quoting the District Forest Office. Balu Ram, 35, and Ram Chandra, 33, both from Haryana, have been convicted of trapping a leopard and then killing it in the Chharghare forests at local Jamune village and smuggling the leopard hide, the report said.

Kathmandu shutdown after bus blast (Go To Top)

         Kathmandu: Three people were wounded on Sunday when a bomb exploded in a bus in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, and police said they suspected Maoist rebels were responsible. The passengers had just disembarked at the bus park in the heart of the capital and there was no one in the vehicle when the bomb went off. Among those injured were two women and a man. "We went away and immediately it exploded. It was being said the bus was in service during the Nepal bandh (shutdown), that's why they planted the bomb," said bus driver Ram Krishna. The bus blast was the latest in a series of explosions in Kathmandu blamed on the Maoist rebels, who are fighting to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy and set up a communist state. Troops carrying automatic weapons patrolled the streets of the capital on Monday as a general strike called by a women's group linked to the rebels, began. This is the fifth strike in the country in less than a month. There has been a marked increase in violence in the mountainous Himalayan kingdom since peace talks between the government and the Maoists failed last August.

Special trains for Indian cricket lovers! (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The Indian Government has decided to run two special trains for the country's cricket lovers to enable them watch the two-one day internationals between India and Pakistan at Lahore on March 21 and 24. For the remaining three One-Day Internationals, the Samjhauta Express, running between Amritsar and Attari, will be augmented by two additional coaches to ferry cricket lovers across the border. The special trains will leave Old Delhi Railway station on March 19 and 22 at 9.50 p.m. and reach Amritsar at 6.30 a.m. and Attari at 7.10 a.m. the following day. The passengers, after disembarking at Attari, will board a Pakistani rake for going to Lahore where the two ODIs are scheduled. The decision to run the special trains was taken following confirmation from the Pakistani authorities to accept passengers of the cricket special trains, Singh said.

Ashish Nehra included in India ODI squad (Go To Top)

         Chandigarh: Chairman of national selection committee Syed Kirmani on Monday said he was "satisfied" with Ashish Nehra's fitness and performance in the Duleep Trophy final. Nehra was picked in the 15-member one-day squad subject to his proving fitness in the Duleep Trophy match which ends today. Kirmani, however, said the performance of several players would be evaluated before the selection of Test squad on March 22 to play in the three-Test series against Pakistan. "The performance of some players would be closely evaluated in the Ranji final and semi-finals before making a decision on their inclusion in the Test squad," Kirmani said without disclosing the probables for the Test team.

Ticket sales smooth on second day in Karachi (Go To Top)

         Karachi: The sale of tickets was seen smooth on Monday at National Stadium, venue of the match in Karachi as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) revised its policy on sale of tickets for the first ODI between Pakistan and India deciding to do away with its one-window service policy. Police had to use force to control cricket fans as thousands of people turned up to buy tickets on Sunday for the first one-day international between Pakistan and India in Karachi. Ticket sales were eventually suspended until Monday after police failed to stop people breaking into an enclosure and damaging practice wickets and fencing.

          The National Stadium on Moday was filled from early morning with people, including women and children, many who could not buy the tickets on Sunday. "Off course, that all had happened because of (lose) administration. If it would have been as smooth and peaceful as it is today, the people had not faced problem," said Mrs.Mansoor, a lady who had come to buy tickets for her family. "Actually, we had also come here yesterday, but it was very disturbed, there were scenes of hitting (baton charge) as if we had come for some expedition. It should have been as peaceful yesterday as it is smooth today," said Amjad, a cricket fan. The National Stadium has a capacity of 33,500 and 20 percent of tickets have been sold on the Internet for the higher category enclosures. It is the largest stadium in the country.

          The GM cricket operations of the Board, Zakir Khan, said after attending a meeting with administration officials it had been decided to sell the tickets at different outlets on Monday. He said what had happened on Sunday at the stadium was unfortunate. "The ground capacity is about 32000. If sixty or seventy thousand people turn on, everybody trying to get the ticket first, the disturbance will start. This was the factor yesterday. But today as you can see everything is going smoothly, everyone is getting tickets, and if the people are in proper queues nobody faces any problem," Khan said. He explained that now the Rs 100 general enclosure tickets would be sold at five centers The India team is due to arrive in Pakistan for the first time in 14 years on Wednesday for a tour of five one-day internationals and three tests.

Bottomlines

Di's tapes leave British Royals distressed (Go To Top)

          Sydney: Prince Charles is reportedly deeply distressed over the taped interviews of his late wife Diana being broadcast on US television network NBC. Acording to the Australian, Charles is reportedly worried about the effect of the revelation on his sons, Princes William and Harry. Extracts of the show, billed as "the story the Royal Family does not want you to hear" were broadcast on British television and radio. In the tapes, the princess said: "One minute I was nobody and the next minute I was Princess of Wales, mother, media toy, member of this family, you name it. And it was just too much. I learnt to be a royal in one week," she said. "I was thrown into the deep end. Nobody ever helped me at all. They would be out there to criticise but never there to say well done."

          Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the Spencer family have maintained a dignified silence. The tapes, made at Kensington Palace in 1991,were given to the Old Etonian doctor James Colthurst, then a close friend, who passed them with Diana's consent to Andrew Morton for his book Diana: Her True Story. The advance publicity from NBC projected the tapes as a caustic critique of the British monarchy but her words instead revealed a vulnerable, immature young woman with deep personal problems who blamed herself for being inadequate to the life she had chosen. The words, which were accompanied by slow-motion images of the princess at various highs and lows in her marriage and in her public life, cast the Prince of Wales as a thoughtless and uncaring husband. They were greeted with an almost sad resignation at Clarence House.

J.Lo's butt is now history! (Go To Top)

          New York: What a difference a year makes. She got awful reviews for "Gigli". Lost out on ex-fiance Ben Affleck. And now worst of all - no one wants her beefy bum. Till last year, Latin singer Jennifer Lopez's doughy derriere was all the rage in plastic surgery clinics, where flat-bottomed girls were flocking to get butt implants in an attempt to replicate J.Lo's ample rear end, according to a report in National Enquirer.

          Dr. Richard Fleming, co-director of the Beverly Hills Institute of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, told Planet Tab, "Hollywood thrives on youthfulness and influences how people all over the world judge beauty. And we're always surprised by our patients' top picks of celebrity features". "Jennifer Lopez's lips are still considered appealing, but last year everyone wanted her butt - which now, no one ever asks for. That was last year's look", Fleming noted. "While a huge percentage of patients want to look like the strong 'classic beauties,' such as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Charlize Theron, there are always those who request to look like the celebrities who might not be classic beauties, but are hot at the moment", he added.

Museum handed over 'live' WW II bomb! (Go To Top)

         London: It was in time that a museum staff realised, they had been handed a "Live" bomb for display. According to a report in the Sun, a World War II bomb handed in to the "Explosion" naval history museum in Gosport, Hants, had to be detonated, after the staff realised it was "live". The shocked workers called bomb disposal experts, who blew the Luftwaffe shell up on nearby grassland, leaving a large crater. A cop said, "It had been kept in an attic, but could have gone off at any time."

Kylie Minogue goes sexy by covering up! (Go To Top)

         Sydney: Making her latest fashion statement, singing sensation Kylie Minogue has decided to be "sexy by covering up and being a bit more classy". And she put that on show at the German Echo music awards held at Berlin recently when she shocked the crowd by sporting a pair of black jeans and a rather conservative white fur shawl. If the Berlin crowd was expecting the on-stage flesh-fest the world has come to expect of Minogue, they were disappointed. According to the Daily Telegraph, she has recently sniped at the likes of Britney Spears for revealing too much in their music videos, a practice Kylie could almost claim to have pioneered. That came during a heated battle for the UK No.1 spot, which Kylie lost to the blonde American star, the report added. One can't say if her new classic look will help her get the numero uno position, but as of now, for Minogue gone are the days of the butt-touching hotpants and the latex minis.

Soon, a 'Mind Viagra' to enhance your memory! (Go To Top)

          London: A pill code-named as HT-0712 that will make forgetfulness a distant memory is being developed in the United States and could be on sale within five years. According to the Sun, the wonder drug has been nicknamed 'Mind Viagra', and has already been shown to boost the memory power of mice and flies and will now be tested on people. However, it is just one drug in a race by firms to develop pills designed to increase the ability of retaining memory. At least 12 American companies are believed to be working on similar projects, which means that help is in store for anyone who forgets where they put the car keys or those who struggle to cram and pass exams. Professor Tim Tully, the founder of Helicon Therapeutics, is in charge of the HT-0712 project. He says, "If it takes two weeks to memorise a verse of Shakespeare, with one of these drugs you might be able to do it in two or three days." The memory drug business looks set to become a multi million pound industry, says the report.

          Nobel Prizewinner Professor Eric Kandel runs a rival firm called Memory Pharmaceuticals. He says, "I think over the next five years we should see the emergence of the first compounds that are, to use the very fancy phrase, like Viagra for the mind. They will help people function more effectively in intellectual terms as they age." This summer 100 Americans suffering mild memory loss will test HT-0712 in the first experiment on people. Professor Tully first tried the drug on fruit flies. They learned to avoid nasty chemicals after just one encounter. The drug also allowed laboratory mice to recognise signals warning of electric shocks much more quickly than mice not given the drug. "You don't think better than you did before, you just get the facts in with less practice. There is a growing belief that memory and memory loss is just another treatable condition," says Tully.

 

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