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One killed in Doda grenade attack

          Jammu: One person was killed and three seriously injured when unidentified militants lobbed grenades in a high security area here on Sunday. The attack assumes significance even as it came a day ahead of general elections. In Doda voting is scheduled to take place tomorrow. According to the police, militants threw the grenades in the busy market sending shoppers running for cover. At lest 17 people suffered minor injuries, they added. Official sources said the grenade aimed at policemen exploded near the front gate of a hospital at 11.40 a.m.

IDBI targets Rs 10 billion from market (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: The Industrial Development Bank of India will raise about Rs 10 billion from the market till September 31, 2004. About Rs 10 billion would be raised through instruments like fixed deposits and the plans for 2004-05 would be worked out later as the year 2003-04 has been extended by six months till September end, IDBI sources said here on Sunday. Asked if the financial institution would float flexibonds for raising funds, they said generally bond issues hit the market in the second half of financial year. FI has raised Rs 122 billion during 12-month period ended March 2004, out of which Rs 18 billion were through foreign currency instruments, Rs 62 billion through omni bonds, sources said. Total borrowings and drawals, in rupee and foreign currency, stood at Rs 150.77 billion as compared to Rs 111.08 billion in FY-03. The cost of incremental rupee borrowings during 12 months stood at 6.4 per cent, significantly lower by 1.95 per cent from a level of 8.35 per cent obtained in the 2002-03. This (cut in borrowing cost) has been possible due to general decline in the interest rates and improvement in the standing as institution, sources said.

22 Maoist rebels killed in Nepal clashes (Go To Top)

          Kathmandu: At least 22 Maoist rebels have been killed in separate clashes with security forces in Nepal, security forces said Sunday. According to officials, at least 12 rebels were killed in clashes southwest of Kathmandu on Saturday, while six others, including four women, were killed in southwestern Nawalparasi. Three others died in western Dhading. The violence followed an attack on Friday, in which one rebel was killed and another injured, also in Dhading district.

Chechen President killed in landmine blast (Go To Top)

          Moscow: Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed when a land mine exploded during Victory Day celebrations on Sunday in a stadium in the Chechen capital Grozny. The explosion reportedly took place underneath a VIP-seating area during a ceremony in the Dynamo stadium that was attended by senior Chechen officials. The general in charge of Russian troops in Chechnya was also killed in the blast. But, there was no immediate confirmation of the report. It had earlier been confirmed that Kadyrov had been seriously injured in the attack on the Grozny stadium.

Germans see India as a better place to adopt a child (Go To Top)

          Rajkot: There has been a sea change in the life of seven-year old Anita who came from Germany to visit Kathiawar Balashram in Rajkot recently. Anita was abandoned by her parents on the roads of Rajkot when she was around three and a half years old. The local police brought her to Kathiawad Balashram in Rajkot. Thanks to a German couple that adopted her some three years back. Today, Anita goes to one of the best schools in Germany and has completely adapted herself in the new atmosphere.

          Walter Foettcher, the German, who adopted Anita said, "She had no problems right from the beginning. She was accepted by our friends and our family, her friends in kindergarten and everywhere else. She learned German easily, starting with few words, to expressing herself in weeks and now is as fluent as other children in her German school." Anita is not the only child; around five and a half year old Diya also found herself lucky to get German parents. Like Anita and Diya, there are around 180 children adopted by foreign couples from Kahiawar Balashram including Germany, Spain, America, London, France and Norway. In Germany alone there are 45 such children all girls adopted by German couples from the Balashram. Diya was abandoned by her parents when she was one and a half year old. She was found abandoned in the Children hospital compound of Rajkot. She was suffering from various medical problems including Tuberculosis of primary stage, puss in ear and extreme weakness.. Despite her medical fitness after few years, no Indian couple showed interest in adopting her after going through her medical history. Thanks to the German couple who showed interest in her. Diya now has a father who is doctor by profession while mother is a pharmacist.

          Margret Weber-German mother who adopted Diya said, "Today, we have become the family of our dreams because today we are here to adopt our daugther Diya, who is living here in this ashram. She is five and a half years old and we will take her to Germany with us today." Apart from Foreign couples, the Balashram also receives inquiries from Indian couples. But according to the Balashram authorities, Indian parents usually show bias even during adoption, as they mainly prefer a male child. Among Indian couples, 90 percent of the couples prefer to adopt a male child, while this is not the case with foreigners. According to Ashram authories, Indian couples, after adoption, hardly bring them to the Ashram or send any feedback. "Here in India even now the parents are not ready to accept a girl child. The foreigners however have started adopting female child. So we started a inter-country adoption and it was fully channelise and legal by the Supreme Court and the Indian government and by this we are trying to place our children...The government too is doing the best possible for placing these children for adption," said Asha Shah-Superintendent-Kathiawar Balashram-Rajkot. According to the German couples, Indian children are very adaptive in nature. In addition to that such children normally receive a very warm welcome from their German friends, family and neighbours.

           The Balashram started the adoption procedure in 1976. Most of the girl child adopted from this Ashram are now laywer, interior designers, studying medicine or undergoing activities of their interest. The foreign parents who adopt them are also of the opinion that the child adopted by them should get every right of doing whatever she likes. But they also believe that they should also not forget the country they once belonged to. This is why most parents make it a point to bring the child to India so that the child can understand and retain Indian culture.

Indians duped in Iraq narrate tales of horror, but deny torture (Go To Top)

          Velichikkala (Kerala): Indian police are hunting a job agent who duped poor and illiterate workers who had to work in US army camps in Iraq as slaves, trapped there for months. Allegations of abuse by U.S. troops told by the first batch of returnees sparked outrage in India last week, drawing comparisons with the treatment of Iraqi prisoners. At the request of the Indian government, U.S. officials have launched an investigation into the claims. But the workers, while insisting U.S. troops intimidated and harassed them and that they were not allowed to leave, now say the abuse was not physical.

          Interviews with those at the heart of the complaints indicate the main problems were with the contractor employing them and Iraq's harsh wartime environment and desert climate. Fasil Aliyarukunju and Abdul Azeez Shajahan, two day-wage Muslim butchers from this village in the coconut and cashew groves of Kerala, say they were kept for nine months, working 18 hours a day in U.S. camp kitchens, threatened with beatings and verbally abused by soldiers before their contractor employer let them go home. The pair landed in Kuwait in August and after a brief rest and a meal, were put in truck and driven through the desert for almost 24 hours. When they arrived, there was no accommodation and they had to pitch tents in the fierce summer heat. The working hours were twice as long and the pay half what they were promised and the Indian chef forced the Muslim workers to cut and cook pork, even during the sacred fasting month of Ramadan.

         "We did not know that we were taken to Iraq. When we landed in Baghdad, we asked the fellow countrymen, they told us that we were in Iraq. After that, we were taken to a work place in Tallafa," said Fasil, sitting in a tiny cement-floored hut, the air heavy with woodsmoke from cooking fires. "The psychological abuse was worse." American soldiers made vague threats the contract kitchen staff would "face the consequences" if they stopped work, sometimes patting their guns as they spoke, the pair said. Fasil still walks the extra kilometre or so to the village mosque a few extra times a day to say prayers in penance. On top of that, came daily bombardments from the fighting going on around them. "Even though they did not physically abuse us, but they used to shower abuses which we were not able to understand. When we asked our co-workers, they told us that we were being abused by the Americans. Even by their body language we could guess that we were being abused. We got frightened and told them that we wanted to go back. But Americans said that our contract was for six months and had to work for that period. They said if you try to flee then we will use severe force," Fasil added. Several times, Shahjahan added, supervising soldiers also tried to hit him, accusing him of not working properly. But far worse were the recruitment agent and their employer, subcontracted to supply labour for Kellogg Brown and Root, the construction and engineering unit of U.S. firm Halliburton. "No they did not beat me. But they used to threaten us and act as if they were about to beat us. I was very scared," said Shahjahan.

         After months of pressuring and arguing, the contractor finally brought in replacements and let them drive to the border with Jordan, where Fasil says he was beaten by Iraqis for working for the Americans before being allowed to leave. About three million Indians work in the Gulf nations, many as labourers, construction workers or in hotels and restaurants. New Delhi estimates about 1,300 Indians are in Iraq and is investigating how many may be there unwillingly. Amid increasing fears about the situation in Iraq, the Kerala government has also asked New Delhi to bring back any Indian workers working in Iraq against their will.