Bush beckons Lara Flynn Boyle to campaign
New
York: Inviting stars to political campaigns seems to
be a universal phenomena. According to IMDb, the representatives
of US president George W. Bush are making all efforts to
recruit actress Lara Flynn Boyle to grace Bush's campaigns.
The 'Men In Black II' actress had recently professed publicly
her loyalty and admiration for President Bush. "I'm Irish
Catholic, so a Democrat by blood. But I'm 100 per cent for
Bush. I want my president to be like my agent: not afraid
of people, but wants my best interest," the actress was
quoted as saying.
EC team to review repoll preparations
in Bihar (Go
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Patna:
A two-member team of the Election Commission reached Patna
on Wednesday, to review the repoll preparations for the
three Lok Sabha seats in Chapra, Betia and Sivan in Bihar.
One of the EC members said, "We are making arrangements
for the repolls. We are seeing that nothing remains unchecked.
We have time and can make arrangements if anything is left
that has not been atttended to. If the guidelines of the
Commission are followed, there should not be any problem".
The Commission had ordered repolls in 429 polling booths
of Betia and 193 polling booths of Sivan on 24th of May.Chapra
will go to repolls on 31st May.The Commission would give
specific orders after visiting the three places, so that
no untoward incident takes place in those constituencies.
He will do a good job as PM, says Singh's
wife (Go
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New
Delhi: Exuding confidence that her husband would do
a "good job" as Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan
Kaur on Thursday said she had full faith in his abilities
to solve all the problems facing the country. She said her
husband had always been worried about the country and expressed
confidence that he would find ways and means to resolve
problems. "I have full confidence that he would work for
the betterment of the nation with all his efforts. Since
early days itself he was always worried about the nation.
At times when he is disturbed, ask him the reason and he
says that how would the things work out, how would the nation
move forward. For the last 50 years he has been so, therefore
I am sure that he would find ways and means to solve all
problems," she said in an interaction with newspersons.
Sitting
alongside her mother, Singh's daughter Upinder Kaur said
the whole family was very proud of him. A simple man, Prime
Minister-designate Manmohan Singh will wear his "regular
clothes" when he is to be sworn-in by President A P J Abdul
Kalam, possibly on Saturday. Asked by reporters whether
special clothes had been ordered for Singh for the swearing-in
ceremony, his wife said "he will wear his regular clothes.
"I think he will be uncomfortable if he has to wear special
clothes," she said with a smile on her face. Since morning
well wishers poured in to congratulate Dr Singh at his residence.
Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit who too was there to congratulate
the next Prime Minister she said, "We support Sonia Gandhi's
decision. And I am sure that with the help and support of
Manmohan Singh the nation would move on the path of development."
Telgi sent to 10-day CBI custody (Go
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Pune:
A special court in Pune on Thursday remanded the main
accused in a multi-million dollar fake revenue stamp scam
to 10 days custody with the federal investigating agency.
Abdul Karim Telgi, who has been in a jail in Bangalore for
over a year, was produced before the court amidst unprecedented
security. Early this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation
was handed over all the 48 cases in the scam by the Supreme
Court, after petitioners complained of interference by various
state agencies and lack of fairplay and transparency. "Today
the court has remanded Adbul Karim Telgi to 10 days of CBI
remand. The SIT (special invesitgation team) had never been
allowed to directly interrogate Telgi so there are many
loopholes in their reports and we also have not been able
to ascertain all our facts as of now. Now Telgi can be taken
to different parts of the country for complete interrogation,"
Arun Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), said. The federal agency is likely
to file a chargesheet against Telgi and others accused in
the scam. Several senior police officers and politicans
have been arrested in the 660 million dollar scam across
various states, particularly in Maharashtra and south Karnataka.
The near decade-old scam involves paper used in legal documents,
known as stamp paper.
Hurriyat wants tripartite talks on Kashmir
(Go
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Srinagar:
Kashmir's main separatist alliance on Thursday welcomed
new prime minister-elect Manmohan Singh's resolve to find
lasting solutions to disputes with Pakistan, including the
most volatile Kashmir. Singh laid out his vision for the
world's largest democracy earlier during the day, pledging
to help the poor, foster investment and secure lasting peace
with Pakistan. The nuclear-armed neighbours are are to meet
in Delhi next week. Singh has stressed his coalition would
talks with separatists in Kashmir. Though the separatists
have expressed a strong desire for a peaceful resolution,
they say a workable solution is not possible till the Kashmiris
are involved in the talks between the neighbours. "We welcome
what Manmohan Singh has said. He is saying that his government
will give first preference to Kashmir...but along with this
he should also keep in mind that the Kashmiris must be included
in the talks," chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference
(APHC), Moulvi Abbas Ansari, said in Srinagar. The outgoing
deputy prime minister, Lal Krishna Advani, had two rounds
of talks with the moderate faction of the Hurriyat early
this year. The talks were the first between the two sides
since a revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989.
Angry Laloo leaves for Patna in a huff
(Go
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New
Delhi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal, a key ally of the Congress-led
coalition government, on Thursday hinted at staying out
of the new government at the Centre. A meeting of the parliamentary
party of RJD failed to take a decision on whether to join
the Congress-led government as a section of the ministers
insisted on extracting an assurance from the Central government
on a package for their impoverished Bihar. As the meeting
which word spread that RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav is leaving
for Patna in a huff. Senior Congress leaders Arjun Singh
and RK Dhawan rushed to mollify Yadav.
Yadav
later said it was not important to share power in the Centre
government because his priorities lie in the development
of his state. "Whether we stay in or out that is not important,
but my priority is Bihar, the kind of rough and discriminatory
treatment that has been given to Bihar, there is poverty,
unemployment in Bihar and that is more important for us.
We discussed all that in the meeting," said Yadav. "I am
going to Patna now. We have called a meeting with the Chief
Minister, other ministers, legislators and other party workers
and also I have an election pending at Chhapra. That does
not mean I am angry and leaving. My full support is there
with the new coalition government that is formed at the
centre," he added. News reports said the RJD wanted the
politically crucial Home Ministry for Yadav. The party contended
that Yadav replacing Lal Krishna Advani as Home Minister
would send out a powerful "secular" statement. Singh, however,
refuted reports that Yadav bargained for any post in the
new cabinet. "Laloo has never bargained with us, in fact
he is amonst those who would come forward boldly," Singh
said. The Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) edged out the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) in the recently concluded general elections.
Pak ready for talks with any new Indian
regime: Jamali (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has
said that his government is ready to continue peace talks
with any government that takes over in New Delhi. "We are
ready to continue peace talks positively with any new Indian
government whether Ms. Sonia Gandhi or anyone else came
into power," Online News quoted Jamali as saying. He was
speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a moot involving
a PML-National Alliance merger. PML President Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain was also present. Jamali also said that the merger
of the National Alliance and other parties into the Muslim
League would have a far reaching impact on national politics.
"Any one having positive thinking for Pakistan whether he
is within or outside the country can join PML," he added.
He also renewed his pledge for making full efforts to fulfill
responsibilities given to him by the party, adding that
President Pervez Musharraf's vision would be taken forward.
Manmohan seeks peace with Pak (Go
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New
Delhi: Laying out the proposed policies of his government
at his first news conference as Prime Minister-elect Dr.
Manmohan Singh today pledged to promote business and investment
and seek "most friendly" ties with Pakistan. Singh, the
architect of India's reforms process, told reporters that
the incoming government would sustain peace talks with Pakistan.
"We seek the most friendly relations with our neighbours,
more so with Pakistan than with any other country. We must
find ways and means to resolve all outstanding problems
that have been a source of friction and the unfortunate
history of our relations with Pakistan. We should look to
the future with hope," Singh said. Singh will take over
as Prime Minister on May 22, ending days of political chaos
after Sonia Gandhi declined to take up the post on Wednesday.
Commenting specifically about the reforms process, he said:
"We need the reforms today. We will carry forward the reforms,
but reforms with a human face. Those reforms that will benefit
the commonman," he said. "We are not pursuing the privatisation
process as a part of our ideological commitment to dismantle
the public sector. We believe India needs a strong private
sector, India needs a strong public scector. There are enterprises
like GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited), ONGC (Oil and
Natural Gas Corporation) they will remain in the public
sector. Also there are nationalised banks. They will remain
in the public sector. We have no intention to privatise
them," he said. On the Ayodhya issue, he said: "The matter
is in the courts and I think the law of the land should
prevail. But if there are any serious negotiations among
the contesting parties and a sensible agreement is reached
which has the sanction of the courts, I think that also
should be explored." He also expressed concern over the
functioning of the judiciary in Gujarat. "We are very concerned
about the functioning of the judicial system in Gujarat.
