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Secret Benazir-govt talks underway

       Islamabad: A secret dialogue between the Pakistan government and former premier Benazir Bhutto is reportedly underway, the Daily Times quoted key sources as saying on Thursday. If the sources are to be believed, the government wants Benazir's support for General Musharraf's decision to remain the army chief. In exchange, Benazir has reportedly been offered the release of her husband Asif Zardari from prison, her safe return to Pakistan and the possibility of being made the chairperson of the Pakistan Senate, the sources said. According the sources, however, the obstacle comming in the way of the present parleys relates to the status of the cases against Benazir and Asif Zardari. The former wants a complete and unequivocal withdrawal of the cases, while the government is insisting that she should fight them out in the courts without undue interference from Islamabad. Meanwhile, a small group of PMLQ MNAs and office bearers are said to have decided to approach Musharraf with a request that he should form a committee to seriously examine suggestions of a political rapprochement with the mainstream opposition as advocated by senator Mushahid Husain in the senate last week.

Zardari's ninth year in prison begins (Go To Top)

      Karachi: Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, started his ninth consecutive year in prison on Thursday without being convicted, and despite being granted bail in all the cases of alleged corruption lodged against him, except one i.e. the BMW case. ''This case is the most laughable of a total of 21 cases filed one after another as he gets bail in one case, a new case gets filed against him,'' The News quoted Major General (retired) Ahsan Ahmed, a former Sindh minister, as saying in a statement mailed from London. Asif is alleged to have purchased a car from a person who did not pay the full duty. The name of that other person is not even included in the prosecution case. Even if Asif is convicted in this case, he cannot be imprisoned for eight years! Even if it is assumed that there is evidence sufficient to prove the accused as guilty, the alleged crime is bailable. Still, the application to grant bail in his case is pending for more than two years, Ahmed claimed. The prison term begins amidst rumours that the federal government has approached Benazir and asked her to agree to a pact that will not only ensure her husband's release, but faciliate her becoming the chairperson of the Pakistan Senate. So far, there has been a lot of hedging and hawing over the issue, as Benazir is demanding that all case lodged against her husband and her be withdrawn unconditionally.

Terrorist attack on David Beckham's life foiled (Go To Top)

      London: A terrorist attempt to target soccer star David Beckham was reportedly foiled by the Spanish police who got wind of their plot to bomb Real Madrid's football ground. According to femalefirst, terrorists in Spain had planned to blow up the Bernabeu stadium where the England football captain and his teammates play football every other week. "Thousands of people pack into Real Madrid's ground every other weekend. It would have been a massacre," a source was quoted as saying.

Wickets tumble as India concedes 99 run lead (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: After conceding a first innings lead of 99 runs, India were five without loss in their second innings against Australia on the second day of the fourth Test at Mumbai. Openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were unbeaten on 1 and 4, respectively. After bowling out India for 104 in the first session, Australia were in turn bowled out for 203 in the post-tea session. Thursday saw both sides engaged in a see-saw battle for dominance in the Test, and the outcome was the fall of 18 wickets in over six hours of play. Indian batsman put on another dismal batting display, but their spinners helped India to fight back.

      Damien Martyn, who made 55, is the highest individual scorer in the match so far. Anil Kumble picked up five wickets. After lunch when the Australians began their innings, Zaheer Khan picked up the first wicket getting Justin Langer to edge a delivery to Rahul Dravid in first slip for 12. Ricky Ponting, back from an injury, did not last very long either. Anil Kumble trapped the skipper leg before wicket in his very first over for 11. Opener Mathew Hayden hit a couple of sixes, before Murali Karthik had him caught brilliantly by Mohammed Kaif at silly point for 35. Simon Katich (7) fell soon after tea, caught by Kaif again, this time off Kumble. The leg-spinner picked up his third as debutante Dinesh Karthik stumped Mathew Clarke on 17. Kaif at silly point then completed a hat-trick of catches, grabbing a leading edge from Adam Gilchrist (26) off Kartik.

       The visitors lost their seventh wicket when Kumble had Jason Gillespie caught by Kaif for 2. Kumble picked up his fifth wicket when he had Nathan Hauritz caught by Harbhajan for a duck. India were earlier bowled out for 104 in their first innings. Jason Gillespie rattled the Indian top and middle order, picking up four wickets, while debutante off-spinner Nathan Hauritz's wrapped up the tail with three wickets. Stand in skipper Rahul Dravid was the top scorer with an unbeaten 31, made of 104 balls. The Indians were bundled out just before lunch. This is their lowest ever Test total at the Wankhede stadium and the fourth lowest against the Aussies. The previous low scores were 58, 67 and 98 made in 1947/48 against the World Champions.

Anand enters Corsica tourney finals (Go To Top)

       London: World Rapid Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has entered the finals of Corsica Masters Rapid tourney. He defeated French hope Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot 2-0 in the semi- finals. Anand, in line for his fifth straight title, will take on Russian Sergei Rublevsky in the final. This Euro 100,000 prize money tournament comes right on the heels of the biennial Chess Olympiad in Spain.

Bharti, six Asian mobile operators form alliance (Go To Top)

      Singapore: Seven Asia-Pacific mobile phone operators, including Bharti of India, with a combined total of over 56 million subscribers, on Wednesday formed an alliance aimed at creating a unified regional network. Apart from Sunil Mittal's Bharti, the Bridge Mobile Alliance includes Globe Telecom of the Philippines, Maxis of Malaysia, Optus of Australia, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), Taiwan Cellular Corp and Telkomsel of Indonesia. According to the Daily Times and local dailies, each of these mobile operators will subscribe for an equal number of shares and hold one permanent board seat in a joint venture called Bridge Mobile Pte Ltd., which is expected to invest up to 40 million dollars over three years. Based in Singapore, it will be the largest mobile joint venture in the Asia-Pacific market and is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2005, the papers quoted an official statement released to the media as saying. Other mobile operators as well as strategic partners such as technology and applications vendors will also be offered membership in the alliance.

Share market rejoices over Bush's victory (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Indian markets on Thursday gave a thumbs up sign to George Bush after he won the electoral battle to serve a second consecutive presidential term in his country. In the run-up to the elections, markets were jittery with Democratic candidate John Kerry's anti-outsourcing tirade. But, Bush's re-election means there should be no major changes in the US BPO policy. "The market have opened very well on return of Bush as the President of U S. As far as India is concerned we were banking more on Bush because of the technology. We have an upper edge in technology and major outsourcing from U S and all our software technology firms they are earning majorly from U S", said Ashok Ajmera, a financial analyst. "What negative I can see is that during Bush regime, international oil prices were going up, sky rocketting. It was thought that prices might come down if Kerry would have won because of his less agressive approach", said Ajmera.