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People are fed up with conflict, Imran tells Sonia

      New Delhi: Pakistani cricket-turned-politician Imran Khan today met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Capital and told her that people in both the countries wanted peace and were highly fed up with the conflicts. "I told Sonia that people want change.........they are fed up of conflict. Now it is the leadership's responsibility to work on it, capitalise on people's feelings. We did not go into the details what Hurriyat Conference wants or anything else. We presented the overall picture that people want change," Imran told media persons after meeting Sonia. Khan, who came to India for an international conference organised by a national newspaper, also extended good wishes to Sonia on behalf of his countrymen. He said: "Basically it (meeting) was asking about the peace process. Sonia said that the Centre government is committed to carrying forward the peace process. We also conveyed wishes from the people of Pakistan. We have seen this during the Indian - Pakistan cricket series where visitors from India were given great hospitality. So we invited and according to her she would be visiting Pakistan soon."

Rahul Gandhi on four-day visit to Amethi (Go To Top)

      Amethi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is on a four-day a visit to Amethi, which is his Lok Sabha constituency, from today. According to the sources, he reached at Lucknow airport in the morning. During the visit, he would interact with a cross-section of the people to get a first-hand knowledge of their problems, the sources said.

Pratibha Patil sworn in as Rajasthan's first woman Governor (Go To Top)

      Jaipur: Pratibha Patil was on Monday sworn in as the new Governor of Rajasthan. She is the first woman to occupy the post. The acting Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, Yadram Meena, administered the oath of office and secrecy to Patil. Rajasthan now has three women occupying the top posts in the state. Apart from Patil, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Assembly Speaker Sumitra Singh are the other two.

Arafat's condition complex, says French FM (Go To Top)

      Paris: The medical condition of ailing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has been described as "very complex and very serious" by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier. Barnier was quoted by a foreign news agency as telling a local television channel that Arafat, 75, was alive, but in a serious though stable condition. Asked about reports that Arafat had been declared brain dead, Barnier replied: "I wouldn't say that." Barnier also confirmed that he would be holding talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on the future course of action should Arafat's condition take a turn for the worse. Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders are reportedly working on contingency plans in the event of Arafat's death.

US troops storm Fallujah: 12 dead (Go To Top)

      Kuwait City: US forces stormed Fallujah early on Monday morning, seizing the city's main hospital and securing two key bridges crossing over the River Euphrates. At least 12 people were killed in air strikes and ground fire. Ten people were killed when a US aircraft bombed their house near the Faruq mosque in the centre of the city. Two hours later, shells landing near a local cemetery killed two other people taking part in a funeral procession, he said.

      The attack on rebel strongholds in the area was long-expected. Reports coming in confirmed that hundreds of Iraqi troops have been sent to Fallujah's main hospital after US forces sealed off the area. At least 50 men of military age inside the hospital were handcuffed, but around half were later released. US officials, however, said that the toughest fight was yet to come, when American forces enter the main part of the city on the east bank of the river, including the Jolan neighbourhood where the rebel defences are said to be particularly strong.

Iraqi PM okays US attack to cleanse Falluja of terrorists (Go To Top)

      Falluja (Iraq): Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi today gave the go-ahead for a US-led attack on the rebel stronghold of Falluja. "I gave my authority to the multinational forces, Iraqi forces. We are determined to clean Falluja from the terrorists," the BBC quoted Allawi as saying today. He said that he wanted to remove the rebel threat in Falluja itself. "We have no option but to take necessary measures to protect the Iraqi people from these killers and to liberate Fallujans so they can return home," he said. According to the report, Allawi announced a curfew in Falluja and Ramadi saying that Baghdad airport and some international borders would also be closed. He said he was closing Baghdad airport for 48 hours and the Iraqi borders with Syria and Jordan as well. Only essential goods would be allowed through, he added.

Suez Canal closed for first time since 1975 (Go To Top)

      Cairo: Navigation through Egypt's Suez Canal, a main shortcut for marine transport, has stopped for the first time since 1975 after an oil tanker ran aground half-way through the passage, preventing around 60 ships from sailing through, canal officials and government newspapers said. The ship is laden with 84,000 tons of oil and was coming from Singapore, official said, without disclosing the tanker's destination. About 60 ships were waiting to cross the canal in either direction, he said. The 101-mile waterway links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

India-EU pact to provide impetus to hi-tech cooperation (Go To Top)
by Smita Prakash

       The Hague: The summit meet between India and the European Union at The Hague has probably provided a gentle nudge to the cooperation in high-tech areas between India and the EU that scientists in India have been seeking. India has long wanted a more equitable participation in the Galileo space, ground and user segments which will guarantee the availability of highest quality signals over Indian territory. Yet so far, the cooperation has faced a number of hiccups. A steering committee held discussions in Brussels in March this year and as early as in November 2001 at the second EU-India summit in New Delhi an agreement was signed to facilitate cooperative research and development activities in science and technology. But even after this summit meet a conclusion has not yet been reached on the draft agreement.

       Once science and technology agreement comes into effect it will provide and important positive impulse for industrial cooperation in high tech areas and big science domains like space, satellite, navigation related activities and fusion. India and the EU have a high degree of convergence in their research and technology development programmes and the space agencies ESA and ISRO are also looking at peaceful exploration of outer space. At a technological level, the research projects focus on the future generation of technologies in which computers and networks will be integrated into the every day environment, and provide access to a multitude of services and applications through easy- to-use human interfaces.

Singh rules out third party mediation on Kashmir (Go To Top)

      London: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has ruled out the possibility of third party mediation as far as New Delhi's Kashmir dispute with Pakistan was concerned, but added that his government would "look at all possible ways" to resolve the 56-year old dispute. Reiterating that Pakistan would have to ensure that its territory would not be used to promote cross-border terrorism, Singh told the Financial Times in an interview that both Pakistan and India would do well to learn from European Union experiment of integrating their socio-economic responsibilities and targets for the long-term benefit of their respective communities. "It is our honest belief that in the relationship between India and Pakistan if a durable solution is to be found, it cannot be imposed from outside. It has to be a solution in which both countries genuinely believe that bilateral negotiations are the best means to resolve the outstanding problems,Singh had said prior to his departure to The Hague on a three-day visit from Sunday.