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Stalemate continues over Maharashtra CM post

        New Delhi: The Congress today tried to appease its ally, the NCP, by offering three more ministerial berths in Maharashtra, but insisted that it was not ready to give away the state's CM post. "We can give them three additional ministerial berths and two portfolios from our quota in addition to the already existing arrangements. We cannot go beyond this and it is for them now to respond," Congress leader and Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi after a marathon meeting with the NCP leaders. The state was ruled by a Sushil Kumar Shinde, Congress leader, before the polls and the party feels the electoral verdict was in favour of the status quo that ideally should have been maintained. "We wanted first the status quo should to be maintained because the electoral verdict was in favour of the status quo. Incumbent government went to the poll and in the election the people voted for the government therefore that was our first proposition," Mukherjee said.

Grave threat from internal terror, says Patil  (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today said that the threat from internal terrorism was grave and had to be fought with. Addressing soldiers of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in the Capital, he said: "Today the threat of terrorism is not only from across borders but it has reached our interiors. For that our youth have to be ready to take on the challenge. You (the ITBP) have fulfilled your duties in this regard and our country cannot forget it." Patil was referring to the increased violence in the Northeast where series of blasts in Assam and Nagaland have killed more than 50 people and injured more than 100 early this month.

India, EU likely to sign strategic partnership (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: India and the European Union are likely to sign up a strategic partnership during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's upcoming visit to The Hague in November 8. As per reports, the partnership is likely to dwell on transfer of certain non-military technology as well as joint research in the field of nuclear technology on the lines of the Next Step in Strategic Partnership (NSSP), currently being undertaken by India with the US. "There is a recognition in Europe about excellence in India in high quality brain power," an Indian official was quoted as saying. Officials further add that the specific areas, towards which India was looking for cooperation involved fusion research and space technology.

Advani cautions against talks with Naxals (Go To Top)

       Hyderabad: BJP president and leader of opposition L.K. Advani today cautioned the Centre against the Andhra Pradesh government's talks with the naxals saying that any attempt by individual states would be "dangerous" to national security. He said that such problems should be tackled in a co-ordinated manner "It was a matter of internal security of the country and any move by individual states would be dangerous", Advani said about the Andhra Pradesh government's talks with the naxal leaders. "Talks should be held with those groups or revolutionary organisations who lay down their arms first," the BJP president said while addressing party workers here after inaugurating the new building of the party's state unit. Terming the talks with naxal leaders as "a self defeating and retrograde approach", Advani said the naxalite problem can be solved only through a co-ordination efforts by affected states. "Naxalism is one of the internal problems the country is facing now and it is showing up its ugly face in Andhra Pradesh," the former deputy PM said.

Omar escapes unhurt, one killed in Anantnag bomb blast (Go To Top)

        Srinagar: National Conference president Omar Abdullah today escaped an attempt on his life when militants triggered a powerful blast as he reached a graveyard in Anantnag district to attend a ceremony for slain party leader. One passer-by was killed and another critically injured as the landmine planted in a vehicle parked on the roadside exploded around 11.45 a.m. as soon as the motorcade of NC leaders, with Omar in the lead, arrived at the Sarnal graveyard, 50 km from here. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack. A visibly shaken Omar said "this is the level of security we have in the state... This was a planned trip and despite that a massive blast took place". Party patron Farooq Abdullah was following his son in another vehicle to attend a ceremony for Safder Ali Beg killed by militants on October 21. DIG Ravinder Kotwal said two passers-by were critically injured in the explosion and one of them later succumbed.

Bush let Osama escape from back door: Kerry (Go To Top)

       Washington: Democrat presidential candidate for the Nov 2 US polls John Kerry has charged his opponent President George Bush of letting Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escape, and not making sincere efforts to nab him. "Bush let Osama bin Laden slip out the back door," Kerry said. Kerry claimed Bush had called on Afghan warlords to hunt down Osama and not used US troops for the hazardous task, weeks after the September 11 attacks, The News reported today. He said that he could wage war against terrorism in a better way than Bush. "The President keeps going around the country trying to scare people. He talks about only one thing, it's terrorism, the war on terrorism. I am prepared to have that fight because I can wage a better war on terrorism than George Bush has," the paper quoted Kerry as saying. While campaigning in Colorado, he reportedly said that Bush was scaring the people to vote for him. Urging the people to not heed to Bush's "scare" tactics, the Democrat hopeful said: "Vote your hopes and not the fears that President George W Bush wants to feel."

Muslims hold key for Kerry (Go To Top)

       Washington: The Muslims living in the US, said to be around 5-7 percent of the total votes, hold the key for Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry's victory. The community members are more inclined towards Kerry than George Bush, whom they accuse of adopting policies biased against the Muslims. According to The News, Dr Saud Anwar, a community activist, wrote in a newsletter that any community that can influence 5-7 percent of the national vote can potentially influence who the next President of the US will be. Statistics underscore the importance of the American-Muslim vote, he stated. He added that if a community with 5-7 percent of the vote does register and does actually vote on Nov 2, that community would be exercising a significant impact on the outcome of the election. In many elections it has been seen that a low turnout, where only 50 percent of the population votes, results in a 10-14 percent influence of a minority community vote. This especially holds true if the majority of the "eligible minority" voters actually vote. "I hope that the American-Muslim community can see how vital its vote in influencing the US presidential election is. This is the time for the community to come together and start taking one of its most important civic responsibilities seriously," the paper quoted Anwar as saying in the newsletter.

        He pointed out that the elections will depend heavily on what are usually labelled the "battleground states," the prominent ones being those in which there was less than a seven percent difference in the Democrat-Republican vote in the 2000 elections. These states would remain "battleground states" for the 2004 presidential elections as well, he added. The battleground states won by Bush in 2000 included Florida (electoral votes 27), Ohio (20), Missouri (11), Tennessee (11), Arizona (10), Arkansas (6), Nevada (5), West Virginia (5) and New Hampshire (4). Each one of these states had favoured Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996. This suggests that these particular states are influenced by the popularity of the candidate rather than loyalty to a particular political party, he said.

Pak set to receive 600 m dollars as part of US package (Go To Top)

       Islamabad: Pakistan is all set to receive its first instalment of 600 million dollars out of the newly three billion dollar package announced by the US. The Daily Times quoted a Finance Ministry official as saying that out of the three billion package to be disbursed over five years, as much as 1.5 billion dollars was for military assistance to be disbursed at the rate of 300 million dollars in each instalment while one billion would be earmarked to cover balance of payments with the remaining 500 million dollars for the USAID programmes in Pakistan. As per the report, though both US and Pakistan have completed the prerequisites for the approval of the package, the first loan will be given to the Pakistani government sometime either in January or February. Pakistani Finance Ministry officials are however saying that the latest moves by the US have been due to Bush administration's recognition of Pakistan's role in the 'War on Terror'.

Another Bangladesh journalist shot dead  (Go To Top)
by Nazrul Islam

       Dhaka: Unidentified assailants gunned down a journalist of a Bangla newspaper in Bangladesh capital on Sunday, raising the number of journalist killing to seven in the year. Police and witnesses said the assailants entered the office of the Asian Express, a less circulated vernacular daily, in the city's busy Elephant Road area and fired gunshots on Shahid Anwar Apollo from point blank. Apollo who was one of the Assistant Editors of the daily died on way to hospital. Police suspected personal rivalry might be the reason behind the killing. This is the second case of journalist murder in two months. Dipankar Charawarti, an editor of Daily Durjoy Bangla, was killed by unidentified assailants in September in northern Bogra district. International watchdog earlier commented that Bangladesh is most vulnerable place in Asia for journalist. This year six other journalists, including Manik Chandra Saha, Humayun Kabir Balu and Kamal Hossain, were killed by the assailants in Bangladesh.

Tendulkar, Ganguly join team for 3rd Test against Australia (Go To Top)

      Nagpur: Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly and batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar joined the Indian cricket team for net practice here today. On Saturday, the Indian squad, barring Ganguly and Tendulkar, had arrived here to play the third test match against Australia commencing on October 26. All the players, including Sachin Tendulkar, who has been declared fit to play the match after recovering from an elbow injury, and off spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had taken a blow on his knees on Saturday, took part in the net session under the supervision of coach John Wright.