Wagah Border (Amritsar): India and Pakistan on Monday formally exchanged more than 500 civilian prisoners at the Wagah land border checkpost that divides the two countries , giving their bilateral peace process a huge boost. India released 152 Pakistani prisoners while Pakistan set free 435 Indian prisoners, including 371 fishermen in an event that was marked by emotion and ground kissing scenes. Among the prominent persons at the border to receive the freed Indian prisoners was former Indian cricketer and Amritsar Member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu. The decision to free the civilian prisoners who had served their sentences was taken by the Home Secretaries of the two countries after talks in New Delhi on August 29 and 30. Among the 152 Pakistani prisoners are 101 fishermen who had trespassed into Indian waters. Of the 101 Pakistani civilians freed, 20 were released from Rajasthan prisons, 10 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, six from West Bengal, 31 from Jammu and Kashmir, one each from Nagaland and Maharashtra and two from Delhi. Among the two released from Delhi, one Pakistani national was set free from Lampur Leperosy house owned by Delhi Social Welfare Department. Extra immigration staff were deployed at the Wagah border for speedy clearance of the prisoners. The process began at 9 a.m. Indian Standard Time.

India's first heart surgery training centre opens (Go To Top)
by Narendra

     Hyderabad: The Hyderbad-based Care Hospital has become the first of its kind in the country to have started the first beating heart surgery training center. In comparison to the conventional system of surgery, the beating heart surgery has many advantages. During this surgery, a stabilization device presses the artery that is to be operated upon, stopping that section of the heart from beating. Despite the pulsation from the rest of the heart, the surgeon is able to graft directly onto the tiny portion of the heart that has been immobilized. "Bypass done on heart lung machine causes a lot of problems like kidney problems, lung problems and the brain problems. But with beating heart, since the blood is not taken out, the patient's Blood pressure (BP) is supported by the heart itself. There are no complications related to the organ dysfunction. So, the recovery is fast and even people with kidney failures or bad lung can tolerate this operation better. And more and more patients can be helped with this operation," says Dr. M. Gopichand, Chief Cardio-thoracic surgeon, Care Hospital. But the fee structure for this training has not been worked out. Initially, the trainee has to operate on animals for two to three weeks. Dr. Gopichand and his team have performed around 1000 beating heart surgeries since 1996. The doctors are optimistic about the results from the opening of this training institute. It is believed training to the surgeons will enhance their surgical capabilities. Though this system of surgery is not new in the country, a need for training of young surgeons in this field was always felt.

Delhi Govt to give Rs 1.25 lakh to 1984 riot victims (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: After 21 years of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Delhi government today announced compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh to the each of the person injured in the riots in the capital. The decision was taken in the meeting of Delhi cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. "Delhi government has decided to give Rs 1.25 lakh compensation to 2996 people who have been identified as victim," Dikshit told reporters after the meeting. The decision follows a recent Delhi High Court directive for the rehabilitation of the riot-affected people. 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots took place after the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. She was assassinated by two of her Sikh guards acting in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar. Over the next four days nearly 3000 Sikhs were massacred in systematic riots planned and led by Congress activists and sympathizers.

Bihar EC remanded to judicial custody (Go To Top)

     Patna: Bihar Election Commissioner D P Maheshwari was today sent to judicial custody till September 23 in connection with the multi-crore Bitumen scam. Maheshwari, surrendered before a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court today, i.e. two days after a non- bailable arrest warrant was issued against him and Superintending Engineer of the Road Construction Department, Janardan Sharma. He came to the court with his lawyer Ramvinay Singh and gave himself up before the designated CBI Judge R N Sharma . The court dismissed his plea for regular bail and remanded him to judicial custody till September 23 to be lodged in the high-security Beur jail. Maheshwari, a retired IAS official, was Secretary to the Road Construction Department (RCD) when the scam allegedly took place. He was appointed state Election Commissioner, responsible for holding elections to panchayat and local bodies in the state, in 2002 soon after his retirement. Assistant engineer of the RCDs Supaul division, Ajay Choudhary, was arrested in Ranchi last month by a CBI team from Patna in connection with the scam, which relates to rampant irregularities in supply and purchase of Bitumen worth lakhs of rupees from oil companies by RCD. Former RJD Minister for Road Construction, Iliyas Hussain, is also named an accused in the case.

Expelled BJP leader Khurana readmitted to the party (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The three-week long crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party over the issue of Madan Lal Khurana, came to an end with his readmission to the party on Monday. The former Delhi Chief Minister was given back the primary membership of the party following his apology letter sent to Advani at 3:30 in the afternoon. In the apology letter, Khurana said: "In last few days, I had publicly given statement against the BJP President L K Advani, which I should not have given. I apologize for this, and withdraw my comments against him". He also said he had the "highest regard" for Advani, and he had been his ideal for a long time. Khurana had accused Advani of showing "dictatorial attitude," and had called the BJP a "private limited company" after receiving a show-cause notice on August 22, seeking his explanation for his attack on Advani in a letter. Khurana had written a letter to Advani demanding the removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He had asked the party president to clear the taint the party had suffered due to the Gujarat riots. Earlier today, Khurana had called on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee where he was, apparently, suggested to send an apology letter to Advani.

15 villagers massacred in Jharkhand  (Go To Top)

     Giridih (Jharkhand): Fifteen villagers were killed and six others injured in a massacre at Bhelbadari village in Giridih district of the State in the wee hours on Monday. According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Neeraj Sinha, over 100 Naxalites attacked the village under Beuri police station, which is about 200 km from State capital Ranchi, killing fifteen villagers while six others suffered injuries. However, exact number of casualty and other details were not figured out as yet, and could be known after visiting and inspecting the village, the DIG said before rushing to the place.

Islamic terrorists in high-profile UK firms: Paper (Go To Top)

     London: British daily The Independent has found that members of Islamist terrorist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir are working in some of the Britain's most important institutions, including the NHS (Department of Health) and blue-chip companies like IBM and Reuters. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which means "Party of Liberation", was founded in 1953 by a Palestinian court clerk, Taqiuddin al-Nabhani. Its aim is to establish the Caliphate, a state based upon and governed by Islamic law. In Britain, the party is headed by Jalaluddin Patel (28), an Indian IT engineer, and has up to 10,000 members. In 2002 it was outlawed in Germany after allegations of anti- Semitism and last year three British members were sentenced to five years in jail in Egypt. According to the paper, British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants the organisation to be banned, and the UK Government is likely to soon publish legislation this week to ban the outfit, which is already banned in European countries. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke has already undertaken to give the wording of the ban to the Opposition to secure cross- party agreement, said the paper. Though the terror group insists that it has never supported violence in Britain or the Middle East, security sources accuse it of being among groups that "radicalise Muslims to the point where they attract the attention of terrorist recruiters", the paper added. According to it, a former Hizb ut-Tahrir activist told the IoS that behind closed doors he was encouraged to take up boxing and self-defence classes in order to "prepare for jihad".

     The members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir are mainly middle-class and well qualified, with most of them being university-educated who work in areas such as finance, information technology, health and education. The investigation found out that that The Guardian had recently employed Dilpazier Aslam, a Hizb member, as a trainee journalist. He lost his job at the paper after refusing to give up his membership. The group is also strong in the education sector, where a former member of the executive board lectures in IT in an east London college. The former headmistress of a prominent Islamic primary school in the same area is also a member of Hizb, as is the landlord of the building.

Manmohan has meeting with French CEOs (Go To Top)
by I Ramamohan Rao

     Paris: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has just concluded his first engagement in Paris, a breakfast meeting with 30 key French captains of industry. Informed sources coming in and out of the closed door meeting said that the Prime Minister had made a strong pitch for boosting French investment in India, which he (the PM) said was an emerging global economic giant. The meeting was also attended by the French Minister of Foreign Trade, Christine Lagarde, who headed the discussion from the French side. From the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pierre Simon is leading the team and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dominique Girard is participating. Ramesh Muklya, Advisor of the Confederation of Indian Industry is attending the meeting. The French are reportedly attaching a great deal of importance to the meeting, with the trade between the two countries having gone up by 80 per cent during the last decade and Indian exports to France growing by about 97 percent. The balance of trade is currently in India's favour since 1995, and for the year 2004-05, it was an estimated 384 million Euros. The decision of the Government of India to purchase 43 Airbus aircraft for its domestic carrier Indian Airlines for approximately 2 billion Euros, and the likely announcement today of India decision to plurchse six Franco- Spanish Scorpene submarines with classic propulsion for 2.4 million Euros has added to the importance to the interaction. The submarines will be manufactured at the Mazagon Docks in Bombay in partnership with France. France is currently the world's fourth largest economy and an important member of the Group of Eight (G-8).

Chirac support India for Council seat  (Go To Top)

     Paris: French President Jacques Chirac on Monday afternoon extended his country's wholehearted support for India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) during his nearly hour-long meeting with visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The meeting took place at the grand Elysee Palace. In address at a joint press briefing that followed the meeting, Chirac said: "France has always supported India's positions, in particular, her legitimate aspiration for a seat at the U.N. Security Council as a permanent member. France supports this aspiration and hopes that it will be fullfilled." Confirming his government's desire to take its strategic partnership with India to a higher level, Chirac further went on to say that Indo-French ties were not confined only to the bilateral sphere, but to several "major international issues". In this context, he referred specifically to "problems relating to terrorism and development, and all the crises which exist, alas, in the world."

Sensex closes 78 points up at 8,138 (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Bulls run continues unabated at Dalal Street as the benchmark index today crossed 8,100 mark and ended 78 points up at 8,138. The Stock Exchange Mumbai (BSE), 30-share sensitive index opened with a positive gap of 13 points at 8,073, which also turned out to be the low for the day. The index was firmly above 8,100 for most part of the trading session. After hitting a high of 8,143 in late noon deals, the Sensex closed on a bullish note at 8,138 level reporting a net gain of 78 points or 0.97 percent in comparision to Friday's close of 8,060.