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59 Union ministers will take oath on Thursday New
Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi met
here today to finalise the list of ministers ahead of the Cabinet expansion. Fifty-nine
ministers will take oath in the second round of cabinet expansion on Thursday.
Dr Singh has recommended several names to the President for inclusion in his Council
of Ministers. The names doing the rounds are that of Virbhadra Singh, Vilasrao
Deshmukh, Farooq Abdullah, Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja, Mallikarjun Kharge, Kumari
Selja, Subodh Kant Sahay, MS Gill, GK Vasan, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mukul Wasnik,
Kantilal Bhuria and MK Azhagiri, who have been recommended for Cabinet rank. The
names of Praful Patel, Prithviraj Chavan, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Salman Khursheed,
Dinsha Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Krishna Tirath have been recommended for Ministers
of State with Independent Charge. The names of E Ahamed, V Narayanasamy, Srikant
Jena, Mullappally Ramachandran, D Purandeswari, Panabaka Lakshmi, Ajay Maken,
KH Muniyappa, Namo Narain Meena, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, A Sai Prathap,
Gurudas Kamat, MM Pallam Raju, Mahadev Khandela, Harish Rawat, KV Thomas, Saugata
Ray, Dinesh Trivedi, Shishir Adhikari, Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy, Mohan Jatua, SS
Palanimanickam, D Napoleon, S Jagathrakshakan, S Gandhiselvan, Preneet Kaur, Sachin
Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Bharatsinh Solanki, Tusharbhai Chaudhary, Arun Yadav, Prateek
Prakash Patil, RPN Singh, Vincent Pala, Pradeep Jain and Agatha Sangma have been
recommended for Ministers of State. In the first round of swearing-in on Friday,
only 19 ministers were inducted along with the Prime Minister. Portfolios have
been allocated to only six ministers. Bangla
cyclone death toll rises to 121 Top Dhaka:
The death toll from cyclone Aila rose to 121 as thousands of people marooned in
the coastal areas were battling to survive the aftermath with little food and
drinking water. According to reports, the storm that ripped through the coast
on Monday has left at least 32 people killed in Satkhira, 25 in Noakhali, 20 in
Khulna, 13 in Bhola, nine in Barisal, seven in Patuakhali, six in Laxmipur, two
each in Bagerhat and Cox''s Bazar, and one in Magura. Heavy rains coupled with
gales flattened huge tracts of standing crops and washed away numerous fisheries.
They also caused extensive damage to embankments in the coastal districts. According
to the disaster management ministry, over 800 people have been wounded and at
least 58,450 domestic animals killed. The government has deployed the army and
the navy to help local administration and non-government organisations in rescue
and relief operations. Five navy ships have been working to bring people stranded
in offshore islands to safety. Bangladesh''s Food and Disaster Management Minister
Abdur Razzak who has visited different cyclone-hit areas in Bhola, Patuakhali,
and Khulna on Tuesday said water crisis seems to be the main problem in the coastal
areas. Some 278 water purification machines of the army are in operation to deal
with the shortage of safe drinking water. The NGO Red Crescent has gone in with
water purifying tablets and other relief materials. The district collector has
allocated 10 tons of rice and Taka 1 lakh as immediate relief. The cyclone snapped
road and river communications in Barisal. The storm destroyed livestock, crops
and houses as well. Huge areas of Patuakhali and Barguna went under eight to 10
feet of seawater. Kuakata remained cut off from the rest of the country as three
ferry terminals on Kalapara-Kuakata Highway got submerged.
Rail traffic resumes in violence-hit
Punjab Top Chandigarh:
Punjab is slowly returning to normal even as railway traffic has resumed in the
state. Besides local train services, two special trains have left for Delhi from
Jammu. Hundreds of goods trucks, which were also stranded due to the violence,
started leaving for their destinations today. Meanwhile, curfew has been relaxed
in Ludhiana, Jallandhar and Hoshiarpur. Army, paramilitary and Punjab police personnel,
however, continue to patrol areas worst affected by the violence of the last two
days. On Tuesday, at least 40,000 train passengers were left stranded inside and
outside railway stations across Punjab following disruption of railway traffic
by supporters of a Sikh outfit. The Guwahati-Jammu Himgiri Express was the first
train that passed through Ludhiana on Tuesday morning. The India-Pakistan bus
service ''''Sada-e-Sarhad'''' was temporarily halted by the Punjab authorities
on Monday, but has since resumed. The large-scale violence between followers of
Dera Sach Khand and conservative Sikhs in the state over the attack on a Sikh
shrine in the Austrian capital Vienna forced the authorities to stop the service
on security reasons. North
Korea launches a fifth missile Top Seoul
(South Korea): The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has reportedly
launched a third short-range missile from its east coast, South Korean news agency
Yonhap reported on Wednesday, citing presidential office sources. According to
a Sky News report, this was North Korea’s fifth missile launch since testing a
nuclear weapon on Monday. North Korea warned of a military response this morning
after South Korea joined an anti-proliferation exercise, and said it is no longer
bound by the armistice which ended the Korean War in 1953. A military spokesman
quoted by official media also said the North could no longer guarantee the safety
of shipping off its west coast - suggesting a missile could be fired in that direction.
A South Korean newspaper reported US spy satellites have detected signs that North
Korea has re-started its nuclear plant at Yongbyon. The newspaper quoting intelligence
sources said the satellites detected steam rising from the reprocessing facility
at the nuclear plant. North Korea had promised it would restart the reprocessing
of spent fuel rods in protest at UN criticism of the launch of a long range ballistic
missile in April. In New York members of the United Nations Security Council have
gone into closed meetings in an attempt to deliver a unanimous response to North
Korea''s continued breach of previous UN resolutions. Ambassadors from the two
countries most affected by the nuclear test, South Korea and Japan, joined ambassadors
from the five permanent members of the Security Council -the United States, Britain,
Russia, France and China for an hour-long meeting that sought to agree on a new
resolution. But US Ambassador Susan Rice, speaking on behalf of the group, warned
it would be a long process. 30
dead, 150 injured in Lahore bomb blast Top Lahore:
A powerful bomb blast rocked Lahore on Wednesday killing over 30 people, besides
injuring about 150 people and destroying over 40 vehicles. According to reports,
the blast took place in a building situated on Mall road adjacent to the Lahore
High Court building. It was so powerful that several window panes of the court
building were blown away. Three buildings were completely destroyed in the blast
and 30 dead bodies were reportedly found till reports last filtered in. Gunshots
were also heard in the area after the blast. The attack was apparently aimed at
the Lahore High Court, where Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed was due to
be produced today. Sources said many people are still trapped in the rubble of
the buildings, that have collapsed completely in the blast. Casualties are expected
to rise as rescue and search operations are still on. Security forces have cordoned
off the area and shifted injured and bodies to hospitals. Meanwhile, security
forces claimed to have arrested a person near the incident site allegedly involved
in the blast. Tyson’s
daughter dies after hanging Top Phoenix
(Arizona, US): Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson’s four-year-old
daughter has died, a day after hanging herself in a freak accident on his treadmill.
The ex-world heavyweight champion, 42, kept a heartbreaking vigil by the side
of Exodus on a life-support machine. She had stopped breathing when her seven-year-old
brother Miguel found her with her neck caught in the cord of an exercise machine
at the family’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. The girl’s mother performed CPR to bring
Exodus back to life. Paramedics continued to try and revive her as she was rushed
to hospital. But last night, Phoenix police said the little girl was pronounced
dead in hospital. According to The Sun, last night the family issued a statement
to reporters saying: “The Tyson family would like to extend our deepest and most
heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support, and we ask that we be allowed
our privacy at this difficult time.” Su-30MKI
squadron to be deployed in North East to counter China Top New
Delhi: The Indian Air Force will shortly be moving a squadron of Su-30MKI
to Tezpur in Assam to boost its capabilities vis-à-vis China in the region. To
counter China 's superior ground troops in the north eastern sector, the induction
of Su-30MKI squadron would greatly tilt the balance in favour of India . "We certainly
have plans to improve infrastructure in the North East region. We are in process
of upgrading four to five airfields in the region and will be moving our assets
there along with a squadron of SU 30-MKI based in Tezpur shortly," Air Chief Marshal
Fali H. Major said. The newly raised squadron of Su-30MKI will arrive at the renovated
base after June 15 when the renovated runway becomes operational. Then outgoing
Indian Air Force Chief also said there is no escalation of threat from China and
the Air Force has eliminated that danger. "There has been no escalation in threat
from China . What I meant was that we knew very little about air power of China
, We don't want our Air Force to be threat centric. The IAF should be capability
centric to deal in all spectrum of warfare and we have a long way to go," Air
Chief Marshal Major said. Air Force Chief designate Air Marshal P V Naik added
that the IAF squadrons will be at par with any Air Force to handle any threat
by 2017, and added that "our planning is done keeping in view the long term perspective
of the armed forces." This will be the first batch of Su-30MKI fighters to be
deployed near the disputed Sino-Indian border under the Eastern Air Command. The
Tezpur airbase went under repair after the MiG-21s were shifted to Chabua. The
infrastructure has also been upgraded. Located less than 350 km from the McMohan
Line that divides India and China, the air base was made a MiG-operational flying
unit for training young officers before they were commissioned as full-fledged
pilots as tension between India and China eased after 1970. India also has strategic
air bases at Hashimara, Baghdogra and Cooch Behar to counter China . Other important
bases in this sector are located in Chabua, Guwahati, Jorhat, Kalaikunda and Agartala.
400 million
dollar US counter-insurgency aid for Pakistan Top Washington:
The United States has set up a separate aid of about 400 million dollars to help
Pakistan counter extremism effectively. The annual fund named the Pakistan Counter-insurgency
Capabilities Fund (PCCF) would primarily provide sophisticated weapons and counter
insurgency training to the Pakistan military. The fund would be in addition to
the war supplement that has already been approved by the Senate. The PCCF will
allow the US Central Command officials to work directly with the Pakistani military
to help build its counter-insurgency capability, The Dawn reports. A Pakistan
Embassy spokesman said that this additional fund would be of great help in the
ongoing military operations in Swat and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA). Recently, the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates had urged the congressional
panel to provide an additional package to Islamabad to help build up its counter
terrorism capabilities. "We are asking for this unique authority for the unique
and urgent circumstances we face in Pakistan. It is a vital element of President
Obama's new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy," Gates had said. However, the State
Department and the Pentagon both had different opinions over the aid being provided
to Pakistan. Several Senators and members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
and the State Department's legislative affairs insisted that the fund must be
put under strict vigil and in the patronage of the State Department. They claimed
that counter-insurgency is '80 per cent political and only 20 per cent military'
so all the efforts to tackle such issues must be controlled by civilians. "This
provision lays down an important marker that providing security assistance to
other countries is a matter of foreign policy and should remain a core responsibility
of the Secretary of State," Congressman Berman had said. The PCCF would allow
Central Command chief General David Petraeus to press for additional Pakistani
acceptance of US training, US officials said. |
