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PM leaves for Jakarta on a three-day visit

     New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today left for a three-day visit to Jakarta, where he will attend the second Asian African Summit. Before leaving for Indonesia Singh said that the New Asian African Strategic Partnership Declaration that is to be signed at the summit would provide a bridge of understanding and support between the countries of the two continents. "We would sign a Declaration on a New Asian African Strategic Partnership renewing and reaffirming our commitment to the values enshrined in the original Bandung Conference", said Singh. During his visit Singh will hold discussions with a number of leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. He will also meet Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono. Singh is also expected to commemorate the golden memories of the historic 1955 Summit, when India had played a major role under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru resulting in the birth of the non-aligned movement.

Rani Mukherjee mesmerises the Musharrafs (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Although the Pakistani High Commission rejected actor Raza Murad and singer Shubha Mudgal's request for visa, the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, reportedly, extended an open-invitation to Bollywood beauty, Rani Mukherji, to visit Pakistan anytime and shoot there. General Musharraf and his wife met the Bollywood beauty at the dinner hosted by Manmohan Singh at the Ashoka Hotel for him, Online News reported. Mrs. Musharraf, who is a known as a Hindi movie buff, soon after meeting Rani, took her aside and invited her to visit Pakistan to shoot any of her forthcoming movies.

Nine militants killed in Kashmir (Go To Top)

     Srinagar: Nine militants have been killed by security forces in tow separate incidents within the last 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara and Baramulla Districts. In the first incident,four militants were killed late last night at Teki Rampur in Baramulla district. In the second encounter, five militants were killed at Baki Hakar in Handwara area of Kupwara district early this morning. Meanwhile,55 hardline Hurriyat activists have been detained by the police after they tried to take out a 'Milad' procession defying prohibitory orders here. Official sources said that activists of Islamic Students League (ISL) and Democratic Political Movement (DPM) tried to take out a procession to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammad from Abi Guzar area of Lal Chowk. Among those apprehended were DPM leader Firdous Shah and ISL chief Mohammad Shafi Reshi into preventive custody.

CBI to investigate Denel arms deal (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: A CBI inquiry has been ordered into all purchases from South African arms major Denel, which allegedly paid kickbacks to influence an arms deal. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has already put on hold all purchases from the South African company following the furore in Parliament Thursday with Congress members demanding a CBI probe. A South African newspaper had reported that the firm paid middlemen to secure deals in India during the tenure of the NDA government. Meanwhile, former Defence Minister Gerorge Fernandes, today accused the UPA government of trying to trap him through unfair means. "Politics today is such that corruption is prevalent everywhere," the former Defence Minister said. "I have always been opposed to it and this is something that the Congress has never liked about me. That is why I am always targeted," he added.

Paswan to announce formula to form Bihar Govt (Go To Top)

     Chennai: Union Chemical Minister and Lok Jan Shakti Party President Ram Vilas Paswan today said that a "concrete, workable and practical" proposal would be announced within two to three weeks for forming a non-RJD, non-BJP Government in Bihar. "I have a concrete, workable and practical proposal. I have to consult my MLAs. A meeting of the MLAs will be called soon to consider the proposal, after which I will release it to political parties," he said. "I have a timeframe of two to three weeks to release the proposal," he said. However, he refused to divulge the details of the proposal. Paswan said the government formed should be stable and that was why he was taking time. After floating the proposal, he would await the political parties' reaction to it. The LJP would not propose any Chief Ministerial candidate as it did not have any Muslim MLA, he said. He said he was not in favour of fresh polls to Bihar Assembly.