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US Congress okays sale of two old F-16s to Pak: Paper

     Washington: The Bush administration has approved an initial shipment of two older but refurbished F-16s fighter jets to Pakistan. The decision comes less than two weeks after President George Bush promise to help India develop its civilian nuclear power sector. According to a US Congress source, the decision was held back till India Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's recent visit. "They (Bush administration officials) didn't want to start moving F-16s to Pakistan until after the Indian prime minister had come and gone," The News quoted the unidentified Congressional source as saying. He further said that announcing the decision just before the August recess was aimed at "blunting any backlash among the friends of India in the Congress". According to the paper, earlier, the White House had announced the plans to sell F-16s to Pakistan in March, but offered few details about the number of fighters and specifications. The US administration officials reportedly said that the policy change on the planes reflected Islamabad's role in helping the United States in the region after the 9/11 attacks. The single engine, multi-role F-16 is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. Pakistan's planned purchases would boost its fleet of about 32 F-16s acquired before the US Congress cut off sales in 1990 over Islamabad's nuclear programme.

Pak allows 770 items to be imported from India (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: The Pakistan government has issued a fresh list of 770 items importable from India, including raw materials, chemicals, live stock, vegetables, and machinery and spare parts. The list of importable items is included in the Import Policy Order 2005 released yesterday. While live stock include only bovine animals, sheep, goats and camels and Halal meat, the vegetables that are now importable from India are potatoes seeds, fresh potatoes, fresh tomatoes, onions, fresh vegetables, seeds-vegetables, fruits and flowers. The import of betel nuts, betel leaves, coffee, tea, spices excluding chilies, turmeric and cumin seeds, palm nuts, kernels has also been allowed in this list. Mineral products and metal ores including metallic concentrates, roasted iron pyrites, excluding pigment ores have been allowed to import from India in new list, reported the Online News. Other main items include mercury, argon, iodine, sodium, medicines and vaccine for Aids, hepatitis B and cancer, chemicals for coloring, wood, wood sleeper of railway, technical, professional and religious books, raw silk, cotton, cotton yarn, steel, vacant gas cylinders and containers, aircraft engine and parts, piston engine, water turbine, industrial and laboratory parts for furnace. According to official figures, Pakistan imported goods from India amounting to the tune of Rs 21.843 billion during the fiscal year 2004-05 while its exports stood at Rs 10.5 billion during the same period.

National Hockey squad for Holland tour announced (Go To Top)

     Chandigarh: The Indian Hockey Federation today announced an 18-member squad for the forthcoming eight-nation tournament to be played in the Netherlands. K.P.S. Gill, president of IHF, said that although the team had a bad 2004, it would perform better. "Our performance has been bad in 2004 but the best team has been selected. In 2005, so far we have played in just one tournament. This will be the first major tournament this year and I am hopeful that our performance will be good," he said in a news conference in Chandigarh. Dilip Tirkey has been retained as the captain for the mini-world cup that will be held from August 14-21. Gill also said that the coaches are working on improving the consistency of the players. "There are a few players who are consistent like Dilip Tirkey and a few others. The forwards and the full backs have been largely inconsistent so far. This is where our coaches are trying to improve that," he said. One of India's main forward players Gagan Ajit Singh also found his way to the national team after a gap of almost a year following an accident and later suspension for unruly conduct during a domestic match. The team was chosen from 28 probables attending training since July 20. The tournament is considered a warm-up ahead of this year's Champions Trophy to be held in Chennai.

First Indian A1 Grand Prix series car launched  (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: First Indian A1 Grand Prix series single-seater Lola car was launched today in a glittering ceremony in capital New Delhi. The event was attended by top film actors and politicians. The A1 series, dubbed the World Cup of motor racing, is the brainchild of Sheikh Maktoum Hasher al-Maktoum, a member of Dubai's ruling family. Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor holds the franchise and is closely involved in the publicity of the "Team India". Each A1 car weighs around 600 kilograms and is fitted with six- speed transverse sequential gear selection via paddle shift system with 3,400 cc engines. Aamir Khan, a prolific film actor present at the launch said the launch would attract sports lovers towards the game, still in the nascent stages in India. "Personally I have never really been fond of car racing. I have never really watched it, but now that Anil has started it, and once it becomes national team that takes part in the event, I am sure like me others will also get introduced to this new sport," Khan told reporters. Narain Karthikeyan, known as the fastest Indian in the world is expected to lead the campaign when the new championship starts in September. The 28-year-old became India's first F1 driver when he made his debut with Jordan earlier this season. The championship, seen as one notch below F1, will make its debut on England's Brands Hatch circuit on September 25. Designed to fill the gap over the European winter months when the F1 season is over, the 12-race A1 series will run until March. Officials' say out of 25 teams expected to take part; all but six have confirmed their entries. Australia, China, South Africa, Britain, Portugal, Malaysia, Pakistan and Netherlands are among those who will participate. The A1 will be run on a franchise basis by national teams with drivers and sponsors from that country. Besides Kapoor Indian-born South African businessman Atul Gupta holds the franchise for the Indian team.

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