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India welcomes Blair's return

     New Delhi: Welcoming the victory of United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair in general elections, India has said that it is looking forward to better ties and increased cooperation with the UK. Anand Sharma, the spokesperson of the Congress, who was at the UK embassy watching the results, hailed Blair's return. "The relations between India and UK have been good and have been improving over the last decade or so. There is consensus on a wide range of issues, which concern the world, at large. There is also increasing cooperation and understanding between India and UK. We hope that with the continuation of the Labour government in the coming years, the relations will be consolidated further and there will be free movement of people and services between the two countries," Sharma said here.

Blair gets invitation to form new government (Go To Top)

     London: Britain Queen Elizabeth II today formally asked Prime Minister Tony Blair to form a new government after the Labour Party leader won a record third consecutive term in power in a general election. Blair, who celebrates his 52nd birthday on Friday, spent about half an hour talking to the queen, a palace spokeswoman said. He traveled to the sovereign's London residence, Buckingham Palace, with his wife Cherie. The pair then drove back to the prime minister's offices in Downing Street.

Tony Blair secures historic third term (Go To Top)

     London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday won an historic third term in government for Labour but with a drastically reduced majority. Pledging to respond "sensibly and wisely" to the result, which the BBC predicted would see his majority cut from 167 in 2001 to 68, Blair said it was clear that "the British people wanted to return a Labour government, but with a reduced majority". He said Labour, which looks set to have won 36 percent of the vote, had to "focus on the things that matter" such as the National Health Service (NHS), jobs and law and order. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats led by Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy successfully mounted a strong challenge to Blair's Labour Party, though it was predicted that their overall share of the vote would be more or less similar to what they had achieved in 2001. The Liberal Democrats have made big inroads on Labour majorities and look set to end up with an estimated 60 seats.

      At the time of the filing of this report, Labour had secured 349 seats, the Conservatives 191 and the Liberal Democrats 58. So far, results have been declared for 610 of the 646 constituencies that went for the polls. The winning mark was 324, which the Labour Party has crossed comfortably. The result writes a new chapter in British political history, with Blair joining Margaret Thatcher as the only other post war prime minister to have won three successive general elections. Conservative leader Michael Howard congratulated Blair on Labour's win, but said it was time for the latter to deliver on his promises. The Conservatives did their best in London, where there was a five percent swing to them and they unseated schools minister Stephen Twigg, who famously snatched the seat from Tory Michael Portillo in 1997. They succeeded in resting 31 seats from Labour and three from the Liberal Democrats this time round. The Tories also gained Shipley from Labour, unseating junior minister Christopher Leslie, Welwyn Hatfield from health minister Melanie Johnson and taken Newbury from the Liberal Democrats. Howard said the Tory campaign had "sent a message" to Blair. "For the Conservative Party it marks a real advance towards our recovery.The task which faces us in the next Parliament is to complete that recovery and it is a task I am sure everyone in the Conservative Party will address with real relish," he said. The Liberal Democrats held on to Cheadle, which had been the Conservatives' top target, and unseated Labour ex-minister Barbara Roche on a 14 percent swing.

     Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said voters had ushered in a new era of three-party politics as he was returned as an MP by an overwhelming majority. In one the biggest upsets of the night, George Galloway, of the anti-war Respect party, narrowly beat Labour's Oona King, who voted for the Iraq war, in Bethnal Green, one of the most bitter contests in the 2005 election. Galloway, who based his campaign on opposition to the Gulf war, said: "This is for Iraq." Kennedy celebrated his success with his family and said that he saw a "new challenge" ahead as the UK enters an era of real three-party politics. The party has overtaken its 2001 total of 52 seats, capturing 11 from Labour and three from the Conservatives. It6 is now hoping to win in more than 60 constituencies - a result which would be their best since 1923.

World Hindu Council leader shot dead in Nepal (Go To Top)

     Kathmandu: A prominent Hindu leader has been shot dead in south-western Nepal. According to the BBC, Narayan Pokharel, president of the Nepal branch of the World Hindu Council, died when six gunmen opened fire in the district of Rupandehi. No one has admitted carrying out the attack. However, police say the manner in which it was carried out hints at the involvement of Maoist rebels. The incident happened in Dudrakshya village in Rupandehi district, some 300km from the capital, Kathmandu, where Mr Pokharel was attending a religious function. Reports said that the gunmen came on motorcycles and shot at Mr Pokharel outside the guest house where he was staying.

BCCI forms six-member committee to select coach (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today appointed a six-member committee headed by the Board president Ranbir Singh Mahendra to select a new coach for the national cricket team. The committee will have its first meeting in Kolkata on Sunday. The Board Secretary, SK Nair, is the convener of the committee, which has former Board President Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sunil Gavaskar, S Venkatraghavan and Ravi Shastri as its other members. The Board has, however, not revealed the names of the candidates. Australians Steve Waugh, Greg Chappell, Tom Moody, Dave Whatmore and Dean Jones have all been linked to the post left vacant after Wright voluntarily stepped down as India's first foreign coach last month after five seasons at the helm. With India's next assignment -- a one-day series in Sri Lanka in August -- still three months away, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in no hurry to appoint a successor to the genial Kiwi. The selection process itself could take a long time. The panel of experts, which had been formed today, will first interview the candidates. The board's decision-making working committee will then debate their choice before the coach is finalised. The BCCI had announced on Wednesday evening that a panel would be set up in the next two days to select the coach and it will shortlist the candidates for the job.

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