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TRS leader Rao ends hunger-strike

      New Delhi: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrashekhar Rao has ended his hunger strike after receiving assurances from the Central Government that the Telangana region will be given an economic package for its future development. "All the backward districts, especially the districts coming under the Telangana region, will be taken care of. The funds required for the completion of all irrigation projects in the region over the next year will be provided by the central government. All bank loans on farmers in the region will be waived, and the interest would be made payable in installments over the next seven years. The expenditure on this would be borne collectively by the central and state governments," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said after meeting Rao. Pawar also said that large amount of central assistance for development of backward regions of the country, would be diverted to the Telangana region.

     Rao, however, said he would continue his agitation till a separate state is formed. Rao went on a hunger strike from August 23 after withdrawing support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition on August 22 demanding a separate Telangana state. The TRS, which had five lawmakers in parliament, has been campaigning for a separate Telangana state to boost development in the region. The TRS allied with Singh's Congress in 2004 to fight regional and national polls and the government had promised to consider TRS's demand for a separate state. The government has said it was trying to build a consensus over creating a new state. But Rao said progress was slow and Congress had "betrayed" his party.

Andhra Assembly proceedings stalled (Go To Top)

     Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) members stalled proceedings in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Friday, insisting that a resolution should be tabled for the creation of a separate Telangana state. As soon as the assembly met for the day, TRS members again demanded that the house should take up the debate on a resolution favouring the creation of a Telangana State. As Assembly speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy turned down their demand and tried to go ahead with the listed agenda, TRS members shouted pro-Telangana slogans, forcing the adjournment of the house for the day. TRS members also criticized the Congress for cheating the Telangana public on the separate state issue.

NCC cadet dies in parasailing mishap

      Raipur: A 20-year-old National Cadet Corps, (NCC) Air Wing, cadet died at Raipur in the capital of Chhattisgarh. Sanjay who was a Cadet Officer in the Air Wing NCC was parasailing when his belt came out and he felt from about 45 fetes causing great injuries on his face and head. He was rushed to the near by hospital for the treatment but as he was fallen from about 45 fetes he was badly injured and soon the doctors declare him dead. The NCC officers and the in charge of Sanjay's college told reporters that he was in a good position and every think was going fine. But suddenly his belt came out and he felt on the ground. "Sanjay was doing parasailing at about 1 pm in the afternoon and was about to come down, at that time he was about 40 - 45 fetes. Every thing was up to the mark but suddenly his parachute belt came out and he fell on the ground. He was injured badly and was rushed to the hospital. Blood was coming out from his mouth and nose. The Doctor declared him dead at about 6 pm," said Vijay Kumar Chaubay, Assistant Professor and in charge of NCC Air Wing in Commerce Durga College, Raipur. However, Sanjay's NCC colleagues said that the incident occurred due to lack of proper vigilance and also because the equipments was not properly attached. "The Commander Sir was about to come and Doordarshan had to cover it. The people do not put all the setting properly, that is the reason the belt came out and Sanjay fell down and died. I only want that proper investigation should be done," said Dheraj Bawankar, Sanjay's colleague and brother. Sanjay was practising for the parasailing in a camp as he has appeared for the 'C' certificate exam. The camp was organised from 20th August in which about 800 Senior and junior cadets participated from different parts of the country.

Jessica Lal murder: NBW against doctor (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday issued a non- bailable warrant against Dr J S Bedi, charged for allegedly fabricating records and submitting them as evidence for Vikas Gill during the Jessica Lall murder trial. Chandigarh-based doctor, Bedi was to appear before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau. On the basis of the medical certificates issued by Dr. Bedi, Gill successfully managed to seek personal exemption from the trial. The prosecution realised it later that Gill had already fled to the US in October 2004. Police have alleged that Bedi granted nearly four medical certificates between 2004 and 2006 to certify that Gill was suffering from spinal problems, even though the accused was not in the country during the said period. The Delhi High Court on July 31 had directed the Delhi Police to conclude its investigations in the case within two months. On February 21, all nine accused, including Siddharth Vashishtha alias Manu Sharma, were acquitted by the then Additional Sessions Judge S.L. Bhayana.

    Model Jessica Lall was shot at point blank range on the night of April 29, 1999 while she was working as a celebrity bar-maid in the Tamarind Court Bar owned by socialite Bina Ramani. It was alleged that Jessica Lal was murdered by Manu Sharma, the son of Congress politician and former Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Vinod Sharma, after she refused to serve him a drink since the bar had closed for the evening. The Delhi Police in its primary investigation had also indicted Vikas Yadav, the son of former Rajya Sabha Parliamentarian D P Yadav, along with ten others on the charge of destroying evidences. The sensational murder case had a high profile list of accused which included names like Amardeep Singh Gill, Coca-Cola company officials Alok Khanna, Shyam Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, Ravinder Krishan Sudan and Dhanraj.

Minister Gavit exonerated (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: After giving clean chit to the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Manikrao Gavit on his alleged conversation with a jailed gangster of Uttar Pradesh Sunder Singh Bhati, the Centre today said that a law would soon be enacted to deal with the sting operations. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that the voice samples of the taped conversation that was aired by a private news channel did not match with Gavit's. "The voices on the tapes were examined on audio spectrography by experts who have opined that they do not tally and are not of the same person," said Patil. On August 13, a private news channel Zee TV aired an audiotape claiming that it contained conversation between Gavit and Bhati, where they allegedly talked about transferring a Jail official. The Government than collected the audiotape records from the television channel and asked CBI to collect the voice samples of the alleged minister and the gangster. It was later sent to Central Forensic Science laboratory (CFSL), which gave its report to the Home Ministry. Patil's call for law to deal with sting operations found many takers in the Parliament as Opposition Leader LK Advani also supported the idea. Last year sting operations carried by some private news channel had shown some Parliamentarians taking bribe to raise questions in the House.

DD told to telecast Patwardhan's
'Father, Son and Holy War' (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed Prasar Bharti to telecast the award-winning documentary 'Father, Son and Holy War' within eight weeks on Doordarshan. Dismissing a plea filed by the public broadcaster against a Bombay High Court order directing it to telecast the Anand Patwardhan's work on Doordarshan, Justices A R Lakshmanan and Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta said there was no reason to halt the screening of the documentary that deals with the relationship between patriarchy and communal violence in India. The documentary has already won two National Awards ('Best Investigative film' and 'Best film on Social Issues') in 1995. The film was passed by the Central Board of Film Certification, 'Father, Son and Holy War' without any cuts also won several international awards. After Doordarshan rejected it, Patwardhan approached the Bombay High Court which finally asked the Prasar Bharti in 2003 to telecast the film. His two earlier films 'In Memory of Friends' (1990) (DD telecast 1996) on building communal peace in strife-torn Punjab and 'Ram Ke Naam' (1992) (DD telecast 1997) on the Ayodhya crisis looked at the question of class and caste. Both the films won national awards but were rejected by Doordarshan on the ground that their telecast would create law and order problem. However, Doordarshan telecast them following orders by various High Courts.

Seven kids die in firecracker explosion (Go To Top)

      Kadhla (Uttar Pradesh): At least seven children were killed and 13 injured in an explosion at an illegal firecracker-manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh. Three children were charred beyond recognition, while four died of severe burns in a hospital. The fire was reportedly caused by a short circuit, which triggered off a series of explosions through the factory in Kadhla village. The Kadhla unit had 50 children working. "I had gone to a nearby shop. When I came back to get stocks for the shop, there was a big explosion and a brick hit my head," Manoj, a 12-year-old who is injured in the explosion said. Police said the children had been working through the night to avoid detection by the police. Young children are employed across thousands of such illegal firecracker units, because their hands make them perfect for filling of explosives into delicate firecrackers.

Musharraf, Manmohan may meet in Havana

       Islamabad: Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may meet next month in Havana on the sidelines of the 14th Summit conference of the Non- Aligned Movement in Havana, where both the leaders would be leading their respective country's delegations. Earlier, speculations were rife that the duo would meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. But, according to sources, Manmohan Singh would not be going to New York for the UN session. The Non-Aligned Movement Summit conference, which will be attended by delegations from all 116 member countries, is scheduled for September 11-16 with the heads of state and government sessions on September 15-16. Notably, the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement summit will be the only multilateral forum this year where Musharraf and Manmohan will cross paths, and which will offer the opportunity to the two leaders to meet, reported the Dawn. Although there is no official word about the possibility of the meeting, signals from Islamabad and New Delhi suggest that Musharraf and Manmohan will most likely hold talks on the margins of the Summit Conference. Efforts are also underway through the back-channel to pave the way for bilateral talks, added the paper.

Britons say Islam poses threat to West (Go To Top)

       London: A survey conducted by YouGov has found that more than half of the British population feel that Islam posed a threat to Western liberal democracy, and fear Islam as a religion, not merely its extremist elements. Five years ago, the figure was a little over 30 percent. The survey confirms the fears that the country was becoming polarised between Muslims and the rest of the population, which was suspicious of them and that a belief in "a clash of civilisations" had taken root. It was found that a growing number of people feared that the country faced "a Muslim problem", reported The Telegraph. According to the survey, immigration was now the 'driving force' behind population growth. Last year the number of people living in the UK rose by 375,000 as compared to the previous year.

Laden could be in Chitral in N Pakistan (Go To Top)

       Lahore: US intelligence officials have said that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was most likely hiding in Chitral in Northern Pakistan and not living in a cave, but comfortably in a house, possibly with a family and no more than two bodyguards. An official said the intelligence's assumption was based in part from trees peculiar to the mountainous region that could be seen in a video footage dating back to 2003. Another factor taken into account was the length of time it took for bin Laden's audiotapes to make their way to news channels like Al-Jazeera when he comments on important events. The 2003 video tape took three weeks to reach TV screens around the world, the Daily Times quoted an intelligence officials as saying on conditions of anonymity. Michael Scheuer, who headed the CIA's bin Laden unit from 1996- 1999, told CNN that there was every possibility of bin Laden hiding in Pakistan and the US would have to be extremely lucky to either capture or kill him.

Relief ship arrives in Jaffna (Go To Top)

       Colombo: A ship carrying emergency relief supplies for people trapped by fighting in northern Jaffna has arrived. Reports said that the ship has docked off Point Pedro to the north of the peninsula, and is carrying supplies of rice, lentils and sugar. Tens of thousands of people on the peninsula have been cut off for the past fortnight because of the ongoing hostilities between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the rebel LTTE. People are reported to have fled to churches for refuge, even as essential supplies continue to dwindle. The vessel, according to the BBC, sailed under the Red Cross flag and took about 60 hours to reach Jaffna. The war in Sri Lanka is being conducted on three fronts, and has left about 100,000 people in a helpless state.

Apple recalls 1.8 million laptop batteries (Go To Top)

       Washington: Computer giant Apple has announced plans to recall 1.8 million Sony-manufactured batteries that were used in its laptop computers worldwide in the wake of complaints of laptops overheating. A statement issued by the compnay, and reported by BBC, said that Sony batteries implanted in their iBook G4 and Powerbook G4 laptops were found to be not of Apple standard, and hence were being recalled. Apple's decision comes in the wake of Dell, another American software conglomerate, recalling over four million Sony batteries last week. Apple has said that the defective batteries will be replaced free.

Hair offer to barter his resignation  (Go To Top)

       London: In one of the dramatic revelations ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed today said that the umpire Darrell Hair embroiled in the Pakistan ball-tampering row had offered to resign as an umpire in exchange for dollar 500,000. Hair made the conditional resignation offer in a letter to the ICC (international Cricket Council) after the end of the controversial fourth Test at The Oval, which saw Pakistan forfeiting the match, after Hair gave five runs to England, citing alleged ball-tampering by Pakistani players. Stating that, "Hair did not make the offer with any dishonest, underhand or malicious intent", Speed said that he was still seeking to find a solution of the entire controversy in the interest of the game. Speed also urged media not to question Hair's motives and asserted that the allegations of racism, bias and conspiracy are untrue. On being asked about the status of the umpire Darrell Hair, Speed said, "I have said to him (Hair) that he is not sacked, he is not suspended, and he has not been charged," adding, "I also said to him that I didn't guarantee that each of those three positions would be maintained indefinitely." Speaking about the incident, Speed said, "It involves two simple cricket issues. Did the Pakistan team change the nature of the ball in an illegal manner under the laws of the game?"

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