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Headlines
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News:
Jaswant Singh takes over as Defence Minister
Samata Party ministers withdraw resignation, return to work
Army Court of Inquiry begins proceedings into Tehelka case
Telugu Desam not to withdraw support to Govt
Taliban slaughter cows to atone for tardy destruction
Indian extradition for Nadeem rejected
China tells Jaswant to promote bilateral understanding
OPEC rules out any concession for Indian crude imports
Zee TV's coming attraction a PM caught in defence scam, and it's fiction
Rupee rallies against US Dollar
Inflation falls to 6.45%
Six dead in tribal violence
Calcutta Stock Exchange in crisis, building may be mortgaged
Kerala to Launch Tourism Road Shows in US, Germany
Indian batsmen on top
India, Pakistan set up title clash in Gold Cup hockey
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Markets:
Sensex: 3745.74, -74.12
Sensex sheds 74 points on political concerns
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Forex, Metals and
Weather below
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News
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Jaswant Singh takes over as Defence Minister
New Delhi,Monday, March 19, 2001: External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today took over the additional charge of Defence Minister but preffered not to function from where his predecessor George Fernandes worked.
Singh briefly visited the Defence Ministry this afternoon to meet Defence Secretary Yogendera Narain and other top officials of the ministry at the conference room.
The three service Chiefs Gen S Padmanabhan, Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis and Admiral Sushil Kumar called on him.
Singh barred television camera and reporters with the ministry officials explaining that he did not (not) want any fanfare.
Ministry sources said that Jaswant Singh would be operating from his room in the External Affairs Ministry at the other end of the South Block and ask for files to be sent there.
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Samata Party ministers withdraw resignation, return to work
New Delhi,Monday, March 19, 2001: The suspense over continuance of Nitish Kumar and two other Samata Party ministers in the Vajpayee Government ended today after they agreed to withdraw their resignation and return to work.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party's Parliamentary Party at the residence of party leader defence minister George Fernandes.
Stoutly denying that the three ministers - Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar, Minister of State for Railways Digvijay Singh and Minister of State for Consumer Affairs V Sreenivasa Prasad - had resigned at his instance, Fernandes told reporters that they had done so to express solidarity with him in the wake of the defence deal expose.
Asked if it was a unanimous decision, the former Defence Minister said "though there are differences of opinion in a democratic party, the final decision is taken unanimously".
About charges levelled by some party MPs against the Prime Minister's Office, he said one should refrain from making allegations which could cause inconvenience to the Government.
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Army Court of Inquiry begins proceedings into Tehelka case
New Delhi,Monday, March 19, 2001: The three-member high level Army Court of Inquiry, headed by Lt Gen S K Jain, today began in-camera proceedings into the sensational Tehelka tapes case in the backdrop of the Army Chief Gen S Padmanabhan's warning that the guilty would be sternly dealt with.
Besides Jain, the court of inquiry has two other members, Maj Gen Mohinder Puri and Maj Gen M Mathew, both holding the rank of Additional Director General at Army Headquarters here.
The first major task of the inquiry was to write to Tehelka.com asking for the tapes, army sources said adding that all the five other officials who figured in the tape had been attached to the Army headquarters here pending the completion of the inquiry.
The inquiry has provisions for calling civilian witnesses, the sources said. Though there was no time-frame set, it would be completed at the earliest, they said.
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Telugu Desam not to withdraw support to Govt
New Delhi,Monday, March 19, 2001: Telugu Desam party, a key ally of the ruling NDA, today ruled out withdrawal of support to the Vajpayee Government or possibility of a mid-term poll in the wake of Tehelka expose but felt that its fallout may have "some impact" on the electoral fortunes of the coalition in the coming assembly polls in five states.
It also made it clear that there was no question of his party with 29 MPs withdrawing support to the Vajpayee Government. "We have never spoken about withdrawing support," TDP Parliamentary leader K Yerran Naidu said.
"There is no possibility of a mid-term poll. Government enjoys full majority in the Lok Sabha," he said.
Asked whether TDP endorsed the idea of the Government seeking a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha, he said. "Confidence vote is not necessary. If the Opposition is very particular, there are several occasions when it can test the Government strength in the budget session" during voting on money bills.
To a question on electoral prospects of NDA in the light of the expose, Naidu said "I can't say. But people are better judges. It may have some impact".
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Taliban slaughter cows to atone for tardy destruction
KABUL,Monday, March 19, 2001: Butchers with large machete-like knives slaughtered 12 cows today to distribute to the poorest in Afghanistan's beleaguered capital to atone for the delay in destroying two giant statues of Buddha in central Bamiyan.
The 12 cows were the first of 100 cows which were ordered killed throughout the country by the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mull ah Mohammed Omar.
He issued the order to slaughter the cows last weekend saying they would be sacrificed because of the tardy demolition of a 51-meter and a 36-meter statues of Buddha hewn from a cliff face in the 3rd and 5th centuries.
It took Taliban soldiers nearly two weeks to destroy the giant mountain carvings after an order was issued by Omar declaring the statues idolatrous and against the tenets of Islam.
Shortly after sunrise today in the courtyard of the once grand presidential palace in the heart of Kabul, 20 men in blood-soaked shalwar kameezes, put the meat into bags for distribution throughout the war-ruined city, media reports here said.
"We are doing this on the order of Mullah Omar because of the delay in the destruction of the statues," said Abdullah, a Taliban soldier who, like most Afghans uses only one name.
Abdullah was supervising the slaughter and later distribution.
The remaining animals were to be slaughtered throughout the 95 per cent of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.
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Indian extradition for Nadeem rejected
Britain's highest court, the House of Lords, has rejected the Indian government's appeal for the extradition of the Indian film music director, Nadeem Akhtar Saifi.
Mr Nadeem, a well-known music director for India's "Bollywood" film industry, is wanted in connection with the killing of a music company owner, Gulshan Kumar, and fled to Britain four years ago.
The House of Lords upheld a decision by the High Court which had ruled against his extradition.
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China tells Jaswant to promote bilateral understanding
Beijing,Monday, March 19, 2001: China today expressed hope that External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who has been given additional charge of the Defence Ministry, would work hard to promote understanding and trust between the two countries and militaries so as to further bilateral relations.
"We congratulate External Affairs Minister Mr Jaswant Singh on his joint appointment as Defence Minister," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said adding "Mr Singh is an experienced politician."
"We hope and believe that during his term as defence minister, Mr Singh will advance the understanding and trust between our two countries and military and continue to work hard to further the development of Sino-Indian relations," Zhu said.
"He has done work which has helped the improvement and development of Sino-Indian ties," Zhu said referring to Singh's ice-breaking visit to Beijing in June, 1999 which helped thaw the near freeze in India-China relations after the Pokharan-II nuclear tests by India.
During Singh's visit, India and China reiterated that "neither country is a threat to the other".
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OPEC rules out any concession for Indian crude imports
New Delhi,Monday, March 19, 2001: Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) today ruled out any special concession for India's crude oil imoprts even as New Delhi said OPEC's decision to cut production will adversely affect the Indian economy.
"OPEC does not provide bilateral concession to countries," Secretary General Ali Rodrigue Araque said here today.
He however said India's proposal for developing countries including extension of credit period, price discount and deferred payment was dicussed at OPEC's meeting last week.
Meanwhile Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said "this level of prices is not affordable for developing countries like India which may witness an economic slowdown due to high oil prices".
Clarifying OPEC's decision to cut production, Araque said reducing production was unlikely to affect the price movement, which was expected to remain in the agreed band of 22-28 dollars per barrel.
At its meeting on March 17, OPEC had decided to cut production by one million bpd, mainly due to the US slowdown and general decrease in demand in the second quarter of 2001.
This decision by OPEC suggests that the organisation intends to keep oil prices nearer to the upper limit of the declared price band.
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Zee TV's coming attraction a PM caught in defence scam, and it's fiction
Zee TV viewers may rub their eyes in disbelief on April 6. In a rare instance of fiction being stranger than fact, the first episode of a new weekly serial, Pradhan Mantri, will be telecast that day. And, believe it or not, it is about a Prime Minister battling a defence scam.
Needless to add, any resemblance to what the country is now witnessing is just coincidental since the serial has been in the making for the past four months now, says Zee and director Ketan Mehta. Twenty-six episodes will be aired at 10 p.m every Friday.
``I have been working on this for the past four months now,'' claims Mehta. ``The fact that this defence scam happened is purely a coincidence and a clear case of fact overtaking fiction.'' The show will be on air every week from the first week of April. ``This was always the plan. The show hasn't been scheduled to cash in on the Tehelka furore,'' insists Mehta.
It's incidental that Zee Telefilms, as confirmed by Tehelka, is planning to buy a big stake in the dotcom company. It's also just a coincidence that Zee was the first to air the Tehelka tapes because of an exclusive arrangement with the website worked out before.
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Rupee rallies against US Dollar
Mumbai,Monday, March 19, 2001: The rupee staged a fresh rally and and somewhat stabilised against the U.S. currency early today.
In moderately active but cautious trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (FOREX) market here this morning the rupee is currently quoted at Rs.46.68/69 per dollar, higher from last Friday's finish of Rs.46.70/71. The rupee opened on a positive note at Rs.46.69/70.
Banks unwound long dollar positions in early trades and helped the rupee post a moderate rally, dealers said.
Political uncertainties over the recent expose by a portal shaved out over 8 paise of the rupee last Friday.
Meanwhile, in the cross currency trades, the Euro was quoted at Rs 41.87/89, Pound Sterling at Rs 66.78/80 and the Japnese Yen (100) at Rs 37.84/86.
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Inflation falls to 6.45%
The annual inflation rate fell sharply over one per cent to 6.45 per cent for the week ended March 3 despite a marginal fall in the prices of primary and manufactured articles.
The inflation rate based on Wholesale Price Index for all commodities (base year: 1993-94 = 100) fell by 1.08 per cent from the previous week's level of 7.53 per cent. The index was 5.01 per cent a year ago.
The WPI, close on the heels of point-to-point inflation rate, fell marginally by 0.1 per cent to 158.4 against the previous week's mark of 158.5 during the period. However, the index was 148.8 a year ago.
The final WPI for the week ended January six this year stood at 158.4 as compared to the provisional level of 157.8 during the period. Final inflation rate during January stood substantially high at 8.57 per cent against the provisional figure of 8.16 per cent.
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Six dead in tribal violence
Police in Assam say at least six people have been killed and five wounded in inter-tribal violence.
A police spokesman said heavily armed militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland -- who are fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo people -- had shot dead a group of farm workers belonging to a rival tribe at Ramgaon village, some fifty kilometres north of the state capital, Guwahati.
Correspondents say at least five-hundred people have died in tribal clashes in the state in the past five years.
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Calcutta Stock Exchange in crisis, building may be mortgaged
Kolkata,Monday, March 19, 2001: Severe crisis gripped the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) today with the authorities planning to mortgage its building to raise money if necessary following the recent payment crisis.
CSE President Kamal Parekh, who called an emergency meeting of member-brokers, admitted that a payment crisis had taken place for two consecutive settlements, 148 and 149, for which the exchange authorities had to liquidate the Trade Guarantee Fund (TGF) partially.
Meanwhile, as per instructions of Sebi officials, who were investigating transactions, blocked the pay-out of substantial number of brokers under settlement number 149.
A broker, who was present at the meeting, told PTI that pay-out for 26 accounts had been blocked as investigations were on.
If the accounts were found to be linked to those of the four defaulters, then their money would be impounded, Parekh told brokers.
Venting their ire against the media, the CSE authorities kept the press out of bounds and security personnel were also instructed to use force if required.
Parekh assured the panic-striken brokers that in any eventuality, the base minimum capital of the members would not be touched and there was no plan to ask for additional base capital from them.
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Kerala to Launch Tourism Road Shows in US, Germany
Kerala will launch a series of "road shows" in the United States and Germany from May this year to tap these "crucial" tourism markets as part of a major initiative to consolidate the unprecedented growth in foreign tourist arrivals.
The state tourism department, tour operators, hoteliers and ayurveda and other health resorts will be involved in the road shows that are expected to lead to a quantum jump in foreign tourist coming to Kerala, according to the state tourism secretary, Amitabh Kant, who was here in connection with the world's biggest tourism marketing event, ITB.
Kerala is reported to be the first state to kick start such an initiative which will be spread over several months.
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Indian batsmen on top
Day Two, Third Test, Chennai
Australia 1st inns 391; India 1st inns 211-1 (at close)
India's batsmen treated the Australian spinners with disdain as they made a flying start to their first innings at the Chidambaram Stadium.
They took just 64 overs to rattle up 211 for one at the close, with Shiv Das 84 not out second Test hero Vangipurappu Laxman unbeaten on 59.
Matthew Hayden had earlier made the first double century of his Test career despite figures of seven for 133 by Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Australian skipper Steve Waugh became only the sixth man in Test history to be given out handled ball as their last seven wickets went down for 51 runs, with Hayden eventually holing out for 203.
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India, Pakistan set up title clash in Gold Cup hockey
Dhaka,Monday, March 19, 2001: India and Pakistan won their respective semi-final matches of the nine-nation Prime Minister's Gold Cup hockey tournament in contrasting styles here Sunday to set up the much-awaited summit clash on Tuesday.
India thrashed Egypt 8-0 in the first semi-final while Japan gave a tough time to Pakistan who eventually emerged 5-3 winners in the second semi-final.
A possible clash between the two countries, who haven't met on the hockey turf after playing a two-leg eight-match series in 1998, had generated a lot of interest in the tournament and they lived upto their reputation of being the favourites, both winning all their matches on way to the final.
India, who topped Group A, totally dominated their match against Egypt pumping goals at regular intervals. The hapless Egyptians had no clue to the aggressive hockey by the Asian powerhouse who led 4-0 at the half-time.
Skipper Baljit Singh Dhillon, Arjun Halappa and Deepak Thakur scored a brace each while star striker Dhanraj Pillay and Radhakrishnan scored the other two goals.
Pillay, who threatened the rival penalty area with alarming frequency, was declared the man-of-the-match.
He opened the account for India in the 15th minute and Dhillon made it 2-0 five minutes later. Goals by Halappa (25) and Thakur (34) within the next fifteen minutes ensured a healthy 4-0 lead for India at the half-time.
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Markets
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Sensex: 3745.74, -74.12
The sensex closed at 3745.74, down 74.12
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Sensex sheds 74 points on political concerns
The market lost ground after a smart recovery in the morning. Today being the last day of the settlement on BSE, operators preferred to unwind long positions ahead of the uncertainty ahead. The conflicting pulls and pressures between the coalition partners of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the arms deal expose, kept the market on tenterhooks. The market will be keenly watching Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajypayee's address to the nation at 19:30IST to get a clue to the end of the present political uncertainty.
The movements in the BSE Sensex remained volatile. It opened in the red with a gap of 67.50 points at 3752.36. After the successful completion of the pay-in on Calcutta Stock Exchange on Thursday, a fresh round of speculative buying and short covering pushed up the BSE Sensex into the positive territory. Within minutes, the Sensex touched the day's high of 3867.47 at 10:52 IST. It remained steady for the better part of the first half of the session.
However, following renewed political concerns, with former Defence Minister George Fernandes' Samata Party demanding the ouster of two key aides of the prime minister for its continued support to the NDA government, the market lost ground in afternoon trades as operators unwound long positions. The Sensex plunged into the red and touched the day's low of 3696.52 at 14:40 IST. In the end, it settled at 3745.74, losing 74.12 points from its previous close, losing 122 points from the day's high of 3867.
Pivotals lost ground after a firm opening.
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Forex
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1 DMark = 21.44532 INR
1 FFranc = 6.394879 INR
1 U.K. Pound = 66.73283 INR
1 US $ = 46.65000 INR
1 Yen = 0.381346 INR
1 Canadian $ = 29.78 INR
1 Singapore $ = 26.42 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 12.70 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 12.44 INR
1 Euro = 41.96 INR
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Metals
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17 March
Gold Std. (10g): Rs 4250
Silver (1 Kg) : Rs 7265
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Weather
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Temperature: 84 F / 29 C
HeatIndex: 89 F / 31 C
Humidity: 64%
Dewpoint: 72 F / 22 C
Wind
NW at 9 mph / 14.5 km/h
Pressure: 29.77 in / 1008 hPa
Conditions
Clear
Visibility
2 miles / 4 kilometers
Sunrise : 06:41 AM (IST)
Sunset : 06:45 PM (IST)
Moon Rise : 03:41 AM (IST)
Moon Set : 02:11 PM (IST)
Tonight : Low: 62 F / 17 C Scattered Clouds
Tuesday : High: 89 F / 32 C Scattered Clouds
Tuesday Night : Low: 62 F / 17 C Scattered Clouds
Wednesday : High: 89 F / 32 C Clear
Wednesday Night : Low: 59 F / 15 C Clear
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