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Headlines
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News:
'Bin Laden warned of US attack'
All Samajwadi MLAs resign from Uttar Pradesh Assembly
Oldest known mammal fossil discovered in India
Slowdown is grave, concedes Vajpayee
51 Congressmen urge Bush to lift sanctions on India
Fake passport racket busted at Sahar
Imports of 300 sensitive items dip by 17 pc during Apr-July
India asks for concessions from oil exporting countries
President gives assent to eight bills
Young bowler loses eye during a match
Pak drops proposed 4-nation cricket tourney
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Markets:
Sensex: 3150.40, -33.23
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Forex, Metals and
Weather below
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News
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'Bin Laden warned of US attack'
LONDON: Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he and
his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on US interests for
its support of Israel, an Arab journalist with access to him said on
Tuesday.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper said
Islamic fundamentalists led by Bin Laden was "almost certainly" behind the
attack of the World Trade Center in New York.
"It is most likely the work of Islamic fundamentalists. Osama bin Laden
warned three weeks ago that he would attack American interests in an
unprecedented attack, a very big one," Atwan told Reuters.
"Personally we received information that he planned very, very big attacks
against American interests. We received several warnings like this. We did
not take it so seriously, preferring to see what would happen before
reporting it."
Atwan has interviewed Bin Laden and maintains close contacts with his followers.
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All Samajwadi MLAs resign from Uttar Pradesh Assembly
Lucknow,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: In an apparent attempt to force early elections in Uttar Pradesh, all the 102 MLAs of the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) today decided to resign en masse from the state Assembly, even as the Chief Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed the move as a "pressure tactic" and ruled out an early dissolution of the House.
The SP MLAs handed over the resignation letters to the Assembly secretariat since the Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathy was not in station, shortly after a meeting of party legislature group here presided by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
SP MLAs led by Yadav met the Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri and submitted copies of their resignation but was told that the gubernatorial office was not (not) the appropriate forum for submission of resignations.
Shastri, however, said he would be forwarding the resignation letters to the Assembly speaker. He parried questions on whether there was any constitutional crisis in the state.
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Oldest known mammal fossil discovered in India
Kolkata,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: With the discovery of a tiny rodent tooth as old as 225 million years from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, geoscientists have reported the oldest known mammal fossil which predates all mammalian records till date.
Study of the two milimetre long molar tooth, unearthed from the Gondwana supergroup rocks of Tiki village, has led a team of geologists from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to postulate that this earliest known mammal was an insect eating animal of the size of a rat.
Christened Gondwanadon Tapani, in honour of Tapan Roychowdhury who pioneered the study of early mammals in India, the teeth of the new species was found well preserved in the red mudstone bed of the Tiki formation.
The Tiki fossil appears to be slightly older than the earliest ever recorded mammalian skull reported in 1993 from Kalgary in Texas, North America dated around the same period.
"This new record holds promise of throwing more light on the question of evolution of mammals. More prospecting is in progress," senior geologist of GSI's palaentology division, who led the discovery, P M Datta told PTI.
The right molar tooth with four cusps arranged in a linear fashion and joined by a continuous ridge provides an insight into the insect eating habits of the mammal, Datta, who has co-authored the finding report with fellow geologist D P Das in an in-house publication of GSI, said.
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Slowdown is grave, concedes Vajpayee
PRIME Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday warned that the strong indicators of macroeconomic health could not hide the deeper systematic maladies in the economy, and said there was no room for complacency over the grave nature of the current economic slowdown.
Though factors like low inflation, high foreign exchange reserves and adequate food grain stock indicated strong economic fundamentals, solution to long-pending problems like poverty and social imbalances lay in faster and more balanced growth, Vajpayee said in his opening remarks at the meeting of economic advisory council here.
Admitting that there was a lower GDP growth rate, fall in industrial production, decline in exports, slump in bank credit and worsening of fiscal position, Vajpayee said the economic slowdown needed to be seen in a proper perspective which was essential to avoid unnecessary pessimism and panic."
"Inflation is low and stable. Our foreign exchange reserves continue to rise at $45.3 billion. The RBI has softened interest rates," Vajpayee said.
Noting that national development council has approved 8 per cent growth for 10th plan, Vajpayee said, "a still higher growth is envisaged in the 11th plan."
"These high targets do call for a steep climb, especially when we today find ourselves standing at the trough of a 5 per cent growth rate," he said.
"But climb this tall and difficult montain, we must. For without faster and more balanced economic growth, there is simply no solution to the long-pending problems of poverty, unemployment and regional and social imbalances," he said.
Nor can we fulfill the inexorably rising expectations of our growing population, Vajpayee added.
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51 Congressmen urge Bush to lift sanctions on India
Washington,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: Ahead of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's planned meeting with President George W Bush later this month, 51 Congressmen have asked the US Administration to lift the sanctions on India.
Congressman McDermott's letter to President Bush co-signed by 50 other members of the India Caucus, also called for substantial changes in the "entities list" barring US companies from trading in so-called dual-use goods with several Indian companies, saying the measure was hurting the American firms as they were losing valuable trade to their competitors.
"We do not believe that our nation's interests, nor the interests of non-proliferation are served by attempting to isolate, unilaterally, this fellow democracy.
"If anything, proliferation controls will only be strengthened if remaining sanctions on India are lifted because of increased military cooperation and consultation," they said.
Vajpayee and Bush are expected to meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
Meanwhile, Chairman of US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R Biden said while economic punitive measures against India should be lifted, coup-related sanctions on Islamabad should be maintained until democracy begins to be restored, even as Pakistani lobby redoubled its efforts to secure equal treatment with India on the sanctions issue.
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Fake passport racket busted at Sahar
A racket involving pas sengers travelling on fake passports in connivance with immigration officials was busted at Sahar recently.
The passport racket involves smuggling out valid passports and visas from the USA by carriers which are then doctored. Kalpesh Patel and Nischal Doshi have been arrested for their role as alleged `carriers' who connived to help Bhartkumar Amin bring his brother, Shaileshkumar Amin, to the US illegally. Shaileshkumar's visa application had been twice rejected by the US Consulate in Mumbai.
Patel and Doshi arrived in Mumbai on June 19 with Bharatkumar's passport. They met Alex Sequeira, an official working with an handling agency at Sahar airport, who allegedly helped stamp and clear Bhartkumar's passport (number 202655308) with the help of immigration officer S. D. Tarwadkar for $ 500. Sequeira sssured he would ensure a safe passage to Shaileshkumar to the US for the sum of Rs 1 lakh.
On June 24, Shaileshkumar checked in for flight NW 037 bound for Amsterdam along with Patel and Doshi. They were personally escorted by Sequeira who requested an immigration officer to clear the three passengers' departure as a courtesy. They completed the formalities without a problem and were waiting in the departure lounge when an immigration officer on duty grew suspicious on seeing Sequeira in uniform. Handling agencies' staff are not permitted in the departure lounge.They were intercepted and when the passport was found to be doctored the three were arrested.
It was confirmed from the arrival records that no passenger by the name of Bhartkumar Amin had been cleared on June 19 though his passport bore the arrival stamp. Tarwadkar has denied having stamped the passport of Bhartkumar and claimed that the stamp was kept in his drawer during the period when there were no flight.
In the second case two Sri Lankan nationals were caught for trying to travel on German passports. Sasikaran Durairaja was caught allegedly with a passport in the name of Marc Axel Huffer and Dharmaligum Gouribalan, was caught at Sahar airport allegedly with a passport issued in the name of Dan Michman.
The two had approached an agent in Chennai, who charged them Rs 25,000 each for providing the fake passports. They were booked on a flight (SQ-328) from Mumbai to London on June 22. Officials became suspicious when the facial features did not match with those on the passports. The signatures too did not match.
However they had managed to clear immigration without being detected. They were intercepted by an airline employee while reporting for security check. FIRs have been lodged in both the cases at the Sahar police station. The racket, says officials, is much more widespread than is possible to detect. Since it happens with the connivance of immigration and other airport officials, vigil becomes all the more difficult.
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Imports of 300 sensitive items dip by 17 pc during Apr-July
New Delhi,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: Imports of the 300 sensitive tariff lines for the period April-July 2001 have recorded a negative growth rate of 17 per cent at Rs 3034 crore as against Rs 3663 crore last year.
The quick estimates show that imports have responded to the customs duty changes and other import management measures put into effect in recent months.
But, according to provisonal official data, imports during the period have increased in many commodities like automobiles, cotton, silk and plantation crops like tea, coffee, spices and rubber.
"While silk imports have taken place mainly from China and Chile, cotton has been imported from as many as 52 countries," an official release said here.
The imports of these items are likely to strengthen export competitiveness in the textile sector which accounts for 30 per cent of the export basket.
Imports of edible oils have also declined to Rs 1677 crore from Rs 2130 crore during the same period last year. Significantly, while import of refined edible oils has gone down substantially that of crude palm and soyabean oils has gone up leading to better utilisation of the processing capacity.
On a countrywise basis, there was a significant decrease in imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana and Russia amongst others. But, there was a major increase in imports from Brazil, USA, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uzbekistan, Iran and Chile.
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India asks for concessions from oil exporting countries
Singapore,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: India today demanded special concessions from oil exporting countries due to unrelenting high oil prices taking a toll on the economy.
"Volatility in international oil prices has had adverse effect on the economic conditions of a country, the effect is more severe in case of developing countries like India," Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said at the annual Asia-Pacific Petroleum Conference here.
It was necessary that oil exporting countries consider special concessions for developing countries at the time of high prices, Naik said, adding these may include extension in credit period, price discount and deferred payment facility.
The average Brent crude oil price during 2000 was around 28.5 dollars per barrel, higher than the price even during the Gulf war of 1990. In 2001 till date, the average price of Brent crude is above 26 dollars per barrel.
"Such unrelenting high oil price scenario is apparently taking its toll on the economies across the globe, and more severely on the developing countries. A prolonged period of high oil prices beyond 20 dollars a barrel is detrimental to the consuming countries, particularly import dependent countries like India," he said.
Without naming the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Naik said the sole focus of oil exporting countries has been on supporting the oil price line by regulation of oil supplies. This got translated into abnormally high oil prices.
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President gives assent to eight bills
New Delhi,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: President K R Narayanan today gave assent to eight bills, including one on Warehousing, which would enable the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) to set up warehouses abroad and enter into joint ventures and empower CWC to nominate its officers on the Board of State Warehousing Corporations.
The Bills were approved in the Monsoon Session of Parliament which ended on August 31 and with the assent by the President, they will come into force with immediate effect.
Among the other bills given assent include an amendment to the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act to adjust the law in the emerging globalisation of Indian economy, wherein both public and private sectors are expected to function in close tandem.
A bill removing the cap on borrowing by Food Corporation of India (FCI) was also assented to by the president.
Under the new act the FCI's borrowings cannot exceed ten times the paid up capital and the reserve fund established by the 1964 Act.
The maximum cash credit that FCI can avail of is Rs 229.45 bn.
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Young bowler loses eye during a match
Hyderabad,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: In a tragic incident, a promising young bowler, K Kaushik, lost his eye after being hit by a full blooded drive from the batsman in the Moin-ud-Dowla cricket tournament here.
The 19-year-old Kaushik, playing for Districts XI yesterday, was bowling to Sudhir Wankhede of Railways who stepped out of the crease and slammed a straight drive which the bowler took on the left eye as he had no time to duck, sources said today. Umpire R Chandra Kumar marshalled medical help and the injured bowler was shifted to hospital where the doctors who operated upon him were not very optimistic about the vision of the young player being restored, they added. District XI scored had 144 while Indian Railways attained the target in 16.3 overs by losing three wickets.
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Pak drops proposed 4-nation cricket tourney
Islamabad,Tuesday, September 11, 2001: Pakistan has dropped the idea of organising a four-nation limited-overs cricket tournament early next year due to uncertainty over India's participation.
The tournament, proposed to be jointly hosted by India and Pakistan and involving Zimbabwe and West Indies as the other teams, "is as good as written off," Pakistan Cricket Board Director Brig Munnawar Rana told PTI over phone today. "It has little relevance after India decided to opt out from Asian Test Championship in order to avoid playing Pakistan," Rana said. Zimbabwe is to tour India early next month while Pakistan will host West Indies during the same time. The four-nation tournament was conceived during the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Lahore in May and both PCB and the Indian Board had agreed to host half the matches each. Rana said there was no question of cancelling the tournament since it was just a proposal. Rana, however, declined to state whether Pakistan would participate in a tri-nation tournament being planned by Bangladesh in February next year. (BCCI sources had earlier indicated that this tournament would be squeezed between December 24 and January 12 when England take a break from their India tour to go home for Christmas and New Year). "Pakistan would tour Bangladesh early next year to play two Tests and one-day international series. Bangladesh Cricket Board has not yet informed PCB about its plans to host a triangular one-day tournament involving its team along with India and Pakistan," Rana said.
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Sensex: 3150.40, -33.23
The sensex closed at 3150.40, down 33.23
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Forex
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1 U.S. $ = 47.42 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.39 INR
1 British Pound = 69.06 INR
1 Canadian $ = 30.37 INR
1 Singapore $ = 27.01 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 12.91 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 12.64 INR
1 Euro = 42.55 INR
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Metals
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No data
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Weather
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Temperature: 82 F / 28 C
HeatIndex: 87 F / 31 C
Humidity: 74%
Dewpoint: 73 F / 23 C
Wind
WSW at 3 mph / 4.8 km/h
Pressure: 29.77 in / 1008 hPa
Conditions
Mostly Cloudy
Clouds
FEW: 1800 ft / 550 m
Scattered Clouds (SCT): 2500 ft / 764 m
Mostly Cloudy (BKN): 10000 ft / 3050 m
Sunrise : 06:25 AM (IST)
Sunset : 06:45 PM (IST)
Moon Rise : 12:49 AM (IST)
Moon Set : 01:30 PM (IST)
Today : High: 78 F / 26 C Scattered Clouds
Tonight : Low: 71 F / 22 C Scattered Clouds
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