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Headlines
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News:
Govt to give response on Jammu attack in Parliament tomorrow
Heat wave claims 449 lives in AP, rains bring respite
Pakistan prepared nuclear strike against India - US report
Life limps back to normal in Gujarat
India, US to have more joint military exercises in future
I didn’t invite Bharat Shah, says an ‘embarrassed’ Bhujbal
Musharraf admits irregularities in referendum
Pak arrests founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba
Sinha denies any failure of regulators in co-op bank scam
Wipro looking to buy IT counsltancy in US: Premji
Rehabilitation proposals for HFC and FCI reformulated: Govt
SEBI prohibits Ketan Sheth, six firms from dealing in market
Stocks slide extended to third session on BSE
Kumble undergoes surgery
Talks on for telecast of World Cup football matches
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Markets:
Sensex: 3355.61, -39.98
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Forex, Metals and
Weather below
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News
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Govt to give response on Jammu attack in Parliament tomorrow
New Delhi,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Government will come out with its response to the terrorist attack in Jammu tomorrow when Parliament debates the incident even as a high-level meeting today discussed strategies for troops to check infiltration of militants and providing hinterland security.
The 90-minute meeting, chaired by Home Minister L K Advani, discussed the security scenario on the basis of assesment of intelligence agencies regarding the intention of terrorist groups as also the likely trends in the situation.
An official statement issued after the meeting said steps for "refining the strategy and tactics to be followed by the security forces with sepcial reference to checking infiltration, providing hinterland security and related confidence building measures for the civilian population" figured during the discussions.
The security drill and deployment of troops for the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to begin on July 22 and ensuing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir also deliberated.
The meeting also focussed on continued operations against terrorists and action against there overground support bases.
Emerging from the meeting, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters that Governement will formulate its response on the Kaluchak attack in Parliament tomorrow. Thirty-one people were killed in the strike.
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Heat wave claims 449 lives in AP, rains bring respite
Hyderabad,Thursday, May 16, 2002: The death toll in the unprecedented heat wave that swept across Andhra Pradesh for the past eight days has risen to 449 with reports of more deaths pouring in from other parts even as Wednesday night rains brought some respite with the mercury slipping to normal.
Guntur district bore the brunt of the scorching heat by recording the highest of 98 deaths followed by Prakasham (77), East Godavari (61), West Godavari (44), and Krishna (42), State Relief Commissioner Officer spokesman told PTI today.
Deaths were also reported from Khammam (35), Visakhapatnam (39), Mahboobnagar (12), Nellore (12), Nalgonda (18), Adilabad (6) Vizianagaram (2), Chittoor, Cuddapah and Kurnool one each, the spokesman said.
The weather office here said the mercury has fallen considerably and is back to normal and there were rains last night in North Coastal Andhra, parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema which brought down the temperature to around 40 degrees celsius.
Kalingapatnam registered a rainfall of 3 cm while the highest temperature of 41 degrees was recoreded at Bapatla in Guntur district, the spokesman added.
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Pakistan prepared nuclear strike against India - US report
The United States had evidence the Pakistani military was preparing a nuclear strike against India in 1999, as the two nation's armies were locked in a pitched battle in the disputed region of Kashmir, a former White House official acknowledged.
The revelations by Bruce Riedel, a former special assistant to former president Bill Clinton, also leave open the possibility these preparations were being made behind Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's back by then-armed forces commander General Pervez Musharraf.
In an academic paper prepared for the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at University of Pennsylvania, Riedel described Musharraf, the current Pakistani president, as a man who "seemed to be in a different mould" than Sharif.
"He was said to be a hardliner on Kashmir, a man some feared was determined to humble India once and for all," Riedel said.
The publication of the paper came amid a new flare-up of tensions between the perennial rivals which have fought two war over Kashmir since 1947.
According to Riedel, the Clinton administration became seriously concerned about that prospect in June 1999, when India was trying to dislodge Pakistani troops from Kargil, where they took up positions after crossing the line of control separating Kashmir.
Washington feared that India could get tired of costly uphill attacks on well-fortified Pakistani positions and open a second front elsewhere, prompting Pakistan to resort to nuclear weapons, said the former official.
On July 3, "more information developed about the escalating military situation in the area -- disturbing evidence that the Pakistanis were preparing their nuclear arsenals for possible deployment," Riedel recalled.
Both Pakistan and India conducted a series of nuclear tests in 1998.
Fears that the war over Kargil could turn nuclear heightened after the US administration learned about travel arrangements made by Sharif, who was coming to Washington to plead for Clinton's help.
"He was bringing his wife and children with him to Washington, a possible indication that he was afraid he might not be able to go home if the summit failed or that the military was telling him to leave," said Riedel.
As the US side prepared for talks, national security adviser Samuel Berger warned Clinton that this could be "the most important foreign policy meeting of his presidency because the stakes could include nuclear war."
The administration also had enlisted the assistance of Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who rode with Sharif in a car from Dulles Airport to Washington trying to persuade him to withdraw Pakistani troops from Kargil.
This conversation revealed that the prime minister was hardly in full control of the situation.
"The PM was distraught, deeply worried about the direction the crisis was going toward disaster, but equally worried about his own hold on power and the threat from his military chiefs who were pressing for a tough stand," Riedel wrote.
When Clinton asked him if he knew how advanced the threat of nuclear war really was, "Sharif seemed taken aback" and denied issuing orders to get nuclear-tipped missiles ready, the former official recalled.
The upshot of the tense negotiations was Sharif's agreement to order his troops to fall behind the line of control.
He fulfilled his promised. But his government was toppled in October 1999 in a coup led by Musharraf. - Sapa-AFP
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Life limps back to normal in Gujarat
Ahmedabad,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Life was limping back to normal in the violence-ravaged Gujarat, including the worst-hit commercial capital with no major incident reported for the third day today.
In Ahmedabad city, as curfew was relaxed from 6 am to 10 pm in some pockets, large number of people came out braving the sweltering heat, giving the cops at traffic junctions a tough time.
There were traffic jams at a number of spots in the trading nerve centres Ashram Road, C G Road and Navrangpura.
Barring stray incidents of arson and looting of shops by mobs in Naroda Patia area, the overall situation was normal, police said.
In Sarkhej and Viramgam towns of Ahmedabad rural district and Baroda city the curfew was further relaxed during the day.
Shops and business establishments recorded brisk business at a number of places.
Attendance in Government and other offices also reported improvement.
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India, US to have more joint military exercises in future
Agra,Thursday, May 16, 2002: With the first ever large scale military exercises involving Indian and Amercian special forces underway, their commanders were today satisfied with the synergy and interoperability in airborne assault operations and announced a much larger exercises in India and Alaska towards the end of this year.
"The focus of the first ever joint exercises is special operations and airborne anti infiltration operations", Group Captain V K Singh, Commander of the Para-training school here told visiting newsmen. Exercises in India will be held in October while Alaska exercises would be in December.
This assumes significance in the backdrop of US forces involved in anti-terorist operations in Afghanistan and Indian forces countering Pakistani-sponsored terrorism on the Indian soil.
"This exercise is to exchange mutual expertise in special operations and airborne assaults. Based on this exercise more interaction is sure to take place in near future" Singh said as a rare spectacle unfolded of American Airborne special forces parajumping from Indian Air Forces' Russian-made Antonov 32 aircraft using Indian chutes and Indian para-commandoes airdropped from the US air force Hercules C-130 aircraft.
The familiarity drive was not confined to elite special forces, the US and Indian Air Force pilots also took turns to familrise themselves by being behind controls of IAF IL-76 and AN-32 and US Airforce hercules C-130.
"We have crossed the initial phase well", Lt Col G S Buterbubugh of the US Air Force said, adding coming days would see larger inter-action.
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I didn’t invite Bharat Shah, says an ‘embarrassed’ Bhujbal
MUMBAI’S corridors of power were abuzz with one incident the whole day — the presence of diamond tycoon and film financier Bharat Shah at the wedding of Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj on Tuesday.
By Wednesday evening, Bhujbal’s office was calling up the media to clarify that Bhujbal, who is also the Home Minister, did not invite Shah, who was in jail for his alleged links with the underworld.
‘‘Certainly, it was a major embarrassment for me. The moment I saw the tainted film financier, I was surprised and shocked, I never invited him for the marriage reception of my son,’’ Bhujbal told Newsline. Shah, when contacted, did not want to elaborate on the issue but said: ‘‘I was invited.’’
So did Shah gatecrash at the wedding? Bhujbal crosschecked on the entry of Shah and found that he had come on the invitation of Mukesh Gandhi, a senior leader of NCP, in-charge of the Gujarati wing of the organisation. ‘‘It was beyond my capacity to deliver the invitation to individuals. I personally handed over the invitation cards to select persons. So, I had given the responsibility to senior office-bearers of the party to draft a list of invitees. I did not see the final list, but I never expected that an invitation will be sent to Shah too,’’ Bhujbal said.
When asked if Shah would take advantage of the invitation as well as the photographs published in the media, Bhujbal declined to comment.
Besides Bhujbal and his family members, even senior police officers were shocked. Bhujbal had taken the initiative in the investigations into Shah’s alleged underworld links and was considered instrumental in his detention under the Maharashtra Prevention of Organised Crime Act. Though Shah was released on bail by the Supreme Court after a year-long, judicial custody, the case is still pending before the designated court.
Erstwhile Shiv Sena leader, Mukesh Gandhi, who recently joined the NCP, confirmed that he had invited Shah. ‘‘I had taken some invitation cards from Bhujbal’s office for delivering them to prominent members of the Gujarati community. One of them was delivered to Shah. There was no ulterior motive, but it was given in a routine manner, since Shah is an important member of our community,’’ Gandhi said.
Gandhi does not feel that the unexpected presence of Shah had caused any kind of embarrassment to the Deputy Chief Minister. ‘‘I think that should not be the case. Why it should cause embarrassment to Bhujbal? I had not given it to him with that intention,’’ Gandhi said, adding, the whole issue was blown out of proportion by the media.
Now that Shah has been released on bail, too much importance should not be given to functions attended by him, Gandhi added.
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Musharraf admits irregularities in referendum
Islamabad,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has admitted irregularities in the referendum to extend his stay in office by five years, but said they were done without his orders.
"Although, I do admit that there might be some truth behind the reports of irregularities in the presidential referendum but even if they had not been done, I might have won the election with a thumping majority," he said.
"My inner self is quite satisfied over the outcome of the referendum as I had not ordered such irregularities to be committed," Musharraf said, bringing up the matter even though it was not listed on the agenda of the Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
Trying to play down the large scale irregularities widely reported in national and international media, the military ruler justified referendum saying it was to continue his reform programmes, 'The News' daily reported.
Musharraf said he did not want to see the fruits of his "hard labour" go waste after October general elections, the paper said.
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Pak arrests founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba
Islamabad,Thursday, May 16, 2002: The founder leader of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has been arrested by Pakistani authorities, just a day after the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu that claimed 31 lives, allegedly carried out by a LeT group.
Saeed was arrested Wednesday on charges of planning to create unrest in Pakistan. He was arrested while on his way to Islamabad from Lahore, a LeT spokesman said.
He was taken into custody in January as part of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown against religous extremism. Lahore High Court had recently released him due to lack of evidence.
Saeed, who figures on the list of 20 terrorists and criminals India has demanded to be handed over by Pakistan, was due to address a rally in Lahore on May 19.
Earlier, LeT had declared closing its offices in Pakistan but carrying out its operations in Kashmir.
LeT is also suspected to have attacked Parliament on December 13 last.
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Sinha denies any failure of regulators in co-op bank scam
New Delhi,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said Maharashtra cooperative banks' scam involving Home Trade Ltd and four other brokers was due to "manifestly fraudulent" transactions in government securities and was not reflective of any inadequacy of regulatory guidelines.
"There has been no failure on the part of the regulators as alleged. Detailed guidelines have been laid down by the regulators and violations were detected during inspection and surveillance and prompt action taken," Sinha said making a statement in Rajya Sabha on a calling attention on the securities scam in cooperative banks.
These transactions had come to light in course of regular statutory inspections of Nagpur and Osmanabad District central cooperative banks by NABARD and as a follow up on off-site surveillance/market intelligence reports over urban cooperative banks by RBI, Sinha said.
Further scrutiny revealed absence of any investment policy as per RBI guidelines, non existence of concurrent audit/internal inspection system, lack of trained staff and complete failure of the management, especially the board of directors in controlling, guiding and monitoring the affairs of the bank and failure to comply with the RBI guidelines, he said.
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Wipro looking to buy IT counsltancy in US: Premji
New York,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Wipro Ltd, India's largest listed software conglomerate by sales, is looking to buy a large information technology consultancy in the US, its chairman Azim Premji has said.
Wipro, listed with American depositary receipts on the New York Stock Exchange, is talking to the top management of "a few" US companies, he said in an interview to the Wall Street Journal in London published today.
"We have a market cap of eight billion dollars in the US, so we have the currency to do it," Premji said. But he
cautioned that a deal was not imminent.
He said Wipro, which has a strong presence in consumer care and lighting products besides software services, is looking primarily to buy an information technology consulting company, but declined to name any potential targets.
"If we do a successful acquisition, we will gain critical mass," Premji said. "We are a little below critical mass today."
Local media reports, the Journal said, have suggested that Wipro may be in the running to buy the consulting arm of accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
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Rehabilitation proposals for HFC and FCI reformulated: Govt
New Delhi,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Government today told the Lok Sabha that revised comprehensive rehabilitation proposals for certain units of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation (HFC) and Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) have been reformulated and are presently under examination by a Group of Ministers (GOM).
"The GOM has been specifically constituted to revisit the issues relating to rehabilitation of sick fertilizer PSUs including HFC and FCI," Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister S S Dhindsa said replying to a calling attention motion moved by CPI-M members Sunil Khan and Basudeb Acharia on Government's "inaction" for revival of HFC and FCI.
Referring to the order of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for winding up of FCI and HFC, he said both companies filed appeals against these orders before the Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR).
While the appeal of FCI has been dismissed by AAIFR, that of HFC will come up for hearing this month-end, Dhindsa said.
The Minister, however, said Government has been providing budgetary support for meeting essential capital expenditure and operations requirements, including salary and wages of employees, of HFC and FCI.
While the total budgetary support to FCI since 1991 has been Rs 18.99 billion out of which Rs 16.01 billion has been non-plan support, that for HFC during the same period has been Rs 1588 crore including Rs 1147 crore of non-plan support, he said.
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SEBI prohibits Ketan Sheth, six firms from dealing in market
Mumbai,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today directed that Ketan Sheth, accused in the multi-crore government securities (G-secs) scam, and his six entities shall not buy, sell or deal in the securities market till May 30.
A post decisional hearing has been granted to Sheth and his entities on May 27, SEBI said in a release here.
Sheth was Wednesday remanded to CBI custody till May 27 in connection with the Rs 920.78 bn Seamen's Provident Fund Organisation. He is also accused in the Rs 1.5 bn Nagpur District Central Co-operative Bank g-sec scam.
SEBI said this decision was in view of the "emergent situation with relation to irregularities seen in g-secs transactions by Home Trade and related entities and to ensure that investors in the market do not suffer losses".
The six firms are - KSC Securities Ltd (Pune Stock Exchange member), Giltedge Credit Capital Ltd (NSE member in derivaties and cash segments), Giltedge Financial & Management Services Ltd (BSE sub-broker), Giltedge Equiderivatives Ltd (sub-broker), Giltedge Investment Banking Services Ltd (category I merchant banker) and Giltedge Portfolio Management Services.
Earlier this week, SEBI had extended the ban imposed on Sanjay Agrawal promoted Home Trade from dealing in securities till completion of investigations and action thereon or one year, whichever is later.
The market regulator said the order was issued under section 4(3) of SEBI Act, 1992 read with section 11 and 11B of the SEBI Act.
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Stocks slide extended to third session on BSE
Mumbai,Thursday, May 16, 2002: The downslide in equities extended to the third session with widespread losses in key counters that pushed the sensex down by about 40 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today in the wake of fresh bout of selling from domestic mutual funds as well as speculators.
The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened marginally up at 3391.14 but later reacted negatively under increased pressure and dropped to the intra-day low at 3342.34 before ending at 3355.61 as against Wednesday's close of 3395.59, netting a loss of 39.98 points or 1.18 per cent.
The broad-based BSE-100 Index moved down by another 19.37 points to 1678.50 from previous close of 1697.87.
Attributing consistent off-loading by mutual funds led by Unit Trust of India (UTI) and speculators largely to fears of military action against Pakistan ahead of the government's response on Tuesday's terrorist attack near Jammu in Parliament tomorrow, market sources said the sentiment was partly affected by the arrest of big bull Ketan Parekh.
Barring a few PSU stocks like IPCL, SAIL, Shipping Corp, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and some other second-rung stocks, share prices generally moved downwards due to selling pressure.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which are consistent net buyers, albeit in small quantity, were believed to have been making purchases in select second-rung stocks.
Meanwhile, the Nikkei rose further by 95.72 points at close while Singapore ST Index and the Hang Seng eased by 13.84 points and 5.59 points respectively.
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Kumble undergoes surgery
Bangalore,Thursday, May 16, 2002: A team of dental specialists today successfully operated on the jaw fracture of ace leg spinner Anil Kumble, who is now 'feeling absolutely fine' and could get back into international cricket action as early as next week.
"Anil is absolutely fine and he is feeling better. He can get back into cricket action in eight to ten days", Dr Kishore Nayak, a leading oral and maxillo-facial surgeon, who performed the 45-minute surgery this morning along with another doctor Sanjiv Nair, told PTI.
The doctors inserted two titanium plates to hold Kumble's jaw together. They said Kumble would be discharged from hospital tomorrow morning. "There is no scar", Nayak said.
The bowler had sustained a fracture on his lower jaw by a Mervyn Dillon delivery during the fourth Test against the West Indies on Saturday. He flew into his home town on Wednesday.
Kumble had said he could not chew food and had been on liquid diet since the incident. In a heroic effort, he had, however, bowled 14 overs unchanged, with a terribly hurt jaw on Sunday, dismissing the West Indies great Brian Lara.
Dr Nayak said Kumble would start taking semi-solid food from tomorrow.
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Talks on for telecast of World Cup football matches
New Delhi,Thursday, May 16, 2002: Prasar Bharati is negotiating with TEN Sports which has the rights for the telecast of World Cup football matches, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Replying to a spate of queries during Question Hour on what arrangements have been made for the telecast of World Cup football matches, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said "seeing the mood of the members, I will keep the house informed about the negotiations."
Raising the issue, Vaiko (MDMK) wanted to know what arrangements have being made for the telecast of matches as there was a large audience for it.
He was supported by members from other parties including Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi (Cong), Hannah Mollah and Ajoy Chakravarthy (both CPI-M).
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Markets
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Sensex: 3355.61, -39.98
The sensex closed at 3355.61, down 39.98
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Forex
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1 U.S. $ = 49.03 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.38 INR
1 British Pound = 71.59 INR
1 Canadian $ = 31.49 INR
1 Singapore $ = 27.21 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 13.35 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 13.07 INR
1 Euro = 44.80 INR
1 Qatar Rial = 13.46 INR
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Metals
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Weather
| Temperature : 86 F / 30 C
HeatIndex : 92 F / 33 C
Humidity : 62%
Dew Point : 72 F / 22 C
Wind : WNW at 12 mph / 19.3 km/h
Wind Gust -
Pressure : 29.62 in / 1003 hPa (Steady)
Conditions : Scattered Clouds
Visibility -
Clouds(FEW): 2000 ft / 611 m Scattered Clouds(SCT): 2500 ft / 764 m
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