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Cleric claims over one lakh suicide bombers present in Pak
Islamabad, May 31 (PTI) A top cleric of the Red Mosque here has claimed that more than one lakh suicide bombers, including 10,000 in the two madrassas controlled by him, were present in Pakistan and were ready to explode at the command of their superiors.
These "suicide attackers are ready to operate anywhere and anytime in Pakistan," Red Mosque's head cleric Abdul Aziz said.
"We consider suicide attacks are right in Pakistan under a few circumstances while we consider them as absolutely justified in the context of Afghanistan and Iraq," he was quoted by 'The News' as saying. "We favoured the Taliban not only in the past, we favour them even today." The Red Mosque-controlled two madrassas for boys and girls had thousands of students. The burqa-clad girl students and the bamboo sticks-wielding boys have been giving a tough time to police in the capital since January.
Aziz denied the criticism from the opposition parties that he and his brother, who had been demanding imposition of Sharia law here, were being used by intelligence agencies to counter the challenge posed by the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry. "We are not operating under the command of some agency." He also claimed that former ISI Chief Gen (Retd) Hamid Gul had told him during a conversation that according to the Constitution, any citizen of Pakistan can play the role of a "law officer" if he observes some illegal activity somewhere and not find law-enforcement authorities there.
Asked why the Mosque administration did not do something for the poor, the cleric said they could not do anything for improving the condition of the poor with their limited resources. However, he said, they could stop people from doing wrong. "We are doing what we can do." PTI
Gurjar unrest spreads to Delhi, protests at several places
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) The unrest in Rajasthan over Gujrar community's demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe list spread to the national capital today with protests taking place in several areas.
Members of the community blocked roads, leading to major traffic snarls in the morning hours, and burnt the effigies of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as they took out protest demonstrations at several places.
Protestors, including women, pelted stones at vehicles in Khanpur locality of south Delhi and blocked vehicular movement in Dullupura, Kondli and Malviya Nagar areas, police said.
A demonstration also took place outside the residence of Raje in Bikaji Cama Place in south Delhi. A large number of Gurjars assembled at Jantar Mantar shouting slogans against Rajasthan government.
With protests taking place on the highways leading to the capital, police have tightened security at all the borders. The flyway connecting Delhi with Noida in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh was closed for traffic to avoid any trouble.
Gurjars had hit the streets in Khajoori Khaz locality of northeast Delhi yesterday to protest the police firing on members of their community in Rajasthan, killing at least 12 persons.
Meanwhile, the agitation continued to paralyse normal life across Rajasthan for the third day today with protestors blocking highways and indulging in arson, stone pelting and clashes with police in many areas. PTI
Corruption undermining education system: UNESCO report
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) Corrupt practices are undermining education systems around the world and costing governments billions of dollars, according to UNESCO.
In its report to be launched in Paris on June six, the UN body's International Institute of Education Planning (IIEP) assesses the nature and extent of the problem of corruption in education worldwide and evaluates how much it is costing the societies and identifies ways to address it.
The report "Corrupt schools, corrupt universities: What can be done" features several case studies from different regions of the world, revealing a variety of corrupt practices in the countries, both poor and rich, a UNESCO release said.
The authors, education specialists Jacques Hallak and Muriel Poisson, also make a number of recommendations on how the problem of corruption can be dealt with.
The report also looks at several instances where introduction of measures has all but stamped out corrupt practices. PTI
EC contemplates tough measures for Gujarat polls
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) Tough measures enforced in Uttar Pradesh to ensure free and fair Assembly elections will also be in place in Gujarat which is going to polls later this year.
"We will apply those yardsticks that were applied in UP" which ensured free and fair polls, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy said at a 'Meet the Press' programme organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps here.
Asked what were the special measures being taken for 'big challenge' in Gujarat, the CEC said all those measures that brought laurels to the Commission in UP would be taken in Gujarat.
"Still there is six months time," Gopalaswamy said adding that work on the preparation of electoral rolls was going on in the state.
The term of the present House in Gujarat will end on December 26 this year.
Asked to specify which state he would term as "most problematic" in the conduct of elections, pat came the reply "after Goa experience, there is no state which will have no problem. Each one has got different problem". Goa is going to polls on June two.
Though Goa was "miniscule" compared to UP in terms of constituencies and population, the CEC said that there was free flow of everything. "The number of crates of beer has gone up to 80,000 in one month", he said. PTI
Nimbus did not fulfill contractual obligations: ACC
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) Contrary to claims made by sports broadcaster Nimbus that it had walked out of the upcoming Afro-Asia Cup cricket series, Asian Cricket Council today said it scrapped the deal with the channel for "not fulfilling contractual obligations".
Consequently, ACC has awarded the telecast rights for this year Afro-Asia cup to be held in India next month to ESPN Star Sports (ESS).
"They (Nimbus) did not fulfil their contractual obligations... But it is always painful to terminate contracts," ACC CEO Syed Ashraful Huq told PTI over phone from Kuala Lumpur.
Asked to explain the details of its contract with Nimbus, he declined to comment citing confidentiality clause. He also did not reveal the financial details of ACC's new deal with ESS.
Yesterday, Nimbus had said that it will not be part of the event which starts from from June 6 to 10 in Bangalore and Chennai.
"We will not be telecasting the event. Neither will we be producing nor bringing sponsorship for the matches," Nimbus chief Harish Thawani said.
The tournament had lost sheen due to pullout of big stars and industry insiders say this could be one of the reasons for Nimbus' loss of interest in the event.
Huq, however, flatly denied it and said ACC was aiming for much higher viewership through its new partner ESS.
"I don't think this is the case. You cannot force players to play. In the last edition, Rahul (Dravid) and Sachin Tendulkar did not play but the tournament was still a success," he said. PTI
ESPN Star bags telecast rights of Afro-Asia cup
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) ESPN Star Sports has bagged the telecast rights of Afro-Asia cup after Nimbus bagged out of the deal citing absence of big names in the tournament.
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has awarded the worldwide rights for telecasting the second edition of Afro-Asia Cup to ESPN Star Sports, the company said in a statement here.
The deal includes exclusive global television broadcast rights of the tournament in addition to title, on-ground and commercial rights, it said.
However, the company declined to reveal the value of the deal.
Due to Nimbus' non-fulfilment of contractual obligations, ACC has cancelled its contract and has now awarded rights to ESPN Star Sports, the statement said. The Afro-Asia Cup will be held in Bangalore and Chennai in June 2007.
The broadcaster also has exclusive telecast rights for the next Asia Cup to be played in May 2008 in Pakistan. ESPN Star Sports has recently bagged the coveted International Cricket Council (ICC) global telecast and marketing rights until 2015 as well.
According to reports, Nimbus Sports, had bought the rights for three editions of the tournament, first played in 2005 in South Africa, for 12 million dollars.
"We will not be part of the event in any way," Nimbus chief Harish Thawani had told PTI yesterday. "We will not be telecasting the event. Neither will we be producing nor bringing sponsorship for the matches." PTI
Commonwealth TT:India trounce Bangladesh to top group
Jaipur, May 31 (PTI) Defending champions India thrashed Bangladesh 3-0 to emerge as group leaders and advance to the second stage of the team event of the 17th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship here today.
The Indian eves followed suit by defeating England 3-0 and later cruising to facile 3-0 victory over Maldives in last group 'D' encounter to sail into the second round.
The Indian men, who are assured of a place in the last eight, decided to rest Soumyadeep Roy and Subhajit Saha and brought in Anirban Nandi and Pathik Mehta in their place.
And along with national champion Achanta Sharath Kamal, they both proved more than handful for a hapless Bangladesh.
Sharath Kamal set the tempo by beating Mohammad Hanif 11-9 11-7 11- 8 and then Anirban Nandi lost a game before surging to 11-1 6-11 11-1 11-5 win over Al Mahbub Khondoker Billah.
Mehta carved out a 11-5 13-11 11-2 win against Manash Chowdhary in the third set.
In the women's section, Mouma Das got the better of Helen Lower 11-5 11-4 12-10 while national champion Poulomi Ghatak pulled off a 11-4 9-11 11-7 11-6 win over Kelly Sibley.
Kumaresan Shamini notched up the issue with a 11-7 11-6 11-9 win over Natalie Bawden.
Indian eves, however, faces a tough second round of the competition as the spin of coin placed them in group 'B' with group 'A' top seed and favourites Singapore.
In the second stage league of men's section, Singapore and India head group 'E' and 'F' respectively which contain four teams each. PTI
No contender can be taken lightly: Vishwanathan Anand
Chennai, May 31 (PTI) Despite reaching the pinnacle, Viswanathan Anand today said he was as motivated as always to play chess and would not take any contender lightly in World Chess Championship to be held at Mexico in September.
"I am really motivated to play well year after year and it is an excellent opportunity to go to Mexico City as world number one," he told reporters across six cities through NIIT's 'Imperia technology' (a sort of videoconferencing).
The World Number one player said it was dangerous to dismiss anybody (as an inferior) in a tournament.
"All players are dangerous and I don't want to specify names," he said in reply to a query.
Some of the big names in chess like World Champion Vladmir Kramnik, Veselin Topolov among others are scheduled to vie for the top spot at Mexico this September.
On whether too much of dependence on computers by players hindered performance in professional circuit, Anand replied in the negative.
"In fact, it helps a player to be more creative and its always better to keep updated with technology," he added.
He denies that chess was losing out to cricket and football in terms of the glamour quotient as the game had its own loyal following.
"However, the game needs to be developed," he added.
Later, the grandmaster played chess simultaneously with budding stars across the six cities, including Chennai and Bangalore. PTI
Paes-Damm pair survives tough French Open opener
Paris, May 31 (PTI) The third seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm quelled the challange of local hopes Jeremy Chardy and Jonathan Eysseric 7-6(4), 7-6(2) to advance into the second round of French Open here.
Paes and Damm were stretched by the local combination but the experienced Indo-Czech duo ultimately prevailed over them yesterday.
The third seeds were hardly impressive and wasted several opportunities during their patchy display. They could convert just one break point out of 10 that came their way.
Paes and Damm will next take on the winners of the match between Michael Kohlmann and Rainer Schuettler of Germany and the Russian-Chilean pair of Teimuraz Gabashvili and Nicolas Massu.
Today, Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek will open their campaign and take on the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenber and Marcin Matkowski in their first round match.
Sania Mirza, who stormed into the singles second round with an easy 6-1, 6-1 win Alberta Brianti yesterday, will face off against seventh seed Ana Evanovic of Serbia.
Sania has a busy schedule for today as, apart from the singles, the 20-year-old will also play her women's doubles opener pairing with Eva Birnerova of Czech Republic.
The Indo-Czech duo is up against the top seeded pair of American Lisa Raymond and Australian Samantha Stosur. PTI
Nifty at new high, touches 4,306.75; Sensex up 133 points
Mumbai, May 31 (PTI) Continuing its record-breaking spree, the National Stock Exchange's Nifty climbed to hit its new intra-day high of 4,306.75 points on late buying by funds, triggered by firming global markets.
The Nifty, which had ended in negative zone yesterday, staged a strong comeback on re-emergence of buying by funds along with short-covering to hit an all-time intra-session high of 4,306.75 points, before closing at its record high of 4,295.80, up 46.15 points or 1.09 per cent.
The benchmark Sensex ended higher by 133.08 points, or 0.92 per cent at 14,544.46 after moving between 14,573.81 and 14,448.57, largely on the back of strong rally in consumer durable goods, FMCG, banking and capital goods sector stocks.
Market observers said apart from funds buying, covering-up of short positions by speculators due to end of June expiry in the Futures and Option (F&O) segment also influenced the trading sentiments.
They said reports that the country's economy grew by 9.4 per cent in 2006-07 due to high growth in manufacturing and services sector, also triggered wide-spread buying activity.
Last year, the growth rate was 9 per cent.
Major supporters to the Sensex were consumer durables index up by 179.51 points at 4,195.57, Bankex by 102.13 points at 7,505.22, and capital goods by 74.56 points at 11,079.43. PTI
Reliance Money to set up 10,000 kiosks by March 2008
Kolkata, May 31 (PTI) Reliance Money, the financial trading platform promoted by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's Reliance Capital, would increase the number of web-enabled trading kiosks to 10,000 by March 2008, a company official said.
Reliance Money Chief Executive Officer Sudip Bandopadhyay today said the company presently has 2500 trading kiosks across the country.
By March 2009, the number of suck kiosks would be increased to 25,000, he said.
Reliance Money also tied up with retail coffee chain Barista to set up trading kiosks at its 100 strategically located outlets across the country.
He said that the trading platform provided by Reliance Money would help the investors in carrying out any kind of financial transaction (except banking), which included stock and commodity trading.
The platform also provides a single window to deal in insurance, mutual fund, gold coins purchase and other products. Bandopadhyay said the company was also in the process of starting buy back of gold coins to offer liquidity.
He said 90 per cent of stock trading done in India was in the form of `call and trade' and only 10 per cent was through the internet.
To achieve the objective of spreading the number of outlets, Reliance Money was also talking to several other retail chains.
He said that the other initiative taken by Reliance Money was to set up an institutional desk to deal with foreign institutional investors.
Emerging as one of the leading brokerage houses in the country, daily turnover in stock trading through the Reliance Money platform had already touched Rs 600 crore. PTI
BSNL looking at Ericsson price offer; Raja seeks deal details
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) The 45-million GSM network expansion plan of BSNL, already delayed by six months due to a legal battle, could be held up further over prices quoted by the two lowest bidders - Ericsson and Nokia.
"It is big contract spread over three years.. We are still working on the APO (Advanced Purchase Order) where we are looking at the selected bidders' quoted price.
"Once that is over, we will work out our own suitable price of the tender and ask them to provide the equipment at that price. If they don't agree, we will negotiate with them. Let that stage come, we are yet to do that when negotiations will take place", BSNL CMD A K Sinha told PTI.
Sinha did not say what would be BSNL's offered price. But talks of negotiation spells trouble for both the vendors, as it is common in big tenders for companies to award contracts first and bargain later.
Swedish bidder Ericsson had quoted 107 dollar per line and had got 60 per cent of the 45 million GSM contract, while the second lowest bidder Nokia secured 40 per cent.
Asked whether the Telecom Minister A Raja wants BSNL to place the APO on a lower price of 100 dollar, Sinha replied: "Minister wanted to know certain details on the deal from us and we have already told him that." PTI
Govt defers decision on Navi Mumbai SEZ, gives nod to Tatas
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) Awaiting reports from the Maharashtra Government and developers, the Board of Approval today deferred decision on Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZ but approved the Tata's Gopalpur SEZ in Orissa.
Commerce Secretary and BoA Chairman G K Pillai told reporters that the government had received a report from the Revenue Department on the Navi Mumbai project, but was awaiting views from the state Government and the developers.
"We wanted to get comments from the developers and the state government on the report of the Revenue Department," Pillai said.
The Revenue Department wanted to know whether arrangements had been made for plugging possible revenue leakages because of a road passing through the zone being promoted by Ambani and his close aide Anand Jain.
The 1,173 hectare Gopalpur SEZ, promoted by Tatas in Ganjam district of Orissa, was deferred in September last year as the BoA wanted to ensure that it posed no problem to a security facility nearby. PTI
Brown raised 113,000 pounds to fight for party leadership
London, May 31 (PTI) Britain's prime minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown raised 113,000 pounds to fight the election campaign for leadership of the party, with two NRI entrepreneurs contributing substantially to the fund, figures released by the Electoral Commission indicated today.
The Chancellor ultimately had no challenger and he will succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister unopposed on June 27.
Two labour peers, Lord Swraj Paul, Chairman of Caparo Industries, and Lord Bhattacharyya, who finances the 100 million-pounds Warwick University manufacturing group, donated 50,000 pounds between them.
Others who donated to the Brown fund were businessmen Paul Myners, Lord Leitch and John Miskelly, who gave 9,700 pounds, 5,000 pounds and 2,000 pounds respectively.
The chancellor's funds far outstripped the money raised by candidates standing for the deputy leadership in a closely fought campaign among six hopefuls.
Brown's nearest rival on the money-raising front is Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain, who has raised 77,000 pounds, while the justice minister Harriet Harman has borrowed 10,000 pounds from a bank to stay in the race.
Even though Brown no longer needs to fight a leadership contest, the money raised is being used to fund the Chancellor's appearances around the country. PTI
Justice Major threatens to subpoena Air Canada to testify
Bal Krishna
Toronto, May 31 (PTI) Justice John Major, heading the Air India Flight 182 inquiry, has asked Air Canada to appear before court and warned that unless the airline relents and attends voluntarily, he will consider issuing a subpoena to compel it to send people to testify.
"The Canadian airline is one of the world's oldest and largest, and it's Air Canada's duty to co-operate with the inquiry," Justice Major said yesterday.
Air Canada notified commission counsel earlier this week that it wouldn't be able to attend, but Major says that response wasn't good enough.
Major's inquiry is investigating the 1985 terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182 that claimed 329 lives. A key issue is whether domestic and international security rules have been reformed sufficiently since then to ensure another such tragedy never occurs.
The Air India bombing was the crescendo in an international campaign by Sikh extremists that included nine earlier hijackings.
"Air India was the 10th and the big-bang event as far as the Khalistan militant movement was concerned and therefore to that degree it was predictable," University of Manitoba professor Peter St. John testified.
"We could anticipate that something might happen." St. John began studying aviation security and terrorism after losing his student and teaching assistant, 23-year-old Rahul Aggarwal, in the bombing. PTI
UNSC votes for special tribunal to try Hariri killers
Dharam Shourie
United Nations, May 31 (PTI) In a highly controversial move, a divided 15-member United Nations Security Council voted to set up an a special tribunal to try suspected killers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hiriri.
Ten members voted in favour while Russia, China, Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa abstained on the mandatory resolution under chapter seven of the UN Charter which came in response from request by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
But parliament has not endorsed Siniora's request as Speaker Nabih Berri who belongs to opposition and disputes cabinet's legitimacy has refused to call a session.
The resolution gives until June 10-- a concession Western sponsors of the resolution made for the Lebanese parties to come to understanding.
Otherwise, the resolution would take effect.
The tribunal would work under Lebanese laws but would have a majority of foreign judges and it is not yet known where it would sit in Lebanon or outside.
The resolution poses direct challenge to Syria whose senior leaders are suspected by the Western countries to have a hand in the assassination.
Damascus is not expected to cooperate with the tribunal. In a statement, it warned that the resolution could worsen the situation in Lebanon. PTI
Indo-Bangla foreign secretary-level talks next month
Dhaka, May 31 (PTI) India and Bangladesh will hold three-day foreign secretary-level talks on peaceful border management and coorperation in water resources and trade next month, officials said.
"The entire issues of our bilateral relationship will be discussed at the meeting to be held on June 25-26," Bangladesh foreign secretary Touhid Hossain said adding that the Indian side would be led by his counterpart Shiv Shankar Menon.
The meeting agenda would include security, peaceful border management, cross-border illegal movement, cooperation in water resources, economic and trade cooperation, and consular and cultural exchanges, officials said.
A review of the progress in the decisions made at the latest meeting and related issues may also come up in the talks, they told the New Age daily.
In the last foreign secretary-level meeting in New Delhi in June 2005, both the sides reaffirmed their commitment not to allow their territory to be used for any activities detrimental to the interests of the countries. PTI
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