Asia Africa Intelligence Wire articles from June 2002

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire archives from June 2002

U.A.E.: UAE childcare efforts highlighted at UN child panel.
June 1, 2002... UAE has vowed to dedicate its material and immaterial resources, at national level and world- wide, to helping children develop their personal capabilities and skills. Delivering UAE's speech at a UN committee on child rights convention,...

U.A.E.: Hamdan's visit to Iran/Reactions.
June 1, 2002... The visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 26 and 27 by Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, has been welcomed by various GCC, Arab, regional and international circles. At the GCC level, the...

U.A.E.: Labour ministry e-unit gets 'operational'.
June 1, 2002... The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has operated the newly established e-unit on an experimental basis covering 15 big companies as a start, Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Labour Affairs, told reporters last...

NGOs join forces against illicit arms in Tanzania.
June 1, 2002... Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - A grouping of prominent international and local NGOs in Tanzania Friday joined forces with the government to combat the proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons in a nation faced...

Cameroon leads 1-0 against Ireland after first half.
June 1, 2002... Niigata, Japan (PANA) - Cameroon is leading Ireland 1-0 in their 2002 World Cup match being played in Niigata, Japan Saturday. The Indomitable Lions' super midfielder Patrick Mboma's 39th minute goal followed a pass from Striker Samuel...

Former South African cricket captain dies in plane crash.
June 1, 2002... Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, who stunned the sporting world two years ago when he admitted accepting money from bookmakers, died Saturday in plane crash in the Western Cape. Sports...

Germany massacre Saudi Arabia 8-0 in one-sided match.
June 1, 2002... Sapporo, Japan (PANA) - German striker Miroslav Klose's hat-trick helped Germany to destroy hapless Saudi Arabia 8-0 in a one-sided 2002 World Cup match played in Sapporo, Japan, Saturday. Halftime score was 4-0. Three headers from German...

Ugandan auctions house to buy TV set and watch World Cup.
June 1, 2002... Masaka, Uganda (PANA) - A man in the southern Ugandan district of Masaka has sold his house for 571 US dollars to buy a television set and watch the ongoing World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan. Confirming reports from family members...

Kenyan President urges Africans to invest at home.
June 1, 2002... Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya has admonished Africans to invest at home instead of looking up to foreigners. Speaking at ceremonies marking the country's 39th Independence anniversary, Moi said over-reliance on...

Karan wants resumption of dialogue.
June 1, 2002... : Former Union minister Karan Singh on Thursday called for resumption of a dialogue between India and Pakistan in terms of Simla Agreement and Lahore Accord to defuse the tension and end the current conflict in the region. In an appeal to...

Indus talks in trouble.
June 1, 2002... : The prevailing tension between India and Pakistan seemed to spill over into the meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission between India and Pakistan here Thursday with the two sides disagreeing, as expected, on two projects in Jammu and...

Restrain Pak, BJP tells major players.
June 1, 2002... : The BJP placed the responsibility of averting a war with Pakistan on the international community, saying it would be ''squarely responsible'' for failing to take appropriate measures to restrain Pakistan from sponsoring terrorism: ''If,...

SC seeks proof of Narmada rehabilitation.
June 1, 2002... : The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to inform it within two days about the steps taken to rehabilitate oustees of the Sardar Sarovar dam, also called Narmada dam. ''Oustees' rehabilitation is the...

PM rejects 2nd term for Narayanan.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Mahendra Ved : There will be no second term for President K R Narayanan, at least so far as the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is concerned. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday conveyed this to the...

Plan for women overlooks resources.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Anita Katyal : The NDA government has drawn up an ambitious plan of action to deliver on its promise of ensuring women's empowerment but it may well turn out to be nothing more than a mere promise, having failed to address the key...

Vajpayee studies border situation.
June 1, 2002... : Even as Prime Minister Vajpayee held a high-level meeting on Thursday morning to review the situation along the Indo-Pak border, which is witnessing fierce artillery duels between the two armies, militants intensified their attacks on...

Struggle for Rumtek worries home ministry.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Bisheshwar Mishra : A politico-religious power struggle among Tibetan Buddhists over Sikkim's Rumtek monastery - the highest spiritual and temporal seat of one lakh Tibetan refugees in India - is ''full of security ramifications...

Ex-Sena MP blames Cong for temple crisis.
June 1, 2002... : In a first-ever admission by a Hindutva leader, former Shiv Sena MP Moreshwar Save told the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry on Thursday that smaller temples in Ayodhya were demolished in April 1992 to make space for the construction of...

NDA allies hold key to Presidential elections.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha : The ball is now firmly in President K R Narayanan's court on contesting for a second term, but his backers still hope to make a contest of it. The key: swing the allies. Confabulations have begun in the...

BJP sticks to its stance on Narayanan.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha : The ruling BJP is losing no sleep over rejecting a second term for President K R Narayanan. And any Opposition muttering on consensus is swept away with a lesson in recent history. The party, which was...

Lakhubai case stayed till July 19.
June 1, 2002... : The Delhi high court on Thursday stayed trial in the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case till July 19. It has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to inform it about the competent Indian authority in its US mission that could...

Another Yamuna campaign.
June 1, 2002... : The Delhi state government will launch a campaign to clean Yamuna from Friday. The entire administration will spend two hours every day during this three-day campaign to clean the river. The six-member state cabinet would lead elected...

Long power cuts continue after squall.
June 1, 2002... : Teachers and students of Jamia Hamdard complained of long power cuts for the past three days as the electric wires in the area snapped on Monday due to the squall. Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) officials said electricity is being restored on...

City Digest.
June 1, 2002... Shooting at Shahdara factory: Two unidentified assailants fired shots at the factory premises owned by Shiv Sena's northern India chief Jai Bhagwan Goyal in Shahdara, northeast Delhi on Thursday night. According to deputy commissioner of...

[0] Long power cuts continue after squall.
June 1, 2002... : Teachers and students of Jamia Hamdard complained of long power cuts for the past three days as the electric wires in the area snapped on Monday due to the squall. Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) officials said electricity is being restored on...

DVB privatisation should work.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Shivani Singh : For the common Delhiite, suffering from prolonged power cuts, inflated electricity bills and unresponsive customer services, the news of the privatisation of Delhi Vidyut Board's distribution sector comes as a...

Car robbers strike in Malviya Nagar.
June 1, 2002... : A gang of car robbers reportedly fired into the air during a robbery bid in Malviya Nagar on Wednesday night. No one was injured. A police team patrolling nearby arrested one of the alleged robbers who has been identified as Sanjay, a...

Deadly tobacco's free run.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Radhika D Srivastava : Do you know what goes into your mouth when you empty that pack of chewing tobacco? Of course, you don't. Virtually no one knows, and no one seems to care. The Delhi state government's prevention of food...

Police foggy about smoking Act.
June 1, 2002... : Six years after the enactment of the Delhi Prohibition of Smoking and Non-smokers' Health Protection Act, the police here are not aware of its provisions, resulting in acquittal of the offenders. ''It seems the police officials are not...

Finding your way to DU.
June 1, 2002... : A week from now when the Delhi University admission process begins, visitors to the north campus will have to contend with road diversions and possible bottlenecks, due to ongoing Metro Rail construction work. A few roads have been made...

Concrete choking city.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Bhadra Sinha : Rapid concretisation in Delhi is as responsible for the civic mess as bad planning. Urban experts say that construction of concrete pavements for increasing parking space and inside colonies is one of the main...

MCD gets expert help for projects.
June 1, 2002... : The Delhi municipal corporation (MCD) will now take professional advice to increase participation in projects dealing with waste management, land-use, urban transport and urban social welfare. The corporation recently signed a memorandum...

Illegal huts hamper port operations.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Olav Albuquerque : About 22,000 illegal huts on Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land have long hampered port operations, but officials say they can't remove the encroachers because politicians of all hues oppose demolitions. On May...

Chemists to protest ruling on pharmacists.
June 1, 2002... : Chemists say the state government's prescription to appoint full-time pharmacists at drug stores could be a bitter pill. About 4,800 chemists affiliated to the Retail & Dispensing Chemists Association have decided to protest the...

HSC student commits suicide.
June 1, 2002... : A student who appeared in the HSC exams this year allegedly committed suicide on Friday hanging from a ceiling fan at his house in Trimurti building, Tejpal Scheme, road number 3, Vile Parle. The body of Rahul Bhonsle, a student of...

Cigarettes could get you down.
June 1, 2002... : Lighting up a fag could, quite literally, drive you to despair. Smoking could be a cause of depression, anxiety, panic attacks and perhaps even schizophrenia, reveals recent research. Indentifying tobacco as a potential cause of...

3 PWP ministers quit.
June 1, 2002... : Three ministers belonging to the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) resigned from the Democratic Front government on Thursday to protest against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member Sunil Tatkare being reinducted into the ministry. ...

TiE seeks to broaden boundaries.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Abhijit Majumder : TiE is pushing the boundaries of its identity. India's enterprise nexus in Silicon Valley and nine other nations is not limited to infotechies now. In an effort to be more accommodative, it is seeking to...

Police retract permission for meet on Gujarat.
June 1, 2002... : Following the tiffin bomb blasts in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, the Mumbai police has withdrawn permission for a national convention on the Gujarat riots that was scheduled to be held at Goregaon on June 1 and 2. The police had granted...

5 held for accepting bets.
June 1, 2002... : Five persons were arrested by the crime branch on Thursday for allegedly accepting bets for the one-day cricket series between India and West Indies. They are Devendra Kothari (25), Vikram Solanki (28), Srinivas Jaju (41), Sunil Pujari...

Decision on Ketan's bail plea today.
June 1, 2002... : The sessions court will on Friday decide on the bail application moved by brokers Ketan Parekh, his cousin Kartik Parekh and their associate Jatin Sarvaiyya. They are currently in judicial custody till June 12. After hearing defence...

Move to increase fuel price opposed.
June 1, 2002... : The state level coordinator of the oil industry S.K. Malik has warned state petrol pump owners against increasing the price of fuel. He said action would be taken against pump owners who go ahead with a plan to levy a transaction charge...

World Cup telecast fracas.
June 1, 2002... : The World Cup could be your's for a steal. With the failure of talks between two of the city's biggest multi-service providers and Ten Sports (which has the TV rights for the soccer fiesta starting from Friday), cable industry sources say...

Security at oil installations to be stepped up.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Ranjit Khomne : For the first time, armed policemen will guard Bhatsa, Vaitarna and Tansa, the three dams that supply water to Mumbai, to ward off any attempt to poison the waters. This is among the safeguards the state...

KEM mortuary swaps bodies.
June 1, 2002... : Four employees of KEM Hospital were suspended on Thursday after a deceased person's family found that their relative's body had been handed over to someone else. The body had already been cremated when the matter came to light. Worli...

Bag-lifter arrested.
June 1, 2002... : The railway police recently arrested a woman for her alleged involvement in bag-lifting and three others for cellphone thefts from suburban commuters. Said railway police commissioner Rakesh Maria, "Ms Maria Bhogu was arrested and...

2 impostors nabbed in Kurla rail terminus.
June 1, 2002... : Two persons who allegedly impersonated as policemen and demanded bribes from passengers of the Kushinagar Express at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kurla, were recently arrested by the railway police. Constable Ajay Elag who allegedly provided...

Deshmukh will ask ministers to rethink.
June 1, 2002... : After Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sunil Tatkare was reinducted into the state cabinet at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan, Mr Deshmukh affirmed there was no threat to his government. He said he would ask the three PWP ministers...

Woman robbed in beauty parlour.
June 1, 2002... : Bipla Basu was robbed of her purse containing valuables worth over Rs 10.5 lakh at a beauty parlour in the Commercial Street police limits on Wednesday evening. The purse contained gold ornaments, credit cards, a passport and Rs 20,000....

Storage Tek in pact with Wipro.
June 1, 2002... : What's currently driving the Indian storage market is the centralisation and bandwidth enhancement activities happening among enterprises. Trying to cash in on the scenario, the $2-billion storage solutions firm Storage Tek has entered...

By-poll: RPI to back Pawar.
June 1, 2002... MYSORE: The Republican Party of India (RPI) has extended support to Janata Parivar candidate Marutirao Pawar in the by-election to the assembly from the N R constituency. In a release, the RPI said dalits and OBCs were insecure under the...

KU introduces new courses.
June 1, 2002... BELLARY: The Director of Research Wing, Kannada University, Hampi, has invited applications for the courses available in the university for the year 2002-03. The applications will be given for PhD in Kannada language and literature,...

Cable TV Act bound to tame mafia.
June 1, 2002... MANGALORE: With the recent amendment to the Cable TV Act, the days of exploitation by cable operators in Mangalore are over. That's what Narendra Nayak, convener, Conumers' Education Trust (CET), Mangalore, believes. Nayak said the recent...

Tusker shot dead in Moorkal.
June 1, 2002... : A wild tusker was found dead at Moorkal area in Kalahalla range of the Nagarahole National Park on Thursday afternoon. Sources said bullet injuries were found on the body of the tusker. ``As the tusks are found intact, poaching is ruled...

At CM's appeal, Gowda drops rally.
June 1, 2002... : Following a personal appeal from Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Thursday dropped his proposed programme to take out a padayatra from Jakkarayanakere to the CM's residence and stage a dharna to demand...

BCC gets Rs 50 lakh for drain work.
June 1, 2002... : The state government has released Rs 50 lakh to the BCC to provide drainage and other infrastructure facilities and to take up repairs of drainage, which have been damaged due to heavy rains on May 25, according to Chief Secretary...

BDA's power to collect tax stayed.
June 1, 2002... : The Karnataka High Court on Thursday stayed the operation of BDA's authority to collect property tax and certain other laws (amendments) promulgated by Governor V.S. Ramadevi on December 20, 2001. Chief Justice N.K. Jain and Justice S.B....

State rejects IAS men from Centre.
June 1, 2002... : The state government has decided to adopt Tamil Nadu's pattern of not accepting persons from the civil services posted by the Centre. Chief Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters here on Thursday that he had asked Chief Secretary A....

HC stays BU land allotment.
June 1, 2002... : The high court on Thursday stayed a government order allotting two acres of Bangalore University land to a private educational institute. Justice N Kumar stayed the April 8 government order, issued by Special Deputy Commissioner...

Property tax deadline extended.
June 1, 2002... : The BCC has extended the deadline for paying property taxes without penalty for the current year to June 10. This is in view of the heavy rush at all payment centres and requests from various resident groups. Property owners who pay after...

Japan irons out Indian dressing.
June 1, 2002... : It's technology the market has been searching for. Even as textile mills in the US and UK close down in large numbers, Japanese mills are emerging as pioneers in value-add fabrics and textiles. And more interestingly for us, many of...

Muthappa's parents seek security.
June 1, 2002... MANGALORE: Fearing a threat to the life of gangster Muthappa Rai, his mother Susheela and father Narayana Rai have shot off letters to the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister, President and Karnataka chief minister seeking special protection...

Kaavyaanjali to bid adieu.
June 1, 2002... : It is curtains down for popular Kannada mega serial Kaavyaanjali on Friday. Directed by Ravi Garani, the serial, telecast on Udaya TV at 10 pm, will end on Friday night after completing 360 episodes. Krishnakumar Estate on Kanakapura...

CM spikes rumours of handover.
June 1, 2002... : Chief Minister S M Krishna on Thursday spiked speculations that he would be handing over responsibilities of running the government to one of his senior colleagues, when he goes to the United States in August. ``I will be leaving for the...

CET topper yet to make up his mind.
June 1, 2002... : His first choice remains the Indian Institute of Technology. Emerging a topper in non-Karnataka engineering and medical candidates was just incidental for Arko Nasipuri of Kolkata. "I am keeping my fingers crossed. Since I have also...

SSLC results to be announced today.
June 1, 2002... : The SSLC results would be announced on Friday in all schools at 4 pm. The results would also be made available after noon on: http://sslc.kar.nic.in, http://karresults.nic.in, http://sslcresults.kar.nic.in, http://sslc1.kar.nic.in,...

BMRTL suggests monorail.
June 1, 2002... : The Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL) has recommended to the Karnataka government to permit a pilot project of a monorail at half the cost of the ELRTS. Proposed by an international consortium of Etrans Infrastructure...

Rai brought gun culture to Bangalore.
June 1, 2002... : It is Muthappa Rai who introduced Mumbai's gun culture and organised crime to Bangalore, and his deportation to India is set to alter equations in the local underworld, say both police and underworld sources. Bangalore's nascent...

Don rides down memory lane.
June 1, 2002... : It was a ride down memory lane in a Tata Sumo for the man who probably never contemplated visiting Bangalore again. "Though he was looking depressed, he enjoyed the view of Bangalore from the airport to the CBI office in RT Nagar," said...

Muthappa Rai grilled on Dawood links.
June 1, 2002... : Dawood aide and underworld don Muthappa Rai was brought to Bangalore from New Delhi on Thursday morning by a team of heavily armed sleuths. He was whisked from the airport tarmac by CBI, IB and city police officers to the CBI office in a...

ELRTS scrapping raises doubts.
June 1, 2002... : Chief Minister S.M. Krishna's announcement on Thursday morning scrapping the much-hyped ELRTS project has raised doubts about the cess that Bangaloreans have been paying to fund the project. However, the state government officials allayed...

ELRTS found unviable, plan shelved.
June 1, 2002... : Uncertainty over the much-hyped Elevated Rail Transport System (ELRTS), which failed to take off the drawing board, ended on Thursday, with Chief Minister S.M. Krishna stating the project has been shelved. ``ELRTS is economically...

New hot spots along Bangla border.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Nirmalya Banerjee : Ever since the missing car of Gaighata MLA Jyoti Priya Mallick was traced in Bangladesh earlier this month, Border Security Force personnel are furiously digging up the numerous dirt tracks across the border in...

10-year-old steals handbag.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: A boy aged around 10 conned Kalpana Potdar (26), resident of Guruganeshnagar, Paud road, and stole her hand-bag containing Rs 5,200 on Wednesday afternoon near the Chitale Bandhu shop in Deccan Gymkhana area. According to the Deccan...

Baramati awaits Negroponte.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Abhay Vaidya PUNE: What does Prof Nicholas Negroponte have to do with an Indian farmer who used a rural information kiosk or a soochanayala to sell a cow for Rs 3,000? Or, for that matter, how is he concerned with three widows...

Puppet classes: no strings attached.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Neil Pate PUNE: Imagine Pinocchio holding mathematics classes or a puppet monkey holding forth on the Archimedes' principle. The results will not be as disastrous as you think. Agreed, Pinocchio was known for lying and physics...

City suffers another day of powerless pain.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: The overall power situation in the city and western Maharashtra improved on Thursday as the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) claimed to have stuck to its planned load-shedding schedule. The region seems to be limping out of...

'Techno-savvy will win future wars'.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: Tomorrow's wars will be knowledge-based and highly technology-intensive. "They can only be fought by 'thinking soldiers' and 'thinking generals', and the challenge before us is to prepare them," Dr R A Mashelkar, director-general,...

Twist in sugar scandal.
June 1, 2002... Byline: Devraj Dasgupta PUNE: The central excise and customs department has served show cause notices to at least half a dozen co-operative sugar factories in the state for failing to submit proof of export. Three more are under...

Woman gets life sentence.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: Additional sessions judge S.Y. Padhye on Thursday sentenced a woman to life imprisonment for harassing her daughter-in-law and for setting her aflame. According to the prosecution, Renuka (19) was regularly harassed by her...

Citizens to finally have their say in PMC.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: Decks have finally been cleared for the nomination of citizens on the Pune Municipal Corporation's 14 divisional ward committees. A notification, inviting applications from citizens who are members of non-government organisations...

Anthrax scare in VHP office.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: An envelope containing some white powder and a threatening letter addressed to the editor of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad weekly, Sanskritik Vartapatra, Milind Shete, created an "Anthrax scare" at Bharat Bhavan in the Shukrawar Peth area on...

Former Lt General rules out limited war.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: Lt Gen (retd) Arjun Ray, former commander of the 14 Corps at Ladakh, has totally ruled out the possibility of a limited warfare in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir territory, attributing it to the lack of surgical capabilities. Ray, enroute...

PMC to ban six-seater autorickshaws from today.
June 1, 2002... PUNE: The civic administration is set to ban the six-seater auto-rickshaws from the Pune Railway station to the Gunjan theatre and the Lohagaon airport route from Saturday morning, notwithstanding the threat issued by the 1000-odd rickshaw...