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Nation & States
Iraqi
mediator threatens to
pull out of negotiations
What is
India News Service, July 31, 2004, 1700 hrs IST
The Iraqi mediator working for the release of seven foreign hostages vowed Saturday to
pull out of the negotiations
unless their Kuwaiti employer bends to the Islamic militant kidnappers' demands.
"If the Kuwait side doesn't undertake anything, I will withdraw because I only accepted this task for humanitarian reasons," Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaimi told AFP.
A group calling itself the "Islamic Secret Army - Holders of the Black Banners" has threatened to start executing the seven at 1500 GMT (8.30 pm IST) on Saturday unless their employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport, pulls out of Iraq.
Dulaimi said he was convinced the Kuwaiti company could save the lives of the three Indians, three Kenyans and Egyptian snatched in Iraq 10 days ago.
Kamal Nath rushes to Geneva:
Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath today cut short his visit to
Bangkok as the WTO talks in Geneva ran into rough weather, with India rejecting the WTO\92s second draft of a framework pact.
PM favours law to bar tainted people in
cabinet: Maintaining that inclusion of "tainted" Ministers in his Government was due to compulsions of coalition politics, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh said he favoured a law to debar such people in the cabinet on which he sought a political consensus.
"Sometimes in politics the best becomes the enemy of good," he told a press conference here in reply to questions on the issue in the context of the Election Commission's recent proposal to bar people chargesheeted in cases.
Highway authority cancels contract: Sending a clear signal that it will not put up with any delay in the completion of the Golden Quadrilateral road project, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has terminated the contract of a Chinese company engaged in construction of a 60-km stretch between Makhanpur near Firozabad and Etawah in Uttar
Pradesh.
JD-U
threatens to break off from NDA: With the BJP seriously contemplating a return to its Hindutva ideology, its NDA partner JD-U
has threatened to snap ties if it were to do so.
Soren emerges from jungle hideout:
After being on the lam for a fortnight, former Union Minister and JMM chief Shibu Soren has emerged from his "jungle hideout". Soon after surfacing in Ranchi on Friday, Soren began
blaming the BJP for his woes, played the tribal card, and showed little remorse for having evaded the law.
Panel
to study state-centre relations likely: With coalitions and ally-dominated politics here to stay, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to announce in his maiden Independence Day speech a commission to re-examine Centre-state relations on polity and economy.
The Home Ministry has informed Central ministries that it has initiated an exercise for setting up a panel on the lines of the Sarkaria Commission, and has asked them to furnish issues that could be included in the panel\92s terms of reference.
CPM admits \91discord\92 with UPA:
The CPI-M\92s central committee, which went into a three-day session from today, deliberated over the discord the party has with the Congress-led government. Senior leaders said that some plain speaking was necessary at the meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday.
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States
New
state
may have to wait till next poll: Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief KCR is fast getting ensnared in a trap that he had set up.
He had claimed Congress president Sonia Gandhi had assured him that her party would clear the way for
a new state, but that idea is not find concrete shape.
Naga ceasefire extended:
After two days of tough bargaining, leaders of the dominant faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim and a Central team led by Mr K Padmanabhiah have agreed to extend the ceasefire between the two sides by another year. One official described the talks as \93stressful\94.
Bengal's
new city opens: New Town, the government\92s showcase for urban development in this neck of the woods, was set rolling today with the announcement that the first set of condominiums is ready and 360 apartments would be handed to owners next week.
Hunt
for Nafisa's boyfriend: A manhunt is on for Gautam Khanduja, the man Nafisa Joseph "was madly in love with", even as an autopsy revealed that the former Miss India had sustained injuries two days before she committed suicide.
Khanduja, who was Joseph's fiance, is to be questioned by police to probe whether an altercation between the two led the model-turned VJ to hang herself at her Versova home Thursday evening.
An automobile spare parts exporter who was already married, Khanduja lives in Pali Hill in suburban Bandra and was to marry Joseph, 26, in August. But he is said to be missing.
CET quota Bill okayed:
The seat-sharing proposed in Karnataka now is: aided professional institutions 95:5; unaided non-minority institutions 75:25 and unaided minority ones 50:50.
More
relief for Karnataka farmers: The truth is that the
state's budgetary surplus is going to be Rs 1.83 crore as against the estimated Rs 72.83 crore.
The farming sector is the biggest beneficiary of the government's
allocations.
Neighbours
Pak
PM-designate survives kill bid: Pakistan Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz tonight survived a suicide bomb attack on his election campaign in which seven persons, including his driver, were killed and more than 25 injured at a place 55 km from
Islamabad.
A suicide bomber with explosives strapped around his body struck the convoy of 55-year-old
Aziz, Finance Minister, when he was leaving after an election rally at Fateh
Jang.
Four killed in shootout: Supporters of an opposition politician who has been arrested for sedition exchanged fire with police in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing four people, an official said.
Three other people were injured in the shooting in Chaman, a town near the Afghan border, about 125 km northwest of Quetta, said Hafiz Sher Ali, a senior administration official in
Chaman.
Nepal
SC issues notice on corrpution case: The Supreme Court on Friday issuing show cause notices to the Home Ministry, Police Headquarters and former minister Wagle asking them why Wagle was not arrested even after the special Court convicted him of corruption. The apex court has asked them to furnish written replies within 15 days.
UK grants 20m pound for
Nepal maternal health: British under-secretary of the State for International Development, Gareth Thomas Friday pledged to provide 20 million pounds to help Nepal reduce maternal deaths.
ASEAN urges Myanmar to compromise with EU:
ASEAN foreign ministers Wednesday pressured Myanmar's military regime to compromise with pro-democracy forces to smooth the way for an ASEAN-EU summit.
View from
abroad
Thailand signs
deal for spy satellite: Thailand has signed a 160 million dollar deal with a French space company to build a satellite that allows security forces to track suspected separatist rebels.
High Qaeda
aide retracts claim: The detainee recanted his claims that Iraq had provided training to Al Qaeda, but not before they had become the basis of the Bush administration's statements on Iraq.
Utah
is ideal human ties lab: Utah in the US is being viewed by scientists as something akin to a near-perfect laboratory for the study of human kinship and genes.
Uzbek blasts hit US, Israeli embassies:
Suicide bombers hit US and Israeli embassies yesterday, killing at least three Uzbeks, news reports and police said. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Canada looking for Third World allies: Canadian Prime Minister Paul
Martin has a new cabinet in place, with many new ministers with new ideas. They are pushing the government towards a drastic reshaping of Canadian foreign policy.
Overall:
Negotiator
said he would pull out: The hostage crisis in Iraq continued,
but the kidnappers have extended their deadline.
JD(U) may break off from NDA: The party has reacted adversely
to BJP's proposal to return to hardcore Hindutva.
Pakistan's PM-designate survived kill bid: But seven others
were killed.
Asean put pressure on Mynamar: Ministers are trying to get
that country to agree to pro-democracy steps.
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