Saturday, 18 December 2004, 1800 hrs

TOP STORIES
India's Dhruv helicopters will strengthen Israeli defence
Next month, New Delhi and Jerusalem will have one more reason to cheer their relatively new ties. The Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, will land in Israel in January for formal induction into the air fleet of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

 
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Delhi's metro rail sets
new world standadards
Sunday will be a red-letter day for the Delhi Metro when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the sleek, futuristic trains on their maiden journey underground

NEWS UPDATE
Congressional leaders oppose
sale of F-16 planes to Pakistan
Two prominent Congressional leaders have warned Bush against selling F-16s to Pakistan saying it can seriously undermine US-India relations. They are running a campaign to drive home that a sale can squander opportunities to strengthen strategic US-India ties 

Pioneer
All this to nab terrorists?
There are only two ways to look at the recent decision of the US administration to arm Pakistan with new weapons. First, as the Bush administration officials have been trying, rather hard, to convince the international community, particularly India, that the weapons they are selling to Pervez Musharraf's Pakistan are meant to fight terrorism. Second, the weapons' package will bolster Pakistan's conventional weapons holding, primarily targeted towards India. An analysis by WILSON JOHN



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Asia Times
Bin Laden: An open letter
With the release of another tape by Osama bin Laden just 10 days after the al-Qaeda attack in Jeddah, experts are impressed with the speed with which bin Laden has made his views public. B Raman wonders, though, why the US has not been able to follow the trail of the tapes to their source. 
 
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Indian Express
Day of the declining dollar 
There is urgent need for greater transparency and accountability about what RBI does on the currency and reserves front, writes ILA PATNAIK


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Indian Express
The ticking bomb inside
mosque and madrasa
A range of authorities have pointed to the urgent danger brewing in Muslim ‘religious’ centres. Yet to voice them invites the charge, ‘communal’. India's national security is gravely threatened and we are being governed by a wilfully blind government, says ARUN SHOURIE


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Pioneer
That voice of silk and flame
Folks in Mylapore, Chennai, would have difficulty imagining that MS’s passing away would cast a pall of gloom in the remote village of Mustafabad, writes SAEED NAQVI


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Deccan Herald
How not to dialogue
Apart from people-to-people contacts, there is need for internal dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue, says BALRAJ PURI

TOP PICKS

OPINION


Not a partisan issue (Tribune)
Going up faster in the army (Tribune)
Justice in 44 days (Indian Express)
Speaker: Points to ponder (Pioneer)
 Pokhran poser (Pioneer)
NCERT: The sham of it (Pioneer)
Quota crutches to physiotherapy (Pioneer)
Famous victors (Pioneer)