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Indira Gandhi Prize for Dr Yunus
NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (UNI) — The prestigious Indira
Gandhi Prize for Peace and Disarmament and Development
was presented to Dr Muhammed Yunus of Bangladesh, founder
of the Grameen Bank system, for his invaluable
contribution to the methology of "abolishing poverty
in the developing world." The award was presented by
President K.R. Narayanan at a glittering ceremony at
Rashtrapati Bhavan, which was attended by Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee, Vice-President Krishan Kant and
Congress President Sonia Gandhi. While presenting the
award, the President said Prof Yunus’s Grameen Bank
experiment has given impetus to the micro-credit
programme in India in a big way.Sonia’s security
NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (PTI) — The elite Special
Protection Group (SPG) security cover for Congress
president Sonia Gandhi and her two children, elapsing on
December first, was further extended today by a
Presidential ordinance. The ordinance said the period
between two consecutive assessments of level of threats
should not be more than 12 months. This was done through
an amendment to SPG Act, 1988.
Mob burns discos
JAKARTA, Nov 19 (AFP) — Hundreds of Indonesian
Muslims burned down at least 11 hotels and several
discotheques south of Jakarta, saying they were used as
prostitution and drug centres, media reports said today.
An estimated 1,500 people went on a rampage on Wednesday
night in the resort area of Puncak in Bogor district, 70
kms south of here.
Anti-missile
system
BEIJING, Nov 19 (Reuters) — A Chinese tabloid has
said China is developing an anti-missile defence system,
but Beijing-based diplomats dismissed the report as
propaganda. The Press Digest, published by the
Shanghai-based Liberation daily, said in a front-page
story in its Thursday edition a new surface-to-air
missile China test-fired recently was capable of
"simultaneously meeting several enemy missiles
head-on".
Naxals burn bus
HYDERABAD, Nov 19 (PTI) — Naxals belonging to CPI-ML
Janashakti set afire an Andhra Pradesh Road Transport
Corporation bus at Kathalpour mandal in Karimnagar
district yesterday, during a bandh to protest loss of
lives of their cadres in a police encounter in the
district recently.
Cyclone toll
9615
BHUBANESWAR, Nov 19 (PTI) — The death toll in the
super-cyclone that hit the Orissa coast on October 29
rose to 9,615, official sources said here today. The toll
increased after reports of 40 deaths came in from Cuttack
district and a lone body recovered from Jaipur since
yesterday, the sources said.
Quake in Iran
TEHERAN, Nov 19 (AP) — A strong earthquake today
rocked northern Iran but there was no immediate report of
damage or casualties, the official Islamic Republic News
Agency reported. The quake measured 5.6 on the Richter
scale and hit the northern town of Shahroud, about 400
kms northeast from here.
Fatwa against
Laden
ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (AFP) — Muslim scholars supporting
the Afghan opposition have issued a fatwa declaring that
the execution of alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden would
be legal under Islamic Shariah law, Afghan Islamic Press
(AIP) today said in a report. The religious decree,
accused bin Laden of "arming and funding the ruling
Taliban militia to continue bloodshed in
Afghanistan," the report said.
Changes in WB
BJP
CALCUTTA, Nov 19 (PTI) — In order to strengthen the
party in West Bengal with an eye on the next assembly
poll, the BJP today effected some changes in the
organisation. Union Minister of State for Communication
Tapan Sikdar said Paras Dutta, who was a vice-president,
has been made general secretary in place of Badal
Bhattacharya.
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