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Friday,
August 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Mumbai blasts not to hit economy, says envoy Human smugglers of Indian origin held in
UK Maoists kill Army Colonel India, Australia sign anti-terror agreement
Blair says he would have quit if Iraq dossier was doctored
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NASA to undergo major changes
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Mumbai blasts not to hit economy, says envoy London, August 28 “India has been the world’s biggest target of international terrorism over the past two decades. This has not prevented the country from becoming the world’s fastest growing democracy with a compounded annual GDP growth rate of over 5.7 per cent over the same period,” Mr Sen said in an interview to ITV News last night. “I do not anticipate any significant impact on the economy or the tourist travel” as a sequel to the Monday’s bomb blasts in Mumbai he said. He assured that travel to and from Mumbai, and indeed, all parts of India remained safe and secure. While India has had to endure several unfortunate terrorist attacks over the past two decades, these had been directed, barring very rare exceptions, exclusively at Indians and not foreign nationals, added. The New Zealand cricket team has announced on Tuesday that it will arrive on schedule, heralding the start of the winter travel and holiday season in India. “A record number of overseas visitors are expected over the next few months,” he said. He said after the blasts, the country has quickly bounced back. The attacks, which had been aimed at undermining India’s economy and its democratic and secular fabric, had resulted in a sharp dip of 120 points on Monday in the Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensex index from its 30 month high of 4124. However, it rebounded by 147 points on Tuesday to wipe out Monday’s losses and rose by a further 53 points, ending at 4206 yesterday. “Foreign institutional investors also showed their confidence in the strong fundamentals of the economy with aggressive buying into several stocks,” Mr Sen said. Despite the blast at Zaveri Bazaar, India’s main gold centre, the bullion market had remained totally unaffected. The nearby diamond bourse was similarly unaffected. —
PTI |
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Human smugglers of Indian origin held in UK London, August 28 Frank Francis, acting branch commander of the national crime squad said, “The smugglers were arrested yesterday when they were applying for work permits as stage performers in Wolverhampton and Birmingham.’’ Throwing light on the modus operandi of the gang, the police said, permits were sent to India and then the culprits used to apply for entry visas in UK in New Delhi. But once the immigrants entered the country they disappeared. “The gangsters were also responsible for selling forged and stolen British passports to immigrants from India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan,’’ the police said. Three homes in Wolverhampton and West Bromwich, and a meat processing plant and shop were raided and the culprits were arrested. “Five of the men accused of organising work permits were living in the UK legally, while the remaining eight had entered illegally,’’ the police said. The arrests were the result of an 18-month investigation by the national crime squad. “This is a very mixed cocktail of issues that we are starting to unravel. The focus of our activity is the organisers, and we are liaising with the Indian authorities,’’ Mr Francis said. There have been reports that girls were also smuggled into British cities like Birmingham and Leicester under the pretence of being Bollywood dancers. These girls are forced into prostitution. —
UNI |
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Maoists
kill Army Colonel Kathmandu, August 28 The rebels shot at the two at their respective residences here, defence officials said, adding that one of the officers was shot dead while he was cleaning his car at his residence in Purano Baneshwor in Kathmandu. His bodyguard was also injured. “Col Krishna Basnet was washing his car when the incident occurred,” they said. In another incident, the rebels shot at and injured Col Ramindra Chhetri while he was driving near the British Embassy. Maoists looted Rs 42 lakh from a bank in Tulasipur Municipality in Dang district, 450 km from here, this morning, the police said. —
PTI |
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India, Australia sign anti-terror agreement Adelaide, August 28 The memorandum of understanding was signed by visiting External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer here, three days after the twin car bomb blast in Mumbai, claiming 50 lives. Under the MoU, the two countries vowed to join forces in the battle against regional and global terrorism. “The MoU will forge closer cooperation between our respective security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies. With India, we have one of our most important bilateral relations and they are moving in a strategic direction,” Downer said. Mr Sinha leaves for Melbourne this evening to attend a community dinner hosted by Indian High Commissioner to Australia R.S. Rathore. —
PTI |
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Blair says he would have quit if Iraq dossier was doctored London, August 28 Testifying at a judicial inquiry into the apparent suicide of weapons scientist David Kelly, Mr Blair said the allegation contained in a BBC radio report in May was “extremely serious” and “an attack on my integrity”. “We issued a strong denial which didn’t really go anywhere,” he said, adding that: “It is one thing to say we disagree with the government, we should not have gone to war, people can have a disagreement about that... but if the allegation had been true, it would have merited my resignation.” Kelly was the source of the May 29 report, which was aired by reporter Andrew Gilligan on BBC Radio’s flagship public affairs show “Today” as the Prime Minister was visiting British troops in southern Iraq. —
AFP |
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NASA to undergo major changes Washington, August 28 “The report covers hardware failures, to be sure, but it also covers human failures and how our culture needs to change to mitigate succumbing to these failings again,” O’Keefe said yesterday. “We get it.” O’Keefe spoke at a press briefing that came one day after the 250-page report was released by the Columbia Accident Investigative Board (CAIB). “They have succeeded in a very, very thorough coverage of all the factors which caused this accident and that led to this seminal moment,” he said. NASA has developed a preliminary plan to include all 29 recommendations in the report, he said. Some have been accomplished. For example, NASA has rebuilt almost completely the management team, O’Keefe said. But he admitted it is not about “changing boxes or individuals faces”, but about “long-term institutional changes.” —
DPA |
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Tokyo, August 28 |
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