Kathmandu, June 12
Nepal’s Maoists today said their new government would go for a fresh probe into the 2001 palace massacre and also investigate whether the deposed King, Gyanendra, had any foreign bank account, a day after he quit the palace.

“After the formation of the Maoist-led government, a probe commission will be formed to investigate into the palace massacre as the Nepalese people want an independent body to enquire about the incident,” CPN-Maoist deputy leader Baburam Bhattarai said.

The entire family of former King Birendra was killed in mysterious circumstances in the massacre after which Gyanendra became the monarch.

The former king said in his statement on Wednesday that he had no role in the massacre and if it was true, the probe commission would help him clear the accusation, the Maoist second-in-command told mediapersons today.

The controversial report submitted by the official probe commission has held crown prince Dipendra responsible for the massacre on June 1, 2001, though many have questioned its credibility.

Bhattarai also said the new government would probe whether the deposed King had any foreign bank account.

Gyanendra has rejected the allegation that he had deposited money in any foreign bank account while addressing a press conference before leaving the palace yesterday.

Bhattarai rejected the allegation that the Maoists had any attachment with their weapons but claimed that it was because of their arms that Gyanendra was forced to vacate the Narayanhiti palace so soon. — PTI

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has slashed budgetary allocation for the Prime Minister House by 30 per cent and applied similar cuts in allocation to various departments.

But the annual budget for President’s House has been increased by 12 per cent, from Rs 316.09 million to Rs 353.84 million. The revised estimate of the President's House expenditure in 2007-08 is Rs 327.59 million. A major portion of the allocation - Rs 161.86 million - will be used in employees-related expenses, such as salaries and allowances. While Rs 79.5 million have been allocated to grants, subsidies and written-off loans, Rs 76 million to the operating expenses of President's House.

As much as Rs 12 million have been allocated to transfers, Rs 11 million to physical assets and Rs 10 million to repair and maintenance.

The Rs 353 million allocation has been divided into two broad categories. While Rs 156 million have been allocated to President's Secretariat's personal expenses and Rs 197 million to President's Secretariat's public expenses.

Of the personal expenses, Rs 1 million will be spent on the President's salary, Rs 2.5 million on gifts and charities, and Rs 23 million on miscellaneous expenses.

The National Security Council’s expenses of Rs 35 million are part of the President's House expenses.

The spokesman of President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday met information minister Sherry Rehman and reportedly complained about the drastic cut in the coverage of his engagements on the official media.

Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi had an hour-long meeting with the minister during which he discussed media reports that some kind of a ban had been imposed on Musharraf's coverage on the state-run media, including PTV, Radio Pakistan and the official news agency, APP. Qureshi noted that while the President's coverage had been curtailed, anti-Musharaf material was being given wide coverage.

The minister reportedly dispelled the impression that any ban had been imposed on coverage of the President's engagements. She pointed out that the present democratic government had extended full editorial independence to the official media in keeping with its commitment to the principles of press freedom. She said every news item, including President's statements, speeches and news conferences were being treated on merit and given priority accordingly.

Melbourne, June 12
Three persons, including a teenager, were arrested and remanded in custody today for the cold-blooded murder of an Indian storeowner in the New Zealand capital.

Navtej Singh (30), hailing from Punjab, died on Monday after battling for life over 36 hours. A father of three girls, the eldest being five, Navtej Singh moved to New Zealand six years ago with his family. He set up a liquor store in south Auckland three months ago where the armed robbers shot him this weekend.

In Manukau district court today, Anitelea Chan Kee (20) and Tino Faamele Felise (17) faced charges of murder, armed robbery and aggravated robbery for the attack.

The third man, Mefiposeta Chan Kee (24) was charged with being an accessory to the crime for disposing of the .22 calibre rifle used to shoot Navtej Singh.

The three, arrested overnight, were remanded in custody till August 6 by judge David Harvey. The police disclosed that only one of the three arrested was in the shop at the time of the shooting and caught on video. It said it had recovered parts of a rifle believed to have been used to kill the storeowner. — PTI

London, June 12
A British policeman of Indian origin, already awarded £300,000 in race discrimination claims, has approached a court, seeking another payout.

This time, Det Sgt Gurpal Virdi, a 49-year-old Sikh officer at Metropolitan police's specialist crime directorate, has claimed that he had been victimised by colleagues since "winning a series of race cases".

He said that he has been marked down in appraisals and had his career held back by bosses. Virdi won £70,400 in compensation at an employment tribunal last week after being passed over for promotion. In August 2000, he won £150,000 for being unfairly fired by bosses who falsely accused him of sending racist hate mail. He was reinstated in 2002.

But his solicitor Arpita Dutt said, “It's not about the money, it's about what's happened”. "He has tried to resolve this internally, but feels he has no option but to expose the victimisation and gain justice. We are confident of success," the Daily Star quoted Dutt as saying. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Indian artwork fetches record price
LONDON: A work of art by Indian artist Francis Newton Souza has fetched a world auction record price of £1,273,250 at the Christie’s here. “Amongst the masterpieces offered, artwork of Souza, “Birth” (1955) set a new world auction record for the artist and for any Indian modern and contemporary work of art,” Hugo Weihe, Christie's international director of Asian Art and Yamini Mehta, head of sale said on Wednesday. — PTI

UK Muslims to tackle forced marriage
LONDON: British Muslim lawyers have come up with an action plan to root out forced marriages in their community, as mentioned in a report published on Thursday. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal believes British Muslims must take matters into their own hands to tackle the "crisis" of forced marriages between British citizens and spouses from South Asia. — AFP

260 tonnes of hashish found
KABUL: Afghan counter narcotics officials said they uncovered 260 tonnes of hashish hidden in 2-metres-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan, in what one official said appeared to be the largest-ever drug bust. The hashish, found in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday, was worth more than $ 400 million.— AP

Dalai Lama calls for calm
MELBOURNE: The Dalai Lama on Thursday appealed to Tibetans not to disturb the Olympic torch relay as it passes through the capital Lhasa next week, saying he fully supports the Beijing Olympics. “Over one billion Chinese brothers and sisters feel really proud of that. We should respect that. So, I don't think there will be any trouble,” he was quoted saying in 'The Australian' today. — PTI