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Doctors ignorant of NEW DELHI, Oct 24: With the first case of anthrax being detected in Florida on October four and the increase in the cases since then worldwide, the ....more Congress
to launch NEW DELHI, Oct 24: The Congress will soon launch an agitation against the Naveen Patnaik Government in Orissa, newly elected state Congress ..more Bofors
case accused NEW DELHI, Oct 24: W N Chadha, one of the main accused in the Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case, died of cardiac arrest at his residence here early today, his....more KPCC
asks LDF to THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 24: The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) today asked the opposition Left ......more |
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With TES, India now has BANGALORE, Oct 24: India’s Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) launched on board the sixth successful flight of PSLV-C3 on Monday last, . ......more Proof
of killing in self NEW DELHI, Oct 24: In a major ruling, the Supreme Court has held that if a murder case accused takes the plea that he ....more Over
100 ISI modules eliminated From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Reiterating that the Government of India has no plans, at present, to utilise the option of .....more Case against Chadha to abate in Bofors case NEW DELHI, Oct 24: The death of another key Bofors accused Win Chadha today posed fresh questions about the fate.....more |
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Doctors ignorant of anthrax epidemiology? NEW DELHI, Oct 24: With the first case of anthrax being detected in Florida on October four and the increase in the cases since then worldwide, the possiblity of the virus being used as weapon in biological warfare has gained prominence even as the US media major claimed that doctors really do not know how deadly anthrax was. "We do not know anything about the epidemiology of anthrax delivered by the postal service," John Clements, Chair of the Program in Molecular Pathogenesis and Immunology at Tulane University, said in a media report, which appeared on abc news online service. "They (medical experts) are making it up as they go along based on the evidence from natural exposure," Clements said. The anthrax experts were beginning to realise that the data collected over the last century may not reflect how anthrax will behave when weaponised - made into small and relatively indestructible spores - and delivered through the mail, the report said. According to the data available with the experts so far, inhalation anthrax was roughly 90 per cent lethal, regardless of treatment and the incubation period for inhalation anthrax could be upto 60 days, it said. However, the data do not come near the standard scientific requirements for studies to be considered medically significant, such as control subjects, carefully drawn surveys and so on, the report claimed. Before the first recent case in Florida on Oct four, the medical literature on anthrax consisted primarily of naturally occurring cases, mostly from livestock contamination, plus records from a 1979 industrial accident in sverdlovsk, a city of the former Soviet Union, the ABC news report said. Experts point out weakness of the available data in the records from the Sverdlovsk cases as the documentation does not include people who were exposed but did not receive treatment, leaving out the possibility of many more survivors thereby giving the overstated mortality rate. Animal studies have detected spores in the lungs of monkeys upto 60 days following anthrax exposure, however, data in humans suggested that symptoms usually begin within a week. Again, scientists note that the data was very ‘thin’ and does not necessarily reflect the same means of infection seen recently in the us. So the 60-day course of antibiotics currently used to treat anthrax disease and spore exposure "may not be based on proven efficacy for anthrax, but rather on past efficacy data for other bacterial diseases". Thus, reacting on the uncertainty surrounding anthrax, clements said "we should recognise that it is not the fault of the public health. It is a fault of the person sending the letters". (PTI) |
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Congress to launch agitation against Naveen Patnaik Govt NEW DELHI, Oct 24: The Congress will soon launch an agitation against the Naveen Patnaik Government in Orissa, newly elected state Congress president Sharat Pattnaik said here today. Talking to UNI, Mr Pattnaik alleged that the two-year-old Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance Government in the state had been a ‘failure’ as "it could not tackle the burning problems such as starvation deaths, housing for the destitudes and due price of the produce to the farmers." Orissa had been reeling under natural calamities for the past few years such as super cyclone in 1999, drought in 2000 and unprecedented floods in 2001, but the State Government failed to provide relief to the people in time, he said. The State Government also failed to address to the problems of the teachers, farmers, workers and common mass, he alleged. The 46-year-old leader said he would be visiting Bhubaneswar on October 30 and would chalk out a plan in consultation with all the senior leaders of the party for the agitation. Before launching the statewide agitation, he would tour all the 30 districts to be apprised of the problems of the people, said Mr Pattnaik, who was elected to the Lok Sabha twice earlier from Balangir. "Orissa’s problems cannot be tackled in a day. We need concerted efforts for years to mitigate the miseries of the people. Orissa is a poor state, all the leaders should come forward to contribute their bit for the development of the state," he exhorted the Congress leaders. Expressing his gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary in-charge of the state Kamal Nath, Mr Pattnaik said, "I am grateful to Mrs Gandhi for reposing faith in me and entrusting such a responsibility to me." Mrs Gandhi appointed Mr Pattnaik state unit president, after Mr J B Patnaik, the elected president of the state unit, was forced to tender his resignation on Saturday night after a tenure of just ten months. "I have been a man of the organisation and working at the grass-root levels since my days with National Students Union of India (NSUI) in 1979. I know all the leaders and workers of the party. I am confident that I will carry along all of them with me in rejuvenating the state unit," said Mr Pattnaik, who was vice president of the state unit before he was elevated to the coveted post. Asked how would he carry all the senior leaders and contenders for the post such as Mr J B Patnaik, Mrs Jayanti Patnaik, Mr K P Singh Deo, Dr K S Bhoi, Mr Kanhu Charan Lenka etc, he said, "I seek the blessings and cooperation of my seniors to work for the betterment of the state. I would involve all my seniors and party workers in all programmes and functions of the party." Mr Pattnaik jumped into student’s politics in 1979 at the age of 24 and joined the student wing of the Congress-NSUI. He was the president of the Sambalpur law college in 1979. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Balangir in 1991 and 1996 general elections. He was general secretary of the state unit between 1996-98 and vice-president between 1998-2001. (UNI) |
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Bofors case accused Win Chadha dead NEW DELHI, Oct 24: W N Chadha, one of the main accused in the Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case, died of cardiac arrest at his residence here early today, his doctor said. Chadha, 77, is survived by his Dubai-based son Hersh Chadha, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. "His end came at 0015 hours. He had a peaceful death," his doctor M L Sindhwani told PTI. The cremation was likely to take place tomorrow at the Lodhi Road crematorium here, Chadha’s close associate and the General Manager of his Anatronic Group of Companies Shailesh Babu said. Chadha, who was suffering from various ailments, including diabetes, blood pressure and heart disease for quite some time, was refused permission go abroad for treatment after an AIIMS panel submitted that he could very well be treated here. He is the second accused to have died during the protracted trial of the politically sensitive case. Earlier, another key accused, former Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar, died of cancer. Chadha had sufferred a brain stroke at his Bijwasan Farm House here on September 17 and was taken to Batra Hospital. Following the stroke, he had approached Special Judge S L Khanna for permission to go to Dubai to be with his family in his last moments. In his application, Chadha had said if his plea was rejected he would be alone in his last moments and would never be able to see his family again. The application was due to be heard on Oct 29. Stating that he wanted to wind up his business in Dubai, the ailing accused had submitted that the CBI’s ground that he might not come back had vanished after the signing of the extradition treaty between India and the UAE. He had also cited the Supreme Court order allowing co-accused Hinduja brothers to go abroad subject to certain conditions. A former agent of Swedish arms manufacturer A B Bofors, Chadha was chargesheeted by the CBI in October, 1999 along with former Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar, Kuala Lumpur-based Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, former Bofors chief Martin Ardbo and the company itself. A year later, the probe agency also chargesheeted the Europe-based Hinduja Brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand — in the case. The case against Bhatnagar has abated after his death. Chadha had been accused of receiving a part of the Rs 64 crore kickback in the Rs 1437 crore deal signed in March 1986 for the supply of 400 155mm howitzer field guns to India. He came here from Dubai in March last year and was granted bail by the court but was asked not to leave the country without its prior permission. His plea to go to Dubai for treatment was rejected by the special court and the High Court, while the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the trial court order. However, he was exempted from personal appearance on health grounds till framing of charges. (PTI) |
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Over 100 ISI
modules eliminated From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Reiterating that the Government of India has no plans, at present, to utilise the option of attacking terrorist camps across the border, the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr LK Advani, has made it abundantly clear that the on-going pro-active policy on cross-border terrorism will continue to be vigorously pursued in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Advani, who also reiterated that international law permits strikes on terrorist camps, said: "Our policy is pro-active. We do not want to go across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. We did not go across even when there were strong reasons during the Kargil war". The Home Minister admitted that he had received demands in the last several days in support of India’s direct action against the terrorist camps on the other side of the border, in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). "I never advocated hot pursuit", Mr Advani said in a media interview. He clarified: "All that I have mooted was the pursuit of a pro-active policy on cross-border terrorism". "Yes", was his firm reply when he was asked if the pro-active policy was being ably pursued. Describing America’s current war against the Taliban as ‘Phase-I’ of the campaign against global terrorism, the Home Minister sought to highlight Washington’s ‘promise’ to help India, in ‘Phase-II’, fight terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. And when asked if that meant direct and active involvement of the United States in Kashmir, Mr LK Advani’s reply was: "No, no". As he chose to reiterate that India will have to fight its own battle, Mr Advani seemed conscious of the merit of the global response. He argued that the global response on the question of plugging the sources of arms and money flow and the drying up of drug money "will help". And even as he appreciated the US move culminating in the blacklisting of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant outfit, Mr Advani was of the view that this may not go as far as to root out the menace of terrorism in Kashmir. At the same time, the Home Minister exuded confidence by saying: "We will win the war against terrorism on our soil. We have the capacity to solve the problem from within our borders. We do no want to go across the Line of Control". Stating that the Indian authorities are well aware of the spread of the ISI network in border areas and across the country, Mr Advani said in reply to another question: "We have not only identified the sources of support but have also blocked these avenues". He revealed that India had successfully eliminated over 100 ISI modules. While acknowledging the rising anger of Muslims and other sections of the population at the mounting civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Mr Advani let it be known: "We will have to work out our dynamics of the situation". On Pakistan-US cooperation in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, he said: "We understand the geopolitical compulsions. Pakistan should know the best, being the immediate neighbour". |
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Case against Chadha to abate in Bofors case NEW DELHI, Oct 24: The death of another key Bofors accused Win Chadha today posed fresh questions about the fate of the 12-year-old case with legal experts divided in their opinion. The CBI, which had chargesheeted Chadha, while stating that the case against him would "abate" maintained that the overall case would remain unaffected. The trial against other accused would go on, agency spokesman S M Khan said. Chadha’s death today followed the death of another prominent accused former Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar a few months ago. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was also mentioned in the chargesheet, died ten years ago. With these deaths the three Hinduja brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand — remain to be the main accused, the others being Ottavio Quattrocchi, former CEO of Bofors Martin Ardbo and the company. Quattrocchi is facing extradition proceedings in Malaysia and Ardbo is unlikely to be extradited from Sweden. While some experts say that the demise of Chadha and former Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar will not have any adverse impact on the trial, others feel that it might weaken the CBI case. According to R M Tiwari, who represented CBI in the JMM MPs bribery case, the trial will continue against all the other accused. He said the prosecution may be benefitted in the sense that the evidence put forward by CBI would not be subjected to cross-examination by the lawyers of these accused Senior advocate R N Mittal said the law is well settled that once the accused is dead, the case against him will abate and trial will continue against the remaining accused. He, however, said since charges were yet to be framed against the accused in the case, the court in the changed circumstances can have a fresh look and decide if at all there was any need to continue with such a "crippled trial" after the death of two main accused. But Ashok Arora, who successfully represented Balram Jakhar in the hawala case does not agree with Mittal’s views. He categorically said that the death of these accused will not affect the trial in any way except that the case will abate against them. "There are thousands of instances in which some of the accused died and the trial continued against the remaining accused. There is nothing unusual about it," Arora said. Prominent criminal lawyer R K Naseem agrees with Arora saying the case against the other accused would be decided on the basis of evidence recorded by the court. However, senior advocate Gurdial Singh does not subscribe to the views of Arora and Naseem. According to him "if two main accused die, it would certainly have an adverse impact on the case as the prosecution will face problems in establishing the chain of conspiracy.(PTI) |
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