Defence procurement board to be set up
With a view to promoting transparency in
defence deals, the Government today decided to constitute a
defence procurement board and appoint a Chief of Defence Staff as
recommended by an inter-ministerial group which had been set up
to revamp the national security architecture.
Role for Arun Singh
In a move to fine-tune the national security
establishment, the former Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Arun
Singh, has been appointed special adviser to the Defence
Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh.
Sunil Dutt injured as plane crashlands
The senior Congress leader and film star, Mr.
Sunil Dutt, who had a narrow escape along with five others when
their plane crashlanded near Nasik last night, was today shifted
to the Breach Candy Hospital here, where he is expected to
undergo an operation for a fractured toe tomorrow.
Anil Kapoor, Raveena bag top awards
With two members of the Feature Films Jury
for the 48th National Film Awards resigning, one person walking
out and another putting only a conditional signature to the
citations, the awards were announced here this afternoon amid
allegations of ``rigging'', ``saffronisation'' and ``nepotism''.
R.K. Jain apologises to Yashwant Sinha
The controversial former Samata Party
treasurer, Mr. R. K. Jain, of the Tehelka tapes episode, today
apologised to the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha,
saying ``all the statements attributed against you and others
made by me are false and incorrect and had no intention to defame
or hurt you or anybody's feelings.''
All set for GSLV launch
The countdown for the launch of Geosynchronous
Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which began at 5.47 a.m.
yesterday, was going on smoothly and the is all set to take off
as per schedule at 3.47 p.m. tomorrow from the Sriharikota (SHAR)
range.
Review of Bofors case
Malaysia will conduct a judicial review
on June 18 the extradition case against Italian businessman, Mr.
Ottavio Quattrochi, named in the Indian investigation into the
Bofors kickback scandal, his lawyers said today.
Sonali Bendre held, gets bail
Film actress, Ms. Sonali Bendre, was today
arrested and later released on bail by a local court in a case
filed against her for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments
of people by appearing in an ``objectionable`` pose on a magazine
cover. She was arrested along with her dress designer, Ashali
Charles Rebello, and photographer, Amit Shanta Kumar Ashar.
Kamal Nath walks the extra mile to humour Mitra
The Congress high command today decided to
humour its West Bengal unit leaders urging them to come to Delhi
tomorrow to discuss the Trinamool Congress' offer of seats in the
coming Assembly election.
BJP hopeful
The Bharatiya Janata Party has not yet given
up on an electoral tie-up with the Trinamool Congress.
