Again CPIM office ransacked after arms found inside
Nandigram, 16 June : A CPI(M) party office at Itaberia was ransacked on Tuesday after arms and ammunition were seized from the premises, police said here.
East Midnapore district police sources said people made police search the party office after they gave information about the arms kept inside. The search led to seizure of three guns, a box of bombs, 100 rounds of ammunition and a sackful of bomb-making material, they said.
After the police sealed the office and left, locals went on a rampage and damaged the building. Police, accompanied by people, also raided the house of a CPI(M) leader at Mangighaber at Khejuri and seized two guns and 50 bombs, the sources said.

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Unrest :: Central force company arrives in Lalgarh

West Bengal government seeks more Central force

Kolkata, 16 June : With tribal agitators on warpath, a company of Central force arrived in restive Lalgarh in West Midnapore district on Tuesday as the West Bengal government sought more companies to assist the police.

"The state government has sought five companies of Central forces for Lalgarh. One company has already arrived there to assist the police," chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty said. He said two to three companies would soon arrive. Admitting that the police were under pressure at Lalgarh, Chakraborty said "Police at Lalgarh are under pressure but it cannot be said that they are demoralised." He said though normal life was disrupted at Lalgarh the area had not turned into a 'free zone'.
The tribals and Maoists torched four police camps in Lalgarh on Monday after the police and CRPF left. Paramilitary forces tried to go to Lalgarh on Tuesday but were stopped 35 km away from Midnapore town. District Magistrate N S Nigam said about 2,000 tribals stopped the forces and told them to return. Tribals also gathered at Goaltore, north of Lalgarh to march to Garbeta to bring the areas under their control. At Midnapore, a high-level meeting was held to discuss the situation arising out of the agitation by the tribal organisation, People's Committee Against Police Atrocities, N S Nigam said.

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AP Tourism proposes sea cruise from Vizag-Andaman

Hyderabad, 16 June : The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) is exploring the possibility of introducing a cruise from Visakhapatnam to Andaman and Nicobar islands to attract more tourists, according to tourism minister J Geeta Reddy.
APTDC would buy a cruise ship that could accommodate about 100 tourists. Though the project was proposed last year, it made no progress.
Geeta Reddy said the newly approved Cruise Tourism Policy had opened up huge potential for cruise tourism. APTDC would be the first tourism body to introduce a luxury sea cruise liner.

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India-US N-deal on track : Indian AEC chief Kakodkar

Kolkata, 16 June : Work on the India-US civil nuclear energy deal is well on track and talks are on with fuel vendors, Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar said in Kolkata on Tuesday.

"It (the deal) is moving and we are talking to the (fuel) vendors," Kakodkar told reporters at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics at Kolkata's satellite township of Salt Lake. Preparatory work had started on nuclear energy-based projects covered under the deal, said kakodkar, one of India's chief negotiators on the agreement.
"There is a detailed activity that needs to be done for any such project like deciding on techno-commercial aspects, regulatory aspects and also the implementation issues - who will manufacture, how and different ways to be adopted for manufacturing," he said. Earlier, delivering the Raja Ramanna memorial lecture, Kakodkar emphasised that the country needs to do its own research on development of clean coal technology as it has a unique problem of having coal with high-ash content.
"We have to do our own research on clean coal technology as no other country would do that using coal that is found in only our country," Kakodkar said.

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Bangladesh seek US support for border security
Dhaka, 16 June : Bangladeshi Home Minister Sahara Khatun said the United States would provide support to Bangladesh in holding the trial of war criminals and combating global terrorism. She stated this to reporters after a meeting with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake at the home ministry. The home minister told the State Department senior official that the people want the trial of the war criminals, one of the main election pledges of the present government.

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Four Indian NSG hubs to be operational by 30 June
New Delhi, 16 June : The four NSG hubs announced in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strikes last year will be operational by 30 June. This was stated by NSG director general N P S Aulakh after his meeting with union home minister P Chidamabarm on Tuesday.
"We have got land at all the four places - Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai," Aulakh said. The four hubs for both anti-terror and anti-hijack operations will be operational by 30 June, he said.
In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year, the government had decided to set up NSG hubs in the four cities followed by more in the state capitals.

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New Bangladesh army chief meets with president

Dhaka, 16 June : Newly appointed army chief General Md Abdul Mubeen met president Zillur Rahman on Tuesday. Mubeen, who took up his new office a day before, went to Bangabhaban at 11:30 am(BDST) and came out at noon.
The new army chief called on the prime minister, who also heads the defence ministry, Sheikh Hasina, on Monday.
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North East India on swine flu radar, pig import banned
Agartala, 16 June : Authorities in the northeastern region have stepped up precautionary measures against the spread of swine flu, besides banning import of pigs and pork products from adjoining countries, officials said Tuesday.
A health official said no case of influenza A(H1N1) infection had been reported in Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura. However, these states have banned import of pigs and pork products. The northeastern states share unfenced borders with Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China.

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Training aircraft crashes in Bay
Chittagong, 16 June : A training aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force crashed in the Bay of Bengal near the outer anchorage of Chittagong port this morning.
Sources at Zahirul Haq Airbase said the pilot of the aircraft, Flight Lieutenant Mamun, managed to escape by parachute after the aircraft crashed in Patenga. The divers of Bangladesh Navy with the help of some local divers rescued him and rushed to nearby Naval Hospital, said Commander Anwar of Naval Academy at Patenga in the port city. The pilot was out of danger, he said.
The naval rescue team was searching for the wreckage of the aircraft in the sea at the bravo point of outer anchorage area of Chittagong port. Bangladesh Air Force Chief Air Marshal Ziaur Rahman flew to Chittagong immediately after the accident. န Photo : AP
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New, heavy import tax proposed for Bangladesh newspaper industry

Dhaka, 16 June : The Newspaper Association of Bangladesh fears the effects of a budget proposal that will impose a five percent import duty on newsprint, Asia Media reported on Sunday. Association leaders, in a statement on Saturday, revealed their distress with the proposed taxation and appealed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for support. According to the statement the intended five percent duty will in fact be around 11.5 percent after VAT and regulatory tax.
Newspaper publishers said they have continually stressed the substandard quality of local newsprint that costs Tk 8,000 to Tk 10,000 more than the imported newsprint.
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Houses torched in fresh political clashes in Burdwan
Burdwan, 16 June : Armed CPI(M) workers went on a rampage, vandalising property and torching homes at Mangalkote in Burdwan district today during a 12-hour bandh called by them to protest the killing of a senior leader.
"Eight to ten houses were torched," Superintendent of Police R Rajshekaran said adding that fire brigade personnel had rushed to Mangalkote.
Katwa Congress MLA Rabindra Chatterjee, however, claimed that 100 houses were set ablaze by the CPI(M) workers. CPI(M) District Secretary Amal Haldar told Bengal Newz that the incident was a result of the anger of CPI(M) supporters at yesterday's murder of leader Falguni Mukherjee. "The Congress and the Trinamool Congress are unleashing terror in Burdwan district, with our leader falling victim," Halder said.
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BDO, officials locked up by tribals, no police forces in Jhargram
Gopiballavpur, 16 June : West Midnapore, Agitating tribals locked up the BDO of Gopiballavpur-II, along with 16 others of his staff members, inside their office at Tapsia under Jhargram subdivision since last evening.
The tribals had been demanding immediate construction of a bridge on Dulung river in the area. Electricity lines had been snapped and telephone sets broken inside the office premises and the locked officials were forced to close all the doors and windows as the tribals threw stones from outside, Jhargram SDO Ulaganathan informed today. The SDO claimed that proposal for the bridge was submitted long back and the funds had also been placed but no work could be executed.