1400 HRS

17th February, 2013

THE HEADLINES

• CBI team  set to leave for Italy  tomorrow  to investigate 3600 crore rupee VVIP chopper deal.
• Around 20 lakh phones go silent in Mumbai after Uninor closes its operations following Supreme Court order.
• Normal life thrown out of gear as rain and snowfall continue  across north India,  10 die  in Andhra Pradesh.
• Five-time champions Australia  lock horns with the  West Indies, for the title  of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in a shortwhile from now.
•  World Number One Serena Williams to clash with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the Singles title clash in the Qatar Open Tennis tournament at Doha.

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A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team is set to leave for Italy  tomorrow  to investigate the 3600 crore rupee VVIP chopper deal. The team comprises a senior investigating officer and  a law officer. It will also investigate whether firms were floated in India just to route kickbacks in the VVIP chopper deal with Italian defence company Agusta Westland. Our correspondent quoting official sources reports that  the departure of the team was delayed due to some last-minute formalities which required to be fulfilled before traveling abroad for the purpose of investigation. The CBI team is also expected  to meet the Italian prosecutors to ascertain the details of the case.   
The Defence ministry has also deputed senior Joint Secretary A K Bal to visit Italy to gather evidence relating to the allegations of corruption in the case.
Earlier, the request for the details and documents of the probe  made by the Indian embassy in Rome was rejected by the Italian court saying that the information is covered by Secrecy. The judge , however, told the Indian embassy that his office will consider a fresh request from the Indian side once the secrecy obligations get over.  
India has already initiated action to scrap the deal for purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland following allegations of kickbacks in the deal.  The Defence Ministry has issued a show cause notice to AgustaWestland, asking it to explain within seven days why the 3,600 crore rupees deal of 2010 should not be scrapped.

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Around 20 lakh phones went silent in Mumbai since this morning after Telecom operator Uninor closed its operations in the city  following a Supreme Court order. The apex court had ordered immediate closure of the company after it cancelled 22 licences of Uninor in Februray 2012. Temporary licences, too, have not been permitted by the Supreme Court. The majority stakeholder of the company, Telenor participated in the November 2012 auction through new entity Telewings Communications and won spectrum in six circles. Telenor is now in the process of transferring business of Uninor in Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, UP East, UP West, Bihar and Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh service areas, to Telewings Communications. Uninor said its operations in these service areas will continue as fresh spectrum for 20 years has already been secured. 

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In Assam, curfew was lifted at South Salmara Sub-Division in Dhubri district this morning. It was imposed on Friday after a mob clashed with security men during panchayat poll counting at Hatsingimari. Our Guwahati correspondent reports that three persons were killed in police firing.

The Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri district Kumud Kalita district said that in the wake of Matriculation examination to be held from tomorrow, curfew has been completely lifted. Local residents came out in large number to buy necessary goods. Vehicles are plying on the roads but security forces are maintaining a strict vigil .Army is also staging flag march. District administration has already given ex-gratia to the next of the three deceased who died in police firing. Assam government is also likely to compensate them. The Deputy Commissioner further said that peace meeting was held yesterday urging all to maintain peace and harmony. Manas Pratim Sarma/ GUWAHATI/ AIR NEWS."

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress has won 15 Zila Parishad and leading in two district. Opposition All India United Democratic Front, AIUDF has won two Zila Parishad. Counting in four districts is still on. Congress Spokesperson Bichitra Choudhury said that party  candidates have won 255 Zilla Parishads in 21 districts. He said that Congress candidates are also leading in Gaon Panchayat President and Anchalik Panchayat member seat. 

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Rain, accompanied by strong winds, and snowfall continued across north India today bringing back the winter chill as normal life was thrown out of gear by the hostile weather.
In Andhra Pradesh, at least ten persons died due to thunderbolt, house collapse and electric shock subsequent to untimely rain in the past two days. Three more persons were injured due to house collapse. State Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha said standing crops in over 20 thousand hectares and horticulture crops in about 19 thousand hectares were damaged. Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has directed Ministers Gita Reddy and Sridhar Babu to monitor relief measures in the worst hit Medak and Karimnagar districts. According to met officials, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Adilabad and Nalgonda districts have received rainfall ranging from 70 to 100 millimetres in the last two days.
 Overnight showers in Delhi ensured that there was a nip in the air and the maximum temperature dropped by seven notches below normal to settle at 16.1 degrees Celsius. Rainfall of 5.8 mm was recorded in the national capital till 8.30 am.
    Himachal Pradesh, in the grip of bone-chilling cold, saw more snowfall and rain which led to a further dip in the mercury. A report:

The cold returned to Uttarakhand where showers in the plains and heavy snowing in the higher reaches confined people indoors. Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Tehri and Dhanaulti near Mussoorie received heavy snowfall while Dehradun and Haridwar were lashed by rain accompanied by strong gusts of wind.
Light to moderate rain lashed several parts of Rajasthan with Pilani recording a maximum of 46.6 mm rain.
In the Kashmir valley, the weather, however  improved today after rain and snowfall during the last two days. The sky is clear  but the cold wave still continues.

"According to the meteorological department the weather will remain clear in the coming two days. The temperature in lower ares of the valley is ranging between  0 degree to 9 degree Celsius but the tourist spots of Gulmarg and Pahalgam are still reeling under minus temperature. Due to fresh snowfall on higher reaches, the administration has issued avalanche-warning in Nowgam Kayeen, Chowkibal,Tangdhar,Keran and Gurez areas.People have been advised  not to move out in avalanche prone areas. Sanjit Khajuria,AIR News,Srinagar."

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In Uttar Pradesh, rain has stopped in eastern part bringing some relief to people. Our Gorakhpur correspondent reports,  moderate to light shower however occurred in some western districts.

    
"People have felt relief from biting cold as Sun has appeared today after a gap of three days in eastern part. However, the weather is still cloudy in Allahabad, Varanasi Lucknow and some other divisions of the state. The normal life is coming back on track as people have come out of their home to enjoy the sunshine. However the agricultural exerts fear damage to standing crops of mustard and pulses. Water is still logged in a large area in ongoing Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. Salman Haider/AIR news/ Gorakhpur."

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India and UAE are looking forward to enhance bilateral trade, economic cooperation and investment.  Union Minister of Commerce Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma arrived in Dubai on a two day visit to the UAE to co-chair the first meeting of the High Level Task Force on Investment in Abu Dhabi tomorrow. He is meeting the NRI Businessmen and investors in Dubai today followed by  bilateral talks with the UAE Minister of Foreign Trade , Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi. The visit of the Commerce Minister is significant in the wake of the investor friendly policy initiatives taken by the Government of India and India-UAE ties gaining strength in terms of trade, commerce and investment. Our West Asia correspondent has filed this report -

 "India and UAE share age old trade and commercial links. India is the third largest investor in UAE, while UAE is the tenth largest investor in India. UAE is the second home for over 1.75 million expatriate Indians and several NRI business leaders. India is looking forward to investments worth US$ 1 trillion in infrastructure sector over the next five years. In the wake of investor friendly policy initiatives and the  visit of the Commerce Minister, it is expected that the bilateral investments will pick up in the times to come. Atul K Tiwary, AIR News, Dubai."

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The First batch of twenty articulated buses, purchased with funds from the line of credit provided by India was handed over  to Bangladesh today. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over the key of the buses to Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation at her office in the presence of visiting Minister for External Affairs, Salman Khurshid. Here is more from our Dhaka correspondent:
 

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Prime Minister of United Kingdom David Cameron is arriving  tomorrow on a 3 day state visit to India. Accompanied by a large official business delegation, he will hold comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  on a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues. Mr. Cameron will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee during his stay.
Before landing New Delhi on Tuesday, Cameron along with his delegation would be spending a night in Mumbai where he will attend a business meet and place a wreath at the police memorial.
Ahead of the visit, the UK Prime Minister said he wanted the relationship between Britain and India to be one of the great partnerships of the 21st century.

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The Goa Government has notified a scheme for granting financial assistance to the persons of Goan origin engaged in traditional occupation. Our Panaji correspondent reports that the scheme will be implemented from April 1, this year.

The scheme comes into operation following a committment by the state Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Parriker in his budget speech last year. As per this scheme, those eligible could avail a financial assistance of Rs. 1000/-per month. There are around 10,000 people in Goa working under various categories of the traditional occupation/business. The state Govt.  has so far identified 36 categories under the scheme. Balaji Prabhugaonker ,AIR News Panaji.Prabhugaonkar/AIR NEWS/Panaji/"

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In Cricket:
Five-time champions Australia will lock horns with the West Indies, in the title clash of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup today. The match will be played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai from 2:30 PM. Both teams had met in the super six stage in this tournament, in which the Windies defeated the Aussies by 8 runs.
Meanwhile, defending champions England finished on the third position, after they beat New Zealand by 15 runs in the third place play-off fixture on Friday. In the fifth position play-off match, Sri Lanka ended as winners. They defeated South Africa by 88 runs.

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Newly crowned World Number One, America's Serena Williams will clash with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the Singles title clash of the Qatar Open Tennis tournament at Doha today. Both in-form players stormed into the finals after beating their respective opponents with minimum fuss, in the semi-finals played late last night. 

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NASA scientists say, the meteor that streaked across the Russian skies on Friday, injuring around 1,200 people, exploded with a force 30 times greater than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. The 55 foot wide rock with a mass of 10,000 tonnes lit up the sky above the Urals region, causing shockwaves and damaging thousands of homes in an event unprecedented in modern times.