2100 HRS.
28-04-2013

THE HEADLINES

• Family members allowed glimpse of Sarabjit Singh in Lahore hospital where he continues to be in coma.
• All efforts being made to exert pressure on Pakistan for providing best medical treatment to Sarabjit, says I & B Minister.
• High level Indian delegation conveys concern to Saudi Arabia over Nitaqat Law; apprises NRI community of rehabilitation measures for those returning to India.
• Two bomb blasts kill nine and injure more than 30 people in northwest Pakistan.
• Enrico Letta of the Centre-left Democratic Party sworn in as new Prime Minister of Italy.
• The duo of Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands storm into the final ofStuttgartWTA PorscheTennis Grand Prix.
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The distraught family of seriously injured Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh was today allowed to have a glimpse of him from a distance at the state-run Jinnah Hospital. Sarabjit is being treated at the intensive care unit of the hospital where he is said to be in a serious condition and in a coma after thebrutal assault in Pakistani's high security Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday. Sources quoted Pakistangovernment as saying that it would allow one of Sarabjit's family members to stay in a room within Jinnah Hospital. The family of Sarabjit Singh today crossed over to Pakistan to see him and appealed to the authorities there the to allow him to come to India for treatment. Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Poonam and Swapandeep and sister Dalbir, crossed over through the Attari-Wagah border this afternoon.Dalbir Kaur told reporters at the border that the family were carrying the best wishes of millions of Indians with them and hoped their prayers will be answered and Sarabjit will getwell soon. Sarabjit Singh's wife, in an emotional appeal to Pakistan authorities has said that her husband should be sent to India for better treatment. 

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Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tiwari said in Bangalore that all efforts are being made to exert pressure on Pakistan to ensure the best medical treatment for Sarabjit Singh.

I do hope that the government of Pakistan will provide the best medical treatment and take away constructive view in his matter which can facilitate his release and coming back to India.

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The spiritual head of Ajmer Sharif Dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan said today that the brutal assault on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistan jail was an un-Islamic act.

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The Minister rejected the criticism of opposition parties that the attack on Singh is a reflection of failure of India's foreign policy.Pakistan today stopped consular accesss to Sarabjit Singh.Offical sourcess said in New Delhi, two official from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were granted access to Sarabjit yesterday. They were however, not allowed to visit him today.The Indian chapter of Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy has condemned the brutal attack on Sarabjit Singh and sought a probe to go to the bottom of the attack in order to punish the responsible people.

 India and Saudi Arabia have decided to set up a Joint Working Group to address concerns over the kingdom's Nitaqat program. It will address the concerns of expatriate Indian workers in Saudi Arabia. The group led by a Deputy Saudi Minister and India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia will discuss and evolve mechanism for addressing all immediate problems facing the NRI community including issues related to overstaying Indian workers. The first meeting of the group will be held in Riyadh on 1st of May. The two countries have also decided to hold talks on the MoU for Labour Cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia. The India - Saudi Arabia Joint Working Group on Labour has been constituted to discuss the MoU and other related issues. The first meeting of this JWG on Labour will be held in New Delhi in May 2013. Both India and Saudi Arabia would work closely to make the process of recruitment of workers more transparent. These decisions were taken at a meeting of a high level Indian delegation led by the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi with the Saudi Labour minister Adel Fakieh in Jeddah today. The Deputy Chief of Indian Mission in Saudi Arabia, Sibi Geeorge told AIR that the meeting was held in extremely positive atmosphere and lasted for over three hours.The team accompanied by E. Ahamed, Minister of State for External Affairs, and Prime Minister’s Adviser T.K.A. Nair also met the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince SAUD Al Faisal later in the evening. Earlier in the day, the delegation met the Indian community workers and representatives to share their concerns over the impact of Nitaqat program. They assured the Indian community that those who are working legally in Saudi Arabia won’t be adversely affected. .The team also apprised the NRI community of the steps taken by the Indian Government for rehabilitation of those returning to India. Over two million Indians are currently working in Saudi Arabia.

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The Government is planning to open seven thousand new Bank Branches per year across the country. While inaugurating State Bank of India’s New Branch at Sivaganga Collectorate in Tamilnadu, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the Government is planning to open 20 branches per day. He reiterated that by the end of March 2014 all the banks in the country will have the ATM facility. The Minister said that Five lakhs seventy five thousand crore rupees would be disbursed to the farmers as crop loans during the current financial year.   <<>> 

The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tiwari has said that the issue of Chinese incursion will be resolved through bilateral dialogue. He said it is a localised issue which will be taken up at all levels. He asked media to deal with the issue with much more sensitivity and responsibility as it concerns national security.

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BJP President Rajnath Singh has urged External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to cancel his upcoming visit to China over the incursion issue. He said there should not be any visit to Beijing till itwithdraws its army personnel from Depsang Valley in Ladakh where they intruded a fortnight ago. Speaking at a function in New Delhi today, Mr Singh suggested that the area should be handed over to the Army. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is currently posted in the area. 

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THIS IS ALL INDIA RADIO, GIVING YOU THE NEWS For news updates, follow us on Twitter @ airnewsalerts. For regional and national news of AIR download All India Radio News app on any android based mobile phone".

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In Pakistan, two bomb blasts killed nine persons and injured more than 30 in northwest today. The blasts occured outside the campaign offices of candidates contesting general election,

A remote-controlled explosive device went off outside an election office in Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province killing six persons and injuring 21 others. Hours later, another bomb went off outside an election office in Maqsoodabad, a suburb of Peshawar, killing three persons and injuring 10 others, including three children.No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.

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Italy's new coalition government has been sworn in at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Rome, two months after an inconclusive general election. Enrico Letta of the Centre-left Democratic Party has become the country's new Prime Minister. As the inauguration was taking place, gun-shots were fired outside the Prime Minister's office about a kilometre away. Italian media reports say two police officers were injured and a man was arrested.

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In Bangladesh, rescue operations are continuing at the collapsed multi-storey Rana Plaza commercial complex with four more survivors being rescued alive today, nearly ninety six hours after the building collapsed. Rescue workers are racing against time to save a group of people found alive among the rubble. The authorities said that they have decided to begin the use of heavy equipment in the operation to clear the debris faster so that they can reach out to the people who may still be trapped. Meanwhile, the owner of the collapsed building, who had been on the run, was arrested at Benapole today afternoon and was later brought to Dhaka.So far six people including three factory owners have been arrested after the eight storey building came crashing down on Wednesday killing more than 300 people.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today visited the National Orthopaedic Hospital today morning to see the injured persons who are undergoing treatment there.

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The duo of Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands have stormed into the final of the WTA PorscheTennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. The unseeded Indo-American pair carved out a 6-4, 7-5 winover local favourite combination of Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals in one hour and 31 minutes.<>

In the Indian Premier league cricket,Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 14 runs. The Kolkata team made 186 for 4 against the target of 201 runs set by the Chennai team.The match between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors is now going on in Raipur. Delhi Daredevils were 92 for 3 in 13 overs a short while ago when reports last came in.

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The fast development of the urban areas of Guharat,has been due to Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Gujarat had completed 38 projects worth 1473 crore rupees since the scheme was launched in 2008. According to National Mission, 50 percent of the total cost is funded by Central Government, while 20 percent is borne by State Government and remaining 30 percent is borne by local civic body. Surat has already completed 18 such projects out of 25 projects allotted to it. Now, Centre has sanctioned another 3 projects for Surat under JNNURM. 

Diamond city Surat has got three new projects sanctioned under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission -JNURM that will help to provide better basic amenities to its residents. These three projects approved for the city include a 50 million liters per day water treatment plant for the new area of Simada worth of Rs 50 crore, expansion of a 100 million liters per day sewerage treatment plant to 140 million liters per day capacity at a cost of Rs 53 crore in Karanj area and an e-governance project for the city worth of Rs 25 crore. it is for the first time that an e-governance project has been sanctioned in Gujarat under the JNURM. Surat has already received about Rs 1,000 crore of its 50 per cent share under JNURM funds from the centre and about Rs 500 crore from the state government.Yogesh Pandya/AIR News/Ahmedabad.

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At least two people have died and 10 others injured when part of an apartment block in the French city of Reims collapsed after a suspected gas blast. Firefighters were hunting for victims trapped under debris of the council estate building, where a strip of flats collapsed, taking around 10 apartments down. At the beginning of this month, four people of a family were killed and another person was seriously injured when a gas explosion devastated their council flat in Witry-les-Reims, not far from the scene of today's accident.

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Israel has carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip targeting the Palestinian militant group HAMAS. The Israeli Military said its planes hit what it called a terrorist weapons storage facility in response to rockets fired from Gaza into Southern Israel yesterday. There are no reports of casualties.

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In Uttarakhand polling was held today for 6 municipal corporations, 28 municipal boards and 35 Nagar Panchayats. Election to 5 newly formed Municipal Boards - Haridwar, Roorkee, Haldwani, Kashipur and Rudrapur was held for the first time.

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The Srinagar-Leh national highway has been reopened for vehicular traffic after remaining closed fortwo days due to avalanches. A spokesman of the Traffic Department said in Srinagar that the Border Roads Organisation , which is responsible for the maintenance of the highway, cleared the road fortraffic at around 10 PM last night.

The traffic on the 434-km arterial road connecting Leh to the rest of the state was stopped following the avalanches which hit two trucks and a load carrier between Gumri and Minamarg near Shetani Nallah in Kargil on April 25. Six people were injured in the incident.

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In Karnataka ten persons were killed in a road mishap on the outskirts of Humanabad town in Bidar district today. Police said the multi-purpose vehicle in which they were travelling crashed into a oil tanker while trying to overtake. The victims believed to be from the same family, were reported to be travelling to Hyderabad.