Newsreel: 01.06.03

On the diplomatic front, Pakistan announces that its Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan, veteran of many a diplomatic battle in the sub-continent, will be Islamabad’s new High Commissioner in New Delhi.

• THE nail-biting wait for the Cabinet reshuffle ends in an anti-climax as Mamata Banerjee, whose induction into the Atal Behari Vajpayee Ministry was considered a foregone conclusion, decides to stay out. She is put off by the BJP move to bring in her party dissident Sudip Bandopadhyay as a Minister of State against her wishes.

• Meanwhile, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, who had resigned as the Union Minister for AGriculture on the eve of the reshuffle, carries out his threat of striking in Uttar Pradesh when his party withdraws support to the Mayawati government by submitting a letter to Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri, demanding that the government be dismissed and efforts made to install an alternative.

• ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wins cabinet approval for a US-backed ‘‘road map’’ for peace in a breakthrough that formally commits Israel for the first time to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The decision is accompanied by reaffirmation of Israeli reservations about the plan, which the United States has said would be addressed as it was being implemented, and rejection of any right for Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.

• Nonagenarian Savita alias Mai Ambedkar, wife of Dr B R Ambedkar, passes away following prolonged illness. The end for 94-year-old Mai comes at J J hospital in Mumbai, where she was undergoing treatment for over one-and-a-half month. She had married Dr Ambedkar, as his second wife, on April 15, 1948, in New Delhi and was a close witness to his contribution in framing the Indian constitution and the event of embracing Buddhism.

• US director Gus Van Sant bags the Cannes film festival’s coveted Palme d’Or award for Elephant, a film that uses real-life children to show how violence can turn high-school life to tragedy. Van Sant, director of Good Will Hunting and My Own Private Idaho, also nabs the prize for best direction.

• GANGLAND killings resume their foreign jaunt when former Chhota Rajan aide Ejaz Lakdawala is gunned down in downtown Bangkok. The murder appears to have been masterminded by the Chhota Shakeel gang. Lakdawala, his wife and their 18-month-old son were enjoying a nightly stroll when one of the shooters closed in, firing six rounds from close range.

• Air-India announces special fares for travel on the domestic sector which is 5 per cent lower than the apex fares announced by the domestic carriers, with immediate effect. The special fares for A-I flights departing between 8 am and 8 pm would now be five per cent lower than Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Sahara.

• The Director-General of the Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera is sacked, Qatari sources say amid allegations in the Western media that he worked with Saddam Hussein’s intelligence services. Mohammed Jassem al-Ali had held the top job at the Doha-based station since it launched the Arabic-language channel in 1996.

• AC Milan becomes European champions for the sixth time when they beat Italian rivals Juventus 3-2 on penalties after the Champions League final at Old Trafford finishes goalless. Milan goalkeeper Dida saves three of Juventus’s five penalties and Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko calmly scores the winning spot kick to clinch victory.