Newsreel 25.01.04

• Youth, dreams and future make up the core of President Abdul Kalam’s 54th Republic Day speech. India is a nation of youth accoun...

•
Youth, dreams and future make up the core of President Abdul Kalam’s 54th Republic Day speech. India is a nation of youth accounting for 540 million people below 25, Kalam says, laying emphasis on the young dream of living in a developed India. And for the political parties he had one thing to say: come clean.

•
A MAMMOTH public sector bank plus an ailing FI gives a financial powerhouse. The Punjab National Bank (PNB) sure has faith in this equation. It buys out ailing term lender IFCI Ltd, an acquisition which would create a top five Indian bank worth $1.85 billion. The combined PNB/IFCI would have a market capitalisation of $1.85 billion.

•
VOLATILITY, it seems, is here to stay with Indian markets. However, the Sebi has its own doubts. The market regulator goes into the ‘‘high alert’’ mode, but the Sensex crashes by another 107 points after moving in an intra-day range of 169 points on Friday. The 30-share Sensex ends 107.08 points lower at 5,695.66.

Story continues below this ad

•
RESPONDING to one of the gravest allegations involving judicial corruption, the Gujarat High Court places under suspension metropolitan magistrate M S Brahmbhatt for issuing bailable warrants against the President, Chief Justice of India, a sitting judge of the Supreme court and a former President of its the bar association.

•
RAISING the prospects of early Assembly polls in Orissa in tandem with Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik says the state Assembly would be dissolved on February 6, a year ahead of its term.

•
THE BEEB had it coming, though no one expected it this bad. Lord Hutton, head of the panel instituted to probe into the controversy surrounding the death of weapons inspector David Kelly and a preceding BBC story that the Tony Blair administration had ‘‘sexed up’’ its Iraq dossier, submits his report. In the face of the severe indictment it received, BBC chairman, director-general and reporter Andrew Gilligan submit their papers. Charges of a ‘‘Hutton whitewash’’ fly thick, but that doesn’t hold back Tony ‘lucky’ Blair from living to tell the tale.

•
ISLAMIC bomb’s chain reaction goes on and on. After debriefing its scientists and even putting its architect Abdul Qadeer Khan under house arrest, Pakistan finally sacks him from his post to ‘‘facilitate’’ an ongoing probe into the suspected transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.

Story continues below this ad

•
A RELATIVELY quiet week for the Indian cricketers in Australia. Bar the friendly against A Steve Waugh-led Prime Minister’s XI team, who they beat by one run, not much happened to them on-field. Off it, the usual injury updates continued to flow and news is that Anil Kumble will not be able to make it in time for the finals. At the Australian Open, Karan Rastogi became the first Indian since Leander Paes in 1991 to make a Grand Slam Boys’ semifinal. The fourth-seed lost to eighth-seed Gael Monfils of France.