Hasan case: ED summons Swiss banks ex-staff MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned two former employees of United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to appear before a Mumbai court in connection with its multi-crore money laundering probe against Pune stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan. The summons,issued on the directions of the court,have been issued against former executive director of the bank Prabhu Guptara and former employee Peter Willie under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The duo have been asked to appear before the court anytime between April 9 and 13. Samjhauta accused held for Malegaon MUMBAI: The NIA on Monday formally arrested Lokesh Sharma,already in judicial custody in connection with the Samjhauta train bombing case,for his alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blast. Sharma was produced before the special MCOCA court of Y D Shinde who remanded him to NIA custody till March 9. The special court had issued a production warrant against the accused on February 23. The NIA had failed in its attempt to seek his custody from the Panchkula court on February 22. 3 more categories in Tourism awards NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Tourism has introduced three new categories of Awards as a part of the National Tourism Awards from this year onwards. These are The Best State: Campaign Clean India award,the Best Heritage City award and Best Heritage Walk award. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will give away these awards on February 29,2012 in New Delhi. Pollution Board notice to Hindalco BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Pollution Control Board has fined the Aditya Birla group promoted Hindalco Industries Rs 13.77 crore for selling anode butts containing absorbed fluoride from its 1.61 lakh tonne per annum aluminium smelter at Hirakud town of Sambalpur district. The Board had served a showcause notice to the company in September last year over selling of 15000 tonnes of Anode butts between 2007 and 2010. The anode butts contain fluoride in high concentration and can can prove extremely harmful to the human health. Gates lauds Nitish for no polio cases PATNA: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lauded Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the state not having reported any polio cases in the last 16 months. The foundation,however,asked Bihar to be cautious against migrants and high-risk groups. In a letter to Kumar,Bill Gates said: On occasion of India being free of polio for one year,it is truly a pleasure to congratulate you on more than 16 months without a reported case of wild poliovirus in Bihar. Indo-US war games in Rajasthan in March NEW DELHI: India and the US will conduct a joint mechanised forces training exercise in the Rajasthan desert next month as part of the Yudh Abhyas series of war games. The US is participating with a platoon of Stryker armoured personnel carriers while the Indian side will field its mechanised infantry units. Troops will engage in joint planning for missions including live fire drills,cordon and search operations and search and rescue training, defence spokesperson Col SD Goswami said. The training area is located in Rajasthan,close to the Indo-Pak border.
