M A I N   N E W S

Cabinet okays corporate funding of elections

New Delhi, December 18
The government today cleared a slew of proposals, including corporate funding for the elections, amendments to the Money Laundering Bill and allocation of two coal bed methane (CBM) blocks under the first phase of the CBM policy.

The Union Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, approved the Election and other related amendment Bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told newspersons here.

With a view to raise funds for elections, the government accepted the majority of recommendations of the Inderjit Gupta report and proposed to introduce the Bill in the current session of Parliament. However, it rejected the proposal on the state funding of the elections in cash.

Highly placed sources said the proposed Bill prohibited the donations by government and public sector companies. However, non-government companies would be permitted to donate funds up to 5 per cent of their profits. UNI

Stabbing of Sikh woman: US police seeks help

Washington, December 18
The US authorities have approached public for help in tracking down two assailants who stabbed a Sikh American woman in what was the first documented local hate-crime after September 11 attacks.

The Diego police officials from the non-profit Crime Stoppers Agency and Pacific Islander community leaders gathered on Monday to put out a call for tips on the three-month-old assault, according to a San Diego channel news.

Two unidentified men attacked North County resident Swaran Kaur Bhullar (51), as she sat in her car at a Miramar area intersection on the afternoon of September 30.

The assailants, who pulled up next to Bhullar’s car on a motor cycle, yanked open the vehicle’s door and stabbed her several times on the head as one of them shouted, “This is what you get for what you’ve done to us!”

The naturalised US citizen from Kenya was treated at a hospital for cuts to her scalp and released that day.

“Hate crime is a serious issue and is a violation of human rights,” San Diego Police Department information officer Dave Cohen said. IANS