Wednesday, December 15, 2010, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 2:30 am (IST)

Govt needs tapping powers: PM
Directs Cabinet Secretary to look into leaks to media, allays India Inc’s concerns
New Delhi , December 14
Breaking his silence on the Radia tapes controversy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Cabinet Secretary had been asked to look into all aspects of phone tapping by governmental agencies and report back to the Cabinet within the next one month.

Tobacco firms lobbied to defer stricter pictoral warnings
New Delhi, December 14
In a shocking revelation, it has been learnt that top tobacco companies and organisations lobbied with the Ministry of Health to delay the implementation (from December 1 this year) of stricter pictorial warnings on tobacco products. New warnings featuring a cancer-stricken mouth were to replace the image of a scorpion on the tobacco products from December 1. The Union Cabinet last week deferred the stricter warnings by a year.

SC Judge contradicts former CJI on Raja issue
New Delhi, December 14
The alleged attempt by A Raja to influence a Madras High Court Judge in June last when he was Telecom Minister sparked off another major controversy today, with Supreme Court Judge HL Gokhale disputing then Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan’s reported contention that he was not aware of the fact that the minister in question was Raja.

Close shave for 65 at Chandigarh airport
Chandigarh, December 14
Sixty-five persons, including five crew members, on board a Jet Airways plane had a close shave when the left tyre of the aircraft started deflating soon after it landed at the Chandigarh airport today. According to HS Toor, Director, Chandigarh airport, the tyre of the aircraft started deflating after the aircraft had landed at the airport.

BPCL increases petrol prices by Rs 2.96 per litre
New Delhi, December 14
Bharat Petroleum Corp today hiked petrol prices by about Rs 2.96 a litre effective midnight tonight, and other state-owned oil companies IOC and HPCL will follow suit tomorrow. The Oil Ministry today gave the three companies a go-ahead to raise petrol prices after international crude oil prices touched $90 per barrel. BPCL, the second largest fuel retailer in the country, took the lead to raise petrol prices by Rs 2.96 a litre to Rs 55.87 per litre in Delhi, sources privy to the decision said.

Punjab to counter narco-terrorism
Two IRBs to be posted behind BSF along Pak border to check smuggling
Chandigarh, December 14
In a biggest initiative ever to counter the threat of narco-terrorism, the Punjab Police has planned a second line of defence behind the Border Security Force (BSF) along the border with Pakistan to stop the continued influx of both drugs and arms from across the border. The move, which involve stationing of two Indian Reserve Police Battalions (IRBs) along the border, had received a favourable response from the Union Home Minister, state DGP PS Gill told TNS here.

ISI man who died in Delhi a martyr for Pak
New Delhi, December 14
It took over a decade for the Pakistani army to accept that its 500 soldiers and officers were involved in infiltrations along the Line of Control and were killed during during the 1999 Kargil war with India. Their names were recently listed as “martyrs” in ‘Shuhada’s (martyrs) corner’ of the Pakistan army’s website.

B’desh gurdwaras a picture of neglect Amritsar, December 14 With the return of a 58-member Sikh jatha from Bangladesh, the deplorable state of historic gurdwaras there has come to the fore. A report in this regard will soon be submitted to the SGPC. Sorry state: Gurdwara Sangat Tola in Bangladesh