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Weekly News in a Nutshell - October 18, 2002

First things first---we at indiaXroads.com hope that all of you have had a wonderful Dassera and Navaratri.

It's the Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, for now at least. As Omar Abdullah, the defeated Chief Minister of J&K, put it, "Congress-PDP had a pre-poll alliance. But this had failed to translate into a post-poll understanding." After a month of voting in Jammu-Kashmir state, no party won a majority of the 87-seat legislature. It was expected that the Congress and People's Democratic Party would form a coalition government by October 17. But both parties wanted their leaders to take the chief minister's seat. The deadline now has been extended to October 21.

An off-shoot of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir brought Indian and Pakistan border troops back to peacetime locations. The Indian government announced on Wednesday,October 16, that it would withdraw troops from the Indo-Pak border The following day, on October 17, Pakistan announced that it too would withdraw its troops. The United States welcomed the withdrawal of troops and is now encouraging both the countries to have a dialogue to further deescalate tensions in the sub-continent.

The Shiv Sena chief, Bal Tackery, was charged yesterday for his statement on Dassera about forming Hindu suicide squads to counter terrorism

A conference of Chief Ministers was convened by the Prime Minister today to discuss Dearness Allowance freeze and debt swap to reduce the interest burden on states but it failed to arrive at a consensus.

Sachin Tendulkar set another world record when he became the first batsman ever to score 20,000 runs in the history of international cricket.

The Indian Sports Minister denied that Sunita Rani, Indian long distance runner, tested positive for Nandrolone, a banned drug.

Towards the end of the week, the United States softened its stand against Iraq and gave a new proposal to the United Nations. The new proposal calls for inspectors to report any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament. The UN Security council would then discuss the situation again. Earlier on October 16, Bush signed the Iraq War resolution and opened the debate in the UN on Iraq. In his speech, he said that it was the global responsibility to confront Saddam Hussein. He added, "Every nation that shares the benefits of peace also shares the duty of defending the peace."

The CIA told a congressional panel yesterday that the possibility of a terror attack within the US was high again. The director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, said that it was as high as the time before 9/11.

The Congress is set to solve the problems that plagued the 2000 presidential balloting in Florida by giving states billions of dollars to upgrade their voting systems.

The Sniper attacked again this Monday , October 14, fatally shooting a woman on the head in Virginia. This made it his 12th shooting since October 2. Though witnesses claim they saw the man, their descriptions failed to composite a sketch of the Sniper.

Though we leave you on an uneasy note of the Sniper, we do hope that you have a good weekend and good week ahead of you.

Till next week.