O HERALD O
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Sports: Buoyed by show in warm-up — Strauss Pg 16 Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow them.
—Madame de Stael
IN BRIEF 19 Indians held for illegal work Nineteen Indians, including a woman, have been arrested for working illegally in the United Kingdom during a raid on a cloth manufacturing factory in Leicester. Acting on intelligence, UK Border Agency officers visited the factory called House of Creation and checked the immigration status of staff. Officers discovered that 19 of the staff did not have permission to work in the UK. They were all Indian nationals who had either entered the UK illegally or were working in breach of their visas, officials said. (PTI)
Business: Reliance sells 30% stake in 23 blocks to BP Pg 12
(air surcharge Rs 2.00) pages 16+4
Goa’s Heartbeat: Britney faces lawsuit for new video Pg 4
Barge sinks off Aguada coast One feared drowned, six rescued
HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, FEB 21
A 24-year-old crew member of the barge MV Noor IV was feared drowned while six sailors were rescued, after the barge sank off the Aguada-Sinquerim coast on Sunday midnight. Incidentally, this was the second mishap involving the MV Noor IV in barely two years, after it had capsized in the Mormugao port. According to reports, the incident took place late Sunday
night when the barge was transferring ore from its hull to a trans-shipper Vigor off the Aguada-Sinquerim coast. The seven-member crew fell into the sea and the crew on board the trans-shipper quickly made efforts to rescue the seven persons from the sea. When contacted, Coastal Police Inspector Anthony Monserrate told Herald that six crew, comprising Abdul Qazi (captain), Swapan Sardar (driver), Brindas Singh (Sukhani), Amit Hussain
Mullah, Hari Om Singh and Dabesh Mandal, all sailors, managed to climb the ladder of the Vigor. “Oilman Gauranga Mondal (24) tried to climb the ladder, but was unsuccessful in his attempt,” said Monserrate. Vasco reporter adds: The barge that capsized off Sinquerim on Monday had sunk at berth No 9 of the Mormugao Port Trust about two years ago. The ore-laden barge M V Noor IV had capsized due to rough
Kadhafi may be heading to Venezuela: UK AFP BRUSSELS, FEB 21
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi may be fleeing to Venezuela, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said today, citing “information that suggests he is on his way”. “You asked me earlier about whether Colonel Kadhafi is in Venezuela,” Hague told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers. “I have no information that says he is. I have seen information that suggests he is on his way,” Hague said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers focused on the revolts sweeping across Libya and other Arab nations. A diplomat who requested anonymity told AFP that Hague was “referring to both speculation in the media and also a report from contacts on the ground”. The diplomat would not elaborate but said there was “no definitive” confirmation that Kadhafi had left Libya.
Guys!! You will not survive for long. Look I'm taking 'Pawar play' to take you out.
weather and the seven-member crew had had a miraculous escape. The crew was safely evacuated before the barge sank, but property worth about Rs 2.3 crore was reportedly destroyed in the mishap. The barge, which was carrying 1, 080 tonnes of iron ore from Kotambi-Sanvordem, had come at Moraine Dolphin at MPT to unload the ore. “Later, the barge was salvaged and had undergone major repair
work of the engine, besides replacing bottom iron plates,” informed a mechanic from Vasco, who was working at barge repair yard at Sancoale. The barge was affiliated with Goa Barge Owners Association (GBOA) and GBOA President Atul Jadhav said that the incident was unfortunate, as they had lost one crew member in the mishap. Meanwhile, the Captain of Ports Department issued a (Continued on page 10)
Mickky-Pawar meet abandoned HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, FEB 21
Benaulim legislator Mickky Pacheco’s meeting with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar had to be abandoned mid-way due to an emergency cabinet meeting called by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Pacheco is in Delhi to meet Pawar to discuss his induction into the Digambar Kamat cabinet. “We had spoken hardly for 15 minutes when the call for an emergency meeting came and Mr Pawar, who is the Union agriculture minister, had to rush,”
Pacheco told Herald in a telephonic conversation. The former tourism minister, who resigned last year due to his alleged involvement in his friend’s (Nadia Torrado) suicide death case, said he will have another round of meeting with Pawar tomorrow. “We will meet again tomorrow probably for an hour and discuss the issues threadbare,” Pacheco said adding the 15 minutes meeting today was fruitful. Asked whether he spoke on the demands, he replied, “I did convey the sentiments to him (Continued on page 10)
HC confirms Kasab death rap PTI MUMBAI, FEB 21
Nine months after he was handed down the death penalty by the trial court, the Bombay High Court today upheld the sentence of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab for the “brutal and diabolical” 26/11 Mumbai attacks aimed at “destabilizing” the government. The court, however, upheld the trial court’s acquittal of two alleged Indian co-conspirators Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed for want of corroborative evidence. Showing no signs of remorse, 24-year-old Kasab, clad in a white kurta and sporting a beard came on the screen five minutes before the bench sat and was seen smiling in the Arthur Road jail. “Aapko sazaye maut yeh adalat barkarar karti hai. Ab aap Supreme Court mein appeal zahir kar sakte hai” (This court upholds your death sentence and you may appeal in Supreme Court),” Justice Ranjana Desai of the division bench also comprising Justice R V More told Kasab who appeared through video conference. Dismissing an appeal filed by the State government against acquittal of Faheem and Sabauddin, the judges said, “We agree with the trial court that there is no corroborative evidence to prove their involvement. The evidence of witnesses are not credible and the main link is missing.” The court held that Kasab’s crime fell under the rarest of rare
category deserving capital punishment. “It is rarest of the rare case and is an uncommon crime...there is no scope for reform or rehabilitation and a harsh penalty of death is required. Kasab has never shown any signs of remorse and we also have observed that he has not shown repentance whenever he appeared on video conference”, the bench remarked. In its 1208-page judgement, the court also observed that Kasab was not influenced by anyone and that he had applied his own mind and voluntarily joined Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Confirming the death penalty, the bench observed, “Kasab waged war against the government of India pursuant to a conspiracy which was hatched in Pakistan, the object of which was to destabilise the government of India and weaken India’s economic might.”