Lashkar-e-Taiba
responsible for Parliament attack
New
Delhi: India has blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba
for terrorist attack on Parliament saying it has credible
evidence against the militant outfit. New Delhi formally
asked Islamabad to arrest the top leaders of LeT and
another militant outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad and freeze the
assets of the two organizations.
This was conveyed
by foreign secretary Chokila Iyer to Pakistan high
commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. India has technical
evidence that yesterday's terrorist attacks on not only
the symbol but also the seat of Indian democracy and
sovereignty, was the handiwork of a terrorist organization
based in Pakistan -- Lashkar-e-Taiba, said external
affairs inister Jaswant Singh.
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UK
relaxes immigration policy for job seekers
London:
Highly skilled foreigners including those from India are
to be allowed to enter the UK to seek jobs under a new
scheme heralding the biggest relaxation in immigration
policy for 30 years.
The new open door policy will be based on a points
system similar to a Canadian model and is intended to
attract highly skilled and high-earning migrants to fill
skills shortages.
The highly skilled migrant programme, which starts next
month, offers admission to applicants who gain at least 75
points on its scale. Points will be awarded for
educational qualifications, work experience, past earnings
and achievement in a chosen field. There is also a
specific category to boost the recruitment of general
practitioners.
People holding a PhD will gain 30 points, those with a
master's degree 25 points and graduates 15 points. At
least five years' work experience in a graduate-level job
will score 15 points.
Income points have been adjusted to take account of
differing pay scales around the world. Someone earning
250,000 a year in America would get 50 points -- the
same score as a 90,000 annual salary in Nigeria.
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RBI
to issue new Rs 500 and Rs 5 notes
New
Delhi: Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue Rs 500
currency notes in Mahatma Gandhi series with capital
letter C inset in both numbering panels bearing the
signature of RBI governor Bimal Jalan.
Except for the change in inset letter, the design of the
notes is similar in all respects to those issued earlier
in the revised colour scheme in Mahatma Gandhi series, a
RBI statement said here.
All Rs 500 denomination notes issued by RBI in the past
would continue to be legal tender.
RBI would also shortly issue bank notes in the
denomination of Rs 5 in Mahatma Gandhi series bearing the
Mahatma Gandhi portrait in the watermark.
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US
to ease computer exports to India
New
Delhi: The US plans to further relax computer export
controls for countries like India, Pakistan, China, Russia
and Israel by allowing higher-level computer exports.
The threshold for export without a licence to the group
called Tier-3 countries, which includes India, will
soon rise to cover computers capable of 190,000 million
theoretical operations per second (MTOPS) as opposed to
the 85,000 MTOPS now.
US policy restricts the export of high-performance
computers, which can have military applications, as a
measure to slow down weapons proliferation. The countries
are divided into different risk categories, ranging from
Tier-1 (close US allies) to Tier-4 countries
(Iraq, Iran, Libya, Cuba, Syria), which face
most-restrictive controls.
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