US NEWS SOURCES -January 15, 2003

If you are interested in additional information, sponsorship, or including new members to the distribution list, please contact Kapil Sharma of Madison Government Affairs at kap@madisongov or visit http://www.madisongov.net/.

Archives

---IN TODAY'S NEWS---

BREAKING NEWS / NEWSWIRE
*	*U.S. missionary forgives attackers but Antony condemns them (IANS)**
	American missionary Joseph Cooper, who was beaten up in Kerala by suspected Hindu rightwing activists, said Wednesday that he holds no ill will against his attackers. Protestant Cooper, who is still in the intensive care unit of a private hospital here, told IANS: "I would be glad to invite my attackers for a lunch. I have no hatred against them. For a day I was angry with them but now I realise that all that has happened is according to god's will."
	http://in.news.yahoo.com/030115/43/2033f.html
*	*Jamali sending Kasuri to US for talks on INS (ANI)**
	Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali said on Tuesday that he was dispatching his foreign minister to the United States on January 18 to press American authorities for an end to the registration of Pakistanis living in America. "We are constantly in touch with the US authorities about the new registration law and there has been some progress in this connection," the prime minister told journalists. Jamali said that he had directed Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to go to Washington on January 18 in view of the urgency of the matter. Pakistan's ambassador in the United States was continuously working to ease the situation for Pakistanis, he added.
	http://in.news.yahoo.com/030115/139/2031q.html
*	*Pakistan says joint U.S. naval games next month (Reuters)**
	Pakistan and the United States will hold joint naval exercises next month, official media reported on Tuesday. Pakistan is a key ally in the U.S.-led "war on terror" and the two countries held joint military exercises in October, the first since Washington suspended military ties with Islamabad in 1998 in retaliation for Pakistan's first nuclear weapons' tests
	http://in.news.yahoo.com/030114/137/2024l.html

A Pakistani court postpones the appeal hearing of the 4 accused in the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter. In south India, an American missionary and his colleague are injured in an attack by a group of suspected Hindu hard-liners. Police intervene when riots break out in central India following the slaughter of cows by the minority community despite a ban on killing cows in the state. Pakistan steps up its security in Islamabad's diplomatic circles and deploys special police units to ensure the safety and security of foreigners in the country. The editorial discusses the true face of Pakistan - a frontier ally of the US in its fight against terrorism while its territory continues to harbour international terrorists. In business news, read how Indian IT companies are leveraging their skills in "back office" areas such as accounting and human resources.

HEADLINES

TOP STORIES

Lost in Afghanistan (maybe): Bin Laden (still) and 2 others (New York Times)

Appeals postponed in Pearl slaying case (New York Times) (Austin American Statesman) (Wall Street Journal) (Boston International) (Los Angeles Times) (ABC News) (News Day) (Press Enterprise) (San Francisco Gate) (Washington Post)

Gang attacks American missionary in India (New York Times) (Wall Street Journal) (Mercury News) (Miami Herald) (Philadelphia Inquirer) (The State) (Kansas City News) (Kansas City News)

Suicide bombing masters: Sri Lankan rebels (New York Times)

Mobs burn shops in central Indian town (New York Times) (Seattle Post Intelligencer) (Boston International) (Los Angeles Times) (ABC News) (News Day) (News Observer) (Press Enterprise) (Sacramento Bee) (San Francisco Gate) (News Tribune) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) (Fresno Bee) (Washington Post)

Pakistan deploys diplomatic security unit (New York Times) (San Diego Union Tribune) (Seattle Post Intelligencer) (Wall Street Journal) (Los Angeles Times) (Boston International) (News Day) (News Observer) (Press Enterprise) (Sacramento Bee) (San Francisco Gate) (Star Tribune) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) (Washington Post)

Four-week cold spell claims 1,140 lives in South Asia (Wall Street Journal) (Philadelphia Inquirer) (The State) (Kansas City News) (Washington Post)

Pakistan wants `soft' US immigration line - foreign minister (Wall Street Journal)

US ignores human rights in terrorism war-rights survey (Wall Street Journal) (Los Angeles Times) (Boston Herald) (Sacramento Bee) (San Francisco Gate) (St.Petersburgh Times) (Star Tribune) (Washington Post)

US, Nepal to begin military exercises next week (Wall Street Journal)

US, Sri Lanka troops begin joint training exercises (Wall Street Journal)

Group criticizes detention of Kashmiri journalist in India (Wall Street Journal)

India rules out immediate talks with Pakistan (Wall Street Journal) (San Francisco Gate) (Washington Post)

Officials: Taliban regrouping in south Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post)

Potential Air India bombing jurors told trial could last 2-3 years (San Francisco Chronicle)

Pakistan arrests suspect in murder of French engineers (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post)

Pakistan government accuses doctor of having links to al-Qaida (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post)

Pakistan youths protest against new US immigration rules (Wall Street Journal)

Rebels arrested near Pakistan border in Kashmir (ABC News)

Indian tax collection grew 17% in first nine months of fiscal 2002-03 (Tax News)

A wink and a nod to India's weapons of mass destruction (Yellow Times)

US favours closer cooperation with India on WTO issues (Global Sources)

Freezing Cold Kills 1,170 in South Asia (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

Pakistan finance chief Aziz faces political hurdles (Bloomberg News)

Pakistan PM blames Islamists for U.S. restrictions (Yahoo News)

In Some Ways, Rebels Without a Cause (Washington Post)

TOP STORIES
*	Lost in Afghanistan (maybe): Bin Laden (still) and 2 others
	Kabul -� Three leftover enemies from the war here remain at large and, American and Afghan officials say, still pose a potentially lethal threat to peace in this region even as the United States turns its attention toward Iraq. The three � Osama bin Laden; Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader; and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who opposes the government of President Hamid Karzai and has called for a holy war against the United States � have frustrated more than a year of American efforts to find them.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/15/international/asia/15AFGH.html
*	Appeals postponed in Pearl slaying case
	Karachi, Pakistan -- A Pakistani court postponed an appeals hearing Wednesday by four militants convicted of killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl last January. The request for the postponement was made by one of their lawyers, said court officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. The judge granted the postponement without setting a new hearing date for the appeal.
	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Slain-Reporter.html
	http://www.austin360.com/aas/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V4397.AP-Pakistan-Slain-.html
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_000628-search,00.html
	http://www.boston.com/dailynews/015/world/Court_postpones_appeals_of_mil:.shtml
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-slain-reporter0115jan14,0,7765598.story
	http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030115_223.html
	http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-slain-reporter0115jan14,0,2697285.story
	http://www.pe.com/ap_news/International/Pakistan_Slain_Reporter_38529I.shtml
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/14/international0201EST0442.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan15.html
*	Gang attacks American missionary in India
	Cochin, India -- A 67-year-old American Christian missionary and his colleague were injured when a suspected gang of Hindu hard-liners attacked them with swords and iron bars in southern India, police said Wednesday. Joseph Cooper, his Indian colleague, Benson, and Benson's wife and two daughters were walking home from a gospel meeting on the outskirts of the Kerala state capital, Trivandrum, on Monday night when the attack occurred.
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-crime-india-missionary.html
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_000615-search,00.html
	http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/world/4950315.htm
	http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/4950315.htm
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/4950315.htm
	http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/4950315.htm
	http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/4950315.htm
	http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/4952103.htm
*	Suicide bombing masters: Sri Lankan rebels
	The Wanni, Sri Lanka -� Inside the Kantharuban Arivuchcholai orphanage, which is set in a clearing hacked from the jungle's oppressive vegetation, sits a small painted hut, a mini-museum of sorts. Inside it is a picture of Kantharuban, who blew himself up in 1991. There is a picture of Captain Millar, who blew himself up in 1987. There is a picture of 12 cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who swallowed cyanide capsules after capture by Indian troops in 1987.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/14/international/asia/14LANK.html
*	Mobs burn shops in central Indian town
	Bhopal, India -- Police fired tear gas at rioting crowds of Hindus and Muslims who set fire to nearly 70 shops in a central Indian town on Tuesday. No injuries were reported in the disturbances in the town of Ganj Basoda, about 50 miles east of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state. Authorities said the rioting was set off by Muslim butchers slaughtering eight cows, defying a ban on killing cows in the state.
	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-India-Religious-Riot.html
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%20Religious%20Riot
	http://www.boston.com/dailynews/014/world/Hindu_Muslim_mobs_burn_shops_i:.shtml
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-india-religious-riot0115jan14,0,4362331.story
	http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030114_2336.html
	http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-india-religious-riot0115jan14,0,2401921.story
	http://newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/718640p-5271792c.html
	http://www.pe.com/ap_news/International/India_Religious_Riot_38517I.shtml
	http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/718640p-5271792c.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/14/international2305EST0793.DTL
	http://www.tribnet.com/24hour/world/story/718640p-5271792c.html
	http://www.jsonline.com/news/intl/ap/jan03/ap-india-religious011503.asp
	http://www.fresnobee.com/24hour/world/story/718640p-5271792c.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan14.html
*	Pakistan deploys diplomatic security unit
	Islamabad -- Pakistan is stepping up security in Islamabad's diplomatic quarter, deploying a special police unit starting Wednesday in an effort to reassure foreigners after last year's attacks. The United States helped fund the new Diplomatic Protection Department, whose 650 officers will conduct patrols and man checkpoints in the so-called diplomatic enclave. Previously, there were 350 police assigned to the area.
	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Diplomatic-Security.html
	http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/-pakistan-diplomaticsecurity.html
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Diplomatic%20Security
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_007491,00.html
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-diplomatic-security0114jan14,0,341487.story
	http://www.boston.com/dailynews/014/world/Pakistani_police_set_up_new_se:.shtml
	http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-diplomatic-security0114jan14,0,6061357.story
	http://newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/718000p-5269352c.html
	http://www.pe.com/ap_news/International/Pakistan_Diplomatic_Security_38511I.shtml
	http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/718000p-5269352c.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/14/international1647EST0679.DTL
	http://24hour.startribune.com/24hour/world/story/718000p-5269352chtml
	http://www.jsonline.com/news/intl/ap/jan03/ap-pakistan-diplom011503.asp
	http://www.jsonline.com/news/intl/ap/jan03/ap-pakistan-diplom011403.asp
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan14.html
*	Four-week cold spell claims 1,140 lives in South Asia
	Lucknow, India -- Authorities distributed free blankets and dry wood to hundreds of thousands of homeless people as a four-week cold spell claimed more than 1,140 lives in Bangladesh , India and Nepal , officials and news reports said Wednesday. Seventy-eight people died overnight in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which recorded low temperatures of 1-3 degrees Celsius, pushing the death toll to 437 since Dec. 20, a state government official said on condition of anonymity. Another 30 have perished in India's eastern Bihar state.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_000403-search,00.html
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/4952103.htm
	http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/4952103.htm
	http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/4952103.htm
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan14.html
*	Pakistan wants `soft' US immigration line - foreign minister
	Islamabad -- Pakistan Tuesday appealed again to Washington to take a softer line toward its nationals in the U.S., who under new anti-terrorism measures - are required to register with U.S. immigration officials. "What we want is that there should be no harassment of Pakistanis living in the United States," Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri was quoted by the Associated Press of Pakistan as telling reporters in Islamabad, the capital.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_005181,00.html
*	US ignores human rights in terrorism war-rights survey
	Washington -- Many countries resent or are reluctant to join the U.S. war on terrorism partly because of the government's tendency to ignore human rights in its conduct of the war, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. In several key countries involved in the campaign against terrorism, such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the report said even rhetorical U.S. support for human rights has been rare. When the U.S. does try to promote human rights, its authority has been undermined by its refusal to be bound by the standards it preaches to others, said the annual survey.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_003353,00.html
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-human-rights-report0114jan14,0,3543724.story
	http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/international/ap_weigh01142003.htm
	http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/717364p-5266371c.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/15/MN56330.DTL
	http://www.sptimes.com/2003/01/15/Worldandnation/Report_faults_US_on_h.shtml
	http://24hour.startribune.com/24hour/world/story/717364p-5266371chtml
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan14.html
*	US, Nepal to begin military exercises next week
	Kathmandu -- Soldiers from U.S. and Nepal will begin regular joint military exercises next week in this Himalayan kingdom, news reports and officials said Tuesday. The exercises are aimed at enhancing the capability of U.S. and Nepalese forces and improving their ability to work together, the newspaper Kathmandu Post reported.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_000947,00.html
*	US, Sri Lanka troops begin joint training exercises
	Colombo -- U.S. and Sri Lankan troops have begun nearly two months of joint training exercises aimed at promoting stability in South Asia, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday. The annual exercises, which continue through early March, will concentrate on military operations, medical techniques and other skills, it said. The exercises seek to "foster relationships between the two countries that promote regional stability," the embassy said in a statement.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_000747,00.html
*	Group criticizes detention of Kashmiri journalist in India
	New Delhi -- A Paris-based media rights group welcomed the release of a Kashmiri journalist from an Indian prison, but said Tuesday it regretted he was held for seven months without evidence or trial. Reporters Without Borders said it would support a move by the New Delhi-based journalist, Iftikhar Ali Geelani, to claim damages from the Indian government for his detention.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_000332,00.html
*	India rules out immediate talks with Pakistan
	New Delhi -- India's foreign minister says rebel activity in Kashmir has declined, but ruled out immediate talks with Pakistan to settle the dispute over the Himalayan territory. "There has been a decline in insurgency in Kashmir," External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told BBC Radio's Hindi service. The weekend interview was translated and reprinted Tuesday in the Indian Express newspaper.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_000172,00.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/14/international0447EST0475.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan14.html
*	Officials: Taliban regrouping in south Afghanistan
	Chaman, Pakistan -- Remnants of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime have begun regrouping near the southern border with Pakistan, Afghan officials said on Tuesday. Obaidullah, security chief of the southern border town of Spin Boldak, said minor clashes had been reported recently between Afghan forces and suspected members of the Taliban.
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-pakistan-taliban.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan14.html
*	Potential Air India bombing jurors told trial could last 2-3 years
	Vancouver, British Columbia -- Potential jurors for the trial of the three men charged in the 1985 bombing of an Air India jet and a second bomb blast in Japan are being told the proceeding will last between two and three years. Many of those receiving jury notices were so surprised about the length of time committed for the trial they are calling the sheriff's office to inquire, according to Deputy Sheriff John White.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/14/state1308EST0079.DTL
*	Pakistan arrests suspect in murder of French engineers
	Karachi, Pakistan -- A suspected Islamic militant alleged to have played a key role in a suicide bombing that killed 11 French engineers in southern Pakistan has been arrested, police said Wednesday. Officers arrested Bashir Ahmed after raiding his hideout in the violent city of Karachi, Senior Supt. Manzoor Mughal told The Associated Press. He said Ahmed had bought the car that was later loaded with explosives and driven at a coach in which the engineers were sitting on May 8, 2002.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_001689-search,00.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan15.html
*	Pakistan government accuses doctor of having links to al-Qaida
	Lahore, Pakistan -- Pakistan accused a naturalized U.S. doctor and his family of having top-level links to senior al-Qaida operatives, saying in court Wednesday that the family harbored known terrorists and provided medical help to Islamic extremists in Afghanistan. Senior prosecutor Maqbool Illahi Malik issued the charges in reply to a petition by defense attorneys for Dr. Ahmad Javed Khawaja and his family, who were challenging their detention.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_001621-search,00.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan15.html
*	Pakistan youths protest against new US immigration rules
	Multan, Pakistan -- Angered over new U.S. immigration rules that require Pakistanis to be photographed and fingerprinted, about 100 young people demonstrated Wednesday in this central Pakistani city, burning a U.S. flag and demanding better treatment from U.S. authorities. "Pakistan is a front-line state in America's war against terrorism, but despite it our people are being victimized," Shahid Mahmood Ansari, president of the All Pakistan Youth Alliance - a grouping of youth organizations - told protesters here in Multan.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_001493-search,00.html
*	Rebels arrested near Pakistan border in Kashmir
	Srinagar, India -- Indian security forces arrested four members of a Kashmiri rebel group Wednesday from a hideout near the Pakistan border and seized a large arms cache, police said. A police official told Reuters a local leader of the Hizbul Mujahideen and three senior commanders were arrested at a village in the Uri district near the cease-fire line dividing disputed Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
	http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20030115_177.html
*	Indian tax collection grew 17% in first nine months of fiscal 2002-03
	Speaking to Reuters on Tuesday, an Indian Finance Ministry official revealed that tax collection figures for the first nine months of fiscal 2002-03 were up 17% on the same period of the previous year. The unnamed official told the news service that some 1,481.76 billion rupees in tax were collected between April and December 2002, compared with 1,264.44 billion rupees during the first nine months of the 2001-02 financial year.
	http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10534
*	A wink and a nod to India's weapons of mass destruction
	The U.S. and its allies are going to attack Iraq. American and British warships are in the Gulf and another 35,000 American soldiers will join the allied forces there. It is immaterial that Hans Blix and his team of U.N. weapon's inspectors could not find anything in Iraq that could remotely be classified as "weapons of mass destruction." The inspectors are to submit their report by the 29th of January, but it is clear they have found nothing and will not find anything in the remaining few days. So where does that leave President Bush and his men? They will go ahead and attack Iraq anyway.
	http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=991&mode=thread&order=0
*	US favours closer cooperation with India on WTO issues
	New Delhi -- The United States, which has been witnessing a surge in exports from India, today said it was in favour of enhancing cooperation with New Delhi on WTO issues. The issue came up for discussion during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Shourie with the US Ambassador in India Robert Blackwill.
	http://www.globalsources.com/TNTLIST/2003/01/14/ix/9789-0136-.htm
*	Freezing Cold Kills 1,170 in South Asia
	Authorities distributed blankets and dry fire wood to hundreds of thousands of homeless people as a four-week cold spell continued after claiming 1,170 lives in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, officials and news reports said Wednesday Seventy-eight people died overnight in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which recorded low temperatures of as low as 33 Fahrenheit, pushing the death toll there to 437 since Dec. 20, a state government official said on condition of anonymity.
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=South%20Asia%20Cold%20Spell
*	Pakistan finance chief Aziz faces political hurdles
	Islamabad -- Shaukat Aziz says he expects to win back his job as finance minister for a second time just as the economy enters ``the recovery room.'' That may not make his job any easier. Unlike during his first three-year term, the former Citibank NA executive will face parliamentary opposition as he tries to speed asset sales and keep the economy growing, lawmakers and analysts said. Legislators were elected in October as part of President Pervez Musharraf's plan to restore civilian government.
	http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20Financial%20News&T=markets_box.ht&middle=ad_frame2_all&s=APiTEVhWLUGFraXN0
*	Pakistan PM blames Islamists for U.S. restrictions
	Islamabad -- Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali called on hardline Islamic politicians on Tuesday to tone down anti-U.S. rhetoric, saying it was to blame for tough immigration rules faced by Pakistanis in the United States. Jamali told reporters the Pakistan government was in contact with the United States and progress was being made towards easing the new rules. Talks would continue when Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri visited Washington at the weekend.
	http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=834&ncid=731&e=10&u=/nm/20030114/wl_india_nm/india_100541
*	In Some Ways, Rebels Without a Cause
	Flanked by ruined houses and abandoned rice paddies, the A-9 highway cuts a straight if potholed path through the heart of the war-ravaged jungle controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, one of the deadliest and most capable guerrilla armies in the world. Watch out for speed traps.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJan13.html

BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY
*	IT firms expand from PCs to payroll
	Faced with weak information technology spending, companies that provide IT services are expanding beyond their traditional role as overseers of networks, PCs and computer help desks and moving into "back office" areas such as accounting and human resources. So-called BPO, or business process outsourcing--which involves an outside company taking over various back-office functions including procurement, invoice processing and the like--has become a vital market for IT companies as corporate spending on conventional data-center services has dropped.
	http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_.html
*	Gerber technology Asia headquarter in Bangalore
	US-based Gerber Technology yesterdayd its new regional headquarters for South East Asia in Bangalore. The new office will support the company's operations in countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Middle East where it offers a range of solutions from product and pattern design, grading and marker making, material spreading, handling and cutting to product data management.
	http://www.just-style.com/news_detail.asp?art=28066
*	Infosys, Wipro shares gain at expense of U.S. rivals
	New Delhi -- Infosys Technologies Ltd. and other Indian software groups are grabbing clients from U.S. rivals as companies cut costs. Investors say that may keep their stocks among the industry's top performers for a second year. Infosys, the sole Indian stock in the Merrill Lynch 100 Technology Index, rose 12.2 percent last year, when the index almost halved. Shares of India's No. 2 software exporter may rise 17 percent in 2003, according to an average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
	http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20Financial%20News&T=markets_box.ht&middle=ad_frame2_all&s=APiTmFRUKSW5mb3N5
	http://www.iht.com/articles/83252.html
*	India aspires to be hardware IP hub
	BANGALORE, India -- India has the potential to be the intellectual property (IP) development capital of the world, speakers at the third annual Electronic Design Forum held here recently, said. This would take it more than a notch above its current status of being a leading provider application software services to global firms. The topic at this year's meet, sponsored by Cadence Design Systems (India) was 'Indian Electronics Design Industry: The Road Ahead'.
	http://www.eetimes.com/semi/news/OEG20030114S0024
	(Silicon Strategies)
*	Yahoo taps India's booming wireless sector
	Bangalore, India -� Internet media giant Yahoo Inc, which largely depends on online advertising for revenue, is looking to its fee-based mobile services to boost sales in India, whose wireless industry is poised for galloping growth. Yahoo, which has more than 27 million registered accounts from India, expects domestic revenue from wireless services such as text-based news alerts, movie downloads and dating services to grow faster this year on the back of new partnerships with cellphone service providers.
	http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/-tech-india-yahoo.html
	http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2003/01/14/yahoo_india.html
	http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/.html?tag=ats
	http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&ncid=1212&e=10&u=/nm/20030114/wr_nm/tech_india_yahoo_dc&sid=95573503
*	India emerges as a hot market
	Mobile phone subscribers in India has jumped by 91 percent over the last year to almost 11 million. The Cellualar Operators Association of India reported the sector added 749,887 new customers during December, a 7.7 percent increase over the previous month. "The rise in customers meets our industry's expectations of touching 12 million users by March 2003," an industry source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
	http://www.mobilecommerceworld.com/Tmpl/article.asp?CID=1&AID=17932&TCode=NW&T1=15/1/2003
*	Indian government extends export obligation period for exporters
	New Delhi -- Government Friday announced several concessions for exporters including extending the export obligation period under Advance Licence upto 30 months from the date of issue of the licence. At present, the export obligation period is upto 6 months from the date of expiry of a previous extension. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, under the Commerce Ministry also extended the facility of Back to Back inland letter of credit to DFRC holders (duty free replenishment certificate).
	http://www.globalsources.com/TNTLIST/2003/01/13/ix/9533-0030-.htm

OTHER STORIES
*	Pakistanis 'humiliated'
	The Pakistan ambassador has denounced new rules that require many Pakistani citizens in the United States to be fingerprinted and photographed but urged Pakistanis to comply with the regulations. Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said the registration program, which began Monday, is an insult to a nation that is a key ally in the U.S. war against terrorism.
	http://www.washtimes.com/world/.htm
*	'White' names give job seekers an edge
	It helps to have a white-sounding first name when looking for work, a new study has found. R�sum�s with white-sounding first names elicited 50 percent more responses than ones with black-sounding names, according to a study by professors at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The professors sent about 5,000 r�sum�s in response to want ads in the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. They found that the "white" applicants they created received one response -- a call, letter or e-mail -- for every 10 r�sum�s mailed, while "black" applicants with equal credentials received one response for every 15 r�sum�s sent.
	http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-6/.xml
	http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/015/nation/_Black_name_leads_to_job_bias_study_says+.shtml
	http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/0103/15names.html
*	Heading for the Border
	Since 1986, Hassan has lived in the United States, worked and paid his taxes and raised two children who were born here. This morning, the Elmhurst resident says, he plans to get on a train or in a car and try to flee to Canada, leaving behind his wife and children - and his own broken heart. The reason is an INS crackdown on men from Arab and Muslim nations, the latest salvo in the campaign against terrorism. "This is total injustice and total callousness," said Hassan, a native of Pakistan who did not want his last name used. "It's a total mess."
	http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-lipaki153089093jan15,0,2125974.story?coll=ny%2Dnews%2Dprint
*	Promising films set the scene at Sundance
	" ..... Toss in films that have already caused a stir on the international festival circuit (Gurinder Chadha's cross-culture soccer comedy ''Bend It Like Beckham''; Gaspar Noe's rape/revenge shocker ''Irreversible''; Jonas Akerlund's crystal-meth madhouse ''Spun, '' starring Jason Schwartzman, Brittany Murphy, and Mickey Rourke, as ''The Cook'') and Sundance will continue to jam interesting celluloid (and, increasingly, digital) visions into a smaller geographic space than is probably legal. It may have lost the white-hot hipness it had in the early 1990s, but Sundance remains an unavoidable force in American independent movies. And if the films stink, you can always go skiing."
	http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/015/living/Promising_films_set_the_scene_at_Sundance+.shtml
*	U.S. deportations to Muslim nations soar
	The U.S. government dramatically increased the deportation of people from Muslim nations in the year after Sept. 11, 2001, even as it eased up on illegal immigrants from Mexico and other countries. The numbers of foreign nationals expelled to their native countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia multiplied faster than for citizens of nearly all other nations from October 2001 to September 2002, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution computer analysis of Immigration and Naturalization Service records. The analysis provides the first comprehensive look at the nationality of people deported since the terrorist attacks.
	http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/0103/15deport.html
*	Sri Lankan rebels to begin upgraded radio broadcasts
	Jaffna, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels will upgrade their radio broadcasts, reaching a wider area with more programs, to educate Tamils about the ongoing peace process, officials said Wednesday. The Voice of Tigers will expand its services using a newlyd broadcast station in Jaffna Peninsula, home to most of the country's 3.2 million Tamil minority. The radio can be heard on FM at 98 megahertz starting Thursday.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030115_000855-search,00.html
*	India to spend INR 1 billion to boost parliament security
	New Delhi -- The government will spend nearly 1 billion rupees (US$1=INR47.93) to upgrade security at Parliament after a deadly attack on the complex more than a year ago brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war, a news report said Wednesday. India accused Pakistan's spy agency of sponsoring the December 2001 attack, during which five suspected Islamic militants killed nine people before security forces fatally shot the intruders. The Pakistani government denied the charge and condemned the assault.
*	Lawyer seeks return of Australian arrested in Pakistan
	Melbourne -- The lawyer for an Australian man arrested in Pakistan on suspicion he trained with terrorists said Wednesday his client should be returned home. Jack Thomas, a former cab driver from the southern city of Melbourne, was arrested Jan. 4 at Karachi airport before he could get on a flight to Hong Kong. He hasn't been charged with any crime.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_008171-search,00.html
*	Kashmir violence kills 3; non-muslim doctors threatened
	Srinagar, India -- Two separatist rebels and a forest guard were killed Tuesday in separate incidents of violence in India's insurgency-ridden Jammu-Kashmir state, police said. Bashir Ahmad Bhat, a forest guard, was abducted and killed Tuesday by unknown assailants in Damhal Hanjipora, 70 kilometers south of Srinagar, police officials in Kulgam said. Elsewhere in Kashmir, two Islamic guerrillas, were killed in separate gunbattles with paramilitary soldiers, security officials said.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_002422,00.html
*	Four members of Sharif's family return to Pakistan
	Lahore, Pakistan -- Four close family members of Pakistan's deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned home Tuesday after more than two years of exile in Saudi Arabia, officials and a spokesman for Sharif's political party said. Sharif's sister-in-law, her two daughters and son arrived in Lahore on a flight from the Saudi port of Jeddah, an airport official said on condition of anonymity. Lahore is the family's home town, but it wasn't clear whether the four planned to stay in Pakistan or were just visiting.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_001000,00.html
*	Rebels kidnap students in Nepal; police kill 15 guerrillas
	Kathmandu -- Maoist rebels raided a school and kidnapped about 80 students, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Separately, police killed at least 15 guerrillas in a gunbattle. The Kantipur newspaper said guerrillas stormed a high school and abducted students in Bhalchaur, a village about 400 kilometers west of Katmandu. The area is a rebel stronghold.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030114_000398,00.html
*	Hooked on Hindu - plea for painless festival
	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Don't whip yourself, walk on knives or drag chariots with ropes tied to hooks in your back. A religious advisory group, Malaysia Hindu Sangam, has issued that plea to devotees ahead of Sunday's Thaipusam festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers annually.
	http://asia.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/01/14/malaysia.hindu.reut/index.html