Strategic initiatives to curb generation of black money:FM

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the names of chronic income tax defaulters will be made public as part of the government's crackdown on tax evasion and black money. He told PTI that the government is working on a number of strategic initiatives to curb generation of black money and for its detection. 

Finance Minister said, details of assets and payments received by Indian citizens in several countries have started flowing in and are being investigated.

In an interview to AIR, Mr Mukherjee cautioned that the Indian economy may get affected if slow recovery continues in the US which is battling a serious debt crisis. He said the slowdown in European markets will also have an adverse impact on India's economic growth.

Mr. Mukherjee also admitted that his ministry will face a lot of difficulty in meeting the fiscal deficit target of 4.6 per cent set for this financial year if revenue growth is not as buoyant as it is now. He, however, added that the government will try to stick to its target as far as possible.

Hundred-dead in Syrian army attack on Hama

Hundred people were killed on Sunday when the military launched an attack on the flashpoint protest city of Hama in central Syria, a human rights activist said.

Ammar Qorabi, who heads the National Organisation for Human Rights, reported the toll and also said army attacks across the country on Sunday killed at least 121 people and wounded dozens more.

Earlier, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a death toll in Hama of 45, but said that number could rise because of the number of seriously wounded and a lack of medical supplies.