Bangalore: In recognition of his services to the country, former president A P J Abdul Kalam has been selected by Karnataka for this year’s (2006-07) ‘Basava’ award in recognition of services to the country.

H S Mahadeva Prasad, Minister for Kannada and Culture narrated that the award consisting Rs 10 lakh, a memento and a citation will be presented to Dr. Kalam at a function to be held at the Jnana Jyothi auditorium on September 28.

Mr. Mahadeva said that he called on Dr. Kalam recently with a letter of communication on his being selected for the prominent award, and he had accepted it.

New Delhi: The government is expected to bring in biometric PAN cards shortly to tackle the problem of increasing misuse of Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards.

Finance Minister, P Chidambaram said in Lok Sabha that a combined Working Group in the Finance Ministry has given its statement after getting technical and commercial propositions from top biometric solution providers.

Washington: The United States enounced it would carry on a methodical investigation with Britain into the situation under which three British NATO military personnel were killed in a friendly fire event in Afghanistan.

Kurt Volker, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs said, “The United States is deeply saddened by the death of three British soldiers in Afghanistan and the wounding of two others in a friendly fire incident involving ordinance dropped by a US aircraft.”