tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Friday, September 11, 1998
weather today's calendar

Rocket falls
MOSCOW, Sept 10 (AFP) — A Russian rocket carrying 12 US satellites plunged to earth after an unexplained failure of one of its engines, the Press Department of the Russian Space Agency said today. The zenit rocket and the satellites of the future Globalstar Telecommunications Network hit the ground after a flight of more than four minutes. It had been launched at the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan at 0159 IST today.

Robbery squad
NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (PTI) — The Delhi police has formed a special robbery squad to deal with the recent spurt in cases of robberies and dacoities in the Capital. The special squad, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Karnal Singh, will investigate the more sensational cases, a Delhi police spokesman said today. The decision to constitute a specialised unit on the lines of the inter-state cell was taken yesterday by city Police Commissioner V.N. Singh, he said.

69 killed in Lanka
COLOMBO, Sept 10 (PTI) — At least 59 LTTE rebels and 10 soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in northern and eastern Sri Lanka over the past two weeks, a Defence Ministry spokesman said here today. In different clashes between government troops and LTTE cadre, 24 rebels were killed near northern Mankulam town where the army is attempting to open a land route. Six soldiers were killed and eight others injured in the clashes, the spokesman said adding, the army has recovered over 400 anti-personnel mines from the rebels in the same area.

Four dead
JHABUA, Sept 10 (PTI) — Four persons died and 10 others fell ill after consuming milk in Bherupada village, 75 km from here, in Madhya Pradesh last night. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of the Petlawad tehsil, Ratnakar Jha, told PTI here today that of the four victims, two died in the village, while the remaining two died while undergoing treatment in the government hospital at Petlawad.

Taliban offensive
ISLAMABAD, Sept 10 (AFP) — Taliban fighters launched a major offensive on a key opposition bastion in central Afghanistan, capturing several vital bases in the Shiite Muslim-held Bamiyan province, Afghan Islamic Press said today. In a massive overnight assault from the northern Baghlan side, the Taliban seized Saighan and Kahmard towns in Bamiyan, it said. The hardline militia fighters were now only 25 km from the main Bamiyan city, controlled by their rival Hezb-i-Wahdat forces.

Heptullah is IPU Vice-President
MOSCOW, Sept 10 (PTI) — The Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Dr Najma Heptullah, was today elected Vice-President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during its ongoing 100th conference here. Ms Heptullah, who has been a senior member of the IPU Executive Committee for the past eight years, through her personal relations with MPs of many countries is believed to have played a key role in averting debates and resolutions critical of India in the wake of the Pokhran II nuclear tests. Established in 1889, the IPU represents parliamentarians of 137 countries.

Death sentence
KHANPUR (Pakistan), Sept 10 (AP) — A Pakistani court has for the first time sentenced a Muslim to death for blasphemy under a controversial law that last year caused a Christian bishop to commit suicide in protest and has drawn heated opposition from human rights activists. A lower court in the eastern Punjab town in Khanpur, some 420 km south of Lahore, sentenced Ghulam Akbar Khan, a labourer, to death for taking the name of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in vain, court officials said today. Khan has the right to appeal to a higher court.