tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Tuesday, September 22, 1998
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President returns
NEW DELHI, Sept 21 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan returned here tonight after a fortnight long tour of Germany, Portugal, Luxembourg and Turkey. Mr Narayanan, who led a high-level delegation, was received by Vice-President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister L.K. Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes and Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj
SP shot dead
GUWAHATI, Sept 21 (UNI) — Suspected ULFA militants shot dead Superintendent of Police (Bureau of Investigation and Economic Offence) B.K. Doley in front of his office at zoo road here at about 5.15 p.m. today, police sources said. He was immediately shifted to the Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead.

New envoy to Germany
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, Sept 21 — Mr Ranendra Sen, Ambassador of India to Russia, will be the country’s new Ambassador to Germany. Mr Sen succeeds Mr S.K. Lambah, according to a press note of the Ministry of External Affairs. Mr Sen was expected to take up his assignment in Bonn shortly, the note said.
Rocket attack on Kabul kills 10
KABUL, Sept 21 (AFP) — At least 10 civilians were killed and another 10 wounded when a heavy rocket hit northern residential areas of the Afghan Capital this afternoon, residents said. The heavy rocket, the second to hit Kabul today, hit a residential settlement in the Khair Khana vicinity, flattening one house and partially destroying at least four others. Local rescuers were desperately digging through debris for survivors after the second rocket hit.
Kumaratunga’s plea
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 21 (Reuters) — Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga today appealed to unidentified nations to stop harbouring Tamil separatists who, she said had wreaked havoc in her country over the past dozen years. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was recruiting children for suicide missions, murdering civilians and destroying places of worship with impunity, she said on the opening day of the debate in the UN General Assembly.
2 drug traffickers held
TEHERAN, Sept 21 (AFP) — The Iranian police has arrested two Pakistani drug traffickers who attempted to smuggle half a tonne of hashish to Oman, officials said today. Iran’s drug fighting squad, cited by the official IRNA news agency, said the traffickers attempted to carry 500 kg of hashish by motor boat from Pakistan to Oman through the Oman sea.
Taslima’s right to live
DHAKA, Sept 21 (PTI) — In the first published appeal defending controversial author Taslima Nasreen’s right to live in Bangladesh, eminent author Anwara Syed Haq has mounted a strident offensive against the fundamentalists. "It is my fervent appeal to all of you to see to it that these fundamentalist groups under no circumstances could snatch away the rights and sovereignty of womenfolk centering Taslima," she said in an article in the leading Bengali daily "Sangbad".
Yang cremated
BEIJING, Sept 21 (PTI) — Former Chinese President and veteran Communist Party leader Yang Shangkun was cremated here today with full state honours. Yang (92) died here on September 14. Communist Party and Government officials, including President Jiang Zemin, National People’s Congress Chairman Li Peng and Premier Zhu Rongji paid rich tributes to the departed leader, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Wire-tapping
TOKYO, Sept 21 (PTI) — American and British intelligence agencies are systematically eavesdropping on all telecommunications, including faxes, telephones and e-mails of third-country companies with the object of stealing businesses from others, according to a report by the European Union Parliament. The alleged wire-tapping covers all telecommunications of non-military companies, besides government organisations primarily in Europe, but in Japan also, the report quoted here by the local daily, Mainichi Shimbun over the weekend said.
Ex-SP arrested
GUWAHATI, Sept 21 (PTI) — Former Golaghat Superintendent of Police Raghavendra Awasthi, accused of killing a timber merchant, was arrested and produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court here. Underground for two years, the Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was arrested jointly by Assam and Gujarat police on a tip-off at Ahmedabad yesterday and brought to the city today.
Udham Singh Nagar issue
LUCKNOW, Sept 21 (PTI) — The lone Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from the Uttar Pradesh hills, Mr Munna Singh Chouhan, today opposed his party’s stand on the exclusion of Udham Singh Nagar and Hardwar districts from the proposed Uttaranchal state, even as the party maintained there would be no change in its stand on the issue. Mr Chouhan, who represents the Chakrata constituency of Dehra Dun, told reporters here that if his party maintained its stand on both the districts’ exclusion from the proposed hill state, he would oppose it both in and outside the Vidhan Sabha and, if necessary, defy the party whip when the draft Bill was put to vote on September 23.
Colombian clash
BOGOTA, Sept 21 (DPA) — At least 24 persons were killed in what the Colombian Army today described as fighting between Leftist guerrillas and Right-wing extremist militias, 400 km north of here. The army said 23 of those killed in Puerto Rico were members of the Leftist Guerrilla National Liberation Army ELN. Meanwhile, former Colombian Parliamentary Speaker Carlos Espinoza, who was abducted by an ELN commando last month, has been released.
CBI books four
NEW DELHI, Sept 21 (PTI) — The CBI has registered a case against four persons, including two State Bank of India officials, for allegedly cheating the bank of Rs 28.5 lakh during 1996-97. According to the FIR, RVK Bhasin and Kiran Dua, both directors of the Delhi-based Gautam Budh Trade Links (GBTL) Pvt Ltd, in collusion with the then assistant general manager of the SBI Rajouri Garden branch, S.L. Saluja and its then field officer N.K. Gupta cheated the bank by fraudulently getting sanctioned various credit facilities to their firm.
Special courts
CHENNAI, Sept 21 (PTI) — The Madras High Court today reserved orders on a batch of writ petitions filed by former Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha and others challenging the constitutional validity of the appointment of special courts to hear cases registered against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Tamil Nadu Government. A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice M.S. Liberhan and Mr Justice E. Padmanabhan, reserved their order after hearing lengthy arguments from counsel for the petitioners and the state and central governments, which commenced on July 14 and were spread over 27 working days.