S P O T L I G H T

UP minister escapes crash
NEW DELHI, April 17 (PTI) — Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Ashok Yadav and two others had a miraculous escape today as their chopper crashed in Mainpuri district of the state, a state government official said here. The chopper developed engine trouble at a height of 25,000 feet and crashed into a field at Saraiya village in the district, causing minor injuries to Mr Yadav, his brother Raj Kumar Yadav and pilot S.S. Chowdhury, the state Tourism Department official said. The helicopter, belonging to a private firm, caught fire and was completely damaged in the crash-landing, he said.

20 LTTE men killed
COLOMBO, April 17 (UNI) — At least 20 Tamil guerrillas were killed by the government troops in the war-torn Jaffna peninsula while two compartments of a train were derailed due to an explosion at Vavuniya yesterday. In Kudarapu area, troops engaged a group of LTTE men, who were constructing a bunker. Ground troops confirmed that at least five terrorists were killed. In another incident in Katharatan area, troops confronted a group of terrorists killing five.

CBI denial
NEW DELHI, April 17 (PTI) — Taking exception to reports of being alleged influence by certain authorities in fodder scam cases against former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, the CBI today asserted it had filed the disproportionate asset case against him not on the order of Home Minister L.K. Advani. “It is totally incorrect and baseless to state filing of charge-sheet against Mr Laloo Yadav in disproportionate assets case was done on the order from the Union Home Minister L.K. Advani,” a CBI spokesperson said in a letter to a national daily.

Ferry mishap
MANILA, April 17 (Reuters) — A Philippine inter-island ferry slammed into a fish corral at sea early today, disabling its propeller, but all 137 persons aboard were rescued, the coastguard said. Coast guard spokesman Lt-Commander Ricardo Biollo told reporters the Viva Penafrancia was sailing from Mindoro Island in the central Philippines to Batangas when it struck a fish corral — a bamboo-made shelter for fish — in the open sea and its propeller broke down.

Arms exporter shot
ALMATY, April 17 (Reuters) — The head of a state-owned arms export firm died in a spray of machine-gun fire over the weekend in Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty, the police said today. Talgat Ibrayev, head of Kazspetsexport, was killed in the early hours on Saturday, a police spokesman told Reuters.

9 die in mishap
JAIPUR, April 17 (UNI) — Nine persons were killed and eight injured when their jeep dashed against a tree near Doongar village in Jhalawad district, Rajasthan, yesterday. The police said the jeep was going to Madhya Pradesh.

Explosions rock Indonesia
JAKARTA, April 17 (AFP) — Six explosions, mostly hand grenades, rocked the Indonesian province of Aceh over the weekend but no casualties were reported, a report said here today. The explosive devices were detonated in separate locations in Pidie and north Aceh districts and Banda Aceh, the capital of the province, yesterday. “The explosions took place almost simultaneously when Muslims had just finished conducting their evening prayer around 6:50 p.m. (1150 GMT),” the spokesman for the Aceh operation, Col D.M. Safri, said today.