exclusive island resort. The Red Cross in Suva confirmed the release before dawn of nine of the 27 hostages held by rebel leader George Speight, whose gunmen stormed the country’s parliament on May 19 demanding the entrenchment of ethnic Fijian rights.

Anand Singh, former Attorney General in the Mahendra Chaudhry government and one of the hostages released, talks to the media as his wife Viney looks on in Suva on Wednesday. —Reuters photo

Open sale of wheat in Punjab
Centre clears 50 lakh tonnes
NEW DELHI, July 12 — Faced with the problem of increasing stocks, the Centre today announced open sale of 50 lakh tonnes of wheat in Punjab with immediate effect. The Union Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, told a news conference that the issue price for the open sale would be at Rs 700 per quintal for this month, Rs 750 per quintal during August and Rs 800 per quintal in September.

NEW YORK: First Lady Hillary Clinton honouring Bollywood legend actor Dev Anand at an International Punjabi meet in New York Hotel Sheraton on Tuesday. — PTI photo

4 J&K youths rescued by Army
SRINAGAR, July 12 — The Army has handed over four Kashmiri youths to their parents. The youths had surrendered following a militants’ encounter with the Army in the Pir Panjal ranges.

Girl raped, burnt to death?
LUDHIANA, July 12 — Mystery shrouds the death of a 17-year-old girl who was found burnt on the top floor of the two-storeyed house of her foster father at around 9.30 a.m. at Nari Kalan village. She had been living there for the past 13 years.

Beware of destabilising forces: President
NEW DELHI, July 12 — President K.R. Narayanan today cautioned against “fissiparous and disharmonising forces” which were promoting the cult of violence and asked the Governors to make concerted efforts to contain these disturbing trends.

2 die in fresh Tonk clashes
JAIPUR, July 12 — Two persons were killed and three injured today in a fresh bout of violence in Rajasthan’s Tonk district taking the death toll in communal clashes since Monday to 12 even as indefinite curfew remained in force in Tonk and Malpura towns, the police said.

Women join battle against liquor PUNHANA (Gurgaon), July 12 — In a development which is likely to warm the cockles of the hearts of the anti-liquor lobby in Haryana, hundreds of women held demonstrations before a Minister from the state, Mohammad Illyas and the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Apoorva Kumar Singh, demanding immediate removal of a liquor vend from near village Indana, a few kilometres from here.