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Birendra tried to shoot Dipendra
Kathmandu, June 16
Nepal’s late King Birendra had made an abortive last-minute attempt to shoot at his son, then Crown Prince Dipendra, as the latter fired indiscriminately on the royals at Narayan Hity Palace on the night of June 1, according to the details of the official probe report released here.

Kasauli student ‘died of hepatitis B’
Shimla, June 16
The magisterial inquiry into the death of Kasauli school student Shobha Devi is learnt to have identified that hepatitis B was the cause of her death and not the alleged beating by two teachers about a month ago.

Bush, Putin agree to extensive talks
Brdo Castle (Slovenia), June 16
The US President, Mr George W. Bush, said today that he and Russia’s Vladimir Putin agreed to launch an “extensive dialogue” on a wide range of subjects and to visit each other’s countries. The first-ever summit between Mr Bush and Mr Putin ended after about two and three quarter hours of talks.

Sehajdharis’ voting right to stay Ropar, June 16 The SGPC has dropped the idea of curtailing the voting rights of the Sehajdharis in the forthcoming SGPC elections. Earlier, at a meeting of the SGPC Executive held in Anandpur Sahib on March 22, it was decided that the Sehajdharis who had the voting right according to the SGPC Act, 1925, would not be allowed to vote, after an amendment to Sections 10, 10 (A) and 11 of the Act.