Monday, February 18, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

8 of two families killed
Angry villagers take to streets
Jammu, February 17
At least eight persons belonging to a minority community were massacred at Bambal Narla village in Rajouri district late last night. According to the police, a group of militants barged into the houses of Nathu Ram and Suram Chand and started firing indiscriminately killing eight on the spot and wounding seven others.

• Hurriyat demands probe into killings

Maoists massacre 134 in Nepal

Up to 200 rebels killed Kathmandu, February 17 Carrying out their deadliest attack, Maoist rebels overnight killed 102 people, including 93 security personnel, in two separate assaults in Nepal, losing more than 100 of their cadres in counter offensive.
The Nepalese police guards office buildings in Kathmandu, after Maoist rebels killed 134 persons, mainly policemen and soldiers, in weekend raids on several government installations in the Himalayan Kingdom, officials said.  — Reuters photo

PM discusses ‘plague’ with Thakur
New Delhi, February 17
Concerned over the reported cases of plague-like disease in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today called the Health Minster, Mr C.P. Thakur and discussed thd situation.

• Patients show signs of improvement

• Plague scare in Uttaranchal village

• Himachal page: No new plague case in 2 days 

Indo-US military ties must: USA
New Delhi, February 17
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff of the USA, General Richard B Myers, today termed the current level Indo-US military partnership as “unprecedented” and said a strong relationship was necessary for achieving the common goal of defeating terrorism.
In video (28k, 56k)

Mine blasts  kill 16 Pak soldiers
Jaisalmer, February 17
More than 16 Pakistani soldiers have been killed and several injured in four landmine blasts near the Bikaner and Sriganganagar border, sources today said.

• Pak scientists want nod to testfire Shaheen II

• Pakistan defence spending up

Pearl’s kidnappers on move: Pak
Hunt continues in eastern province
Karachi, February 17
The Pakistani police said it was combing the eastern province of Punjab today for a man they suspect of playing a key role in the kidnapping of US reporter Daniel Pearl more than three weeks ago.

UK Govt ‘helped’ Mittal get £ 70 m loan
London, February 17
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government helped London-based NRI Lakshmi Mittal, a steel magnate at the centre of a “cash-for-favours” row, secure a £ 70 million loan to help buy Romanian company Sidex, according to a report in The Sunday Times.

RLD men clash with Dalits
Meerut, February 17
Rashtriya Lok Dal workers and Dalits clashed in Soop village of the Chaprauli Assembly segment of Bagpat, the home constituency of Union Minister and RLD supremo Ajit Singh, when the Dalits were allegedly not allowed to cast their vote during the first phase of polling.

Fernandes’ accident: 2 cops suspended
Guwahati, February 17
Assam’s Director-General of Police today suspended two officers for failing to provide escort to Defence Minister George Fernandes, who sustained injury in a car accident here on Friday.

Officer ‘manipulates’ job for kin
Amritsar, February 17
In gross violation of service rules, an officer in the Department of Social Security and Welfare of Children, who was a member of a selection committee, appointed her sister as social worker on the basis of a ‘fake certificate’, who continued to work under a ‘factitious name’ for more than four years.

Basant in Pak sans Indian kites Abohar, February 17 Lahorias (residents of Lahore) in West Punjab province of Pakistan had to celebrate Basant festival without Indian guddas (kites) and dor (yarn) on Saturday. This happened after a long spell, thanks to the suspension of the Samjhauta Express train, which linked East and West Punjab.