Dhindsa meets PM on Badal issue
New Delhi, December 3
The Union Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, today met the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and apprised him of the “harassment” meted out to SAD president Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhbir Singh Badal in Ropar jail.

For more stories on Badal, see Punjab page

Mahmuda Bee, a 105-year-old survivor of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, sits in front of the poster showing Warren Anderson, former Chairman of Union Carbide, during a demonstration to mark the 19th anniversary of the disaster in Bhopal on Wednesday. More than 3,000 person were killed and thousands injured when tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal on December 3, 1984. — Reuters

India proposes coast guard links with Pak
New Delhi, December 3
On the eve of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s departure to Nigeria for the CHOGM summit, India today announced another confidence building measure vis a vis Pakistan by proposing the establishment of communication links between the Indian Coast Guard and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency. In video (28k, 56k)

Gorshkov deal incomplete: Russia
Moscow, December 3
Russia has said the price negotiations for the sale of Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India have not been finally settled even as Indian Navy Chief Madhvendra Singh said yesterday that the price negotiations had been completed.

BSF returns 2 Pak boys Jammu, December 3 It was a happy reunion for the two Pakistani brothers with their family this morning when the BSF handed them over to the Pak Rangers. They had accidentally crossed into the Indian territory in the Karotana village in the Ranbirsinghpura sector on last Monday. The brothers were identified as Sikandar Ali (18) and Bashir Ahmed (16). Two Pakistani boys being taken by BSF personnel for handing them over to Pakistani Rangers in Ranbirsinghpora sector of Jammu on Wednesday. — Photo by N.R. Sharma