tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Thursday, August 13, 1998
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Fernandes briefs PM
NEW DELHI, Aug 12 (UNI) — Defence Minister George Fernandes tonight apprised Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of the two rounds of talks held by him and Mr Pramod Mahajan with AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha at Chennai in the aftermath of the government notification on the Cauvery waters sharing scheme. Mr Fernandes, along with Mr Mahajan, returned here tonight and drove straight to the Prime Minister’s official residence at 7 Race Course Road to apprise him of the talks. The two reached Mr Vajpayee’s residence at 9.15 p.m.The Centre had incurred the wrath of Ms Jayalalitha for ignoring her demand to notify the original draft of the scheme. Ms Jayalalitha rejected the agreement arrived at between the Centre and the four riparian states on the revised scheme. Earlier, AIADMK sources at Chennai said that the talks had failed and Ms Jayalalitha had called a meeting of her allies to decide about the support to the four-month-old Vajpayee government.

6 die in accident near Jind
From Our Correspondent
JIND, Aug 12 — Six persons were killed and eight others were injured when their overcrowded jeep, overturned on the Jind-Kaithal road near Kithana village, about 30 km from here, today. According to reports received here, four persons died on the spot, one was brought dead in the general hospital here and one succumbed to his injuries in the hospital

IA bans smoking
NEW DELHI, Aug 12 (PTI) — Indian Airlines has decided to ban smoking on all its international flights also with effect from August 15. Already, there is a ban on smoking in all IA’s domestic services as also neighbouring Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Sri Lanka flights. From August 15, the national carrier will have only non-smoking flights on the entire net work of 58 domestic and 17 international stations.

10 killed in Assam
GUWAHATI, Aug 12 (PTI) — Suspected surrendered ULFA militants (SULFA) shot dead five family members of two top ULFA leaders, while Bodo militants killed four non-tribals as insurgency and group rivalry escalated in Assam since last night. Local media reports today claimed that surrendered ULFA militants (SULFA) decided to attack the ULFA in retaliation for the killing of several of their cadres in the recent past.

Hawala racket
NEW DELHI, Aug 12 (PTI) — The Delhi police today claimed to have busted an international "gun-running and hawala racket", with the arrest of a person and recovery of large cache of arms and Rs 10 lakh "hawala money". While the arms consignment seized had originated from Pakistan, the hawala operations were being organised from Saudi Arabia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Ashok Chand said.

Taiwanese spy
TAIPEI, Aug 12 (AFP) — A Chinese court today sentenced an alleged Taiwanese spy to a four-year term and expelled three others convicted of espionage, a television report here said.The four Taiwanese businessmen were arrested in China in March on spying charges.

Kids cost dad seat
CUTTACK, Aug 12 (UNI) — The Orissa High Court has declared the election of Congress candidate H.C. Mahanta to the Mayurbhanj zilla parishad as null and void for having more than two children. Mr Mahanta is said to be the first to be disqualified under the Orissa Zilla Parishad (Amendment) Act, 1993 which prohibited a person having more than two children from contesting elections.

Hurriyat leaders
NEW DELHI, Aug 12 (PTI) — The government today barred a two-member Hurriyat delegation from participating in the human rights sub-commission meeting being held in Geneva from August 3-28, official sources said. The two-member delegation comprising Ghulam Nabi Shaheen (General Secretary Kashmir Bar Association) and Ghulam Rasool Dar (JKLF) were prevented from boarding a Geneva-bound flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport today morning.

CRPF to pay
CUTTACK, Aug 12 (UNI) — In a significant judgement, the Orissa High Court has directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) authorities to pay a compensation of Rs three lakh to the wife of a CRPF sepoy Chhatar Bahadur Gurung who is missing from Imphal since 1988.In her petition Mrs Gurung Pushpa alleged that she had received no information about her husband from the CRPF authorities in Imphal ever since he reported for duty there in October, 1988 after his transfer from Bhubaneswar. Only when she filed an FIR with the Imphal police, was she told that her husband, who was reportedly deployed in some remote area in Imphal, was not traceable.

Arrest warrant
KANPUR, Aug 12 (PTI) — A non-bailable arrest warrant was today issued against dacoit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi in connection with two cases of murder and dacoity committed in 1980. Issuing the warrant, special Judge (Anti-Dacoity) S.N.H. Zaidi instructed the police to produce Phoolan Devi before the court on September 4. The warrant is in connection with two cases of murder and dacoity committed in Bhognipur police circle of Kanpur rural district during 1980.

Benazir indicted
ISLAMABAD, Aug 12 (AFP) — A Pakistani court today formally indicted former Premier Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, for their alleged involvement in a gold import scandal, court officials said. The two-judge Accountability Bench of the Lahore High Court also framed charges against seven others accused in the case, they said.