tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Friday, October 30, 1998
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Film referred to Home Ministry
NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (PTI) — The Censor Board has referred ‘Zakhm’, announced as the last directorial venture of noted film maker Mahesh Bhatt, to the Union Home Ministry for clearance of certain scenes dealing with communal issues in the backdrop of the 1992-93 Mumbai riots. The Censor Board referred Bhatt’s partly-fictional and partly autobiographical film initially to the Maharashtra Home Secretary after Bhatt objected to the ‘A’ certificate given to it, but ultimately referred it to the Union Home Secretary as it would ultimately be released countrywide, Bhatt said today.
Talks with Suu Kyi
YANGON, Oct 29 (AFP) — A UN special envoy to Myanmar began talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi today, their second meeting this week as human rights abuses here come under the international spotlight, officials said. UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan’s special envoy to Myanmar, Alvaro de Soto, met Nobel Peace Laureate Suu Kyi at her home amid tight security, official sources in the ruling Junta said.

35 killed in Lanka
COLOMBO, Oct 29 (PTI) — Twentynine LTTE militants and six Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in two different encounters in the northern and eastern parts of the island nation, a defence spokesman said here today. He said 27 LTTE militants and six Lankan troops were killed in a special operation by the Army at northern Paranthan yesterday. Eighteen soldiers were also injured in the operation. Two LTTE militants were killed in eastern Batticaloa.
20 feared drowned
GUWAHATI, Oct 29 (PTI) — At least 20 persons were feared drowned after a motorboat capsized in the Brahmaputra at Deuriduba of Kamrup district in Assam today, official sources said. They said the mishap occurred after the boat, with about 70 people on board, was caught in a whirlpool. Fifty persons jumped out of the boat and swam to safety but 20 were missing, the sources said.
3 shot in Karachi
KARACHI, Oct 29 (AFP) — Gunmen today shot dead three persons in the violence-plagued Pakistani port city of Karachi, the police said. Six men armed with automatic weapons raided a building which was under construction, lined up dozens of workers against a wall and opened fire, killing two of them on the spot, they said.
Old vehicles
NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (PTI) — The Supreme Court today rejected the Delhi Government’s plea to extend the November 15 deadline for phasing out over 17-year-old commercial vehicles and asked them to implement the court order, which also banned plying of over 15-year-old vehicles by the end of this year. Rejecting the plea by Solicitor-General Santosh Hegde, a three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Mr Justice B N Kirpal and Mr Justice V N Khare said, "when it is in the interest of the public, we do not think we can be lax."
3 die in mishap
INDORE, Oct 29 (PTI) — Three persons were killed and a child was injured when the Mumbai-Indore Avantika Express (2961 down) hit a tractor-trolley at an unmanned level crossing on Nagda-Ujjain section of Western Railway early this morning. A railway spokesman said all deceased were travelling in the tractor-trolley. The victims were driver Ashik Ali (25), Ahsan (23) and Bhura (23).
PM calls meeting on price rise
NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (UNI) — Perturbed over the continuing spiralling prices of essential commodities, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has convened an urgent meeting of ministers in charge of economic ministries on Saturday. The meeting will work out strategies to come down heavily on hoarders and speculators who are responsible for the spurt in the rise of prices. The Ministers of Finance, Power, Agriculture, Food Processing and Commerce have been asked to attend the meeting.
21 dead in blaze
SEOUL, Oct 29 (DPA) — At least 21 persons, including five firemen, died today and many more are missing in the southern South Korean city of Pusan after a fire on a building site, reports said. Local television reports said the fire started in an upper storey on a nearly-completed warehouse, although the cause was not known. A number of workers lost their lives when they jumped from the site to avoid the flames.
MQM breaks pact
ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (PTI) — The Muttahida Quami Movement today pulled out of the coalition ministry in Pakistan’s Sind province bringing the PML-led government on the brink of collapse. A day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accused the MQM of its involvement in the murder of former Sind Governor Hakim said, a senior MQM leader today announced in Karachi that the MQM was breaking ties with the PML in the province and accused Sharif of conspiring to impose President’s rule in the province as part of his "autocratic ambitions."