tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Monday, August 2, 1999
weather today's calendar

Taliban capture Bagram airbase
KABUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) — Taliban fighters today seized opposition leader Ahmad Shah Masood’s key Bagram airbase, their first major prize in an offensive to establish total dominance of the movement’s rule in Afghanistan. Opposition sources acknowledged the loss of Bagram, some 80 km north of Kabul, after the Taliban overran Mr Masood’s defences shortly before dawn today.

Monsoon toll 321
NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (PTI) — Rain-swollen rivers continued to wreak havoc in Bihar inundating fresh areas in Patna and Vaishali districts today as two more rain-related deaths were reported in Rajasthan taking the countrywide toll this monsoon to 321. Swirling waters of Punpun, Morhar and Gandhar submerged more areas in Patna, Vaishali and worst-hit Jehanabad districts as Chief Minister Rabri Devi constituted a committee to step up efforts to provide succour to marooned people.

Jets raid Lebanon
TYRE, (Lebanon) Aug 1 (AP) — Israeli warplanes raided South Lebanon today, shortly after guerrillas fired rockets at an Israeli outpost in the area, Lebanese security officials said. The jets fired four missiles at targets in a valley near Majdel Zoun, a village 14 km south of the southern port of Tyre and about 5 km north of the Israeli border.

MQM men convicted
KARACHI, Aug 1 — ATC-VII Judge Hakim Ali Abbasi held three Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists — Saleem Ghunna, Muhammed Naeem and Keshif — guilty of dacoity and murder and awarded all of them death penalty, fine and imprisonment on Saturday.

Passengers missing
CEBU, (Philippines), Aug 1 (Reuters) — Three persons were killed and more than 100 are missing after a Philippine inter-island ferry caught fire at sea, the coast guard said today. Seventythree passengers and crew of the ferry M.V. Rosalia II were rescued after fire broke out aboard the vessel in the Central Philippines on Saturday, the coast guard commander said.

Quake in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Aug 1 (Reuters) — Tremors measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale rocked parts of Central Nepal today but there was no immediate report of any damage, officials said. The epicentre of the earthquake, which struck at 2.10 p.m. (1355 hrs IST), was Godunga village in the Dolakha district.

Congo accord
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 1 (Reuters) — A Congolese rebel faction led by millionaire businessman Jean-Pierre Bemba today signed its part of a truce to end the war in the former Zaire, in the presence of the Heads of State of Zambia and Tanzania. He signed the pact — already endorsed by six African nations on July 10 — in the Zambian Capital.