The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, February 1, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

S P O T L I G H T

Clinton may not visit Pak
NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (PTI) — US President Bill Clinton is unlikely to visit Pakistan when he comes to India in March, an American expert said here today. ‘‘The present uncertainty in Pakistan compounded by the October coup and the recent hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane were factors which can dissuade Mr Clinton from going to Pakistan,’’ Ambassador Dennis Kux, an expert on south-east Asia, said here during a Seminar on ‘‘US-Pakistan relations.’’

19 die in road mishap
ANKARA, Jan 31 (DPA) — Nineteen persons were killed and 38 injured in a bus crash near the Mediterranean city of Antalya, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported today. The mishap occurred when the driver of an Antalya-bound long-distance bus lost control and ploughed head-on into a mini-bus carrying workers to a hotel in Manavghat. Another long-distance bus then ploughed into the wreckage.

Afghan delegation
ISLAMABAD, Jan 31 (DPA) — A delegation of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, led by Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, head of the Council of Ministers, arrived in Pakistan today for crucial talks on “bilateral and regional issues”. Mr Rabbani is accompanied by 17 officials, including eight ministers. They had to drive into Pakistan because of a United Nations ban on air links with Afghanistan.

Crew rescued
MANILA, Jan 31(AFP) — Twenty-three crew members of a Panamanian-flagged ship were rescued after it sank off Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea, the Filipino navy chief said today. Vice-Admiral Luisito Fernandez said the crew — consisting of 22 Filipinos and a Burmese identified as Khim Maung Latt — abandoned the motor vessel Yan Yang which was carrying logs after it listed in huge waves on Friday, 50 nautical miles north-west of the shoal.

Shanta stable
NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (TNS) — The condition of the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution System, Mr Shanta Kumar, who was admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad yesterday, is stable and will return to the Capital tomorrow. He complained of uneasiness aboard an Indian Airlines Delhi-Bangalore flight last evening and the plane was subsequently diverted to Hyderabad, where he was admitted to the hospital.

11 kidnapped
AGARTALA, Jan 31 (UNI) — At least 11 persons, most of them labourers, were kidnapped by tribal guerrillas from two places in South Tripura today. The police said here that the militants waylaid three vehicles, in which the captives were travelling and kidnapped them at gunpoint.