S P O T L I G H T

Clinton to address Parliament
NEW DELHI, March 16 (UNI) — President of the USA Bill Clinton will address MPs in the historic Central Hall of Parliament at 11 a.m. on March 22.

Nepalese PM resigns
KATHMANDU, March 16 (Reuters) — Nepalese Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai announced his resignation today, a day ahead of a scheduled vote by the ruling Congress party on whether to dump him for failing to stem a Maoist insurgency. “I am going to tender my resignation right away,” the 76-year-old Premier said in a special address to the Himalayan kingdom’s Lower House of Parliament.

Laden is ‘dying’
HONG KONG, March 16 (Reuters) — The Asiaweek magazine said today that exiled Saudi Arabian dissident Osama Bin Laden is dying of kidney failure. The magazine, quoting “a western intelligence source who has been tracking him”, said in its latest edition that Bin Laden, 45, who is in Afghanistan, remained mostly conscious and was able to talk and hold meetings, but “the man is dying”, it quoted the source as saying.

Signature drive
NEW DELHI, March 16 (UNI) — India’s first mass signature campaign for seeking a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council was launched here today by a charitable society. President of the Special Care International (SCI) D.D. Jesudas told newspersons here that there was a need to pursue the demand for a permanent seat in the council aggressively or get out of the UN in protest.

Rs 300 cr for Orissa
NEW DELHI, March 16 (UNI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today released additional funds of Rs 300 crore from the National Funds for Calamity Relief (NFCR) to expedite the rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in the cyclone-ravaged areas in Orissa.