S P O T L I G H T

5 killed in Lanka
COLOMBO, March 23 (AP) — Five persons were killed and nine others were wounded in clashes between the military and Tamil Tiger rebels in the north and east, a military official said today. A soldier at a road block was shot and killed yesterday in the eastern port city of Trincomalee. Three rebels were killed by army personnel in an ambush in Mullaitivu, about 40 km north of Trincomalee, said military spokesman Maj J.D.A. Gunasekera.

INSAT-3B
BANGALORE, March 23 (PTI) — The crucial first orbit raising manoeuvre on INSAT-3B, India’s first third generation satellite, was successfully completed today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. The 440-Newton thrust liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board INSAT-3B was today successfully fired at 07.29 am, placing the spacecraft in its first intermediate orbit (IO-1).

Clinton’s charge
ISLAMABAD, March 23 (Reuters) — Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf today contradicted a statement by US President Bill Clinton blaming elements in the Pakistani Government for supporting violence in the Kashmir region. “No part of the government is involved in any violence,” he told a press conference when asked to comment on the remarks made by Mr Clinton yesterday in an interview to ABC News.