Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes (left to right) and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah (behind Vajpayee) stand solemnly beside the coffin of Begum Akbar Jehan, wife of the late Sheikh Abdullah, during her funeral in Srinagar on Tuesday. 
— Reuters

Demise mellows moods in NC
JAMMU, July 11 — In her death, Begum Akbar Jahan, popularly called Madre Mehrbaan (kind mother), wife of Sheikh Abdullah, who ruled the hearts of people for over 50 years, warded off dark clouds hovering over the 62-year-old National Conference which was to decide whether to pull out of the NDA or not today.

PGI to be modernised
Cabinet clears Rs 122-cr project
NEW DELHI, July 11 — The Union Cabinet today approved a Rs 122-crore project to modernise medical facilities for the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, and introduce ayurvedic and unani medicines in seven states, including Himachal Pradesh, under the Reproductive and Child Health Programme.

Governors’ conference today
NEW DELHI, July 11 — The two-day conference of Governors and Lt-Governors gets under way here tomorrow when the general political environment is volatile amid increasing attacks on minorities and the demand for autonomy by Jammu and Kashmir along with some other states becoming shriller.

CPI-ML leaders clash with police
PATNA, July 11 — Three CPI-ML leaders along with several party supporters were injured as the police resorted to lathi charge and fired teargas shells to disperse hordes of party workers, who gheraoed the Bihar Legislature complex today in protest against the Mianpur massacre of 34 Dalits and persons belonging to the Backward classes last month.

B’deshi girls on sale in Haryana HISAR, July 11 — Teenaged Bangladeshi girls migrating to India illegally are finding ready buyers in several districts of Haryana, including Gurgaon, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa.