These news clips are sponsored by the Indian American Center for Political Awareness.

--- South Asian News, November 1, 2002 --- (International)

Sri Lanka is in headlines today as the peace talks progressed amidst trouble at home where the rebel leader was sentenced in absentia and curfew was re-imposed in parts of Colombo over ethinc clashes. India gets a new army chief and the Prime Minister calls for tougher actions against illegal transfer of nuclear technology. In the business news, the Indian corporate giant Reliance tastes success in its oil exploration foray.

Africa

* India will talk once war stops (News 24)

Americas

* Sri Lanka, rebels resume peace talks (The News Mexico) (Globe and Mail)

Asia-Pacific

* Indian PM calls for tackling illegal transfer of nuke technology (Xinhuanet) (Channel News Asia)
* British FM backs sale of Hawk jets to India (Channel News Asia)
* India's Nirmal Chander Vij is new army chief (Channel News Asia)
* Sri Lanka's peace talks advancing despite trouble at home (Australian Broadcasting)
* Tamil Tiger leader gets 200 years (Malaya Star) (Australian Broadcasting) (Straits Times)
* Sri Lankan Old rivals enhance mutual trust in talks (Xinhuanet) (People Daily) (Japan Today) (Channel News Asia)
* Northern Sri Lankan citizens support peace talks: survey (Xinhuanet)
* Curfew re-imposed in Sri Lankan capital (Xinhuanet) (People Daily) (Channel News Asia)
* 12 killed, 40 injured in bus crash in Bangladesh (Australian Broadcasting)

Europe

* West too soft on Pakistan, says India (Guardian)
* Qaeda Uses Teeming Karachi as New Base, Pakistanis Say (Financial Times)
* Commonwealth re-thinks Pakistan (BBC)
* Straw backs jets sale to India (BBC)
* Progress at Sri Lanka talks (BBC) (Guardian)
* Long jail term for Tiger chief (BBC) (Ananova) (Independent)
* Pakistan women's seats declared (BBC)
* Freed Pakistan militant back home (BBC)
* Nepal parties campaign for political change (Financial Times)
* Nepal war deaths 'over 7,000' (BBC)

Middle East

* PM blasts West for its nuclear bias (Gulf News)
* India, US start 'global issues forum' (IRNA)
* Indian Muslim leaders criticize the US policy on Islamic world (IRNA)
* American FBI presence in Pakistan intolerable: Pak analyst (IRNA)
* Freed Pakistani Guantanamo prisoner being questioned (IRNA) (Gulf News)
* Pakistan rejects Indian ministers observations on elections (IRNA)
* Benazir asks partymen to remain united (Gulf News)
* Speculation rife about PPP deal with regime (Gulf News)
* MMA leans towards PML-QA (Gulf News)
* Pakistan arrests parcel bomb suspect (IRNA)
* Anger in Jammu over Mufti (Gulf News)
* Arrest warrant issued for Prabhakaran (Gulf News)
* Curfew reimposed in north Colombo (Gulf News)
* Crackdown 'to last as long as needed' (Gulf News)
* General strike paralyzes normal life in Assam (IRNA)
* Pakistan women seats results in National Assembly announced (IRNA)

Editorial

N/A

Business/Technology

* IT ties with India start to pay off for S'pore companies (Straits Times)
* India's ONGC Videsh signs Sudan oil deal (IRNA)
* India's Reliance discovers seven trillion cu ft of natural gas (IRNA)
* India's Reliance sees profits soar (BBC)

Africa

* India will talk once war stops

New Delhi -- India on Thursday accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a "pre-dialogue negotiating tactic" and ruled out talks with its arch-rival over Kashmir until all insurgency in the disputed Himalayan state is ended. "We will be satisfied only when there is a complete stop to cross-border terrorism. Until then, there is no conducive atmosphere for talks," Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in an interview with the BBC's Asia Today programme. He was responding to a suggestion by senior US State Department official Richard Haass in New Delhi earlier in the week that India "mull over" the possibility ofng talks despite the infiltration of Islamic militants into Indian-administered Kashmir from the Pakistani zone.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Asia/0,1113,2-10-20_1278611,00.html

Americas

* Sri Lanka, rebels resume peace talks

Nakhon Pathom, Thailand -- Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebel negotiatorsd a second round of peace talks at a Thai resort Thursday, aiming to work out ways to rebuild areas ravaged by 19 years of war. The negotiations, brokered by Norway, are meant to build trust before the two long-time combatants try to work out a permanent solution to the ethnic conflict that has left more than 65,000 people dead on the tropical island off India's southern coast. But in what the Tamil Tiger rebels could see as a setback to the goodwill, Sri Lanka's High Court on Thursday sentenced Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive rebel leader, to 200 years in prison for plotting and directing a 1996 bombing of the Central Bank, in which 91 people were killed and 300 were wounded.

http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=38861
http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021101/UREPOM-3/Asia/internationalAsia/internationalAsia_temp/2/2/5/

Asia-Pacific

* Indian PM calls for tackling illegal transfer of nuke technology

October 31 -- Indian Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee Thursday called upon "high priests" of non proliferation to look around and tackle clandestine and illegal development and transfer of missile and nuclear technology. He made the call at a function at Bhabha Atomic Research Centerin Bombay on its foundation day, local media reported. Vajpayee appealed to developed nations to dispel any misconception about the country's nuclear weapons program, saying atomic energy in India should be seen as an "engine of growth and progress and not through prism of nuclear weapon."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-10/31/content_614981.htm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/23385/1/.html

* British FM backs sale of Hawk jets to India

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday said he supported the sale of British Hawk jets to India. His comments followed a similar push for the military sale by Prime Minister Tony Blair. A Downing Street spokeswoman defended Mr Blair's pitch to his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee two weeks ago, saying the Hawk jet was a training aircraft only. The planned sale would involved 66 Hawk jets, designed as training aircraft for pilots.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/23381/1/.html

* India's Nirmal Chander Vij is new army chief

India named Nirmal Chander Vij as its new army chief on Thursday, a strategist who helped plan the Kargil operation that repulsed intruders from Pakistan in 1999. Lieutenant-General Nirmal Vij, now vice chief of army staff, will succeed General S. Padmanabhan who retires on December 31. Vij, 59, has been in the army for 40 years, and is India's most senior officer. Vij was director general of military operations in 1999 when India launched an air and ground offensive against Pakistan-backed fighters who seized a strategic swathe of territory in the Kargil sector of north Kashmir.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/23384/1/.html

* Sri Lanka's peace talks advancing despite trouble at home

Sri Lankan officials and Tamil Tiger rebels are in their second day of peace talks in Thailand, a day after a Colombo court sentenced the rebels' leader to 200 years in jail. The talks, whichd on Thursday in the Thai capital Bangkok, are focused on security and rehabilitation of the war-torn island. Diplomats say the mood of the talks has so far been friendly and optimistic, despite the 200-year sentence handed down in absentia to Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran for a 1996 bombing that killed nearly 100 people. Additional tensions have also emerged at home, as Sri Lankan authorities battled to quell clashes between majority Sinhalese and minority Muslims, and imposed curfews in parts of the city.

http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_716946.htm

* Tamil Tiger leader gets 200 years

Colombo -- A court here yesterday sentenced the leader of the Tamil Tigers to 200 years' jail in absentia over a 1996 truck bomb attack as peace talks between the government and the rebel group began in Thailand. The Colombo High Court found Velupillai Prabhakaran, the supremo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and four others guilty of masterminding a Jan 31, 1996 assault on the central bank. The court jailed Prabhakaran 200 years for the attack, in which the Tigers rammed a truck loaded with explosives into the central bank here, killing 91 people and leaving hundreds more injured. The judge found Prabhakaran guilty of 51 counts including murder and the destruction of state property.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/11/1/asia/tigy&sec=asia
http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_716158.htm
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,152350,00.html?

* Sri Lankan Old rivals enhance mutual trust in talks

October 31 -- The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels,who have been fighting with each other ruthlessly for 19 years, are increasing mutual trust as they entered the second round of peace talks in a central Thai resort hotel Thursday. "The talks will focus on setting up a Joint Task Force (JTF) to implement urgent humanitarian measures in war-torn areas and a plan to ask for more international aid," said Erik Solheim, the Norwegian broker of the peace talks.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-10/31/content_614856.htm
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/01/eng20021101_106058.shtml
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=236859
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/23411/1/.html

* Northern Sri Lankan citizens support peace talks: survey

An overwhelming majority of the people in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula support the decisions taken at the first round of peace talks between the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, according to a survey. The survey conducted recently by Social Indicator, an independent opinion research organization, shows that around 82.4 percent of people in Jaffna support the decisions reached at the first round of peace talks in Thailand in mid-September. The decisions include the set-up of a joint task force which will focus on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war-affectedareas and a joint monitoring committee.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/01/content_615644.htm

* Curfew re-imposed in Sri Lankan capital

October 31 -- A curfew was re-imposed in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo amid mounting tensions Thursday following communal clashes on Wednesday which have left one person dead and at least 20 others injured, police said. The curfew in the northern and central parts of Colombo, which had been lifted Thursday morning, was re-imposed indefinitely due to the mounting tensions in the areas in the run-up to the funeral of a Muslim victim who was killed in the rioting on Wednesday. Police and army men were called in to quell the rioting and the situation was brought under control by Wednesday evening.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-10/31/content_614949.htm
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/01/eng20021101_106071.shtml
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/23337/1/.html

* 12 killed, 40 injured in bus crash in Bangladesh

At least 12 people have been killed and 40 others injured when the bus they were travelling fell into a stream in south-western Bangladesh. Police say it is believed the driver lost control of the bus as it was crossing a bridge near Faridpur about 150 kilometres from the capital Dhaka. They say 11 people died instantly, another died later in hospital where 20 people remain in critical condition.

http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s716170.htm

Europe

* West too soft on Pakistan, says India

Britain and the US have "lost the right" to lecture New Delhi on how to respond to terrorist provocation by displaying double standards by tracking down bombers in Pakistan but letting them operate freely in Kashmir, India's foreign minister said yesterday. In an interview with the Guardian, Yashwant Sinha warned that relations between Pakistan and India remained tense despite the withdrawal of hundreds of thousands of troops from their shared 1,800-mile border. India has been smarting from what it perceives as the west's softly-softly approach towards Pakistan, which the government claims was behind the attack on the country's parliament last year and a recent upsurge in violence during elections in the Muslim-majority state of Kashmir.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,823877,00.html

* Qaeda Uses Teeming Karachi as New Base, Pakistanis Say

Karachi, Pakistan -- As the United States hunted worldwide for leaders of Al Qaeda this summer, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a key planner of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was living quietly in an apartment about 10 miles from the American Consulate here, according to Pakistani law enforcement officials. Pakistani officials say that through support from local people, elaborate secrecy and Internet communication, Qaeda members like Mr. bin al-Shibh are trying to re-establish their network. In some ways they appear to be succeeding. Since Mr. bin al-Shibh's arrest, no senior Al Qaeda officials have been captured in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Pakistani officials are convinced that Al Qaeda's head of operations, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, remains in Karachi, hiding in an apartment in this maze of 14 million people, just as Mr. bin al-Shibh did.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=&p=

* Commonwealth re-thinks Pakistan

Commonwealth foreign ministers are meeting in London to decide whether Pakistan should be readmitted as a member after its recent elections to restore civilian rule. The country was suspended after the coup in 1999 which brought General Pervez Musharraf to power, but polls were held in October. Observers from the Commonwealth ruled that the actual vote was credible and democratic, but had misgivings about curbs on the parties during the campaign. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meeting in London may decide to retain Pakistan's suspension until it sees how relations between Mr Musharraf and the new civilian authorities develop, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2384415.stm

* Straw backs jets sale to India

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has backed the proposed sale of British Hawk aircraft to India, after talks with his Indian counterpart, Yashwant Sinha. Mr Straw said at a joint news conference that it was a very good time to be selling Hawks and that the government is very happy to support the British defence and aerospace company which manufactures the jets. He rejected suggestions that the sale was ill-timed following tensions between India and Pakistan. Mr Straw's comments follow a recent push for the military sale by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2384747.stm

* Progress at Sri Lanka talks

The Sri Lankan Government and Tamil Tiger rebels have reached agreement on setting up a body to appeal for foreign aid to rebuild areas ravaged by two decades of war. The announcement was made at talks being held in Thailand, where government and rebel representatives are meeting for the second time in a peace process initiated earlier this year. The government says there will be four rebel and four government representatives on the body, which will ensure that any funds pledged are disbursed and accounted for correctly. The talks are being held against a backdrop of simmering tension in Colombo between members of the Sinhalese and Muslim communities. On Friday, a curfew was reimposed in the north of the capital to prevent further violence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2384797.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2136039,00.html

* Long jail term for Tiger chief

October 31 -- A court in Sri Lanka has sentenced the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels to 200 years in jail in a case relating to a bomb attack in 1996. The announcement came as a second round of peace talks between the government and rebels started in Thailand. The sentence on Velupillai Prabhakaran, passed in his absence, is for alleged involvement in an attack on the Sri Lankan central bank in Colombo, in which nearly 80 people died. Three of his closest associates have also been sentenced with him, and anwarrant has been issued for his arrest.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2379161.stm
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_700578.html?menu=news.latestheadlines.worldnews
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=347838

* Pakistan women's seats declared

October 31 -- The election commission in Pakistan has announced the names of 60 women who have won elections to the seats reserved for women in the national assembly. The pro-government Pakistan Muslim League (Q) has won 22 of those seats, and the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples' Party has won 15. Women candidates belonging to the alliance of six hardline Islamist parties -- Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) - have won 12 seats, making them the third largest bloc among the women members.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2383429.stm

* Freed Pakistan militant back home

October 31 -- The Pakistani authorities have allowed the founder of the banned Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba to return home - but he is reported to be under house arrest. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, former head of the outlawed group, returned to his home in the eastern city of Lahore early on Thursday after being held for five months at an undisclosed location. The BBC's Shahid Malik in Lahore says Mr Saeed's return home is likely to trigger speculation that he may have made a deal with the military authorities. But Mr Saeed complained on Thursday that he was "still under federal government's detention".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2383403.stm

* Nepal parties campaign for political change

A month after King Gyanendra suspended Nepal's 12-year-old democracy and appointed a largely apolitical government, the country remains in a stalemate while its main political players continue to jostle for elbow room. Six of Nepal's main political parties have dismissed the new cabinet as "unconstitutional". "We are not going to be a part of any government unless the constitutional lapses committed by the king are corrected," said Ishwar Pokhrel, standing committee (politburo) member of the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party. UML says the king erred twice, once while taking on executive powers and again while forming the new government. The Nepali Congress (NC) has also said it wants no part in the king's government.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=&p=

* Nepal war deaths 'over 7,000'

October 31 -- More than 7,000 people have been killed during six years of Maoist rebellion in Nepal, the authorities say. Figures released on Thursday said more than 5,000 of those killed were guerrillas themselves, some 4,050 of whom lost their lives following the introduction of troops in the conflict a year ago. About 1,200 soldiers and policemen, and 800 civilians make up the rest of the dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2381811.stm

Middle East

* PM blasts West for its nuclear bias

In a hard-hitting speech on the west's biased attitude, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday said India's peaceful nuclear power programme needed to be emphasised because in some circles abroad atomic energy seemed to raise only visions of the atom bomb or of nuclear war. On a sarcastic note and without naming any country, he urged "the high priests of non-proliferation to look around and tackle the clandestine, illegal development and transfer of nuclear and missile technologies, rather than targetting countries which played by the rules. "They might then be persuaded to look at atomic energy in India as an engine of growth and progress and not through the prism of nuclear weapons," Vajpayee told the scientific establishment at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Department of Atomic Energy.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67301

* India, US start 'global issues forum'

October 31 -- India and the United States have begun their first-ever 'global issues forum'- an occasion to discuss a range of issues on the social plane. India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesman, Navtej Sarna said on Thursday, the first round of talks, held between the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, and the visiting US Under Secretary for Global Affairs, Paula Dobriansky, was held Wednesday evening and is to go into another session today. Sarna said that considerable stress was laid on public health issues, especially HIV-AIDS, during the discussions, which lasted three-and-a-half hours.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Indian Muslim leaders criticize the US policy on Islamic world

October 31 -- A group of prominent Indian Muslim leaders in a meeting with the American ambassador in India criticized the US policy toward the Islamic world, reported a New Delhi based English daily Thursday. According to the Asian Age, yesterday's meet was held for discussion on issues ranging from US foreign policy to terrorism with the visiting director of the policy planning staff in the US state department, Richard Hass, at the residence of US Ambassador Robert Blackwill in New Delhi. Muslim leaders said that America has fostered terrorism in the past and even today supporting several dictatorships and authoritarian regimes strongly.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* American FBI presence in Pakistan intolerable: Pak analyst

October 31 -- A well-known journalist and editor-in-chief of Islamabad-based daily 'Pakistan Observer' on Thursday decried Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) activities in the country. "FBI agents' presence in any case in different parts of the country is not tolerable," Zahid Malik emphatically declared in an interview with IRNA here. Referring to arrest of Dr. Amir Aziz, the media man said his arrest in the reported presence of FBI agents in Lahore has evoked a lot of hue and cry through out the country.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Freed Pakistani Guantanamo prisoner being questioned

October 31 -- Family members of a Pakistani prisoner, who was released from the American Guantanamo base in Cuba on October 27 after one-year of detention, are concerned about his whereabouts since his return to Islamabad. Mohammad Sagheer, 50, was among 58 Pakistani nationals who had been arrested in Afghanistan during American bombing and were shifted to the notorious American base. Sagheer, who belongs to North West Frontier Province, was flown to Islamabad on Sunday last in a special American plane. The Pakistani intelligence agents took Sagheer into custody for questioning, according to private news agency.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67291

* Pakistan rejects Indian ministers observations on elections

October 31 -- Pakistan has rejected assertions by Indian Minister for External Affairs describing the recent general elections in Pakistan as 'seriously flawed'. "The Government of Pakistan rejects the Indian Foreign Minister's patently wrong assertion and regarded it as interference in Pakistan's affairs," Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement. According to a press release issued here, the spokesman said the Pakistani elections were not only free and fair but were also entirely transparent.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Benazir asks partymen to remain united

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto directed her party to stay united in the face of determined government efforts to split the parliamentary wing of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP). "We are one party. The party comes first and loyalty to the party is the priority," Bhutto told the party faithful. Amid widespread reports of government efforts to strike a deal with party members that would see her sidelined, Bhutto vowed yesterday that she would not accept military ruler General Pervez Musharraf's "illegal constitutional changes."

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67293

* Speculation rife about PPP deal with regime

Despite a hardline taken by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto against the military-led government's constitutional amendments, some senior Pakistan People's Party leaders are trying their best to cut a deal with the authorities on her behalf which may result in the freedom of her jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari. "The next 72 hours are very important. there could be a dramatic turn in the situation," a senior PPP leader told Gulf News on condition of anonymity. "If all goes well, Mr Zardari could be shifted to his house in Islamabad that would be declared a sub-jail," he said. "From there, the government may allow him to fly abroad for medical treatment which he badly needs."

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67289

* MMA leans towards PML-QA

Following increased indications that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) may not succeed in forming a government led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the group seems to have decided that in such a case, it will support the candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) for the premiership. The MMA is said to have also decided not to support the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) in a move that has disappointed Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, who was hoping to persuade religious leaders to link up with the PPPP.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67290

* Pakistan arrests parcel bomb suspect

October 31 -- Pakistani police have arrested a suspected follower of an outlawed militant group in connection with a series of parcel bomb attacks earlier this month, officials say. Asif Shadman, said to belong to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, is suspected of involvement in the attacks, which targeted police and other government employees. "I don't have many details, but we have arrested a key person involved in the parcel bomb blasts," a police official quoted by media as saying

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Anger in Jammu over Mufti

Pain vies with resentment among many Muslims on the Jammu side of the Pir Panjal range that arcs southwest of the Kashmir Valley. These Muslims, several of whom are of Kashmiri origin, are angry at the Congress party's decision to give in to Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's claim to be chief minister. Mufti had argued that his party represents the Valley more than the Congress party, which won more seats overall than the Mufti's party in the recent state assembly elections.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67299

* Arrest warrant issued for Prabhakaran

An arrest warrant was issued for Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who was yesterday sentenced by a Sri Lankan court to life imprisonment for his part in bombing the Central Bank building in Colombo six-and-a-half years ago. More than 100 people died and scores were injured in the attack. The sentence coincided with the first day of the second round of peace talks between the Colombo government and Prab-hakaran's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Bangkok. Colombo high court judge Sarath Ambepitiya issued anwarrant for the arrest of the elusive 47-year-old guerrilla leader who operates from the jungles of the north-east region of the island.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67297

* Curfew reimposed in north Colombo

A curfew was reimposed in the north Colombo area, for the second successive day, as a Muslim youth killed by a Sinhalese mob the previous day was buried under a tight security blanket. Tension prevailed in parts of the capital where Sinhalese and Muslim residents clashed Wednesday over the construction of a Madrassa with a 24-year-old youth being shot by police commandos for flouting the curfew. The youth, Rizwan, was later hospitalised.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67296

* Crackdown 'to last as long as needed'

Bangladesh said yesterday its two-week army crackdown on crime would last as long as needed, even as the United States voiced concern about reported human rights "abuses" during the operation. "The military will be kept as long as their presence is absolutely necessary," Foreign Secretary Mobin Chowdhury told reporters."They will not stay one day more than necessary." U.S. State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, at a press briefing in Washington on Wednesday, said the Bush Administration hoped that Bangladeshi troops would continue with the anti-terrorism drive "only as long as absolutely necessary".

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=67302

* General strike paralyzes normal life in Assam

October 31 -- A dawn-to-dusk general strike enforced by India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the troubled northeastern state of Assam Thursday paralyzed normal life, officials said. A police spokesman said most shops and businesses and educational institutions remained closed, while public and private vehicles kept off the roads. "Attendance in government offices was thin," the official said.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Pakistan women seats results in National Assembly announced

October 31 -- The Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday notified the names of the successful candidates for the sixty reserved seats for women in the National Assembly, lower house of the parliament. The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e Azam group) has bagged 22 seats. This group is seen close to President Musharraf government. Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has secured 15 seats. The Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, alliance of six-Islamic parties secured 12 seats.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

Editorial

N/A

Business/Technology

* IT ties with India start to pay off for S'pore companies

Bangalore, India -- Singapore companies are beginning to see the fruits of strategic joint IT ventures with Indian firms and are set to make a major contribution in the field of e-governance, often dealing with progressive Indian state governments. E-governance is the term used to describe online billing and record-keeping by the local and state authorities. Several Singapore companies exhibiting at IT.com - an annual international IT trade fair here - have successfully played on the strategic advantages of both Singapore and India. Firms like eGurkha, Apex Technologies, FingerTip Technologies and Crimson Logic, by setting up development centres in India, benefit from its large pool of IT experts. 'India is a global IT name,' a Singaporean executive told The Straits Times.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,152229,00.html?

* India's ONGC Videsh signs Sudan oil deal

October 31 -- India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Videsh Limited (OVL) has gone ahead and signed an agreement with Canadian firm Talisman Energy to acquire its share in the Greater Nile Oil Project in civil war-torn Sudan for dlrs 750 million. According to the Indian Express, a New Delhi-based English daily, OVL signed a sales purchase agreement of interest with Talisman in London on Tuesday to buy the Canadian firm's 25 percent equity, sources said. The push for that investment came after financial advisor Ernst & Young said positive signals were emanating from the US of a lift of its sanctions on Sudan. India was keen to buy the share as it was felt it would improve the country's energy security through equity oil abroad.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* India's Reliance discovers seven trillion cu ft of natural gas

October 31 -- In one of the largest finds of natural gas in the country, oil and gas exploration major Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) on Thursday announced discovery of seven trillion cubic feet in place volume of natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin of Andhra Pradesh in the southern India state, reported local media on Thursday. Reliance has discovered natural gas in the very first well it drilled in the deep water block of D-6 in the KG basin, RIL chairman and managing Director Mukesh Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* India's Reliance sees profits soar

October 31 -- India's Reliance Industries made a net profit of 10.02bn rupees between July and September this year, a 25% rise compared with last year. Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Reliance Industries was the first Indian private company to make a net profit of more than 10bn rupees ($207m; Ј133m) in three months. The oil and petrochemicals firm is India's largest private sector company and it runs the world's fifth largest refinery. Sales for the period were up 10% compared with July to September 2001.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2380695.stm

* New plans to boost Nepal's economy

October 31 -- The Nepalese Government has announced economic reforms to boost the country's ailing economy. The authorities say the move is mainly aimed at reducing government expenditure, increasing revenue, and improving administrative efficiency. Similar programmes in the past had failed to deliver, but the authorities have vowed not to repeat the mistakes. The economic reforms were announced less than a month after King Gyanendra assumed executive powers and appointed Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2382213.stm

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