clips are co-sponsored by the Indian American Center for Political Awareness and are archived at www.

--- South Asian News, November 15, 2002 ---(International)

Pakistan's second largest party, the PPP splits with the dissidents supporting the pro-Musharaff alliance. The Pakistani national convicted in the 1993 killings of two CIA employees is executed by the US triggering protests in Pakistan. In Nepal, Maoist rebels massacre scores of civilians and policemen. The editorial section focuses on the rural poor in India dying of hunger in a country sitting on huge surplus food stocks and how Bangladesh uses micro-credit to alleviate poverty.

Africa
------

* US executes Pakistani man (News 24) (SABC News)
* Two killed, nine injured in Pakistan bus blast (SABC News)
* Bin Laden tape trail leads to Pakistan (Independent Online)
* At least 72 dead after Nepal rebel raids (SABC News)
* Maoist rebels kill 34 cops in Nepal (Independent Online) (SABC News)

Americas
--------

* Pakistan opposition party announces split (The News Mexico)
* Tape's trail traced to Pakistan (The Star)
* Pakistanis divided over U.S. execution of man for killing CIA officials (Canada.com)
* Pakistani man who killed CIA employees executed in Virginia (Canada.com) (Canada Broadcasting) (The Star)
* Bus explosion in Pakistan kills two (Canada Broadcasting)
* 56 dead after Maoist rebels attack police posts in northwest Nepal (Canada.com)
* 150 missing after Bangladesh storm (Canada Broadcasting)

Asia-Pacific
------------

* Pakistan's PPP opposition party splits ahead of parliament'sng (Channel News Asia)
* Turmoil in Pakistan's politics (Australian Broadcasting)
* Redeployment of Indian troops to be completed by December: Army official (Xinhuanet) (East Day)
* Pakistani executed for CIA murders (Australian Broadcasting)
* Warning on China threat to India (Asian Times)
* More praise from Gates (Asian Times)
* Blair lauds India (Asian Times)
* Kasi hailed a martyr as Pakistan braces for backlash from execution (Bangkok Post)
* 49 Indian fishermen confirmed dead, 111 missing (Xinhuanet) (East Day) (People Daily)
* Two killed in Pakistani bus bombing (Australian Broadcasting) (Channel News Asia) (Japan Today)
* 3 killed in road accident in Northern Pakistan (East Day)
* Pakistan doors to GM seed (Asian Times)
* Bangladesh thinks SAARC summit to be held on schedule (East Day)
* Huge quantity of poppy straw recovered in Pakistan (East Day)
* Nepali gov't announces relief package for poverty alleviation (East Day)
* Dozens of anti-gov't guerrillas killed in western Nepal (East Day)
* Sri Lankan president turns down new ministers recommendation (East Day)
* Sri Lanka returns to the tourist trail (Asian Times)
* More than reported 70 dead in Nepal clashes (Australian Broadcasting) (Japan Today)
* Microsoft's Gates wraps up visit to India (Channel News Asia)
* 11 dead after cyclone lashes eastern India and Bangladesh (Channel News Asia)

Europe
------

* Pakistan Islamists may join ruling coalition (Financial Times)
* Bhutto party splits (BBC)
* US flag burned in execution protest (Financial Times)
* Pakistanis Mourn Man Executed for CIA Shootings (Reuters)
* Bomb blast on Pakistani bus kills two (Ananova) (BBC) (Swiss Info)
* Pakistani executed for killing two CIA employees (Swiss Info) (Ananova) (BBC)
* Pakistan Eyes Hometown of Executed (Guardian)
* Pakistan fears backlash for US execution of killer (Independent)
* Dozens killed in Nepal attack (BBC)
* No end to Dhaka crime fight (BBC)
* Nepal Rebels Kill 56 in Attacks (Swiss Info) (Guardian)
* At Least 72 Dead After Nepal Rebel Raids (Reuters)

Middle East
-----------

* Religious alliance sticks to its demands (Gulf News)
* Advani objects to Iran-India gas pipeline (IRNA)
* US seeks to deprive Pakistan of its nuclear capability: analyst (IRNA)
* Two killed, nine injured in southern Pakistan's bus blast (IRNA)
* Pak-British defence talks begins (IRNA)
* Pakistani defiant as US execution looms (IRNA)
* BJP defends right-wing group (Gulf News)
* India vows to cut troops on border (Gulf Daily News)
* VHP holds BJP to ransom in Gujarat (Gulf News)
* Earthquake rocks Rann of Kutch in India's Gujarat (IRNA)
* Bill Gates launches polio immunisation drive in Andhra (Gulf Daily News) (Gulf News)
* Bangladesh probes India's list of alleged terrorist camps (IRNA)
* Ranil, Balasingham to hold talks in Oslo (Gulf News)

Editorial
---------

* Southeast Asian arms trail to India's northeast (Asian Times)
* Dying of hunger in a land of surplus (Guardian) (Manchester Online)
* Small loans a big boost to the poor in Bangladesh (Globe and Mail)

Business/Technology
-------------------

* Datacraft profits from Indian 'euphoria' (SABC News)
* India-Malaysia chamber of commerce to be set up (Business Times)
* Unit Trust of India to Split Flagship Investment Plan into Two (Bloomberg)

Africa
------

* US executes Pakistani man

Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kasi was executed here on Thursday by lethal injection for the murder of two Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employees, a Virginia state prison spokesperson said. Kasi was pronounced dead at Greensville Correctional Centre, said Larry Traylor, spokesperson for the state department of corrections.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/0,1113,2-10_1285422,00.html
http://www.sabcnews.com/world/asia1pacific/0,1009,47267,00.html

* Two killed, nine injured in Pakistan bus blast

Two people were killed and nine injured when a bomb exploded in a bus in southern Pakistan today, emergency workers said. They said the blast happened at a bus station in the southern city of Hyderabad, about 160 km from the southern port city of Karachi.

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/asia1pacific/0,1009,47284,00.html

* Bin Laden tape trail leads to Pakistan

Al-Jazeera television's bureau chief in Pakistan says the audiotape claimed to be a recording of Osama bin Laden and broadcast by the Qatari network was given to him by a man in Islamabad. Ahmed Muhaffaq Zaidan, who has written a book based on two interviews he has had with Bin Laden, said he was "100 percent sure" the voice on the tape was the al-Qaeda chief's.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=vnC743360&set_id=1

* At least 72 dead after Nepal rebel raids

At least 72 people, most of them security men, were killed in two raids by Maoist rebels fighting Nepal's constitutional monarchy and the search for bodies was continuing, officials said today. In one attack, at least 24 policemen were killed when the rebels struck a police post overnight in Gorkha district, 150 km west of Kathmandu.

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/asia1pacific/0,1009,47304,00.html

* Maoist rebels kill 34 cops in Nepal

Maoist rebels killed at least 22 Nepalese policemen in an overnight raid on a police post, said government officials on Friday, bringing the toll from two separate raids to at least 34.Information was still trickling in from the police post in Gorkha district, 150km west of Kathmandu, and another attack on security posts and government offices in Jumla town, 600km north-west of the capital, where at least 12 security men died.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=126&art_id=qwB251&set_id=1
http://www.sabcnews.com/world/asia1pacific/0,1009,47283,00.html

Americas
--------

* Pakistan opposition party announces split

Ten national assembly members of the opposition Pakistan People's Party of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto announced early Friday they would support a national consensus government, triggering a rift in the second largest parliamentary group." We have decided to back formation of a national consensus government at the center in the larger national interest and to ensure transition to a democratic order and save democracy in the country," Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, speaking as the leader of the dissident group, told reporters.

http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=39953

* Tape's trail traced to Pakistan

The audiotape that appears to be Osama bin Laden's latest message to the world was handed over by a man on the street here three days ago, the Al Jazeera correspondent who received it said.Ahmed Muhaffaq Zaidan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said a man called him at 10 p.m. and asked to meet him at once, saying he had something important to give him.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=
&call_pageid=&col=

* Pakistanis divided over U.S. execution of man for killing CIA officials

November 14 -- A delivery man, car washer and former spy chief in Pakistan were all opposed to Thursday's execution of countryman Aimal Khan Kasi in the United States for killing two CIA employees. But their reasons differed, underscoring the complex and unusual relationship between the United States and Pakistan - allies in the ongoing war on terror.

http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id={40ABFECF-8738-2799B452518A}

* Pakistani man who killed CIA employees executed in Virginia

After exhausting all avenues of appeal, a 38-year-old Pakistani man has been executed in Virginia. But his death has prompted U.S. authorities to warn of possible attacks against Americans. Mir Aima Kasi was convicted for the 1993 killings of two CIA employees as they sat in morning traffic outside the agency's Langley, Virginia, headquarters.

http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id={300B0B85-8B1F-466C-9EF4-A51A98E84692}
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/14/execution021114
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=&call_pageid=&col=

* Bus explosion in Pakistan kills two

An explosion on a bus in southern Pakistan has killed two people and injured at least nine others, police said Friday. A bomb hidden under a seat on the bus exploded at about 9:30 local time as it headed for the small town of Kotri across the Indus River, said Naeem Ahmed, a spokesman for the Hyderabad's emergency rescue force.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/15/pakistan_bomb021115

* 56 dead after Maoist rebels attack police posts in northwest Nepal

Maoist rebels fighting to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy attacked two remote towns, killing at least 56 security personnel and dimming prospects for peace talks to end a six-year insurgency.

http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id={AAE6DE63-E324-42AC-BA6E-8B600E76AD9E}

* 150 missing after Bangladesh storm

November 14 -- Police and navy forces were still looking for about 150 people Thursday, two days after a vicious storm hit the coast of Bangladesh. More bodies washed ashore Thursday, bringing the official number of dead to 10.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/14/stormdead021114

Asia-Pacific
------------

* Pakistan's PPP opposition party splits ahead of parliament'sng

Pakistan's bumpy transition from military to civilian rule has suffered another setback when ten national assembly members of the main opposition, Pakistan People's Party, broke ranks. They now say they are in favour of a coalition with the pro-military PML-Q party.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24654/1/.html

* Turmoil in Pakistan's politics

There's been a major split in the Opposition Pakistan People's Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Ten of the party's members in the new national assembly have announced they will support a government of national consensus. The leader of the dissident group, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, says they will decide in a day or two which prime ministerial candidate to support.

http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_727412.htm

* Redeployment of Indian troops to be completed by December: Army official

The Indian Army on Thursday said the redeployment of troops from offensive formations would be completed by December, but indicated that the pace of withdrawal would depend on Pakistani response." The first phase of redeployment of offensive formations will be over by the month of December. But further redeployment will depend upon matching Pakistani moves," Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. JBS Yadava said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/15/content_630369.htm
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz96988.htm

* Pakistani executed for CIA murders

A Pakistani national has been executed by lethal injection in the American state of Virginia.Mir Aimal Kansi was sentenced to death for the murder of two Central Intelligence Agency employees in 1993.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-15nov2002-69.htm

* Warning on China threat to India

India can no longer "wish away" competition from China, and hence a national commitment at every level to effectively face such competition is essential, Finance Commission member and former union cabinet secretary T R Prasad, says. The competition between India and China must be "seen in its reality", he said, inaugurating the 10th "Quality Summit" of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Bangalore.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK15Df07.html

* More praise from Gates

Responding to questions by Indian CEOs, Bill Gates, on a four-day visit to India, on Thursday said that just two countries - India and China - would define the future of world business. In this context, the Microsoft supremo wondered why is it was that India seemed behind China in manufacturing, including manufacturing electronic hardware.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK15Df04.html

* Blair lauds India

Describing India as one of the most important countries in the world, with its people having "tremendous spirit of enterprise", British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said Indo-UK relations have become stronger after undergoing a "huge change".

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK15Df06.html

* Kasi hailed a martyr as Pakistan braces for backlash from execution

The brother of Mir Aimal Kasi hailed him as a martyr, hours after his execution in the US for the 1993 murder of two CIA agents, as paramilitary troops patrolled his home city amid fears of reprisals."He is a martyr. His smiling face is still in front of me," Naseebullah Kasi, told AFP Friday, as he expressed shock that the execution went ahead.

http://matrix.bangkokpost.co.th/afp_news/151102/.jaknpca7.html

* 49 Indian fishermen confirmed dead, 111 missing

The government of India's West Bengal state on Thursday confirmed that 49 fishermen had died in the Bay of Bengal during Tuesday's cyclone and 111 others were still missing. Five trawlers with 13 fishermen from East Midnapore district capsized, while another seven trawlers with 68 fishermen on board were missing, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee told newsmen.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/15/content_630370.htm
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz96989.htm
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/15/eng20021115_106842.shtml

* Two killed in Pakistani bus bombing

Two people have been killed in an explosion on a passenger bus in Pakistan's southern city of Hyderabad. A government spokesman says nine other people were injured in the blast, which took place as the bus was heading to the town of Kotri on the city's outskirts.The blast occurred soon after the execution in the United States of Mir Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani convicted of murdering two CIA agents in Virginia in 1993.

http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_728120.htm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/eastasia/view/24659/1/.html
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=238681

* 3 killed in road accident in Northern Pakistan

Three persons were killed in a road accident on the Karakoram highway at Patten in Pakistan's Northern Areas on Wednesday, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported on Thursday.The mishap took place when a car heading to Peshawar fell into River Indus as the driver lost control over the speedy vehicle while negotiating a sharp bend.

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz96981.htm

* Pakistan doors to GM seed

November 14 -- Seeing how hard it is to curb the smuggling of genetically modified (GM) seed, Pakistan hopes that its new approach - lifting a ban on the importation of such seeds and going for better regulation instead - will give it more control over the use of genetically altered products. Officials at the department of agriculture say that by the end of this month, the government's ban will be lifted on genetically modified seed imports that have been deemed legal in their countries of origin.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK15Df03.html

* Bangladesh thinks SAARC summit to be held on schedule

Bangladesh thinks that the next summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC) would take place on schedule in Islamabad, Foreign Secretary Shamsher M. Chowdhury said in Dhaka Thursday. Replying to questions at a news briefing he said that he had so far no information to the contrary.

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz96978.htm

* Huge quantity of poppy straw recovered in Pakistan

Pakistani Anti-Narcotics Force ( ANF) has recovered 17,250 kg of poppy straw in a suburb area of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Thursday. After receiving information about huge quantity of narcotics dumped in godowns in the suburb area, an ANF team was sent to the site.

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz96979.htm

* Nepali gov't announces relief package for poverty alleviation

The Nepali government Thursday announced a relief package focusing on rehabilitation, reconstruction and income generating programs for the poor and those affected by the anti-government guerrillas in the country.

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz97118.htm

* Dozens of anti-gov't guerrillas killed in western Nepal

Dozens of anti-government guerrillas were killed when they launched a massive attack in western Nepal from late Thursday night till Friday morning, the state-run Radio Nepal reported." An over 1,000 strong band of guerrillas laid siege to Khalanga, the district headquarters of Jumla district, at about 11:45 p.m. Thursday," the radio quoted a security officer as saying, adding, "The fighting is still continuing till this morning."

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz97108.htm

* Sri Lankan president turns down new ministers recommendation

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has refused to accept the appointments of several non- cabinet ministers recommended by her political rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the official Daily News said on Friday. In a letter to the prime minister last week, Kumaratunga said the functions allocated to the new ministers overlapped with the duties of the present incumbents handling the same subjects.

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/724/class000100003/hwz97112.htm

* Sri Lanka returns to the tourist trail

November 14 -- Spurred by a new marketing campaign and almost a year of peace on the island, tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka for the first 10 months of the year rose 5.9 percent over the same period in 2001, figures from the Sri Lankan Tourist Board indicate.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK15Df01.html

* More than reported 70 dead in Nepal clashes

Clashes in western Nepal are reported to have left at least 50 Maoist rebels and 22 policemen dead. But police say the toll is difficult to confirm because of the remoteness of the area where the clash took place. The incident comes one day after the Maoists reiterated demands to end their six-and-a-half-year insurgency.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-15nov2002-89.htm
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=238716

* Microsoft's Gates wraps up visit to India

Microsoft Chief Bill Gates has wrapped up his four-day visit to India with a gift of free immunisation to children living in the southern state of Andra Pradesh.The programme will make the hepatitis-B vaccine available to some 500,000 children.Gates launched the programme in the state's technology capital Hyderabad, his last stop before he flew home to the United States.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24635/1/.html

* 11 dead after cyclone lashes eastern India and Bangladesh

At least 11 people were killed after a cyclone lashed eastern India and Bangladesh on Wednesday.125 fishermen are still missing in India, and about 40 in Bangladesh.Coast guards from both sides have launched a massive hunt for the fishermen in the Bay of Bengal.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24631/1/.html

Europe
------

* Pakistan Islamists may join ruling coalition

Leaders of a party linked to General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, were last night making the final moves to form a ruling coalition with an alliance of fundamentalist Islamic groups ahead of theng of parliament tomorrow.The delayed convening of parliament, which comes more than a month after elections, has led to speculation that Gen Musharraf's government has been buying time to allow the groups it favours to form an alliance.

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

* Bhutto party splits

The party of the former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has split. Ten of the 80 members of parliament of the People's Party have broken away, announcing they would support a national consensus government. The move comes ahead of the first session of parliament in three years on Saturday, which will mark the transition from military to civilian rule.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2479347.stm

* US flag burned in execution protest

Pakistani protesters have burned the U.S. flag and called for a strike in the home town of a Muslim militant due to be executed in the United States. Pakistani Mir Aimal Kansi was scheduled to die by lethal injection in Virginia on Thursday for the murders of two Central Intelligence Agency employees in 1993.

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

* Pakistanis Mourn Man Executed for CIA Shootings

The native city of a Pakistani Islamic militant executed in the United States for murdering two CIA employees mourned his death Friday and hundreds of people thronged to his home to pay respects. The family of Mir Aimal Kansi, who was executed by lethal injection for the twin killings in 1993, appealed for calm after a series of protests earlier in the week hailing him a hero and threatening retaliation against America.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1745726

* Bomb blast on Pakistani bus kills two

A bomb hidden under a seat has ripped through a bus in the Pakistan city of Hyderabad. The explosion killed at least two people and injured nine. Police Inspector General Akbar Arain says the explosion was caused by a bomb.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_709957.html?menu=news.latestheadlines.worldnews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2479385.stm
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1457988

* Pakistani executed for killing two CIA employees

A Pakistani man who killed two CIA employees in a 1993 shooting outside the agency's headquarters has been executed.Aimal Khan Kasi, 38, died by injection at the Greensville Correctional Centre in Virginia.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1458000
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_709913.html?menu=news.latestheadlines.worldnews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2479213.stm

* Pakistan Eyes Hometown of Executed

Heavily armed paramilitary troops patrolled the dusty streets of Quetta on Friday, guarding against any violence in the hometown of Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani man executed by lethal injection in Virginia for the 1993 murders of two CIA employees. Some 2,000 extra police and soldiers were on the streets, some riding atop vans and pickups and armed with automatic weapons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2172901,00.html

* Pakistan fears backlash for US execution of killer

Pakistan was bracing itself for a backlash over the execution in America of Aimal Khan Kansi, a Pakistani who admits murdering two CIA agents, and who said yesterday that he would do it again. As the hour of his death by lethal injection drew closer - it was scheduled for 2am today, British time, the 38-year-old's only hope was a last-minute intervention from the Supreme Court or the Governor of the state of Virginia.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=352243

* Dozens killed in Nepal attack

At least 30 Nepalese soldiers and policemen have been killed in separate clashes by Maoist rebels. More than 50 rebels are also believed to have died in the clashes which took place in remote areas west of the capital Kathmandu.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2479309.stm

* No end to Dhaka crime fight

November 14 -- The Bangladeshi authorities say soldiers will continue their controversial anti-crime drive indefinitely. Hasina led a walk out by opposition MPs.Home Minister Altaf Chowdhury told parliament troops would not head back to the barracks until law and order had improved. Thousands of troops were deployed across the country a month ago to arrest criminal suspects and recover illegal firearms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2477743.stm

* Nepal Rebels Kill 56 in Attacks

Maoist rebels fighting to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy attacked two mountain towns, killing at least 56 policemen and soldiers in a setback to possible peace talks. The Thursday night assaults came just hours after the deputy prime minister said that the government was working to start negotiations with the rebels.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1457995
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2172868,00.html

* At Least 72 Dead After Nepal Rebel Raids

At least 72 people, most of them security men, were killed in two raids by Maoist rebels fighting Nepal's constitutional monarchy and the search for bodies was continuing, officials said Friday. In one attack, at least 24 policemen were killed when the rebels struck a police post overnight in Gorkha district, 95 miles west of Kathmandu.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1746077

Middle East
-----------

* Religious alliance sticks to its demands

Pakistan's influential religious alliance yesterday tenaciously clung to its constitutional demands to General Pervez Musharraf with the country's hung parliament poised to hold its first session tomorrow. Leaders of Mutahidda Majlis Amal (MMA), which is being courted by pro-government Pakistan Muslim League-QA for partnership in a coalition government, said they were waiting for Musharraf's response.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68482

* Advani objects to Iran-India gas pipeline

November 14 -- India's Deputy prime minister L.K. Advani has reportedly raised strong objections to a concerted move by Russia's Gazprom energy firm to push ahead the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline by making it clear that it is not a viable proposal at this stage because of "national security" problems with neighboring Pakistan, reported a New Delhi-based English daily on Thursday.

http://www.irna.com/en/tnews/.etn00.shtml

* US seeks to deprive Pakistan of its nuclear capability: analyst

A noted Pakistani analyst and former secretary for foreign affairs Tanvir Ahmed Khan said on Friday that the US would try "sooner or later" to deprive Islamabad of its nuclear capability. "It is just a matter of time, when the United States embarks upon a plan to take away Pakistan's nuclear capability," the former diplomat remarked during an interview with IRNA here Friday.

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

* Two killed, nine injured in southern Pakistan's bus blast

Two passengers were killed and nine others injured as an explosive device went off inside a bus in Hyderabad, in interior Sindh on Friday morning.According to police, a bomb, placed under a seat in a Kotari-bound bus in a Hyderabad market, blasted with a big bang at 9.30 a.m local time.

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

* Pak-British defence talks begins

November 14 -- Pakistan and Britain have started the periodic review of bilateral defence Cooperation in Islamabad, defence officials said Thursday. The British Defence Consultative Forum Review mission held meetings at the Pakistan Ministry of Defence and Joint Services Headquarters in Rawalpindi to evaluate the progress made by the two countries since their last meeting, a defence ministry statement said.

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

* Pakistani defiant as US execution looms

A Pakistani man on death row in the US state of Virginia has issued a defiant message on the eve of his execution. In an interview with the BBC's Urdu service, Aimal Khan Kansi, said he had killed two CIA personnel in 1993 to register his anger at US foreign policy in the Middle East.

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

* BJP defends right-wing group

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday strongly defended the right of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to flout the Election Commission ban on plans to begin a march on November 15.It also supported the VHP's plans to refer to the burning of 57 passengers at the Godhra railways station on February 27 by citing the use of similar inflammatory incidents by the Congress party.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68489

* India vows to cut troops on border

The Indian army yesterday said it will pull back the majority of its hundreds of thousands of combat troops from its shared borders with Pakistan by the end of next month.Lieutenant-General J B S Yadava, the deputy chief of India's million-plus army, however, said the pace of the redeployment would depend on a reciprocal pullout by Pakistan.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=37149&Sn=WORL

* VHP holds BJP to ransom in Gujarat

The radical right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is holding the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to ransom by threatening to split Hindu votes in Gujarat unless the BJP kowtows to its demand.The VHP wants the inclusion of a large number of its cadres to be nominated as official BJP nominees for the next month's Gujarat state assembly polls in a bid to control the party from the inside.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68491

* Earthquake rocks Rann of Kutch in India's Gujarat

An earthquake rocked the Rann of Kutch region in the western Indian state of Gujarat early Friday, the Meteorological Office here said. The quake, measuring 3.6 degrees on the Richter scale, was centered at 23.4 degrees north latitude and 70.2 degrees east longitude, reported Press Trust of India on Friday.

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

* Bill Gates launches polio immunisation drive in Andhra

Microsoft founder Bill Gates yesterday presented a special gift - free immunisation - to children in the tech-savvy southern state of Andhra Pradesh to mark India's Children's Day. Gates toured a village clinic in Shadnagar, some 60 km southwest of the state capital Hyderabad, to launch the second phase of a $25-million immunisation programme, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=37153&Sn=WORL
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68490

* Bangladesh probes India's list of alleged terrorist camps

Dhaka on Thursday said it was investigating a list given by India about the alleged existence of terrorist camps and Indian insurgents in Bangladesh, local media reports said here on Friday. Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury told reporters in Dhaka that "we will let them know once the probe is over".

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

* Ranil, Balasingham to hold talks in Oslo

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Tamil Tigers chief negotiator Anton Balasingham will hold talks on the sidelines of a meeting in Oslo where both sides are expected to make a joint appeal to the international community for aid to rebuild the war affected areas in the country's north and east.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68486

Editorial
---------

* Southeast Asian arms trail to India's northeast

On September 21, security forces operating in India's upper Assam district of Tinsukia recovered 31 AK-56 rifles from a suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) hideout. A few days later, in a series of raids, a large quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) was recovered near Khonsa in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK15Df02.html

* Dying of hunger in a land of surplus

When the crops failed and there was no work, the villagers of Mundiar began searching for food in the jungle. They didn't find any. Instead, they found grass. And so for most of the summer, the village's 60 households got by eating sama - a fodder normally given to cattle.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,840359,00.html
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/international/stories/A4546771

* Small loans a big boost to the poor in Bangladesh

A loan of $143 changed Maksuda Begum's life.The poor Bangladeshi woman, whose husband is a farmer, used to struggle every day to put a meagre meal on the table for her family.But six years ago, she borrowed 5,000 taka ($143) from the Foundation for Alleviation of Rural Poverty and bought some goats and chickens.

http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021115/UBANGCC/Headlines/headdex/headdexInternational_temp/19/19/22/

Business/Technology
-------------------

* Datacraft profits from Indian 'euphoria'

November 14 -- Rising investment in India's IT-enabled services sector is delivering a steady stream of business for Dimension Data subsidiary Datacraft Asia, which says it has won a string of contracts worth more than $7 million in the past nine months. The contracts have resulted from the migration of international firms' call centre operations to India and local companies establishing customer contact outsourcing operations.

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/asia1pacific/0,1009,47249,00.html

* India-Malaysia chamber of commerce to be set up

AN Indian-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (IMCC) is set to be launched in the Indian state of Madras in an effort to boost cooperation, mainly in information technology.

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,2276,63806,00.html?

* Unit Trust of India to Split Flagship Investment Plan into Two

Unit Trust of India, the nation's largest mutual fund, said it's splitting its flagship investment plan, US64, into two in a precursor to its own reorganization. ``All holdings of US64 except term loans, physical assets, bad loans and non-tradable equity will be transferred to the new plan called Unit Scheme 2002,'' said Madhav Kumar, general manager at Unit Trust of India.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=South%20Asia%20News&tp=topfin&T=as_storypage99.ht&s=APdSYBxZlVW5pdCBU

======================================================================================