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STORIES |
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India mourns
astronaut Kalpana Chawla |
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Karnal, India
When Kalpana Chawla left home more than 20 years ago, small town India
expected its young women to get married, have babies and settle into lives
dictated by generations of tradition. But Chawla, the youngest daughter in
a wealthy factory-owning family, chose another path. Her ambitions took
her from her hometown in northern India to a doctorate in aerospace
engineering, to a life in Texas and finally to the weightlessness of
space. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb2.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb2.html |
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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/034/world/India_mourns_a_woman_who_chall:.shtml |
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-shuttle-india0202feb02,0,5546652.story |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000229,00.html |
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%27s%20Astronaut |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Shuttle-India.html |
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http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=85058D96-05C4-420A-96330D3D4397AD41 |
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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0201Shuttle-India-ON.html |
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/world/stories/020203dnintindia.18251.html |
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http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030202/1011163.asp |
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http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-indias-astronaut0202feb02,0,4616414.story |
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http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030202indianat5p5.asp |
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http://www.pe.com/ap_news/International/Indias_Astronaut_39137I.shtml |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/02/02/international1343EST0521.DTL |
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Pakistan
President, PM express sorrow over US shuttle
tragedy |
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Islamabad --
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf expressed condolences Sunday at
the loss of seven astronauts in the Columbia space shuttle disaster,
saying the flyers had symbolized the "aspirations and achievements" of the
American people. "I am deeply disturbed at the tragic news of the accident
of space shuttle Columbia and the loss of the precious lives on board,"
Musharraf said in a note to U.S. President George W.
Bush. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000064,00.html |
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Bangladesh
praises US shuttle crew in condolence messages |
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Dhaka --
Bangladesh's president and prime minister praised the dedication of the
seven crew member of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia while offering
condolences for their loss, a government news release said Sunday. "It is
our conviction that their courage and dedication would continue to inspire
scientists of tomorrow to explore further the frontiers of space,"
Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed said in a message sent to U.S.
President George W. Bush. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000060,00.html |
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Head of banned
Pakistani militant group denies terror links |
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Multan, Pakistan
-- A radical Islamic cleric who is now a member of parliament has denied
any link to former supporters who founded a pro-al-Qaida group recently
designated a foreign terrorist organization by Washington. Maulana Azam
Tariq told reporters Saturday he condemned terrorism in all its
forms. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000033,00.html |
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19 of 21
Islamic militants freed on bail in Pakistan |
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Multan, Pakistan
-- Nineteen alleged Islamic militants arrested this week during a raid on
the office of a banned group have been freed by a judge, apparently after
the intervention of hard-liners in the provincial government, government
officials said Saturday. Twenty-one suspects were arrested Tuesday when
police raided the office of Jamiat-ul-Ansar, a group previously known as
Harkat-ul-Mujahadeen, in Dera Ismail Khan, 300 kilometers southwest of
Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000011,00.html |
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India raps
U.S. over Iraq, Pakistan policy |
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Bangkok -- India
urged the United States on Saturday not to attack Iraq, even if it has
evidence Baghdad is hiding weapons of mass destruction, saying a war must
be avoided at all costs. Indian Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, on a
swing through Southeast Asia after visiting Europe and the Middle East,
said there was growing opposition around the world to any unilateral U.S.
action. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9295-2003Feb1.html |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000994,00.html |
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Journalist
shot dead by gunmen in Indian Kashmir |
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Srinagar, India
-- A journalist in Indian Kashmir died on Friday after unidentified gunmen
burst into his office and shot him, police said. His death brought to at
least seven the number of journalists who have been killed by gunmen in
violence-torn Jammu and Kashmir since a bloody uprising against Indian
rule erupted in 1989. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5616-2003Jan31.html |
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Tamil Tigers
and UNICEF to develop rehab plan for child
soldiers |
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Colombo, Sri
Lanka -- Tamil Tiger rebels and the U.N. Children's Fund agreed to meet in
Berlin to develop a plan to return child combatants who fought in Sri
Lanka's two-decade civil war, the top UNICEF official. UNICEF and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam will meet after peace talks to be held
Feb. 7-8 between the rebels and the Sri Lankan government in the German
capital, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said
Saturday. |
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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/033/world/Tamil_Tigers_and_UNICEF_to_dev:.shtml |
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-sri-lanka-child-soldiers0202feb02,0,3204437.story |
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Sri%20Lanka%20Child%20Soldiers |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Sri-Lanka-Child-Soldiers.html |
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http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=7D7885FA-CC0A-4CA2-9E2F4A58A334AC6F |
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http://newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/746852p-5416400c.html |
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Gunmen
fire in Pakistan mosque |
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Lahore, Pakistan
-- Gunmend fire inside a mosque in eastern Pakistan on Friday,
killing a Muslim prayer leader and another man in what police said was a
dispute over the mosque's ownership. Two other mosque visitors were
injured in the shooting in the city of Faisalabad, about 70 miles
southeast of the capital, Islamabad. |
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Mosque%20Killings |
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Bangladesh
lawmakers quarrel over new US rules on visits |
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Dhaka --
Bangladesh's opposition lawmakers exchanged angry words with their ruling
party colleagues and staged a brief walkout Sunday in parliament over a
recent U.S. decision to include Bangladesh in a list of countries whose
visiting nationals must now register with immigration authorities. The
Bangladesh government has protested its inclusion on the list of 25 mostly
Muslim countries that are thought to be potential havens for
terrorists. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000115,00.html |
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MTV apologizes
to India for 'Gandhi' cartoon |
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Los Angeles --
MTV apologized to the people of India on Friday for offending them with a
"horny" animated sitcom character named "Gandhi" who is supposed to be a
clone of the slain independence leader. The apology comes after protests
in India over the character on the MTV show "Clone High, USA," in which a
fictional high school is populated by clones of historic figures,
including Joan of Arc and assassinated U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and
John F. Kennedy. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb1.html |
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Attack on
Pakistan politician kills one, wounds 2 |
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Peshawar,
Pakistan -- A provincial assembly member in Pakistan's North West Frontier
province was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt Sunday that
killed one man and wounded two others, police said. Alamzeb Umarzai was
traveling by jeep in a rural district northeast of the city of Peshawar
when his vehicle was fired on by assailants with automatic weapons, said
police official Khan Mohammed. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000071,00.html |
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Indian
children slave to weave others' dreams |
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Bombay, India --
Sikandar Ram is 11 and will never forget the times he fell asleep at his
job in a Bombay slum embroidering clothes with a shimmering gold thread.
Broken bones and bruises testify to the brutal fashion in which Ram's
employer jolted him awake from involuntary naps as he labored around the
clock in a squalid slum in India's financial hub. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb2.html |
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Former
Bangladesh PM granted bail in corruption case |
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Dhaka --
Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was granted bail Sunday
in a corruption case involving the purchase of fighter jets from Russia,
her lawyer said. Hasina, who was prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and is
now opposition leader, has been charged with misusing $124 million in
public funds to buy eight MiG-29 warplanes from Russia in 1999. She faces
seven years in jail if convicted. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000061,00.html |
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Hindu, Muslim
rioting injures 3 in India |
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Ahmedabad, India
-- Hindus and Muslims clashed with wooden sticks, swords and crude bombs
on Sunday, injuring at least three people and burning half a dozen shops
in western India, police said. An altercation between a Hindu shop owner
and a Muslim customer led to clashes between the two communities in
Ahmadabad, the commercial hub of western Gujarat state, which has been hit
by a recent spate of religious clashes. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000062,00.html |
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Maoist rebels
name 5-member team to discuss peace |
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Kathmandu --
Maoist rebels on Sunday named a five-member team headed by one of their
top leaders for peace talks with the government after years of brutal
fighting. Rebel leader Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
said in a news release that the team will be headed by Baburam
Bhattarai. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000086,00.html |
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Pakistani
Christians rally to protest US war against Iraq |
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Multan, Pakistan
-- Chanting slogans urging peace and expressing solidarity with Iraq, more
than 300 Pakistani Christians rallied in the central city of Multan Sunday
against a possible U.S. attack on Baghdad. Demonstrators marched down a
busy street from Saint Mary's Cathedral Church in the center of the city,
carrying banners reading: "We want peace" and "We condemn
war." |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000053,00.html |
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Israel to
train Indian special forces to fight militants |
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New Delhi -- The
Indian army will send thousands of special forces troops to Israel for
training to fight Islamic militants in troubled Kashmir, and the two
countries have signed a multimillion-dollar weapons deal, a news report
said Sunday. An Indian Defense Ministry delegation will visit Israel next
week to discuss anti-insurgency warfare training for its special forces,
the Press Trust of India news agency quoted unidentified ministry
officials as saying. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000050,00.html |
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Pakistan
minister to extend US visit to attend UN meeting |
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Islamabad --
Pakistan has asked its Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri to delay his
return from the U.S. to attend a special session of the U.N. Security
Council on Iraq, an official said Sunday. Kasuri was scheduled to return
home from his U.S. visit Saturday, said a spokesman of the Foreign Office.
"He has been asked to change his schedule and participate in the special
session of the Security Council." |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030202_000016,00.html |
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Five rebels
killed, 2 soldiers hurt in Kashmiri clash |
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Srinagar, India
-- Five suspected Muslim guerrillas were killed in separate gun battles
with government forces and two soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack in
Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday, police said. A remote-controlled
bomb tied to an abandoned bicycle exploded near a road bridge in a village
on the outskirts of Srinagar, wounding two soldiers, a police officer
said. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000073,00.html |
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Pakistan
claims driving off unmanned Indian spy plane |
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Islamabad --
Pakistani forces drove off an unmanned Indian spy plane that violated its
airspace over the disputed Kashmir region, the Pakistani military reported
Saturday. An Indian remote piloted vehicle crossed into Pakistani airspace
along the Line of Control in Kashmir on Thursday, the military-run
Inter-Services Public Relations department said in a statement. The Line
of Control divides Kashmir into Indian- and Pakistan-controlled
sections. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000047,00.html |
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At least 12
killed in first week of Bangladesh elections |
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Dhaka --
Election-related violence in Bangladesh has killed at least 12 people and
injured hundreds in the first week of local polls, with the latest death
occurring Saturday in a southeastern district, police and news reports
said. A young man was shot dead and four others were wounded Saturday as
supporters of rival candidates fired guns at each other outside a polling
center at Satkania in southeastern Chittagong district, police
said. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000041,00.html |
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Judges adjourn
2 separate car bombing trials in Pakistan |
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Karachi, Pakistan
-- Separate trials of Pakistani Islamic militants charged with planning
suicide bombings outside the U.S. Consulate and the Sheraton Hotel resumed
briefly Saturday, but judges postponed the hearings for a week, police and
court officials said. According to court officials, the trial of Asif
Zaheer and Bashir Ahmed, charged in the hotel suicide bombing that killed
11 French engineers and three others, was adjourned until Feb. 7, because
Ahmed's attorney did not show up. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000040,00.html |
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Four killed in
Kashmir violence |
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Srinagar, India
Guerillas shot and killed the editor of an independent news agency
Friday as separatist violence roiled Indian controlled Kashmir. Two men
entered Parvaz Sultan's office in central Srinagar on Friday evening and
shot him twice, using a pistol fitted with a silencer, before
fleeing. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6077-2003Jan31.html |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_003963,00.html |
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Deputy PM:
India concerned by close US-Pakistan relations |
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Bangkok -- India,
reiterating its accusations that Pakistan is a major sponsor of terrorism,
said Saturday it is concerned and disappointed with U.S. patronage of the
South Asian country. On a three-day visit to Thailand, Indian Deputy Prime
Minister Lal Advani said he briefed Thai leaders about "how Pakistan is
trying to build up its terrorist infrastructure." |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030201_000016,00.html |
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40 people
blinded after cataract surgery |
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Chennai, India
At least 40 people, mostly women, lost vision in one or both eyes after
cataract surgery at a state-run hospital in the southern Indian state of
Tamil Nadu, doctors said Friday. The vision loss occurred after the
villagers contracted an infection caused by unsterilized equipment used in
the surgery, said doctors at the Periyakulam Eye Hospital near Madurai,
280 miles south of Madras, the state capital. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6616-2003Jan31.html |
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http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030201/4048576.asp |
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http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MzM2MTc4 |
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Pakistan sees
debt burden easing in 2 years - Central bank
government |
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Karachi, Pakistan
-- Pakistan expects a significant easing of its debt burden in two years
with the debt servicing falling to only 25% of the country's budget from a
high of 40% currently, said Ishrat Hussain, central bank governor Friday.
The state-run news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan, quoted Hussain as
saying "the government will be able to reduce the debt servicing ratio to
below 25% during 2004-05, from the current 40%." |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_005164,00.html |
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Thales unit
gets $38m additional radar deal from India |
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Paris -- French
electronics company Thales SA (F.THL) said Friday that its
ThalesRaytheonSystems unit has received a $38 million additional contract
from India for weapon-locating radars. The deal increases the quantity of
AN/TPQ-37(V)3 Weapon Locating Radars sold to India in a Foreign Military
Sale contract, as well as training, technical support and spare parts
through the first quarter of 2008. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_004653,00.html |
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Bangladesh
stops forcible deportations by India at border |
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Dhaka --
Bangladeshi border guards on Friday prevented another attempt by Indian
border troops to forcibly deport more Bengali-speaking Muslims to
Bangladesh, a border official said. Indian officials have made more than
30 attempts this week to forcibly deport what India alleged were illegal
Bangladeshi migrants, a senior Bangladesh foreign ministry official
said. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_004089,00.html |
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India donates
29 buses to Afghanistan; enter via Pakistan |
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Peshawar,
Pakistan -- A convoy of 29 buses donated by India entered Afghanistan near
the Pakistani border city of Peshawar on Friday, an official said. The
buses entered through the main border crossing of Torkham with Afghan
drivers at the wheel, said Bakhtiar Khan, a Pakistani border security
official. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_002894,00.html |
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Separatist
violence in India's Kashmir kills 1, hurts 18 |
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Srinagar, India
-- Three people were killed and 18 injured Friday in separatist violence
in India's disputed Himalayan province of Kashmir, police said. Suspected
Islamic militants lobbed a grenade at an Indian army truck, but the
grenade missed its target and exploded on a busy street in Anantnag,
injuring 13 people. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_002147,00.html |
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Afghanistan
bridge bombing kills 15 on bus near Kandahar |
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Kandahar,
Afghanistan -- A powerful bomb destroyed a bridge outside the southern
Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, killing at least 15 people traveling on
a bus, according to the bus driver - one of only two survivors. A
12-year-old boy was the only other survivor of the explosion on the
Rambasi Bridge, some 10 kilometers south of Kandahar, said deputy police
chief Ustad Nazir Jan. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_002038,00.html |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/international/asia/02AFGH.html |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/international/30CND-AFGHAN.html |
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http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=29B19353-472D-4FFD-A5204A8618EBB64D |
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http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/international/ap_kand01312003.htm |
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/world/stories/013103dnintafghanbridge.982ee82.html |
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http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MzM2MTYx |
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Ex-India army
general to brief Sri Lanka on resettling Tamils |
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Colombo -- An
Indian military expert will advise Sri Lanka's government on how to
resolve a dispute over resettlement of tens of thousands of ethnic Tamils
displaced from areas occupied by government security forces, a senior
official said Friday. Retired Indian Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar is due to
arrive in Sri Lanka Saturday to prepare a report on the resettlement of
the Tamils, displaced during the country's 19-year civil war, the official
said. |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030131_001763,00.html |
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Punjab
government to be asked to enforce smoking ban
strictly |
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Chandigarh --
Experts deliberating on bronchial problems and related disorders at the
International Conference on Bronchology and Respiratory Diseases which
gets underway from February 13 at Jalandhar will press upon the Punjab
government for rigorous enforcement of the ban on smoking in public
places. The conference would be inaugurated by Punjab governor Lt Gen
(retd) J F R Jacob. |
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http://www.tobacco.org/news/116033.html |
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