US NEWS SOURCES -February 17&18, 2003

---IN WEEKEND NEWS---

HEADLINES

TOP STORIES

India , Pakistan name deputy ambassadors, fill vacant posts (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required) (New York Times - Registration Required) (Washington Post) (Los Angeles Times-Registration required)

Pakistani PM Jamali to meet Bush in US next month (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

Norway pledges $30m, nearly tripling aid to Sri Lanka (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

Pakistan court throws out death sentence of killers of 5 (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required) (New York Times-Registration required)

Five killed in India's Bihar state over land dispute (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

India Vice President suffers leg cramp, fails to finish address (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

Heavy rains in southern Pakistan, Kashmir leave 8 dead (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required) (New York Times-Registration required) (Washington Post) (Los Angeles Times-Registration required)

Pakistan misled FBI at militant camps - Indian police (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

Taliban chief allegedly calls for holy war versus Americans (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

Pakistan court dismisses al-Qaeda suspect's plea (Washington Post)

EDITORIALS / OP-ED
	Companies face quandaries over matching-gift programs (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY
	Drop in Maruti's market share may dull interest in stock sale (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

OTHER STORIES
	WHO report says Bollywood must stop glamorizing smoking (Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

TOP STORIES
*	India , Pakistan name deputy ambassadors, fill vacant posts
	New Delhi -- Eight days after India and Pakistan expelled each others' deputy ambassadors, the two nations have agreed to allow them to be replaced, the Indian foreign minister said Monday. Yashwant Sinha was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India that New Delhi and Islamabad would grant visas to diplomats from each others' countries to take up the posts.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_001352-search,00.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-India-Pakistan-Ambassadors.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb17.html
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-india-pakistan-ambassadors0217feb17,1,1571808.story
*	Pakistani PM Jamali to meet Bush in US next month
	Islamabad -- Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali is to visit the U.S. next month for talks with President George W. Bush and meetings with other high-level U.S. officials, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Monday. "Obviously it is going to be a very important meeting at the head-of-government level," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000755-search,00.html
*	Norway pledges $30m, nearly tripling aid to Sri Lanka
	Colombo -- Norway said Monday it plans to nearly triple its financial aid to war-ravaged Sri Lanka as part of the European nation's efforts to mediate an end to 19 years of civil war that has cost about 65,000 lives. Norway pledged about $30 million on Monday, compared with $11 million last year, said Olav Kjorven, Norway's junior minister for development cooperation.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000897-search,00.html
*	Pakistan court throws out death sentence of killers of 5
	Karachi, Pakistan -- An appeals court Monday threw out a death penalty sentence but retained a jail term for two political activists convicted of gunning down four U.S. oil industry workers and a Pakistani in southern Pakistan six years ago, a court official said. The appeals court upheld a 14-year sentence handed down by an antiterrorism court against Ahmed Saeed and Mohammed Salim for the November 1997 slayings in the port city of Karachi.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000873-search,00.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-pakistan-usa-court.html
*	Five killed in India's Bihar state over land dispute
	Patna, India -- Unidentified attackers gunned down five lower-caste people in a village in India's violence-wracked Bihar state Monday, apparently in a land dispute, police said. The victims were gunned down in the Milki Chak Village, approximately 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of the state capital Patna, said police Supt. Amit Kumar. Upper-caste Yadavs were suspected, police said.
*	India Vice President suffers leg cramp, fails to finish address
	New Delhi -- India's ceremonial vice president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, suffered a leg cramp Monday and couldn't finish reading a 75-minute address to Parliament, the government said. Shekhawat, 79, appeared to suddenly become uneasy and stopped reading as he neared the end of the Hindi-language version of President A.P.J. Kalam's addressng Parliament's budget session.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000763-search,00.html
*	Heavy rains in southern Pakistan, Kashmir leave 8 dead
	Karachi, Pakistan -- Eight people were killed and dozens of others injured when heavy rains hit parts of southern Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir on Monday, rescue teams and police said. Five people were killed in the port city of Karachi when several mud houses collapsed on the outskirts of the city, police official Altaf Leghari said. Some 32 people in Karachi were injured, he said.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000754-search,00.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Storm-Deaths.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb17.html
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-storm-deaths0217feb17,1,4414061.story
*	Pakistan misled FBI at militant camps - Indian police
	New Delhi -- Pakistani intelligence officials misled FBI agents who visited a suspected Islamic militant training camp in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir by ordering inhabitants to hide in the jungle to make the camp appear deserted, an Indian police official said Monday. Pakistan denied there are any militant training camps operating in its portion of Kashmir.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000727-search,00.html
*	Taliban chief allegedly calls for holy war versus Americans
	Peshawar, Pakistan -- A statement attributed to fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar has urged Afghans to wage a holy war against Americans and the U.S.-backed Afghan government. "We demand that Afghanistan's Muslims should immediately leave the ranks of America and the Crusaders, and start jihad against the Americans and its allies," the Pashtu-language message attributed to Omar said.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_000661,00.html
*	Pakistan court dismisses al-Qaeda suspect's plea
	Lahore, Pakistan -- A Pakistani court on Monday dismissed appeals for the release of a medical doctor detained on suspicion of harboring al Qaeda members, but ordered the release of his naturalized American sons and Canadian nephew. Judge Mohammad Javed Bhuttar of the high court in the eastern city of Lahore said he would give reasons for dismissing the appeals filed on behalf of the doctor, Ahmed Javed Khawaja, and his brother later.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AFeb17.html

EDITORIALS / OP-ED
*	Companies face quandaries over matching-gift programs
	The massive earthquake that killed thousands of people in the Indian state of Gujarat two years ago hit home in Silicon Valley, where Indian-born engineers make up a sizable chunk of the work force. Technology companies moved quickly to support the disaster-relief efforts. Perhaps too quickly, some companies say now. Cisco Systems Inc., Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. have suspended matching grants to the India Development and Relief Fund, of North Bethesda, Md., after receiving reports from critics both here and in India that some of the money may have gone to Hindu extremists linked to violence against Muslims during bloody riots in Gujarat last year.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB-search,00.html

BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY
*	Drop in Maruti's market share may dull interest in stock sale
	New Delhi -- One of India's largest unlisted companies is coming to market, but the longer it waits the worse its prospects look. In a key element in India's privatization process, India's leading auto maker, Maruti Udyog, is preparing a long-awaited public listing. Investors are hoping that a successful Maruti listing could help pave the way for several other initial public offerings expected to hit the Indian markets.

OTHER STORIES
*	WHO report says Bollywood must stop glamorizing smoking
	Geneva -- Film producers in India must act to stop glamorizing tobacco use as countries struggle to persuade people that smoking is dangerous, according to a report commissioned by the U.N. health agency. "Bollywood: Victim or Ally" studied 400 recent Indian films and found that 80% show some form of tobacco use, the World Health Organization said Monday.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030217_001361-search,00.html


--- South Asian News, February 17&18, 2003 ---
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