US NEWS SOURCES - June 14&15, 2003 (Weekend)

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TOP STORIES
*	Russia hails Pakistani efforts to curb militancy
	Islamabad -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov welcomed Sunday Pakistan's efforts to curb "terrorist" activity on its soil, calling it an international phenomenon threatening both countries. Ivanov, in Islamabad for a day before going on to India, also told a news conference that Moscow was pleased with progress nuclear rivals Pakistan and India had made in easing tensions. Islamabad and Moscow have been divided for years by Russia's close ties with India and Russian suspicions that Pakistan is used as a safe haven for Muslim extremists. "Russia welcomes the efforts undertaken by Pakistani authorities to cut the activities, and to neutralize the activities of terrorists and extremist organizations in the country," said Ivanov. "It is obvious that international terrorism is posing today threats to each and every country including Russia and Pakistan. "That is why our countries are interested in conducting and coordinating action in combating international terrorism within the framework of an international coalition."
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun15.html
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000262,00.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-pakistan-russia.html
*	Ivanov rules out Russia's arms sale to Pakistan
	Islamabad -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Sunday ruled out any military weapons sales to Pakistan, saying his country supports a "political solution and not a military solution" to conflicts between Pakistan and India. "We are not planning or striving to contribute to an arms race in the region," as happened during the Cold War when the Soviet Union supplied weapons to India and the United States to Pakistan, Ivanov told a press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khrushid Mehmood Kasuri. During his visit to Moscow in February, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf discussed the possibility of purchasing Russian military hardware, particularly Russian aircraft for the Pakistan Air Force.
	http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8322694&BRD=1692&PAG=740&dept_id=226968&rfi=6
	http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8322694&BRD=1170&PAG=740&dept_id=226968&rfi=6
*	Musharraf says Pakistan won't be bullied by India
	Rawalpindi, Pakistan -- President Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan would not be bullied by neighboring India in their dispute over Kashmir and insisted he wanted peace in the region -- but not on India's terms. Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have thawed in the last two months, since Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayeed the door to talks over Kashmir, a Himalayan region over which they have fought two of their three wars. But Musharraf, a general who took power in a 1999 military coup, told Reuters in an interview late Sunday he was not convinced of India's genuine commitment to peace. "I am not 100 percent sure," he said. "Talks should take place, they are moving very slowly, they need to move faster, they can move faster. Whether we move forward on the Kashmir issue, we will see, time will tell." Musharraf's words appeared to throw further cold water on hopes for quick progress in easing tensions in South Asia. In April, Vajpayee promised a final bid for peace with Pakistan in his lifetime, and both sides have since put forward confidence-building measures, including agreeing to restore full diplomatic ties. Tens of thousands of people have died in a Muslim insurgency in Indian Kashmir since 1989. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Muslim militants to fight its rule.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun15.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-southasia-musharraf.html
*	Musharraf says U.S. should reward Pakistan more
	Rawalpindi, Pakistan -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he would be going to Washington later this month to tell the U.S. government it should do more to reward Pakistan for its cooperation in the war on terror. Musharraf told Reuters in an interview on Sunday that many Pakistanis feel short-changed by Washington, even though Islamabad has received over a billion dollars in debt forgiveness and hundreds of millions in aid since throwing its weight behind the U.S.-led "war on terrorism." Musharraf faces a vocal Islamist opposition at home which has often criticized him as a U.S. stooge.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun15.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-pakistan-usa.html
*	Pakistan says it won't freeze its nuclear program, says Information Minister
	June 14, Islamabad -- Pakistan will neither roll back nor freeze its nuclear weapons program; the country's state-run news agency quoted the Information Minister as saying. "We are a declared nuclear power, so there is no question of freezing it," Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters Friday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Ahmed said Pakistan would "not tolerate" any pressure to stop its nuclear program. He did not elaborate. Pakistan became a nuclear power in 1998 when it tested atomic bombs in response to tests by its neighboring rival, India. The two countries have notd their arsenals to international inspectors, and it's not known how many nuclear weapons they possess.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000010-search,00.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_58a50001e99d478d
*	Tamil Tiger ship sinks during clash with Sri Lanka navy
	June 14, Colombo -- A Tamil Tiger rebel ship exploded and sank Saturday during a clash with a Sri Lankan navy patrol off the northeastern port town of Trincomalee, military officials and rebel sources said. All 12-rebel crew members jumped off the vessel moments before the explosion, rebel sources said. Both the rebels and the government have been observing a cease-fire signed in February 2002 to end 19 years of fighting, and navy patrols in the area seek to prevent the rebels from smuggling in weapons. Early Saturday, a navy patrol craft spotted the vessel belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam being towed by smaller rebel boats to the coast.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000011-search,00.html
	http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/1953130
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Sri%20Lanka%20Rebel%20Ship
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/6089218.htm
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/international/asia/15LANK.html
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3936990.html
*	Sri Lanka military steps up security in Colombo, Jaffna
	June 14, Colombo -- The Sri Lankan military stepped up security in the capital Colombo and the Tamil city of Jaffna Sunday, a day after a clash between the navy and the Tamil Tiger rebels raised tensions between the two sides, who are observing a cease-fire. In Colombo, police were checking vehicles - as they routinely did before the February 2002 cease-fire halted Sri Lanka's 19-year civil war. In Jaffna, where a top Tamil politician opposed to the rebels was assassinated Saturday, the military was checking vehicles and travelers. The developments further cloud the fate of the truce. Since April, the rebels have refused to take part in peace talks, accusing the government of not doing enough to help Tamils.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000219-search,00.html
	http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/6091048.htm
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Sri%20Lanka%20Rebel%20Ship
	http://www.nj.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/international-1/.xml
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/6091048.htm
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/15/international0409EDT0414.DTL
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3937612.html
*	Pakistan Parliament adopts $14 billion annual budget
	June 14, Islamabad -- Pakistan's Parliament on Saturday adopted the country's $14 billion annual budget at a session boycotted by the hard-line Islamic opposition that demands President Gen. Pervez Musharraf relax his firm grip on power. The opposition wants Musharraf to give up his role as chief of the armed forces. He is both president and army chief. He has refused saying Pakistan's nascent democracy needs the firm guiding hand of the military. Islamic opposition lawmakers also want Musharraf to relinquish extra powers he acquired through a constitutional amendment that allows him to dissolve parliament and fire the prime minister.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000135-search,00.html
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Budget
	http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/6089482.htm
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/6089482.htm
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/14/international1132EDT0478.DTL
*	India kills 7 suspected Islamic guerrillas in raid
	June 14, Srinagar, India -- Indian soldiers raided the mountain hideout of suspected Islamic guerrillas and killed seven in Kashmir, as one trooper was killed in mistaken police firing, officials said. In the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, police Saturday released Yasin Malik, a frontline Kashmiri separatist leader and head of the pro-independence Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front. Malik secured bail two days after he was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Act for launching a signature campaign to highlight that the Kashmiris want a say in their future.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000134-search,00.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_ad7300078f75cc8f
*	India says foiled infiltration attempt in Kashmir
	Srinagar, India -- Indian troops have killed seven Muslim militants and pushed back a group of rebels who tried to slip into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan, police said Sunday. A police spokesman in Srinagar said the militants and two Indian soldiers were killed in separate gun battles across the Himalayan region over the past 24 hours. Five of the militants were killed in Poonch district close the Pakistani border, where Indian forces say they killed six other separatists in two clashes Saturday. A military spokesman said firefights were part of a drive launched by the military two months ago against Muslim militants in the thickly forested foothills of the Pir Panjal range. The police spokesman also said suspected separatist guerrillas shot dead a woman Sunday in Doda district southeast of Srinagar, Kashmir's main city. A police statement said that Saturday night, a group of militants attempted to cross into Indian Kashmir in Rajouri district southwest of Srinagar.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun15.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-southasia-kashmir.html
*	Powell to discuss bilateral ties, Iraq on Bangladesh trip
	June 14, Dhaka -- Bangladeshi leaders will discuss bilateral relations and rebuilding of war-torn Iraq with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during his short visit here next week. "We will discuss (with Powell) bilateral relations and international issues, including the postwar Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian conflict," Bangladesh Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan said. Powell will travel to Bangladesh on June 19 from Cambodia, where he will attend a regional meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. The same day he will depart for Jordan to attend a World Economic Forum meeting. Khan said Powell will hold talks with him and meet with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia during the visit.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000152-search,00.html
*	Leftist, Islamic parties protest Powel’s Bangladesh visit
	Dhaka -- Several leftist and Islamic parties were planning demonstrations against U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Bangladesh this week. "We will not welcome anyone who has fought an unjust war against Iraq and committed crime against humanity," the Communist Party of Bangladesh said in a press statement Monday. Similar objections have been raised by the Bangladesh Workers Party, Islamic Constitution Movement, Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, Progressive Student Alliance and Jatiya Hafeez Parishad. None of the parties have any representation in the country's 300-member Parliament. The groups plan to demonstrate in central Dhaka Wednesday and Thursday against Powell's four-hour visit.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000852-search,00.html
*	U.S. delegation in India to discuss postwar Iraq
	New Delhi -- The Indian government says it does not want to rush into any decision about sending troops to back the U.S.-led coalition forces in postwar Iraq, following its strong stance against launching the war. U.S. officials were in New Delhi on Monday for meetings to discuss the issue with Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and India's Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, a U.S. embassy official said on condition of anonymity. The U.S. team, which arrived late Sunday and was headed by Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman, planned to explain the role that Indian forces can play in Iraq, the embassy official said.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000676-search,00.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_280fbc
*	Russian Foreign Minister in India to discuss Pakistan, terror
	New Delhi -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov flew into the Indian capital Sunday from Pakistan where he praised Pakistan's attempts to crack down on Islamic militant groups. On Monday, Ivanov is expected to apprise the Indian leaders of his discussions with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. Ivanov is scheduled to meet India's President A.P.J. Kalam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Defense Minister George Fernandes. "The two sides share similar positions on many issues, especially the struggle against international terrorism and religious extremism," Press Trust of India quoted an External Affairs Ministry official as saying.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000305-search,00.html
*	India considers sending peacekeepers to Iraq
	New Delhi -- India's Prime Minister and main opposition leader met Sunday to discuss the possibility of sending Indian troops to Iraq for peacekeeping, but no decision was made. The meeting came hours ahead of a visit by U.S. defense officials hoping to persuade New Delhi to send the troops. Press Trust of India news agency said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told opposition leader Sonia Gandhi that the government would make a decision after building a consensus on the issue. Gandhi suggested that the government consult other key political groups, said Natwar Singh, a leader of Gandhi's Congress party who attended the 70-minute meeting.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000285-search,00.html
*	Policemen charged in Kashmir leader's assassination
	Srinagar, India -- Seven policemen and a civilian have been charged under India's tough antiterrorism laws in connection with the assassination of a political leader in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Sunday. Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, a former law minister in Kashmir, was shot to death while addressing an election rally in the border village of Sogam last September. Five police officers and a civilian also were killed in an explosion at the rally. At the time, police blamed the killings on Islamic guerrillas fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030614_000270,00.html
*	Two gunmen kill Sri Lankan politician
	Colombo -- Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed a Tamil politician opposed to them Sunday, fueling tensions a day after the murder of another politician and an ocean battle between government and rebels forces. Two alleged gunmen of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam shot Ponniah Ramachandran, a member of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, police said. Ramachandran, 42, was a former rebel who renounced violence and joined the Sri Lankan political mainstream. His group rejects the rebels' radical stand on Tamil autonomy.
	http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/nation/6095739.htm
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Sri%20Lanka
	http://www.tribnet.com/24hour/world/story/917400p-6392124c.html
	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Sri-Lanka.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/15/international1210EDT0449.DTL
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3937850.html
*	Pakistani hard-line lawmakers challenged
	June 13, Islamabad -- A legal group asked the Supreme Court to remove 68 mostly Islamic hard-line lawmakers, arguing they lacked the education for the job, the state-run news agency said Friday. The Justice Welfare Trust argued that 65 Islamic legislators and three other lawmakers, were "illegally occupying" their seats because they didn't have university degrees. The court agreed to hear the suit. Electoral reforms carried out by President Pervez Musharraf before elections in October required all candidates have a degree. Yet Musharraf accepted degrees from Islamic seminaries. In the elections, a religious coalition of six hard-line parties, known as the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal made a strong showing in the federal parliament and gained control of two provincial parliaments in northwestern and southwestern Pakistan.
	http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/6085394.htm
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Lawmakers
	http://www.nj.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/international-1/.xml
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/6085394.htm
	http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-jun15,1,5645206.story
*	Indian leader: Pakistan terror hotbed
	June 13, Chicago -- Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani accused Pakistan of abetting cross-border terrorism in a speech in Chicago. Advani, addressing the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, said supporting Islamic terrorists has become "a matter of ... state policy" in Pakistan. Earlier in the day he told editors at the Chicago Tribune Pakistan's failure to crack down on militants is not a "question of inability because all weapons and finances, all facilities are produced officially."
	http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
*	Vajpayee in bind amid U.S. troop request
	June 14, New Delhi -- The Indian government is caught between a rock and a hard place amid Washington's request to supply troops for a stabilizing force in Iraq, observers say, as the issue threatened to divide the nation. On the one hand, they said New Delhi wants to retain good relations with Washington, but on the other, there is fierce political pressure at home not to accede to the request. If Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee gives the go-ahead for deployment and significant casualties occur, he could face a severe political backlash in advance of key state and national elections in the next year.
	http://www.washtimes.com/world/r.htm
*	They don't like us. Worse, they don't trust us
	A global survey that revealed a deepening dislike of the United States across the Muslim world got a lot of ink and airtime when it was released earlier this month. And while that finding was striking, it was only one of many disturbing conclusions of the Pew Global Attitudes Project poll, which surveyed 16,000 people in 20 countries between May 28 and June 15. The poll results suggest that the United States is losing, or has lost, the hearts and minds battle -- and that on a variety of issues, citizens of Muslim countries are deeply suspicious not only of U.S. policies, but of American motives and intentions. While not as pronounced, distrust among allies -- in South Korea, Brazil and in EU and NATO countries -- is also striking.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun13.html
*	India says 'deeply disappointed' by Musharraf
	June 14, New Delhi -- India said on Saturday it was "deeply disappointed" by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's response to recent peace overtures but stressed it would pursue efforts to end division between the two nuclear-armed states. A Foreign Ministry statement said New Delhi was most concerned about remarks Musharraf made in a recorded interview with Indian television channel NDTV broadcast on Saturday about clashes in 1999 between Indian and Pakistani forces in the Kargil region of the divided state of Kashmir. In the interview, Musharraf did not rule out the possibility of such an episode happening again.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun14.html
*	Musharraf says 'slightly optimistic' on India ties
	June 14, New Delhi -- Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has said he is "slightly optimistic" about improving ties with India but added that any talks would fail unless the issue of the divided state of Kashmir was addressed. Asked in a recorded interview broadcast on Saturday night if he was optimistic or pessimistic following a thaw in ties between the South Asian nuclear rivals in the past two months, Musharraf told Indian cable news channel NDTV: "Slightly optimistic." Asked what he based this on, Musharraf replied: "I thought maybe there has been a change of heart on your (India's) side."
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun14.html
*	Powell visit to reward 'moderate' Bangladesh
	June 14, Dhaka -- Bangladesh's moderate Islamic standing in the Muslim world will be recognized when Secretary of State Colin Powell visits later this week, the foreign minister said on Saturday. "Also, it reflects recognition of U.S. administration for Bangladesh's democracy and strong stance against terrorism," Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan told reporters. Powell is due on a brief visit on Thursday as part of a three-nation trip to Asia and Middle East. Khan said Powell will be the first Secretary of State to visit Dhaka since the 1973 trip made by Henry Kissinger, who famously described the country a "basket case" on its independence.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun14.html
*	Kashmiri independence leader freed on bail
	June 14, Srinagar, India -- A Kashmiri independence leader was released on bail on Saturday, two days after being detained for polling Kashmiris to see if they wanted to participate in talks over the future of their disputed region. "Mohammad Yasin Malik was earlier remanded to five days judicial custody by a magistrate, but now he has been released on bail," a senior police officer told Reuters in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun14.html

OTHER STORIES
*	Indian festival serves cuisine, connections
	Thousands of statues of the elephant god Ganesh began filling the Montgomery County Fairgrounds early yesterday, as dancers from a remote Indian village practiced their swirls on stage, which offered shelter from the morning heat. For the uninitiated, the first day of the Heritage India Festival in Gaithersburg was a chance to learn more about the many cultures of the Southeast Asian subcontinent. Signs beckoned fairgoers to make posters about "Why Hinduism is Great." Infants dressed in tiny saris napped in strollers, and teenagers bopped to the latest sitar-laced soundtracks from Bollywood's tormented love sagas. But for the many local entrepreneurs in the large Indian American community in the Washington area, the festival was a chance to cement business contacts and establish a broader network of clients and distributors.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun14.html
*	Pressure for a better life drives some India students to suicide
	New Delhi -- As the summer heat and monsoon rains set in each year, Indian newspapers run colorful front-page pictures of joyous high-school seniors cheering over their final-exam results. But turn the page and the black-and-white reality hits home: brief stories on anguished students who have killed themselves. The day before exam results were released in May, a New Delhi girl named Sakshi hanged herself with a scarf, leaving a note saying she was certain she had failed. Chetna, a girl in another neighborhood, swallowed insecticide, but her parents got her to a hospital in time.
	http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/-india_x.htm
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/15/international1242EDT0460.DTL
	http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-jun16,1,4334484.story
	http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-9/.xml
*	Eager investors in Germany say, 'Hooray for Bollywood'
	Geisenheim-Johannisberg, Germany -- Rainer Stenzenberger, the Rhine region's fast-talking investment promoter, thinks India's mega-film industry could use a strong dose of medieval German castles, half-timbered houses, and a couple of vineyards of Riesling grapes. These are not exactly the sights associated with traditional productions from Bollywood, as the Bombay-based movie business is known. The films tend to revolve around boy-meets-girl, boy-almost-loses-girl stories marked by frequent and somewhat inexplicable scenes of dancing and singing. So what? Stenzenberger said.
	http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/166/nation/Eager_investors_in_Germany_say_Hooray_for_Bollywood_+.shtml
*	Robberies taking very human toll
	June 14 -- Zaheem Alamgir is just beginning to crawl, stand and walk. The 9-month-old, who lives with his mother in Bangladesh, is starting to talk, too, saying "Daddy" from time to time. But Zaheem will never get a chance to meet his father. Mohammed Alamgir, 38, was shot and killed in February in a robbery attempt in a Jamaica grocery store. As other families get together today to celebrate Father's Day, Alamgir's relatives and the family members of other bodega workers who have been killed in the past year are struggling through another day without the financial and emotional support of their husbands, fathers and brothers.
	http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/nyc-side0515,0,1176554.story?coll=ny-nycnews-featured
*	Live on the Web: cremations
	June 13, New Delhi -- A high tech crematorium in India is offering live Internet broadcasts of funerals to people who cannot attend the funeral of their dearly departed. Muktidham, a modern-day crematorium, has installed a camera near the pyres to Webcast cremations so friends and relatives of the deceased can participate from afar. The idea was proposed because vast distances sometimes keep relatives from arriving in time for the ceremony. Ashok Acharya, who manages the crematorium for the Shri Saraswati Muktidham Trust, told The Indian Express the camera would be switched on at the request of the relatives of the dead person.
	http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
*	Kachin people struggle to maintain their culture
	June 14, Lekhapani, India -- For two weeks, Khaong Imphum hiked and hitched rides through the mountains of Burma and into India to reach this small town. "I'm very excited," said Miss Khaong, a petite 20-year-old woman wearing a red hand-woven dress, while taking a break from the dancing and drumming of the festival that brought her here. "It feels really nice to be with my own people in a different country." Every year, in the mountains of eastern India, members of the ethnic group known as the Singpho in India, and the Kachin in neighboring Burma, gather to celebrate the Shapawng Yawng Manau Poi — a festival that honors their ancestors, but also is increasingly a rallying point for their cultural identity.
	http://www.washtimes.com/world/r.htm
*	His own spin
	When Rajinder Rai began rapping in the early 1990s, his immigrant parents weren't too happy. They were native Punjabis trying to keep a low profile in a mostly white and largely racist suburb of Birmingham, England. American-style rap, with its confrontational lyrics and blood feuds, didn't exactly look like a safe profession for an East Indian kid. " 'Someone's going to beat you up. You don't want to do that; you know what rap's like,' " Rai recalls his parents saying. "I was like, 'Yo, it's not like that. This is what I want to do.'" Ten years later, Rai, better known as Panjabi MC, is not only alive and well (he did receive a few death threats, but more on that later), he is arguably the first East Indian hip-hop artist with a hit single in America. His ear-grabbing track "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)," with its gulping drums and one-stringed riff, recently hit No. 8 on Billboard's singles sales chart. And while it doesn't mean much to Rai's parents, the song's success is due partly to a guest appearance from one of rap's biggest stars, Jay-Z.
	http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-ffmus3329706jun15,0,6304259.story
*	Bangladeshis uprooted
	June 14, Dhaka -- About 3,000 families left homeless by flash floods in northeast Bangladesh scrambled for food and other supplies today under heavy rain, officials said. "We have rushed food, water, clothes and money to the flood victims," said Nasir Uddin, a relief official in the worst-hit district of Moulvibazar, reeling from three days of floods. The flooding, set off by torrential rain and water gushing across the border from neighboring India, forced some families to move to higher ground while others sought refuge with relatives and friends, officials said.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/international/asia/15BANG.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/14/international0128EDT0404.DTL
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3937651.html
*	More than just a pretty plate
	Indian restaurants are plentiful in the South Bay, but Turmerik in Sunnyvale is one of the more ambitious - a fine-dining restaurant with imaginative dishes, an extensive wine list and handsome interior. The restaurant appeals to all the senses. Intricately patterned Rajasthani tapestries stretched in elaborate frames hang on walls painted the color of saffron. Silver-toned chargers mark each place setting. Food is presented in squat silver bowls or posed artistically on platters festooned with decorative squiggles of tamarind chutney.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/15/CM305312.DThttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/15/CM305312.DTL
*	Gandhi death plotter dreams of all-Hindu India
	Pune, India -- In a dingy two-room apartment where cardboard boxes spill over with a lifetime of angry writings, an elderly man keeps watch over the memory of his long-dead brother — and the story of the murder that thrust them into worldwide attention more than 50 years ago. "I want to explain how I was connected to this Gandhi assassination," Gopal Godse said. His voice is calm, sunken gray-green eyes fixed on his listener. But his words convey the cold, unrepentant fury that drove a tiny band of conspirators to plot the killing of Mohandas Gandhi, the pacifist who led India to independence, fought for equality in a nation sharply divided by caste, and became one of the most revered men in modern history.
	http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-adfg-gandhi15jun15,1,4084238.story
*	Rickshaw pullers hitch themselves to the past
	Calcutta -- Wiry and wrinkled from 40 years of pulling rickshaws through Calcutta's clamorous streets, Ganesh Shaw fingers the round bell that serves as his horn, rolling it like a prayer bead as he wipes sorrowful eyes with a blue plaid sarong wrapped around his waist. Shaw is among the world's last remaining rickshaw pullers, the human horses of Calcutta both reviled and revered in the 1992 Roland Joffe film "City of Joy."
	http://www.latimes.com/business/careers/work/la-adfg-humanhorse15jun15,1,6214759.story