US NEWS SOURCES - June 21&22, 2003 (Weekend)

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Archives

TOP STORIES
*	India test-fires missile
	New Delhi -- India on Sunday test-fired a short-range, surface-to-air missile capable of targeting aircraft and sea-skimming missiles, a news agency reported. The supersonic Trishul missile was fired from a mobile launcher in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Press Trust of India said. The solid-fuel missile carries a payload of up to 33 pounds and has a range of about 5 1/2 miles and a radar guidance system, PTI said. India has conducted four missile tests in the past month. The other three involved the surface-to-air Akash missile, which has a range of 16 miles.

	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-India-Missile-Test.html
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3950755.html
	http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/924727p-6440642c.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/22/international2219EDT0569.DTL
	http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/nation/6148452.htm
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun22.html
*	Bush urged to press Pakistan on religious freedom
	June 21, Washington -- A government-funded U.S. commission has asked President Bush to press Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on religious freedom when they meet next week, the commission said on Friday. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which is appointed by the president and funded by the U.S. Congress, said in a letter to Bush the Pakistani government's measures to protect non-Muslims from violence or bring attackers to justice had been "wholly inadequate." The letter cited legislation by the Islamist-dominated legislature in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, the use of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and discrimination against the Ahmadi sect.

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun20.html
*	Indian Prime Minister visits China
	Beijing -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee became his country's first leader to visit China in a decade, arriving Sunday for a trip meant to build trust and trade ties between the nuclear-armed former rivals. Vajpayee's six-day visit will include talks with his Chinese counterpart, Premier Wen Jiabao, and other top officials. The two sides are focusing on trade and other positive aspects of their relations. Officials have indicated that the leaders will spend little time on potentially divisive issues, including China's alliance with nuclear rival Pakistan, which has been India's adversary in three wars. "We give high priority to relations with China," Vajpayee said before boarding his flight in New Delhi.

	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-China-India.html
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3950621.html
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/22/international1935EDT0547.DTL
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=China%20India
	http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun22.html
*	India, China look for common ground
	India and China, neighbors who together account for roughly one-third of the world's population, have never had a good relationship. They fought a 1962 border war, and their leaders have gone years at times without speaking to each other, allowing a deep mistrust to spoil what could become a powerful bond: their shared burden as overpopulated, developing countries that operate outside America's major spheres of influence.

	http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-jun22,1,2761615.story
*	India, China line up pacts ahead of summit talks
	Beijing -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Chinese leaders discuss ways of easing ties between the world's two most populous nations on Monday by focusing on trade and easier travel. Vajpayee, kicking off the first trip to China by an Indian prime minister in a decade, was also expected to discuss a decades-old border dispute during his talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and other Chinese leaders. The dispute, between two Asian giants who fought a border war in 1962, remains at the heart of uneasy relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors that are home to a third of the world's population.

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun22.html
*	Pakistan freezes terrorist accounts
	June 21, Islamabad -- The Pakistani government has frozen the bank accounts of Osama Bin Laden as well as several organizations suspected of funding terrorism, it was reported Saturday. A total of about $10 million belonging to suspected terrorists and their organizations were frozen, including about $2,000 held in a Peshawar account by Bin Laden, a multi-millionaire, the BBC reported. The action taken by Pakistan was in line with a resolution passed by the United Nations after Sept 11.

	http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
*	Pakistan promises no weapons transfers to North Korea
	Chaing Mai, Thailand -- Pakistan has assured Japan that it won't deal in weapons - either nuclear or conventional - with North Korea, a Japanese official said. The assurance was given during a meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and his Japanese counterpart, Yoriko Kawaguchi, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said Saturday. The two ministers were in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to attend an annual Asia Cooperation Dialogue forum.

	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030622_000392,00.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_c26f0007c7832f26
*	Pakistan arrests 300 in Kashmir protest
	June 21, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan -- Police in Pakistan's part of Kashmir on Saturday arrested nearly 300 members of an opposition party to stop a protest against the region's top elected leader. The party members were angered last month when Sardar Sikandar Hayyat, the region's prime minister, floated the idea of dividing Kashmir permanently on the basis of religion. Pakistan is Muslim, while India - except for Kashmir - is mostly Hindu. Most of the arrests were made in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's side of Kashmir, as the demonstrators gathered before a planned march to the parliament building, where they wanted to hold the rally, police Deputy Superintendent Ghulam Sarwar told The Associated Press.

	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3949364.html
	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Kashmir
	http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/nation/6139556.htm
	http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/6139556.htm
	http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/6139556.htm
	http://www.nj.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/international-1/.xml
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/21/international0336EDT0434.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun21.html
*	Pakistan accused of leniency in curbing homegrown militants
	Islamabad -- As the jailed leader of an outlawed terrorist organization, Maulana Azam Tariq's election prospects looked dim. His party, the radical fundamentalist Sipah e Sahaba, which specializes in eliminating members of Pakistan's Shiite minority, had been one of the first targets of President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. Azam, whose name has been linked with several murders, was one of the first militants to be locked away.

	http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/6145561htm
*	Belgian Minister Accused in Nepal Sale
	June 20, Brussels -- After facing U.S. fury over a war crimes law used against President Bush and other prominent Americans, Belgium's government itself fell foul of the contentious legislation on Friday. A small opposition party is seeking a life sentence for Foreign Minister Louis Michel for approving arms sales to Nepal. The case raises fresh doubts about the unique law, which gives Belgian courts global reach. Michel, an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, is the first Belgian to face a complaint under the 1993 legislation. He follows Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other U.S. figures who faced accusations this week over the Iraq war, along with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3947820.html
	http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/6133998.htm
*	Masked militant warns of new terror
	Islamabad -- A masked militant, speaking in a video filmed in a mud hut, warns of new al-Qaida suicide attacks and says Osama bin Laden's terror network carried out deadly bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. If authentic, the video would be the first al-Qaida claim of responsibility for the suicide attacks on foreign housing compounds in Riyadh, which killed 26 people and nine attackers, and bombings in Casablanca that killed 43 people and 12 attackers.

	http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1470963,00.html
	http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=44811&section=NATION_WORLD&subsection=NATION_WORLD&year=2003&month=6&day=22
	http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/1962523
	http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm15011_20030621.htm
	http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/-terror-tape_x.htm
*	India ministers, Hindu leader meet to resolve issue over mosque
	New Delhi -- Two Indian Cabinet ministers met with a Hindu religious leader Sunday in a new initiative to settle a Hindu-Muslim dispute over the site of a 16th century mosque that was destroyed by Hindu hard-liners 11 years ago, a news report said. Defense Minister George Fernandes and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh flew to the southern temple town of Kancheepuram to discuss a compromise suggested by Hindu leader Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, according to Press Trust of India news agency. Saraswathi sent his proposal to Muslim leaders last week. They are scheduled to consider it July 6.

	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030622_000448-search,00.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_b0ca0004c446c55b
*	US, Afghan forces comb Pakistan border for Taliban remnants
	Jalalabad, Afghanistan -- U.S. and Afghan forces, backed by tanks and helicopters, swept along the border with Pakistan on Sunday searching for Taliban and al-Qaida suspects, said an Afghan security official. The operation, dubbed Unified Resolve by the U.S. military, started Saturday. It was intended to stop cross-border insurgency by the Islamic militants, who have increased their attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan. Mohammed Zahir, head of the border-security department in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, said he wasn't aware if the U.S. forces had made any arrests during the sweep.

	http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/.html
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030622_000413-search,00.html
*	Sri Lanka premier travels to UK to spur peace process
	Colombo -- Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left for London on Sunday for high-level meetings that will attempt to jump-start the island's peace process, a senior government official said. Wickremesinghe is scheduled to meet Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen on Monday to discuss the government's deadlock with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who are demanding an interim administration in exchange for re-entering peace talks, the official said on condition of anonymity. Norway brokered a cease-fire between the government and the rebels in February 2002, halting 19 years of civil war. The two sides held six rounds of talks until the rebels pulled out this past April, saying the government wasn't doing enough for the country's Tamil minority.

	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030622_000380,00.html
*	India looks for US, not China, help in Kashmir conflict
	June 21, New Delhi -- India will rely on the U.S. rather than China to pressure nuclear rival Pakistan to stop supporting Islamic guerrillas fighting in the Indian portion of Kashmir, a top Indian official suggested Saturday. India was unlikely to raise the issue with Chinese leaders during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's four-day visit to China, beginning Sunday, Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal told reporters. China is a key ally and a major weapons supplier to Pakistan, India's adversary in three wars since 1947.

	http://online.wsj.com/advanced_search/additional/1,4174,10-OTHER,00.html
*	Indian PM discusses sending peacekeeping troops to Iraq
	June 21, New Delhi -- India's prime minister on Saturday called a meeting of coalition partners to discuss the possibility of sending Indian troops to Iraq for peacekeeping, an official said. The meeting comes days after a Pentagon team visited New Delhi to persuade India to help the U.S. in its postwar stabilization efforts in Iraq. The team, headed by Peter Rodman, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, discussed with officials the modalities of any Indian deployment. India, however, said it wouldn't rush into any decision. Instead, the government would consult political parties and strive for a domestic consensus on the issue.

	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030621_000026,00.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_e5f100061eb36108
*	Opposition in Pakistan moves against Musharraf while he is abroad
	Islamabad, Pakistan -- With hopes fading for an amicable solution to Pakistan's growing constitutional crisis, opposition parties unveiled several bills this week aimed at embarrassing President Pervez Musharraf during his two-week tour of Western capitals and attracting international support for what has until now been a domestic battle. Opposition leaders say that Musharraf, by acting as both president and head of the army and maintaining the power to dismiss parliament, heads a democracy that is nothing more than a sham.

	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/21/MN69189.DTL
*	LV councilwoman travels to India on trip to build ties
	June 20 -- There were two major news stories in India this month -- one tragic, the other a message of hope and friendship from the most influential democracy on earth to the world's largest democratic country. While Americans were shocked by reports that more than 1,400 people died in the worst heat wave to hit India in many years, Indian reporters followed the travels throughout their land of seven American elected officials -- a delegation that included Las Vegas Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald.

	http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2003/jun/20/515246247.html
*	'Scout' had low profile
	June 21 -- Iyman Faris, the naturalized U.S. citizen unmasked yesterday as a scout for the al Qaeda terrorist network, has an unassuming profile that greatly worries authorities trying to stem the threat of new attacks within the United States, federal officials said yesterday. A resident of Columbus, Ohio, who had reason to travel widely in his job as a freelance truck driver, Faris was in some ways an ideal agent for al Qaeda planners who needed practical information they could feed to others willing to undertake such attacks, the officials said. Faris, 34, was "a scout and a facilitator" within al Qaeda's organization, collecting information about the feasibility of destroying the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and derailing trains in or near Washington, D.C., one official said, elaborating on details in an FBI affidavit unsealed Thursday.

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun20.html
*	Indian troops kill seven rebels in Assam
	June 21, Guwahati, India -- Indian troops killed seven rebels and recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition after a gunbattle in India's remote northeastern state of Assam, a defense spokesman said on Saturday. Soldiers stormed a rebel camp in Cachar district late on Friday night and shot dead seven militants of the armed Hmar Peoples Convention (HPC) when they tried to escape, the spokesman said. The HPC is one of the several militant groups in the region fighting for more political rights for the Hmar tribe living in parts of southern Assam.

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun21.html

EDITORIALS / OP-ED
*	Giant gap between two Asian giants
	India's prime minister, Atal Bikari Vajpayee, is something of a poet as well as a devout Hindu. His spiritual and aesthetic reserves will be tested this weekend as he arrives on a state visit to China. Over the following five days, he will be confronted with the full extent of India's failure to keep pace with its neighbor. Twenty-five years ago, living standards in the two dirt-poor Asian giants were similar, but now the average Chinese is nearly twice as well-off as his Indian neighbor. This huge discrepancy manifests itself at every level: from the glittering new airports and business centers of Beijing and Shanghai, which Vajpayee will have to compare to the outmoded squalor of Delhi and Mumbai, to the rate of adult illiteracy, which is almost three times higher in India than in China, to the awful fact that twice as many Indian as Chinese babies die in infancy.

	http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/perspective/bal-pe.india22jun22,0,6741290.story
*	Pakistan
	June 21 -- The Sept. 11 attacks not only shaped world politics � they also had a strong impact on the work of artists around the world. I wanted to portray the true feelings and basic needs of an ordinary man, one who wants peace, prosperity and love. I took inspiration from Mughal court paintings that recorded for history the victories of the kings. "Friendship After 11 September 1" shows a new era of amity between Pakistan and the United States. It depicts President Bush embracing President Pervez Musharraf for helping him in the war against terrorism in South Asia. Beneath this, people in the two countries are celebrating the victory of peace and hope: the cow and the lion (symbols of strong and weak) are together. There is an American nation that is friendly and optimistic but has suffered from state terrorism and now wants to live in peace. And there is a Pakistani nation that is happy to be friends with this superpower, as it will new opportunities and economic hope to a poor country. There are also the mullahs, who are oblivious about their own religion (Islam being a faith of peace and love). They are the ones who misinterpret their religion and manipulate the innocent public to commit violence in the name of jihad. They are never happy with this friendship, which is why they are portrayed as sad at this occasion.

	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/21/opinion/21WASI.html
*	A chilling reminder
	June 21 -- The good news from the Justice Department is that authorities say they've arrested an Ohio truck driver who was plotting with leaders of Al Qaeda abroad to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. And the bad news, of course, is that authorities say an Ohio truck driver was plotting with Al Qaeda to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. Iyman Faris, a naturalized American citizen from Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty in closed proceedings last month to charges he provided support to terrorists. Prosecutors said that since 2000 he had been traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan and communicating with Al Qaeda operatives, and that he had met with Osama bin Laden. As recently as March he was sending coded messages back to them, officials said. One of the last ones warned it was "too hot" � presumably a warning that any attempt to destroy the bridge was likely to fail.

	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/21/opinion/21SAT1.html
*	A Delicate U.S. Dance in S. Asia
	Since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has engaged in a delicate balancing act in South Asia. It has embraced Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, as an ally against Al Qaeda. At the same time, it has worked to prevent its Islamabad connection from damaging continuing efforts to improve a potentially more important relationship with democratic India. Until recently, the administration had succeeded in maintaining good relations with both Islamabad and New Delhi. But three new developments threaten the balance.

	http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-harrison22jun22,1,5953788.story

OTHER STORIES
*	Indian train crash at tunnel entrance kills 14
	Bombay, India -- Three coaches of a train jumped the tracks and crashed at the entrance of a tunnel in western India, killing 14 people, railway officials said today. The train, bound for the financial hub, Bombay, from the port city of Karwar, crashed late on Sunday near Kankavali in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra state, about 575 km (360 miles) south of Bombay. "It had rained heavily and some boulders had rolled down on to the track, causing the train to derail as it entered a tunnel," Faiyaz Sheikh, a senior railway police officer, told Reuters. He said 11 of the 23 people injured in the crash were critically ill.
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3950938.html

	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/23/international0624EDT0466.DTL

	http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/1963209

	http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-jun23,1,7218073.story

*	Indian government stops building near Taj Mahal
	Agra, India -- A state-run company building a tourist complex near the Taj Mahal pulled back its cranes and earth-filling equipment Sunday after the federal government said the project violated laws protecting the 17th-century monument. Federal Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan, who visited the white-marble Taj Mahal on Sunday, said the new structure could divert the flow of Jamuna River waters during monsoon rains, flooding a sprawling garden in the area and damaging the monument.
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3950665.html

	http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/924576p-6440088c.html

	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/22/international1850EDT0535.DTL

	http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/-taj-work_x.htm

	http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/.html

*	Indian treasure restored
	June 21, New Delhi -- Tucked away in a residential area of India's capital is one of its least-known tourist attractions � the 16th-century tomb of the Emperor Humayun. The magnificent red-sandstone tomb is said to have provided the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, but is rarely included in the "must-see" list for visitors, who prefer to go to the more famous Red Fort, India Gate monument or Rashrapati Bhavan, the president's palace. But that could soon change with the completion of a two-year, $650,000 project to restore the "paradise gardens" of Humayun's Tomb, where water flows from fountains into hand-crafted channels for the first time in 400 years.
	http://www.washtimes.com/world/r.htm

*	Arranged marriages get a little rearranging
	June 21, London -- They are young, hip, South Asians in their 20's who glide seamlessly between two cultures, carefully cherry picking from the West to modernize the East. They can just as easily listen to Justin Timberlake, the pop star, as Rishi Rich, the Hindu musical dynamo. They eat halal meat but wear jeans and T-shirts to cafes. Now these young Indians and Pakistanis are pushing the cultural boundaries created by their parents and grandparents one step further: they are reshaping the tradition of arranged marriages in Britain.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/international/asia/22BRIT.html

*	A resort in India becomes family friendly
	With the old red stone ramparts of a Portuguese fort rising in the background, an Indian family gathered tentatively at the edge of the Arabian Sea. Intrigued by the novelty of ocean waves, two young girls skipped back and forth, until a rogue wave finally caught them and soaked the hems of their saris. Goa, a stop on the hippie trail in the 1960's, then a winter destination for discount charter jets filled with Europeans, still attracts about 10 percent of the 2.5 million people who visit India annually. But now, in a new twist for a land long associated with sin and sand, this Rhode Island-size state on India's southwest coast is becoming a well-behaved family destination, attracting India's expanding middle class.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/travel/22repgoa.html

*	WHO'S COOKING: Meena Sridhar
	BIOGRAPHY - A professor of linguistics and India studies at Stony Brook University. Lives in Stony Brook with husband, S.N. Sridhar. Was born in Dhanbad, India, and came to the United States at age 18. MOTIVATION TO COOK - "My husband loves to eat. When we were graduate students at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, I didn't know much about cooking. When I got married, and I realized that Sridhar loved to eat and entertain, I also realized there's only so much pizza you can order."
	http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-foodsun3339969jun22,0,3496234.story

*	Baby Falls Out Window To His Death
	A 21-month-old toddler wriggled through theng above a window guard in his Brooklyn bedroom Friday night and fell three stories to his death while his mother sat mere feet away. Family and friends gave the following account: The mother was feeding the baby, nicknamed Ishraq, rice pudding at 9 p.m. She was reaching for a glass of water on a wooden side table when the tragedy happened in a flash. In that instant, the baby, Ishraquddin Mazumder, heard the tinkle of a song from a passing ice cream truck. Ice cream was one of Ishraq's favorite foods, so his family believes he wanted to catch a glimpse of the truck as it pulled up near the three-story brick walk-up on Lincoln Avenue. The baby climbed from his stroller, pushed aside a curtain and climbed onto the window sill.
	http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-nybaby223342371jun22,0,1456498.story

*	That other warm feeling in Delhi
	With more than 1 billion inhabitants speaking 18 major languages and at least 1,000 minor languages and dialects, India--the birthplace of Hinduism--is indeed one of the world's most fascinating cultures. But during my first morning in this capital megalopolis (New Delhi is the actual official seat of government), as Hindu prayer music blasted from the temple across the street from my one-star hotel, it wasn't language or religion that made my jaw drop when I looked out the window. I was shocked, instead, by the sight of cows. Three of them. The chubby bovine creatures ambled down the street among cars and pedestrians. No one seemed to notice the cows but me. After spending a few days in the country, I began to understand why. According to Hindu scripture, cows represent nurturing and fertility. Bulls, though more aggressive, command divine respect because the Hindu god Shiva is often depicted riding one of them.
	http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-jun22,1,5365514.story

*	In praise of the cinema god
	In 1982, the reigning Bombay superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, lay gravely ill in after an accident on the set of his film "Coolie." The nation came to a standstill; public prayers were offered at every intersection for the actor's survival; anxious crowds in the thousands thronged the hospital; the prime minister came to sit at the patient's bedside. Humble rickshaw-pullers spent their life savings on train tickets to Bombay so they could maintain a vigil outside the hospital for Bachchan's recovery.
	http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-tharoor22jun22,1,4969588.story

*	Punjab caught in fray of politics
	22 June, 2003, Maler Kotla, India � Nothing gilds the future of a young Punjabi couple like an engagement ring, but Shahida Kalo has had to tuck away her ring and her hopes into a box, waiting on the whims and plunges of the troubled India-Pakistan relationship. Two years ago she was engaged at 17 to a cousin in Lahore, Pakistan, a couple of hours away by road. But 18 months ago, relations between the two nuclear powers plummeted and she had to put her wedding dreams on hold when the border closed.
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-punjab22jun22,1,3197790.story

*	Cellphones ring in changes for Bangladeshis
	June 20, Shahabazpur, Bangladesh -- So-called phone ladies are ringing in the changes in male-dominated Bangladeshi villages. There are no land lines in Shahabazpur, 90 miles east of Dhaka, but communications in the dusty village, as in many other rural outposts, have suddenly leapfrogged from mail ponies to mobile phones. "Now the villagers can get good or bad news in a few minutes. This is a miracle by Bangladeshi standards," telephone operator Ashik Miah said. Bangladesh, with a population of more than 130 million, 80 percent of them living in villages, has one of the lowest telephone penetration rates in the world, with only three land lines to per 1,000 people. It has just 1.25 million mobile phones run by four private operators.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun20.html

*	Suit claims discrimination based on caste
	Pinaki Mazumder left India 20 years ago believing that he would no longer come under scrutiny because of the caste in which he was born. But Mazumder says the social class distinctions of his native country followed him to the University of Michigan, where he claims discrimination from an Indian administrator of a higher caste in the engineering department affected his performance reviews and pay raises. Mazumder, a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department, has filed a first-of-its-kind federal civil rights lawsuit claiming discrimination based on caste and national origin.
	http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-4/.xml

*	India's castes
	The Hindu caste system is a hierarchy of social classes established centuries ago in India. Castes once determined a person's rank in society, profession and financial status, but the caste influences have changed somewhat over the years. A person is born into the caste of their parents. Individuals cannot change from one caste to another but have to stay in the caste in which they were born. Within the system are four main castes that are divided into numerous subcastes.
	http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-4/.xml

*	Chiropractor plans clinic in India
	June 21, Northampton -- City chiropractor Bruce Coulombe is planning a tag sale this weekend to raise money for his trip to a remote village in India, where he plans to hold a free chiropractic clinic and aid a school later this summer. Coulombe, 44, who founded Everest Chiropractic in 1993, learned of the village Leh in the Ladakh region of northern India, only four weeks ago. "Life is short," Coulombe said, explaining his quick decision to travel there. "Sometimes you know something's right and you should do it."
	http://www.gazettenet.com/06212003/news/6858.htm