tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Thursday, December 10, 1998
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SC to hear plea on "Fire"
NEW DELHI, Dec 9 (PTI) — The Supreme Court today took strong exception to film personalities briefing media about their moves even after filing a petition against the violence perpetrated by alleged Shiv Sena activists against screening of the controversial film "Fire". While fixing hearing for Tuesday on the petition filed by director of the film Deepa Mehta, Dilip Kumar, Mahesh Bhat and others, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice A.S. Anand said, "(it is) better people stop talking to press as to what they are going to do." "You choose your forum -- either this or that (media). If you have chosen that as forum then there is no urgency in the matter," the Bench told counsel for the petitioners Harish Salve, who agreed with the views of the court.

Missile tested
MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) — Russia’s cash-starved military today said it had successfully test-launched one of its new Topol-M ballistic missiles, a weapon intended to become the backbone of the country’s nuclear arsenal in the 21st century. As the strategic rocket forces announced the launch, Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov’s Cabinet met to discuss how much the military would receive in the draft 1999 Budget.

Yeltsin leaves hospital
MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) — Russian President Boris Yeltsin today left the Central Clinical Hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia and moved to a country residence, a Kremlin spokesman said. "The doctors believe the hospital stage of his recovery from pneumonia is over," the spokesman told Reuters by telephone. Yeltsin was admitted to hospital with pneumonia on November 22.

Noorjehan stable
ISLAMABAD, Dec 9 (UNI) — The condition of legendary melody queen of the sub-continent Noorjehan was described as stable after her successful heart operation and kidney treatment in the USA. On her return from the USA she preferred Karachi for convalescing than going to Lahore where she had been residing, her daughter said. She was admitted to the Agha Khan Hospital in Karachi yesterday for necessary treatment and check up.

Rebels slaughter 42
ALGIERS, Dec 9 (AFP) — Rebels slit throats of 42 persons in the Chief region of western Algeria overnight, government officials said today. The massacre, attributed to armed Islamic militants, took place near Tadjena, some 170 km west of Algiers, the government security forces said in a statement read on state-run-radio. The killing take the number of such deaths in the troubled North African country to over 100 in the space of a week.

Lieut-Gen Nath
NEW DELHI, Dec 9 (PTI) — Lieut Gen (retd) Surinder Nath, member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), has been appointed its next chairman. Lieut-Gen Nath, a former Vice-Chief of Staff, will replace J.M. Qureshi who will demit office on December 11, an official press note said.

Libyan passengers
CAIRO, Dec 9 (PTI) — Around 150 Libyan passengers on board an Egyptian airliner flying from Yemen to Tunis today demanded that the plane be flown to Libya but the pilot refused to oblige and landed in Tunisian island of Jerba instead. The passengers of the plane, which took off from the Yemeni capital of Saana en route to Tunis, refused to disembark even as the pilot had said he could not comply with their request because of the UN Air Embargo on Libya, an Egyptian Interior ministry official said. The passengers had left the plane, an MD-90 belonging to a private Egyptian company, but were staging a sit-in at Jerba Airport demanding to be flown back to Tripoli. Jerba airport is about 170 km from the Libyan border.

Yeltsin murder plot
MOSCOW, Dec 9 (AP) — Russian security agents have arrested a man suspected of plotting an assassination attempt on President Boris Yeltsin, news reports said today. The 29-year-old resident of the Volga river city of Saratov, whose identity was withheld, also allegedly plotted to kill the Regional Governor, Dmitry Ayatskov. He is a former convict with a record of mental illness, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said, according to the Interfax News Agency.