The Tribune...Spotlight

			Monday, July 20, 1998
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Income Tax Department staff defer stir
NEW DELHI, July 19 (PTI) — The indefinite strike by 1.50 lakh officers and employees of the income tax, central excise and customs departments from July 21 was "deferred for time being" following an assurance from Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today. A release by the coordinating committee of federation (COCF) in the Department of Revenue said Mr Sinha assured them that the "disparities in their pay scales would be rectified within a very short time."

3 shot in Tripura
AGARTALA, July 19 (UNI) — Banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) guerrillas shot dead three persons, including CPM gram panchayat member, at Taidu in South Tripura last night. The police said here today that militants fired indiscriminately from their automatic rifles. In another incident a government doctor was reported missing from the hospital quarters at the Santir bazar in South Tripura last night.

Insat 2-C
BANGALORE, July 19 (PTI) — Insat 2-C satellite suffered disorientation — loss of earth lock — for a brief period today, affecting some services but was put back to normal, Indian Space Research Organisation sources here said. Scientists at the master control facility at Hassan in Karnataka fired some thrusters and restored the satellite’s orientation.

CPM expels ex-MP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, July 19 (PTI) — Mr T.J. Anjelose, former CPM MP from Alappuzha, has been expelled from the party for alleged anti-party activities. The party accused him of working secretly for the defeat of LDF candidate C.S. Sujatha in the last Lok Sabha election from Alappuzha which was won by Mr V.M. Sudheeran of the Congress.

2 Lankan cops hurt
COLOMBO, July 19 (PTI) — Two policemen were injured and a telephone transmission tower was damaged in twin bomb explosions today at Nittambuwa, about 40 km north east of Colombo, as unidentified subversive groups continue to target rural telephone installations in the south. An explosion damaged the transmission tower of a private cellular telephone company at Nittambuwa. A sub inspector and a policeman who visited the spot to inspect the damage were injured when a second bomb believed to have been attached to a timer device exploded.

8 killed in Assam
GUWAHATI, July 19 (PTI) — Eight persons, including three women, were killed in separate incidents in Assam since last night. Official sources said here that the ongoing ethnic clashes in Kokrajhar district claimed three more victims when three Santhals were shot dead by suspected Bodo militants under Gossaigaon police station last night. In another incident one woman, Dina Das, wife of Gutra Das died under mysterious circumstances at Thamra under Borbori police station of Nalbari district yesterday.

110 dead in Kosovo clashes
PRISTINA, (Yugoslavia) July 19 (AFP) — The death toll in clashes between Albanian separatists and the Serbian security forces in Kosovo, near the border with Albania, reached at least 110 today.
Sources said here that at least 90 persons were killed yesterday when the Yugoslav army battled hundreds of Kosovo separatists trying to enter the troubled province from Albania.
Twenty separatists were killed overnight in three further clashes with the Yugoslav army.