tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Sunday, December 12, 1999
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Krishnamurthy for Lanka poll
NEW DELHI, Dec 11 (PTI) — Former Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurthy will be one of the international observers for the forthcoming presidential elections in Sri Lanka, sources said. Mr Krishnamurthy has been invited because of his experience in conducting general and presidential elections in India, sources said.

125 feared dead
DHAKA, Dec 11 (PTI) — Nearly 125 people are feared dead trapped inside a passenger ferry that sank in the Meghna river in southern Bangladesh today, officials said. “Rescuers have found 25 bodies, including that of five children, while 100 others are feared dead as they were trapped inside the vessel after it sank in the estuary of the Meghna,” an official of the Bhola district administration said over telephone.

Plane crash
LISBON, Dec 11 (Reuters) — A Portuguese passenger plane with 35 persons on board crashed today in the mid-Atlantic Azores islands and rescue officials said it was not known if there were any survivors. Portugal’s TSF Radio quoted the Head of the Azores islands’ Civil Protection Agency as saying witnesses had reported seeing the plane go down on the island of Sao Jorge shortly before the end of a 45-minute-flight from the island’s capital Ponta Delgada. He said rescue teams were on their way to the site.

Lankan leader shot
COLOMBO, Dec 11 (UNI) — Marias Anton alias David, a prominent Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leader from Mannar was shot dead by suspected LTTE rebels last night. The rebels went to his office in Mannar at 8.10 am and shot him at point blank range. His body guard, Suhanthan was seriously injured.

US ‘spy’ expelled
MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) — Cheri Leberknight a US diplomat ordered out of Russia on accusations of spying, left Moscow, a spokesman for the FSB domestic security service has said. The USA on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of a second secretary at the Russian Embassy, Stanislav Gusev, saying he was caught monitoring a listening device found in a state department conference room.

Polythene scam
CUTTACK, Dec 11 (PTI) — The Orissa High Court has issued notice to the state government on a petition seeking a CBI probe into alleged corruption in the purchase of polythene sheets for supercyclone victims. A Division Bench comprising Justice P.C. Naik and Justice B.P. Das, acting upon a public interest writ petition, yesterday asked the chief secretary and the special relief commissioner to file its reply by December 22.

Left loses seat
KATHMANDU, Dec 11 (UNI) — The ruling Nepali Congress wrested one parliamentary seat from the main left opposition while retaining another as results of two of three byelections held last Thursday came in. The NC dented the “red citadel” in eastern Jhapa district wresting the Jhapa-6 seat from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxists-Leninists) and retained neighbouring Morang-1 by comfortable margins.

Arafat’s sister dead
GAZA Dec 11 (Reuters) — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s eldest sister, In’am, who took care of him as a child, has died, an official statement today said. In’am, who was 80, died in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip late yesterday, the announcement on Voice of Palestine radio said.