tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Monday, July 12, 1999
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S. D. Sharma hospitalised
NEW DELHI, July 11 (PTI) — Former President Shankar Dayal Sharma suffered a heart attack early this morning and has been admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here, doctors attending on him said. The former President, who suffered the heart attack at 2.30 a.m., was in the intensive care unit and his condition was stable, the doctors said.

Dalai Lama
TAIPEI, (Taiwan) (AP) — China is preparing to resume informal contacts with the Dalai Lama, but no new proposals are on offer, Taiwan's official Central News Agency reported today. Chinese President Jiang Zemin has set up a task force to preside over renewed talks with Tibetan spiritual leader's Government in Exile, it said, quoting a recent report by Taiwan's Cabinet-level Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Council.

Sex slaves
TAIPEI, (Taiwan) (AP) — Lawyers for Taiwanese woman forced to serve as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during World War II are going to sue for compensation and an apology in Tokyo, a spokeswoman said today. The group was to bring a complaint tomorrow before the Tokyo district court from nine women demanding an apology and 10 million yen (US $ 82,000) each for their suffering.

Unrest in Iran
TEHERAN, July 11 (Reuters) — Pressure mounted on Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, today to step in and end four days of protest rallies touched off by an attack on pro-democracy students by the police and hardline vigilantes. Thousands of angry students at Teheran University's main dormitory complex called on Khomeini, who under Iran's Islamic system has final say in all matters of state, to guarantee personally the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the assault on Thursday and Friday.

Landmine use
AGARTALA, July 11 (UNI) — For the first time in the history of insurgency in Tripura, tribal militants used landmines to kill the five Tripura State Rifle (TSR) jawans and the driver of their vehicles, at Takumbari in south district yesterday, a senior police official said today. On his return from the spot, the IGP (Law and Order), Mr Salim Ali, told reporters here that the guerrillas of the banned All-Tripura Tribal Force set off the landmines with the help of militants of the United Liberation Front of Asom.

Test of innocence
BARABANKI, July 11 (PTI) — In a bizarre incident, the panchayat of Raidas community in Saidaul village in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district forced an old man and his daughter-in-law to put their hands in boiling oil in front of the entire village to prove they had no illicit relationship, the police said today. The panchayat asked them to put their hands in a "kadhai of boiling oil" on the assurance that if they were "pure" they would pass the test unharmed.