Pak. paper retracts report
The Pakistani English daily, Dawn, has retracted a report in its columns that the President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, during his interaction with editors on June 26, had cited pressure from the U.S. as one of the major factors behind India's decision to invite him for talks.

Lata denies report
Noted playback singer, Ms. Lata Mangeshkar, today denied reports that she would perform in Pakistan to raise funds for the Pakistan Cricket Board. ``It's kite flying.

India, important partner: Cheney
The Leader of the Opposition and Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, met the U.S. Vice-President, Mr. Richard Cheney, today and had a broad exchange of views. The meeting at the White House was described as ``cordial and friendly'' with Mr. Cheney making the point that the U.S. considered India an important partner and reiterated the President, Mr. George W. Bush's commitment to further ties with India. Mr. Cheney welcomed Ms. Gandhi's visit to the U.S.

India, China discuss border alignment
Experts from India and China today held their ninth round of discussions to clarify key portions of the 4,060- km. Sino-Indian border.

Hurriyat involvement a non-issue: India
The Kashmir issue is an internal affair and the involvement of the Hurriyat Conference during the coming Indo- Pak. summit is a ``non-issue'', India reiterated here today.

Towards a customer-friendly PF office
The Centre today announced modernisation plans for the much maligned Employees' Provident Fund Organisation to bring relief to 2.4 crore members. The EPFO would now be transformed into a customer-friendly organisation to help members get their claims settled within two to three days.

Batata-BPL Communications to float new firm
Birla-Tata-AT&T (Batata) and BPL Communications have signed an agreement to consolidate their operations, which makes it the largest cellular joint venture company in India, with a subscriber base close to one million, constituting over 24 per cent of all cellular users.

Announcement
The Hindu website, currently unavailable due to server problems, can be accessed at www.hinduonnet.com

'Ice lingam' worshipped
Scores of pilgrims have visited the Amarnath holy shrine and offered prayers at the ice Shiva lingam.

Milosevic extradited to The Hague
The former Serbian strongman, Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, has been extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia at The Hague in The Netherlands.

Hasina to relinquish office on July 15
The Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, will hand over power on July 15 to the interim caretaker Government for holding fresh election to Parliament.