16 killed in blast at J&K Shia meet
A senior member of Kashmir's Shia clergy and former State Minister, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, today escaped an assassination bid when a powerful bomb exploded in a north Kashmir village, killing 16 people, including a police official, and injuring 19.

Home Ministry concern
The Union Home Ministry has expressed ``serious concern'' over the blast near Pattan in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir this afternoon. It blamed Pakistan- supported militants for the attack on the Shia congregation, describing it as a ``dangerous dimension'' in militancy.

Karunanidhi asks MDMK to drop rally plan
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, today suggested that the MDMK give up its plan to organise a rally in Chennai on June 5 in support of ``Eelam Tamils''.

Speight terms for freeing hostages
Fiji's `civil coup' leader, Mr. George Speight, today made a conditional offer to free the Prime Minister, Mr. Mahendra Chaudhry, and others being held captive in the Parliament building in Suva since May 19.

Sino-Indian ties will gather momentum, says President
Sino- Indian relations have entered a positive phase and cooperation between the two countries will now gather momentum, the President Mr. K.R. Narayanan, affirmed here today.

Paswan largesse put on hold
The Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan's largesse package has for now been put on the hold, thanks to timely intervention by the Prime Minister's Office. It could be a while, if at all, before the Minister would be able to deliver on his extravagant promise of providing free telephones to all employees of the Telecom Department.

Sharif indicted in tax case
An accountability court indicted the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, on a tax evasion charge today.

Yanam poll on June 30
Byelection for the Yanam Assembly constituency in Pondicherry will be held on June 30. With the Election Commission's announcement of the schedule today, the model code of conduct has come into effect in the district.