Draft memorandum discussed
The Finance Secretaries of 13 States today met here ahead of a meeting of their Chief Ministers convened tomorrow for Monday by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, to lodge their protest against the discrimination allegedly shown by the Eleventh Finance Commission (EFC)in allocating resources to better-developed States.

CTBT figures high on Mori's Pak. agenda
The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Yoshiro Mori, arrived here today on a two-day visit during which he would hold talks with the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the tension with India on the Kashmir issue.

Hizb headed for a split?
Does the decision of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen to declare a ceasefire and revoke it later indicate a split in the militant organisation?

Kumaramangalam still critical
The Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, today visited the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences to enquire after the health of the Union Minister for Power, Mr. Kumaramangalam, who is still battling for life in the Intensive Care Unit.

'Positive signals' in militants case
Even as the Government-emissary, Mr. R.R.Gopal is all set to resume negotiations with the brigand, Veerappan, after reaching his hideout today, the Tamil Nadu Government sent positive signals on dropping some of the 15-odd cases against the five Tamil militants jailed in the State.

Divers find situation grim
British and Norwegian rescuers who joined the operation to rescue the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk on Sunday found air pockets inside the mostly flooded vessel. An ITAR-Tass report quoting undisclosed ``well-informed'' British sources said the entire submarine had been flooded. ``The situation does not fill us with hope, '' the sources told the agency.

Ceasefire monitoring group meetings to be resumed
The Government would resume the ceasefire monitoring group meetings in Nagaland to build an atmosphere conducive for political talks in the State.

Militants kill 4 of family
Militants killed last night four persons belonging to the minority community in Udhampur district. Police said the militants swooped on Ind village in the remote Gool Gulab Garh area of Udhampur, entered the house of Mirchand and fired upon the inmates. Four died on the spot and one woman was injured.

Inflation rate declines by 5.75 p.c.
The annual rate of inflation fell by a sharp 0.65 percentage points to 5.75 per cent for the week ended August 5, mainly on account of a drastic 1.1 per cent decline in the prices of primary articles.