Don't talk like Musharraf: BJP
The Opposition parties were roundly criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party today for not applauding the response of the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, to the calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha on the recent Jammu killings. The party regretted that the Opposition ``walked out'' of the House instead of appreciating Mr. Advani's claim that the Government had met with ``success after success.'' The recent massacres were not indicative of any policy failure.

Nothing new, says Cong.
The package of measures announced by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, to fight terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir appears to have left the Congress unimpressed. The party continued to press for Mr. Advani's resignation.

Credit rating, a wrong assessment: Sinha
The Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, today discounted fears of the reforms process being affected by the downgrading of India's credit rating by two international agencies. ``The ratings are an absolutely wrong assessment of India's reforms process. We will continue with reforms at our own pace. We are not hostage to anyone so far as the reforms are concerned,'' he said.

Moody's lowers India's rating
A leading international credit rating agency, Moody's, has lowered India's foreign currency outlook to `stable' from `positive' and to `negative' from `positive' for domestic debt, close on the heels of standard and poor's downgrading India's local currency.

India may be isolated at trade round: U.S.
The U.S. today warned that India's opposition to the new trade round of negotiations is likely to leave it out in the cold at the coming Doha ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation. With most countries having decided to engage on issues relating to the agenda of the new round, it hinted that India's unrelenting stance on resolution of implementation concerns may leave it isolated.

SP protest peaceful
The Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party programme to organise protest demonstrations across the State today against the `misrule' of the State Government passed off peacefully with no major incident reported from anywhere. While the SP leaders described the programme as a complete success, Government sources said the situation was by and large normal and police did not have to use force.

Foreign Secys meet to carry forward Agra peace process
The bilateral meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan that is scheduled to take place on Friday is expected to reiterate the existence of the political will to continue the process initiated at Agra despite the acrimonious statements immediately following it.

U.S. pressure led to Agra summit, says Congress
The Congress today accused the Vajpayee Government of succumbing to pressure from the United States in holding the Agra summit and said the outcome of the talks showed a betrayal by Islamabad.

India, Nepal discuss fall-out of Maoist insurgency
Concerned about Maoist insurgency in the mountains and the simmering discontent in the plains of the Terai, India and Nepal are defining new ground rules that would encourage stability in the sensitive Himalayan kingdom.