Rly. fares hiked to set up safety fund
The Railways today announced a special ``safety'' levy on all passenger tickets with effect from October 1 to facilitate faster modernisation of its over-aged assets such as bridges, tracks, signalling equipment and rolling stock.

Moves afoot for 'structured dialogue' at New York
Efforts are on between India and Pakistan for a structured dialogue between the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, when they meet in New York in the last week of September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.

Sri Lanka ready for ceasefire with LTTE
A day after talks for power-sharing between the ruling People's Alliance (PA) and the Opposition United National Party (UNP) broke down, the Sri Lanka Government said that it would on its own invite the LTTE for talks, and was prepared to call a ceasefire before such talks began.

Mine blasts kill 10 in Kashmir
Six Army personnel and three civilians were killed and 12 injured in a powerful landmine blast which ripped apart a passenger bus at Hangalpau village in South Kashmir today.

Moopanar still critical
The condition of the TMC president, Mr. G.K. Moopanar, continues to be critical. A medical bulletin from the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute says that ``Mr. Moopanar continues to be on large supportive measures for his lung function and to maintain his blood pressure and urine output. As long as this trend continues the consultants feel that it is very difficult to be dogmatic to predict the outcome of the treatment for now.''

Caste needs to be discussed: Mbeki
Caste and untouchability continue to figure prominently at the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) even if they are not on the official agenda.