End 'repression' for a beginning: Pak.
Four days after the Pakistan military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, advised the religious and militant outfits in the country to exercise restraint in their anti-India tirade, the Foreign Office today accused the Indian Government of stepping up ``repression'' in Kashmir and urged it to ``end the repression in order to create a positive environment for a dialogue at the summit level''.

Royal members told to speak only to panel
Nepal's royal palace today tried to stop witnesses going public with the accounts of last week's massacre as officials said one royal family member could be reprimanded for his version of the slaughter.

Straw is new U.K. Foreign Secy.
Mr. Robin Cook has been shifted out of the Foreign Office and replaced by Mr. Jack Straw, who is Britain's new Foreign Secretary. Mr. David Blunkett, who was Education Secretary, succeeds Mr. Straw as Home Secretary.

Bhupathi, Paes restore French connection
Authoring a fairytale climax to a miraculous comeback, India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes reinvented themselves as world-beaters on a balmy Parisian evening here today.

Khatami romps home
The Iranian President, Mr. Mohammad Khatami, crushed his opponents in presidential elections, winning a decisive mandate to forge ahead with his controversial democratic reforms.

Cabinet to decide summit agenda: Pak. military
The two-day conference of the Pakistan military's Corps Commanders, which concluded here today, chose to be coy on the summit meeting between the Pakistan military ruler and Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Western n-assistance to India, Pak.?
Signals from the United States of a possible change in its non-proliferation policy towards the subcontinent have triggered a debate within the Western alliance on the merits of assisting India and Pakistan stabilise their nuclear rivalry.

'Queen Aishwarya was shot first'
As investigations related to last Friday's massacre gather momentum, it is now clear that the first to be killed in the shootout at the Narayanhiti Palace here was not the late King Birendra but Queen Aishwarya.