Jaswant hopes Dhaka will act against killers
The Vajpayee Government today came under fire in Parliament for the brutal killing of 16 BSF personnel by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and incidents on the Indo-Bangla border last week. The Centre defended its handling of the crisis, but the Opposition and even NDA allies, such as the Shiv Sena and the Telugu Desam Party, charged that it was a result of intelligence failure.

It is for EC to decide, says HC
``The Election Commission is a high Constitutional functionary, the power vested is expected to be discharged reasonably, objectively and independently, and in accordance with law,'' the Madras High Court observed, while dismissing a public interest petition seeking a direction to the Election Commission to implement its 1997 circular on the disqualification of convicted persons.

2 more nominations for Jayalalitha
In a surprise development, AIADMK partymen today submitted nominations on behalf of the party general secretary, Ms. Jayalalitha, for two more constituencies, Pudukottai and Bhuvanagiri. Already, Ms. Jayalalitha had presented her papers from Krishnagiri and Andipatti.

Maharashtra, Centre to renegotiate Enron deal
Faced with the prospect of the Enron corporation pulling out of the Dabhol power project, the Centre and the Maharashtra Government today decided to renegotiate the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Dabhol Power Company (DPC).

4 hurt in attack on APHC office
A grenade blast rocked the headquarters of the 23- member All-Party Hurriyat Conference at Rajbagh here today as the APHC leaders met to firm up a response to the Centre's offer of talks with all Kashmiri groups.

EVMs: petition dismissed
The Supreme Court today dismissed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by Ms. Jayalalitha, AIADMK general secretary, which sought to restrain the use of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the coming elections.

SC objects to Patkar's response
The Supreme Court today adjourned till the first week of August the hearing on the petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Ms. Medha Patkar, Booker prize winner, Ms. Arundhati Roy, and advocate Mr. Prashant Bhushan for staging a demonstration outside the court and raising slogans against its verdict in the Sardar Sarovar dam case.

BDR fired in self-defence: Bangla Foreign Secy
A day after the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, spoke to her Indian counterpart, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, Bangladesh today sought to give a new twist to the killing of BSF soldiers, claiming the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) ``had to open fire in self-defence'' since they were ``under attack''.