Rao meets Dr Sharma
The Prime I Minister PV Narashimha Rao met the President Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma, at the Rastrapati Bhawan In New Delhi yesterday morning. PTI reports from New Delhi.
The 45-mlnute meeting came a day after parliament had discussed the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the securities scam.
A Rastrapati Bhawan spokesman described the meeting as a routine one.
Jiang, Kim to visit Japan
Chinese President Jiang Zemin and South Korean President Kim Young-Sam will both visit Japan in 1994. the Kyodo news service said yesterday. AFP reports from Tokyo.
No appropriate date for Jiang’s visit has been set but Kim is expected in March or April, the news agency said, adding that Chinese Vice Premier Zhu Rongji would also come to Japan. Jiang, who visited Japan in April 1992. will be making his first official visit here since assuming the presidential post In October 1992.
Cyclone hits Papua New Guinea:
Nine people have gone missing after tropical cyclone Rewa hit southwest Papua New Guinea (PNG) Thursday night. Xinhua reports from Canberra.
The nine people went out in a banana dinghy on Wednesday and have not returned by that morning, the Australian Associated Press reported on Friday.
Fears have been aroused that they came across cyclone Rewa which battered several small islands off the southwestern tip of PNG Thursday night.
Douglas Hurd to visit Mideast:
British foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd will visit nations on the front line of the Middle East peace process next week, the For eign Office said on Thursday. Reuter reports from London.
Hurd leaves on Monday for Lebanon. Israel, the occupied territories and Jordan. He will also visit Malta.
Aides said the tour would reinforce British backing for the peace process agreed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation for limited autonomy in Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
France expels two Iranians :
France has expqlled two Iranians suspected of a role in the 1990 killing in Switzerland of an opposition- figure, spuming a Swiss extradition request "in the national interest." the premier's office said Thursday. AP reports from Paris.
The two suspects. Mohsen Sharif Esfahani. 37. and Ahmad Taheri, 32. were expelled Wednesday night to Tehran, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Switzerland has been seeking the pair's extradition for prose- • cution In the April 24. 1990 killing of Kazem Rajavl. the brother of Massoud Rajavl. leader of the Mujahedeen Khalq, the top Iranian opposition group.
IRA kills British soldier:
Irish Republican Army guerrillas shot dead a British soldier In Northern Ireland on Thursday, the first person killed since an Anglo Irish peace plan was launched two weeks ago. Reuter reports from Belfast
He was also the first person killed after an IRA ceasefire for Christmas.
An IRA statement said the soldier, shot in the town of Crossmaglen. was targeted by its "2nd battalion".
A police spokesman said the soldier appeared to have been hit by a single shot and was taken to hospital where he died shortly afterwards.
2 killed in Malaysian chopper crash:
A Royal MaMysian Air Force super puma helicopter crashed yes terday In a mangrove swamp in the northern state of Kedah killing at least two people, the national news agency BERNAMA said. Reuter reports from Kuala Lumpur.
Rescue workers were trying to extricate two bodies from the wreckage al the crash Mte in Sungal Petani. BERNAMA said
Air force officials told BERNAMA that there were four crew ^luetnlxrs in the aircraft when It crashed ,