General strike called in Sikkim: a 24-hour statewide general strike called by the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). to protest price hike, began at 0600 hours yesterday, PTI reports from Qangtok.

The. strike was called to protest the'centre's unilateral decision to hike the prices of essential commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar supplied tiirough the public distribution sys-teiD ■'■■■■ 5

UN mission to visit Afghanistan: a UN mission will visit Afghanistan in a couple of days for talks with Taliban officials on security issues and conditions for the return of UN staff to the country, the United Nations said Sunday. Xinhua reports from Islamabad.

The visit will be a follow-up to the talks between senior Taliban leaders and Erick de Mule, the Islamabad-based coordinator for Afghanistan. in Kandahar on January 25.

Bus plunge in SA kills 31: A bus plunged off a bridge on a major highway on Sunday, killing 31 passengers. AP reports from Warden. South Africa

The bus was travelling from Kokstad in the'southeastern KwaZulu-Natal Province when it went off the bridge and landed upside down in a dry river bed about 161 km south of its destination, Johannesburg. Two passengers on the privately owned bus survival but were in serious condfUdn, police said. German, French FMs meet: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine. whose countries fiom a power pohtKa! alliance, held private talks Sunday at Frankfurt-am-Main. the German Foreign Ministry said. AFP reports from Frankfurt. • Neither the exact location nor the agenda for the talks were disclosed, and no statement was made after the talks.