AGARTALA, September 1: The Nationalist Congress Party's Tripura unit has been formally launched and Birballav Saha has been appointed its president, party sources said. The state unit was launched here on Tuesday but NCP is not yet decided whether it will contest the coming Lok Sabha elections. Arindom Lodh and Sipra Kar have been appointed general secretary and joint secretary respectively of the party.

AZARA, August 31: Despite the ban on cutting forest trees by the Supreme Court, illegal felling of trees in the entire south Kamrup area has been continuing unabated for the last several years. Wood smuggling has been flourishing at Chhaygaon, Bamunigaon, Kukurmara, Rampur, Loharghat, Chandubi, Rani, Azara, Dharapur, etc., in south Kamrup for the last several years. There are Rani and Mirza reserve forests under Guwahati division while Loharghat, Kulsi, Singra, Boko, Bonapara and Bamunigaon reserve forests fall under Kamrup West division in south Kamrup. Valuable trees like sal, segun, gamari...

GUWAHATI, August 31: In a significant move, four countries - India, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh - have decided to boost the border trade and to improve the old existing roads linking the four countries. The decision was taken at an international conference on 'Regional economic cooperation and development involving India, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh' held at Kunming, China recently. The representatives of the four countries suggested setting up of trade points at Zemithang, Gelling and Kibithoo in the Northeast to facilitate trade with Myanmar and China. The three-day conference also laid...

ITANAGAR, August 29: The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has appointed Omen Deori as secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), party sources here said. Deori, has also been appointed as one of the members of the national campaign committee. The Arunachal Pradesh chief minister, Mukut Mithi, and the state Pradesh congress Committee president, Dera Natung, have hailed the decision of the Congress president and congratulated Deori on her appointment as secretary of AICC.

NEW DELHI, August 30: In a significant development, the Centre today formally clarified its stand on the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, notifying the Supreme Court that it is actively considering to scrap the Act, as it was hampering in detection and deportation of illegal aliens, overriding the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946. The central government's stand was made known to the Apex Court through the counsels for the ministry of home affairs in a case relating to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking deportation of foreigners, even as the Assam...