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GUWAHATI, Dec 17 ? The ruling Congress today claimed to have inched closer to form the council in Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) with support from two of the three newly-elected Independent councillors. Minister of State for Planning and Development Himanta Bishwa Sharma today presented two Independent councillors Asadullah Seikh and Brojen Das before media persons at his official chamber in Janata Bhawan here this afternoon. Both the councillors stated that they had decided to support Congress in the GMC.

On the basis of the support extended by these two Independent councillors, the...

NEW DELHI, Dec 17 ? Irked by repeated charges by Congress MPs about delay in despatch of additional forces, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Swami Chindmayanand held that Assam Government failed to make proper utilisation of available forces and there was delay in mobilisation of army. The repeated accusation by Congress MPs that Centre did not act on repeated request by Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi who wrote 14 letters to Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani infuriated the Minister of State, who countered that the State Government did not even properly utilise the forces it had at its disposal...

GUWAHATI, Dec 17 ? The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) today received a major set back during the ongoing offensive by the Royal Bhutan Army personnel as the publicity secretary of the outfit Mithinga Daimari, along with several other cadres of the outfit have been nabbed. Highly placed security sources confirmed the arrest of the ULFA publicity secretary during the Bhutan Army operation against the ULFA militants holed up in the territory of the Himalayan Kingdom. Sources said that the Bhutan Government has also claimed the arrest of a senior leader of the National Democratic Front of...

Gelephu (Bhutan), Dec. 16: For the better part of last night, neither the residents of this town nor the people of Datgiri-Hatisar, on the Indian side of the Indo-Bhutan border, could sleep in peace. The sound of heavy gunfire rent the air throughout the night, signalling the beginning of a war the people had hoped would never take place.

However, the only sign of activity today in the border towns of Gelephu and Datgiri-Hatisar were of senior military officials barking instructions to their juniors.

On the Indian side of the border, troops were in the same state of alert, creating the...

Kokrajhar, Dec. 16: The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) chief is under constant pressure from the members of the outfit to announce a ceasefire and sit down for talks with the Centre. Disclosing this, surrendered NDFB militant B. Maofung, alias Manaranjan Basumatary, said the rebels had repeatedly appealed to NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary to begin talks with the Union government since 2001.

Basumatary, who held the rank of second lieutenant before his surrender, was among the 21 NDFB cadre who laid down arms before the Kokrajhar district administration on November 28.

The group...