IMPHAL, April 26: The Manipuri Students Federation, MSF, has decided to force the closure of all educational institutions in the state, including schools and colleges as well as Manipur University from tomorrow in protest against police harassment of MSF leaders and volunteers in connection with the ongoing tussle over parking fee rates. Making the announcement today, the MSF general secretary Ashirjit Luwang told media persons at a press conference today that despite initiating negotiations on the parking fee tussle, apart from arresting several MSF volunteers and functionaries, other MSF...

GUWAHATI, April 26: The snowballing dissidence in the Assam PCC today blew over when several rebel Congressmen withdrew their nominations in favour of the party's official candidates. PCC chief Tarun Gogoi had appealed to all rebel candidates to pull out of the contest yesterday. The battlelines have been drawn for the May 10 Assembly election with a total of 914 candidates left in the fray for the 126 seats. Fifty-three contestants withdrew their candidature today, the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Dissident Congress candidates who withdrew their nominations include Prasanna Malla...

NEW DELHI, April 26: Unabated violence in the Northeast took a heavy toll on civilians leaving over 900 persons dead last year, the Union Home Secretary, Kamal Pande reported. The intensity of violence continued to be high in the Northeast, and a total of 1960 incidents of violence were recorded leading to 1657 deaths including 165 security personnel and 585 militants. Significantly, the home secretary held the ULFA, instead of the Assam Tiger Force (ATF) responsible for the attacks on Hindi-speaking Assamese and the non-Assamese people that led to the killing of 89 persons in 12 such attacks...

IMPHAL, April 26: The former Chief Minister, Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh, has strongly denied that he has ever paid any money to any underground outfit in Manipur. The former Chief Minister was reacting to reports in a section of the media that the Union defence minister Jaswant Singh had told Parliament that the Army has recovered a counterfoil indicating that he had paid a sum of Rs 1 lakh to an underground group. Issuing a statement in this connection, the former Chief Minister said the counterfoil said to have been recovered by the Army may have been fabricated by vested interests with the...

SHILLONG, April 25: The Bangla intrusions into Pyrdiwah village in Meghalaya has exposed the sinister designs of Bangladesh to create a 'greater Bangladesh', BJP general secretary in-charge of Northeast Border Area States, P B Acharya has warned. Speaking to newsmen here today, he cautioned that the entire country should remain fore-warned by the intrusions by a supposedly 'friendly' country. The incident is only the 'tip of the iceberg' and is an indication of the serious threat to the security and integrity of the entire Northeastern region, Acharya contended. 'The threat is really serious...