Quick Takes — Bid on Lanka naval chief

COLOMBO: A suicide bomb attack by the LTTE on the life of the Sri Lankan Naval chief early today near the southern town of Galle failed'' ...

COLOMBO: A suicide bomb attack by the LTTE on the life of the Sri Lankan Naval chief early today near the southern town of Galle “failed” as three rebel suicide bombers prematurely exploded a truck loaded with bombs near a police checkpost, official sources said. In the well-planned attack on vice-admiral Cecil Thissera’s life at Maagalle naval base, three Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide cadre drove a mini truck laden with explosives and parked it near the checkpost around 0230 hours, the sources said.

Cong backs Kaunda

NEW DELHI: The Congress party today appealed for release of the former Zambian President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, who has been incarcerated in his country. In a statement here, the party spokesman, V N Gadgil, said the Congress had no intention whatsoever to interfere in the internal affairs of a friendly country.

Plot to kill Farooq

JAMMU: The police claimed to have unearthed a plot to kill Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah with the arrest of two militants of Harkat-ul-Ansar outfit from Jammu city. The preliminary interrogation revealed that the duo were associates of Deputy Chief of Hua Parvez Baba, who was recently arrested by police, an official spokesman today said adding during their interrogation, the two said they were given the task’ to kill Dr Abdullah.

Labour MPs threat

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LONDON: Six British European Parliament members plan to leave the Labour Party and become independent candidates in protest against Government welfare reforms, The Observer newspaper said today. The two leaders of the Left-wing rebellion named in the article — Ken Coates and Hugh Kerr — said they wanted to fight the next European elections in 1999 as independents following Labour’s decision to cut benefits for single mothers and proposal to reduce payments for the disabled.

Kuwait FM quits

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Finance Minister since shortly after the end of the Iraqi occupation in 1991 has submitted his resignation, Al-Anba daily reported today. Nasser Al-Rowdhan, who also serves as Deputy Prime minister, told the pro-government newspaper he had given his resignation in writing to the Prime Minister, Sheik Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, on November 15.