Finance ministers of the Commonwealth are divided at their annual meeting on whether the world economy needs reforming or merely reviving, sources said.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared that India would not neglect its basic duty of protecting its borders while continuing earnest efforts to improve relations with neighbours. India faced aggression five times since independence and could not afford to lower vigil, she said.

It said that at the cabinet meeting, the Minister for Industries and Scientific Affairs had referred to “libellous reports about him by The Indian Express, the BBC and other papers.”

The report concedes that the terms of aid to India from the bank have hardened, resulting from the increasing share of World Bank lending relative to that of IDA, its soft affiliate.

The government is planning to amend the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act of 1976 and strengthen the administrative arrangements to ensure a more effective monitoring of the flow of funds from abroad to various organisations in the country.

Soviet Union used its veto in the Security Council to kill a western sponsored resolution “deeply deploring” the destruction of a South Korean airliner by a Soviet jet fighter with consequent “tragic loss” of civilian life.

At least 105 people were killed in continued landslides in the last two days in and around Mangan, the headquarters of Sikkim’s north district. Of the victims, 52 belonged to the Border Road Organisation (BRO).

He said that in the process three persons had been tortured to death. The J&K CM said he would not allow Delhi to repeat the unconstitutional ouster of his father in 1953.

Punjab’s dissident ministers are likely to submit their resignations to the central leadership as a protest against the chief minister’s “vindictive attitude" towards their senior colleague, Beant Singh, who announced his resignation in the State Assembly.

The National Democratic Alliance chairman, Charan Singh, has ruled out “alliance or adjustment” with any party or front that is “allergic” to either of the NDA constituents, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Lok Dal.

The simmering differences in the Akali Dal came to the surface at a four-hour meeting convened by party chief Harchand Singh Longowal.

The Indian national satellite, Insat-1B, was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (a temporary low earth orbit) in a flawless precise manoeuvre.

India’s second three-segment multipurpose satellite Insat-1B has successfully blasted off, aboard the space shuttle Challenger from Kennedy Space Centre in the US.