Imphal, Dec. 31: A secessionist outfit of Manipur today welcomed the ambitious 1,360-km-long trilateral highway project connecting the country with Myanmar and Thailand. The banned Revolutionary People?s Front (RPF) in a statement said the proposed project would benefit Manipur.

Foreign ministers of the three countries, in a meeting in New Delhi on December 23, agreed to take up the $700 million project linking Moreh of Manipur and Maesot of Thailand through Bagan of Myanmar. The foreign ministers decided to launch the first phase of the project, which would cost $252 million, from early next...

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 ? Reacting to outlawed ULFA?s clarion call for help, China has turned it down cautioning that it has alerted its Frontier Forces to check intrusion by the militants into the country. A spokesman of the Chinese embassy in its first-ever reaction to the ULFA?s appeal said that the peoples republic has taken note of the reports and it would closely monitor the situation. ?We are confident that Chinese frontier forces are capable of safeguarding the security and stability of our border areas,? the spokesman said. China has always followed the principle of non-interference in...

Imphal, Dec. 31: Nine more ministers today joined chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh?s camp to prevent ?disloyal? ruling members from crossing over to the Opposition alliance. After spending more than a week in a Calcutta hotel, the nine ministers arrived here today and were immediately whisked away to the chief minister?s official residence where he had set up camp.

Speaker T.N. Haokip, who was also away for the same period, came back to Imphal by the same flight from Calcutta along with the ministers. The chief minister had not only sent a team to pick up his flock, but also made sure that...

SHILLONG, Dec 30 ? Barring Manipur (38.96 per cent) and Nagaland (30.59 per cent), in all other States of the north-eastern region, the proportion of gross irrigated area as percentage of gross cropped area various from nearly eight per cent to 18 per cent, which is much less than that of the national average. In light of this, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, has recently taken initiative to make ?Rainwater harvesting? a popular technology in the region.

The North East, in fact the entire country has a ?millennia tradition? of rainwater harvesting, this was pointed...

New Delhi, Dec. 30: India wants its neighbours to follow the example of Bhutan?s operation against Northeast insurgents entrenched in its territory to show their commitment to ?good neighbourly? relations. Foreign secretary Shashank said the issue of Indian terrorists camping in neighbouring countries would be raised at the discussion of senior officials of the Saarc summit beginning in the Pakistani capital tomorrow.

In Guwahati, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi accused Bangladesh of playing a major role in the growth of insurgency in the Northeast, saying its reluctance to admit the presence...