DARRANGAMELA (Indo-Bhutan border), Dec 24 ? The Royal Bhutan Army was heading towards its goal of flushing out Indian militants from their soil on the tenth day of their ?Operation All Clear?, reports PTI. After demolishing 30 camps set up by the militants in their kingdom, the troops cordoned off the area near the camps to search for the rebels who fled after they were dislodged, official sources in Bhutan told a visiting PTI correspondent.

With no leaders to give them directions, nowhere to go and hungry, the fleeing militants were desperate to surrender to either the RBA or Indian...

Silchar, Dec. 24: The Greater Aizawl Water Supply Scheme Phase II project is likely to be abandoned midway because of the ?slow and unsatisfactory? progress of the project. The Rs 176.55 crore-project was undertaken to ensure a steady supply of potable water to Aizawl.

A recent survey conducted by the Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research under the department of the development of the northeastern region (Doner) concluded that the project ?was being implemented by the Mizoram government whimsically without any systematic approach?. ?Hence the scheme may have to be abandoned half...

GUWAHATI, Dec 24 ? Eminent poet and litterateur Bireshwar Baruah was today named for the coveted Sahitya Akademi award along with 15 others. Baruah, who has been contributing to the realm of Assamese litterateur for several decades, was selected for the award for his collection of poems Anek Manuh, Anek Thai Aru Nirjanata. Baruah, who retired as an able administrator in 1991 after serving in various capacities as an IAS officer, has authored 34 books. Essentially a poet, he showed equal ?lan in other fields of creative literature as well. Baruah had earlier been conferred with the prestigious...

GUWAHATI, Dec 24 ?The banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) today virtually rejected the general amnesty offered by the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for those ultras who are willing to give up arms. In a statement e-mailed to this newspaper office this evening, the banned outfit came down heavily on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for giving call to the members of the outfit to surrender in the wake of the military offensive launched by the Bhutanese Army. The ULFA criticised the Chief Minister for showing the ?audacity? to give the call to surrender at a time when ?barbaric Bhutanese? Army...

Nagaon, Dec 23: The last batch of Khasi-Pnar refugees returned to their homes in Karbi Anglong yesterday after spending over two months in Meghalaya. Over 4,000 Khasi-Pnar residents of blocks I and II of Karbi Anglong had fled their homes and taken shelter in the Jaintia Hills after being served extortion notes by the militant United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), which professes to represent the Karbi community. The result was a backlash against Karbis residing in Meghalaya.

The situation, however, appears to be limping back to normality with the final batch of about 500 refugees...