KATHMANDU: :At least 30 people were killed in floods and landslides Saturday night in the far eastern Nepalese district of Ilam, newspapers reported today. According to information available so far, bodies of only two people have been recovered. Bodies of other victims are yet to be recovered.

According to the Nepali language daily Kantipur, the landslides triggered by hours of incessant heavy rains had hit Damaisanu village of Ilam district.

The Ilam District Disaster Welfare Committee has rushed relief to the affected areas. The English language daily The Kathmandu Post quoted eye-witnesses as saying that it was the worst floods and landslides in Ilam in living memory.

Apart from human lives, the floods and landslides are also said to have destroyed a large amount of property. The floods and landslides are said to have have extensively damaged a hydro-electric dam currently under construction.

Lanka aiming to be commercial giant

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga said today that her government's economic policies would make Colombo one of the leading commercial centres of Asia. ``Foreign investors are regaining confidence in our country as evidenced from their active participation in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)'', she said after inaugurating the CSE's automated trading system.

Commending the scripless trading as a ``remarkable development'', Kumaratunga said with 250 listed companies, the CSE had a market capitalisation of Rs. 150 billion and a daily average turnover of Rs. 100 million. ``Much has been achieved, but much more is left to be done,'' she said.

Indo-Bangla meet on rivers begins

DHAKA: The Standing Committee of the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) met today to discuss ways and means of regulating the flow of Teesta river waters including construction of an embankment on the river bank near the international border, officials said.

The five-member Indian delegation to the talks, being held in Bangladesh's Lalmonhirhat district, is being led by JRC member Suresh Chandra while Dhaka's JRC member Khalilur Rahman heads the Bangladesh side. Water experts of both countries yesterday inspected the changing course of the Teesta in the no man's land at Kaliganj border adjoining Nilphamari district of Bangladesh to find out the technical feasibility of constructing a half-kilometre long embankment on the right bank of the river.

The meeting of the Standing Committee will be followed by two-day of talks at Siliguri on August 12 to 13 to discuss a dam on the river, officials said.

China puts off satellite launch

BEIJING: :China has ordered a further delay in the crucial launch of a Philippine satellite, following a possible fault with the new-generation Long March 3B rocket - the future of the country's troubled satellite launching industry.

The launch of the Mabuhay satellite ``has been put back by around a week,'' said Zhanq Zhigian, an information official with the China Aero-Space Corp. The launch from the Xichang site in the southwestern province of Sichuan was originally scheduled for August 10-12 but was then postponed until Thursday while engineers replaced a suspect power module in the satellite.

Zhang said today the latest delay was ordered after engineers found a problem with the remote testing system of another Long March 3B carrier that will be used to send a Hong Kong satellite into orbit, later this year.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.