Tuesday, 18 January 2005, 2000 hrs

TOP STORIES
Greater autonomy for J&K:
Centre sets up committee
Home Minister Shivraj Patil announced the Centre would set up a three-member committee to examine the National Conference party's demand for more autonomy for the disputed region


BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Finance Ministry favours
oil sector consolidation 
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the oil sector would be further opened to competition and duties would be restructured to make oil companies more efficient and bring down fuel costs

Asia Times
Karachi opens door to US forces
Pakistan has allowed US and British special forces to stage exercises in Karachi to prepare them for possible action in Iran, the first time in the history of Pakistan that its armed forces have been known to stage exercises in urban areas. By SYED SALEEM SHAHZAD and MASOOD ANWAR


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Indian Express
Read the small print 
In India, the printed word is sacrosanct. People’s faith in what appears in print is overwhelming. That is why newspapers cannot be compared with TV. Raising foreign equity in the print media will undermine Indian democracy, says KULDIP NAYAR 


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The Hindu
Doubts and assurances on globalisation
For long, mainstream economists dismissed any downside to free trade as far less significant than the benefits flowing from it. What Paul Samuelson's paper has done is to suggest that the critics might have a point after all. By N RAVI

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Gulf News
Settlers' fume over bias
This is the showcase relief camp in Port Blair, where about 2,000 indigenous Nicorabese have everything they can ask for.

TOP PICKS

OPINION


Speed with broadband (Hindu)
Revolt in JD(S) (Hindu)
Dual citizenship issues (Tribune)
Cheaper telecom tariff (The Hindu)
Kanchi case: Let court decide (Tribune)
Fake encounters