A leader of a get-rich-quick investment product recruiting across the country was a senior figure in a firm suspended from trading in Canada because of its pyramid-style operation.

DEFYING a ban, five political parties in Nepal yesterday organised rallies to protest against the royal takeover during which at least 50 protestors, including eight former ministers, were taken into custody.

Pakistan’s information minister today said a telephone call from Prime Minstar Zafarullah Khan Jamali to his Indian counterpart was a critical “icebreaker” in the stand-off between the South Asian nuclear rivals.

India and Pakistan are toning down their war rhetoric and sounding more conciliatory, but shelling resumed today in divided Kashmir, killing a 17-year-old youth on the Pakistan side.

US envoy Richard Armitage said today that Pakistan’s president had assured him that he wants to do everything he can to avoid war with India.