ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said it received the dates for the next round of Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks, scheduled to be held in new Delhi. ``We will make the announcement when it is finalised,'' a foreign office spokesman said. India has proposed the dates for the talks in the third week of February, he said. Pakistan on Friday said it will not sign the CTBT until the US lifts all economic sanctions, including a ban on military sales, ahead of crucial talks beginning Monday. There was no sell-out on the nuclear issue during premier Nawaz Sharif's visit to Washington last year, the Minister said.

US curbs

WASHINGTON: Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone, in a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, has expressed concern over the denial of permission to eight US physicists to participate in an international symposium in Mumbai and urged administration officials to reconsider the decision. He released the letter here last night copies of which have been sent toPresident Clinton's aides. Pallone, one of the founder members of the Congressional caucus on India, wanted the US government to consider the negative effects t such policy would have on research and development in the US.

Lanka polls

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's main opposition party angered by what it called a fraudulent regional poll, said on Friday it planned a mass agitation campaign to stop president Chandrika Kumaratunga's `march towards dictatorship'. Election monitors and opposition parties have complained of widespread rigging and intimidation in Monday's election in north-western province. The ruling coalition says there were sporadic incidents of violence during the election but has rejected allegations of widespread rigging.

Beach battle

BANGKOK: Activists protesting over the filming of the movie `The Beach' starring Leonardo DiCaprio on Friday petitioned the US Justice Department to investigate film studio 20th Century Fox over an alleged bribe to the Thai Royal ForestryDepartment for permission to shoot at a Thai national park, and whether it has breached US anti-corruption laws in the process. Picture shows Thai environmental activists wearing DiCaprio masks in protest in front of the United States embassy in Bangkok on Friday.