OSLO: Doctors Without Borders won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize today in recognition of the organisation's "pioneering humanitarian work on several continents", the Norwegian Nobel committee said. "Since its foundation in the early 1970s, Doctors Without Borders has adhered to the fundamental principle that all disaster victims, whether the disaster is natural or human in origin, have a right to professional assistance given as quickly and as efficiently as possible," the committee said.

Sensex plunges

22MUMBAI: Equities virtu4ally collapsed sending the benchmark index down by over 191 points today on panic selling triggered by market speculation that the BSE authorities had advised some of its big operators to reduce their outstanding positions. A official denial later by the BSE authorities, however, failed to stem the rot, as share continued to bear the brunt of the selling by weak operators.

Yadavs snap ties

PATNA: Samajwadi Party presidentMulayam Singh Yadav on Friday snapped ties with the RJD of Laloo Prasad Yadav, terming the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha `irrelevant'. He said the SP would now target Bihar after its resounding victory in recently-concluded Lok Sabha poll in UP.

Chandraswami case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today issued notice to CBI on a petition filed by self-styled godman Chandraswami, prime accused in the one lakh dollar Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case, seeking permission to go abroad to get medical treatment.

A division bench issued the notice after Chandraswami's counsel contended that as recording of most of the evidence had taken place, his client be permitted to go abroad to get the much needed medical treatment.

16 killed in Kashmir blast

SRINAGAR: Four security personnel were among 16 people killed in different militancy-related activities in the Kashmir valley, even as a powerful blast rocked the summer capital last evening, official sources said.

They said the blast occurred when militantstriggered off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), that was put in a three-wheeler at Nundrashi Colony in Bemina area of Srinagar, when an army vehicle plied close to it, killing two jawans on the spot and injuring seven, including five pedestrians.

Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the blast which was heard within a radius of three kms, the sources said.

Drugs haul in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi police have seized drugs worth crores of rupees in two different cases and arrested one woman in this connection, police sources said here on Friday.

The sources said acting on a tip-off, the Anti-Narcotic Department arrested a woman, Rajni, and recovered seven kgs of smack near Kadkaddoma in east Delhi. The cost of the seized contraband has been put at Rs seven crore in the international market.

In another case, four kg of heroin was recovered from a locked hotel room in North district.

Anti-government protests in Indonesia

JAKARTA: Riot police stormed acollege campus and flushed out student protesters with tear gas and beat them with batons today in a new wave of anti-government demonstrations that rocked downtown Jakarta.

Protesters set fire to vehicles, threw rocks and gasoline bombs and blocked the main road of the business district.

Ambulance officers at the scene said at least 20 people had been injured.About 5,000 protesters clashed with hundreds of riot police and troops under an overpass not far from the parliament and adjacent to Atmajaya University.University officials had closed the college down on Thursday in an attempt to prevent trouble.