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Merely by controlling such a strategic spot as Jiri they throw a shadow on this impoverished country's vital tourist trade

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Merely by controlling such a strategic spot as Jiri, they throw a shadow on this impoverished country's vital tourist trade.The selection of Mr Deuba as Prime Minister has, though, done something to lift the gloom that has hung over Nepal like smog on the Kathmandu valley since Crown Prince Dipendra massacred most of the royal family in a drunken rage on 1 June, before killing himself.Mr Deuba, who belongs to the liberal wing of the ruling Nepali Congress Party, has been Prime Minister once before, heading a shaky coalition for 18 months between 1995 and 1997. Soon after the Maoist insurgency first flared he tried to get negotiations going, but his government fell before the effort could bear fruit.The Maoist insurgency has cost about 1,700 lives since 1996. The startling success of the Maoists' message is a reflection of the degree to which successive governments have failed to do anything to tackle the grinding poverty in the countryside, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid that pour into Nepal every year.Amid the dramatic splendour of these enormous, thinly populated hills and valleys, foot is the only means of locomotion, man (and woman) the beast of burden; electricity, telephone and piped water or sewage just remote dreams.The state education system is pathetic: in the huge district of Solukhumbu, adjoining Dolakha, The Kathmandu Post reported yesterday that a grand total of five students passed their School Leaving Certificate exams this year.With his talk of peace, Mr Deuba has gained a breathing space. But out in the countryside there is a war for hearts and minds going on, and the Maoists are winning it.. Dodging tracer bullets, running in blind panic from mortar fire and watching in disbelief as your plane home bursts into flames is no way to end a honeymoon. But that is exactly how it was for at least eight British newlyweds yesterday when a unit of Tamil Tigers on a suicide mission brought chaos to Sri Lanka's international airport.

Dodging tracer bullets, running in blind panic from mortar fire and watching in disbelief as your plane home bursts into flames is no way to end a honeymoon. But that is exactly how it was for at least eight British newlyweds yesterday when a unit of Tamil Tigers on a suicide mission brought chaos to Sri Lanka's international airport.Almost 50 British holidaymakers were among 300 passengers trapped in crossfire between Tigers bent on destruction and Sinhalese government forces caught unawares by the Tamil separatists' pre-dawn raid on Bandaranaike airport and the military base next to it.By the time the attack was over some six hours later, 13 Tamils lay dead – many having taken their own lives– five military personnel had been killed, 12 people were wounded and 13 aircraft blown up."It was difficult to take in what was actually happening," said Martina Bellieni, 28, who married, Steven, 34, in Sri Lanka on 16 July. "One minute we were getting ready to board a flight home, the next we had tracer bullets and mortars coming at us. At one point, we were pinned down in a ditch for one and a half hours with bullets whizzing over our heads One mortar explosion came within 100 yards of us.

Quite simply, we were convinced we were going to die."The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had waited for the cover of darkness to penetrate the normally tight security around the compound. Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine-guns, mortars and light anti-tank weapons, they were probably already in position as coachloads of tourists headed to the airport 19 miles north of the capital, Colombo.Among the the holidaymakers were at least six newlyweds: Mr and Mrs Bellieni, Mr Bellieni's brother, Jimmy, and his new wife, Candice, all from London, and Shaun and Beverley Hall from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. In the skies above Sri Lanka, Scott and Leigh-Anne Murray from Moray, Scotland, were about to land for the start of their honeymoon They were all caught up in the firefight. "It was terrifying," said Mr Hall a 36-year-old pharmaceuticals worker. "We had flown in from Male in the Maldives and had a three-hour wait for our connection to London.

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