Sunday, March 31, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Foreign ultras storm Raghunath Temple

Nine killed, 19 hurt in shootout Jammu, March 30 Four civilians were among nine persons killed and 19 injured when two heavily armed militants, believed to be foreign mercenaries, stormed Raghunath Temple in the heart of the city today firing indiscriminately and exploding a grenade. Security is tightened around the temple complex after the Fidayeen attack in Jammu on Saturday. — PTI photo

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Top Al-Qaida man arrested
65 militants held in US-Pak raids
Islamabad, March 30
Al-Qaida second-in-command and close aide of Osama bin Laden, Abu Zubaida, was among 65 militants arrested in the joint US-Pakistan raids on hideouts of the terror network inside Pakistan in the past two days.

• Nation page
  Al-Qaida using Pak as transit point: George
  

Arafat under Israeli siege

Ramallah, March 30 Heavy machine-gun fire broke out early today in Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was under Israeli siege, amid intense international efforts to ease the escalating West Asia East crisis.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound comes under attack in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday. — AP/PTI photo

• World page
  Violence won’t solve West Asia crisis: Annan
  Angry Arafat slams phone down on scribe
  

Britain’s Queen Mother passes away
London, March 30
The Queen Mother, the 101-year-old mother of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, died at 1515 GMT (2045 IST) today, Buckingham Palace said. The Queen Mother, the widow of King George VI and a rock of support behind her eldest daughter Queen Elizabeth, died “peacefully in her sleep” after a period of declining health.

Commandos end jail siege
Five inmates die in operation
Chapra (Bihar) March 30
Launching a commando operation, the CRPF and Bihar Military Police today stormed the Chapra Divisional Jail here, ending its four-day-long siege by its rebellious inmates, killing at least five prisoners and injuring several others.

Talks planned on counter-terrorism
Beijing, March 30
India and China will hold the first-ever dialogue on counter-terrorism, a sensitive issue for Beijing in view of its close relations with Pakistan.

Interest on GPF cut by .5 pc
New Delhi, March 30
In a significant move towards a softer interest regime, the government today announced a cut in interest rates on Special Deposit Scheme, General Provident Fund and other deposits from 9.5 per cent to 9 per cent.

VC fails to hold Syndicate meeting
Patiala, March 30
The much-awaited Syndicate meeting of Punjabi University, which was to take up the university budget as well as a controversial agenda included by Vice-Chancellor Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia against his adversaries, could not be held yesterday with members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) blocking his entry into Guru Tegh Bahadur Hall where the meeting was to take place.

SGPC okays budget amid pandemonium Amritsar, March 30 Amid pandemonium, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee today passed its annual budget totalling Rs 190 crore at Teja Singh Samundari Hall here today.  SGPC President Kirpal Singh Badungar and members belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) stop Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra from speaking at the SGPC budget session in Amritsar on Saturday. — Photo Rajiv Sharma