Wednesday, January 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Shimla wears a white blanket
Kasauli also has snow
Shimla, December 31
The weather god obliged the thousands of winter holiday revellers who have converged on the “queen of hills” to experience the thrill of a snowfall on New Year’s Eve. The tourists got a pleasant surprise as the snow was quite unexpected.

Weather page:
  Mercury dips as rain lashes plains

In video: Tourists flock the hill resort of Shimla to celebrate the new year. (28k, 56k) Tourists enjoy the season’s first snowfall near Shimla railway station on Tuesday. — Tribune photo Karam Singh

4 LCA squadrons likely by 2015
New Delhi, December 31
India is likely to get its first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which is being considered as one of the most advanced fighter aircraft, by 2010 with as many as four squadrons likely to be inducted into the Air Force by 2015.

Troop mobilisation high point: Padmanabhan
Says Pak unfortunate to have Pervez as Army Chief

New Delhi, December 31 Outgoing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen S. Padmanabhan said today that Pakistanis were “unfortunate” to have General Musharraf as the chief of their army. In video (28k, 56k)
The outgoing Chief of Army Staff, Gen S. Padmanabhan (right), handing over charge to his successor Gen Nirmal Chandra Vij in New Delhi on Tuesday. — PTI photo Editorial:   Nuclear chicanery Nation page:   When clouds of nuclear war hovered over India   Troops’ endless wait for nod from Delhi

Pak planes trespass into Poonch area
Jammu, December 31
Two Pakistani UAVs today violated Indian air space from across the Mendhar sector in Poonch. Defence Ministry sources said that while one Pakistani UAV intruded into Indian skies from across Mendhar and hovered over the area for a minute or so at 12.15 p.m. another UAV was spotted at 1.37 p.m.

Mobile telephony price war hots up Chandigarh, December 31 As the New Year dawns, the customer is set to become an even bigger king of all he surveys in the field of mobile telephony. With Spice, Airtel, Connect, BSNL’s Excel and Cellone, Reliance Infocomm with Tata Indicom too looming large on the horizon, a fierce tariff war has broken out among the mobile telecom players, the like of which has not been seen in the country before.