Thursday, February 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Bangladesh for talks on border
stand-off
Dhaka should take back migrants: Advani
New Delhi, February 5
A forward movement took place this evening on the six-day stalemate over the tensions in New Delhi-Dhaka relations on the issue of 213 illegal Bangladeshi migrants as Dhaka conveyed its intent to send its Foreign Minister here to resolve the crisis.

Bush pays tribute to Kalpana
New York, February 5
Paying a glowing tribute to the courage and daring of India-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who was among seven space explorers killed in the Columbia shuttle tragedy, US President George W Bush said “she always wanted to reach for the stars.”

Sunita Chawla (left), mother of Kalpana Chawla, Banarsilal Chawla, father, and Jean Pierre Harrison (right), her husband, look on during a memorial service at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, on Tuesday for the seven astronauts who perished over the skies of Texas.  — AP/PTI photo

AYODHYA ISSUE
Centre asks SC to lift ban
New Delhi, February 5
Within hours of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s meeting with the Kanchi Shankaracharya, the Centre moved the Supreme Court, seeking vacation of its order banning any kind of religious activity in the 77 acres of land in Ayodhya acquired by the government after the demolition of the disputed structure in 1992.

  Nation page: Cong accuses BJP of raking up Ayodhya issue

Indian Air Force Suryakiran planes perform aerobatics on the first day of the fourth India Aero-Show in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Reuters

SC cancels order on IPS man
DIG Sharma told not to join duty
New Delhi, February 5
The Supreme Court today struck down a Punjab and Haryana High Court order allowing senior IPS officer R.K. Sharma to join as DIG in the Punjab police despite going abroad for a long time without leave being sanctioned and applying for VRS twice and withdrawing the same subsequently.

Advani rules out referendum in J&K
Singapore, February 5
Rejecting Pakistan’s insistence on a referendum in Jammu and Kashmir, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani said today that granting independence to people on religious, ethnic or regional lines would lead to disintegration of the country.

India shoots down Pak UAV
World page: 
Pak denies aiding infiltration 
India urges USA to use force on Pak

Iraq following policy of deception: Powell
United Nations, February 5
The US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations Security Council today that Iraq continues to follow a policy of denial and deception and asserted that it is not cooperating with the United Nations weapons inspectors and is hiding prohibited weapons.

  World page: Cooperate with team, Blix tells Iraq