Friday, March 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Airfield in Kurdish area occupied
Patriot intercepts Iraqi missile over Kuwait

Kuwait City, March 27 Fast forward to September 2003. The US Presidential primaries have begun but President George W Bush faces a problem in re-nomination. Mr Saddam Hussein is not only alive and kicking but continues to wield power in Iraq as President. In video (28k, 56k)

SIDELIGHTS   Americans open another front and seize a crucial airfield in the friendly Kurdish-controlled area in northern Iraq.   Violent sandstorms subside in the region, paving the way for more fierce attacks on Iraqi targets by the allied forces.   The coalition forces forced to defer a sea-borne relief operation for people in southern Iraq after discovering two mines in the shipping lanes leading to the Umm Qasr port.

Don’t touch body, father tells Modi In video (28k, 56k) Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani consoles the grief-stricken widow of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Pandya was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday. — PTI photo

20,000 VHP men court arrest
Vacate land near temples, Muslims told
New Delhi, March 27
Toughening its stand on the Ram temple issue, the VHP today included the disputed land in Ayodhya on its agenda even as an estimated 20,000 activists courted arrest on the first day of its week-long ‘satyagraha’ in the Capital to press its demand for the undisputed land for the construction of the temple there.

Release of militants put on hold
Jammu, March 27
The release of detained militants by the Mufti government has been put on hold by the Centre following a spurt in terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting of the Screening Committee scheduled here today had to be postponed indefinitely.

Pak refuses to free Indian Sikhs
Islamabad, March 27
Pakistan today refused India’s request to release a group of Indian Sikhs jailed for entering illegally from Iran, a Foreign Ministry official said.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE Fruit trees bear the brunt of harsh winter Chohal (Hoshiarpur), March 27 In a major blow to environment of the greenbelt of this area more than 60,000 matured fruit trees have completely got damaged due to extreme cold conditions that prevailed during the last phase of winter this year. A farmer inspects damage caused to mango trees in his farm at Chohal village in Hoshiarpur district. — Photo Deepak