Saturday, March 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Fresh raids rock Baghdad
Saddam fidayeen newest threat for allies

Kuwait City, March 28 The America-led coalition forces were forced to change their strategy yet again in the face of a formidable foe — Saddam fidayeen — even as the US bombers carried out their heaviest bombing on Baghdad today. In video (28k, 56k)	DAY 9 HIGHLIGHTS American forces drop two 4700-pound bombs on Baghdad communication tower. First humanitarian aid shipment reaches Umm Qasr in southern Iraq with 300 tonnes of food and water. 1,000 US paratroopers, who opened the second front in northern Iraq yesterday, consolidate their position for the final push to Baghdad.
Graphic:  War Update India, Russia call for settlement of Iraq crisis World page: Removing Saddam difficult: Blair US envoy walks out of UN Security Council meeting Iraq denies executing UK soldiers

A missile hits a palace of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during an air strike in Baghdad on Thursday. A barrage of explosions battered central Baghdad late on Thursday, lighting up the sky and sparking a large fire on the west bank of the Tigris river, where several ministries and military compounds are located. — Reuters photo

Anti-war protesters lathi-charged
Srinagar, March 28
While life came to grinding halt across the Kashmir valley, the police lobbed tear-gas shells and cane-charged demonstrators here who were protesting against the US invasion of Iraq. Today’s general strike for the second consecutive day was in response to a call given by a militant outfit, the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, and the local unit of the J&K High Court Bar Association.

Decision on EPF rate deferred
Amnesty move for defaulting employers
New Delhi, March 28
The Employees Provident Fund Board today deferred a decision on lowering the current interest rate, rejecting Finance Ministry’s proposal to cut the rate by 1 per cent, while the Labour Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, opposed any reduction in it from 9.5 per cent now.

Nanakshahi Calendar gets the nod
Amritsar, March 28
The draft of Nanakshahi Calendar that generated considerable controversy and debate was approved unanimously at a marathon meeting presided over by Akal Takht Jathedar and attended by all other Sikh organisations here today.

150 conches found in excavation
Ayodhya, March 28
At least 150 small conches, a stucco stone, a sandstone structure, pieces of bangles, a mud-stove (chulha) and some articles of glazed terracotta were found during the 13th day of excavation at the disputed site in Ayodhya today.

VAT in rough weather
New Delhi, March 28
The much-touted value-added tax has run into rough weather with at least half a dozen states showing their unwillingness to implement it from April 1, which could force the Centre to defer the deadline by a few months.

Ludhiana page
Bharat bandh against VAT
NCR page
Haryana to go ahead with VAT implementation

Maimed by mine ravages on border Abohar, March 28 A team led by Dr Bal Krishan Kurve, Chairman of the Indian Institute for Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection, Nagpur, has found that a large number of children in the border areas of Fazilka and other sectors have stopped going to school due to financial constraints and domestic compulsions after three years of landmining operations.