Tuesday, April 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

US forces seize Saddam’s palace
*Troops walk unopposed in Basra
*WMD ‘cocktail’ found near Kerbala
Baghdad, April 7
The US troops took control of President Saddam Hussein’s main presidential palace in Baghdad and entered a second palace this morning, the US military said. “We have seized the main presidential palace in downtown Baghdad...There are two palaces down there and we are in both of them,” Lieut-Colonel Pete Bayer told Reuters reporter Luke Baker. In video (28k, 56k)

  Edit page: Iraq under belligerent occupation

Editorial: US double standard In video (28k, 56k) Iraqi soldiers run out of President Saddam Hussein’s palace in Baghdad on Monday as US troops take control of the main presidential palace. — Reuters photo

LS, RS adjourned over Iraq issue
New Delhi, April 7
The Budget session of Parliament resumed today, after three week of recess, amidst noisy scenes on the Iraq issue and both the Houses had to be adjourned several times during the day without transacting any business.

MiG crashes in Ambala, 13 hurt
Ambala, April 7
In less than 75 hours of a MiG-23 crash in a residential area of Mullanpur, near Ludhiana, killing five persons, another fighter aircraft, MiG-21 BIS, crashed in a populated area here this morning, leaving 13 persons injured, five of them seriously.

IAF blames civil admn Air Force officials look at the wreckage of the MiG-21, which crashed into the Vita Milk Plant Colony in Ambala City on Monday. — Tribune photo Manoj Mahajan

AJTs need of the hour
THE frequent crashes of MiG fighter aircraft into populated areas has not only made the safety record of the Indian Air Force an issue but also raised serious questions about design deficiencies in the country’s oldest war horses.

   Chandigarh page: Crash victims complain of apathy

HP hikes bus fares by 25 pc
Shimla, April 7
The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to raise the bus fares by 25 per cent with immediate effect. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today.

Bridge damaged, vehicles stranded
Manali, April 7
A large number of vehicles were stranded on the Manali-Naggar (left bank) road when a portion of the key highway bridge, about 1 km from here, was damaged this morning.

Suspected SARS case in Mumbai
Mumbai, April 7
The first case of suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome has been admitted to Kasturba Hospital in the city here. According to hospital sources, the patient, a 30-year old American woman Rebecca Railey, was admitted with SARS-like symptoms and heavy fever.

  World page: Three more die of SARS
  Nation page: Medical teams deployed at airports