Friday, April 18, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Talks with truckers fail
PM asks Mahajan to intervene
New Delhi, April 17
The first round of official negotiations between the agitating truckers and the Government failed to make any headway today. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has asked former Union minister and BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan to hold informal negotiations to end the stalemate.

In video: With the transporters and the government sticking to their respective stands, there seems to be no respite for the common man as the prices of essential commodities go up. (28k, 56k)

Haryana page: Truckers’ stir: special task forces formed
Ludhiana page: Big or small, truckers’ strike hits all

Transporters shout slogans at Transport Bhavan after meeting Minister of State for Transport B.C. Khanduri in New Delhi on Thursday. — PTI photo

Marine engineer brings SARS
New Delhi, April 17
The first confirmed case of SARS, that has claimed 159 lives worldwide, has been reported from India, with a marine engineer warded in a hospital in Goa.

IRB camp attacked, one dead
Jaish commander killed
Jammu, April 17
Militants killed a jawan of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) and wounded another as they again attacked the Indh village of Udhampur district last night. This is the third attack on the village in the past few days. They had massacred 14 persons, including 11 policemen, just a few days ago in this village.

Relatives and local residents mourn the death of a J&K police personnel in Srinagar on Thursday after he was killed in an  explosion at Chichloora village. — AFP photo

Two LeT militants nabbed in Thane

Chalabi aides interim leaders
Dubai, April 17
Two close associates of Mr Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress and the man tipped to be Iraq’s next leader, have been made interim leaders of Baghdad.

World page:
Syrian draft on WMD in Security Council
USA for end to UN sanctions on Iraq

Couple’s humiliation: SHO shifted
Ropar, April 17
Owing to the pressure from the villagers of Bass, the Senior Superintendent of Police at Ropar, Mr G.P.S. Bhullar, today ordered the transfer of the SHO of the Nangal police station, Mr Bhupinder Singh. Mr Varinder Deep Singh has, now, been appointed the Nangal SHO.

Earlier stories:
April 16: Cops beat up octogenarian couple
April 17: Cops didn’t listen: old couple

NC to stay away from PM’s meeting today
Srinagar, April 17
Tight security arrangements have been made in view of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit here tomorrow. Mr Vajpayee would be the first Prime Minister to address a public meeting here since the eruption of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, after a gap of more than 16 years.

Haren Pandya case: 4 held
Hyderabad, April 17
In the first arrest in the sensational Haren Pandya murder case, the CBI today nabbed four persons from Andhra Pradesh, who are said to have received arms training in Pakistan.

Pak unnerved by new Kashmiri outfit New Delhi, April 17 On the eve of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to the Kashmir valley, several Pakistani origin exiled leaders announced the formation of the International Kashmir Alliance, throwing a spanner in the Pakistani establishment.