Sunday, May 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Pak PM Jamali invites Vajpayee
Islamabad, May 3
Responding to India’s peace initiatives, premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali today formally invited Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to visit Pakistan and promised to announce confidence building measures to promote peace and security in the region.

Pakistan MPs to visit India
World page: First trade, then J&K: Pak

PM sends diplomatic reply
New Delhi, May 3
In a day of fast-paced developments, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today sent a diplomatic reply to his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s letter inviting him to Pakistan in which Mr Vajpayee neither accepted nor rejected the invitation but reaffirmed India’s commitment to improve relations with Islamabad.
In video (28k, 56k)

Nation page: CPI welcomes PM’s peace-making effort
J&K page: Friendly ties to benefit J&K: CM
Sports page: ‘Positive signals’ from govt

Pak press cautiously hails Vajpayee’s move
Islamabad, May 3
Reacting cautiously to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s decision to restore full diplomatic ties with Islamabad on a reciprocal basis, the Pakistani Press said today that the real issue was whether the two premiers would pick up the thread from the failed Agra Summit.

Russia hails peace move by India
Moscow, May 3
Russia today welcomed India’s decision to appoint a High Commissioner to Islamabad and restore civil aviation links with Pakistan.

Cong men return disappointed
Reasi (Udhampur), May 3
Hundreds of Congress activists from various parts of the region returned disappointed as Ms Sonia Gandhi had to cancel her visit here today because of poor visibility caused due to a dust storm.

A man, who had come to Reasi to listen to Ms Sonia Gandhi on Saturday, sleeps at the venue of the public meeting as her visit was cancelled due to poor visibility.  — Photo Sarabjit Singh

Punjab may hike bus fares
Chandigarh, May 3
The Punjab Government is considering a proposal for a 10 per cent hike in bus fares in the state. The hike in bus fares is regarded as a politically sensitive issue. Therefore, the government is taking its own time to examine all aspects of the proposal.

Non-bailable warrant against Khatri, Khattar
New Delhi, May 3
A Delhi court today issued non-bailable arrest warrant against absconding hotelier Vinod Khatri, charged with bribing former High Court Judge Shamit Mukherjee to pass a judgement in his favour.

Two Lashkar camps busted
Mumbai, May 3
The police busted two terrorist training camps backed by militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba and seized a huge hidden reserve of lethal weapons, including four Kalashnikov assault rifles and dangerous chemicals, during operations on the outskirts of the city in the past two days.

AIDS claims 17 lives Ropar, May 3 The apprehensions about the threat posed by the AIDS virus seem to be coming true. Although the Health Department of the state has claimed that Ropar is an AIDS-free district, an NGO working on the AIDS awareness programme in Anandpur Sahib block has recorded 17 deaths due to the virus in the current year.