Central team leaves for tsunami-hit areas
New Delhi, January 4
A central team of senior officials, consisting of three 10-member teams, today left for the tsunami-affected areas to make an on ground assessment of the damage to prepare a report for the rehabilitation and reconstruction work.
In video (28k, 56k)

Girls who survived the tsunami dry their soaked books in Port Blair on Tuesday. 
— Reuters photo

Israeli firm offers free tsunami alert system
Relief for tsunami victims
Editorial: Orphaned hopes
Nation page:
Fuel supplies to Andaman and Nicobar restored
Fishermen venture out into sea
Punjab page: Take care while donating to PM's Relief Fund
Team of doctors to leave for Tamil Nadu today

4,657 missing from Katchal island
THE latest figures provided by the Integrated Relief Command (IRC) here today reveal that roughly 77 per cent of the 6010 officially declared “missing”, a figure of 4657, are from the island of Katchal in the southern Nicobar group.

Tsunami part of ICSE syllabus
Chandigarh, January 4
The Central Board of Secondary Education is, perhaps, not aware that tsunami is already a part of the syllabus in certain schools in the country. In ICSE schools, it is a part of the chapter on earthquakes and volcanoes in the geography book of the 9th standard. In fact the chapter on earthquakes and volcanoes is quite elaborate in the course.

M.K. Narayanan assigned duties of National Security Adviser
New Delhi, January 4
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked his Special Adviser, Mr M K Narayanan, to look after the work of National Security Adviser “until further orders”.

Cong delays release of candidates’ list
BJP, INLD release first lists
Chandigarh, January 4
While the erstwhile alliance partners — the Indian National Lok Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party — have, independently of each of each other, come out with their first lists of candidates, the Congress has resorted to wait and watch policy by delaying the release of its first list till later this week.

Haryana page:
INLD retains 21 MLAs in first list
INLD, BJP announce candidates from Kalka
First list of 39 BJP candidates out
Editorial: EC’s new guidelines

MiG 21 crashes near Bikaner, pilot safe
Jaipur, January 4
In the first mishap involving an IAF aircraft this year, a MiG 21 fighter jet today crashed near Bikaner in Rajasthan.

A view of the MIG-21 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force which crashed in a farm near Bikaner on Tuesday. — PTI photo

SC moots cellphone jammers for jails New Delhi, January 4 The Supreme Court today asked the mobile phone companies to explore the feasibility of installing "jammers" in all jails across the country to prevent the use of mobile phones by prisoners.