Monday, August 14, 2006, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

NRI son among terror suspects Pak phone intercept foiled plot
London, August 13 The teenaged son of a Muslim immigrant from India and a suspected al-Qaida leader in Britain are among the 24 persons arrested in connection with the foiled plot to blow up the US-bound planes from Britain, according to a media report here.	17-year-old Abdul Patel is the youngest terror suspect Al-Qaida leader among those arrested Call from Karachi was intercepted In video (56k)
Editorial: Threat from Al-Qaida Nation page: Countrywide alert ahead of Independence Day Delhi page: Traffic cops deployed for elaborate security on Independence Day

Be ready for unconventional war
Parliamentary Panel tells Defence Ministry
New Delhi, August 13
Amidst the climate of heightened security threat and tension between the two South Asian nuclear neighbours, a parliamentary committee has asked the Defence Ministry to be prepared for unconventional war. “Due to changing security environment the threat of non-conventional-nuclear, biological and chemical-war has increased.

India: The Tasks Ahead
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
125TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS,
INAUGURAL SESSION

Al-Qaida presence in J&K suspected
New Delhi, August 13
Intercepts of telecommunication messages between militants in Jammu and Kashmir and their mentors in Pakistan suggest that cadres of foreign terrorist group Al-Qaida are present in the Kashmir valley.

Punjab girls perform ‘gidda’ during a rehearsal in Amritsar on Sunday for the Independence Day celebrations. — AFP

New twists surface in rape case
Gaganjit Barnala gets police remand
Chandigarh, August 13
A day after Gaganjit Singh Barnala, sitting MLA from Dhuri and son of Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, was booked on the charges of rape, several new facts, or rather contradictions, have surfaced.

Punjab page: Rape case: SAD to form panel, says Dhindsa
Chandigarh page: Rape victim under surveillance
Psychology of high-profile offenders causes surprise

Man burns parents alive
Nalagarh, August 13
A man allegedly burnt alive his old parents at Jhira village, about 12 km from here on Nalagarh-Ropar road, early today. Upset over his parents’ refusal to give him a piece of land to construct his own house, Amarjeet Singh (43) allegedly set his aged parents on fire inside a cowshed of their home at around 5 a.m. today.

Cloudburst near Jubbal, 6 hurt
Jubbal (Rohru), August 13
Six labourers were injured in a flashflood in Bhagoli nullah triggered by a cloudburst on the Giri Ganga range near Jubbal in Rohru area, last evening.

Castro says he is better Havana, August 13 A Cuban newspaper today published the first photographs of Fidel Castro since his stomach surgery and the Cuban leader said he had stabilised ‘’considerably’’ but was not out of the woods. A picture released by the Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde on August 13 shows Cuban leader Fidel Castro after his gasterointestinal surgery. The Cuban leader, who turned 80 on Sunday, appeared alert and in good spirits and displayed no discernible weight loss. He was wearing a striped polo shirt rather than his customary olive fatigues. — AFP photo