Wednesday, December 20, 2006, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

India free to conduct nuke tests: Pranab
No to debate on 123 agreement
New Delhi, December 19
India will keep its option open to conduct nuclear tests if the situation so warrants, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared in the Rajya Sabha even as he rejected Left demand for a debate on the 123 agreement in Parliament before it is inked. In video (56k)

Editorial: PM’s assurance is welcome

US, North Korea talks inconclusive
Beijing, December 19
In an apparent sign of a rapprochement, arch-rivals North Korea and US met for the first time on the second day of the six-party talks here today on the key issue of lifting of crippling sanctions on the Stalinist state but the parleys remained inconclusive.

PM arrives in Amritsar
Amritsar, December 19
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today arrived here by a special plane which landed at the Rajasansi airport at 10.25 pm.
Punjab page: Amritsar buzzing as PM comes calling

Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, being welcomed by the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and his Cabinet colleagues in Amritsar on Tuesday night. — Photo by Rajiv Sharma

Farmers being offered lower prices for land
Chandigarh, December 19
On September 28, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had declared that "not even a single kanal" of land would be acquired for special economic zones.

Three LeT militants arrested
New Delhi, December 19
Three Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were arrested from Red Fort area here early today. The three militants — Kalam Khurshid Kuri, alias Hussain (23), Abdul Rehmat, alias Mahammad Hussain (24), and Mohammad Akbar Hussain, alias Habib (21) — all from the North-Eastern part of India, were apprehended by the special cell of the Delhi police, police sources said. Two kg of RDX, two detonators and one hand grenade were recovered from them.

In video (56k) Three Lashkar-e-Toiba militants — Mohammad Salman Khurshid, Abdul Rehman and Mohammad Akbar Hussain — arrested from the Red Fort area by the special cell of the Delhi police on Tuesday morning. — Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal

Judging judges: Bill in LS
New Delhi, December 19
To make the judiciary more accountable by arming citizens with the right to file a complaint against Supreme Court or high court judges for their misbehaviour and incapacity to perform their duty, the government today introduced the Judges Inquiry Bill in the Lok Sabha, providing for the setting up of a national judicial council to probe such complaints.

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

	PUNJAB: Amritsar buzzing as PM comes calling
	HARYANA: Villagers put up nakas on gotra issue
	HIMACHAL: Police gets six weeks to probe CPMT case
	J&K: ‘Qarra leaves Cabinet meeting in a huff’
	CHANDIGARH:  Poll on roll: Finally, the D-day
	LUDHIANA: Big fish let loose, claim staff
	DELHI: Quantum of sentence to be pronounced today
	OPINIONS: PM’s assurance is welcome
	BUSINESS: Govt upbeat on GDP growth
	NATION: N-deal debate: PMO, MEA differ on choice of speakers
	WORLD: N-deal: final pact may take 6 months
	SPORTS: Bridging gap!

In Jalandhar Plus today

A memorial for Gadar movement

In Amritsar Plus today

Save Virsa Bhawan

In Himachal Plus today

Beauty and the Chemical Beast

Work on Chandigarh airport from next year
Chandigarh, December 19
A member of the Rajya Sabha from Haryana, Mr Tarlochan Singh, said the issue of the expansion of Chandigarh airport was raised today by him at a meeting of the Parliament Committee on Civil Aviation.

Court summons Badals
Ropar, December 19
The Special Court Judge, Ropar, Mr G.S. Saran, today issued a notice to the former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, his son, SAD general secretary Sukhbir Badal, and others to appear before the court on December 23 in a corruption case registered against them by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

Halwara airport: Issue stuck in MoD New Delhi, December 19 Punjab's dream for an international airport in Ludhiana (Halwara) would take much longer to realise than the state was expecting as the proposal is stuck with the Ministry of Defence particularly with the Indian Air Force.