Saturday, March 31, 2007, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Ensure quota: Parties
Chennai/Hyderabad, March 30
Political parties today stepped up pressure for implementation of the 27 per cent quota for OBCs even as the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh assemblies urged the Centre to find ways to overcome the Supreme Court verdict staying the reservation.
In video (56k)

Doctors write to Centre on Karunanidhi’s ‘attack’ on SC
New Delhi, March 30
The doctors spearheading the anti-reservation movement and who are party to a case in the supreme court today sent a letter to the government raising the issue of alleged attack by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on the supreme court and the bandh call given by him for tomorrow in the state against the yesterday’s judgement.

Nation page: DMK bandh against SC verdict today

5 labourers shot dead in J&K
No troop cut till total normalcy: Azad
Jammu, March 30
Five persons belonging to a minority community were massacred by terrorists in Thiriat village in the border district of Rajouri today.

Relatives wail as they wait for the bodies of the five labourers killed by militants in Thiriat village of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. — Tribune photo by Anand Sharma

Suicide by Chandigarh girl
TN varsity closed indefinitely
Chennai, March 30
Suicide by a Chandigarh girl, Chetna Ramachandran, a third year B.Tech student in the Annamalali University in the temple town of Chidambaram, 250 km from here, under suspicious circumstances lead to closure of the university as violence erupted within the campus.

Chandigarh page: Chetna was being stalked

HP docs call off strike
Shimla, March 30
With the government agreeing to a substantial increase in their stipend, the striking resident doctors at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) today resumed work. (Details on Himachal page)

Grave thinking
Dehra Dun, March 30
For the Christian clergy and community elders tradition should give way to pragmatism for optimum use of more than a century old cemetery here.

Pak clashes leave over 50 dead
Tank (Pakistan), March 30
More than 50 people, most of them foreigners, have been killed in clashes between Al-Qaida-linked militants and Pakistani tribesmen today, Pakistan's interior minister said.

Koirala to announce interim govt today
Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and top-brass leaders of the Maoists and seven-party alliance on Friday reached an agreement to announce a 26-member cabinet on Saturday. They have also agreed to hold a constituent assembly election by the third week of June.

Bathinda refinery hits FDI roadblock Chandigarh, March 30 With the Bathinda oil refinery project hitting another technical roadblock, the Punjab government has taken up the issue with the union government to remove all hurdles faced by what is described as the most significant oil project for giving a fillip to the wobbling economy of the state.