Saturday, May 19, 2007, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Fresh advisories to Punjab, Haryana Shops shut Editorial: Isolate militants 'Dera Sacha Sauda' open to talks. In video (56k)

Calm returns to Salabatpura
Salabatpura (Bathinda), May 18
A day after thousands of Sikhs surrounded the Salabatpura branch of Dera Sacha Sauda threatening to attack the same, the situation was brought under control after paramilitary forces where deployed in the village.

Dera wants Makkar arrested

Hyderabad mosque blast kills 9
Hyderabad, May 18
Nine persons were killed and 50 injured in a bomb blast inside the historic Mecca Masjid here during the Friday prayers. Another three were killed in a police firing to control a mob, which indulged in pelting policemen with stones after the blast.

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

1857 The First Challenge Special supplement to mark the 150th anniversary of India’s first War of Independence.

Nation page: Blast caused by crude bomb: Patil

Mumbai tense after blast

PM hopeful Indo-US nuclear deal will be clinched
New Delhi, May 18
Emphasising that serious negotiations are on between India and US to implement the civilian nuclear deal between the two countries, Prime Minister Manmohan today hoped that the two sides would be able to eventually clinch the 123 bilateral agreement.

City Centre Scam
Chahal paid kickbacks: VB
Ludhiana, May 18
The name of Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, high profile media advisor to former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has propped up in the multi-crore City Centre Scam with the Vigilance Bureau recording the statement of two persons, who claimed that Chahal took kickbacks in this and other mega projects and sent the amount abroad through his trusted broker, Chetan Gupta.

Some imported arms were defective, says Antony
New Delhi, May 18
Days after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India took the government to task over supply of defective equipment for armed forces, defence minister A.K. Antony today admitted that some of the hi-tech equipment purchased from abroad was defective.

IG suspended for links with criminals
Bhubaneswar, May 18
Orissa’s inspector-general of police (IGP) Sanjeev Marik was today suspended for alleged links with criminals from Bihar in the first such disciplinary action against any top officer of the state.

Pervez to shed uniform?
Islamabad, May 18
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has reportedly decided to quit as Chief of Army and run for re-election as a civilian, a prominent politician of the ruling alliance has claimed.

Three-year term for 5 in Mumbai blasts case Mumbai, May 18 The special court set up under the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Act, today began sentencing those found guilty in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. The first batch of five persons, who were found guilty under the Customs Act for aiding and abetting smuggling of explosives prior to the blasts, have been sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment. Ruksana Suleman, one of the accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, outside the special TADA court at Arthur Road jail in Mumbai on Friday. — PTI