S P O T L I G H T

GOVT MUST GO, SAYS CPI & CPM
New Delhi, March 15
The CPI and the CPI (M) said tonight they would not allow Parliament to function till the Vajpayee government resigned in the wake of the ‘tehelka’expose. Reacting to Defence Minister George Fernandes’s resignation,CPI (M) General Secretary H.S. Surjeet said the government’s latest move did not satisfy the Opposition parties as Mr Fernandes had chosen to defend himself in his Doordarshan address. The CPI leader, Mr J. Chittranjan, MP, said the government should step down as the resignations of Mr Fernandes and Mr Bangaru Laxman and the court of inquiry were not enough. By now, facts had proved that several other politicians belonging to the NDA coalition were involved in corrupt deals, Mr Chittranjan said. UNI

PLANE HIJACKED
Moscow, March 15
A Russian plane hijacked after taking off from Istanbul today has landed in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Vnukovo Airlines said. A spokeswoman for the airline said the plane had landed at 1810 hours Moscow time (2040 IST). The airline said it had established contact with the pilots of the jet. The plane, with 166 passengers and 12 crew on board, was bound for Moscow but was hijacked shortly after leaving Istanbul by two armed men with daggers. The men are believed to be of Chechen origin. Reuters

ROCKED BY QUAKE
New Delhi, March 15
An earthquake of moderate intensity, measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale, rocked the Car Nicobar island in the Andamans early this morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said here. An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale shook the northern half of Indonesia’s Sulawesi island early today but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. AFP