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THE NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS

Pakistan conducts another nuclear test
The latest test blast, believed to be about 18 kilotons or slightly smaller than the Hiroshima bomb, follows five nuclear tests that Pakistan conducted on Thursday. Though the blasts are being seen as a bid to overtake New Delhi in the nuclear tests race, India was not perturbed and expressed its willing to hold talks with Islamabad. "Our nuclear programme is not Pakistan-centric, even though their nuclear programme may be India-centric," said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh.

Blasts blow up Indo-Pak peace initiative
''But the real danger is if Islamabad links its nuclear capability with its support to terrorist and mercenary activities in Kashmir," said a senior official of India's external affairs ministry.

India will not go back on moratorium
Saturday's nuclear test by Pakistan evoked no concern in the defence ministry with officials pointing out that the country's security concerns were being attended to and nothing was being left to chance.

No more tests: President
"When we have co-existed for 30 years with China as a nuclear state, we can continue to do so even when we, too, are one... This is not an anti-China weapon," the President, a former ambassador to China, said.

Pakistan promises to match any Indian threat with ''vengeance''
There was no offer of a testing moratorium from Pakistan Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub, despite India's self-declared moratorium after its second round of nuclear tests on May 13. This seemed to lend some credibility to speculation that Pakistan may be planning another set of underground nuclear tests.

'India wants friendship with Pakistan. India wants to be a good neighbour'
Prime Minister A B Vajpayee said that the Indian nuclear device was not a weapon of aggression, and it would never enter another country to disturb peace.

Pak tests highlight failure of Clinton's non-proliferation policy: US congressman
Expressing ''serious concern'' over China's role in developing Pakistan's nuclear programme, Democratic congressman Frank Pallone stressed the need for the US and the international community to develop new approaches to ensure stability in South Asia.

'By acquiring nuclear capability we can exert our influence more effectively in bringing about disarmanent'
'We are keen, and indeed determined, to go along this process of dialogue, reconciliation and co-operation with China even further than hitherto.' President K R Narayanan casts fresh light on the nuclear crisis in South Asia.

No arms race in the region: Krishan Kant
The vice-president expressed his optimism after analysing the situation.

'India and Pakistan need skillful diplomacy'
'We should send special emissaries to Pakistan. We have very competent diplomats -- the BJP has to just give them the required instructions and our diplomats will handle the challenges. But given the BJP, I doubt the party will give such instructions,' says former Union minister K Natwar Singh.

G-8 foreign ministers to discuss N-tests
The meeting, to be held on June 12 in London, is aimed at 'coordinating the position' of the eight developed countries.

Pak conducted only one test on Thursday: experts
The experts said the announcement by the Pakistan Nuclear Energy Commission that two more nuclear tests conducted on Saturday measured five on the Richter scale with a total yield of 40 kilotons was ''subject to confirmation.''

US scrambles to restore peace in South Asia
The Clinton administration is busy evolving a strategy to ensure peace and stability in South Asia which, they say, is threatened by the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests and subsequent provocative rhetoric by their leaders.

UN urges India, Pakistan to sign arms control treaties
The Council urged all parties ''to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate steps to reduce and remove tensions between them.''

World hesitates as US, Japan, Canada slap sanctions on Pakistan
Only a few others have joined hands in imposing sanctions. Britain and the European Union are still taking a lenient view, as is much of the world.

Pak has shown no regard for world opinion, says Britain
Britain accused Pakistan of acting in "flagrant disregard'' of world opinion by conducting two more nuclear tests on Saturday, and demanded that it stop all such activities.

Emergency also meant to protect economy, says Pak finance minister
Pakistan declared a state of emergency to protect its economy against collapse and to protect its borders against India, says Sartaj Aziz.

Crippling sanctions dampen N-bomb euphoria in Pakistan
The World Bank is expected to stop aid to Pakistan, jeopardising a number of development projects launched by the government. New foreign investment will be hard to come by and some foreign investors might actually pull out.

US ambassador to return to New Delhi
However, US Ambassador to Pakistan Thomas Simons will not be recalled in protest against Islamabad's nuclear tests.

Pak may have nuke heads for M-11 missiles
Pakistan may have nuclear warheads for the M-11 missiles it bought from China several years ago.

No security threat when I stepped down: Gujral
The former prime minister said it was easy to get into a nuclear arms race. ''But, to get out, will be a tedious task.''

Deve Gowda blasts Vajpayee for dumping 'consensus'
Parliament is divided and to get its co-operation, Vajpayee should share the follow-up strategy with the Opposition as merely showing the bomb may not bring our neighbours to the negotiating table, said the former prime minister.

'Moratorium' announcement shows govt had no clue about Pak tests: Congress
Former minister of state for external affairs Salman Khursheed asked whether the government would have stuck to the moratorium had Pakistan exploded more or larger nuclear devices than those exploded at Pokhran on May 11 and 13.

Swadeshi violence against MNCs condemned
Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has condemned those indulging in violence while protesting against the economic sanctions imposed on India following the Pokharan nuclear tests. He said such incidents will not be tolerated.

Sign no-first-use agreement now, Benazir tells India, Pak
The former prime minister, who had earlier urged Nawaz Sharief to detonate the nuclear device to even the score with India or step down, said South Asia could not afford a costly arms race.

Army forces herdsmen out of Chagai hills
People living near the Pakistan nuclear test site packed their camel-skin tents and threw their few possessions on donkeys and scrambled from the region. They were forced to leave behind their goats and sheep, they said. Now they are worried about what might have happened to them.

THE REDIFF INTERVIEWS

'Pak's N-programme is more sophisticated than India's'
Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, architect of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, said Pakistan tested fission devices but was capable of testing a thermonuclear device. ''They were all boosted fission devices using uranium 235,'' he said, in an interview after the tests. ''We have been manufacturing this at Kahuta for almost 18, 19 years. The first enrichment was done on April 4, 1978. The plant was made operational in 1979 and by 1981 we were producing substantial quantities of uranium.''

'India and Pakistan have bought a certain symmetry in the world'
'Of course, there will be some heightening of tension over Kashmir. There will be the emergence of a mutual deterrent capacity. But I think in the long run the nuclear tests will stabilise Indo-Pak relations,' says former foreign secretary J N Dixit.

OTHER REPORTS

560 people die in heatwave
A merciless sun kept people weary and doctors busy in most states as the national toll rose to 560 on Saturday, with 146 more sunstroke deaths reported during the past 24 hours. Of this, Orissa alone accounted for 300 casualties as the temperature continued to hover between 40 to 50 degrees in the state.

TODAY'S COLUMNS

Ambitious, ambitious!
'Union Revenue Secretary N K Singh now hopes to be rewarded for having stopped Minister Kumar from pushing through Jaya's partisan agenda. He has also enlisted the services of a fixer-scribe who had now wormed his way into the parlour of senior BJP ministers. So do not be surprised if Singh takes over from Montek Singh Ahluwalia as the Union finance secretary at the end of the Budget session...' Capital Buzz. Political gossip from the Delhi Durbar.

Did Washington leak Vajpayee's letter to the press?
Copies of the prime minister's letter were sent to the heads of five states, including President Clinton, through the diplomatic channel. The contents were not even revealed to the Indian ambassadors in the countries concerned. But still, certain correspondents covering the White House came to know the contents within hours of its delivery to Clinton's office,' says Rajiv Shukla.

TODAY'S WEATHER

Mercury falls in Madras
Mercury came down slightly, to 42.7 degree celsius, from Friday's gruelling 44 degree celsius in Madras. However, citizens of the metropolis sweated through another day as sea breeze did not set in till evening.

MAY 30

'We are concerned at the help China is extending Pakistan'
'That help is being used against us and we hope China will keep our concern in mind. If India and China come together in peace and in friendly co-operation, it is to the benefit not just of the two countries, not just to Asia, but to the entire world." Prime Minister Vajpayee's impassioned response to the three-day parliamentary debate.

Vajpayee renews no-first-use offer to Pak
Replying to a two-day debate in the Rajya Sabha on the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan, the prime minister said, ''We do not want ill of Pakistan. I want to remove doubts that we want to destroy Pakistan,'' he said.

India's N-tests hit diplomatic, defence ties
A hostile public mood against India in Australia has forced New Delhi to shelve the visit of a 10-member parliamentary delegation to that country. India has already cancelled high-level defence visits to the United States, Britain and Australia -- the three nations that severely protested against the Indian nuclear tests.

President confident of amity in region
K R Narayanan takes a different tack from his government in Nepal.

Fernandes blasts "India specific" Pak tests
Yield only 10 kilotons, says the defence minister.

It is now Gohar's turn to rattle sabres
The Pakistan foreign minister declared his nation as a nuclear weapons state and vowed to retaliate to any attack from its neighbour with a ''vengeance''. ''We have an active programme... We have nuclear weapons,'' he said. "We have an advanced missiles programme.''

Pak preparing for more tests: US intelligence
Spy satellites surveying a second test site in Pakistan saw signs of the same kind of activity spotted 48 hours before Thursday's underground test blasts in Chagai hills, an official said.

'It is extremely curious, isn't it, that no technical details regarding these tests have been released?'
'The outcome of the actions over the last few weeks is that both India and Pakistan are now declared nuclear powers. They will now have to take a cautious, careful approach about each other. They do not have the liberty of going off the handle any more.' Former foreign secretary S K Singh on Pakistan's nuclear tests.

Western experts sceptical of Pak claims
Pakistan's claim to have tested five nuclear weapons on Thursday was greeted with scepticism among military and intelligence analysts in Washington, who said they had detected a single, relatively weak seismic signal emanating form Pakistan's test site.

Pak bomb righted balance: Indian analysts
"It is the end of the NPT and hopefully it is the beginning of disarmament. Don't think that India and Pakistan are foolish enough to fire nuclear missiles at Islamabad and New Delhi," said Air Commodore Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, India's premier defence think-tank.

Despite the deja vu, American policy-makers stunned by Pak tests
The debate, in the end, returns to the India-US relationship. Asks one expert, "How in the world would anyone reasonably think that the US could stop the Pakistani effort to test in the last two weeks when for over forty years the US has gotten it all wrong with India? India is the key to South Asia. So how could anyone expect in two weeks that we would bring Pakistan around? When you get down to the last two weeks of a 50-year game that you've been playing stupidly for 50 years, it's hard to fix!"

For Cold War players, it is action-replay time
The United States and the former Soviet Union amassed nuclear arsenals of far greater destructive potential than India or Pakistan would contemplate. But Washington and Moscow had superior command and control of their weapons, and, unlike India and Pakistan, they had no history of mutual hatred. "The Indian and Pakistani tests bring the possibility of actual use of nuclear weapons closer than at any time since 1945,'' said Jonathan Dean of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

US carrots and sticks failed to contain Pak
Pakistan expected a proposal from the United States to offer assistance with advanced computer simulations of atomic explosions being used by the US in the post-testing era. However, US officials said this was out of the question as US laws and international treaty obligations limit what Washington can offer.

Clinton, Yeltsin to stay in close touch
In a telephone call meant as an update on Russian economic reforms, the two leaders discussed "the seriousness of the situation'' with Pakistan's nuclear tests and concerns about a nuclear arms race in the Asian subcontinent, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.

US betrays pro-Pak tilt
The United States displayed a distinct sympathy for Pakistan despite its nuclear tests, with everyone from President Clinton and White House spokesman Michael McCurry to former secretary of state Henry Kissinger expressing an understanding of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's dilemma.

Britain to withdraw envoy to Pakistan
Britain announced that it would withdraw its high commissioner to Pakistan immediately and scale down military co-operation with that country.

Germany freezes aid to Pakistan
German Development Aid Minister Carl-Dieter Spranger announced that Bonn had frozen its aid programme to Pakistan. Last year, Germany supplied Pakistan with 72 million marks (40 million dollars) of aid, half of which was in the form of non-repayable grants. Germany has provided Pakistan with a total of 5.7 billion marks in aid during the past decades.

NATO condemns Pak N-tests
Holland, Canada halt aid to Pakistan.

EU flays Pakistani N-tests
European diplomats say Europe's response to the Pakistani move is likely to be very similar to its reaction to the Indian tests. "We can't be tougher on Pakistan, but you have to remember that Pakistan is a smaller country and that the European measures will have more of an impact," one diplomat warned.

Pak bomb threat to Israel: Moynihan
Egypt says N-tests make mockery of NPT.

Banks remain closed in Pakistan
Financial experts said the move appeared to be an attempt to pre-empt a run on the banks, the foreign currency accounts in particular, following the imposition of sanctions.

Pakistan is gripped by Friday spirit
An opposition alliance comprising the Pakistan Peoples' Party and the religious-political Jamaat-e-Islami has announced separate pro-test rallies after Friday prayers.

'It will be difficult to resume meaningful talks for another two-three months'
'India has already specified that it is against the use of nuclear weapons. Now that Pakistan has conducted these tests, I am sure it will be more serious about discussing things with India because now it has fresh confidence in itself after these tests,' former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey on Pakistan's nuclear tests.

Mulayam seeks Vajpayee's resignation
The Congress Working Committee called upon the government to deal with the emerging scenario with responsiblity, maturity and restraint.

Thackeray accuses US of using Pak to trip India
The Shiv Sena chief accused America of creating war-like situations at strategic points and not on their own ground.

Greenpeace International urges India, Pak to sign CTBT
The organisation held the Big 5 responsible for triggering the nuclear arms race in South Asia.

THE REDIFF INTERVIEW

'Each crisis from now on will have a nuclear edge'
'Defusing the tension will require immediate steps by India and Pakistan. This could include declarations to carry out no more nuclear tests and not to deploy nuclear weapons, grounding all military aircraft for a fixed period and restricting all troops to their bases,' says South Asia expert Zia Mian.

OTHER REPORTS

Double impact: Trinamul suspends support, BJD boycotts railway budget
Two of the BJP government's props in the Lok Sabha, the Trinamul Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, have served notice. The former, over the Centre's refusal to take action in West Bengal, and the latter, over the non-allocation of funds for Orissa in the railway budget.

Big lead for Left in Bengal panchayat polls
The Communists maintained a sizeable lead over their main rival, the Trinamul Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party combine. Of about 12,850 seats declared so far, the Left won 7,500.

TODAY'S COLUMNS

Husain and the myth of Hindu tolerance
'To me, Husain has not done the right thing by his apology. I would have felt much happier if he, instead of allowing his artistic freedom to be circumscribed by lumpen, had chosen to walk out of the country. After all, India has not done Husain proud, Husain has done India proud. And today, when the country of his origins, of his art, of his muse, has turned its back on him, what principle is he holding on to by suffering such humiliation where the chief of a film federation openly threatens that he will strip Husain in public if he does not apologise for Sita Revisited?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.

But we do need a morals havaldar!
'Plenty of women would gladly take up the cause of self-expression against Mr Navalkar and his ilk, but plenty more end up being judged by the shapes of their bodies and the accessibility of their private parts. At least a few of them are bound to resent that. Nor should we overlook the sultanas of bimbo-chicdom who occasionally learn what date-rape is, or find out that unexpected pregnancies are complicating and quickly restore one's senses, albeit shockingly,' says Ashwin Mahesh.



Maharashtra: Ready to face Srikrishna's adverse remarks, says Thackeray

Maharashtra: Ganesh Naik will be punished at appropriate time, says Joshi

Tamil Nadu: DMK, TMC tensions spill over again




• Delhi Bar body bans Pepsi, Coke
In response to sanctions imposed on India by the United States, the Delhi High Court Bar Association has imposed sanctions of its own. Thus, high court canteens will henceforth serve only the desi Campa Cola, while barring both Coke and Pepsi from being served.


TODAY'S WEATHER

Heatwave claims 45 more victims in Rajasthan
The death toll in the state touches 188.

MAY 29

THE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION

Pakistan tests five nuclear devices
At 1523 hours Pakistan time (1553 hours IST), Pakistan test-fired five nuclear devices at its testing site in the Chagai Hills, in eastern Baluchistan.

Pak ready to arm Ghauri, says PM
''The long-range Ghauri missile is already being capped with the nuclear warheads to give a befitting reply to any misadventure by the enemy,'' a Pakistani statement said.

Pak N-tests created 'new situation': PM
The prime minister said he has already promised the Lok Sabha that all facts regarding Pakistan's tests would be collected and laid before the House when it reassembles on Friday.

Pak ready now for no-aggression pact, says minister
"After the nuclear testing, India will have to consider Pakistan at par," said Information Minister Mushaid Hussain.

Army chief punches holes in Pak war hysteria
Chief of Army Staff, General V P Malik said the loud talk by Pakistan about an Indian attack was 'a totally disinformation campaign'.

Pakistan fears Indian attack on N-installations
Pakistan summoned Indian envoy Satish Chandra at 0100 hours. He was asked to inform New Delhi that Islamabad was fully prepared to ward off an attack against its nuclear installations. The consequences of such a course of action by India will be grave, he was warned.

Pak spreading canards about attack on N-plants: India
The allegation is "'utterly absurd and malicious'', India's high commissioner in Islamabad told Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed.

In the end it boiled down to the fear of annihilation
Talking about the American's negotiations, okay, so you can offer me a carrot and some money, but when it comes to our security, we will have to look after it ourselves. We are already under nuclear sanctions because they think we have developed a nuclear bomb. As for their security guarantee, which American would like to die for Pakistan? Imran Aslam, editor of The News, Karachi, in an incisive analysis of his country's action.

'Nawaz Sharief had no choice'
The prime minister bowed to pressure from within, says Tanvir Ahmed, assistant editor of the Dawn newspaper.

Defence sources say China's hand is evident in Pak tests
"It is quite apparent that the kits for the tests pertaining to nuclear devices were made available by China much earlier, sometime in mid-1995," top defence officials said.

Indian scientists say they expected Pak N-tests
"Like we feel we need a nuclear bomb for our security, they felt it was required for theirs."

Nuclear race possible in south Asia
By testing ten nuclear devices in 17 days, India and Pakistan have lifted the veil on their military capabilities and unleashed the spectre of a nuclear arms race in south Asia.

BJP readies for flak on triggering off N-race
BJP leaders hope to counter the Opposition and the anti-nuclear lobby's attack by pointing to Pakistan's ability to conduct nuclear tests within a fortnight of the Indian tests.

US brushes aside no-first-use offer, sets three conditions for India
Washington wants India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without condition. And avoid weaponisation and deployment of ballistic missiles, to ''put itself back on the road of good international standing''. State department spokesman James Rubin, however, clarified that there was no provision for removal of sanctions.

Clinton's visit to India uncertain
Washington yet to decide on its ambassador's return to India.

BJP's allies not consulted before blasts, says Barnala
The chemicals and fertilisers minister, however, justified the government's action, saying that such acts of international importance deserve utmost secrecy.

A Ghauri Strike
Seven minutes after Pakistan's Ghauri missile is fired from Lahore at Delhi, it will hit the capital and kill 9,000,000 people. Outlook correspondents Aniruddha Bahal and Krishna Prasad outline the terrifying prospects of a nuclear catastrophe.

Pakistan's Dr Strangelove
"I want to question the bloody holier than thou attitudes of the Americans and the British. These bastards are God-appointed guardians of the world, to stockpile hundreds of thousands of nuclear warheads, and have the God-given authority to carry out explosions every month. But if we start a modest programme, we are the Satans, devils, and all the journalists consider it a crusade to publish fabricated and malicious stories." The shadowy world of Dr A Q Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear programme.

Natwar Singh blasts Advani, Fernandes
That the Congress, after some initial confusion, has crystallised its stance on the recent nuclear explosions in Pokhran became evident when its leader spoke in Parliament.

IISc denies any involvement in nuclear project
The Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science, the premier research institute in the country, has categorically denied press reports that its Supercomputer Education and Research Centre and other facilities were utilised for nuclear weapons research.

OTHER REPORTS

Summer death toll reaches 309
With 86 more deaths reported in the past 24 hours, the nationwide toll due to heatwave this summer has gone up to 309. Thirty-five people died in Orissa while Rajasthan accounted for 35 deaths overnight.

Fernandes focuses again on threat from China
India's defence policy must take into account the complex regional security environment, and in particular China's nuclear weapon and missile capability, the defence minister told the Lok Sabha.

Pak proxy war will be defeated without war, Advani tells RS
The government on Thursday expressed its determination to ''defeat the Pakistani proxy war'' in Jammu and Kashmir without going in for direct military confrontation.

Advani has no right to rule: Kanshi
Alleging that the home minister's statement on Wednesday's BSP rally was a 'bundle of lies', the BSP chief called him a sharnarthi (refugee) from Pakistan.

Four killed in West Bengal polls
Two people were killed in a bomb explosion at Bamangram in Malda district. The bomb exploded when being assembled in the house of a Congress candidate, said IGP Prasun Mukherjee. Two more deaths, in another bomb explosion, were reported from Bhatar in Burdwan district.

TDP enclave rules out joining out Vajpayee ministry
A political resolution adopted at the two-day mini mahanadu of the TDP in Hyderabad, however, reiterated that it would continue to extend issue-based support to the BJP-led coalition government.

TODAY'S COLUMNS

Cop Land
'Popular cinema has fed the practical principle of the ends justifying the means for far too long to the silent majority for it to take an evil view of police encounters anymore. They'd rather see crime drop than TADA flop. But that's too much to ask when the issue is cunningly communalised,' says Varsha Bhosle.

It's politics as usual!
'When the Vajpayee ministry assumed office, Opposition parties sniggered the AIADMK tail would wag the dog. However the heads of the BJP have proved otherwise. This government didn't come to power because voters didn't like the faces of Congress or United Front leaders. No, the Vajpayee ministry took office to provide a clean break from the past, including cronyism and special favours. Whatever the fate of the US sanctions, it should not be ''business as usual'' elsewhere,' says T V R Shenoy.



Orissa: Patnaik accuses Orissa government of scam cover-up


TODAY'S WEATHER

Rajasthan records 35 more deaths
Mercury further soared to touch the 50 degree celsius mark in Rajasthan where 35 heat-related deaths were reported overnight, taking the death toll in the fortnight-long heatwave to 143.

MAY 28

THE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION

'India is today a nuclear weapons state. This is a reality that cannot be denied'
Prime Minister A B Vajpayee reiterated in Parliament that security, not political compulsions, prompted the nuclear tests.

This government has no mandate to decide on N-weaponisation, says Chidambaram
Saying that the talk of weaponisation had put India on a perilous path, the former finance minister minced no words in telling Vajpayee, ''Mr Prime Minister, your case is unconvincing. ''

Chandra Shekhar urges government to restrain machismo
The former prime minister told the Lok Sabha that the nuclear bomb would in no way reduce threats to the country's security, and warned that major problems would be in store for the continent if an arms race is triggered by Pokhran II.

VHP to rope in Buddhist monks from Nepal for Shaktipeeth project
Top VHP leaders have written a letter to the King of Nepal, Birendra Bir Vikram Shah, seeking his permission to organise a unity meeting of Hindus and Buddhists in Lumbini in Nepal, as a precursor to building the controversial Shakti temple at the Indian nuclear test site.

Pak refutes reports of nuclear test, tells US it is disinformation
Pakistan has assured the Clinton administration that it has not yet taken any final decision to test a nuclear device even as US intelligence agencies maintain that Islamabad is on the verge of undertaking such a step and that it may come any time.

Analysts debate efficacy of tests, signing the CTBT
Former United Nations under secretary-general C V Narasimhan advocated India signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, while Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor S Gurumurthy differed with him.

OTHER REPORTS

Cabinet okays extradition treaty with UAE
The government hopes that with the decision, it will be easier to extradite Indian fugitives from the Emirates. However, the chances of extraditing gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, wanted in connection with the Bombay blasts of 1993, are virtually non-existent, since they are not resident in the UAE.

Kalyan bewilders critics by turning a friend of Muslims
When the Uttar Pradesh chief minister conceded the Muslims's demand for taking out religious processions, his critics said it was just a gimmick. Today, the minorities are slowly veering around to the view that maybe they have read him wrong. But strangely, the government is content to let this achievement go unnoticed.

Kalyan Singh has a close shave
A bomb was recovered a few hours after his departure from the Varanasi Circuit House.

Mayawati, Opposition flay BJP for 'anti-dalit' policies
Bahujan Samaj Party members, with the support of the entire Opposition in the Lok Sabha, sharply attacked the BJP.

17 cops, 8 BSP demonstrators hurt in clash
Kanshi Ram was arrested after a 2,000-strong BSP mob ran amok, insisting that they take a route of their choosing to Parliament.

Veerappan goes kidnapping again
The sandalwood smuggler, in a fresh offensive, kidnapped four people, including two professors, early on Tuesday.

Centre, Bodo rebels, Assam government agree to keep talking
The silver lining to the home ministry's two-day tripartite talks, which ended on Tuesday, is that the leaders have agreed to meet again after the current Budget session.

Laloo asks government to probe construction of Ram temple by VHP
The former Bihar chief minister sought an inquiry into reports that the Ayodhya temple pillars are being assembled at Lucknow and Jaipur.

NCW team meets gang-rape victim
The team also questioned three witnesses about the alleged second gang-rape of the 27-year-old girl who was earlier gang-raped in a hostel room in the Rajasthan University campus in Jaipur.

RS adjourned
The Upper House mourns the death of Gyan Ranjan on the opening day of the Budget session.

Minoo Masani dead
The veteran freedom fighter, reputed parliamentarian and founder member of the Swatantra Party, died of old age at his residence in south Bombay on Wednesday afternoon.

Woman injured in Pak firing
Tension mounted due to firing from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector. Elsewhere in the state, three militants were among the five killed in the past 24 hours.

The case of the hardworking doc
Dr Jagdeep Hussain charged the British National Health Service 100,000 pounds for night visits, 100 times what an average doctor earns and 10 per cent of what all doctors earn in his area. The NHS is investigating the matter now.

Govt assistance to all farmers affected by crop failure
The Union government has decided to direct the Reserve Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to provide assistance, on the pattern of that given in Andhra Pradesh.

THE REDIFF SPECIAL

Why we need to change our Constitution
'I would like to affirm with all the emphasis at my command that the Commission for Constitutional Review contemplated by the present government will be required not to tinker with the essential ingredients of the present Constitution,' says L K Advani.

TODAY'S COLUMN

The China Syndrome
'For China to bomb the entire Gangetic belt with its missiles located in Tibet is a matter of a few hundred miles. This means to effectively threaten China's eastern coast and major cities, India needs a military capability able to strike thousands of miles away,' says Amberish K Diwanji.



TODAY'S WEATHER

Summer death toll reaches 223
With 48 more deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the national toll due to sunstroke this summer has gone up to 223. Twentyfive people died in Orissa while Rajasthan accounted for 20 more deaths.

MAY 27

THE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION

BJP leaders are singing different tunes about nuclear tests, charges Sonia
In her first extensive interaction with the national media, the Congress president said the different voices with which the BJP government was speaking on the nuclear tests made her party apprehensive. Earlier, her address to the Congress Parliamentary Party made it evident that her party would not allow the BJP to get off lightly over the recent nuclear tests.

Without weaponisation, going nuclear makes no sense, says Fernandes
The defence minister has, for the first time since the five nuclear tests in Pokhran, openly supported the idea of inducting nuclear weapons in the Indian armed forces.

Parliament to discuss N-tests fallout threadbare
Prime Minister A B Vajpayee will make a suo motu statement on the nuclear tests in the Lok Sabha soon after question hour at 1200 hours and in the Rajya Sabha at 1400 hours on Wednesday. He will reply to the discussion on May 28, in the Lok Sabha at 1600 hours and in the Rajya Sabha an hour later.

R Venkataraman praises Vajpayee for N-tests
Prime ministers are dime a dozen, they come and go, unwept, unsung, but you will be indelible in the nation's memory, the former president said in his letter to Vajpayee.

Why the CIA could not detect Pokhran plans
It was the Central Intelligence Agency's failure to recruit local spies that let Vajpayee go about his game quietly. "They (Indians) have turned their country into an almost denied area and their nuclear weapons programme has never been penetrated,'' a retired CIA official said.

Nuclear blasts shake China out of its splendid isolation
Decisions made in the wake of India's explosive arrival as a nuclear power this month mark a tentative step in China's nascent effort to emerge as a responsible global partner. But they also show China is not ready to forego its go-it-alone foreign policy for the unknown rewards of internationalism.

Russia against N-tests by India and Pakistan
Russia opposes any more nuclear tests by India and possible tests in Pakistan, its presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky has said.

OTHER REPORTS

Congress alleges BJP is secretly building temple in Ayodhya
Party spokesman Salman Khurshid said the BJP, along with other constituents of the Sangh Parivar, is 'defying court orders' in the Ayodhya issue and 'clandestinely' trying to build a temple there.

Centre hopeful of convincing Jaya on power bill
While remaining non-committal whether the bill would be tabled in the Budget session of Parliament, Pramod Mahajan, political advisor to the prime minister, said, ''We value the AIADMK as our major ally, and things could be sorted out through mutual consultations.''

Assam gives in, agrees to expand BAC area
The tripartite talks on the Bodo problem have succeeded in narrowing down differences between the government and Bodo leaders, and may pave the way for the restoration of peace and economic development in militancy-hit Assam.

TN government tables anti-terrorism bill
The bill is more or less on the lines of the now-repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

ED arrests ex-minister for FERA violation
Bureaucrat-turned-politician S Krishna Kumar was taken into custody after five hours of interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate.

Husain apologises for Sita Rescued
The noted painter has said the controversial painting, wherein Sita was shown nude, was not intended to 'hurt or disrespect' Hindu feelings.

The untold story: why India did not allow hijacked aircraft to land
In 1974, after Pokhran I, when India allowed a hijacked Pakistani aircraft to land in Amritsar, Islamabad had exploited the incident to tarnish India's image. And this time round, when Baluchi hijackers aboard a Fokker aircraft sought landing permission in India, New Delhi was quick to negative it.

NCW finds Gill guilty of gender-bias
The National Commission for Women said the decision of former Prasar Bharati chief S S Gill and director general (news), Doordarshan, Harish Awasthi, in removing six women newsreaders, was 'arbitrary and capricious'.

Kalyan Singh reads the riot act to colleagues
After facing the music from recalcitrant party leaders, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister finally did some tough talking. Shape up or ship out, was his unequivocal message to those out to trip him.

Britain to extradite urea scam accused
A main accused in the Rs 1.33 billion urea scam, A E Pinto, is likely to be extradited from Britain shortly for facing trial in New Delhi, CBI sources revealed.

TDP to seek Bharat Ratna for NTR
The Telugu Desam Party will adopt a resolution at its 'mini Mahanadu', suggesting that its founder be conferred the nation's highest civilian honour.

Congress would have made the difference to DMK-TMC in 13 Lok Sabha seats
Why is the Tamil Maanila Congress cosying up to the Congress? The answer could lie in the victory margins in the recent general elections, in which the Congress could have tilted the scales in one-third of the seats in Tamil Nadu.

Bureaucracy strangling FP programmes, says expert
Demographer Ashish Bose highlighted the importance of a holistic and multi-sectoral approach towards population stabilisation and that the matter cannot be left only to the family welfare services.

THE REDIFF INTERVIEW

'Our problems are not easy. The courts. The causative factors. The jails, from which they run empires of crime'
Bombay Police Commissioner Ronnie Mendonca speaks to Pritish Nandy

TODAY'S COLUMN

Getting My Goat, Monkeying Around: Diary of a Trip
'One family sported a clutch of deep gashes on their bodies: father and daughter, on the head; mother, on her eyebrow; son, at the base of his thumb. All gashes courtesy the non-Pardhi residents of their village. Accusing the family of stealing potatoes and wheat some days before, they had broken in, razed their little house and lashed out where they could with long swords.' Dilip D'Souza on the plight of Pardhi tribals.



Maharashtra: Joshi demands separate railway zone for Bombay
Assam: Flood-hit Dhemati remains cut-off


TODAY'S WEATHER

Deaths, more sunstroke deaths
The murderous heatwave in Rajasthan claimed 21 more lives overnight, taking the death toll in the state to 86. Another two died in Tamil Nadu.

MAY 26

Advani wants strikes across LoC to quell proxy war in Kashmir
The home minister has given his nod to the J&K government and central security forces to carry out "deep strikes" into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to destroy the training camps for mercenaries and terrorists.

Heatwave will make way for normal monsoon
Even as the heatwave continues to make life miserable across the country, the meteorological department has predicted a normal monsoon this year, the 11th in succession.

BJP resents China's comment on Advani's J&K assignment
''We reiterate that we want cordial relations with both China and Pakistan. But these are possible if we understand each other correctly and do not interfere in each other's domestic issues,'' BJP vice-president K L Sharma asserted, and took strong exception to China's description of Advani as ''intransigent''. ''It is none of their business to comment like this.''

Bodo representatives discuss statehood with government
Monday's meeting, held under the chairmanship of additional secretary (home), P D Shenoy, was attended by major Bodo groups, apart from senior officials of the Assam government. Home ministry officials said the meeting, which was held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere, agreed to convene again tomorrow to further discuss the pending issues.

Music director Laxmikant dead
He was admitted to the Nanavati hospital in north-west Bombay last evening after suffering from kidney failure and died at 2.30 pm on Monday following a cardiac arrest.

Rajasthan governor Darbara Singh cremated
Death follows attack shortly after stroke at Pokhran test site.

India backs Lanka's peace effort: Sushma
I&B Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was on an official visit to Sri Lanka, conveyed the Indian government's support to its effort to resolve the ethnic crisis. Ironically, even as she issued a press release to this effect, fresh clashes between government troops and the Liberation Tigers on Monday claimed 14 rebels.

Shabir Shah floats new party, calls for tripartite talks to solve Kashmir tangle
''We will work for permanent peace. We earnestly feel that there is a serious need to review our course of action,'' separatist leader Shabir Shah said while launching his party, the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party.

Fernandes promises joint project to tackle militancy in Tripura
Top officials of the defence ministry, Union home ministry and the Tripura government will meet in New Delhi shortly to chalk out a strategy against militancy.

Bureaucracy is the stumbling block to science, says Vajpayee
In the strongest statement in favour of scientists in a long time, Prime Minister Vajpayee on Monday blamed the bureaucratic process for stymieing scientific development. He also declared May 11, when India conducted three nuclear tests, as Technology Day.

Jayalalitha asks Centre to drop power bill
All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha on Monday urged the Union government to drop the move to introduce during the budget session of Parliament, the power bill replacing the recent power ordinance, as it is "anti-farmer".

Jaya loves to keep the PM in suspense
Jayalalitha says suspense is the essence of life, when asked if she had issued a deadline to the prime minister over dismissing the Tamil Nadu government. Little does she realise, perhaps, that what's suspense for her is suspended animation for the BJP-led government in New Delhi.

Witness in Rajan Pillai case fears for his life
A key witness in the case relating to biscuit tycoon Rajan Pillai's death in police custody in July 1995 has told a New Delhi court that he apprehends danger to his life from fellow undertrials.

Summons to be served on Murdoch in obscenity case
A Delhi court has directed the service of summons on media magnate Rupert Murdoch in a complaint alleging the telecast of obscene material on his Star TV network.

Tibetan mother seeks union with condemned son
Chinese authorities are yet to decide on Sonam Dickey's plea that she be allowed to meet Ngawang Choephel, arrested on charges of espionage while videotaping villagers singing.

THE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION

Pak may skip N-test if given weapons to match India, says Ayub Khan
The Pakistani foreign minister has indicated that his country would be willing to drop its plan of conducting a nuclear test, provided it was compensated by the West to achieve conventional weapons parity with India.

Sharief says India will step across LoC and 'cross our threshold of tolerance'
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief on Monday repeated his claim that India, fresh from its nuclear tests, is itching for a confrontation over Kashmir.

Newsmen report unusual activity at possible site of Pak N-test
Pakistani army men are engaged in extraordinary activity in the Chaghi area of Baluchistan, according to local journalists. Chaghi, close to the Afghan border, is among the spots identified for a possible nuclear test by Pakistan.

India may not have an H-bomb, says scientist
Dr B K Subba Rao points at discrepancies in information provided about tests and says a parliamentary investigation should be ordered into the claims made.

Let's talk about NPT, India tells the world
Indian missions abroad have been asked to spread the word that while the country was acutely aware of its security concerns vis-à-vis China and Pakistan, it was also willing to reconsider some provisions of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Scientists brief Opposition leaders about nuclear tests
Monday's meeting with the scientists, who included Atomic Energy Commission chairman R Chidambaram and scientific advisor to the defence minister A P J Abdul Kalam, was arranged by the prime minister after the opposition parties had raised some doubts about the need for the tests.

Nuclear tests are not much of a deterrent, says Chatterjee
"Nuclear testing is much more than a scientific exercise -- we have become a nuclear weapons state and there are consequences to that,'' Somnath Chatterjee said following a meeting between parliamentarians and top nuclear scientists.

Vajpayee seeks to mend fences with China, Pakistan
Disagreeing with the view that relations between China and India deteriorated since the BJP came to power at the Centre, the prime minister said his efforts would be to restore normalcy between the two nations, and also to improve relations with Pakistan.

RJD says it will oust government if it did not give up jingoism
The Rashtriya Janata Dal is planning to forge a new political front to pull down the Vajpayee government if it did not abandon its jingoistic stand on the nuclear tests, party spokesperson Suman Sahai said on Monday.

TODAY'S COLUMNS

Exactly how will you keep up the euphoria for five years, Mr Prime Minister?
'The BJP has projected itself as a party of machismo, in contrast to the nambypambies that are challenging it for the ruling space. It has never hidden its jingoist sentiments, as its shrill pronouncements since May 11 have so clearly highlighted. The only way, it believes, that the "unfinished business of Partition" can be wound up, is through a military engagement with Pakistan, never mind the human, economic and social costs of such a confrontation', says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.

News? No, washed in Lux!
'Our leaders and businessmen have discovered the incredible power of teflon. Better known as media manipulation. That's why our villains no longer look as black (and irredeemable) as they used to be. The Dr Dangs and Mogambos of Indian politics have now become the Khalnayaks. Sexy villains like Sanjay Dutt and Shah Rukh Khan. Role models for those who are not unduly concerned about right and wrong in an increasingly amoral universe,' says Pritish Nandy.



Andhra Pradesh: Congress, TDP MPs trade charges at Naidu's session-eve meet
Maharashtra: 158 persons hospitalised, doctors fear dengue outbreak
Manipur: 5 CRPF men killed in ambush
Manipur: Trucks stay off road as economic blockade continues
Mizoram: Fate of 35,000 Reang tribals in balance
Rajasthan: Acting chief justice sworn in as governor
Tamil Nadu: Dismissal threats don't bother me, says Karunanidhi
Tamil Nadu: Train blasts accused remanded to custody
West Bengal: Darjeeling bandh against GNLF hits holiday-makers

TODAY'S WEATHER

Summer deaths reach 142
The heat wave sweeping most parts of the country claimed 31 more lives overnight, taking the toll to 142. Seventeen people died in Uttar Pradesh alone, where Orai, which along with Dholpur in Rajasthan, recorded the country's highest day temperature of 49 degrees celsius.

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