tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Tuesday, March 23, 1999
weather today's calendar

Massive cyclone hits Australia
PERTH, Australia, March 22 (AFP) — Cyclone Vance pounded the northwest coast of Australia today, packing terrifying winds that snapped trees like matchsticks and ripped roofs off houses. The small coastal towns of Onslow and Exmouth bore the brunt of the ferocious storm, which has been gusting at up to 300 km per hour, weather officials said. Thousands of residents in the area were evacuated yesterday as the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded the intensity of Vance to the highest category five.

ATCs' stir off
MUMBAI, March 22 (PTI) — The nationwide fast by air traffic controllers (ATCs) in protest against the dismissal and arrest of four of their colleagues here was called off this afternoon. According to an airport official, the fast was called off at 3 pm following a directive by the Air Traffic Controllers Guild in Delhi.

Supercomputers
NEW DELHI, March 22 (UNI) — The Department of Electronics (DoE) has approved a scheme to present Param 10000 supercomputers to 12 premier educational institutions in the country including all IITs. Param 10000, fabricated by the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), is the most powerful computer in Asia, barring Japan.

Lankan fighting
COLOMBO, March 22 (AFP) — Tamil rebels blew up an army vehicle in northern Sri Lanka, killing six soldiers while government soldiers killed four guerrillas in a separate incident, the Defence Ministry said today. The LTTE killed the six soldiers by ambushing their tractor trailer with a claymore mine in the Puvarasankulam area in Wanni district last night, the ministry said.