Olympic Torch
Relay will be safe: India
New Delhi, April 3
India has assured China that it will take all possible measures to ensure a smooth passage of the Olympic torch relay and will not allow Tibetans here to indulge in anti-China activities.

Exit: Basu, Surjeet Karat re-elected CPM gen sec, speaks of third front
Coimbatore, April 3 The need of the hour is to immediately form a third alternative, which will be distinct and different from the present two main political combinations in the
country, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said here today.

Kandahar Hijack
Sonia: Did Vajpayee trust Advani?
Baneshwar-Dham (Rajasthan), April 3
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today questioned BJP leader L.K. Advani’s statement that he was not aware of the decision to send his Cabinet colleague Jaswant Singh on the plane with dreaded terrorists to Kandahar and wondered whether he was not trusted by the then Prime Minister on the issue.

Virk gets relief from city CAT
Chandigarh, April 3
After getting relief from Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Mumbai, former Punjab DGP S.S. Virk has now a reason to smile, with the local tribunal also pronouncing orders in his favour. Quashing the suspension orders of the Punjab government, the CAT stated: “The DGP is an officer with the Maharashtra government and the Punjab government has no power to suspend him.”

Armour isn’t of 10th Guru: Sotheby’s
Wealthy British Sikhs not to bid
London, April 3
Wealthy British Sikhs today wound up plans to bid at a controversial London auction after Sotheby’s, the auction house, told them a body armour being put under the hammer did not belong to the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. “It is important that you know that Sotheby’s does not consider the Sikh armour plate to be a relic of Guru Gobind Singh, as our cataloguing and estimate clearly indicate,” a Sotheby’s spokesman said in a statement after Sikhs in India protested.

NHRC panel heads to Nandigram
To review WB govt’s rehabilitation work
New Delhi, April 3
After castigating the West Bengal police for losing control over law and order situation in Nandigram, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is on its way to monitor the rehabilitation plans promised by the state government.

3 Haryana gangsters to be extradited
Kaithal, April 3
Three most wanted criminals of Surender Geong gang involved in the murder of a Kaithal plywood dealer, Narinder Arora, in March 2006 will be soon extradited from South Africa. The dealer was murdered outside his shop for not meeting the demand of Rs 50 lakh of the gang of extortionists.

20-20 mode Stains India Dale Steyn 76 all out Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers complimented their bowlers’ fine performance of dismissing India for a paltry 76 — they appeared to be playing as if it was a 20-20 match — in the first innings with an unbeaten 106-run fifth wicket partnership to put South Africa in complete command at 223 for four at the end of the first day’s play of the second Test being played at Motera on Thursday. Details on Sports page