NEWS
Jaya's conviction sparks violence, 3 killed
Three girls were burnt alive when an angry mob, comprising mostly AIADMK workers, set ablaze a Coimbatore Agriculture University bus near Dharmapuri.

NEWS
Centre clears Water with minor changes
Mehta today met Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi and discussed the matter with him. She later told newspersons that the minor changes suggested would not affect her script.

NEWS
Venkatachaliah to head Constitution review panel
Former Supreme Court judge and the present chairman of the Law Commission, B P Jeevan Reddy, will be one of the members of the eleven-member Commission.

NEWS
'I wanted to teach Staines a lesson, not kill'
'I was there, watching from a distance, but I did not set them ablaze. In fact I did not know that the two young sons of Staines were there. I felt unhappy about their death.' Extracts from Dara Singh's purported confession to the police.

NEWS
Purulia arms drop convicts get rigorous lifer
While the Briton Peter Bleach appeared calm and unruffled by the judgment, a tinge of pain was evident on the faces of his five Latvian associates.

NEWS
Top militant escapes, manhunt in Srinagar
A senior police officer told rediff.com that Ghulam Rasool Shah alias General Abdullah, former chief commander of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, escaped from the SMHS hospital in the afternoon.

FIRE OVER WATER
'It's like banning a book before it's written'
Actress Nandita Das, in first person, on her association with Deepa Mehta, and the protests against Water.

'If your intentions are honourable make the script public'
'The Ganges is the most revered place for us, to call it Water is so insulting!' BJP legislator Shyamdeo Ramchaudhary on why Varanasi opposes the movie being shot on location.

'How can anyone come back to shoot here?'
'During the meetings with the locals there were suggestions that they would like the distribution rights to the film in UP. We said this is not the time to talk about this. The trouble started after that.' David Hamilton, producer for Deepa Mehta's film, in an exclusive interview.

INTERVIEW
'It is a triumph for the entire police force'
'For more than a year a large contingent of police had been deployed to track down and arrest Dara. This was causing a breakdown of law and order in other parts of the district,' says Superintendent of Police (Mayurbhanj) Y B Khurania.

INTERVIEW
'Their murders shall be avenged'
'Our immediate targets are those who were involved either directly or indirectly in the cold-blooded murder of our comrades. We know the names of some who led the operation. We always repay our blood debts,' says People's War chief Ganapathy.

BUSINESS INTERVIEW
'It's only a matter of time before Indian brands emerge in the global market'
'There's no guarantee that the 100% unit set up by the MNC partner in a joint venture will be a success. Indian companies have their own strengths with which to fight global competition,' says Prof Krishna Palepu of the Harvard Business School.

MONEY
'The stock exchange must ensure the system used by the broker has provision for security, reliability and confidentiality'
'Exchanges are requested to make necessary arrangements for early approval of the Internet trading systems submitted by their members for examination, so that Internet trading services can commence without delay.' SEBI's guidelines for Internet trading.

FUND IPO
Uncertainties ahead
Dhirendra Kumar thinks that the Kothari Pioneer Internet Opportunities Fund may be ahead of its time as there aren't enough Internet companies.

THE REPUBLIC, 50 YEARS ON
Celebrating 50 Years of the Indian Republic

SPORTS
'It's all about mental toughness'
Reetinder Singh Sodhi talks about India's victorious under-19 World Cup campaign.

MUSIC
Songs from a legend
The music of Shabdavedi does grow on you. But strictly speaking, it is an album meant for Kannada superstar Dr Rajakumar's fans.

MOVIES
'We live in a hypocritical world'
Rajkumar Santoshi looks back in anger.

BOOKS
A smell, interesting but not fully explored
Good writing is not just about ideas, it's about representing and exploring them through language, style and craftsmanship. And Radhika Jha comes up nil on these scores in Smell.

TRAVEL
Another way to reach Bhopal
Sahara Airlines starts a flight from Bombay to Bhopal and Indore. Daily.

COLUMNS
Cleared for landing
'President Clinton has expressed a strong desire to tour parts of Pakistan other than the airport terminal... Sites in Kandahar and Chagai Hills are being studied, but it is not clear if their Afghan and Chinese tenants are prepared to make these available,' says Ashwin Mahesh.

Fighting graft
'N Vittal is in the eye of a storm with everyone baying for his blood simply because no one ever thought the fight against corruption was meant to be taken seriously,' says Pritish Nandy.

The jokers and the joke
The dismal performance of the Indian team on their tour Down Under compels Kuldip Nayar to write on cricket for the first time in his journalistic career of more than 40 years.

Time to wake up
Following the run feast in the Deodhar Trophy matches, Harsha Bhogle makes a fervent appeal for faster and sporting wickets in domestic cricket.

Aussies too good
They had the skill, confidence and tactics to never really give Pakistan a chance, says Bobby Simpson.

The winds of change
Devangshu Datta says the sale of Modern Foods and the government's victory over the UPSEB union are healthy signs.