NEWS
Janata Dal reunification is off
Defence Minister George Fernandes, however, said the co-ordination between JD-U constituents in Parliament would continue.

NEWS
All 5 hijackers have been identified
Home Minister L K Advani said photographs of the five men who had commandeered the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar had been shown to the hostages who had identified every single one of them.

INTERVIEW
'The whole drama was very well organised'
'He [Maulana Masood Azhar] is living in a fool's paradise... The Indian defence forces are ready to give him a fitting reply,' says Defence Minister George Fernandes.

SPECIAL
'Pakistan's main aim is the destabilisation of India, not merely grabbing Kashmir'
India enjoys an edge in conventional weaponry. This force should be used in a graduated manner against the Pakistani border areas as a first step, suggests Colonel Dr Anil A Athale.

MESSAGE BOARD
'Terrorism can be countered only by counter-terrorism'
Readers respond to our Message Board.

MESSAGE BOARD
'India has not sold its national interest'
Readers respond to our Message Board.

MESSAGE BOARD
'India was in a lose-lose situation'
Readers respond to our Message Board.

MESSAGE BOARD
'Why can't we retaliate like Israel?'
Readers respond to our Message Board.

MESSAGE BOARD
'Shall we negotiate Kashmir too now?'
Readers respond to our Message Board.

MESSAGE BOARD
'Is it Islamic to hold hostages at gunpoint?'
Readers respond to our Message Board.

MONEY
'What is the cheapest way to send money to my parents in India?'
Answers to this and more personal banking questions. In the new Personal Banking Centre.

MONEY
'What is the tax status on an NRE deposit?'
Answers to this and more NRI tax-related issues.

SPORTS
Prime obsession
There's a new dominant force in international cricket -- the umpires. The modern game, it appears, is as much about them as it is about the players themselves. Fourth Umpire tells us why.

MOVIES
'Mela is a calculated effort on my part'
Director Dharmesh Darshan breaks his silence!

THE MILLENNIUM SPECIAL
'One of the most mesmerising and convincing scenes in Indian cinema is in Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar'
'All the scenes between Amitabh and Jaya in Sholay are very subtle and silent but emotionally charged. I like the understatement.' Santosh Sivan on 10 memorable scenes from Indian films.

BOOKS
'Jasraj was willing to give up even his music for my happiness'
"Jasraj, for all his faults, mattered a lot to me because he loved me dearly, even when I did not always love him as much." An excerpt from Protima Bedi's Timepass.

MUSIC
'We are one big musical family'
Kavita and Dr L Subramaniam strike a perfect note.

COLUMNS
The hijack, another Kargil?
'Parvez Musharraf was the author of the Kargil tragedy. He may have also blessed the hijacking. This may be his way of erasing the humiliation he suffered at Kargil,' says Kuldip Nayar.

How the soldiers rang in Y2K
'The soldiers seemed uncomfortable... that's how they brought in the new millennium while the "nationalists" of the BJP-led government were out counting the liberal votes and winning new friends and influencing people... Army lives come so cheap...' Varsha Bhosle on spending New Year's Eve on the LoC.

Four forces and an axis that ripped WTO asunder
'American youth who unleashed themselves in Seattle hate the materialism which is conspiring to make everyone slaves of a Web site non-civilisation. International monopoly capital has received a setback. But the MNCs and the governments they support will regroup in a few months,' says Ashok Mitra.

Down Under and heading downwards
Harsha Bhogle does some soul-searching after the disastrous Test series in Australia and reckons there is only further gloom ahead for Indian cricket.

Spare the rod
Abhilasha Khaitan, the 18th member, in pensive vein for once, muses on the Shoaib Akhtar controversy. And wonders if we are killing the excitement in the game.