NEWS
Maulana Azhar in protective custody
The cleric's arrest seems like a step taken by Pakistan's military administration to appease the United States of America ahead of President Bill Clinton's visit to the sub-continent next month.

NEWS
Centre-Naga talks deferred
The decision comes in the wake of the detention and sentencing to one-year jail term of the NSCN (IM) general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah, in Thailand a few days back.

NEWS
Kargil 'villain' requests President to hear him out
Brigadier Surinder Singh, who commanded Kargil sector when the conflict broke out there, has requested President K R Narayanan for a personal hearing.

NEWS
New Delhi not worried about US snub
'Madame Albright's outburst against India denotes that President Clinton's visit will generate yet another set of pious intentions by the two largest democracies in the world,' diplomatic sources told rediff.com.

NEWS
HC suspends Jaya's sentence, grants bail
Justice I David Christian also ordered that a notice be issued to the state government challenging the special judge's verdict convicting Jayalalitha and four others for corruption in the Pleasant Stay Hotel case.

NEWS
Water will not flow back to Varanasi
"I want to do a film there. But I will not shoot in Varanasi again. I have gone through something which I can never forget," director Deepa Mehta said.

BUSINESS INTERVIEW
'There has been a method in our supergrowth'
'Since 1985, we didn't stray. No steel mills, no paper mills, no mini-cement plants, cinema halls or hotels -- all these opportunities did come to us. But we single-mindedly concentrated on telecom,' says Sunil Bharti Mittal, who has emerged as India's biggest telecom tycoon.

MUSIC
'I've always been a victim of petty politics'
Ustad Vilayat Khan defends his decision to turn down the Padma Vibhushan.

BROADBAND
An experiment with truth
Excerpts from Kamal Haasan's Hey! Ram.

INTERVIEW
'The Vajpayee government has to do much better'
'But I am confident they will last for five years,' says Andhra Pradesh CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu in an exclusive interview.

INTERVIEW
'I've forgiven them. I only hope they don't kill any more'
'How can I leave India and go back to Australia? What will I do there? Here, at least, my work has been cut out for me. All I have to do is carry on what Graham did,' Gladys Staines tells Pritish Nandy.

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

'India has to move away from the mentality of a developing country'
'Where we have gone wrong is that people depend too much on the government. The government has to educate you, feed you, provide you petrol... The mindset is that the government should do everything,' says Gururaj Deshpande, the richest Indian in America.

SPECIAL
'Reddy is our Mother Teresa'
'The villagers of Velvadam are not shocked by the charges he faces. On the contrary, they defend, praise and worship Balireddy. He is their messiah.' The second of George Iype's three-part serial.

MONEY
The Maruti drive
Devangshu Datta checks out the competitive position of Maruti, the next likely candidate for divestment.

MONEY
Tata IT Fund
Dhirendra Kumar says the fund will be able to provide reasonable returns, but risk-averse investors should stay away.

PHOTOFEATURE
The debacle Down Under
A slideshow of eight moments in recent Indian cricketing history that proved costly.

MESSAGE BOARD
'So long, Ustadji'
Tributes to the late tabla legend from our readers.

MESSAGE BOARD
'If corruption is removed, other issues will automatically get resolved'
Share your dreams and vision for India on the Republic Message Board.

MOVIES
A legend bids goodbye!
Shobhana Samarth passes into the ages.

MOVIES
Aishwarya hurt, advised bed rest
Nothing to worry about, says her mother.

BOOKS
Beginner's luck
The Penguin Guide To Personal Finance is a good buy if, and only if, you rate your personal finance knowledge as zilch, says Larissa Fernand.

COLUMNS
The battle can only be taken up by true Indians who do not want bigots to govern their life
'Banning the movie shooting only shows that rather than tackle the difficult problem of widows becoming prostitutes in the most holy city of the Hindus, the easy route has been chosen,' says Amberish K Diwanji.

The ISI bugbear
'The ISI is bad, yes. The ISI is wicked, true. But by giving it too much undue importance, by making it look larger than it really is, we are making Pakistan look far stronger than it is, says Pritish Nandy.

Spin and other turns
Armchair Expert examines the bowling of Anil Kumble and Shane Warne. And muses on the importance of being a show-off.

Opting for continuity
The IHF has named the same team that toured Europe -- with three additions -- for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament later this month. Which is a good sign, says Cedric D'Souza.

Twinkling stars
Baichung Bhutia reflects on the life and times of David Beckham and Michael Owen, England's leading football players.