OID‰‰†‰KOID‰‰†‰OID‰‰†‰MOID‰‰†‰C New Delhi, Wednesday,April 16, 2003www.timesofindia.com Capital 42 pages* Invitation Price Rs. 1.50 International India Times Sport What’ll US do next, Priyanka in Amethi: Waugh to play wonders Syrian Defeat in bypolls a second Test President Assad challenge to Congress despite injury Page 13 Page 7 Page 19 WIN WITH THE TIMES Petrol, Diesel prices down PETROL Established 1838 Delhi Kolkata Mumbai Chennai Bennett, Coleman & Co., Ltd. REVISED Stuff happens. 10 Iraqis die in Mosul firing 32.49 34.00 37.52 35.48 AP — US defense secretary Mosul/Nasiriyah: At least 10 people Previous Donald Rumsfeld on the were killed and more than 100 33.49 35.00 38.59 36.56 looting in Iraq wounded as the US troops fired on a protesting crowd in Mosul, northern DIESEL NEWS DIGEST Iraq, on Tuesday. Delhi Kolkata Mumbai Chennai Eyewitnesses said the crowd was an- Norms for PSU bids: The govern- gered by a speech by the new REVISED ment came up with new guidelines US-backed governor. But the charges 21.12 22.52 26.70 23.55 for bidding by employees in the PSU were denied by a US military sector. It will now be mandatory for Previous spokesman in the city, who said the 22.12 23.51 27.88 24.65 15 per cent or 200 of the PSU’s em- troops had first come under fire from ployees to participate in the bid. at least two gunmen and fired back, Govt angry at SJM remarks: without aiming at the crowd. The BJP leadership The incident overshadowed the is upset at the way US-brokered talks aimed at sketching Truckers’ stir: SJM leader Dat- out the country’s future leadership topant Thengdi in Nasiriyah, a Shiite Muslim made a personal at- bastion, where the main Shi’ite tack on the Prime opposition boycotted the meet and Delhi holds Minister and tele- 20,000 people took out an anti-US com minister Arun protest march. Shourie while flag- The religious and political leaders, the priceline ging off an anti-WTO yatra. P7 who met at a makeshift US air base be- TIMES NEWS NETWORK Growing menace: Polio eradica- side the ancient Mesopotamian city of tion seems a distant dream with 66 Ur in southern Iraq, agreed to convene New Delhi: Delhi was the only unaffect- cases already being reported from again in 10 days. ed metro, as prices of essential items, es- eight states. Last year, the govern- The shooting in Mosul broke out as pecially vegetables, went spiralling out ment was close to eradicating polio, the newly-appointed governor of the of control in various parts of the coun- with only 29 cases reported in the city was making a speech from the try on the second day of the truckers’ same time period. But outbreaks in building housing his offices which lis- strike on Tuesday. UP and West Bengal sent the num- teners deemed was too pro-US, wit- Vegetable prices in the Chennai bers soaring. P10 nesses said. wholesale market shot up to almost dou- BSNL business: BSNL said it ex- ‘‘There were protesters outside, 100 ble their normal levels. pects a 25 per cent rise in business to 150, there was fire, we returned People in Mumbai had a reason to which will compensate for any loss fire,’’ a US military spokesman smile as the transporters exempted es- of revenue from cheaper fixed-line said. The initial shots came from a Shias demonstrate against a meeting in Nasiriyah on Tuesday to rebuild war-torn Iraq saying their leaders were not invited. sential commodities like vegetables, oil, tariffs to be in place from May 1. Un- roof opposite the building, about 75 wheat, sugar, kerosene and milk from changed rentals and call duration metres away. glass falling on the civilians. People their strike. may have an impact of Rs 400 to Rs ‘‘We didn’t fire at the crowd, but at started to throw stones, then the However, prices of most goods are al- 500 crore but will be compensated the top of the building,’’ the Americans fired at them,’’ said Ayad Target Syria? Shi’ite protests Baghdad berserk ready well above their normal levels in by the rise in traffic. P11 spokesman added. ‘‘There were at Hassun, (37). the western metro as the strike has been Sena eager to return to roots: least two gunmen, I don’t know if they ‘‘Dozens of people fell,’’ he said, his • US threatens to • Top Shi’ite cleric, • Rare books, includ- on for much longer here. The Shiv Sena seems eager to re- were killed... The firing was not inten- own shirt stained with blood. Agencies impose sanctions Ayatollah Ali Sistani, ing one of the oldest In Surat, the per quintal price of pota- turn to its Shivaji Park roots, with sive but sporadic, and lasted up to two Comment: It is flashpoints like this against Syria speaks up after 12 versions of the to increased to Rs 550 from Rs 350. party strategists putting final touch- minutes,’’ the spokesman said. which can ignite the bushfire of public The strike has hit Rajasthan, Tamil es to its ‘‘Mumbai Plan’’ in a bid to But witnesses charged that US opinion — in Iraq and beyond — and • It is up to Syria days in hiding Quran, lost as Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. revamp the city of its birth. P11 troops fired into the crowd after it be- make people feel that far from being to prove it is no • Iraq’s leading National Library and The All India Motor Transport Con- came increasingly hostile towards the liberators, the Americans are foreign “rogue nation” says Shi’ite opposition Islamic Library burnt gress says 27 lakh commercial vehicles YOU SAID IT by Laxman new governor, Mashaan al-Juburi. oppressors far worse than Saddam. British foreign group boycotted • Army raids Palestine are off the roads, and the strike could ‘‘They (the soldiers) climbed on Cool off on Syria, world tells Bush: Page 13 cost businesses Rs 20,000 crore a day. top of the building and first fired See Edit: Weapons of Disruption minister Jack Straw Nasiriyah meeting Hotel Truckers are expected to lose Rs 1500 at a building near the crowd, with the Also see View/Counterview on Edit page crore daily. Related report on pages 4 & 9 K K Laskar SARS kills nine more in a day in Hong Kong Hong Kong/Beijing: The life-and-death struggle against SARS hit Hong Kong with a record nine fatalities in one day, but hos- pital officials said Tuesday they had saved the baby of a dying 34-year-old pregnant He has a point. Those above the woman. poverty line hide their income and The Chinese capital of Beijing at last evade tax! People below it have no woke up to a virus creeping into its hin- income and will pay honestly if terland. But the World Health Organiza- taxed! tion (WHO) complained its team is being denied access to Beijing military hospitals where unconfirmed reports have said a indiatimes.com POLL large number of SARS patients are being treated. Yesterday’s results: Do you think Monica Lewinsky is the best choice to host a In Hong Kong, the youngest of the vic- reality show for lovers? tims was a 32-year-old woman. “I think during the last couple of days, our con- Yes 50% No 50% cerns remain the number of deaths and of the people who died... some of them were • The poll reflects the opinions of Net users who chose to participate, and not necessarily of the general public. rather young,” Hospital Authority acting Chief Executive Ko Wing-man said. Today’s question: Do you foresee a Ko said the treatment used in Hong stable government emerging soon in post-war Iraq? Kong now — a mix of anti-viral drugs and steroids — had seen good response in 80-90 Cast your vote on percent of patients. www.indiatimes.com or SMS ‘Poll’ to 8888 Of the 42 newly infected patients, 11 were health-care workers. The latest fig- ures bring the Hong Kong death toll to 56 and the number of cases to 1,232. After months of hiding their SARS out- break, China’s leaders started a highly publicised battle to halt its spread. Pre- mier Wen Jiabao called on “the whole na- tion” to “work closely together to win the WEATHER NEW, IMPROVED HUMAYUN’S TOMB: Delhi’s famous landmark fierce battle” against SARS, and ordered a opened after a Rs 3 crore makeover which revived its water system campaign to scrub down planes, trains Max. 39oC/ Min. 27oC and its gardens. Report on page 2 and office blocks to kill the virus. Agencies Moonset:Wednesday — 0538 hrs. Moonrise: Tuesday — 1716 hrs. Sunset: Tuesday — 1847 hrs. Sunrise: Wednesday — 0555 hrs. ‘Science fiction’ for Gujarat students Partly cloudy sky with possibility of light Ajit Ninan rain/thundery development accompanied By Robin David Bibles for scientific knowledge, they with squall in some areas. Max. relative hu- TIMES NEWS NETWORK would commit blasphemy every time midity on Monday 46% and Min. 18%. they leaf through it! Ahmedabad: ‘‘In astrology,the unit Dr B R Sitaram, formerly with to measure the distance between two Physical Research Laboratory, cites stars is called light-year.’’ another example.‘‘The Standard VII Food is essential for us because ‘‘it science textbook has one section on helps in wear and tear of the parts of ‘air pollution due to breathing by an- the body’’! imals and human beings’.