ATCs defer agitation

MUMBAI: Air Traffic Controllers today deferred their agitation till Monday evening following discussions with Civil Aviation Minister C M Ibrahim in New Delhi on Saturday night. A few flights departing from New Delhi and some other cities were held up despite the deferment of the strike since the deferment decision was not made public.

UP temple cases

LUCKNOW:The Uttar Pradesh government has issued orders for withdrawing several pending cases related to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid agitation, including against a State Cabinet Minister, Ram Kumar Verma, an official spokesman said here today. The exact number of cases withdrawn by the Kalyan Singh government was yet to be ascertained, the spokesman said adding these cases were filed during the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in 1991.

US ready to strike

DUBAI: The United States said today it was ready to use “substantial force” if diplomatic efforts failed to resolve the current UN-Iraq standoff overarms inspections even as a team of international experts began inspecting suspected Iraqi weapons sites. Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s special envoy Viktor Posuvalyuk headed for Baghdad again today to seek “more concessions” to avert military action by Washington, despite mounting opposition in the region against use of force.

300 Tigers killed

COLOMBO:Over 300 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE members were killed and 20 soldiers died when government troops fought back a Tigers’ attack on Elephant Pass military camp in northern Sri Lanka in the early hours of Sunday, the military said.A military spokesman said they recovered the bodies of 300 Tigers from around the camp, north of Killinochchi. “But we are expecting the LTTE casualties to be much higher,” he added. In the six-hour battle to protect the camp, 20 soldiers were also killed and over 80 injured, he said.

New CBI chief

NEW DELHI:D R Karthikeyan assumed charge as the director of Central Bureau of InvestigationCBI at the agency’s headquarter here today. R C Sharma, whose term ended after the Supreme Court last week turned down his plea for granting further extension, had handed over the charge to Karthikeyan at his residence yesterday. A 1964 IPS batch Karnataka cadre officer, Karthikeyan had successfully headed the Special Investigation Team SIT that probed the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Bank robbed

VISAKHAPATNAM:In a day light robbery, four persons entered the Ramakrishna Mission branch of Andhra Bank here and decamped with about Rs 6.7 lakh today. Police said the intruders, all speaking Hindi, entered the bank immediately after banking hours were over at about 1115 hrs, shut the doors from inside and threatened the seven bank employees there with pistol and daggers.