May 14 Frontier Mail caught fire near Ludhiana.

• The A-I pilots withdraw their agitation and return to duty.
• Ankur Garg of Patiala has topped the list of 286 candidates of the Civil Services Examination 2002.
• The World Health Organisation declared India SARS free.

• The President appointed Governors to six States----

S K Sinha—Jammu & Kashmir

Om Prakash Verma --Punjab

V S Kokje—Himachal Pradesh

Nirmal Chandra Jain—Rajasthan

Kailashpati Mishra—Gujarat

• A Special Court framed charges against Ejazz Pathan, prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case.

• Noted communist scholar and United Communist Party of India General Secretary, Mohit Sen passed away in Hyderabad. He was 74.

• Parliament approved the long-awaited Electricity Bill setting in motion far-reaching reforms in the power sector by encouraging competition, rationalising power tariff and ensuring a transparent policy regarding subsidies.
• The country’s automobile exports went up by a whopping 65.3 per cent in 2002-03 as made-in-India vehicles, mainly cars and two0wheelers. Continued to charm overseas buyers.

• The Women’s Reservation Bill has deferred yet again in the face of stiff resistance by some opposition parties and a section of the ruling National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha.
• The Union Cabinet decided to grant dual citizenship to Indians living in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.
• The Lok Sabha passed a Constitutional Amendment Bill seeking to make the 2001census the basis for delimitation of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies.

• Suspected ATTF and NLFT militants killed 30 people and injured 14 in separate incidents in west Tripura District.

• The country’s space programme crossed another major milestone, when the indigenously developed GSLV-D2 rocket successfully placed the GSAT-2 into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
• Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee rejected Pakistan’s suggestion for a mutual rollback of their nuclear programme as India’s nuclear programme is not Pakistan-specific.

• India achieved a milestone in its missile development programme with the seccessfil first ever test-firing of the Astra air-to-air missile.
• The Supreme Court directed the Bihar Government ro deposit Rs.50 crore within two months before Patna High Court for disbursal of salaries to the State Governmnet employees who have not been paid salaries for several years.
• The US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage arrived in New Delhi.

• Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani endorsed a suggestion for urgently setting up a federal police force to deal with well-defined federal crimes, including cross-border terrorism In various part of the country.

• India successfully test fired Astra, the indigenously developed air-to-air missile for the second time in three days.
• The sexual harassment case against former employee and board member Phanees Murthy has been settled by Infosys Technologies for a sum of $3 million.
• Goa has introduced a landmark legislation for the protection of children, particularly to ensure elimination of all forms of discrimination against the girl child and to prevent pre-natal sex selection and female foeticide and infanticide.

• Samata Party general secretary and spokesperson Shambhu Shrivastwa quit the party and joined the congress.
• External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha discussed India’s roadmap for talks with Pakistan with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

• The Centre reshuffled Governors of six States. The new list is as follows------

• West Bengal’s ruling Leftists swept the three-tier Panchayat election, winning most of the 713 Zila Parishad seats.

• The Narmada Control Authority gave its clearance for raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat from the present 95 metres to 100 metres, enlarging the area and habitations under submergence this monsoon season.

• At least 36 people were charred to death and 14 injured when three coaches of the Amritsar-bound Frontier Mail caught fire near Ludhiana.
• Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh announced concessions for the textile sector.

• Four militant outfits operating in Jammu & Kashmir, including Pakistan based Hizbul Mujahideen have been added to the list of terrorist groups by the US.

• The Netherlands has moved the British Governments seeking the extradition of I-Flex chief executive Senthil Kumar. He faces charges of alleged violation of visa rules.

• Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has been voted as one of the greatest 100 film stars of all time. The vote was conducted by the Britain’s Channel 4 television.

• Walter Sisulu, who for five decades helped shape the strategy of the march to racial equality in South Africa, died in Johannesburg.
• Pakistan announced restoration of full diplomatic relations, air, train, and bus links as well as sporting ties with India and called for confidence-building measures on nuclear issues and a comprehensive dialogue, including Kashmir.
• Britain’s ruling Labour Party suspended leading anti-war politician, George Galloway over an outspoken attack on the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the US President George W Bush, during the war on Iraq.

• An Indian patient in Beijing, who figures in China’s list of foreigners with suspected SARS, has successfully cleared the Quick Test.

• Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf assured the US that any terrorist camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) would be gone tomorrow, though at the same time he claimed there are no such camps.
• A Norwegian parliamentarian has nominated US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Noble Peace Prize, praising them for winning the war in Iraq.

• The US may consider Pakistan’s request to write off its $1.8 billion debt, in addition to the recent cancellation of a $1 billion debt.

• While making cautious move to normalise relations with India, Pakistan has assured the US that it would not insist on UN resolutions on Kashmir and choke cross-border infiltration by rolling back militants camps.

• The Wet Indies pulled off the biggest run chase in test history scoring 418/7 to beat Australia.
• A series of suicide bomb explosions rocked Saudi Arabia’s Capital Riyadh, killing 91 and 160 injured.