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Rocca meets Shyam Saran

        New Delhi: US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Affairs Christina Rocca met Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in the Capital today. The meeting was a part of her visit aimed at pushing forward key negotiations of phase-2 of the `Next Steps in Strategic Partnership' (NSSP) with India. Rocca's visit comes a month after the US lifted decades-old export curbs on India's commercial space programme and nuclear power facilities. During Rocca's three-day stay in the country, the two nations are also expected to discuss a US ban on two Indian scientists for allegedly transferring non-conventional weapons and missile secrets to Iran. India has asked the United States to lift the sanctions but are yet to get a response.

EC countermands polls in Mainpuri, reviewing Karchana (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: The Election Commission today announced that it was countermanding the the results a poll and a repoll held in the constituency of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh and examining whether a similar decision needed to be taken in the case of the Karchana constituency. The elections in the above two constituencies were held on October 13 and 15 respectively. In a press release, the EC said that it had received several complaints about voters being intimidated during the polls and reports of large scale irregularities having taken place in these two areas. In view of these complaints, it said that it had sent two separate teams to these constituencies to carry out an on-the- spot inquiry. On the basis of the report submitted to the Commission, it was found that prima facie there existed a case for the examination of all records of the poll as well as the repoll in Mainpuri. The Commission, has therefore decided to send a two-member team to Mainpuri to collect all relevant records on October 25. The release further said that another team was in Karchana and would be submitting a report on alleged irregularities to the commission, following which an appropriate decision would be taken. In view of these developments, the Commission today announced that elections in these constituencies would now take place before November 30, and therefore the Model Code of Conduct stood relaxed until further orders.

PM clears CEC's US visit (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Overruling objections raised by the External Affairs Ministry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cleared the visit of Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy to United States to witness the presidential elections there. The presidential elections would take place on November 2 this year and the CEC is likely to leave on October 28. Krishnamurthy had received an invitation from the US government to witness the elections there. But it is believed that the external affairs ministry had asked the CEC to decline the offer on the grounds that the US would expect a reciprocal invitation to witness elections in India, including in Jammu and Kashmir. This prompted the CEC to seek the PM's intervention.

PM to visit Kalpakkam (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will leave for Chennai tomorrow morning to visit the Kalpakkam nuclear facility, which is located 80 km south of the Tamil Nadu capital. He will accompany by senior officials of the PMO including national security advisor J N Dixit, officials sources said. Before returning to the Indian capital on Saturday, Dr. Singh is expected to be briefed about on going programmes at the facility.

Strike affects normal life in Manipur (Go To Top)

       Imphal: Normal life came to halt in Manipur today due to a day-long strike called off by a local committee against the brutal killing of a relative of the former Chief Minister. Late RK Joychandra, by police on Wednesday. According to the sources, markets, shops and business establishments remained closed in response to the strike called off by a People's action committee against the brutal killing of RK Sanajaoba Singh. However, transport services between Manipur and neighbouring states remained unaffected by the strike as the decision to call the strike was announced late last night and the information did not reach transport offices in time, the operators claimed. The security has been beefed up to prevent any untoward incident in the state. The body of Singh was yet to be collected by his family members who said that they would not collect the body unless an inquiry will be ordered into the incident, sources said. Meanwhile, the constable, who shot dead Singh, had been suspended from services late last night and the officer in-charge of Patsoi Police Station, Joyshree Remni, in Imphal West district was transferred to police headquarters.

Ultras blow up Jharkhand Govt guest house, rail station (Go To Top)

        Jharkhand: People's War Group activists and the Maoist Communist Centre blew up a government guest-house at Godermana village, Jharkhand, in the wee hours of today. According to police, no casualty has been reported in the explosion that damaged the structure constructed by the state tourism department on Garwah-Ambikapur road under Ranka Police Station at Godermana. They left some poster near the damaged guest-house, which read - "Stop fake encounters or face consequences", police said. The ultras have been carrying out a series of blasts in Jharkhand's Palamu division following the killing of a rebel Ajay Yadav, a self-styled area commander, at Cheinpur in Palamu district two weeks ago.

       They also blew up the Latehar railway station in Jharkhand early today. According to the Superintendent of Police M.S. Bhatia, around hundred suspected People's War activists surrounded the station and asked railway employees and passengers to vacate the station and exploded dynamites.Though no causality or damage to the track has been reported, train services in the Dhanbad division of East Central Railway was greatly affected, he said.

Indian Government-Naga peace talks in Bangkok (Go To Top)

       Bangkok: An Indian team of senior interlocutors will hold talks here today with leaders of the rebel Naga outfit NSCN (I-M) on ways to restore peace in Nagaland and other violence affected areas, official sources said. "Some important issues may be touched at the meeting, expected to last two days," a NSCN (I-M) member said. "We are to go to India for the next round of talks and that will depend on the outcome of this round of talks to begin today," he said. Former Home Secretary K Padmanabaiah is leading the Indian delegation at the talks, while Naga leader T Muivah, who is already in the Thai capital for the talks, will lead the NSCN (I- M) side. The talks now aim at extending a seven-year-old peace process between the government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) whose leaders live in Thailand and the Hague. The NSCN wants an independent homeland for three million Naga hill people in its plan for a greater Nagaland carved out of Naga dominated areas in Nagaland, as well as neighbouring Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. India has not agreed to this plan.