International

New Delhi : US President Barack Obama's stress during his speech in India on the right of freedom of individuals to profess, practice and propagate religion was a message for Americans too, US Ambassador Richard Verma said Friday.

By SPA, Abeche, Chad : The U.N. Security Council is visiting Chad for a firsthand glimpse of the spillover from Darfur's five-year conflict, according to AP. France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert says the Security Council also will push Chad's authorities for reconciliation between Chad and Sudan. Sudan broke off diplomatic relations with Chad last month and accused its government of backing Darfur-based rebels who attacked near Sudan's capital. Chad in turn closed its border with Sudan and halted bilateral trade.

New Delhi : Indians in Sydney are praying that the hostage drama ends soon and all hostages held by a gunman, an Indian included,...

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russia will build a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by 2018, a senior military official has revealed.

Moscow : Authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine Friday said almost 5,000 people have been killed in the armed...

New Delhi : AAP leader Kumar Vishwas on Friday urged the central government to take "stern" action against the students who raised anti-India slogans...

By IANS, Sydney : Troubled Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds has taken first step towards "mental recovery" by attending a net session with his Queensland and Australian teammate Matthew Hayden. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that both Symonds and Hayden, who is also recovering from achilles' problem, had a net session in Queensland Friday. The session was first for Symonds after being expelled from the team. After the net session, Queensland coaching staff are hopeful Symonds will resume training with the state squad within a fortnight.

By IANS, Kiev : At least two people were killed and three hospitalised at a Ukrainian steel plant Friday following a gas leakage, said authorities.

By RIA Novosti Moscow : Russia's top election official invited on Friday the head of the OSCE's election observing arm to talks in Moscow next week to discuss the starting date for monitoring the presidential election. The Central Election Commission (CEC) earlier set a quota on observers from the election monitoring body, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), at 70, and fixed the date of their arrival in the country for February 27-28.

By IANS/EFE, Caracas : Leaders of the Venezuelan Opposition and students' representatives led a massive demonstration here and announced a list of demands for the...

By IANS, London: Actress Katie Holmes says she would like to date tall men.

By IANS, Beijing: A Chinese man killed himself and injured eight others in an explosion Friday over a labour dispute he had with the company he used to work for, police said.

By John Grafilo, DPA Manila : Monty San Diego was shocked when Philippine government authorities urged restaurants and eateries in the country to cut to half-cup the regular serving of rice in their meals to help stave off a looming supply shortage. The 23-year-old construction helper opened his packed lunch, which contained a small slice of dried fish, one whole tomato and a large heap of rice.

By RIA Novosti, Berlin : A green-friendly brothel in Berlin is offering discounts to clients who arrive by bicycle or public transport. The Maison d'Envie said on its website the unique "environmental discount" comes in a bid to reward visitors' "green commitment" amid the difficult financial situation. The discount is five euros ($7) off for a 45-minute visit, which normally costs 70 euros ($100). The brothel's owner said the offer had attracted up to five new customers daily and eased parking congestion in the neighbourhood.

By DPA, Jakarta : 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Jambi province in Sumatra in Indonesia Thursday morning, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, seismologists said. The quake struck at 8.52 a.m. (0152 GMT) at a depth of 10 km, about 46 km southeast of Sungaipenuh in Jambi province, Indonesia's National Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said. The agency said there were no immediate reports of injury or structural damage from the quake, the second powerful earthquake to jolt Indonesia's Sumatra in less than 24 hours.

By Prensa Latina, Washington : The National Committee for the Release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, unfairly imprisoned in US jails, called to stage demonstrations in several US cities, responding to the verdict of a federal appeals court. In a press release, the organization urged followers to organize marches in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Detroit and other cities on Thursday and Friday, to demand the freedom of those men. The call also exhorts to stage protests in front of federal government's buildings, US embassies, consulates and other dependencies abroad.

By IANS, Washington : The discovery of a parrot fossil in Scandinavia dating back some 55 million years, indicates that they were once common in colder climes like Norway and Denmark. Parrots today live only in the tropics and the southern hemisphere, but this new research suggests that they first evolved in the north, much earlier than had been suspected.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,

By DPA

Washington : US President George W. Bush Friday urged Congress to put politics aside and move forward on a defence spending bill to ensure US troops in Iraq are funded.

Bush faulted the Democratic controlled Congress for engaging in political theatrics rather than addressing the needs of the troops.

"The Democratic leaders chose to have a political debate on a precipitous withdrawal of our troops from Iraq," Bush said at the White House.

By DPA, Manila : Somali pirates have seized a Greek vessel with 28 people aboard, including 16 Filipinos, the foreign department here said Tuesday. The MT Maran Centaurus was hijacked Monday about 750 nautical miles off the coast of the strife-torn country. Aside from the 16 Filipinos, the crew also includes nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and one Romanian. The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said 70 Filipino seafarers are currently in captivity in Somalia aboard six hijacked vessels.

Vienna : Austria is under "a certain kind" of threat of terrorist attacks from the extremist group of Islamic State (IS), a senior security...

By Xinhua, Taiyuan (China) : The toll in China's deadly coalmine blast early Sunday has risen to 73, officials said. Earlier reports said 44 workers were killed and many more remained trapped following the blast at a coalmine in China's northern Shanxi Province. Officials said there were 436 workers in the coalmine at the time of the blast at 2.17 a.m. Of the 340 workers, who managed to come out of the mine after the blast, 113 were admitted to hospitals, and dozens remained in critical conditions.

By IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : Upset over the "act poor" advise to Indian students in Australia by the Victoria police chief, students from the community have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to intervene. Thiruvallom Bhasi, editor of Indian Student magazine published from Melbourne, said the Indian student community was pained by the remark of Simon Overland, chief commissioner of Police of Victoria.

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

By DPA, Beijing : China defended its human rights record Thursday after US President George W. Bush gave a speech criticizing its lack of political and religious freedom. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said his government "puts people first" and was committed to promoting "basic rights and freedom" for the nation's 1.3 billion people. "We firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs by using human rights, religion and other issues," Qin said in a statement reacting to Bush's speech in Thailand earlier Thursday.

Kathmandu: Nepal's Parliament has passed a landmark bill concerning the setting up of a transitional justice system to look into war-era human rights violations...

By TCN News,

By DPA, Moscow/ Brussels : Russia has frozen its relations with NATO in a rift with Western governments over its military conflict with Georgia, a NATO spokesman said Thursday. "We have received formal notification via military channels that Russia has decided to halt international military cooperation events until further notice," NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero told DPA in Brussels. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied earlier Thursday that Moscow had any plans to "slam the door" on NATO in anger over its criticism of Russia's military occupation of Georgia.

By IANS, London: Middle-class children hear 23 million more words than their poorer cousins of the same age, a British government adviser has said.

By IANS, Los Angeles: Migration of film and television production units from California to other places has cost jobs of over 36,000 people and a loss of around $2.4 billion in wages over the last decade. The Milken Institute, an American non-profit economic think tank, attributes the job losses to the flight of movies and television shows to other US states and countries. In addition to countries such as Canada and Britain, over 40 US states now compete for a piece of the $57 billion US production industry, Xinhua reported.

By Prensa Latina Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the high degree of confidence that characterizes the political dialogue with Cuba and the dynamics of the economic-commercial, cultural and humanitarian ties. A letter addressed to the President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro, on the eve of the celebration of the eighth session of Intergovernmental Commission in Havana, is disclosed by news official sources here.

By IANS, Los Angeles: Model Chantelle Houghton says she is hurt after she split from cage fighter Alex Reid.

By IANS, Kathmandu : The British government took a step Monday to ease the future exodus of retired Gurkha soldiers from Nepal to Britain along with their dependants by opening an office in Kathmandu valley. The British Embassy in Kathmandu announced the opening of a Gurkha Settlement Office (GSO) that will help British Gurkha ex-servicemen seeking to live in Britain by providing the essential information they need before deciding whether to make the move as well as answer questions on life in the country and the support arrangements that would be available once they are there.

Gaza: A series of powerful explosions wrecked the northern part of Gaza City after Israeli war jets struck a 14-floor residential tower with four...

By IANS,

By IANS/EFE, Guatemala City : The warden of a maximum security prison in Guatemala's Santa Rosa province has been gunned down by unidentified assailants, authorities said. Mario Rene Zuñiga, 29, who was appointed a year ago to run the El Boqueron prison, was enjoying a day off, when the attackers shot at him from outside his residence in Jutiapa city Wednesday, interior ministry officials said Thursday. Zuñiga died at the spot of a head wound, they said, adding that the motive for the murder was not known.

By Xinhua Colombo : The troops in Sri Lanka killed 10 Tamil Tigers rebels in clashes in the north, the military said Monday. Defence officials said that nine Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels were killed in separate confrontations with government troops in the Vavuniya district Sunday. Another rebel was killed in an engagement between the troops and the rebels in Mannar district. Fighting between the two sides has been concentrated in the north after the government said in July that the eastern province was free of rebels.

By ANTARA News, Singapore : Myanmar agreed Monday to let Southeast Asian neighbours send medical teams and coordinate international aid for its cyclone victims, estimating damage from the disaster at over $10 billion. "The foreign ministers have agreed to establish an ASEAN-led coordinating mechanism," George Yeo was quoted by Thomson Financial as saying after an emergency meeting with his Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) counterparts, including Myanmar's Nyan Win.

By DPA Washington : US President George W. Bush urged the world to stop looking away from human rights abuses in Cuba and get tough with Fidel Castro's regime, but analysts doubt the speech will have much of an impact on how other countries deal with the communist island. Bush predicted that change was soon coming to Cuba, citing recent, peaceful demonstrations as an example that the Cuban people now realise the regime was in its "dying gasps", and said countries need to start planning for a transition to democratic rule.

By DPA, New York : A sightseeing helicopter with five Italian tourists on board collided with a light aircraft over New York's Hudson River Saturday, sending wreckage from both plunging into the waters. All nine people on board the two aircraft were assumed dead, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in broadcast remarks. "It appears that this was not survivable," Bloomberg said. "This has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission."

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By IANS, Rome: Scientists have discovered the world's oldest blood cells in the remains of a 5,300-year-old iceman found in Italy.

By IANS, Bangalore/New Delhi : The Indian software industry is looking forward to work with US president-elect Barack Obama and his administration to spur innovation, foster economic growth and develop skilled workforce to create jobs in both countries for mutual benefit. Hailing Obama's historic victory in Tuesday's elections, the Indian software industry body NASSCOM said it was important for India and the US to find ways to partner and boost economies of the two nations in the wake of the global economic meltdown.

By IANS, Tegucigalpa : The dialogue commission established for resolving the political crisis in Honduras reached an agreement Wednesday which includes the restoration of power for the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Xinhua reported. The commission, consisting of representatives of both Zelaya and post-coup de facto president Roberto Micheletti, agreed on a document to restore Zelaya's presidency. The deposed leader is currently taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

By Xinhua, Prague : The 11th summit meeting between China and the European Union (EU) began Wednesday in the Czech capital. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived here Wednesday to participate in the conference. "We expect the meeting will further enhance mutual trust, deepen reciprocal cooperation and boost the China-EU ties," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters in Beijing. Wen will hold talks with the European leaders, including Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

Jerusalem, March 8 (Xinhua) Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav will be indicted over rape and other sexual assault charges, the country's attorney general Menachem Mazuz announced Sunday. The move followed a spate of headline-making accusations by a number of women who worked under Katsav when he was tourism minister and later president, including one known as "A", who claimed that Katsav raped her.

By IANS,

By DPA Tokyo : The race to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is narrowing with Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga withdrawing Friday. The LDP announced Thursday that party elections will be held Sep 23 after Abe abruptly ended his year-long premiership Wednesday and was hospitalised due to a gastrointestinal disorder caused by stress and fatigue. Nukaga, who ambitiously decided Thursday he was willing to "make a new Japan", has thrown his support behind former chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Belgrade: Russia and Serbia signed Saturday an agreement on deliveries of Russian natural gas to Serbia until 2021.

New Delhi : Pakistan's former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said the country should not live by the slogan 'Pakistan in Danger' and...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington: As the Senate passed a historic $871 billion health care reform bill Thursday, President Barack Obama said the vote, seen as a Christmas Eve victory on his top domestic priority, had brought a goal that has eluded several presidents "incredibly close to reality." The Senate passage of the health care bill means the nation is near the "end of a nearly century-long struggle to reform America's health care system," he said in nationally televised remarks from the White House shortly after the 7 a.m. vote.

By DPA, Washington : US president-elect Barack Obama Wednesday welcomed plans submitted this week by US carmakers to Congress seeking billions of dollars in government assistance to keep them afloat. Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC Tuesday asked for a total of $34 billion from the government to see them through the economic downturn as sales of vehicles fell to the lowest level in 25 years. The chief executives of the so- called Big Three are to testify before Congress later this week on the requests.

By RIA Novosti Washington : A armed gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing five people and injuring nearly 20, the university's president, John Peters said at a news conference on Friday. The shooting began on Thursday, 3.00 p.m. local time (9.00 p.m. GMT), when a former student, dressed in black and armed with a shotgun and two handguns, entered a crowded lecture hall through an emergency door, firing some 30 bullets at students and teachers before shooting himself.

By IANS, London : The BBC has apologised for broadcasting documentaries made by a TV company that was paid millions of pounds by clients.

By IANS, Geneva : The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Wednesday called on governments not to reduce their spending on children due to austerity measures.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : US President-elect Barack Obama has picked Indian-American Sonal Shah, an eminent economist who heads Google's philanthropic arm, as one of the advisers to help him assemble his White House team. Shah, 40, is part of an advisory board comprising individuals with significant private and public sector experience who will offer their expertise in their respective fields to Obama's transition team, according to US media reports.

By RIA Novosti, Moscow/Paris : European Union (EU) countries are considering imposing sanctions on Russia over the Georgia crisis, the French foreign minister said Thursday. "Sanctions are being considered, as are many other measures," said Bernard Kouchner who had earlier said that sanctions against Moscow were not on the agenda. Kouchner, however, did not give details of any such possible move against Moscow. France, which holds the EU rotating presidency, has called an emergency summit of the grouping Monday to review relations with Russia.

By DPA Washington : A US federal judge Tuesday approved the extradition of former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega to France after his 17-year prison term on drug charges ends next month, his lawyer confirmed. Noriega is scheduled to be released Sep 9 and had sought to be sent back to his native country, which had also sought his extradition. But a federal judge in Miami rejected that request on Friday. A French court convicted Noriega in absentia in 1999 on money laundering charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS, London : There is an urgent need for better South Asia experts to advise the next US government, says former American diplomat Robin Raphel. "We used to have experts - thinktanks, students, professionals or diplomats - who could move around and work. Sadly, that's not the case any longer," said Raphel, former US assistant secretary of state for South Asia. "One of the tasks of the new US administration will be to rebuild the cadre of South Asia experts," Raphel told a London conference on India and Pakistan organised by the Tehelka media group.

Colombo : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Sunday arrived in Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapaksa accompanied by government officials greeted the Japanese prime minister and...

Winnipeg: Residents of Winnipeg City of Canada, especially of Indian-origin, have been faced with a peculiar scam in which fraud calls are made to...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : Voting at grocery stores across Las Vegas and drive in polling stations in California, at least 16 million Americans have already made their choice of the next president - Barack Obama or John McCain. Across the nation 32 states that allow no-excuse absentee or early voting, votes have been pouring in at a record pace, media reports said with some estimating that as many as one third of all the voters may cast their ballots before the Nov 4 election day.

By DPA Annapolis (US) : US President George W. Bush was set to kick off the first Middle East peace conference in seven years Tuesday by cautioning that it marked only the beginning of efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that difficult challenges lie ahead. The parleys are aimed at re-launching peace talks between the sides, and an Israeli foreign ministry official said the negotiations were due to begin in the Middle East within days.

By P.K. Balachandran, IANS Colombo : Sri Lanka is going to use the Hindu epic Ramayana to attract Indian tourists in a big way. The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has formed a committee to work out an ambitious scheme to develop and promote as many as 34 sites in the island associated with the Ramayana," SLTDA chief S. Kalaiselvam said. "We want to get started on this soon," Kalaiselvam told IANS.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Nepal's Maoist party, which last year won a historic election as well as the prime ministerial race, Saturday said it feared "dirty horse-trading" by its opponents with money flowing to buy their way to power in the upcoming poll. Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who cancelled his engagement to attend the 2,553rd birth anniversary of Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, to instead address the first national rally of people still searching for relatives missing during the armed insurrection.

By IANS, La Paz (Bolivia) : The Bolivian government will buy land for distribution among members of indigenous Indian communities living in virtual serfdom, EFE reported Wednesday. Juan Carlos Rojas, chief of the National Institute for Agrarian Reform, told reporters Tuesday that the measure would benefit the indigenous communities in the eastern and southern provinces of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija. Bolivia's indigenous Indian communities live in appalling indigence with little access to education or health care.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS London : The chairman of an influential British parliamentary group Tuesday said immediate steps needed to be taken to trace possibly hundreds of missing Asian schoolchildren thought to have been forced into marriages abroad. Forced marriages are a problem identified with some South Asian populations in Britain, with Pakistanis thought to account for most of them. Information gathered for the British parliament's Select Committee on Home Affairs suggests hundreds of children could be missing across Britain.

By Prensa Latina, Rome : The Italian police arrested 383 people Thursday, 268 of them foreigners, as part of a raid from the north down to the southern city of Naples, in the application of promises by the new Italian government. The cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in his third occasion as Prime Minister since 1994, announced a hard-hand policy with illegal immigrants, 53 of which were immediately deported to their respective original countries Thursday.

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed Wednesday the extension of presidential and parliament terms from the current four years to six and five years, respectively. Medvedev said that he proposed "extending the terms of office for the president and the State Duma (the lower hous) to six and five years, respectively," Medvedev said in his first state-of-the-nation address to parliament.

By IANS,

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : A Russian Black Sea Fleet warship has joined a NATO-led counter-terror operation in the Mediterranean, the fleet's press service said on Wednesday. "The Ladny [a Krivak-class guided missile frigate] of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has moored at Akzas Karagac, a Turkish naval base, thus starting its participation in Operation Active Endeavor in the Mediterranean," the service said.

By Xinhua, Jingbian (China) : At least 40 people were injured when a platform collapsed during a folk dancing show in northwest China's Shaanxi province, an official said Sunday. The accident happened Friday at about 2 p.m. in Jingbian county shortly after a number of people had got onto the platform to view yangge show, a popular rural folk dance in north China. It was organised by the county's cultural bureau. The seriously injured, mostly senior citizens, children and women, were receiving treatment in hospital. The people were hurt by the falling steel pillars.

By IANS, Sydney : Scientists have developed a new 'photonic' switching system that will boost broadband speeds up to a 100-fold. The photonic integrated circuit (PIC) will ensure almost instantaneous, error-free and unlimited access to the Internet anywhere in the world, according to the Centre for Ultra-high Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS).

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

Washington : Six US lawmakers along with leading advocacy groups have welcomed the inclusion of Sikh, Hindu, and Arab American communities in the Department...

By IANS, Yangon : Polling began Sunday in Myanmar's by-elections that promise to be the most open contest in decades, with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi among those standing.

By Xinhua, Harare : Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday said the ZANU-PF headed by him will engage in talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Changes (MDC) only after the opposition and its western allies accept the outcome of the June 27 presidential run-off. Addressing thousands of party supporters who thronged the Harare International Airport to welcome him on his arrivals from the just ended African Union Summit in Egypt, Mugabe said another condition for the talks was the removal of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Abuja : At least 20 people were killed in attacks launched by gunmen in two Nigerian villages, local media reported Wednesday citing witnesses and...

By IANS, Dharamsala : The election result of the next Kalon Tripa, or the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, will be announced Wednesday, an official said here.

By RIA Novosti, New York : Forbes magazine has released a list of the world's 20 "Hottest Young Royals", with British royalty taking the top places and prince William winning the number one spot. The magazine said it used "winning combinations of looks, money, and popularity on the Web" to compile the list. Only unmarried royals below the age of 35 were included and the 20 names listed have a combined wealth of almost $60 billion.

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law ratifying a long-term pact with the other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members, comprising China and four Central Asian countries, the Kremlin said Wednesday. The friendship, good-neighbourliness and cooperation treaty between the member states of the SCO was ratified by both houses of Russia's parliament in May.

By IANS, London : Visits to Britain by overseas residents fell by one percent in January following strong figures in November and December 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

By DPA, London : A British nuclear-powered submarine has run aground near an island off the west coast of Scotland, the ministry of defence (MoD) said Friday.

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By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : An Indian American Neel Kashkari was appointed to oversee the $700 billion US financial rescue plan as stocks plunged more than 6 percent with the Dow Jones index diving to its lowest level in almost five years. The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Monday named key aide Kashkari, 35, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, to manage the Troubled Assets Relief Programme and the newly created Office of Financial Stability.

By IANS, London: Singer Leona Lewis says that she will never quit UK. She is proud to be a Londoner.

By Manish Chand, IANS, New Delhi: Leaders of India and Pakistan are expected to meet on the sidelines of a global security summit in Washington next month in yet another bid to revive their stalemated dialogue, well-placed sources said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to go to Washington to attend the two-day Nuclear Security Summit starting April 12 that will focus on expanded global cooperation to prevent atomic material from falling into the hands of terrorists and non-state actors.

By IANS,

By DPA, Bratislava : Six people were killed and 14 injured Monday in a shooting in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, the city's medical rescue services confirmed. Four women and two men died in the gunfire, which erupted about 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) in the city's Devinska Nova Ves district, Dominika Sulkova, spokeswoman for medical services, told DPA. She said that three people were in serious condition and undergoing surgery. A 3-year-old child was present during the shooting but was uninjured, she said.

By IANS

London : Lauding Britain's high-achieving Hindu community, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said that he was proud that a large proportion of the community had chosen London as their home.