Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has cancelled her proposed visit to London.

A war of words has ensued between the ruling CPI(M) and the Trinamul Congress over holding rallies in the strife-torn Lalgarh belt.

Seven months after 13-year-old student Rouvanjit Rawla ended his life, the principal and three teachers of the La Martiniere School were arrested here on Monday on charges of abetment to suicide.

A Singapore Airlines plane flying from Moscow to Singapore made an emergency landing on Sunday in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata after a bomb scare, an airport official told AFP.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday vowed to “throw out” both the Maoists and the Trinamul Congress from the state. Addressing a massive Left Front rally in West Midnapore, the Maoist bastion, Mr Bhattacharjee said the Maoists were indulging in bloodbath in the Jangalmahal with the connivance of the Trinamul Congress.

Is a wind of change, although of a different kind, is now sweeping the Jangalmahal? Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who had been earlier barred by the CPI(M) from visiting the Maoist-dominated region, will be addressing a public rally at Lalgarh on Saturday.

Recession may have ebbed, but artisans of the potters' colony Kumartuli here say export orders for idols for next month's Durga Puja festival have picked up only marginally compared to 2009.

Snubbing CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, the Left Front government has invited expelled party leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to the inauguration of Jyoti Basu Nagar at New Town on October 7. West Bengal housing minister and Hidco chairman Gautam Deb said he had sent the invitation to Mr Chatterjee. Mr Deb could not have taken this decision without seeking the consent of the Alimuddin Street bosses.

In an apparent bid to woo the Matuas, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday conferred the Sri Sri Thakur Harichand-Guruchand award on Kapil Krishna Thakur and announced several sops for the community’s welfare. Mr Thakur is the sanghadhipati of the Matua Mahasabha.

One important name is missing from railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s guest list for the foundation stone laying ceremony of a Metro line between Joka and BBD Bag: that of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. “I have not received any invitation,” he himself informed the media on Tuesday evening.