Had she not been a politician, perhaps you would’ve seen Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit nursing the ill at some healthcare centre. Ms Dikshit says she was so inspired by the life of Forence Nightingale that even she wanted to become a nurse.

The killing of the former Afghan President and currently chairman of the High Peace Council, Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, on Tuesday has been roundly condemned by India.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s new-found friendship with Narendra Modi has not gone down well with the Shiv Sena. While Raj Thackeray on Monday supported Mr Modi’s candidature for the Prime Minister’s post, the Sena, BJP’s alliance partner, has criticised the Gujarat chief minister for projecting his secular image.

JD(U) stalwart and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday diplomatically downplayed the three-day fast by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi of the BJP and its larger presumed import within the NDA, disassociating the JD(U) from the event and keeping his cards close to his chest.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s three-day fast failed to send positive message to the people, including the majority and minority, on “sadbhavana” and created confusion among the BJP workers over the prime-ministerial candidacy of Mr Modi and senior leader L.K. Advani.

Chief minister and Trinamul Congress candidate for Bhowanipore byelection Mamata Banerjee postponed her scheduled roadshow in the constituency on
Tuesday because of her visit to the earthquake-hit North Bengal and Sikkim. “I have been forced to cancel my election rally on Tuesday. I offer my
apologies to my brothers and sisters in Bhowanipore about this decision. Now I will reschedule my meeting for Thursday,” she added.

Contrary to earlier estimates, Sunday’s earthquake caused extensive destruction in several parts of north Bengal, killing at least 10 persons.

Mandarin Chinese will be taught as a compulsory subject in Pakistani schools in Karachi city and other areas of Sindh province, officials said.
“Mandarin will become a compulsory part of the school curriculum in Karachi and Sindh schools,” a senior government official said, adding that the

Union home secretary R.K. Singh on Monday did not rule out the possibility of more people still lying trapped in the debris of collapsed houses since rescue teams have not been able to reach all villages. “So we can not really rule out right now whether any more persons are dead. But, since some time has already elapsed, I think the possibility of the toll increasing is thin, but you can’t say about a hilly area, you can’t say about an area which has far-flung villages,” he said.

Crumbling in the face of charges of land irregularities against him, the Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice Shivaraj Patil, on Monday resigned 45 days

after he assumed the office of the State ombudsman. He is the first Lokayukta in the state to demit office in such a short span of time and also