In what was feared by security agencies, the anti-talks faction of outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland on Thursday launched a series of grenade attacks at various places to enforce the boycott of Independence Day in Assam.

Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Iqbal Mirchi, who died of a heart attack in London on Wednesday, started his crime career in 1980s as a petty thief. Later, the gangster later entered the narcotics trade, and controlled it so deeply that he was always referred to as the alleged kingpin of the global syndicate of narcotics.

Investigations into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case has revealed that Gujarat cops, who earlier investigated the case, did not handle the evidence available on the crime scene properly.

Expressing hope that the slowdown in Indian economy would not last long as the government is working hard to salvage the situation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said he expected positive impact of the initiatives to open up several sectors to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the coming months.

Exuding confidence that Parliament will soon pass the UPA government’s landmark food security legislation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said, it would ensure cheaper foodgrains to 81 crore poor Indians.

Weeks after the death of 23 children in the mid-day meal tragedy in Bihar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his Independence Day speech on Thursday said the scheme will be reformed and “concrete measures” will be taken to ensure that meals provide under it are nutritious and cooked hygienically.

British media regulator Ofcom has fined a Birmingham-based Sikh television channel £30,000 for broadcasting a 30-minute discussion in October 2012 which incited the Sikh community to take “violent action” against the members of Indian Army involved in the Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Thursday renewed his appeal to all the ethnic groups agitating for separate state to resolve the differences through talks and remain like a single family.

In a bid to elaborate the effect of pictorial warnings on tobacco products, India is all set to introduce “larger” health warnings.

In an apparent bid to woo nearly two lakh state government employees in the election year, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh here on Thursday announced extension of retirement age for them from 60 to 62.