Brasilia, April 15: The much-awaited meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the twin IBSA-BRIC summits here on Thursday appeared to have avoided all contentious issues between the two countries, focusing largely on trade and investment and strengthening the bilateral relationship.

Islamabad, April 15: Pakistan said Thursday no meeting has been scheduled so far between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in Bhutan later this month, though it had proposed one and insisted that restarting the dialogue was “a

Kandahar (Afghanistan), April 15: Seven foreign workers, believed to be British, were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar city on Thursday, a police official said.

New Delhi, April 15: A former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, K.D. Sharma, who served in Islamabad during the Zia-ul Haq regime, allegedly shot himself dead at his East Delhi residence Thursday morning. Sharma, 79, wrote in a suicide note he was “not able to cope with his deteriorating health”.

Chandigarh,  April 15: A Central Reserve Police Force officer who lost 76 of his best-trained colleagues in the massacre at Dantewada is convinced that local Bastar tribesmen can be the most effective in combating the Maoist insurgency in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh.

Devotees caught in a stampede after the collapse of a portion of the bridge over the Ganga at the Kumbh Mela in Hardwar on Wednesday. At least seven people died while several others were reported to be injured as thousands of devotees gathered to participate in the royal bath. A total of 16 million pilgrims took a dip in the Ganga on Baisakhi on Wednesday. PHOTO: Biplab Banerjee

Sania Mirza and her husband Shoaib Malik with her father Imran (centre) at the sangeet ceremony at their Hyderabad residence on Wednesday. PHOTO: Gandhi

Washington, April 14: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday made it clear that Pakistan will have to do the “minimum” and punish the “perpetrators” of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack before India could think of resuming talks.

Kolkata/Patna, April 14: At least 104 people were killed — 66 in Bihar and 38 in West Bengal — when a powerful cyclonic storm, accompanied by intermittent bouts of lightning, struck the northern parts of these two eastern states shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

New Delhi, April 14: The second phase of the Budget Session of Parliament, which begins Thursday, promises to be stormy with the Opposition determined to put the government on the mat on a series of issues, including the recent horrific massacre of CRPF jawans by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewa-da region and the latest controversy surrounding Union minister Shashi Tharoor.