New Delhi , April 9: Under increasing fire from all quarters after the Maoists massacred 76 CRPF jawans at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh earlier this week, the worst such incident in the country’s history, Union home minister P. Chidambaram tried to take a leaf out of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s book and offered to resign — in an effort to salvage his position in the government and the Congress Party.

 Rehana Khan, widow of Shaurya Chakra recipient Sergeant Mustafa Ali (posthumous), breaks down as the citation is read out for his role in counter-insurgency operations in Naxal-infested Chhattisgarh during an investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday. 

PHOTO: Sondeep Shankar

New Delhi , April 9: The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the battle against the Naxalites, which the government had proposed after the recent Dantewada attack, isn’t likely to prove successful unless it is accompanied with force multipliers like helicopter-borne attack teams and proper logistical backup.

Hyderabad , April 9: The Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik marriage thriller got one more unexpected twist with Qazi Azmatullah of Dar-ul-Qazzat announcing that their wedding would be solemnised at 7.30 pm on Friday instead of April 15, as earlier announced.

Algiers, April 9: Al Qaeda’s north African branch has threatened to attack the World Cup Football final in South Africa. In addition to the US and England teams, the teams representing France, Germany and defending champions Italy are on the terror group’s list of targets. 

New Delhi , April 9: The government mounted a full-scale operation to neutralise the highly toxic Cobalt-60 found emitting radiation in a scrap yard in Mayapuri by calling in radiation experts from Narora Atomic Power Station and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) and a team from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

New Delhi , April 9: Don’t be surprised if you hear the argument of a lawyer in Hindi as the Delhi high court, instead of hearing court proceedings in English, on Wednesday allowed a lawyer to argue his case in his mother tongue, Hindi, as he felt he could better convey his client’s grievances through that language.

Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) , April 8: The mangled remains of a bullet-proof CRPF vehicle lie scattered on a dirt track not far from the thickly forested spot where a team of security personnel belonging

Deccan Chargers’ Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha celebrate the wicket of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Ross Taylor (unseen) during their IPL-3 match at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. The Deccan Chargers won by seven wickets. n Match report on Page 20

PHOTO: R. Samuel

Kanchan grieves near the body of her husband, Ranjit Yadav, one of the CRPF jawans killed in Tuesday’s Naxal attack, at Dalitpur village, in UP’s Pratapgarh district, on Thursday. PHOTO: AP