April 4: At least 10 jawans of Orissa’s elite anti-Maoist force, the Special Operations Group, were killed and nine others injured, eight of them seriously, when the vehicle in which they were travelling was blown away by Maoists at Mantriamba, nearly 550 km from here in Orissa’s Koraput district, on Sunday.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram talking to villagers at Maoist-dominated Lalgarh, in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district some 130 km west of Kolkata, on Sunday. He advised them not to give any “moral or material support” to the Maoists, saying the ultra-left rebels could not bring about the development that they wanted. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON , April 4:  Protests are growing against Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Britain, where some lawyers question whether the Vatican’s implicit statehood status should shield the Pope from prosecution over sex crimes by paedophile priests.

Baghdad, April 4: Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 42 people and wounding over 200 in back-to-back attacks, the authorities said. The bombings came two days after a chilling execution-style attack by gunmen who raided homes south of Baghdad, killing 24 people, many of them believed to be anti-Al Qaeda fighters.

April 4: The all-party meeting called here on Monday by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to resolve the impasse over the Women’s Reservation Bill should provide an indication if it would be possible to bring it before the Lok Sabha in the ongoing Budget Session after Parliament reconvenes next week.

April 4: With the deadline set by the Supreme Court ending on Monday, the ruling PPP has reiterated that the Pakistan government has no intention of asking Switzerland to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. This sets the stage for a possible showdown with the judiciary.

Hyderabad , April 4: Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik finally broke his silence on Sunday afternoon and said that his earlier marriage to Ayesha Siddiqui was “illegal”. He also said that after marriage, Sania Mirza would continue to play tennis for India.

April 4: Pitching strongly for its revival in Bihar by going alone in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state due in September-October this year, the Congress is working on a two-pronged strategy to counter both the ruling NDA and the RJD-LJP combine.

Worshippers hold up candles lit from the “Holy Fire” inside Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday. Tens of thousands of pilgrims from Eastern churches converged on the church in east Jerusalem, built over the sites where Christians believe Christ was crucified and buried, to take part in the Easter “Holy Fire” vigil in which the “miracle” light from Jesus’ tomb is shared by candles with the crowd. PHOTO: AFP

Yoga guru Ramdev and the Dalai Lama greet each other during a function in Hardwar on Saturday. PHOTO: PTI