Chandigarh, Feb. 20: Indefinite curfew was imposed in the border township of Batala following violent clashes on Saturday between local Christians and Hindus sparked by the controversial depiction of Jesus Christ on posters put up in connection with a Hindu festival and subsequently also published in some vernacular dailies.

Washington, Feb. 20: For the second time in two days, US President Barack Obama has said the US is facing stiff competition from India and cannot succeed if the country continues to produce more scientists and engineers than America.

New Delhi, Feb. 20: Union home minister P. Chidambaram has written to the chief ministers of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal inviting them for a meeting in New Delhi to discuss certain tentative conclusions on tackling the Naxal menace which the ministry has arrived at.

Defence minister A.K. Antony sits in the cockpit of a MiG-29K, four of which were inducted into the Indian Navy, at a base in Goa on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

New Delhi, Feb. 19: Differences with minister of state for environment Jairam Ramesh has led the Prime Minister’s special envoy on climate change, Mr Shyam Saran, to put in his papers. He has been allowed to leave the Prime Minister’s Office with effect from March 14.

Indore, Feb. 19: Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani finally got back at his detractors within the party on the concluding day of the BJP national executive here on Friday. He virtually blamed the party’s debacle in the 2009 general election on infighting and disunity within party ranks.

New Delhi, Feb. 19: The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on Friday made a case for a partial rollback of stimulus measures by raising excise duties and reducing public expenditure in a phased manner. It also projected that the economy was likely to grow by 8.2 per cent in 2010-11 and by nine per cent in 2011-12.

New Delhi, Feb. 19: Dismissing reports of terror threats in Hyderabad, Union home secretary G.K. Pillai declared in an exclusive interview to this newspaper on Friday that it was quite "safe" to hold IPL matches in the Andhra region. He added that if so needed, the Centre was prepared to provide adequate security for the matches if these were held in Hyderabad.

New Delhi/Panaji, Feb. 19: India’s defence minister said on Friday that there was "nothing wrong" in holding foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan, but pointed out that all the terrorist camps in Pakistan or territory controlled by it were still "active".

Lucknow, Feb. 19: A gun-toting 27-year-old youth, said to be mentally disturbed, held the Lucknow police to ransom for over 40 hours before he was finally rendered unconscious and evacuated from the room he had locked himself in.