Colombo, Jan. 28: Defeated candidate Sarath Fonseka is seeking asylum in a Western country, probably the US for which he holds a green card, or Britain, but the Sri Lankan government is unlikely to allow him to leave, sources here said. The ex-general left his hotel room, where he was holed up for a day with his coalition leaders, and drove away with his personal security guards to an undisclosed place late on Wednesday night.

New Delhi, Jan. 28: Intending to curb rampant quackery by unqualified or semi-qualified medical practitioners in the country, the government on Thursday decided to bring all clinical facilities, including pathological laboratories, under the preview of a single piece of legislation.

Lucknow, Jan. 28: The Mayawati government tabled a bill in the state Assembly on Thursday on setting up a special security force to guard monuments, parks and statues built in Lucknow and Noida in memory of dalit icons. An estimated Rs 14 crores will be spent on it annually.

New Delhi, Jan. 28: Airports across the country were put on high alert on Thursday evening following intelligence inputs that attempts could be made by terrorists to hijack an aircraft within a short span of time.

Manish Anand
New Delhi

Jan. 28: Watch out if you are in a public place in Delhi: soon someone might be watching you closely. Much like London did after the 7/7 bombings of 2005, the city government will install a network of high-resolution CCTV cameras across neighbourhoods, mounted on top of mobile phone towers, to provide real-time footage to the law and order machinery as well as various civic agencies.

Bhopal, Jan. 27: Political stature is something Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has always been found to be lacking compared to his counterparts in other BJP-ruled states. Of all the CMs, he is generally seen to be least discussed given his penchant for avoiding controversies or making out of turn statements.

New Delhi, Jan. 27: In a bid to find out their feedback about the quality of governance in the country and the level of their satisfaction in serving the nation, the government has planned an elaborate survey to be conducted among the 10 civil services officers.

Islamabad, Jan. 27: All the seven terrorists arrested in Pakistan for their involvement in the Mumbai attack belonged to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and there is “sufficient incriminating evidence against them,” investigators have said.

Patna, Jan. 27: With the Rashtriya Janta Dal’s (RJD) belligerent plans for a state-wide shutdown in Bihar against price hike and corruption scheduled on Thursday, the Nitish Kumar-led National Democrtic Alliance (NDA) government has beefed up security arrangements across the state anticipating unruly behaviour and vandalism.

Kolkata, Jan. 27: A city court on Wednesday convicted Prabhu Shankar Agarwal, a rich businessman and the owner of famous confectionery chain Haldiram’s, of criminal conspiracy and attempt to murder of a tea-stall owner.