Nov 11 : TIME was when today’s Maharashtra, then the multi-lingual state of Bombay, was one of the two best-administrated states, the other being the state of Madras, now called Tamil Nadu. Let us leave the southern state out of this discussion. But sadly, Maharashtra today is one of the worst administered, often rivalling Bihar, with which it has a special relationship of total hostility.

Washington, Nov. 9: Under growing pressure from US missile strikes, the Al Qaeda terror network is relying more heavily on local insurgent groups along the Pakistan border to house training camps that are growing smaller and more mobile, according to counter-terrorism officials.

Oct. 22: British scientists have indicated that the first-ever successful womb transplant in women is closer to reality after they conducted successful experiments on rabbits.

The scientists, led by Richard Smith, consultant gynaecological surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital in London, are seeking funds for further research. They have set up a charity called Uterine Transplant UK and are seeking to raise £25,000 for the next section of research and £250,000 to complete a set of studies.

Nov. 9: At least 12 people, including four soldiers, died in a suicide attack in Pakistan’s Peshawar city and during the military operation in South Waziristan Agency, officials said on Monday.

"At least four people have been killed and five others injured when a suicide bomber exploded himself at police checkpoint on Ring Road (in Peshawar)," a police official said.

Nov. 9: Iraq’s electoral commission on Monday submitted a proposal to hold national elections on Janu-ary 21, five days after the previously scheduled date.

Parliament cleared the way for the national poll when it passed a crucial election law on Sunday night after weeks of political haggling. The elections had been slated for January 16 and there were concerns a significant delay might slow the US troop withdrawal, and undermine Iraq’s fragile stability.

Nov. 9: In yet another attack on Indian students here, a 22-year-old youth was punched on his face by a group of Australians, who also told the victim that "in this place there is no home for you".

Nov. 8: The schoolhouse is so tiny that dozens of pupils have to sit outdoors. They’re lucky if their teachers have more than a basic education. And the chanting of math equations and Quranic verses gets so loud that the children have a hard time hearing themselves.

Seoul, Nov. 8: State television in communist North Korea has abandoned capitalist-style commercials after leader Kim Jong-Il expressed his anger, a news report here said Sunday.

Nov. 8: The US House of Representatives has approved the broadest overhaul of US health care in four decades, handing President Barack Obama a hard-fought victory for his top domestic priority.

Nov. 8: Though the crisis in the state BJP has finally come to an end, it has taken a heavy toll on the state with the cost of the trips undertaken by ministers and MLAs running into several lakhs.