In a bid to woo its land-locked southern neighbour, China on Saturday offered $135 million in aid to Nepal to beef up its infrastructure and security during a brief surprise visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Kanwal Sibal

The crassly cynical political developments in Pakistan, epitomised by the Memogate scandal, befit a banana republic. The Army is accusing the Head of State of acting against national security by seeking to conspire with the US to curb its power. In a move without parallel anywhere, the Army Chief has approached the Pakistani Supreme Court to investigate the matter.

India on Wednesday reached out to the top leadership of the Palestine and reaffirmed its strong commitment to the Palestinian cause.
External affairs minister S.M. Krishna, who arrived here on Wednesday from Jerusalem held meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in what is the first visit by an Indian foreign minister in over a decade.

Gearing up for his visit to India for the 15th round of boundary talks, top Chinese diplomat Dai Bingguo on Wednesday said the two countries should handle differences “wisely, calmly and properly” to prevent them from becoming “barriers” in improvement of ties.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed given a call to fight the common enemy of the region — poverty — and stressed the need for increasing regional and bilateral cooperation in the field of trade and commerce. She also urged the India to play its role as a big nation and to be more liberal to easy the heavy trade imbalance now prevailing between the two countries.

In bizarre tit for tat, the cash-strapped Patna Municipal Corporation has used garbage as a weapon against one longtime holding tax defaulter and angered thousands of residents by dumping truckloads of stinking garbage at a market complex he owns.

A ruling BJP MLA of Bastar region Bhima Ram Mandavi had a miraculous escape when his security guards managed to escort him to safety after Naxals attacked his convoy at Gamabada, a plain area, under Bacheli police station in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Dantewada district on Wednesday, police said.

Five passengers of the New Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail train were killed and 14 others got injured when a sleeper coach of the train derailed after being hit by a stationary goods train in northern Jharkhand on Wednesday morning. Six railway officials were suspended and a probe was ordered.

In major development, the Election Commission on Wednesday ordered the transfers of five district magistrates, one DIG and seven senior superintendents of police.

The BJP on Wednesday promised to keep intact the territorial integrity of Manipur besides trying to withdraw the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 from the state.