A cheap and economical solution to rural India’s lack of Internet connectivity might lie in the hands of an India-born New Zealand engineer.

Pune woke up to a bizarre display of manic violence on Wednesday when a deranged state transport bus driver hijacked a bus from Swargate depot and went on a rampage on the crowded streets of the city, ramming into as many as 40 vehicles in its way and leaving eight persons dead and 29 others injured.

Pointing out to the ATS’ claim that the conspiracy was hatched in Bihar, MNS chief Raj Thackeray said that this was why the influx of north Indians in Mumbai needs to be controlled.

Once again, human intelligence (humint), and not electronic surveillance, helped the Maharashtra ATS crack the 13/7 triple blasts case.
ATS chief Rakesh Maria confirmed that the investigating body received its first reliable lead from its informants in November.

For the first time the common man has nothing to look forward to in the credit policy though the RBI released `32,000 crore into the banking system through a half per cent cut in the cash reserve ratio (the cash that banks have to keep as a percentage of their deposits with the RBI) in the 3Q Monetary Policy Review announced by the RBI governor, Dr D. Subbarao, on Tuesday.

In yet another setback to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed a panel headed by former apex court judge M.B. Shah to investigate over 20 cases of alleged fake gun battle killings in the state between 2003 and 2006.

The video address by The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie at the DSC Jaipur Literary Festival on Tuesday has been cancelled, a police official said.

A pall of gloom descended on the family of Kevalkumar Kalidas Rajput, the Indian national who died in the terrorist attack in the Nigerian city of Kano on Friday.

Indian nationals Shyamsunder Agarwal and Deepak Reheja, who were kidnapped and tortured by Chinese traders, are still stuck in China, struggling in a web of bureaucracy. Speaking from China, they told this newspaper that despite total compliance with the Indian consulate, their return home is being delayed for no reason and plan to go on a hungerstrike from Monday.

Amidst widespread outrage over author Salman Rushdie having to cancel his India visit in the face of stiff opposition from fundamentalist groups and a possible threat to his life, the Maharashtra police said it did not have any information about Rushdie’s life being in danger.