Encouraged by the success of its recent rallies in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is now holding a two-day convention in Varanasi on May 18 and 19 to discuss the strategy for the next Assembly elections.

The Reserve Bank’s 2011-12 monetary policy review will burn a hole in the pockets of the salaried classes. The half per cent rise in the repo rate (that at which banks borrow from the RBI) will translate into home loan rates rising to 9.75 per cent from 8.75 per cent. The rise will be even sharper for those borrowing to buy a car, personal needs like emergency funds, travel or hospitalisation.

Senior Congress leaders met at 10, Janpath here on Tuesday evening against the backdrop of the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and polling in five states.
Though there was no official word about the nature of the meeting the leaders had with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, a leader who was took part in the deliberations said it was a joint meeting.

Pakistan on Tuesday prepared for a backlash over Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s killing in Abbotabad on Monday as the Army, Inter-Services Intelligence and other security agencies and the police were put on high alert, with the Taliban threatening revenge attacks.

Security agencies are exploring the possibility of the copter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu exploding in the air since no signals were transmitted from the copter, which happens in cases of crash landing. The copter is missing for four days and Isro images on Wednesday showed presence of metallic

The public works department of the Delhi government is believed to have dispatched a letter to the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Tuesday in response to the allegations made against the agency by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), said sources. However, senior officials were not available for comments.

Over 3,000 rescue workers, which included mountaineers of specialised forces of the Army, ITBP and CRPF, engaged in tracing the missing helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu on Tuesday, the fourth consecutive day, failed to reach three possible locations where Sukhoi jets and Isro satellites have found “metallic traces” in the hills of the frontier state.

Giving interim relief to 200-odd autorickshaw drivers in the city, the Delhi high court on Tuesday stayed the city government’s notification demanding `15,000 from them for installation of global positioning system (GPS) in their vehicles.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari made it clear that the party will contest the next Assembly elections in Rajasthan under the collective leadership of Leader of the Opposition Vasundhara Raje and party president Arun Chaturvedi. But he said it is too early to name a prime ministerial candidate as the party has various able leaders.

The Delhi police has arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly abducting his employer’s five-year-old son from Naraina in southwest Delhi.
The police said the five-year-old boy has been rescued from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh and the accused, identified as Ram Karan, has been arrested. The boy was