Washington, March 22: Republicans vowed to fight back on Monday after the US Congress passed President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul while states promised new legal challenges and health industry stocks rose.

New Delhi, March 22: Defending champions Deccan Chargers were rated the most popular side of the Indian Premier League while last year’s laggards, the Kolkata Knight Riders, were second in cricket lovers’ popularity chart, a survey said.

The Chargers won. Yuvraj Singh of Kings XI Punjab in action against the Chennai Super Kings in Chennai. Punjab won in the super-over stage.     PHOTOS: K.V.S. Giri, PTI

Ethiopia’s Siraj Gena grabs his country’s flag as he crosses the finish line barefoot in front of the Colosseum to win the Rome City Marathon on Sunday. Gena took his shoes off 500 metres bef-ore the finish line to honour Ethopia’s Abebe Bikila, who won the Rome 1960 Olympic Games marathon running without shoes.
    PHOTO: AP

Bhubaneswar ,March 21: The Indian Navy on Sunday successfully test-fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a vertical launcher fitted on board a moving warship, the INS Ranvir, off the Orissa coast near Paradip, said defence sources here.
The missile, carrying a 200 kg conventional warhead and with a range of 280 km, performed supersonic manoeuvring and following the exact flight path it was supposed to.

Thiruvananthapuram ,March 21: Union minister of state for external affairs and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, was the person who prompted the Rendezvous Sports World consortium to bid for a Kerala team in the IPL auction.
Sahara on Sunday bagged the Pune team while the consortium Rendezvous Sports World Ltd clinched Kochi, the two new teams that will join the IPL from the 2011 season.

Lahore, March 21: In a stunning disclosure that once again confirmed the nexus between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and banned militant outfits, a former ISI official, Khalid Khwaja, has claimed to have arranged at least five meetings between former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
In an interview with a private television channel, Mr Khwaja said Mr Sharif has met several Islamic movement leaders around the world, including Osama, and asked him to provide funds for “development projects”.

New Delhi/ Thiruvananthapuram ,March 21: In what a top home ministry official described as a “serious security lapse”,  a crude explosive bomb-like object with gunpowder inside was found in the cargo section of a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft at Thiruvananthapuram airport on Sunday morning after the flight had landed from Bengaluru.

Gandhinagar ,March 21: JD(U) Gujarat unit chief and MLA from Jhagadia (south Gujarat) Chhotu Vasava has been charged with encroaching on 800 acres of land in Bharuch district given to people affected by the Narmada project, government officials have confirmed.
The Bharuch district authorities, in a report to the state authorities, have held that the land was in possession of Vasava, also an MLA from Jhagadia Assembly seat, and that he has been cultivating it for years.

New Delhi ,March 21: The UPSC will soon be holding special examinations for young officers in Central Police Organisations (CPOs), Central Paramilitary Forces (CPFs) and state police forces to induct them into the elite Indian Police Service (IPS). The Union home ministry, which was working on a proposal to plug the acute shortfall of IPS officers in the country, has firmed up its scheme and is holding consultations with the UPSC to implement the move.