Two Mumbai terrorists were from Bradford, Leeds

At least two of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai earlier this week hailed from Bradford or Leeds and monitored reports of their murderous spree on sites, including the BBC.

According to the Sun, the gang looked for web updates and live footage on the net to help them prolong their three-day rampage that has left at least 195 dead and 295 injured.

It was further reported that at least five BlackBerry handsets were used for conversations, instructions and to surf British websites.

Key figures in the gang equipped themselves with BlackBerrys to monitor British news if the power was cut to televisions.

"There was a lot of content from the English media - not just in London but Urdu and Arabic sites that are very strong in the north of England. We have started analysis on this and will pass it on to Scotland Yard," a senior National Security Guard officer was quoted, as saying.

Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said two Britons were involved.

An army source said last night: "British passports were found on two terrorist bodies - young men aged 25-30.

"It's possible that they picked them up as they rampaged through the hotel rooms, but security forces and police are investigating the possibility that they were British citizens from Pakistani families. Other terrorists appeared to have connections with Mauritius. All those involved so far are linked to Pakistan," he said.

Meanwhile British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has reportedly spoken with his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh. Brown also warned that it was "too early" to reach any conclusions about British involvement.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh said he was "appalled" by reports that British Asians from the city could be involved.

He told The Sun: "I'm hoping it is wrong. I've spoken to Muslims in Bradford and they are disgusted as well. The community as a whole is gutted by this."

Last night a Foreign Office source insisted there was "no evidence" of British involvement.

Q+A - Who could be behind the Mumbai attacks and why?

Militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked luxury hotels, hospitals and a famous tourist cafe in India's commercial capital Mumbai late on Wednesday, killing at least 101 people.

* WHO IS BEHIND THE ATTACKS?

The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen in an e-mail to news organisations. Deccan is an area of southern India.

But it is not clear if the claim is genuine, and analysts say the bombings are almost certainly the work of a different group.

The most likely perpetrators, they say, are either the Indian Mujahideen or Lashkar-e-Taiba.

* WHO ARE LASHKAR-E-TAIBA?

Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of the largest Islamic militant groups in South Asia, based in Pakistan and fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Security analysts say it is a well-funded and highly organised group that sympathises with al Qaeda.

Lashkar-e-Taiba denied being behind the Mumbai attacks and said it condemned them.

The group was blamed for bomb attacks on markets in New Delhi that killed more than 60 people in 2005, as well as an assault on India's parliament in 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a fourth war.

* WHO ARE THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN?

Indian police say the Indian Mujahideen is an offshoot of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), but that local Muslims appear to have been given training and backing from militant groups in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

SIMI has been blamed by police for almost every major bomb attack in India, including explosions on commuter trains in Mumbai two years ago that killed 187 people.

Police said the Indian Mujahideen may also include former members of Bangladeshi militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami.

The group first emerged during a wave of bombings in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2007, sending an e-mail to media outlets just before some of the bombs exploded.

They have since claimed responsibility for multiple bomb attacks in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and New Delhi.

* WHO DOES INDIA BLAME?

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the attacks were probably plotted by a group based in a neighbouring country.

But Indian governments often blame neighbouring Pakistan or sometimes Bangladesh for supporting or harbouring militant groups which have launched attacks on Indian soil.

* WHAT CAN BE INFERRED FROM THE ATTACKERS' TACTICS?

The Mumbai attacks were unusual in that they involved coordinated attacks by gunmen on multiple targets, hostages were taken, and foreigners were specifically targeted.

Several analysts say these tactics point to Lashkar-e-Taiba as being involved. The attacks on symbolic targets designed to gather maximum publicity, and the specific targeting, point to a group following al Qaeda ideology and tactics.

The attacks also show a considerable degree of sophistication, another factor pointing to an experienced group like Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Indian Mujahideen have also surprised police with the sophistication of their attacks, however, although until now these have always been bomb attacks on Indian targets.

In May, the Indian Mujahideen made a specific threat to attack tourist sites in India unless the government stopped supporting the United States in the international arena.

The threat was made in an e-mail claiming responsibility for bomb attacks that killed 63 people in the tourist city of Jaipur. The mail declared "open war against India" and included the serial number of a bicycle used in one of the bombings.

* WHAT CAN BE INFERRED FROM THEIR DEMANDS?

A man speaking Urdu with a Kashmiri accent phoned an Indian TV station, offering talks with the government and accusing the Indian army of killing Muslims in Kashmir. This suggests the attackers are involved with a Kashmiri group like Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The demands of the Indian Mujahideen -- like their targets -- have always tended to be much more domestic. The group issued an e-mail threat in September to attack Mumbai but directed its anger at the Mumbai police anti-terrorist squad, accusing them of harassing Muslims.

"If this is the degree your arrogance has reached, and if you think that by these stunts you can scare us, then let the Indian Mujahideen warn all the people of Mumbai that whatever deadly attacks Mumbaikars will face in future, their responsibility would lie with the Mumbai ATS and their guardians," it said.

India V/s Pakistan....War goes on INTERNET

Even as India and Pakistan renew efforts to resolve contentious issues through dialogue, it seems that a virtual war is going on between the two countries in cyberspace.

The latest news is that the official website of the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) has been hacked by pro-Pakistan hackers.

It is believed that the hacker who claimed himself to be Pakistani, also fiddled with website of a news channel and that of Bank Of Baroda. However, when accessed in the last evening, both these websites were found to be in the working condition.

As per the officials, there was no ‘secret’ information on the website of www.cidap.gov.in and it was also open to the public. Therefore it has not affected the department in any way. However, the Cyber Crime Wing of the CID is leaving no stone unturned to locate the hacker taking help of his ip address.

The hacker boasts: “HackeD By ZombiE_KsA. You have been owned by Pakistani 133 t h 4xOrz ….. Indians script kiddies you guyz hack Paki OGRA website lol. See what i DID your ….. Indian CID? HackeD lol.”

Speaking on this, Additional DGP (Law and Order) A K Khan said, “The hacking is real but it has not caused any damage to the CID or any other department. It appears that someone wanted to prove that he could hack our website and he did”.

Uncertainty grips Mumbai after attacks

A sudden cracking sound on the street in India's financial capital Mumbai on Friday sent people diving to the ground for cover or scurrying behind cars and other barriers.

Policemen cocked their guns, took position and scoured the rooftops of nearby buildings for attackers. There were none.

No one could say what the sound was but it was in an area far from locations where commandos were trying to flush out suspected Islamist militants.

But fear was palpable after a series of attacks in the city that killed 121 people and wounded almost 300.

"When you have a terrorist shooting down people in stations and on roads, how can anyone feel safe any more?" asked Pankaj Angre, a shopkeeper, as many others on the street nodded in agreement.

"This attack is different because it's not a car bomb or a fixed target. This time people have been attacked where they are most vulnerable -- on roads and at railway stations.

"There is an atmosphere of fear, anger and suspicion. It's like living in a war zone where no one cares."

The city of almost 18 million prides itself as living on the edge. It's at the vanguard of India's emerging economic prowess and the location of its Bollywood film industry, but it is also home to organised crime syndicates and abject poverty.

It has been the target of militant attacks before, including a series of bomb blasts in 1993 that killed at least 260 people and wounded hundreds more at the stock exchange and several other landmarks.

Just two years ago, more than 180 people died when Islamist militants set off bombs on commuter trains used by millions of people every day.

But Mumbai recovered quickly from those attacks.

"UNCANNY KNACK FOR NORMALCY"

On Friday, streets were deserted across much of downtown southern Mumbai. Shops were closed and attendance was low in offices. But hundreds were clustered around the locations where the commandos were engaged in action, held back by police.

Elsewhere the city appeared to be functioning as usual. Trains on the city's rail network, the lifeblood of the metropolis, were running on time.

"This uncanny knack for normalcy springs from the fact that this is a financial centre," said Prahlad Kakkar, an advertisement guru and a prominent Mumbai resident.

"But there is boiling anger in the people. They are helpless and scared like never before because of the nature of the attack. The fear has come home, that it can be me next."

Others said the normalcy sprang from the need for the city's vast number of poor to continue their daily grind.

"It's more about momentum of life. Momentum of survival," said Rahul Bose, a prominent Bollywood actor.

"But this is the last straw. Now it looks like people can stroll the shores with bags full of bombs and grenades and the police can't do a thing.

"If politicians can't build flyovers, provide water, drainage, health care -- (that) doesn't matter," said Bose.

"But at least someone please stop these terrorists from killing in such a brazen manner and with such regularity."

50 bodies were scattered through the Taj

The Navy's elite Marine Commandos held a press conference in Mumbai where they claimed to have seen about 50 dead bodies during the flush out operation of the Taj hotel.

Gunfire and explosions continued to erupt from the Taj Hotel as a lone militant fought on. The crack commandos seemed to grant their foes a grudging respect for their military know-how and planning.

"These people were very, very familiar with the hotel layout and it appeared they had carried out a survey before," the chief of the elite Naval Commando Unit (MARCOS or Marine Commandos), his face covered with a black scarf and sunglasses, told reporters.

"A very determined lot, remorseless," he said, adding that he had seen around 50 bodies scattered through the Taj hotel, including at least 12 in a single room.

"He is moving in two floors, there is a dance floor area where apparently he has cut off all the lights. And sometimes he gets holed up into some of the rooms, and he has made the area dark," Lieutenant-General N. Thamburaj told reporters.

"This morning while carrying out the operation we heard the sound of a lady and a gentleman, so it is possible that this terrorist has got two or more hostages with him," he added.

Guests who escaped the hotel told of bodies littered in the corridors, although one Briton said the attackers had released some women hostages when they started to panic in the early stages of the siege.

They also found grenades, ammunition, dried fruits and almonds -- signs, they said, that the attackers had been prepared to sustain themselves during a long siege.

"We are not aware how many have been killed," the commando said of the battle at the Taj.

Held hostage in Taj, city-based Vaibhava recounts her 7 hours in captivity

As Vaibhava Rele, the Pune-based professional who does line production for films and documentaries, wound up the meeting with her crew at the Sea Lounge of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai on Wednesday around 10 pm, she had little idea that the night ahead would turn out to be the most harrowing one of her life.

"I was sitting there with my crew when at 10.15 pm there was the sound of gunfire. There was a wedding on in the ballroom opposite so initially no one reacted very sharply. It didn't even sound too dangerous and many thought it was part of the raucous celebrations," recounts Rele, adding that there were about 25 people in all on the first-floor lounge at that time.

"Just then a group of five to six people barged in and shouted that there were people outside with guns. In a flash the hotel staff shut the door to the lounge and switched off all the lights. In minutes there were gunshot sounds all over and bullets whizzed through the door. We had taken refuge behind pillars and were then asked to lie down flat. We were petrified - it would have been so simple for them to just shoot the lock and come in but astonishingly they didn't do that and in a few minutes the firing ceased," she said.

"About 15 minutes later there was this huge blast. I guess it was the first of the many hand grenades. After that it was a like a Diwali party - they were throwing hand grenades left, right and center. We could hear glass shattering and there was a loud wail of a woman who sounded like a foreigner. Even in our room it were the foreigners who were panicking the most and demanding to know where the cops and the army was," Rele recounted.

But there was worse to follow as small interludes of silence kept being shattered by grenade blasts.

"After what seemed like a very long time we heard police sirens. By this time, the terrorists had reached the sixth floor and were chucking down grenades and the lobby had caught fire. From across we could hear the mayhem at the marriage party and see grenades whizzing past the windows. It was numbing," relates Rele, a mother of two.

By 3 am the false ceiling started to give way. The sprinklers were switched on and everyone lying on the floor were soon in a pool of water. "We had prostrated on the floor and were all wet but of course, no one thought much of that. At about 4.15 am there was this gentleman from the fire brigade who came up to the window and broke it open and one by one we were evacuated," she said reliving the most eagerly awaited moment of her life.

Rele adds there were quite a few senior executives and families in the room with her and is all praises for the staff that handled the exigency commendably. "There was one senior executive called Sarita who was amazing. Even when we all went outside down the ladder, she was the last one to come, even after the waiters," said Rele who first called up her husband and sisters-in-law in Pune once she got out of the hotel.

"I had been in touch with them all through and of course, they too were worried. By the time I reached out, my battery was dead. I borrowed the first phone I saw and called up. The children were sleeping when all this was going on. We didn't tell them anything till morning," said Rele who reached her Baner residence in Pune on Thursday afternoon.

"The predominant feeling now of course is of relief. We could have been easily shot - either while inside or when climbing down the ladder. Actually while we were in we never realised the magnitude of the attack. We kept thinking it would be over in a few hours - can't believe it is still on," concludes the 38-year-old.

Mumbai under attack, 101 killed, 600 injured

Gunmen killed at least 101 people in a series of attacks in India's financial capital Mumbai and troops began moving into two five-star hotels on Thursday where Western hostages were being held, local television said.

Gunfire and explosions were heard at the landmark Taj Mahal hotel and thick plumes of smoke rose from the building, witnesses said. There were also explosions at the Oberoi hotel and firing at a hospital where gunmen were surrounded.

"The terrorists are throwing grenades at us from the rooftop of the Taj and trying to stop us from moving in," Ashok Patil, a police inspector said.

Police said at least 600 people were wounded in the attacks which also targeted a railway station and the Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in the city.

An organisation calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen said it was behind attacks, television channels said. The previously little known group sent an email to news organisations claiming responsibility.

"I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports," said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel on business. "They had bombs."

"They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs," he told a TV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. "Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns."

India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years.

The latest attack, apparently aimed at least partly at prosperous Western tourists, is bound to spook investors in one of Asia's largest and fastest-growing economies.

Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai, was killed during the attacks, police said.

"We have shot dead four terrorists and managed to arrest nine suspected terrorists," PD Ghadge, a police officer at Mumbai's central control room, told Reuters.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said one of its nationals was killed in the Mumbai attacks and one injured.

TRAPPED HOTEL GUESTS

Mark Abell, a British lawyer, said he had locked himself inside his Oberoi hotel room after hearing two explosions.

Several hundred people had been evacuated from the Taj hotel, one witness said, but many more remained inside, some calling for help from the fifth floor. Firefighters broke windows to reach trapped guests.

"We came down the fire exit, but I think they took some more people, they are trying to get to the roof," one foreigner told local television. "I think about 15 people (have been taken hostage), about half of them are foreigners."

In Washington, the White House and US President-elect Barack Obama condemned the attacks, as did France, current President of the European Union, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

A European official was among the wounded.

"My hotel is surrounded by police and there are gunmen inside," European lawmaker Ignasi Guardans told Spanish radio from the Taj. "We are in contact with some deputies inside the hotel, with one in a room and another hidden in the kitchen. There's another official hurt and in hospital."

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said there were around four or five attackers in each of the two hotels.

"They have attacked hotels, they have attacked the hospitals, they have attacked the railway station," he said.

KOREANS, EUROPEANS CAUGHT UP IN ATTACKS

A driver told Reuters at least 50 Koreans were stuck inside the Taj with their drivers waiting outside.

"We were just getting ready to pick them up, when we heard the first blast, police did not let us get past and they (the Koreans) are not answering the phones," Deepak Aswar, the driver said. Europeans were also caught up in the attacks.

"I was in the restaurant inside Oberoi and I saw this series of gunshots and death which I don't want to see again," a Spaniard who declined to give his name told Reuters.

"I crawled out into the kitchen and waited there, until I sensed it was all quiet and seemed over."

Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy said attackers had fired automatic weapons indiscriminately, and used grenades, adding that they were still holed up in some buildings.

Sourav Mishra, a Reuters reporter, was with friends at the Cafe Leopold when gunmen opened fire around 9:30 p.m. He was injured and is in St George's Hospital.

"I heard some gunshots around 9:30. I was with my friends. Something hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I have injuries below my shoulder," Mishra said from a hospital bed he was sharing with three other people.

Another Reuters reporter saw a hospital ward full of injured people with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Many people were crying as the injured were brought in on trolleys.

Hotel Taj witnesses India's bloodiest siege

The globally renowned Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba here, just opposite to historic Gateway of India was not lucky the third time around. The heritage hotel which bore the brunt of the 1993 serial blasts and again in 2003 at the Gateway of India, now played the mute witness to one of the bloodiest seize situation ever to be undertaken in the country.

The famous dome of the hotel which is a landmark of the Mumbai skyline was engulfed in thick smoke as the encounter went on and area reverberated with blast sounds and staccato of automatic weapons. Army and other forces engaged the militants in the main lobby which symbolises the grandeur of the hotel.

Eyewitnesses say that the fire was seen coming out of the main dome and flames soon spread to other domes as well. The entire top floor was in the grip of heavy fire and severely damaged during the seize which claimed lives of several of its customers.

The flames were seen coming from windows of the top-floor as fire-fighters tried hard to evacuate the trapped and douse the flames. The indiscriminate firing by a group of hardcore militants in the century-old hotel on Wednesday left several of its patrons killed and injured and tens of foreign tourists trapped as forces tried to clear it from killers holed inside.

The Taj was first hit during the 1993 serial blasts in which a bomb went off in a car parked opposite the heritage site. The Hotel again became the epicentre of 2003 terrorist attack as bombs went off at stone throw distance from it.

The historical hotel was commissioned by Steel man of India, Jamshedji Tata after, according to folklore, he was denied entry into one of the grandest hotels of its time Watson's Hotel as it was meant for 'Whites only.

Air India considering fare cut, Jet to slash salaries

State-owned carrier Air India is considering a fare cut and is likely to make an announcement soon, but private airlines Jet Airways and Kingfisher are in no mood to follow suit, with Jet even working out on a salary cut of its pilots.

With recession eating into its bottomline, Jet Airways is likely to announce a 20 percent cut in the salaries of its pilots, engineers and some other staff. An announcement to this effect is expected soon.

According to people familiar with the development, Jet's pilots and engineers have expressed their opposition to a salary cut and are considering their response.

The airline employs around 13,200 personnel, of whom around 2,000 draw salaries in the bracket of Rs.100,000-plus a month. These officials comprise mainly pilots and maintenance engineers.

According to an Air India official, the carrier could reduce its fares by 10-12 percent some time in December following a cut in avitation turbine fuel (ATF) surcharge. The airline is contemplating fare cut following a request from Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Saturday.

'The fare cut would be done taking into account losses and expenses. You can expect an announcement soon,' an Air India official told IANS.

Patel said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here Nov 22 that airlines ought to cut fares because of falling ATF prices.

'Now fuel prices have come down. You must match it with the perception or else you'll lose people's sympathy,' Patel, flanked by Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya, had said.

State-run oil companies slashed ATF prices by 12 percent Nov 15, bringing down the price to Rs.39,767 per kilolitre from Rs.41,417 per kilolitre. With this price cut, the ATF or jet fuel prices are at par with levels that prevailed in September last year.

Ship sunk by Indian Navy was Thai fishing trawler: IMB

A suspected pirate vessel that was destroyed by Indian Navy last week in the Gulf of Aden was in fact a Thai fishing trawler which had been hijacked, the International Maritime Bureau confirmed on Wednesday.

Noel Choong, head of the IMB's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur said one Thai crew member died when the Indian frigate 'INS Tabar' attacked the trawler on November 18 in waters near Somalia, which is infested with pirates.

The Indian Navy's attack was earlier heralded as heroic and several maritime bodies felt that navies patrolling in the region should take cue and be active like INS Tabar.

Fourteen crew members are still missing while a Cambodian sailor was rescued four days back, Choong said.

The Bureau received a report about the mistake by the Indian Navy from the Thai trawler's owner Bangkok-based Sirichai Fisheries.

"The Indian Navy assumed it was a pirate vessel because they may have seen armed pirates on board the boat which has been hijacked earlier," Choong said.

Choong said Sirichai Fisheries found out about the mishap after speaking to the Cambodian sailor, who is in a hospital in Yemen.

"We are sad by the incident and it is unfortunate," Choong said and hoped that the incident will not affect anti-piracy operation by the multi-coalition navies there.

NRI admits killing wife, another person

An Indian accused of killing his estranged wife and another person in a New Jersey church has, in a videotaped confession, admitted shooting them and said he would have killed everyone in the building if he had a machine gun at that time, according to authorities. Joseph Pallipurath, a native of Kerala, who fatally shot his 24-year-old wife Reshma James, who wanted to end the "abusive marriage", and critically wounded a third person, admitted to Sunday's shooting after he surrendered peacefully at a motel near Atlanta on Monday, Georgia prosecutor Eric Crawford said.

The accused also agreed to return to New Jersey when he was produced in a court in Georgia. Pallipurath also did not apologise express remorse for the crime he committed, Crawford was quoted as saying by media.

The accused told authorities that he believed that church members were blocking his attempts to contact his wife, Crawford said. The couple had an arranged marriage just a year ago and Reshma had suffered abuse right from the initial days of her marriage in Kerala, which continued here, police said.

Reshma had left him about three months ago to stay with her cousin in New Jersey and obtained a restraining order against him. Pallipurath had drove across US on Sunday from California to New Jersey, to persuade his wife Reshma to return to him and then shot her when she spurned him.

He was on run after the shooting in which another man Dennis John Mallosseril, 23, who maintained the church's website, was also killed when he attempted to intervene between the couple. A third person, James' cousin, Silvy Perincheril,47, who was shot in the head remains in critical condition.

India strong enough to endure crisis

Describing India as a 'key economic theatre' that will shape future growth prospects of the world economy, minister for overseas Indian affairs, Valayar Ravi said the country has the 'capacity and resilience' to weather the global financial turmoil.

"For our part the growth in technology, innovation and the size of the market in India combined with the demographic advantage that we hold, makes India a key economic theatre that will substantially shape future growth prospects of the global economy," he said.

In his inaugural address to the convention of the National Federation of Indian Associations in Seattle, Ravi, the minister for overseas Indian affairs said India is on its way to grow at over seven per cent despite the raging economic crisis worldwide.

"We are witness to the biggest taxpayer bailouts of international banks and corporates across the USA and Europe, unprecedented, in history," Ravi, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs said.

"Yet, India remains stable and our economy continues on a high growth trajectory. We are on course to record a growth of between 7 to 7.5% this year," he said, adding Indian economy has both the "capacity and resilience" to weather the storm.

Lauding the election of Barack Obama as the next US President,

Ravi said it sent a message of inclusive and equitable growth to the outside world.

"The election of Obama as the next President has sent an inspiring and profound message to the world the message of inclusive and equitable growth, of peace and prosperity," Ravi said.

He also saluted the efforts of the Indian American community in facilitating the conclusion of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, and said the landmark agreement is a 'historic milestone' in the country's march to becoming an economic powerhouse.

"It marks the beginning of a new and exciting period in our history. It also enables us to meet the development needs across several sectors of the economy without compromising our commitment to non-proliferation. I wish to salute the efforts of the Indo-American community in supporting and facilitating the conclusion of this pioneering agreement," he said.

Pak to release 101 Indian prisoners

Pakistan today said it would release 101 Indian prisoners, a majority of them fishermen, as a goodwill gesture ahead of a meeting between the interior secretaries of the two countries later this week. Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said 99 Indian fishermen and two other prisoners would be freed before the meeting of Pakistan's interior secretary and India's home secretary here on November 25.

Malik also said that Pakistan expected India to reciprocate the goodwill gesture. There are hundreds of Pakistanis languishing in Indian prisons and they should be freed at the earliest, he said.

Leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney told PTI that he had been informed by officials that the Indian prisoners were likely to be freed tomorrow or the day after. He said the two Indian prisoners being released had completed their prison terms.

"There are many other Indian prisoners who have completed their sentences but are still in jail. I have also taken up their case with the authorities," he said.

During their day-long meeting, Pakistan's interior secretary and India's home secretary are expected to discuss measures for countering terrorism and drug trafficking and liberalising the visa regime between the two countries. The two sides are also expected to take up the exchange of civilian prisoners, human trafficking, illegal immigration and measures to counter counterfeit currency, sources said.

The talks will be part of the fifth round of the composite dialogue launched by India and Pakistan four years ago.

I may be a 'bachcha', but so are most Indians: Rahul Gandhi

In a polite riposte to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh who called him a 'bachcha' (child), Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said he should keep in mind that 70 percent of people in the country were young like him.

'Yes, I am still a bachcha for a senior leader like Rajnath Singh. I really respect him and agree with whatever he says as I do not have even half the experience he has," Gandhi told a news conference here.

He was in Amritsar along with former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh to review preparations for Indian Youth Congress (IYC) elections in Punjab.

"Compared to the likes of Rajnath Singh and others, I am still a bachcha. I am a much younger person. I think in a completely different way than how they think. They think politically.'

Rajnath Singh had dubbed Gandhi a bachcha when he was asked by Shekhar Gupta, in his Walk the Talk programme on NDTV, on what he thought of the Congress MP and his politics.

'However, fortunately or unfortunately for him (Rajnath Singh), 70 percent people of India who are powering the country are also bachchas," Gandhi said sarcastically.

Punjab is the first state where IYC elections are being held in a new democratic manner.

The move has been initiated by Gandhi who wants to replicate the same in other states to give greater representation to grassroots workers.

Forum of Indian Regulators advises open access regime

The Forum of Indian Regulators has recommended the introduction of open access system so that consumers have a choice in buying power.

"Consumers should be given the freedom to buy cheaper power through open access system and the distribution licensees should work out a mechanism to provide such facility to the consumers," said Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) chairman Pramod Deo.

Under the open access system, the consumer may be connected to a particular distribution licensee but he has the option to buy power from other licensees as and when desired, he elaborated.

Deo, who attended a meeting of the power regulators, here on Friday, said the forum will soon host a website to educate consumers about the open access regime.

The chairman said the forum wants that state governments should immediately give functional autonomy to the state load dispatch centres (SLDCs) to promote competition through open access.

The forum has also recommended penalising distribution licensees by reducing their return on equity if they fail to ensure availability of distribution network as per norms and meet the projected demands of the consumers.

The forum has decided that distribution licensees should be mandated to procure at least 5% green energy of their total requirement to fulfill the target of the national action plan on climate change, Deo said.

Yuvraj's all-round display powers India to victory

Yuvraj Singh clobbered his second successive century and then scalped four key wickets as India maintained their stranglehold over England by thrashing the visitors by 54 runs in the second cricket one-dayer here today.

The Indians rode on Yuvraj's scintillating 118 to post a competitive 292 for nine and then bundled out England for 238 in 47 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.

The 26-year-old Yuvraj, who recovered from a back injury just in time to be drafted into the team, came out with a stunning all-round display to play the pivotal role in India's victory on a rather slow track at the Maharani Usharaje Trust ground.

Yuvraj, who had blasted an unbeaten 138 off just 78 balls in the first one-dayer in Rajkot to mark his return to form, not only notched up his tenth century but also helped the hosts recover from an early slump which saw them tottering at 29 for three at one stage.

He then proved his ability as a left-arm spinner by returning dream figures of 10-0-28-4 which included the prized scalps of Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah.

The Punjab swashbuckler stitched 134 runs for the fourth wicket with the in-form Gautam Gambhir (70) while the lanky Yousuf Pathan provided the late sparks to the innings with an savage unbeaten 50 off just 29 balls.

India can borrow $39 billion from IMF, World Bank

To help tide over the credit crisis, India can avail of loans worth $39 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters late on Friday night. India can borrow up to $30 billion (up five fold) from the IMF to infuse short-term liquidity through low conditional loans.

This will have to be repaid within nine months. "But with reserves of $200 billion, we really don't need this," Ahluwalia said.

India can borrow an additional $9 billion from the World Bank, $3 billion a year, for development infrastructure projects. This is part of the $100-billion kitty that the bank has made available.

"We are saying they need to go further," Ahluwalia said. It's evident that the pressure for governance reforms at the IMF and the Bank is mounting.

On the eve of the G20 summit on financial markets and the world economy, where heads of state and finance ministers have been invited, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed geo-political issues with outgoing US President George W. Bush over dinner at the White House. In a separate but concurrent dinner, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Ahluwalia and economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla met their G20 counterparts.

"We used the opportunity to brief them on what we think is our position for this summit," said Ahluwalia, who also met former secretary of state Madeliene Albright and former Congressman Jim Leash, representing US President-elect Barack Obama and US Vice President-elect Joe Biden. "We need governance reforms (in the IMF) and that reform needs to reflect the new economic reality," Ahluwalia said, referring to the increased vote share of developing economies.

He said while reforms in the IMF and the Bank may take time, countries like India should find a place in the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), as "broadbasing the FSF can happen faster." Ahluwalia said, "History has shown that these tendencies rise during recessions.

We should complete the Doha round.".

Indian American CEO shot dead in Silicon Valley

An Indian American CEO and director of a semi-conductor company in Silicon Valley was shot dead allegedly by one of his disgruntled former employees, who was let go recently, the police said.

The police have identified the victim as Sid Agrawal of SiPort Inc, a semi-conductor company based in Santa Clara.

Two others were killed in the Friday afternoon shooting at the company's Office. One of them was being identified as Brian Pugh, vice-president of the firm. The name of the third victim, a woman, has not been released.

The suspect has been identified as Jing Wu, 47, an engineer, who was fired by the company recently.

SiPort Inc website said Agrawal was Electrical Engineering graduate from India's IIT Kanpur.

This is the second such incident in a month involving an IIT graduate. Last month, Karthik Rajaram, an IIT graduate who lost his job, shot dead his wife, three sons and his mother-in-law.

India celebrates planting its flag on moon

India rejoiced Saturday at joining an elite club by planting its flag on the moon as the country s space agency released the first pictures of the cratered surface taken by its maiden lunar mission. A probe sent late Friday from the orbiting mother spacecraft took pictures and gathered other data India needs for a future moon landing as it plummeted to a crash-landing at the moon s south pole, said Indian Space Research Organization spokesman B.R. Guruprasad.

The box-shaped probe was painted with India s saffron, white and green flag, sparking celebrations in the country that is striving to become a world power. The tricolor has landed, the Hindustan Times said in a banner headline, while The Asian Age proclaimed India is big cheese.

As India s economy has boomed in recent years, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth built on the nation s high-tech sector into political and military clout. The moon mission comes just months after it finalized a deal with the United States that recognizes India as a nuclear power, and leaders hope the mission will further enhance its prestige.

This momentous achievement shall be etched in the history of India as a grateful tribute to our scientific community for their resolute efforts to take India to a global leadership position, said Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party. To date only the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China and now India have sent missions to the moon.

But while the celebrations conjured up images akin to that of the U.S. flag unfurled on the moon by Apollo astronauts, India s flag is most likely scattered over a wide swath of the moon s Shackleton crater after the probe slammed into the surface at more than 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) per hour. The violent landing was planned and Indian scientists hope to study the images and data sent back by the probe during its 25-minute descent to prepare for a future soft landing, Guruprasad told The Associated Press.

It carried a video imaging system, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer. The video imaging system took pictures of the moon s surface, while the altimeter measured the rate of descent of the probe and the mass spectrometer studied the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.

Guruprasad said the pictures that were released were raw images and that scientists had not yet analyzed the information sent by the probe. It was the first stage of a two-year mission aimed at measuring not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath.

The probe was one of 11 payloads on the spacecraft Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan means moon craft in ancient Sanskrit.

India plans to follow the mission by landing a rover on the moon in 2011 and, eventually, with a manned space program, though this has not been authorized yet.

India feels outsourcing won't be an issue in ties with US

India said on Saturday that the incoming Obama Administration in the US has given an assurance to it that the policies to strengthen bilateral ties will continue and felt that outsourcing, a hot topic during the Presidential polls in US, will not be an issue.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who met former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, deputed by President-elect Barack Obama to meet world leaders currently in Washington for the G-20 summit, said the transition administration gave a lot of assurances that the change in policies started during the Clinton era would continue.

"They assured us that the new Administration would continue to strengthen the relations between the two countries," Ahluwalia told reporters on his meeting with Albright. Democratic Congressman Jim Leech was also present in the meeting.

"We raised things that the (G-20) summit would discuss and tried to ascertain their views," he said.

Ahluwalia said he did not raise the reported desire of Obama to send former President Bill Clinton as his special envoy on Kashmir. "Neither was it raised nor did we take it up," he said.

To a question on Obama's reported reservations on outsourcing, he said he did not feel that one could judge what the new Administration would do on the issue just on the basis of what was said in election speeches.

India on the moon, with tricolour

India Friday became the fourth country in the world to land a man-made object on the lunar surface when its moon impact probe (MIP), with the tricolour painted on it, landed on the earth's only natural satellite at 8.31 p.m. after ejecting from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft.

The MIP impacted on the moon's surface 25 minutes after it was separated from Chandrayaan at 8.06 p.m., orbiting at 100 km above.

'We have given the moon to India. We have successfully placed our national flag on the lunar surface. In this auspicious month of Karthika, the moon has been very favourable to us,' a beaming G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced amidst thunderous applause by space scientists and officials.

To savour the historic event, former president and rocket scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former ISRO chairman U.R. Rao were present at the space agency's telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) on the outskirts of Bangalore.

'On Jawaharlal Nehru's 119 birthday, the space scientists have gifted the moon to millions of Indian children. I am proud of ISRO. The success of Chandrayaan mission demonstrates the creative leadership of Nair and the technological excellence of our scientists,' Kalam told reporters after witnessing the complex manouvres from the spacecraft control centre at Istrac.

It may be recalled that the modern Indian space programme was initiated in 1962 when Nehru was the prime minister.

The 34 kg boxed shaped probe, with the saffron, white and green colours of the Indian flag painted on all its four sides, hit the lunar surface in the designated area of Shackleton crater, near the South Polar region.

'A series of automatic operations were carried out by firing the spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan. With the firing of its retro rocket, the probe slowed down and started its rapid descent towards the lunar surface,' Nair pointed out.

Soon after the probe mission was accomplished, Chandrayaan disappeared behind the moon in its two-hourly orbit. Before going out of sight, the payloads in the 519 kg spacecraft captured all the pictures taken by the video imaging system of the MIP and recorded the data relayed by the radar altimeter and the mass spectrometer of the probe.

ISRO plans to use the data for its future lunar soft landing missions. Information from the instruments was radioed to Chandrayaan-1 by the descending probe. The spacecraft recorded the data in its onboard memory for later readout.

The crash landing of the 375 mm x 375 mm x 470 mm MIP, a honeycomb structure carrying a radar altimeter, a video imaging system and a mass spectrometer, raised a cloud of dust that will be analysed by the scientists, yielding a host of data about the composition of the moon. But well before that, the video imaging system and the mass spectrometer had obtained data that will enable the scientists to analyse if the moon has water, if it has anything that can be used as fuel for nuclear fusion, hopefully even the age of the moon. The landing of the MIP comes 50 years after the first man-made object landed on the lunar surface. The other countries that landed probes on the moon are the former USSR, the US and China.

Miss India USA pageant to raise funds for Bihar flood victims

The popular Miss India USA pageant this year would raise funds for the Bihar flood victims, organisers of the beauty competition have said.

The 27th edition of the Nationwide Miss India USA is scheduled to be held in New Jersey Nov 23, in which some two dozen Indian-American beauty queens representing their respective states of the US are expected to participate.

'Part of the proceeds will go for the relief of Bihar flood victims,' said Dharmatma Saran, chairman and founder of the pageant Thursday. Some 2.3 million people in North Bihar have been badly affected by massive floods, said to be one of the worst in the state in recent memory.

Saran said Prakash Jha, a well-known producer/director from Bihar, would be attending the pageant to promote the fundraising. Jha is currently touring various parts of the US raising money for Bihar flood victims.

In its 27th year, Miss India USA is the oldest Indian pageant outside India. Winner of this competition would represent the US in the 18th annual Miss India Worldwide pageant to be held in South Africa Feb 14 next year.

India, UAE to set up labour grievance redressal cell

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will set up a grievance redressal mechanism soon to solve labour-related issues involving expatriate Indian workers in this Gulf nation.

This was agreed upon at a meeting between Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi and UAE Minister for Labour Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash in Abu Dhabi Thursday, according to a statement issued by the Indian embassy in the UAE.

There are around 1.5 million expatriate Indian workers in the UAE and a large number of them are engaged as contract labourers in the country's construction sector.

The new grievance redressal mechanism, comprising officials of the Indian mission in Abu Dhabi and the UAE labour ministry, will help to quickly examine and dispose of labour-related issues.

'The two ministers noted the excellent contribution being made by Indian workers in the UAE in the development of various projects and applauded their high sense of discipline and dedication,' the embassy statement said.

'The two ministers also reviewed various aspects of recruitment and contracting of Indian workers and discussed ways in which the present system could be improved for the benefit of the workers.'

The UAE minister also reiterated his ministry's commitment to improving the living and working conditions of expatriate workers in the country.

The two ministers also expressed satisfaction at the progress made in labour-related issues through the Abu Dhabi Dialogue, a series of continuing joint meetings between major labour sending and receiving countries and the UAE's new initiative to launch a pilot project to improve the living and working conditions of expatriate Asian workers.

At the Global Forum for Migration and Development held in Manila last month, Labour Minister Gobash had announced the pilot project, which, he said, would involve 3,000 Indian and Filipino workers.

According to Gobash, the governments of the UAE, India and Philippines will collaborate towards the development of the project with expert inputs from the Arab Labour Organisation, the International Labour Organisation and the International Organisation on Migration.

The overall goal of the project is to test a range of practical measures that will serve to improve the quality of life and work of contractual workers.

Indians workers comprise 42.5 percent of the total labour force in the UAE and 65 percent of them are in the blue-collar category.

Ravi also invited Gobash to visit India to pursue the bilateral dialogue on labour issues, which the latter accepted.

Taslima Nasreen 'forced' to leave India again

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has again been "forced" to leave India after her brief stay India, prompting the controversial writer to question the country's alleged secular credentials.

The writer, who returned to India on August 8, said she had to leave on October 15 following the government's dictum. "Yes, I was forced to leave India once again... The government gave me resident permit for 6 months with a secret condition that I must leave the country in a few days," she said in an e-mail interview.

The ex-physician-turned-feminist author, who is under attack from Muslim fundamentalists for her book 'Lajja', said she is now somewhere in Europe, delivering lectures.

Taslima's second exit from India comes seven months after she was forced to leave the country in view of protests by fundamentalist groups against her presence in New Delhi.

Prior to her departure, she had been living in Kolkata since 1994 after being exiled from Bangladesh over her book, which was dubbed anti-Islam by the fundamentalists.

"The condition of getting permission to reside in India is yet a direction for not to reside in India."

She said she will "go back" to India in January. "As the door of Bangladesh is closed for me, my home, I still consider, is in India, in the West Bengal city of Kolkata. If I am not allowed to return there, then it is back to nomadic existence again, without a land, without a home," the author said.

Expressing her angst over being shunted out again and again, she said "India, which prides itself of being the world's largest democracy, an allegedly secular state, could not give shelter to me."

"They (India) could not give shelter to a person whose entire life has been spent in the cause of secular humanism, a person without land or home, who regarded India as her land and Kolkata as her home...," Taslima said.

"I was shocked to see that not a single political party, organisation or institution protested against the way I was treated (in India). Not many individuals, who are regarded as the standard bearer of secularism, have spoken for me," said the Bengali writer of much talked-about books like 'Amar Meyebela' (My Girlhood), 'Utal Hawa' (Wild Wind) and 'Dwikhondito' (Split-up in Two).

Asked whether she still preferred to live in Kolkata, the place from where she was forcibly ousted on November 22 last year, the two-time "Ananda Award" winner said, "Yes, I still prefer Kolkata. I hope I would be allowed to live in Kolkata. I also request Pranab Babu (External Affairs Minister) and Buddha Babu (West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya) to allow me to live in the city," she said.

The author also said that she had no hard feelings against the West Bengal Chief Minister despite that fact that he banned her book 'Dwikhondito'.

"I still respect Buddha Babu even though he has banned my book which encouraged the fundamentalists to issue fatwa against me and start campaign ultimately resulting in my ouster from the city of joy," said the recipient of Simone de Beauvoir Feminist Award, 2008.

Taslima said she is writing her sixth autobiographical book. "I am writing the sixth part of my autobiography while giving lectures on important issues like human rights and freedom of expression," she said.

China 'regrets' Indian minister's remark over Arunachal Pradesh

China said here Tuesday that it deeply regretted India's Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee's remarks calling Arunachal Pradesh a part of India's territory.

'We deeply regret the Indian side's remarks, that take no regard of the historical facts. China and India have never officially settled demarcation of borders, and China's stance on the eastern section of China-India borders is consistent and clear-cut,' said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Qin said the current Chinese government, as well as previous ones, has never recognized the illegal 'McMahon Line' (demarcating the border between India and China by the British), and the Indian side is very clear about that.

Qin was commenting on remarks made Sunday by Mukherjee, in which he said that Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of Indian territory and India will suggest to China that the border be opened for trade.

As for the boundary issue between China and India, the spokesman said China is willing to find a solution, which is fair, reasonable and acceptable to the two sides, through peaceful and friendly negotiation in the spirit of mutual understanding and adjustment.

Obama wanted to talk, says PM

On Board Air India One, Nov 11 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said US president-elect Barak Obama wanted to speak to him after his electoral win but could not because of his (the Indian leader's) visit to the Gulf.

Asked by a reporter why Obama telephoned other world leaders but not him, Manmohan Singh clarified late Monday that this was not true.

"President Obama wanted to talk to me day before yesterday, we could not establish the contact because the time that was suggested was too short for me to interact," Manmohan Singh told reporters as he flew home after visiting Qatar and Oman.

"Since then I have been travelling for the last two days," he said, adding he would talk to Obama after returning to New Delhi.

Manmohan Singh said he had "a very warm letter" from Obama even before he was elected the president.

"I had myself written to him a very warm letter and I got from him a warm and detailed (letter), spelling out his approach to India, his approach to international affairs.

"Therefore, I have every reason to believe that India's relations with the US under President Obama will become stronger than ever before.

"I also condoled his grandmother's death and he immediately acknowledged that letter."

I am waiting to be arrested: Thackeray dares Kamat

Stating that Shiv Sena was ready to provide the best lawyers to defend Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in connection with Malegaon blast, Sena Chief Bal Thackeray today ridiculed Congress MP Gurudas Kamat who has demanded his arrest for backing her. "Whenever Congressmen have feats of Muslim appeasement, they dream of my arrest" Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

Speaking at a function held here recently to felicitate Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on his government completing four years in office, Kamat had said Thackeray should be put in jail for supporting the sadhvi. "Even Deshmukh must have squirmed when Kamat made this demand," the octogenarian Thackeray, whose son Uddhav now virtually manages Sena affairs, said.

The blast case is being probed under pressure and attempt is being made to brand people as 'Hindu terrorists', Thackeray, who had last month demanded that troops be sent inside mosques to flush out Islamic militants, said. Stating that he had never been afraid of being arrested, Thackeray asked the government to clarify whether he would be arrested for supporting Hindus in 'Hindustan' or for thwarting danger to the Marathi pride in Maharashtra.

Thackeray recalled when late Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik had got him arrested and sent to Pune's Yerwada jail, there was arson in Maharashtra and he had to appeal for peace. "Is it not your simple calculation that Hindutva forces would be crushed and your Muslim vote bank would be strengthened if you arrest me in connection with the sadhvi case," Thackeray said.

India thrash Aus by 172 runs to regain Border-Gavaskar Trophy

S S Ramaswamy Nagpur, Nov 10 (PTI) India today gave ample proof of its status as a dominant force in world cricket as they thrashed Australia by 172 runs in the fourth and final cricket Test to regain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy after a gap of four years here today. After settting the visitors a daunting target of 382 for victory, the Indians exploited a turning fifth day track to skittle out the Aussies for 209 just before the tea break to wrap up the four-match series with a 2-0 margin.

It turned out to be a perfect gift for Sourav Ganguly by his teammates in his farewell Test as they knocked out the Aussies in just about two sessions of play on the last day. Only Matthew Hayden stood bravely amidst the ruins with a 93-ball 77 as the Indian bowlers ripped through the batting line up to bring an end to the Australian innings rather quickly.

Leg spinner Amit Mishra (4/64) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (3/27) were the main destructors for the hosts who made amends for losing the home series 1-2 in the 2004-05 series.

At 58, I am still very young to retire: Mittal

The richest Indian and steel czar Lakshmi N Mittal may have worked hard to create the world's biggest steel entity, but says he's not tired and is not yet ready to hang his boots.

"Today, I feel very young at 58," Mittal said in a telephonic interview a short while after he along with his son Aditya Mittal addressed the global financial press on Arcelor-Mittal's performance in the quarter ending September 2008 that saw the company's net profit surging 29 per cent to USD 3.8 billion.

Mittal, who turned 58 in June this year, was responding to a query if he was looking for a succession plan and passing on the baton of his empire that controls over 10 per cent of global steel output.

"Yes, Sure" was his reply to another query on whether he would be heard and seen in future also.

Indian student killed in US, 5th such crime in 1 year

A woman student from Andhra Pradesh was found murdered in the US by unidentified persons in the fifth case of a young post-graduate student from the state being killed under mysterious circumstances in that country in the last one year.

Arpana Jinaga (24), student of MS at Seattle, was killed in the early hours (IST) of Saturday, family sources said.

The incident came to light after three days and an investigation has begun, they said.

The cause and circumstances of the murder were not immediately known.

Jinaga completed her engineering from a city-based private engineering college in 2005.

She was working as a software engineer and simultaneously pursuing MS. She is among top-20 professionals of embedded systems in the world, the sources said.

Jinaga's father, B C Jinaga, is a professor with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University here and heads the School of Information Technology.

The murder of Jinaga came close on the heels of a string of murders of NRIs from Andhra Pradesh.

While A Srinivas, a PG medical student, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, both PhD students, were killed last year, T Soumya Reddy and her cousin Vikram Reddy were killed in September, 2008.

India will play integral role in keeping US economy competitive, say Indian Americans

Virginia (USA), Nov.4 (ANI): Indian Americans residing here are of the view that India can and will play an integral role in keeping the American economy competitive, despite the ongoing meltdown on Wall Street and its impact on global economies.

While they are in agreement with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's views on what ails the economy and what solutions need to be applied to ensure a quick turnaround, they also warn that Obama will face the reality of the American economy's competitiveness once he enters the White House on November 5.

"Obama, when he becomes the President, is going to face the reality of the competitiveness of the American economy. And, India plays an integral role to keep it competitive," said Sanjay Puri, the Chairman of the U.S. India Political Action Committee.

"What candidates sometime say during the campaign and when they look at the reality of the world vis-a-vis the competitiveness of the United States, I think, it's the whole different discussion," he told ANI.

Puri also felt that Obama, as president, might opt for a different approach to developments in South Asia as opposed to the Republican strategy of the past eight years. He suggested that the Democratic administration in Washington would pursue a proactive policy towards both New Delhi and Islamabad.

"Well I think he (Obama) is going to have a very strong policy towards India in the conversation that I have had and from everything we have seen. He has very strong feelings and regards for India. The one difference is he obviously has a very proactive approach towards Pakistan and that's something that's going to be different form what you see with other Democratic candidates as well as other Republicans like John Mc Cain," Puri said.

Pradeep Ganguly, Director, Department of Economic Development, Montgomery County, Maryland, said that most Indian Americans and Americans were searching for answers and solutions to end the meltdown, as also answers to where their country was headed. He suggested that there is an image of America in place that needed to be changed. In this year's elections, the Americans were not being driven by political affiliations, but by issues, and that is why so many more of them were coming out to vote as opposed to trends in the previous two elections (2004 and 2000).

"American people want to rebuild the economy. America was blessed with the strong economy for many years. Now, the economy is the biggest question mark in the minds of every voter," Ganguly told ANI.

"The biggest issue in the minds of the many voters of Indian American origin for example, is where our nation is going? We used to be the most beloved country of the world. Now, in the last eight years or so, we have become more of a gun-toting, immigrant bashing country. And, that image needs to be changed. And there got to be a new image a new direction for this country," he added.

"And, I think, you can see the numbers that people are voting, I think they are driven by these issues. I think, we need to be more caring, energetic, more technology oriented, forward oriented and a leader of the world. We need to regain the strength and respect we had in the global economy. So that's what the next four to eight years is going to do," Ganguly added.

Voters have made it clear they want change. When asked what they are looking for in a candidate, most say someone who can "bring about needed change".

Nearly half of the American population (49 percent) says the economy will be the most important issue in deciding their vote for the 44th president. That is a large part of what makes this race an uphill battle for John McCain, as more voters trust Obama to handle the economy by an 11-point margin (52 percent - 41 percent).

Obama bests McCain on which candidate people trust more to handle all the domestic issues -- by 17 points on health care, by 11 points on energy independence, and by seven points on taxes. McCain is preferred on handling the war on terrorism by eight points and by a slim three-point margin on Iraq. Voters also think McCain would respond better than Obama to a "test" by foreign governments or terrorists in the first six months of his presidency. By Smita Prakash

Dhoni to lead India in Nagpura Test

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will captain India in the fourth and final Test against Australia in Nagpura later this week and is therefore expected to be confirmed as the skipper in the longer version of the game besides being the one-day captain.

Chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth told journalists at the end of the drawn third Test match on Sunday that Dhoni will lead the Indian team in the next match starting on November 6.

He said Dhoni would also captain the team in seven ODIs against England later this month and a decision will be taken on the two-Test series against England before it starts.

220,000 Indians make US their home illegally

Washington, Nov 1 (IANS) An estimated 220,000 Indians have made the United States their home illegally with a whopping 81 percent increase in their number in last seven years, according to latest official figures.

The dramatic growth in the number of Indians has come about even as immigration from Mexico continues to dominate the unauthorised population growth, according to the Department of Homeland Security's latest statistics on 'illegal immigrants'.

The estimated population of Indians living illegally in the United States was 220,000 in 2007 compared to 120,000 in the year 2000, thus recording one of the highest percentage increases.

An estimated 11.8 million unauthorised immigrants were living in America in January 2007 compared to 8.5 million in 2000. The unauthorised population increased by 3.3 million between 2000 and 2007 while the annual average increase during this period was 470,000.

Nearly 4.2 million (35 percent) of the total 11.8 million unauthorised residents in 2007 had entered in 2000 or later. An estimated 7.0 million (59 percent) were from Mexico.

California remained the leading state of residence for the illegal population in 2007 with 2.8 million, followed by Texas with 1.7 million and then Florida with nearly one million.

California's share of the national total declined from 30 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2007 as the greatest percentage increases of unauthorised resident population occurred in Georgia (120 percent), Arizona (62 percent) and Texas (57 percent).

Murders in Chennai give rise to 'psychopath' story

One more person died under mysterious circumstances in Chennai on Thursday as Chennai police groped for clues regarding four similar deaths in the past two weeks amid a scare that a psychopath killer was on the prowl.

The body of Basha (50), a security guard with a real estate firm, was found half-burnt with a few liquor bottles in the upmarket Ashok Nagar area near Vadapalani. The incident took place barely 500 metres away from Ashok Nagar police station.

Four others including a rag-picker and a security guard, were found dead in similar fashion in the city.

The deaths sparked off fears of a psychopath stalking the upmarket neighbourhood. Last week police claimed to have solved the mystery of the deaths with the arrest of one Ekambaram stated to be a mentally unstable person.

However, two deaths have been reported after his arrest, taking the overall toll of mysterious deaths to five. So far, two persons were found dead with their heads smashed while the bodies of three others were found burnt while one was left injured.

Chennai Police Commissioner R Sekar had termed the killings as "a challenge" to police, and vowed to "put an end to such mysterious deaths in the neighbourhood."

Indian-origin stunner in British beauty pageant row

An Indian-origin beauty queen has unwittingly sparked a controversy by winning a beauty contest in a region where she does not reside.

Janeena Basra, 23, who is a resident of Leeds, was declared winner of the Miss Halton Pride in Cheshire, across the Pennines. She triumphed over Donna Hayes, who is considered a 'native' local contestant.

Local people in Halton believe the winner should be from nearby Runcorn or Widnes, and not one who is not a resident of the area. More than 50 comments appeared on a local newspaper website voicing displeasure over her win.

"Where is the justice in a girl from Leeds being crowned?" wrote a reader while another wrote: "Isn't it about time that Miss Halton was picked from girls who actually live in Halton."

Winning the Miss Halton Pride title qualifies Basra, who counts bhangra and salsa dancing among her talents, to contest the finals of the Miss England contest to be held in London on Friday. The winner of the contest will represent the country at the Miss World contest in Ukraine.

Miss England Limited, which runs the Miss Halton Pride contest, confirmed that as per rules, contestants do not have to originate from a particular area to represent it.

Basra, who has a degree in Human Nutrition and is awaiting the result of a Masters in Naturopathic Nutrition from the University of Manchester, said: "I can't understand it, there are no restrictions. I did not experience any hostility at the competition from fellow contestants."

3 missing Indians in New Zealand to expose agent

Sydney, July 17 (IANS) Three of the 39 Indians, who disappeared in New Zealand en route to attend the Catholic Church's week-long World Youth Day (WYD) festivities in Sydney, are believed to be in Tauranga and will tell immigration officers about the travel agent who duped them.

New Zealand Sikh Society spokesman Daljit Singh, who has been liaising with some of the missing Indians, most of who are from Punjab, told Radio New Zealand that the trio would meet with immigration officials later Thursday to reveal all about the travel agent who took Rs.500,000 (US$12,000) each from the 39 Indians, wrongly promising them permanent residency visas.

The 39, masqueraded as Catholics while some are Muslims and Hindus, were part of a group of 220 Indians who were billeted with Catholic families in Auckland on their way to Pope Benedict XVI led WYD celebrations in Sydney.

New Zealand Federation of Ethnic Councils' president Pancha Narayanan told Radio New Zealand that Bollywood movies are portraying New Zealand as an easy destination to migrate. However, the Department of Labour, which is incharge of immigration, has rejected such claims that New Zealand is a soft target for immigration scams.

Immigration Service head Andrew Annakin told the radio that New Zealand has advanced levels of security and is vigilant about trafficking.

Meanwhile, an embarrassed chairman of the World Youth Day committee in Auckland, Maurice Boland, has also appealed to the missing Indians to immediately contact immigration authorities. He said there was 'a lot of hurt' among the families who had agreed to host them.

Some of those who are missing absconded from Auckland International Airport on arrival in New Zealand in early July, while others absconded from their billets, all but one leaving their luggage there, according to the Department of Labour.

Representatives of the Catholic Church, which sponsored their transit through New Zealand, have handed the passports of 38 Indians to immigration officials. One person is said to be in possession of his own passport.

The absconding Indians, aged 17 to 35 and mainly from Jalandhar in Punjab, have valid visitor visa to remain legally in New Zealand until Aug 5 or 6 and the immigration head has appealed to them to come forward and meet the immigration authorities to resolve the situation.

Two Indian immigrants caught at British Army barracks

Five illegal immigrants were caught at a British Army barracks after they hid on board trucks in a military convoy, British police said on Thursday.

The men were spotted jumping from two lorries inside the military base in South Cerney in Gloucestershire in western England on Tuesday evening.

Police said it was thought the men had stowed themselves on board the lorries, which were being driven by private contractors, at the French port of Calais.

The convoy was shipping military Land Rovers back from Kosovo, The Sun newspaper said.

"They all seemed very jovial and quite happy. They did not seem concerned they had jumped into an Army barracks," Army Captain Giles Cutter told the paper.

"Fortunately there was a squadron on duty and a few burly Fijian soldiers wrestled the first two to the ground."

Police said the men, two from India, two from Afghanistan and an Iranian, aged between 15 and 26, were taken to a local police station before being handed over to immigration officials and taken to a detention centre.