KOLKATA: Bihar is the most economically backward state of India, where people hardly have enough to spare much, let alone go lavish spending on luxuries. But, the estimate of total fuel costs by the ministers of the eastern Indian state in last 19 months came as a complete surprise.  

KOLKATA:  The banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul Jihad (Huji) Bangladesh is expanding its network in the name of different organizations in the remote villages on the islands located near the Indian part of the Sunderbans in West Bengal, intelligence sources said. Police said the leaders

BASEL - The Bank for International Settlements warned on Monday that economic recovery is at risk of a relapse if governments do not move fast to wind down crisis stimulus programmes. In its annual report, the global central bank body called for "immediate" steps to cut budget deficits

TORONTO - US President Barack Obama has launched a stern challenge to China, using the big stage of the G20 summit of world powers to demand Beijing`s help in rebalancing the world economy. The G20 leaders, representing both the world`s established economic giants and its dynamic

NEW ORLEANS - The first major storm of the Atlantic season was entering the Gulf of Mexico Monday, seeming set to avoid the BP oil spill but leaving residents jittery after causing 10 deaths. Tropical Storm Alex was expected to gain strength as it moves into the southwestern Gulf after

TEHRAN - Iran on Monday accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of waging "psychological warfare" against it, saying the CIA knows the Islamic republic`s nuclear programme has no military aims. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast dismissed CIA director Leon Panetta`s remarks

BEIJING - More than 100 people have been buried or trapped in a landslide triggered by heavy rain in southwest China on Monday, a local official and state media said. Rescue work was under way in the affected village of Dazhai in Guizhou province, the Xinhua news agency reported. An

PARIS - Panama`s ex-dictator Manuel Noriega goes on trial in Paris on Monday, accused of laundering Colombian drug money in French banks, in a case that could land him in jail for another 10 years. The 76-year-old general, who ruled Panama from 1981 to 1989, was extradited from the

BEIJING - A Singapore-flagged cargo ship with 19 Chinese crew aboard was hijacked Monday by pirates in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, Chinese and EU authorities said. The MV Golden Blessing was travelling to India from Saudi Arabia when it was hijacked, the China Marine

TOKYO - Japan began the first round of talks with India in Tokyo Monday on exporting nuclear power generation technology made by technology giants such as Toshiba and Hitachi, the foreign ministry said. The first round of two-day talks are aimed at devising a treaty to allow cooperation

KARACHI - At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured when a tanker exploded in the southern Pakistani city of Hyderabad on Monday, officials said. "At least 15 people were killed and 40 injured, it was an accidental blast," government spokesman Jamil Soomro told AFP. "It was

BEIJING - A Singaporean ship with 19 Chinese crew aboard was hijacked Monday by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the China Marine Rescue Centre said. The ship, called the "Golden Blessing," was traveling to India from Saudi Arabia when it was hijacked, the centre said on its website, adding

BEIJING - Two executives at state-owned China Southern Airlines have been detained as part of a wide-ranging probe into corruption in the aviation industry, state media said Monday. Investigators took away the two managers, who work in the department charged with flight scheduling, in a

TOKYO : There is no room for romance on board the cosy confines of the International Space Station, a NASA space shuttle commander said Monday when asked what would happen if astronauts had sex in space. "We are a group of professionals," said Space Shuttle Discovery commander Alan

GHAZNI - A Taliban-type bomb tore through a mini van in central Afghanistan Monday, killing eight civilians including women and children, police said. The blast from an improvised bomb, a device widely used by the Taliban in their attacks on security forces, killed the civilians in Andar

LONDON - BP has spent 2.65 billion dollars (2.14 billion euros) on responding to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the British company announced Monday as its costs rose further. "The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 2.65 billion dollars, including the

BANGKOK : A Thai protest leader accused of terrorism was released from prison briefly Monday to apply to run in a by-election seen as a key test of the opposition`s prospects of success in nationwide polls. Kokaew Pikulthong, a senior "Red Shirt" involved in the mass rally in Bangkok

SEOUL: North Korea said Monday it would bolster its nuclear weaponry with an unspecified new method in response to what it called US hostility and recent developments. "The recent disturbing development on the Korean peninsula underscores the need for the DPRK (North Korea) to bolster

TORONTO : Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he asked Chinese President Hu Jintao in talks here Sunday to condemn North Korea`s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship. Citing a G8 summit declaration Saturday condemning the attack that left 46 people dead, Kan said he "encouraged

OSLO : A roadside bomb hit a Norwegian convoy in Afghanistan on Sunday and killed four soldiers, the military announced, in the deadliest single attack on the Scandinavian country`s troops in the conflict. "Four soldiers were killed this afternoon," military spokeswoman Heidi Langvik