Sonia lambasts BJP for boycott
Defends Manmohan Singh
New Delhi, May 11
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today came out in stout defence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even as she lambasted the BJP-led NDA for spreading canards against him in crude and offensive language.

President seeks detailed report on EC controversy
New Delhi, May 11
Even as President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is believed to have sought a detailed report from the Manmohan Singh Government about the controversy surrounding the Election Commission and alluded to the constitutional body doing an excellent job in overseeing the conduct of the gigantic democratic process in the country, Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and pressed for the resignation of Election Commissioners B.B. Tandon and N. Gopalaswamy.

PIL moved against Chief Election Commissioner
Editorial: Cracking the whip

One killed, 45 hurt in Srinagar blast Srinagar, May 11 A pedestrian was killed and nearly 45 others were injured, 10 of them seriously, when an IED planted by suspected militants in a car went off in the Jawahar Nagar area here today. In video (28k, 56k)

Sarajevo-born director and festival jury president Emir Kusturica (centre) poses with jury members, Mexican actress Salma Hayek (left) and Indian actress Nandita Das, during a photo call on the opening day of the 58th Film Festival in Cannes on Wednesday. — Reuters

Bus to Nankana Sahib soon
Islamabad, May 11
Carrying the peace process forward, India and Pakistan today agreed in principle to run bus services between Amritsar-Lahore and Amritsar-Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, but deferred their operationalisation by two months to work out more technical details.
In video (28k, 56k)

Special Story
Army’s tactical network goes hi tech
Gag (Jalandhar), May 11
In a bunker beneath the swirling dust and sun-baked plains of Punjab, a group of Army officers in battle fatigues sit before a bank of computers, processing information flowing in on data lines from various formations deployed in the field for operations.

Resort coming up on forest land
Basali (Ropar), May 11
A large luxury resort being developed on ecologically fragile land in the Lower Shivalik Hills near Ropar has come under the scanner of the Punjab Forest Department for alleged violation of the Forest Act.