Sunday, April 30, 2006, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Taliban abduct Indian engineer
in Afghanistan
Threaten to kill him; Centre in touch with Kabul
New Delhi, April 29
Indian strategic interests received another setback in Afghanistan when a resurgent Taliban in an increasingly lawless country kidnapped yet another Indian and threatened to kill him by 6 pm tomorrow if all Indians did not leave Afghanistan till then.

Grief-stricken family members of K. Surya Narayana (inset), the Indian engineer who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, in Hyderabad on Saturday. — PTI photo

Family pleads for mercy
Hyderabad, April 29
A pall of gloom descended on the Malkajgiri residence of K. Surya Narayana, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, here today. His family, which consists of his wife, three children and parents, came to know of the kidnapping through newspapers today. And they have not stopped weeping since then.

Naxalites kill 15 villagers in Chhattisgarh
Raipur, April 29
Naxalites today killed 15 of the 52 villagers they had abducted last Tuesday and released 37 others in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. “We have recovered 13 bodies from near the Manikonta village of Erroabore police station, about 550 km from the state capital,” Dornapal police station sources said on the phone. The outlawed Maoists had killed two persons yesterday.

• Centre wants stern action

Two bus fire victims die; sabotage ruled out
Jalandhar, April 29
Two women passengers who were seriously injured in the fire onboard a Punjab Roadways bus here yesterday died in Ludhiana today. Bhagwanti Devi (50), a resident of the local Santokhpura mohalla, and Sukhwinder Rani, 40, a resident of Taggran village in Hoshiarpur district, succumbed to their burn injuries at the CMC hospital of Ludhiana early this morning and in the afternoon, respectively.

Abhay booked for murder
Sirsa, April 29
A case was lodged against Abhay Chautala, son of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, in connection with the killing of Youth Congress leader Chand Singh Brar in Dabwali today. The former MLA and Vinod Arora, president of the Dabwali unit of the Indian National Lok Dal, were booked. — PTI

Mahajan operated upon
Mumbai, April 29
BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan underwent surgery to clean up his abdominal cavity here today. The two-hour surgery was declared successful. — TNS
In video (28k, 56k)

Pak testfires Shaheen II
Islamabad, April 29
Pakistan today testfired its longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile which could hit targets beyond 2,000 km covering most parts of India. Shortly after the testfire of Hatf VI (Shaheen II) surface-to-surface missile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said “We will continue to pursue vigorously our security and energy needs from all sources, including nuclear.” — PTI

Home loans become costlier New Delhi, April 29 People, who have failed to buy homes so far, can curse their luck as all the major banks, including market leader State Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce, have announced a hike in interest rate on home loans by 25 to 75 basis points. Industry sources said ICICI Bank, India's second-largest lender, is also likely to announce a 50-75 basis points increase in interest rates on home loans next week.