School kids taken hostage in Pak freed
Islamabad, January 28
Gunmen who took up to 250 Pakistani schoolchildren hostage in a northwestern town on Monday freed them all and surrendered to tribal elders, a government spokesman said. “All children have been released and the criminals have surrendered to the jirga,” said interior ministry spokesman Javel Iqbal Cheema.

Editorial: Spectre of Pak nukes

Police unearths more seedy details how kidney scam flourished
Gurgaon, January 28
The Gurgaon police has approached the CBI for issuance of a red corner notice against Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin of the kidney transplant racket, amid fears that he had fled the country.

Do the deal now or wait till 2010: US
New Delhi, January 28 The United States today came up with yet another gentle but graphic reminder when it said India must sew up the nuclear deal with Washington within the lifetime of the Bush administration or be prepared to wait until 2010.                                  David C Mulford

4 kids die after CNG blast in van
Mumbai, January 28
Four schoolgirls, aged between five to 10, were burnt to death today after the CNG cylinder of a Maruti van, in which they were travelling, exploded. The incident took place in the Millat Nagar area in suburban Oshiwara today.

Mumbai coldest in 45 years
New Delhi, January 28
The current meteorological analysis suggests that prevailing cold wave conditions over parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are likely to continue for the next three days.

2 die of cold in M’rashtra
Cold claims one more life in Punjab; region toll 13

On eve of RBI credit review
Sensex rebounds from early lows, still down 208
Mumbai, January 28
On the eve of RBI’s credit policy review and taking cues from the Asian markets, the Sensex was trading most of the day deeply in the red before recovering slightly to close 1.1 per cent or 208 points down at 18,152 points. The Sensex touched an intra-day low of 17,443 levels.

Business page: Asian stocks tumble
Industry expects rate cut

Panchkula PO to book train tickets
Chandigarh, January 28
Railway reservation just got easier with the postal authorities and the Railways joining hands to launch another public-friendly initiative to facilitate booking of rail tickets. Residents of Panchkula can now book their railway tickets at the Sector 8 post office instead of having to go all the way to the railway station in Chandigarh.

Poachers target migratory birds in Kashmir Srinagar, January 28 While occasional hunting by celebrities invite howls of protests and often result in their prosecution elsewhere, yet poaching of migratory birds in the famous wetlands of Kashmir for their flesh goes almost unnoticed.