Nepal Polls
Maoist victory march continues
Kathmandu, April 13
Sounding the death knell for the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, the Maoists consolidated their early lead bagging 68 of the 122 seats for which results were declared today, with several of the bigwigs of the Nepali Congress that dominated Nepal’s politics biting the dust.

Thousands of supporters of Nepal's Maoist party await results outside a vote counting centre in Kathmandu. — AP/PTI photo

King ‘hails’ successful polls

Nepal’s Maoists make the world sit up
The stunning election victory of Nepal’s Maoists has caught India and much of the world unawares. Neither New Delhi nor the international community had reckoned with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) turning out to be so adept at winning the battle of the ballot. That is not surprising, for few in Nepal, including the Maoist party itself, had foreseen such a development.

Amarinder may defy high command
Puts Delhi meeting of April 15 in jeopardy
Chandigarh, April 13
To check the deepening crisis within the Punjab Congress, the party high command has summoned a meeting of the coordination committee in Delhi on April 15. In charge of Punjab Affairs Margaret Alva has indicated that the meeting has been summoned at the instance of AICC president Sonia Gandhi to patch up differences between PPCC president Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Nitish inducts 19 ministers after dropping 10
Patna, April 13
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expanded his 28-month-long ministry, inducting 19 new faces after dropping 10 of his ministerial colleagues, eight of the JD(U) and two of the BJP.

IAF nod to three more AWACS
New Delhi, April 13
As India prepares to receive the first of its air early warning and airborne control system Phalcon, The Indian Air Force has cleared proposals to acquire three more such platforms. The proposals have been forwarded to the Defence Ministry to enable placing of follow-on order estimated to be worth 2 billion US $ for Phalcon IL-76TD, a top IAF official said.

2 minor planets named after TN girls Coimbatore, April 13 Almost all in the country know about Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. But very few know that two girls from this textile city of south India have also done the country proud by having two planets named after them. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has named two minor planets in the solar system after two engineering students P. Senthalir and S. Sharanya when they were only in class XI for their contribution to science.