Obama holds talks with Zardari, Karzai
US Admn expects the meetings to ‘produce some useful agreements of cooperation’
US President Barack Obama met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House on Wednesday and urged them to jointly tackle the threat posed by the Taliban in their countries. Neither Zardari nor Karzai are seen likely to be able to deliver on American requests, but the Obama administration is aware of its limited options in the region.

All eyes on ‘Lals’ of Haryana
Hooda under pressure to repeat 2004 performance
Chandigarh, May 6
Political fortunes of the Haryana Chief Minister, two Central ministers, two former chief ministers and three political families are at stake as Haryana votes to elect 10 MPs to the Lok Sabha tomorrow. And with the mercury soaring, all political parties are keeping their fingers crossed about voter turn-out, each claiming that a large turn-out would work to its advantage.

Farooq Abdullah  (National Conference, Srinagar)	Harsimrat Badal (SAD, Bathinda)	Preneet Kaur (Cong, Patiala)	Kumari Selja (Cong, Ambala)	Rao Inderjit Singh (Cong, Gurgaon)

Fourth phase of voting today
New Delhi, May 6
More than 9 crore voters in 85 constituencies spread over 8 states will decide the political fortunes of nearly 1300 candidates tomorrow in the fourth and penultimate round of voting in the Lok Sabha elections.

BJP, SP, RLD chiefs’ poll test

Congress rushes to mollify TMC, DMK
New Delhi, May 6
A worried Congress rushed to mollify its allies, the Trinamool Congresss (TMC) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), who have taken serious objection to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s overtures to their political opponents.

Editorial: Wanted: Partners

Rape victim commits suicide at IG’s office
Rohtak, May 6
In a shocking incident, a married woman and her husband “consumed” poison on the premises of the IG office here today. The woman identified as Alka died at the PGIMS here while her husband Sunil had been admitted to its ICU.

Recruitment scam
CRPF IG, commandant held
New Delhi, May 6
The CBI today arrested eight persons, including a CRPF Inspector General and a commandant, of the force, for alleged corruption and bungling in the recruitment of the ranks in anti-naxal force COBRA and recovered nearly Rs 1.15 crore cash and fixed deposits from their possession.

Maoists will be back soon: Prachanda At a time when the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML were intensifying political parleys to form the next government under the UML’s leadership, caretaker Prime Minister and Unified CPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday claimed that his party would lead the next government.