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Friday, May 13, 2011, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 2:30 am (IST)

Post-graft taint, bid to clean up
BJP pulls out ministers from Punjab Cabinet
Chandigarh, May 12
The coalition partner of the Akali Dal, the BJP, has decided to withdraw its ministers from the Punjab Cabinet. This is being done as part of “operation cleanup” after two of its ministers and a CPSs were named in a bribery scam by the CBI. This decision taken by the party’s core group in Delhi yesterday was conveyed to the party president and the five ministers and two CPSs by senior party leaders and incharge of Punjab affairs Shanta Kumar here.

Assembly Poll Results Today
Cong needs a booster dose
New Delhi, May 12
Tomorrow’s results of the long-drawn electoral battle in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry are being keenly awaited by the Congress, which is banking on a victory in a couple of states to help boost the sagging morale of its cadres and redeem the UPA government’s credibility that has been badly hit by a series of scams over the past year.


EXIT BUDDHA? West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Kolkata on Thursday. — PTI

IN PAKISTAN’s WILD WEST
Forget Osama, the real war on terror is being fought in the badlands of Pakistan that border Afghanistan
The sea-blue board hung outside a circular complex of cream-coloured buildings says boldly, “19 Division Deradicalisation Centre”. “Is it the Pakistan Army you want to deradicalise?,” I joke with Colonel Tarique Qadir of the 19th Division, who is escorting us on this whirlwind tour of the Swat region, which was, till recently, the hotbed of the worst Taliban-like militancy that threatened to overwhelm the entire country.

In the Swat region, defeated Taliban militants are being trained in various vocations, including electrical repair, in a bid to bring them back to the mainstream by the Pakistan Army. Photo: Raj Chengappa

No US-type operation in Pak: PM
Kabul, May 12
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today demanded a thorough investigation into the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan for several years, but ruled out a US-type operation by India to eliminate Pak-based terrorists wanted by it.

The Osama Diaries
Laden was plotting strikes till the end
 Washington, May 12
Forced into deep cover by relentless US pressure and his dreaded group fragmenting, Osama bin Laden was planning attacks on America and Europe till his last moments, Al-Qaida chief's hand-written journals seized from his Abbottabad hideout have revealed. (Details on World page)

Inflation, IIP numbers comforting
Industrial production up 7.3% in March; Inflation at 18-month low of 7.7 %
 New Delhi, May 12
After four months of slow growth, industrial production growth in March beat forecasts to grow 7.3 per cent. However, the industry remains cautious about growth ahead due to rising interest rates. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the comforting news on the inflation front with food inflation moderating from 8.53 per cent to 7.70 per cent is matched by a turn-around in index of industrial production (IIP) for March 2011. (Detail on Business page)