Telangana Congress leaders summoned to New Delhi

Telangana Congress leaders K Jana Reddy and K Keshava Rao have been summoned to New Delhi on Monday for consultations with the high command to bring an end to the resignation drama by Telangana legislators.Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress point man for Andhra Pradesh, telephoned the two leaders Sunday evening to tell them to bring the Telangana flock to Delhi on the morrow. More

News Corp shares slide as hacking scandal deepens

News Corp's Australian shares sank to a two-year low on Monday as the UK phone hacking scandal fallout worsened, raising concerns that a $2 billion bid for an Australian pay-tv firm involving News Corp could be derailed by political intervention. More

Hillary arrives in India today for strategic dialogue

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrives on Monday to attend the second round of Indo-US strategic dialogue on Tuesday during which a host of key bilateral, regional and international issues including situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and security cooperation in the backdrop of recent Mumbai blasts will be discussed.Hillary, who will be in India for a two-day official trip, will hold talks with her counterpart external affairs minister S M Krishna, apart from calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meeting national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. On Tuesday, the US secretary of state will hold a breakfast meeting with the national security adviser followed by the Indo-US dialogue after which she will call on the Prime Minister and will meet several senior political leaders including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Clinton will be travelling to Chennai on Wednesday where she is likely to meet representatives of US companies.Besides situation in the region, civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries will also be part of the strategic dialogue during which India is also expected to talk about American visa regime which is impacting the movement of Indian IT professionals in that country.The dialogue is based on five pillars which include strategic cooperation in defence and counter-terrorism, energy and trade.Clinton and Krishna had launched the India-US Strategic Dialogue in 2009 to provide a framework and strategic direction for the huge range of bilateral government-to-government activity between the two countries. The first meeting of the strategic dialogue was held in Washington last year.The strategic dialogue provides an opportunity to take stock of the progress in bilateral relationship and cooperation and to consult on global and regional issues of interest, besides charting out a short to medium-term roadmap of cooperation in priority sectors for the two governments, a spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs said.

Mumbai Triple blasts: Probe into 'suspect' death

Mumbai Police have launched an investigation into the death of a man who was called in for questioning about deadly blasts in the city last week.Fayaz Usmani died in hospital early on Sunday, hours after he complained of feeling unwell during his questioning.His family suspects foul play, but police deny allegations of torture, saying he died of a heart attack.Wednesday's three explosions killed 19 people and injured dozens.The attacks were the deadliest in India since 2008, when gunmen killed 165 people in a three-day raid in Mumbai.No group has said it planted the bombs but suspicion among some officials and analysts has fallen on the Indian Mujahideen, a group which has claimed to have carried out similar attacks in the past.On Saturday afternoon, Mr Usmani was picked up by police for questioning about the blasts.The police said that within 20 minutes he was complaining of stomach ache and vomited.Mr Usmani was taken to a local hospital, where examinations revealed that he had suffered from brain haemorrhage. He died early on Sunday."Mr Usmani was suffering from hypertension. The allegations of torture by police are absolutely untrue," Nisar Tamboli, a police spokesman, told the Associated Press news agency.The chief of the hospital where Mr Usmani was admitted said that Mr Usmani had suffered from a heart attack and "no marks of injury were found on his body".Mr Usmani was the elder brother of a suspect of blasts in the western city of Ahmedabad in 2008, who is now in prison.His relatives said Mr Usmani did not suffer from any health problems.His son, Azeem Usmani, told The Hindu newspaper: "He looked fine when he left home. It has happened because of the police." Separately, investigators are reported to have prepared a sketch of a suspect they want to question over last week's blasts.Investigators who are going through the security camera footage and forensic evidence from the three sites are hoping to get a breakthrough, media reports say. The three blasts hit hit Zaveri Bazaar, an area with many jewellery shops, Opera House business district in the south of the city and Dadar district in the city centre.