Bharat Ratna for Lata, Bismillah Khan
The melody queen, Ms. Lata Mangeshkar, and the shehnai maestro, Ustad Bismillah Khan, were tonight awarded Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour.

Help stop J&K violence, U.S. tells Pakistan
The Bush administration has welcomed the extension of the ceasefire in Kashmir by the Indian Government and has called on Pakistan to use its influence with the militant groups ``very soon'' to halt the violence.

Vijayaraje passes away
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Vijayaraje Scindia - popularly known as ``Rajmata'' - died here early this morning after a prolonged illness.

India, Pak. clash at Geneva
India and Pakistan today clashed over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir with New Delhi calling upon Islamabad to demonstrate its commitment to dialogue in a ``meaningful manner'' and ``show more encouraging signs'' that it was ready to end cross-border terrorism.

U.S. arrests two Pak. brothers for smuggling hi-tech cameras
After a four-month sting operation, the United States Customs Service has arrested two brothers from Pakistan - Mr.Tanzeem Khan and Mr.Tauquir Khan - and has charged them with trying to smuggle sophisticated cameras for military intelligence gathering to a Pakistani government laboratory. One of the brothers is a naturalised American citizen while the other is on a student visa. Both have been arrested for falsifying shipping documents that said the cameras were on their way to Germany.

WEF meet: Import tariffs will be further lowered: Sinha
Import tariffs, already brought down to 35 per cent, will be lowered further notwithstanding the total dismantling of quantitative restrictions (QRs) from April 1 this year, the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, said today.

India, Algeria sign partnership declaration, trade accord
Driven by a common concern over terrorism and hoping to expand their economic agenda, India and Algeria have signed a ``partnership declaration'' and three other agreements.

Passport issue: Focus turns to Hindujas' networking
Perhaps never before in the past 50 years has an Indian ``connection'' shaken up the British political establishment so rudely as the Hindujas' passport affair leading to the fall of one of the principal architects of New Labour and arguably most charismatic Cabinet Minister, Mr. Peter Mandelson. After a Cabinet meeting this morning, the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, said it was now time to get on with business but his ashen face was a give-away as indeed his funereal tone.