Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a series of direct talks on Thursday, seeking to forge the framework for a U.S.-backed peace deal within a year and end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.

The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the country's economy cope with the devastation, the head of the IMF said on Thursday.

A special court in Kochi hearing terror cases on Thursday accepted the plea of an accused in the Kozhikode blast case of 2006 to turn approver after the court found that "he could give valuable information to solve the case in which enough material evidence was found wanting".

Putting to rest all speculation,Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Paramjit Singh Sarna said on Thursday he would support Captain Amarinder Singh in the Assembly polls "irrespective of the fact that he is from the Congress".

Voting for various posts in both the institute managements' representatives and principals' constituency was held on August 31 Gajanan Ekbote, executive president, progressive education society, secured 93 votes in institute managements' representatives constituency to get elected to the senate of the University of Pune.

Carring on the "dossier" diplomacy with Pakistan, India has now told Islamabad that it will have to send a letter rogatory if it wants answers relating to Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley's visits to India between 2006 and 2009. Pakistan had recently raised 47 questions related to Headley in response to the last dossier sent by India.

An inquiry into the recent "fudge" in the standing committee report on the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill is likely to result in systemic changes in the functioning of parliamentary panels while steering clear of pinning blame on individuals.

With divisions in the Congress over the saffron terror theory out in the open, the BJP on Thursday seized the opportunity to argue that Home Minister P Chidambaram's controversial remark was borne out of "personal rivalry" and "gross oneupmanship" between leaders of the ruling party.

Stung by the Environment Ministry on mega industrial projects of Vedanta and Posco and Rahul Gandhi's attempt at grabbing the tribal hearts and minds, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) would hold a rally on Friday in Kalahandi with a cry to "save Orissa".

In tune with the recently-concluded Doordarshan telecast Green Kerala Express, — the reality show depicting grassroot-level developmental initiatives of local self-governing bodies in the state — the education department too is planning to launch a similar show where selected schools would present their educational innovations in the format of a competition.