Shimla, Oct 31 (ANI): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has accused the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for imparting step-motherly treatment toward the state.

New Delhi, Oct 31 (ANI): Union Minister of State Lalchand Kataria, who was sulking over work allocation in Defence Ministry to him, was on Wednesday shifted to Rural Development department.

New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) Amid strong indications that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi would assume a more prominent role in the party, a senior leader Tuesday said that an organisational reshuffle was due and would take place when the plan was ready.

New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) Having skipped the poll campaign in Himachal Pradesh, BJP president Nitin Gadkari Tuesday did not come to the capital to meet party leaders from Karnataka where B.S. Yeddyurappa appears keen on floating a new party.

New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) Describing as ill-conceived a petition challenging his election as president, Pranab Mukherjee has told the Supreme Court that at the time of filing his nomination papers he held no office of profit.

New Delhi/Bangalore, Oct 31 (IANS) Caught in a raging controversy over his business dealings, BJP president Nitin Gadkari Tuesday skipped meeting Karnataka party leaders as former chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa remained firm on quitting the party ahead of next year's assembly polls.

Islamabad, Oct 31 (IANS) India's new Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has before him the gargantuan task of not letting singular issues and events "hijack the tenuous peace process" between Pakistan and India, said a Pakistani daily Wednesday.

Washington/New York, Oct 31 (IANS) As Hurricane Sandy lost its ferocious punch and veered towards Canada leaving a trail of destruction up and down the US East Coast, President Barack Obama cautioned "The storm is not over yet." It left at least 40 dead and some 7.5 million people without power along the East Coast with New York's subway system paralysed by flooded tunnels and much of America's financial hub of Manhattan, in the dark.

Mumbai, Oct 30 (ANI): The Reserve Bank of India is all set to cut interest rate despite high inflation in order to support growth in the half- yearly review of monetary policy which will be unveiled today.

New Delhi, Oct 29 (ANI): Rubbishing all rumors that he was upset over a change in portfolio, former Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy on Monday said that position and portfolio was not an issue for him.

Ahmedabad, Oct 30 (ANI): Terming the Congress party as a ''cancer'', yoga guru Baba Ramdev has said that he would campaign against the ruling party at Centre in poll-bound Gujarat.

Nagpur, Oct 29 (IANS) BJP president Nitin Gadkari Monday termed the corruption charges levelled against him "a conspiracy by the Congress" and also blamed the media for acting as that party's "agents".

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) Pakistan may allow a team of Indian investigators a visit to examine evidence collected by Pakistan against November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, but the dates are yet to be decided, an official said Monday.

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave a fresh look to his government, most of the new ministers took charge and spelt out their agenda. But not everyone was impressed, with the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav predicting an early Lok Sabha election.

Washington, Oct 30 (IANS) "It's shocking what I'm looking at now," said a tavern owner in Atlantic City as he described cars that were "completely underwater" when superstorm Sandy slammed into US.

Washington, Oct 30 (IANS) The US Coast Guard carried out a dramatic rescue of 14 sailors flung into the sea from their sinking three-masted replica of the historic ship HMS Bounty that had starred in several Hollywood adventure films.

Washington/New York, Oct 30 (IANS) Packing a powerful punch, Hurricane Sandy slammed into New Jersey Coast killing at least nine people, plunging more than three million into darkness and crippling transportation across the US East Coast.

Washington, Oct 30 (IANS) HMS Bounty, a replica of the famous British vessel built for the 1962 film version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" and which also appeared in the 2006 blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", sank when a superstorm barrelled into the US.

New Delhi, Oct 29 (ANI): Veerappa Moily on Monday assumed charge as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister.

"It is a challenging Ministry. I will deal with issues cautiously," he said soon after taking charge.

Kolkata, Oct 29 (ANI): The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has assailed the Congress party-led UPA government for the latest reshuffle in the cabinet, saying that it should have first established its majority in Parliament and then gone for such a major decision.