-PTI Five persons were Arrested on Thursday in connection with the devastating fire at a cracker manufacturing unit at Mudhalipatti near Sivakasi, even as the toll mounted to 39. The Arrested were four persons who had taken the Omshakthi fireworks factory complex, where the fire broke out, on lease and its foreman, police said. The condition of over 40 of the 70 people injured was stated to be serious in various hospitals. The licence...

-The Times of India As many as 37 people have been Arrested in connection with rumour mongering during Assam conflict that led to exodus of people from the northeast from various cities, the government told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Of these, 24 persons were Arrested by Karnataka police in connection with 17 cases filed in the state on the issue. The rest were Arrested by Pune police which has registered cases against...

-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India.  THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...

-The Hindu In a growing indication of Central trade unions setting aside differences to present a united front, a national convention of workers held on Tuesday here announced a two-day countrywide general strike on February 20 and 21 next year. National-level leaders of the five prominent trade unions said that unless workers and unions stood united, they would lose the struggle against violation of labour laws and contractisation of labour, besides being...

-The Indian Express A coal mine worker in Jharkhand and an expert on the coal industry called to protest against what he called was the noora kushti (shadowboxing) going on in Delhi. The power of the coal players was earlier seen in Jharkhand politics, he said, but now we see it in Delhi. Our players are small, yours are big and powerful. With the CBI itself unearthing prima facie evidence of...