Bhubaneswar, Apr 21: Soaring mercury level has made life miserable for people in Orissa as they grapple with the heat wave.

The temperature hovered around 40 degree Celsius in the state, with some parts like the western region of the state recording a temperature of 43 to 44 degree Celsius.

State’s Meteorological Department predicts that the heat wave will prevail across the state over next 24-hours due to the north-westerly wind blowing from Rajasthan.

According to reports, around 24 people have lost their lives due to the scorching heat.

Patna, Apr. 21: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi''s rallies in Bihar were cancelled at the eleventh hour on Tuesday, without citing any reason for the same.

"The information we have received from the AICC headquarters is that Soniaji''s rallies stand cancelled. No reason has been assigned," said Samir Kumar Singh, Bihar Congress Working President.

Patna, Apr. 21: Senior Congress party leader Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav would not be a part of the next government.

Addressing an election rally in Samastipur, Mukherjee said: "Lalu will neither form the government or will be a part of the next government. Lalu should have given us three seats in Bihar we had asked for. We will never tolerate being treated as a doormat."

New Delhi, Apr. 21: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L. K. Advani on Tuesday disagreed with the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s view that the secular-communal divide is a very important drive and that he did not see India having any future except by staying with secular values.

Advani charged the Prime Minister and the Congress party with advocating a brand of pseudo-secularism to purchase votes, and added that the divide between secularism and communalism has existed since time Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of the country (1947-64).

Madrid (Spain), Apr. 21: Jose Bono, the President of the Spanish Congress, on Tuesday, expressed solidarity and sympathy with the people of India over the terror attack that struck Mumbai in November last year, claiming 179 lives and injuring more than 300.

Mumbai, Apr 21: After watching the ongoing trouble and tribulations in the family of Slumdog Millionaire''s child artiste Rubina Ali through media, an NRI came forward to support Rubina with her education.

According to reports, Rubina''s father Rafiq Qureshi was caught on camera agreeing to sell his daughter to an Arab Sheikh.

Abdul Rehman Vanoo, the NRI, runs a trust in Mumbai by the name of Anjum Ittiehahul Mustaqim.