Rome  - Italy's Roman Catholic bishops on Friday called on Italian dioceses to set aside a day on which the faithful will fast in solidarity with Christians in India who have been targeted in recent attacks.

The Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) said it was taking up an appeal launched by Pope Benedict XVI who on August 27 urged an immediate end to acts of violence against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa.

Rangia (Assam), Sept 5 : The United Liberation Front of Asom or ULFA is in trouble. After the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by its 28th battalion, 39 cadres of its 709 battalion recently surrendered before the Red Horn Division of the Indian Army in Assam’s Kamrup District delivering a major blow to the militant outfit.

The surrender reflects not only the disenchantment among the lower rung cadres with the central committee, but also disillusionment with ULFA ideology.

New Delhi, Sept 5 : India and Colombia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in hydrocarbon sector here today.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora and the visiting Colombian Minister of Energy and Mines Hernan Martinez Torres inked the MoU.

Deora said the MoU provides an umbrella framework to facilitate and enhance bilateral cooperation in this sector. The two sides have agreed to cooperate in the entire spectrum of hydrocarbon sector particularly in the areas of exploration and production of oil and gas, exchange of training and human resource development, and exchange of visits of professionals and technicians.

Vienna - Nuclear-exporting countries met Friday for another day of talks in Vienna on allowing nuclear trade with India, after late-night negotiations ended without results.

The United States is pushing for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which sets international nuclear export control rules, to make an exemption for India.

The country cannot currently access global markets for its growing nuclear power sectors, as it has not signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.

A consensus among the 45 NSG members hinges on six countries who insist the trade waiver should spell out consequences in case India tests a nuclear bomb.

New Delhi - India's eastern state of Bihar is preparing a massive rehabilitation and reconstruction programme after floods inundated more than 100,000 hectares of land, affecting more than 3.5 million people, officials said Friday.

Towns and villages across large swathes of the state have been flooded for more than a fortnight after the Kosi river breached its embankment in neighboring Nepal following heavy monsoon rains.

Dharamshala, Sept 5: Exiled Tibetan monks, living in India and neighbouring countries, have gathered here to take part in a human rights conference.

Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a Tibetan NGO, has organised seven days workshop exclusively for monks and nuns of India, Nepal and Bhutan to make them aware about the principles of democracy and human rights.

The organizers feel that this is necessary for the Buddhists monks and nuns as they are mostly tied up in the work of the monasteries or with the Buddhist studies.