New Delhi, Oct 30 : UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will arrive here on a two-day visit today.

He is expected to hold talks on the current global financial crisis and climate change with Indian leaders.

Issues like the situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal will also be considered during the meeting between the two sides.

During his visit, the Secretary General will meet President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr. Mahmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition LK Advani.

New Delhi, Oct 29 : The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has sought a ban on Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for their alleged involvement in communal riots in Indore in July this year.

The Commission also demanded a judicial enquiry into the violence and de-recognition of political parties inciting communal riots.

In its report submitted to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh the Commission emphasized the need for devising a national policy to discourage communal polarization.

The NCM, while terming the VHP''s shutdown call on the Amaranth issue as the root cause of the violence, called for fixing the responsibility on politicians, officials and other key persons behind organizing the shutdown.

New Delhi, Oct 29 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday held a meeting at his North Block office with key regulators and policy makers, including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on the current financial situation and to discuss further measures to tackle it.

The meeting was attended by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman C. B. Bhave, RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan and former RBI Governor C. Rangarajan among others.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of a slew of measures taken by RBI and government to inject liquidity into the cash-starved system.

New Delhi, Oct 29 : The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial candidate for Delhi, V K Malhotra has alleged that a number of "scandals” had taken place during the Congress rule in the national capital and said these needed to be probed.

Malhotra, who is the deputy Leader of BJP in the Lok Sabha, said that during campaigning the BJP would highlight these "scams" and "failures" of the Shiela Dikshit Government, besides raising the issue of terrorism for the November 29 elections.

However, he ruled out any witch-hunting.

Malhotra identified the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) corridor project in Delhi as one of the cases requiring inquiry and promised to review the scheme.

New Delhi, Oct 29 : Union Minister of Power Sushilkumar Shinde met Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov at the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana today and discussed the bilateral and other issues of regional and international significance.

During the meeting, Shinde thanked Kazakhstan for its support on very important issues including in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and India''s membership in the United Nations Security Council.

He suggested that India could cooperate with Kazakhstan in setting up fertilizer plants there for exporting the fertilizers to India.

New Delhi, Oct 29 : Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh following the incident of beating of a youth from Uttar Pradesh to death, in a local train in Mumbai.

Patil spoke to Deshmukh amidst suggestions from the Centre that the state administration should remain cautious and alert to possibilities of attacks on north Indians in the state, in the wake of death of a youth from Bihar in a police shootout on Monday.

Minister of State for Home Shakil Ahmed said that Maharashtra should be extra careful since these are very sensitive times.