New Delhi - Leaders of South and South East Asian nations mooted the idea of a regional food bank to help needy members states at a regional summit in New Delhi Thursday.

"An idea was mooted that countries pool their resources and set up a food bank for needy countries whenever necessary," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a press briefing after the summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Top leaders and officials from the seven member states - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand - attended the daylong summit.

New Delhi, Nov. 13 : Visiting Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapakse today said that there was no question of ordering a cease-fire against the rebel Liberation Tigers for Tamil Ealam (LTTE), and added that his government would take all necessary steps to protect Tamils in Sri Lanka.

"Tamilians are our people; we have been taking care of them and we will take care," Rajapakse said.

Rajpakse told reporters in Delhi: "Since the last twenty years, we are witnessing this ceasefire. We will not allow terrorism to continue."

New Delhi - India's inflation rate fell sharply to 8.98 per cent for the week ended November 1 from 10.72 per cent the previous week, raising hopes of further rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India as industry figures indicated a slowing down of the economy.

The annualized inflation rate, which is linked to India's wholesale price index, had peaked in the week ended August 2 touching 12.91 per cent. The rate for the week ended November 3, 2007 was 3.35 per cent.

New Delhi, Nov 13 : Archaeologists have unearthed more than 1,100 oracle bone characters in the Shaanxi province of China, shedding new light on the number of such inscriptions in existence.

The find was made at a cluster of tombs in Qishan county that date back to the Western Zhou Dynasty.

According to Lei Xingshan, head of the dig team, “Prior to our discovery at the Temple of Duke Zhou, less than 1,100 Chinese characters written on pieces of bone and tortoiseshell had ever been found.”

New Delhi, Nov 13: The Union Home Ministry has asked States to compile a list of incidents of communal violence in recent times and the names of people who had been found to be involved.

The UPA Government under pressure from allies to ban the Hindutva outfit asked all state governments to send a “detailed report” on the role of the Bajrang Dal in communal incidents and action taken.

New Delhi, Nov 13: Olympics bronze winner wrestler, Sushil Kumar teamed up with the activists of ''People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)'' to promote vegetarian lifestyle and propagate the cause of animal protection.

Roped by PETA, the vegetarian wrestler said that the misconception that vegetarians cannot be brawny should be removed. Vegetarians lead a more healthy life.

"I am a vegetarian myself and I want to send out this message to everyone that vegetarians are powerful, they have the stamina. Look at me, I defeated non-vegetarians from America and Kazakhstan in the Olympics. So, you can see that vegetarians have a lot of strength," he added.