New Delhi  - The head priest, or jathedar, of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion, based in the northern Indian town of Amritsar, resigned from the post on Tuesday, news reports said.

Joginder Singh Vedanti gave his resignation to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), a body which manages affairs of Sikh shrines, PTI news agency reported. Vedanti gave no reason for his sudden decision.

An SGPC official said the head priest's resignation had been received but gave no further details.

New Delhi, Aug 5: The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on foodgrains will meet here today to review food prices and stock situation in the country.

The meeting is also likely to review relaxation in ban on exports of non-basmati rice.

Headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, group of Ministers includes Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the Commerce Minister and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The Government had banned in March this year export of commonly used rice to improve its domestic availability and rein in inflation, which has since come closer to the 12 per cent mark.

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New Delhi  - Six Tibetan activists entered the second week of a hunger strike in New Delhi to protest the upcoming Beijing Olympics and "occupation" of Tibet by China, a spokesman said Monday.

The activists from the Tibetan Youth Congress staged their protest at the capital's Jantar Mantar area in the central business district of Connaught Place.

New Delhi  - Parents wailed for their dead children as relatives identified their loved ones Monday, a day after a stampede at a Hindu temple in India's northern state of Himachal Pradesh claimed 145 lives, officials and news reports said.

Rumours of a landslide caused the stampede at the hilltop shrine of Naina Devi in the Bilaspur district, 320 kilometres north of New Delhi. At least 80 victims were women and children.

New Delhi, Aug 4 : President Pratibha Patil today condoled the loss of lives in the Naina Devi Temple stampede in Himachal Pradesh yesterday.

The President has conveyed her heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and has also sent her prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured.

Meanwhile, devotees resumed trekking to Naina Devi temple on Sunday midnight even as the death toll in the worst-ever temple tragedy touches 146 and 129 bodies have been identified so far.