New Delhi, Aug 1 : The condition of Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh, who is suffering from a stomach infection, is improving, the doctors attending to him said today.

The veteran Congress leader was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) two days ago following complaint of severe stomachache.

“His condition is stable and he is improving,” said Dr. D K Sharma, Medical Superintendent, AIIMS.

New Delhi, Aug 1 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today left for Sri Lanka Capital Colombo on a two-day visit to attend the 15th SAARC Summit.

On the sidelines of the two-day Summit, Dr. Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gillani on Saturday.

In his departure statement last evening, Dr. Singh said that in the 23 years since SAARC was established, the South Asian region has traversed a long distance.

New Delhi, Aug 1: A total eclipse of the sun will occur on Friday afternoon and it will be visible as a partial eclipse throughout India.

In general, the total eclipse will be visible in the region covering northern and eastern parts of North America, Greenland, northern Europe and Asia except Japan.

Considering the earth as a whole, the eclipse begins at 1:34 IST when the shadow of the moon first touches the earth at local sunrise near a point in the North Atlantic Ocean close to New Found land in Canada.

New Delhi - In the aftermath of bombings in the key Indian cities of Bangalore and Ahmedabad, various countries have warned to their citizens to exercise a "high degree" of caution while travelling in the country.

The US government appealed to its citizens travelling or residing in India to be watchful in the backdrop of the terrorist attacks, the IANS news agency reported Thursday.

"American citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance, remain aware of their surroundings, monitor local news reports, avoid crowded places, and take appropriate steps to bolster their personal security," a special advisory said.

New Delhi, July 31 : Tibetan Youth Congress activists continued their hunger strike in New Delhi on the fourth day today to protest against Chinese occupation of their homeland.

The activists had on July 28 started their strike to garner international attention for their freedom struggle.

With Beijing Olympics approaching, Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against what they see as China''s illegal occupation of their homeland.

Being without food or water for past four days has left the crusaders in a state of exhaustion.

New Delhi, July 31 : The HDFC Ltd today announced a hike of 0.75 per cent in lending rates from August 1 for old and new floating rate customers, who would now have to pay a minimum of 11.75 per cent interest on home loans.

“This is in line with the rates of interest in the economy, which have hardened due to rising inflation and shrinking liquidity in the domestic market,” the lender said in a statement.

The move by HDFC closely follows an up to one per cent rate revision by leading PSU banker Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank and J-K Bank that made all home, corporate, personal and auto loans expensive.