New Delhi, Sept 22 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh left for Frankfurt enroute to New York today.

Before proceeding to New York on Tuesday, Dr. Singh will have overnight halt at Frankfurt. He will be visiting the United States and France for ten days. He will address the
63rd Session of UN General Assembly on September 26.

New Delhi, Sept 22 : The Home Ministry has rejected as “speculative” media reports that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil showed a casual approach to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi when he met him to convey some information about a possible terror attack on Delhi.

The report had also mentioned that Patil displayed restlessness during the meeting, as he was getting late for his lunch.

New Delhi - Scores of Buddhist villagers in India's north-eastern state of Assam performed a unique funeral ritual for more than 800 endangered storks that died after a tree where they were nesting fell, a news report said Monday.

The Asian openbill storks died when the 200-year-old banyan tree that served as their colony crashed last week into a pond inside a Buddhist monastery some 300 kilometres east of state capital Guwahati, the IANS news agency reported.

The villagers, most of them farmers, considered the banyan tree sacred and believed that the storks were their guardian angels.

New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday embarked on a 10-day visit to the United States and France which is expected to mark India's opening nuclear trade with the world after a three-decade ban.

Singh is scheduled to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York as well as the India-European Union Summit in Marseilles before returning on October 2.

The highlight of Singh's visit will be meeting US President George W Bush in Washington on Thursday amid the possibility that the US-India civil nuclear energy deal could be signed.

New Delhi, Sept 22: Vice-President Hamid Ansari today said that Museums, libraries, national galleries and archives which are a major contributor to tourist economy, have become powerful places of social learning, promotion of creativity and innovation.

New Delhi, Sept 22: A joint team comprising of Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau (IB) today arrived in Udupi in Karnataka, where it is believed the terrorists purchased ball bearing and other equipment to make bombs used in serial blasts.

The team will also visit Dharwad, where militant training camps have been allegedly held.

Saif and Zeeshan, terror suspects arrested from Jamia Nagar on Friday, have also been taken to Karnataka, where police believe they could get more leads.