The Supreme Court on Friday said 'NO' to a petition seeking registration of a criminal case under MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act) against MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

An NGO Yuva Shakti filed the petition against Raj for his party's hate campaign and violence against north Indians in Mumbai.

 "It is not our duty to pass orders for registering cases," said a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

"Don't convert this court into police station," the Court said. Justice P Sathasivan was also a member of the bench.

New Delhi, Nov 22: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will inaugurate a two- day annual Directors General and the Inspectors General of Police Conference here today.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will address the conference on Sunday.

During the conference, police chiefs from all states, chiefs of para-military forces and security agencies will try to work out a joint strategy on countering threats from militant and fundamentalist groups.

New Delhi - The Indian Navy has been given formal approval for "hot pursuit" of pirates in Somali waters and will be deploying another warship to tackle piracy in the region, officials and news reports said Friday.

The United Nations has recently authorized the Indian Navy to enter Somali territorial waters to take anti-piracy measures, a navy official said on condition of anonymity.

So far a UN resolution had restricted the hot pursuit permission to the navies of US and French, the CNN-IBN network reported.

New Delhi, Nov 21 : Union Minister for Science and Technology Kabil Sibal addressing a business meet in the presence of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey is a strategic country that can prove to be a bridge between Europe and Asia.

At a joint Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) meeting in New Delhi, Sibal observed that Turkey can cash in the opportunities that both Europe and Asia provide.

New Delhi, Nov 21 : Welcoming Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram''s appeal of cutting real estate prices to stimulate domestic demand, real estate developers'' association in New Delhi on Friday announced up to five percent discount on the existing projects.

Earlier this week, Chidambaram urged companies to cut real estate prices to stimulate domestic demand. He highlighted the fact that the state-run banks had assured him that they were ready to lend to borrowers.

Some real state consultants say that prices of homes in National Capital Region (NCR) have fallen by 10-15 per cent due to a fall in demand.

New Delhi, Nov 21 : A three-day conference on “In Service of the Soldiers: Life Sciences Perspective” is scheduled to be held from November 24-26, to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) R&D activities at DRDO Bhawan.