Staggered polling began on Thursday for the first phase of elections across 15 states and two Union Territories to elect a new Lok Sabha as also legislative assemblies in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa amid tight security.

UN telecom agency and the European Commission have teamed up to protect children - among the most active and most vulnerable users of the Internet - from online dangers, including cyber-bullying and paedophilia.

"Child online safety must be on the global agenda," Secretary-General of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Hamadoun Touri said in a press release.

Jayaprada, Bollywood actress and Samajwadi Party candidate from Rampur Lok Sabha seat, was on Saturday attacked while she was travelling in her car here but escaped unhurt in the incident.

Fidel Castro watched the U.S. inauguration on television and says he doesn't doubt Barack Obama's honesty, breaking a month long silence with an essay published on Thursday in Cuba's state-run press.

The comments by the former Cuban president came followed a meeting Wednesday with visiting Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who told reporters that ``Fidel believes in Obama.''

New year celebrations turned sour for a youth after his inebriated friend bit off his ear over a dispute during a game of badminton. After having gulped some beer during the New Year celebrations at Paravoor here yesterday, Krishna Kumar and Jinto, who are also neighbors, settled for a game of shuttle during which a quarrel broke out.

Federation of Indian Christian Organizations in North America, the organisation alleged in a press release issued that the attacks against Christians in Orissa are continuing despite assurances from the Centre and the State Governments.

The first case after the Senior Citizens Act came into force last year, a 58-year-old man was taken into custody for neglecting his aged mother and cases have been registered against his five siblings at Kottiyam near here, police said.

Power cut at a crowded mass marriage venue here at an auspicious moment when about 40 grooms had to simultaneously tie the 'mangal sutra' around their bride's neck led to a mix up with two of them missing the target.

The inauguration of a new university chartered to grant degrees to underserved women in Asia will be celebrated at a Symposium in Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 17-18,2008.

Cracking the whip on MPs who defied the party in Parliament, the BJP today expelled eight Lok Sabha members, who bailed out the UPA government either by cross-voting or remaining absent during voting in the confidence motion.