New Delhi - At least five people were killed and 50 injured in a series of 10 bombings that rocked India's north-eastern state of Assam on Thursday, news reports said.

Several blasts targeted crowded market areas and a court complex in the state's main city of Guwahati, the IANS news agency reported.

There were 10 blasts in all including explosions in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta areas, the report said.

Several militant outfits with demands ranging from autonomy to secession are active in the north-eastern state.

New Delhi, Oct 30 : President Pratibha Patil will visit Aurangabad on November 2 to attend the concluding ceremony of the golden jubilee of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University.

Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of the University S C Jamir, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, Guardian Minister Patangrao Kadam, Higher and Technical Education Minister Dilip Valse Patil will also attend the function.

Big TV, the Direct-to-Home (DTH) service of Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications (RCom), claimed that it has become the fastest growing DTH player in the country, as it has crossed the magic figure of 500,000 subscribers within two months of its launch.  

According to the company's CEO Arun Kapoor, crossing the 5-lakh customer milestone within two months is indeed a testimony to the superior value proposition offered by BIG TV, and its success in accelerating the growth momentum of DTH sector in India.”

Washington, Oct 30 : A county sheriff has revealed that a phone call from a concerned parent had helped disrupt two skinheads’ plot to kill Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and behead scores of blacks across the country.

Haywood County Sheriff Melvin Bond said that a woman called his office worried about her daughter. “As the investigation led on, we found out who these individuals were,” foxnews. com quoted the Tennessee lawman as saying.

Guwahati, Oct 30 : Several pers

Manila - One government soldier and two communist rebels were killed in separate clashes in the eastern Philippines, an army spokesman said Thursday.

One soldier and one communist rebel were killed on Wednesday during a clash in Basey town in Samar province, 570 kilometres south-east of Manila, said Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner.

Brawner said another soldier was wounded in the fighting that erupted when patrolling troops encountered heavily-armed communist rebels in the village of Bulao in Basey.

In a separate clash on Wednesday, one communist rebel was also killed in the town of Candelaria, also in the eastern province of Quezon.