New Delhi - The chief minister of India's Maharashtra state resigned Thursday, accepting moral responsibility for the Mumbai terror attacks.

"In a democracy one has to honour people's anguish and anger," PTI news agency quoted Vilasrao Deshmukh as saying at a press briefing in Mumbai.

Deshmukh's resignation comes a week after terrorists wrought mayhem in India's financial hub - which is also the capital of Maharashtra state - killing 171 people and injuring over 300.

Mumbai, Dec 4: Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony will leave for Mumbai today to decide on the new Maharashtra Chief Minister.

The decision is taking place after the Congress party accepted the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh late on Wednesday night.

Antony, who looks after party affairs in Maharashtra, has said that Deshmukh has been asked to step down following last week''s terrorist attack in Mumbai.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3  -- Women believe that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin opened doors for women in public life, a Lifetime Television poll indicates.

The network's Every Woman Counts poll reported Wednesday indicated that most women think Clinton, who sought Democratic presidential nomination, and Palin, the Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, moved forward the cause of electing women to powerful positions, USA Today reported.

Eighty-six percent of women said Clinton and Palin candidacies were a step forward in electing a female president or vice president, the poll indicated. Ninety-three percent said the candidacies would either "definitely" or "probably" encourage more women to seek elected office.

Washington  - Senator Hillary Clinton was "shocked" by the possibility that president-elect Barack Obama would consider her as his secretary of state, according to an interview with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, on CNN Wednesday.

"I think she was shocked" when she read speculation about the nomination, he said of the leaked indications she would be named.

Washington  - President-elect Barack Obama nominated Bill Richardson as his commerce secretary on Wednesday, the first Hispanic member of his cabinet and the latest key player in the new administration's economic recovery team.

Richardson, who endorsed Obama for president after his own abbreviated run for the White House this year, brings a wealth of experience in executive and legislative positions to Obama's administration, which will take over on January 20.

ATLANTA, Dec. 2 - Republican Saxby Chambliss easily fended off Democratic challenger Jim Martin Tuesday to keep his seat in the U. S. Senate for a second term.

With 96 percent of the votes counted, Chambliss led Martin 58 percent to 42 percent, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The two former fraternity brothers faced off in the runoff after neither received a majority in the Nov. 4 general election.