Tel Aviv - The Israel Labour Party and the Likud continued marathon negotiations on a draft coalition deal into Tuesday morning, ahead of a crucial vote by the Labour Party Convention later in the day on whether the party should join the Likud government.

The convention's some 1,470 members are scheduled to meet at a fairground in Tel Aviv in the afternoon.

New Delhi, Mar 24: Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi will release the party''s election manifesto today.

According to sources, a commitment to pursue reforms in pension, insurance and banking will be reiterated in the manifesto.

Employment generation would be another issue attracting the attention of the youth. The party is also expected to focus on the ''Aam admi'' and the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

Several schemes like rural employment guarantee programme are expected to be a part of the manifesto.

Berlin  - Germany's coalition partners confirmed Monday that the country's general election would not be brought forward, despite recent cracks in the governing bloc as parties have begun to position themselves ahead of the polls due September.

The Social Democrats (SPD), in coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Party (CDU), said Monday that the government coalition would continue to work together to address the country's economic crisis.

New Delhi - India's Election Commission has found the grandson of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi guilty of making anti-Muslim statements during political rallies and said he should not be nominated as a candidate for the upcoming general elections, news reports said Monday.

In an order issued late Sunday night, the Election Commission said the speeches by Varun Gandhi contained "highly derogatory references and seriously provocative language of a wholly unacceptable nature against a certain community," the Indian Express daily reported.

Tel Aviv - Prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu moved closer to forming a majority government in the Israeli parliament early Monday, signing a coalition agreement with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party overnight.

Under the agreement Shas will receive four ministries, including housing and construction. Its leader, Eli Yishai, will be interior minister. The party also secured an increase in 1.4 billion Israeli shekels (about 350 million US dollars) in child allowances, a top priority for it because many of its supporters are large religious families with many children.

Imphal, Mar 22 : In order to threaten the political parties to stay away from the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the cadres of Kangleipak Communist Party-Military Council (KCP-MC) are targeting the Congress leaders in Manipur.

Bishnupur District Congress Committee President Waikhom Maipak Singh was shot at on March 10 night at his residence at Lairenkabi in Bishnupur.

Militants also fired three bullets at the residence of Tilotama Devi, President, Manipur Pradesh Youth Congress Committee at Singjamei Liwa Lambi Road on March 14.