Washington, Jan. 8 : The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking to fill thousands of posts as it embarks on the biggest recruitment drive in its 101-year history.

According to the Scotsman, the vacancies include 850 special agents, besides a further 2,100 "professional staff positions".

Jobs include intelligence analysts, fingerprint experts, language specialists and electronics technicians, presumably for help with wire-tapping and other hi-tech eavesdropping.

New Delhi, Jan. 8 : The ongoing strike by employees of various oil Public Sector Units (PSUs) has now created a fuel supply crisis in various cities and states.

Sources said that with talks between the Government and representatives of oil PSUs collapsing, the supply of petrol, diesel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is likely to run dry by Friday or Saturday.

New Delhi/Jaipur, Jan. 8 : An emergency meeting was called at Jaswant Singh''s residence on Thursday to douse out an intra-party crisis that erupted after former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat took the rebellious path and alleged widespread corruption in the party and slammed the BJP president for misdemeanour.

The meeting, held in the national capital, went on for two hours, but ended inconclusively.

BJP President Rajnath Singh, who was in the line of fire after he ruled out chances of Shekhawat contesting the elections, was also present in the meeting.

Mumbai, Jan. 8 : The strike called by officials of state-run oil firms in the country is affecting the aviation industry badly.

On Thursday, around a dozen flights were delayed for between 45 minutes to an hour, leaving several passengers stranded at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

Passengers were harried and troubled as they waited for their flights.

Expressing anger at the state of affairs, some of the passengers said the strike should be called off immediately.

Chennai, Jan. 8 : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said that overseas Indians could take to the world stage some of India’s key concerns such as terrorism, education and trade agenda.

In particular, he said, they could convey the message to their respective countries that India is fully committed to free and fair trade.

Expressing appreciation for diaspora sympathy for the Mumbai terror attacks, he called upon the overseas Indian community to raise its voice against sponsored terrorism, as terrorism ‘diminishes mankind’.

London, Jan. 8 : Former England cricketer Ian Botham has said that in the last 24 hours, the incidents related to England cricket and its immediate future, are probably the most embarrassing that he has seen, both as a player and as a commentator on the sport.

In an article for the Sunday Mirror, Botham squarely blames the fiasco relating to the Pietersen-Moores disagreement on the "chinless wonders who rule Lord''s from behind a desk".