Nanded (Maharashtra), Oct 29 : Sikh devotees began the celebrations to mark the tri-centennial of the holy book Guru Granth Sahib here.

Nearly one million Sikhs are expected to descend here for the three-week celebrations to mark three centuries of their religion.

Sikhs are streaming in on special trains, buses and flights also to mark the 300th anniversary of the death of Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the 10 gurus.

Across the country in Gurudwaras, Sikh places of worship, special prayers were being said and processions held for the Nanded celebrations.

Colombo - An employee of a power station which came under a night air attack by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka's capital died as an investigation into damages was ongoing, a spokesman for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said Wednesday.

The employee did not have external injuries, but appeared to have died of shock during Tuesday night's attack on the Kelanitissa power plant located in a high security zone within Colombo, said the spokesman.

Chennai, Oct 29 : Six Indian fishermen, who were reported missing off the southern coast last month and rescued by Sri Lankan fishermen, returned to Chennai safely.

The fishermen, missing off the Kasimedu coast since September 18, were stranded on the high seas after their boat ran out of fuel.

The fishermen were sighted by some Sri Lankan fishermen and were taken to Trincomallee in Sri Lanka, and later to Colombo, from where the Indian High Commission made arrangements for them to be deported to India.

The fishermen were given a warm welcome when they touched home turf.

On Wednesday night, all major broadcast networks will air Barack Obama’s half-hour campaign ad., except for ABC, who attempting to protect its Wednesday line-up, failed to reach an agreement to air the commercial on a different night.  

Later but too late, ABC did offer the Democratic presidential candidate the 8:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday slot, only to find that his campaign ad buy had already been finalized.  Instead, Walt Disney owned ABC will air the hour long ‘Pushing Daisies’ at the scheduled time.  

Kathmandu - Nepal's Maoist-led government began the process to integrate thousands of former rebel fighters into the national army and other security agencies, a government minister said Wednesday.

"The government formed a high-level committee that will make final decisions on the integration of the former rebel fighters, manage and rehabilitate them," government spokesman and minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.

Taipei - Taiwan hopes to upgrade its representation at the upcoming APEC summit by sending a former minister and parliament speaker Frederick F Chien to the meeting, press reports said Wednesday.

The United Daily Mews and Economic Daily News, quoting an unnamed official source, said Taiwan plans to send Chien to the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit to be held in Lima, Peru November 22-23.