Guwahati, Oct 30 : The Assam government on Thursday said that the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) may be behind today’s serial blasts in the state, adding that it was too early to reach a conclusion.

Minutes after the explosions, Assam''s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters, "It is very early to make a conclusion but ULFA has a history of triggering serial blasts."

Sarma said the objective of triggering the blasts in crowded places was to claim maximum lives.

Washington, Oct 30 : Samuel Wurzelbacher aka ‘Joe the Plumber’, who gained unexpected popularity during the past two weeks after being repeatedly mentioned by Republican presidential nominee John McCain in his debate, is now being offered to turn into a singer.

According to politico. com, he is being pursued for a major record deal and could come out with a country album as early as Inauguration Day.

“Joe”, a Ohio-based pipe-and-toilet man, had just signed with a Nashville public relations and management firm to handle interview requests and media appearances, as well as create new career opportunities, including a shift out of the plumbing trade into stage and studio performances.

Lahore, Oct 30 : Noted Pakistani ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan was admitted in Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi last evening after his health deteriorated.

owing to his deteriorating health, Express News reported.

The singer was hospitalised following a lung ailment, reported the Daily Times.

Hassan’s family has requested the nation to pray for his health, added the paper.

Affectionately called Khan Sahib, Mehdi Hasan has been bestowed with the title "Shahenshah-e-Ghazal". He is a legendry Pakistani Ghazal singer and a former playback singer for Lollywood.

London, Oct 30: An international research team has given two reasons why eating red meat could be bad for you: it increases risk of food poisoning in humans and a regular diet of the animal product can make people more susceptible to E. coli.

The study has been published in Nature.

According to University of California, San Diego School of Medicine professor Ajit Varki, M. D., the team has uncovered the first example of a bacterium that causes food poisoning in humans when it targets a non-human molecule absorbed into the body through red meats such as lamb, pork and beef.

London, Oct 30: A pungent peppery spice known as grains of paradise or Aframomum melegueta, which is an integral part of West African cuisine, may harbour diabetes treatment, suggests a new study.

Aframomum melegueta – a member of the ginger family that grows well in the swamps along the coast –has long been known in African folklore as a medicine that aids digestion.

The finding was made after Ilya Raskin, a plant biologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, tested an extract of A. melegueta on diabetic mice and found that it produced a significant drop in their blood sugar levels, reports New Scientist.

New Delhi, Oct 30 : The three wings of the Indian defense forces including the army, the navy and the air force are holding separate annual conferences here today to address matters of national security.

Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, Chief Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major chaired the respective conferences.

Lieutenant General SPS Dhillon, deputy chief of Army Staff, said that the aim was to take a stock of the operational capabilities during the four day Army commanders'' conference