Despite the poll boycott call by separatists, a record number of 102 candidates are trying their luck for first phase of polling from 10 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir.

First phase of polling will be held on 17 Nov.

The Election Commission had announced a seven phase polling programme for J&K.

The contituencies going to the polls are - Gurez, Bandipora and Sonawari in the Kashmir Valley, Leh, Nobra, Zanskar and Kargil in the Ladakh region and Surankote, Mendhar and Poonch-Haveli in the Jammu region.

Sonawari and Bandipora will see 22 and 19 candidates respectively in the fray. There are six candidates in Gurez, Poonch-Haveli has 13, Mendhar 12, Surankote 11, five each in Kargil, Leh and Zanskar and four in Nobra.

New Delhi - India's stock indices dipped downward by more than 3 per cent Monday after a meeting of the world's leading economies failed to throw up any immediate solutions to the global economic crisis and Japan announced its economy had slid into recession.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-share Sensex was trading at around 8,990 at noon, about 4.21 per cent below its previous close.

The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was hovering around 2,704.80, 3.76 per cent below Friday's close.

Dhaka - An Indian boarder guard Sunday night shot down three Bangladesh nationals in a remote village of the country's northern frontier district of Panchagarh, local media reported Monday.

Officials at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka said that the Border Security Force of India killed the three innocent villagers, including an infant and her mother.

They said villagers captured a member of the Indian guard after the firing incident in the dead of night. The BSF man was reported to be drunk.

New Delhi - More than 600 exiled Tibetan leaders gathered in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala Monday to air their views and aspirations on the best course of action for the Tibetan cause.

The situation in Tibet was serious and at this "critical stage" all Tibetans had to come together to discuss their views on what future action needed to be taken, Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile said in his opening speech.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had called for the four-day special meeting, saying that nothing substantive had been achieved in several rounds of talks with the Chinese leadership on greater autonomy for Tibetans within China.

New Delhi, Nov 16 : Egyptian President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak has arrived in New Delhi for a four-day visit to India.

The President is accompanied by a high-level delegation including several ministers, senior officials and businesspersons.

Mubarak is visiting India after 25 years. He last came here in 1983 on a state visit.

President Mubarak will address the Indo Egyptian Business Forum on Monday.

New Delhi, Nov 16 : With the signs of global reversionary trends setting in, Indian Inc say that while they are worried about the global meltdown, they are also confident that the Indian industry can sail through.

According to reports the Indian economy is likely to expand by 7.4-7.8 per cent during 2008-09 fiscal year, slower than nine per cent of last year, as credit crunch and global downturn trims growth.

At a three-day ''Indian Economic Summit'' organised by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi, captains of the Indian industry huddled to debate out issues related to the global downturn on Sunday.