New Delhi, September 29 : The world knows of Radha as the consort of Krishna in childhood, playing on the banks of Jamuna at Gokul. But few are aware of her travails when her consort left her to become the charioteer of Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and her longing to become the wife of the Lord remained unfulfilled.

Smita Prakash in a Bharatanatyam dance performance on Saturday (Sep. 27) narrated the story in an appealing manner at the Triveni Kala Sangam here. The programme ''Radha''s dilemma'' presented the innermost joys and sorrows of Radha, the girl known for her undying love for Krishna.

New Delhi, Sept 29 : The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Monday presented the family of slain Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma a sum of Rs. 19.98 lakhs.

LIC’s Senior Divisional Manager A K Sharma personally visited Sharma’s house in Dwarka and handed over cheques to his wife Maya Sharma, who was the nominee under all his insurance policies.

In a press release, the company said that the family wasn’t aware about his polices, but it came forward to settle the entire insured amount. 

Inspector Sharma died of excessive bleeding after leading an encounter in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar on September 19, 

Tokyo, Sept. 29 : Cultural ties between India and Japan have taken a giant leap forward with Tokyo hosting the two-day Namaste India 2008 festival at the weekend.

Vaibhav Kant Upadhyay, the Chairman of the India Center Foundation (ICF), which organized the event in the Yoyogi-koen park of Central Tokyo on Saturday and Sunday, said the objective of the festival was to showcase India''s culture, society and economy and to provide an opportunity for the Japanese to connect with India. 

He said that the ICF has been constantly working towards creating better relations between India and Japan.

Srinagar, Sept 29: The death toll today in the ongoing operation to track town militants in high-altitude areas of Kashmir valley has gone up to nine.

According to sources, two bodies of the two slain militants were recovered from Kangan, 40 km from Srinagar today.

The identity and group affiliation of the deceased are yet to be established.

The operation was launched on Thursday following information that a group of militants was moving from Bandipora to Kangan in Ganderbal district.

New Delhi, Sep 29: India and Russia today agreed to extend the term of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) for another ten years -- till 2020, leading to a further strengthening of ties between both countries.

Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov today met his Indian counterpart A K Antony for one-to-one talks and later co-presided over a session of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation.

Antony termed today’s meeting of the IRIGC-MTC as very successful, and was hopeful of it having a positive outcome.

New Delhi  - At least eight people, including six children, were killed in an explosion in a village in eastern India as people were making firecrackers ahead of a festival, news reports said Monday.

Two villagers were injured in Sunday's explosion in Balasore district, 230 kilometres north of Orissa's state capital, Bhubaneshwar, the PTI news agency reported.

The blast occurred when people were illegally making firecrackers in a house and some of them caught fire, police told The Statesman daily.