Washington - The US House of Representatives approved an agreement on Saturday allowing the United States to sell civilian nuclear material and technology to India, bringing the landmark accord one step closer to President George W Bush's signature.

The House voted 298 to 117 to pass the agreement that still must clear the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday that the upper chamber will not take it up until at least Monday.

Chennai, Sept 27 : Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday said that the ban on smoking in public private places will come to effect from October 2nd and the penalty charge will be rupees two hundred at the initial stage.

He was participating in a Conference on International Study about Human Rights and Mental Health organised by the Department of Social Work Studies at Madras Christian College in Chennai, Principal Dr. V. J. Philip, staff of the department and students took part in this conference.

New Delhi, Sept 27 : A high-level committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was formed by the Centre on Saturday to address the Armed forces'' concerns over "anomalies" in the Central Sixth Pay Commission (CPC) report.

The Defence services have decided to accept the revised pay scales "for the moment" and submit the salary bills to the Defence Ministry on Monday, following the formation of the committee.

The three-member committee was constituted following a direction from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, according to reports.

New Delhi, Sept 27 : Eyewitnesses of today’s bomb blast in Mehrauli, in which around seven people are feared dead, said that two young men wearing full mask helmets came riding on a black motorcycle and threw two packets wrapped in newspapers in a busy market near Andheria Mode in Mehrauli area.

New Delhi - At least 15 people were injured in an explosion in a market in Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday, media reports said.

The explosion occurred in a shop in the flower market in the southern Mehrauli area at 2.15 pm (8.45 am GMT), NDTV network reported.

Witnesses told the news channel that it was a "big" bomb-blast and the explosive was planted by two men on a motorcycle.

But the police did not confirm whether it was a terrorist attack and were investigating the nature of the explosion.

Firemen, ambulances and police teams rushed to the scene.