New Delhi - An Indian court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced six people to death for killing four members of a low-caste Dalit family in the western state of Maharashtra.

The court in the eastern Bhandara district also sentenced two other defendants to life imprisonment for the murders that took place in the Khairlanji village in September
2006.

Judge SS Das accepted public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's plea for capital punishment for the men who beat to death the wife and three children of a farmer, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, over a land dispute. Bhotmange managed to escape and survived.

But the court noted that the prosecution could not produce evidence to conclusively prove that it caste was a motive for the attack.

New Delhi  - About a million employees of India's public sector banks Wednesday went on a two-day nationwide strike to protest the government's policies in the banking industry and the delay in revising wages.

Conciliatory talks between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) representatives and Chief Labour Commissioner SK Mukhopadhyaya in New Delhi on Tuesday failed to yield any results.

"Talks with the chief labour commissioner have failed and we proceeded with the strike," UFBU leader VK Gupta told the PTI news agency.

The Steel Authority of India Ltd would set up a new steel processing unit in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The state run company would invest Rs 150 cr as per its initial plans. It is disclosed by Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday. He was here in Sri nagar to lay the foundation stone of one lakh-tonne per annum unit in Lassipora Industrial estate near Sri Nagar.

New Delhi, Sep 24 : The first Chinese astronaut is likely to walk in space on Friday, a day after spacecraft Shenzhou VII lifts off.

The historic moment will be broadcast live across the world, said Cui Jijun, the commander-in-chief of the mission’s ground operation on Tuesday. He hoped that the space environment is expected to be fine for the mission.

Shenzhou VII is scheduled to blast off from Jiuquan in Gansu province on Thursday night, Xianhua reported.

The Shenzhou-VII mission entered the countdown stage after the final check on the spacecraft, the carrier rocket and the ground operation system was completed on Tuesday morning.

New Delhi, Sept 24 : The Supreme Court will today hear the case of extending ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

On August 25, the apex court had extended the ban on the SIMI by six weeks. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan also fixed September 24 as the date for next hearing in this case.

The Centre had challenged the decision of the Special Tribunal headed by Justice Geeta Mittal to lift the ban on SIMI.

On August 6, a bench headed by the Chief Justice Balakrishnan had stayed a Special Tribunal order that had earlier ordered lifting restrictions on its activities.

The apex court had also issued notice to SIMI and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.

Islamabad, Sept 24 : A formal announcement about the dates of launching cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade in Kashmir is likely to be made after today’s meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, diplomatic sources said.

“This will be high on the agenda of bilateral talks between the two leaders in their first ever meeting,” informed diplomatic sources said.