Lalthanhawla, who steered the Congress to a landslide win in the Mizoram elections after a ten year gap, was today sworn in as Chief Minister for a record fourth time along with two ministers.

Governor Lt General M M Lakhera administered the oath of office to 68-year-old Lal Thanhawla him, R Lalzirliana, Senior Vice-President of Congress in the state and H Liansailova, a former bureaucrat and party treasurer, at the Raj Bhavan at Aizawl.

Lal Thanhawla was sworn in as the sixth chief minister of the state. None other before him has ever been chief mnister four times in the state.

Ashok Gehlot was chosen to be the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

57-year-old Gehlot, a former chief minister, was unanimously elected leader by the Congress Legislature Party after intense consultations with MLAs, AICC observer Digvijay Singh, said.

The chief minister-elect said later that he would work to provide an "able, transparent and competent" government that will cater to all the sections, castes and communities.

Gehlot had spearheaded the Congress campaign to reinstall its government defeating BJP in Rajasthan.

The Russian government has asked its citizens to reconsider their trips to the tourism hot spot Goa.

Nearly 45,000 Russian tourists visit Goa each season.

The Russian foreign ministry has specifically advised its citizens wishing to travel to Goa to “reconsider” their decision.

“We have not told them not to come to Goa, we have asked our citizens to reconsider their decision of coming to Goa in view of the security situation,” advocate Vikram Varma told to a news agency on behalf of the Russian consulate.

A Congress MLA was suspended from the Orissa Assembly for seven days for allegedly throwing a headphone towards the Speaker on Thursday.

Speaker Kishore Mohanty suspended legislator from Koraput Tara Prasad Bahinipati for seven days when the Government Chief Whip Bikram Keshari Arukh moved a resolution in this regard.

Though the Speaker asked Bahinipati to leave the House, the Congress MLA refused to do the same.

Ace Veteran Bollywood superstar Dilip Kumar turned 86 on December 11, 2008.

According to sources, Dilip Kumar, who took birth on December 11, 1922 in Peshawar, Pakistan, is widely acknowledged for playing tragedy roles in flicks of 50s and 60s like Devdas, Deedar, Amar and Madhumati, which earned him the title of “Tragedy King”.

His birth name Muhammad Yusuf Khan was turned to screen name Dilip Kumar by Devika Rani, a leading actress of 40s and wife of Himanshu Rai (founder of Bombay Talkies).

Rate continues to hold above previous support. Spillover from GBP helps hold the rate above support at 1.2950 area but lack of follow-through above 1.3050 a caution to the bulls. Buyers are willing on dips. Possible reversal now in play but the rate needs to firm above the 1.3050 area now that stops are cleared in my view.

Bids seen on dips traders say. Dips likely to be bought hard now that sellers couldn't make a stand over 1.3000 with confidence on the third try this week; stops at 1.3080 and above likely the next target. Aggressive traders can ADD to open longs again.