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NEW DELHI, Jan 1 - In yet another move towards building trust and confidence with Pakistan, India today said it is interested in making the existing open-ended ceasefire 'permanent' even as it urged SAARC countries to emulate Bhutan in flushing out insurgents from their soil, reports PTI. The ceasefire now in place was open-ended and not bound by any timeframe of one month, six weeks or two months, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters at Delhi Airport before emplaning a special IAF Boeing-737 aircraft for Islamabad for the SAARC summit.

"Therefore, India is interested in...

Imphal, Dec. 31: Nine more ministers today joined chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh?s camp to prevent ?disloyal? ruling members from crossing over to the Opposition alliance. After spending more than a week in a Calcutta hotel, the nine ministers arrived here today and were immediately whisked away to the chief minister?s official residence where he had set up camp.

Speaker T.N. Haokip, who was also away for the same period, came back to Imphal by the same flight from Calcutta along with the ministers. The chief minister had not only sent a team to pick up his flock, but also made sure that...

Imphal, Dec. 31: A secessionist outfit of Manipur today welcomed the ambitious 1,360-km-long trilateral highway project connecting the country with Myanmar and Thailand. The banned Revolutionary People?s Front (RPF) in a statement said the proposed project would benefit Manipur.

Foreign ministers of the three countries, in a meeting in New Delhi on December 23, agreed to take up the $700 million project linking Moreh of Manipur and Maesot of Thailand through Bagan of Myanmar. The foreign ministers decided to launch the first phase of the project, which would cost $252 million, from early next...

AGARTALA, Dec 31 ? Despite strong opposition from a section of tribal leaders, the Indigenous National Party of Tripura president Bijoy Kumar Rangkhawl and general secretary Rabindra Debbarma could retain their position in the party. The decision that the two INPT MLAs would stay in their organisational posts was approved by the party?s state-level meeting which ended on Sunday. However, both the former vice-president and his staunch critic the chairman of the advisory committee of the party Shyamacharan Tripura were axed from their positions. Both were accused of playing maverick and...

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 ? Reacting to outlawed ULFA?s clarion call for help, China has turned it down cautioning that it has alerted its Frontier Forces to check intrusion by the militants into the country. A spokesman of the Chinese embassy in its first-ever reaction to the ULFA?s appeal said that the peoples republic has taken note of the reports and it would closely monitor the situation. ?We are confident that Chinese frontier forces are capable of safeguarding the security and stability of our border areas,? the spokesman said. China has always followed the principle of non-interference in...