News In Brief

Sarkozy secret cash case 'dropped'
BBC Online

A criminal investigation into former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for allegedly soliciting secret campaign financing from France's richest woman, has been dropped, judicial sources say.
Sarkozy has been left off a list of those to appear for trial over the so-called Bettencourt affair, they say.
The decision could leave Sarkozy, 58, clear to contest the 2017 election.

India test-fires nuke-capable missile
Pti, Balasore

India yesterday test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350km from a test range at Chandipur, about 15km from here.
Prithvi, a surface to surface missile, is capable of carrying 500kg to 1000kg of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twine engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvering trajectory.

32 dead in India lightning strikes
Afp, Patna

At least 32 people including nine children were killed over the weekend by lightning strikes in the eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand, officials said yesterday.
"About 24 people including seven children were killed Saturday and Sunday by bolts of lightning across Bihar," State Disaster Management Minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha said. In neighbouring Jharkhand, eight people including two children died, Puran Mahto, an official in the state's Dhanbad district said.

Lanka's first Tamil CM takes oath
Pti, Colombo

C V Wigneswaranwas was sworn in yesterday as the first elected Tamil chief minister of Northern Province - the stronghold of the vanquished rebel LTTE - weeks after his party secured a landslide victory in the historic polls held after nearly three decades.
Wigneswaran, 73, took oath before President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a function held at Temple Trees, the presidential house.
Wigneswaran, a former Supreme Court judge, was nominated as the chief minister following the landslide victory of the country's main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), at the elections held on September 21.