India creates 29th state

HYDERABAD: After decades of struggle and suicides by hundreds of youths over the years, Telangana will emerge as the 29th state of India, with the Congress Working Committee endorsing the decision to bifurcate the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.

The demand for a separate Telangana state has been going on for the past five decades, and has seen two phases of violent agitations — in 1969 and now in the past few years. According to Telangana protagonists, at least 600 youths and students had committed suicide for the cause in the past three years alone.

Blast kills nine in southern Afghanistan: officials

KANDAHAR: A roadside bomb blamed on the Afghan Taliban tore through a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, killing nine people and wounding 15, officials said on Monday.

The bombing took place late Sunday in the Shahjoy district of Zabul province, on the main Kabul-Kandahar road which is a hotspot of the Taliban insurgency.