Monday, October 30, 2006, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Talks on to defuse Bangladesh political crisis
Armed forces on alert
Dhaka, October 29
Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed consulted feuding party leaders today to try to defuse a mounting crisis over forming a caretaker government to steer the nation through to January general elections.

India wants free, fair elections in Bangladesh
New Delhi, October 29
The swearing in of Bangladesh’s President Iajuddin Ahmed this evening as head of an interim administration to oversee elections may well be the beginning of a new phase of political turbulence to rock the South Asian country.