The headless body of Meenakshi Thapa who was abducted in March was found in a septic tank in Allahabad, by a team of Mumbai and Allahabad police.

The murderers Amit Jaiswal and Preeti Sarin, have confessed to killing Thapa.

They first befriended Thapa after seeing her high profile lifestyle and brought her to Allahabad under the pretext of arranging a meeting with a Bhojpuri producer.

The accused, who have dabbled in some modelling assignments called Thapa's mother in Dehradun, demanding a ransom of Rs.150,000. The parents could only rustle up Rs.60,000, so the duo decided to do away with Thapa. They strangled her, then decapitated her and dumped her torso in a septic tank and her severed head in an area along the Allahabad Varanasi highway.

Police are still making efforts to trace the head of the slain starlet.

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According to the Opportunity for Action report by the International Youth Foundation, there are around 270 million Indians age 15 and older, who are illiterate, and women age 15 to 24 are twice as likely as men their age to be illiterate.

The Microsoft Corp commissioned report also said that approximately one in four working youth are illiterate and fewer than one in five completes secondary education.

On the positive side, Information and Communication Technology has promising applications for education delivery in the country, although such initiatives must be tailored to regional differences and teacher training in the use of ICTs is crucial to the programme's success.

The report also documented that nearly 75 million young people globally are unemployed, 9.9% of whom are in South Asia.

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Kuldeep Parmar 12, of Dhandhadi near Rajkot, put his Chinese manufactured toy battery in charging mode, when it exploded and he suffered an electric shock.

He was rushed to hospital where police declared he was dead on arrival.

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The Catholic Secular Forum and the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum have both filed FIRs charging Sanal Edamaruku 50, president of the Indian Rationalists Association, with attempting malicious acts intended to outrage the religious sentiments of a class or community for saying the 'miracle water' phenomenon is a scam and a money making racket.

During a TV broadcast Edamaruku also allegedly made derogatory remarks regarding the Pope, the Catholic Church and priests.

The 'miracle water' refers to the seeping water from a cross in Vile Parle, Mumbai, that Edamaruku said was created by priests as a gimmick to collect money. The Christian community were infuriated, and the caretakers of the seeping statue denied receiving any donations.

Authorities say cases have not been filed on merit, as police are often compelled to file a case to quell the discontent of a community and avoid a law and order situation.

According to a police inspector, Edamaruku who is currently in Delhi, is likely to be summoned to record a statement.

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Tired of being found naked while he slept, every time soldiers searched his house during military operations, farmer Gulam Mohammad Mir 48, invented a 'singing lantern' powered by a battery and fitted with a remote sensor that will alert him to human movement near his home in Anantnag district, so he would awake in time to get dressed.

Mir recently participated in the innovators' meet at the University of Kashmir and claimed the singing lantern had saved his life many times over. His lantern includes a radio and a motion sensor.

Over the last 20 years many Kashmiri men have been killed during the night when they ventured out of their homes without lanterns and walked into army ambushes. Many were beaten including Mir, for not carrying a lantern or when the winds blew out their lantern's flame. Torches are banned, so a traditional lantern signals that you are a civilian.

Today Mr Mir, is the proud owner of a lantern and workshop at his home where he manufactures them for others. He sells the advanced model for Rs.2800 and a basic one for Rs.1600. He dreams of having his own manufacturing unit where his life-saver lantern can be mass produced to become a part of every household in rural Kashmir.

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