Kabul, May 18 (DPA) A younger brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unharmed after an attack on his convoy in eastern Afghanistan Monday, but one of his bodyguards was killed in the ambush.

Ahmadi Wali Karzai, who is head of the provincial council of southern Kandahar province, said that he was returning from eastern Nangarhar province when his convoy came under rocket and machine gun fire in Sorobi district on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway.

Johannesburg, May 18 (IANS) Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Hamid Qasim Banjo, who shot into limelight in the Hansie Cronje match fixing scandal that rocked world cricket in 2000, walked into the VIP lounge at the New Wanderers stadium Sunday.

Washington, May 18 (ANI): Amid political turbulence in Pakistan, and heightened fears about the Taliban and other extremist groups seizing the country’s nuclear assets, there has been a rapid expansion of Islamabad’s nuclear armaments.

Mumbai, May 18 (IANS) Trading was halted for two hours at Indian equities markets Monday as stocks jumped up more than 10 percent right on the opening bell on the news of the victory of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the general elections. Key indices breached the “upper circuit”, leading to the halt.

On opening, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), rose 10.73 percent from its previous close of 12,173.42 points and hit the upper circuit at 13,479.39 points. At this level, trading was stopped till 11:55 a.m.

Cannes, May 18 (IANS) Indian origin Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj is on the verge of a professional landmark - he is set to start work on his 100th film that, at a budget of $90 million, will be his biggest venture and star Hugh Jackman.

Mumbai, May 18 (IANS) Stocks jumped up by such an extent as soon as Indian equities markets opened Monday morning that trading had to be halted for an hour, as the rally had hit the “upper circuit breaker”.

Within 15 minutes of opening, the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, rose by 305.97 points to 13,479.39. The jump, triggered by Saturday’s victory of the United Progressive Alliance in the general elections, breached the “circuit breaker” kept to ensure the market doesn’t move up and down too quickly and too much, according to the BSE website.

New Delhi, May 18 (ANI): The Election Commission will formally submit the list of newly-elected Lok Sabha members to President Pratibha Patil on Monday.
The new House is constituted by the Election Commission, which performs this work within two to three days of declaration of results.
The three-member Election Commission comprising the Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla along with two other commissioners S. Y. Quraishi and V. S. Sampat will call on the President at 6.00 in the evening, a Rashtrapati Bhavan official stated.

Washington, May 18 (IANS) Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, members of US Congress have been told in confidential briefings, according to the New York Times.

This has raised questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, the influential US daily reported Monday.