Some 2,000 mourners packed a church in India for the funeral of a nurse found dead after taking a royal hoax call, as her family said they had nearly lost the strength to grieve.

The husband of Savita Halappanavar gripped her hand during the final heartbreaking moments of her life.

IRISH feeding technology company Keenan has signed a five-year deal to supply its patented animal feed and mixer wagons to India’s oldest dairy business, Keventer.

Trains and planes were halted across India today by strikes in protest at fuel price rises.

INVESTIGATORS searching for clues as to what caused India’s worst air disaster in more than a decade recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the charred remains of an Air India flight.

Investigators frantically sifted through the rubble of a crashed plane today looking for the black boxes – the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder – after India’s worst air crash in more than a decade killed 158 people.

Around 160 people are feared dead after an Air India plane crash at an airport in southern India, a minister has said.

MEDICAL teams rushed yesterday to flood-devastated southern India where five days of torrential rain have left at least 205 people dead and 750,000 displaced, authorities said.

Medical teams rushed today to flood-devastated southern India where five days of torrential rain have left at least 205 people dead and 750,000 displaced, authorities said.

TENS of thousands of villagers fled the likely path of a powerful typhoon bearing down yesterday on the Philippines, as the government braced for the possibility of a second disaster just days after a storm killed more than 420 in four southeast Asian countries.

A boat carrying 74 tourists capsized on a reservoir in southern India today, killing at least 31 people and leaving dozens missing, police said.

Manmohan Singh was sworn in as India's prime minister for the second time in New Delhi today.

The second phase of parliamentary elections in India ended relatively peacefully today in all but the rebel-affected state of Jharkhand.

Maoist rebels launched a series of attacks today as the second phase of parliamentary elections began in India.

At least 29 people were killed and 88 wounded when a series of small explosions hit the western Indian city of Ahmadabad today, a top official said, a day after seven similar blasts struck another city in the south.

Suspected communist rebels attacked a village festival in eastern India with gunfire and bombs today, killing at least 17 people, a news report said.

Torrential rains and thunder storms have killed at least 58 people in southern India and flooded dozens of villages, officials said today.

An Indian doctor freed from jail in Australia when terror charges against him were dropped for lack of evidence today said he wanted to go back to work in Australia.

The families of two Indian doctors detained in connection with failed terror plots in Britain today insisted that the young men were innocent and had nothing to do with terrorism.

At least 49 police officers were killed when suspected communist rebels attacked a remote post in the jungles of eastern India today.

A packed minibus plunged into reservoir in southern India today, killing 26 people heading out for a picnic.

NAVAL boats scoured for bodies today as rescuers gave up on finding new survivors from a train that plunged into a rain-swollen river in southern India, killing at least 111 people, officials said.

Naval boats scoured for bodies today as rescuers gave up on finding new survivors from a train that plunged into a rain-swollen river in southern India, killing at least 111 people, officials said.

TWENTY people died after drinking contaminated alcohol sold by a shopkeeper in southern India, police said yesterday.

Fifty-eight people were feared dead today after a bus plunged into a canal in southern India, police said.

INDIA’S most wanted bandit is dead but the hunt is on for millions of dollars many believe he left buried in plastic bags in the jungle, a police officer said today.

India’s most wanted bandit, accused of murdering police officers, slaughtering elephants and kidnapping a film star, has been killed in a jungle shootout with police after more than three decades on the run.

Rains have eased a severe heat wave across India that has claimed more than 1,500 lives over the past four weeks, a relief official said today.

THE death toll from a stampede at a railway station after a huge political rally in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh rose to 16 yesterday when two more people died in hospital, police said.

Five militants were killed and 13 policemen were wounded during a fierce three-hour gun battle in the southern Indian state of Karnataka early today, police said.

Hundreds of soldiers were tramping through dense tropical forests in southern India today, hunting an elusive bandit who kidnapped a former state minister.

Reports say one of India's most wanted criminals, Veerappan, is ready to surrender.

Twelve people were killed and another 21 were injured when a bus collided with a truck in southern India.

Indian novelist R K Narayan died in hospital today after suffering heart trouble and breathing problems, a close family friend said. He was 94.