New Delhi, Dec.2 (ANI): The National Security Guard (NSG) has decided to include their recent counter-terrorism experience in Mumbai in its new training module. It has also discussed with Union Homse Secretary Madhukar Gupta proposals for the setting up of four NSG hubs, drawing commandos from the three armed forces and a proposal for an air wing for the elite commando force.

National Security Guard (NSG) chief J K Dutt and other senior officials of the principal anti-terrorist force of the country attended the over hour-long meeting.

The meeting took place after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke of setting up four NSG hubs in different parts of the country to facilitate quick deployment of the commandos at times of emergency, a senior NSG official said.

The NSG is also planning recruitment drive.

On Monday, Dr.Singh told a rally in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, that no stone would be left unturned to fight terrorism.

"I want to tell you that Congress will not indulge in politicising of terrorism. I wish all parties should join hands to help fight terrorism," Dr. Singh said.

Noting that terrorism is a "serious problem" faced by the country, he said this was the time for the country to think above religious, linguistic and regional differences.

"This is the time to prove that no matter whichever state we are from, whichever religion we belong to, whatever is our language and whatever our customs and practices, we are first Hindustanis," the Prime Minister said.

"I want to promise you that the Central Government will not leave any stone unturned in fighting terrorism. There is a request to all countrymen and political parties to help us in this fight against terrorism, and in maintaining law and order in the country," he said.

"Today terrorism is a serious challenge before the nation, to face it we need to be united. I want to tell you today that the Congress party will not do any politics on terrorism. We want that all political parties should help in fighting against terrorism," he added.

Dr. Singh also defended the India-US nuclear deal, which has been opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Singh said the deal would boost power generation in the country necessary to sustain India''s growth rate.

"Our country cannot progress without electricity. Electricity is required in every sector, be it industry, agriculture, domestic needs. For this the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has signed agreement with various countries so that generation of electricity can be increased in the coming times. But BJP is opposing this also," said the Prime Minister.

The main battle in Rajasthan Assembly polls is between the BJP, which is ruling the state, and the Congress party.

All the 200 constituencies in Rajasthan will go to polls on December 04 to elect a new state Assembly and counting of votes will take place on December 08.

The assembly elections in Rajasthan and five other states are expected to be a run down to the forthcoming general elections in early 2009. (ANI)

Washington, Dec.2 (ANI): In almost a month since he became the U.S. president-elect, Barack Obama has taken the lead -- and some say the reins -- from President George W.Bush.

Presidential historians and political analysts say they cannot recall a time in the past 75 years when a president-elect has had so large a role as Obama, whose growing transition team often appears more prominent than the actual team in power.

"There is really only one de facto president, and we finally have accepted that -- that it's Obama," said FOX News contributor Fred Barnes, the executive editor of the Weekly Standard.

According to Fox, Obama has made great theater of his Cabinet appointments, setting up a shadow government to rival the president's team as he prepares to move into the White House on January 20.

As Bush dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to India to address the terrorist attack in Mumbai, Obama announced his nomination of New York Senator Hillary Clinton to succeed her.

The announcement was made on Monday at his fifth press conference since the November 4 election.

No president-elect has held so many briefings during a transition. The last three presidents-elect held that many -- combined.

Obama has already prepared the trappings of his office -- including an official placard and seal of the president-elect -- though it is purely ceremonial. Legally, he has no authority prior to his inauguration.

Obama may be the most active president-elect since Franklin Roosevelt, who entered office in 1933 after a stock market crash and amid an economic catastrophe.

"I think it really is a reflection of the times," said Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, arguing that Obama has been forced by circumstances to step up his role in managing the financial crisis.

"Normally presidents-elect try to avoid getting into policy, stepping on the toes of the president who's there. That's how Obama started. It's changed, and I think the main reason for the change is the market tanking" in mid-November," he said.

"In this particular time of financial crisis, it's a good thing that Obama is calming the markets and the public, showing that he's amply preparing to take over," said Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Some observers in Washington say Obama's prominence is a result of Bush's near invisibility of late.

While Obama proclaimed the strength of Indian democracy in the face of last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Bush was abroad in Peru on a valedictory trip to a financial summit in Latin America.

"Usually a president doesn't abdicate before January 20. I think [Obama] is trying to fill in the vacuum," said Stephen Wayne, professor of government at Georgetown University. (ANI)

Guwahati, Dec 2 (ANI): At least two people were reportedly killed and 30 injured in a blast on a passenger train in Assam's Karbi Anglong District early this morning.

The blast took place at the Diphu station on the Lumding-Tinsukhia passenger train at around 7:50 a.m.

The injured are said to be undergoing treatment at Dimphu Civil Hospital.

Further updates are awaited. (ANI)

Mumbai, Dec.2 (ANI): An Australian helicopter pilot has revealed how he saved the lives of more than 30 people at the popular Leopold's Café in Mumbai.

"Aw, it probably all sounds more dramatic than it really was," Steve Smith told The Australian. "I did what any Aussie would do in the circumstances. It would have been nice if there'd been another Aussie around and we could have done more," he added. The 43-year-old resident of Port Macquarie in New South Wales, said that he was with his Japanese model girlfriend Yumi having a drink at the Leopold's Cafe last Wednesday night when the armed terrorists struck.

"We were up on the mezzanine floor having a drink when I suddenly heard the sound of a grenade exploding in the downstairs of the cafe, under us. Then there was another one, and almost immediately there was the distinctive sound of almost constant automatic fire from AK-47s," he said.

"There were about 30 people upstairs with us - a few Europeans, but mostly young Indians - and I knew immediately that I had to do something," news.co. au. quoted him, as saying. He said that as the firing continued, he grabbed Yumi, shoved her into the room and then pushed the rest of the 30 or so people into the tiny space, packing them like sardines into a can and forcing the doors closed once he had got them all in.

"There was no alternative. It was either that or die. The firing was going on constantly. I knew that if we didn't hide, we'd be killed," Smith said. Smith, who served with the Australian Army for seven years, used his army training to take further action.

He climbed out of the cupboard and first grabbed a butter knife from a plate on a table.

"My intention was to use it to kill someone," he said, adding that through the glass surrounding the mezzanine floor I could see one of the gunmen. He was firing non-stop into the crowd downstairs - firing into the European bodies over and over again. It was quite clear that they were deliberately targeting the Europeans in the cafe."

He then moved towards the cafe's stairwell and picked up a heavy-looking coffee table. There was a door at the bottom of the stairwall. "There was a sudden lull in the firing," he said.

"I hurled the table down the stairs and there was a big noise, but I had enough time to jam it against the door. The bloke on the other side, one of the terrorists, kicked the door a couple of times and tried to push it, but I had the table firmly against it. Then, he fired a couple of rounds through the door that missed me by about a foot. I got hold of a bar stool and bent the legs and used that as further support to keep the table in place. I was bloody scared when they fired through the door but I kept going."

When the firing stopped, he went upstairs and brought the 30 people out of the cupboard.

"There was a strange silence," he said. "It was really sad downstairs. There were a couple of elderly couples, and in each instance the dead husband was lying over his wife, having been killed trying to protect her against the gunmen," he said. (ANI)