NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a petition by former Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Hindu ideologue Praful Goradia seeking the abolition of the subsidy given to Haj pilgrims.

DHARAMSALA - An important institution in the Tibetan religious set up, the Karmapa Lama is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect, one of the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the richest.

BANGALORE - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its government in Karnataka and pro-Hindu outfits had no hand in the attacks on churches in the state in 2008, a judicial panel said Friday. The opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular, however, slammed the findings, saying "the government got what it sought."

MEERUT - From sending greeting cards to issuing printed appeals and making announcements from the mosque loudspeaker - Muslim clerics in western Uttar Pradesh are doing everything, and with much success, to motivate their community to get children immunised against polio.

BANGALORE - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its government in Karnataka and pro-Hindu outfits had no hand in the series of attacks on churches in the state in 2008, a judicial panel said Friday.