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Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya Mauryan Emperor Reign 320–298 BCE Born 340 BCE Birthplace Patliputra (Patna) , Bihar, India Died 298 BCE (aged 42) Place of death Sravana Belgola , Karnataka, India [1] Predecessor Dhanananda of Nanda Dynasty Successor Bindusara Consort Durdhara Royal House Mauryan dynasty Religious beliefs Hinduism for major part of life, Jainism in older days Chandragupta Maurya ( Sanskrit : चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य Hindi : चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य ), (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320 BCE, – 298 BCE ) was the founder of the Maurya Empire . He succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent and is considered the first unifier of India as well as its first genuine emperor. In foreign Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokyptos ( Σανδρόκυπτος ), Sandrokottos ( Σανδρόκοττος ) or Androcottus . Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated...

Lahore grieves over heart pill deaths By Orla Guerin BBC News, Lahore   Ashiq Hussain (right) : one of more than 100 victims of the pills   A chorus of grief rose from the narrow backstreets of Lahore, where members of the Hussain family were saying a last goodbye to a much-loved father and grandfather. Head-scarved women wept and wailed around the body of Ashiq Hussain, which was wrapped in a white sheet and covered with rose petals. He was the latest victim of the free heart drugs that have cost more than 100 - and doctors are warning the death toll could continue to rise. In one of the last photos ever taken of Ashiq, the white-haired pensioner was hugging his grandson, and smiling broadly. Relatives say they seldom saw him any other way. "He was smiling till the day he died," said Nazia Hussain, his granddaughter. "He was always happy and jolly. He never complained once that he was in pain, even in hi...

Davos 2012: IMF issues austerity warning   IMF head Christine Lagarde said she had come with her "little bag" to collect funds for the IMF   Inappropriate spending cuts could "strangle" growth prospects, the head of the IMF has warned. Austerity programmes must be tailored to each economy, Christine Lagarde said, and not be "across the board". The International Monetary Fund has been one of those stressing the need for countries to cut their debts, but some fear this could hit growth. The correct response to the eurozone debt crisis has been a major debate at World Economic Forum in Davos. "We are not suggesting there should be fiscal consolidation across the board," Ms Lagarde stressed. "Some countries have to go full-speed ahead to do this fiscal consolidation, but other countries have space and room. They should explore what to do... in order to help themselves. "It has to be tailor-made." One of tho...

Article written by Phil Coomes Picture editor War or gaming fun? Spot the difference   Which one is the real thing? The blurring of reality and the virtual world has come full circle. Just over twenty years ago I can remember watching the first stirrings of the Gulf War, arguably the first television war, and one where the images of missile strikes were commonplace. The world watched pictures beamed from the missiles as they made their way to their intended target, or in some cases to a different spot entirely. War seemed remote, and the visuals did nothing to convey the reality for those on the wrong end of events. Today we are used to seeing real time reports from across the globe, technology has advanced and anyone with an internet connection can travel to far-off places, even imaginary worlds, from their armchair. The world of video games has progressed too. Some seem real, as highlighted by a recent Ofcom ruling that ...

Frenetic pace of Ethiopia's khat boomtown By Mary Harper BBC News, Ethiopia The global trade in khat is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and in one Ethiopian town daily life centres almost entirely around the drug. Drive along any road between Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia and you are likely to see pick-up trucks, piled high with bundles of fresh green leaves, hurtling past you at terrific speed, horns blaring, lights flashing. A bit like ambulances. Or fire engines. Land at any airport and you will see planes stuffed with the same green leaves, being unloaded at a frenzied pace. Whether there is war, drought or famine, the leaves get through. The khat industry booms. I used to wonder where all this khat was coming from. Now I know. The small town of Awaday is in between Ethiopia's most holy Muslim town of Harar and its big eastern city of Dire Dawa. I first arrived in Awaday late at night. Unlike the...

Raymond Aubrac: How I tricked the Gestapo By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris Raymond Aubrac, 97, on his encounters with Resistance leader Jean Moulin The capture of French Resistance hero Jean Moulin is one of the country's darkest chapters of the war. The last surviving Resistance leader, Raymond Aubrac, recalls that night and the audacious escape that followed. Of all the momentous events that helped build the legend of the wartime French Resistance, one episode outstrips the rest for its combination of tragedy, mystery and high-octane drama. In France they refer to it simply as the "raid on the house in Caluire". To the rest of the world, it is the story of how the Gestapo finally laid hands on Jean Moulin. Jean Moulin was the former prefect who in January 1942 was sent by General de Gaulle to organise the anti-German underground. For a year-and-a...