Indian home minister steps down

With corpses still being pulled from a once-besieged hotel, India's top security official resigned yesterday as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following terror attacks that killed 183 people.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who has become highly unpopular during a long series of terror attacks across India, submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who accepted it, according to the president's office.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram was appointed to take over Patil's job and Prime Minister Singh will take over the finance portfolio for now, the government said.