Karnataka gets a new chief minister today with the always-smiling Sadananada Gowda taking oath of office.

Other big stories today...

1. Cargo ship MV Rak sinks off Mumbai coast
2. Sonia Gandhi in US for surgery
3. Sonia appoints four-member team to head party in her absence
4. Burn copies of Lokpal draft in every village: Anna
5. Lokpal draft bill presented in Parliament
6. ONGC plans N-plants, starts Uranium exploration
7. Car owners may not get subsidised diesel: Pranab

And as always, stay with rediff.com for all the news as it happens.

In Parliament, home minister P Chidambaram holds court. Says:

1. Home-grown terror is a new reality is not restricted to any religion.
2. IM and SIMI are new threats and have to be looked at.
3. Pune and Mumbai terror attacks are two major blots on the government and I accept it, but it doesn't mean there was an intelligence failure in the case of the Mumbai attacks. 
4. Response after 13/7 bomb blasts better and more pronounced than 26/11.
5. Terrorism is not a simple law and order issue, it's a national security issue.
6. We live in the most vulnerable region in the world.

Deja vu? Almost all of this is what PC said in the immediate aftermath of the 13/7 Mumbai bomb blasts.

Even as she was feted for being the first woman to head the IMF, trouble lies ahead for Christine Lagarde.

A French court is to investigate the new head of the IMF for abuse of authority as French finance minister. Lagarde is accused of wrongly pressing a bank to enter binding arbitration over a dispute with a businessman who supported President Nicolas Sarkozy's election campaign, reports the bbc. Read

Gowda also played down the rift with Jagadish Shettar and said: "We are very much together and things are cordial between us. We had spoken with each other this morning and there is no problem us."

He also added that there was no need to read too much into the secret ballot that was held yesterday. "It was a democratic process which the BJP has followed and this process of selecting a leader will go down in the history of India," Gowda said.

Sadananda Gowda addressing his first press conference after being sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka says that there is no need to read too much into the allocation of portfolios and that issues will be sorted out amicably in around four days.

"Stop calling me a rubber stamp, wait another month you will know what Sadananda Gowda is. I will consult with my national leaders and take a decision along with all the rest of my party colleagues," Karnataka CM also said.

Here's why you shouldn't lie to your boss.

An Indian surgeon working in the British National Health Service (NHS) has been suspended for concocting a story about his Gujarat-based mother's death
because he was worried about failing his surgical exams. Sandeep Kukreti, a specialist in trauma and orthopaedics at the Basildon Hospital, lied about his mother's death ahead of his professional exams in February last year.

Tunku Varadarajan on Twitter: One should evaluate a country's tinpot status by whether its leaders go abroad for medical treatment or get it at home.

Point of reference: Sonia Gandhi is the US for a mysterious surgery and is expected to stay there for at least three weeks. While she is abroad, Rahul Gandhi will attend the core group meetings. Sonia also appointed a four-member team to head party operations -- Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Janardhan Dwivedi and Ahmed Patel.

Parents of murdered TV executive Neeraj Grover today met Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil to seek justice for their son. They explained their position on the case and sought harsher punishment for Maria Susairaj, saying she is equally guilty of the murder and should not be allowed to get away lightly.
The Grovers met Patil at his official residence in south Mumbai.
"Maria changed her statements many times. This is how you know someone is lying. We want Maria to be made equally guilty as Jerome. Both of them killed our son. Maria should not be allowed to get away lightly," said Neeraj's father
Amarnath Grover. 

"We want Maria and Jerome to be given maximum punishment," he  said. Sources said the Grovers requested the government to appoint Ujjwal Nikam as the special public prosecutor to represent the case in High  Court. 

Neeraj was killed and his body hacked into several pieces and dumped in Manor forest in adjoining Thane on May 7, 2008. Susairaj, who was sentenced to three-year imprisonment in the murder, had already spent the term behind the bars and was released after the verdict.
The starlet was found guilty under IPC Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), while her boyfriend, former navy officer Emile Jerome, was held guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

While Karnataka's new chief minister Sadananda Gowda basks in the spotlight before gearing up for the tough task of alloting ministerial portfolios, here's other news.

The Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India's biggest energy explorer, plans to invest in nuclear plants in the country and has started mining for uranium to counter declining crude production, reports bloomberg. The company is in talks with Nuclear Power Corp. of India, the state-owned monopoly. Read

The National Anthem plays again and Karnataka gets its new chief minister.

Vicky Nanjappa writes that the Yeddyurappa faction is present in full strength at the Raj Bhavan even as the clear split in the BJP is very visible. There is dancing outside the Raj Bhavan by Gowda's supporters even as the members of the Shettar camp continue to sulk at home.

Much whistling and clapping inside the Raj Bhavan as well.

Sadananda Gowda, smile in place, gets on to the podium, approaches the governor and takes oath of office. 

At least 58 MLAs will not be attending the swearing-in ceremony, Sadananda Gowda still insists Jagdish Shettar will make it.

BS Yeddyurappa hugs Gowda and flashes the victory sign.  

As we wait for the swearing-in ceremony of Sadananada Gowda to begin at 4.30 pm approximately, here are some eye-popping pictures of the world's tallest tower -- artist impressions since work is yet to begin.

See

Cargo ship MV Rak Carrier has sunk off the coast of Mumbai. Earlier in the day, coastguard choppers and the Indian Navy rescued all 30 crew on board the ship.

The coastguard received a distress signal from MV RAK carrier, a CG official said. Immediately after receiving the signal, the Coastguard and Navy helicopters and boats were deployed for rescue operations. Those on board the vessel include Indonesian and Jordanian nationals. The vessel is believed to be carrying around 60,000 metric tonnes of coal.

The crew were transferred on board INS Shikra.

The Madras High Court today rejected an application by Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking dismissal of the election petition filed by his immediate
AIADMK rival R S Raja Kannappan challenging his election to Lok Sabha from Sivaganga constituency in 2009 General Elections.

In his application, Chidambaram had contended that there were some defects in the petition filed by Kannappan, who lost the election by just 3,354 votes, and sought its dismissal. 

Dismissing Chidambaram's application, Justice K Venkatraman said, "There cannot be any doubt that an election petition filed with defects which cannot be curable cannot be considered as an election petition at the end. However, in the
case on hand, the defects pointed out by the officer concerned are not defects which are not curable warranting dismissal of the election petition."

Former Indian batsman and now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar writes on espn cricinfo.com:  

MS Dhoni's patent response to questions about injuries to his key players has been that they are unfortunate and there is nothing one can do. I agree with him that injuries are indeed unfortunate, but I hope he does not really mean it when he says there is nothing one can do about them. There is plenty you can do about injuries, and there is a very good, logical explanation for why some cricketers suffer more of them than others.  

Read   

The mystery of a notorious airplane hijacker has stumped US law enforcement for nearly four decades, but the distant childhood memories of one woman
seem to be prompting the FBI to take a closer look at America's only unsolved skyjacking. 

Marla Cooper believes her late uncle, Lynn Doyle Cooper, was D B Cooper, the man who hijacked a plane in November 1971 and parachuted with USD 200,000 in ransom cash into a rainy night over the Pacific Northwest. He has never been found.

By the way, the last time Janardhan Dwivedi was in the news, it was thanks to a shoe.

A person posing as a journalist tried to attack the party general secretary with a shoe in June, apparently miffed over the treatment meted out to Baba Ramdev at the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi. The person, who was carrying an identification as Sunil Kumar of Nav-Sanchar Patrika from Rajasthan, came close to Dwivedi, removed his shoe and stopped short of hitting him with it.

On Kishore Kumar's birthday today, Lata Mangeshkar's YouTube memory of their first duet. See

Anna Hazare has asked people to join him in burning copies of the Lokpal draft bill (tabled in Parliament today) in every village in what he calls is a fight for Independence.

Hazare says the government has no intention of removing corruption in the country.

As a new strategy to combat domestic militancy, the US has vowed to avoid actions and sentiments that cast suspicion towards Muslim Americans' as it might turn out to be counterproductive and alienate a religious minority.

White House officials warned that accusing the entire Muslim community of involvement in terrorism might fuel extremism in the nation.  

Denis R. McDonough, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser said that Al Qaeda had a 'bankrupt ideology,' but that accusing the entire Muslim community of complicity in terrorism could 'feed the sense of disenchantment and disenfranchisement that may spur violent extremist radicalization.'

In a major development in the Congress party and possibly for India's politics, the Congress has formed a four-member informal committee comprising Rahul Gandhi, Janardan Dwivedi, Ahmed Patel and AK Antony to run the party in the absence of party president Sonia Gandhi, reports Sheela Bhatt. As we told you earlier, Sonia will be away for three weeks after being operated upon in the US.

It's pertinent that none of the senior ministers except defence minister Antony or even the prime minister has been included in core group. This shows that, eventually, Rahul Gandhi and Antony will emerge as leaders Sonia can trust the party with. The announcement has been found necessary only because the Lok Sabha is in session.

Just in: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been operated successfully in the United States. Janardhan Dwivedi, Congress general secretary, said, but did not divulge details of what kind of surgery she had undergone, reports Onkar Singh.

Dwivedi said, "On the advice of doctors, Gandhi travelled abroad to undergo surgery. Her operation is successful and she will be away for two to three weeks. In her absence the party work would be looked after by A K Anthony, Rahul Gandhi, myself and Ahmed Patel," he said.

Rumours of a heart surgery were unfounded, he said.

Left motion on price rise defeated by 320 to 51 votes. Motion expressing concern over prise rise moved by BJP's Yashwant Sinha, has been adopted.  

Back to Parliament: Yashwant Sinha expresses disappointment on the response of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on price rise and claims that the minister has not listed concrete steps to be taken by the government to curtail price rise.

Meanwhile, the Left demands voting on price rise and stages a walkout. Lokpal bill yet to be tabled.  

As Pranab Mukherjee debates price rise in the Lok Sabha, food inflation inched up to 8.04 per cent for the week ended July 23 on expensive onion, fruits and milk, after dropping to a 20-month low in mid-July.

Pranab says he does not have any control over global commodity prices.

Interesting read in the Independent, London.

During the Thatcher government, Norman Tebbit coined a phrase for the age when he advised the unemployed to do what his father did and "get on their bikes and look for work". The rail minister Theresa Villiers is now being accused of bringing the philosophy up to date after appearing to tell sacked call-centre workers in Newcastle to relocate to Mumbai.

Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on the price rise debtate: Inflation is high and I accept it should be around five per cent, but it is beyond our control.'

Can consider luxury tax on diesel consumed by passenger cars, mechanism has to be worked out.

In Parliament, finance minsiter Pranab Mukherjee says there is no inherent contradiction between economic growth and inflation. Reacting to BJP senior leader Yashwant Sinha's comments yesterday in the House, that economic growth at the cost of much of the country going hungry, was unacceptable.

The finance minister says says the country needs growth, but with a moderate rate of inflation. He explains that high inflation is due to a mismatch between demand and supply and yet, an investment climate had to be created. 

He says there is no real difference between the government's and the opposition's stand on price rise, but the government needed political consensus to take the country on the path of growth. 

US president Barack Obama turns 50 today and celebrated it by a 2012 election campaign fundraising drive after weeks of damaging debt
showdown with Republicans.
Obama, who critics have accused of being weak and ineffectual during the recent debt battle, visited his hometown of Chicago on the eve of his birthday for a celebrity-studded bash and sought to recapture the energy of
his last presidential campaign.

For all that, his popularity rating continues to touch rock bottom.  

In Parliament, the Lokpal draft bill will be tabled any time now. Expect range of reactions and possible adjournement.

Across the oceans, in Egypt, the sight of Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, 83 and ailing, confined to a hospital gurney inside a defendant's cage reserved for common thugs, evoked a range of reactions, with some people feeling the thrill of a vengeful comeuppance and others expressing pity for a proud man who once embodied the archtypical Arab autocrat, says cnn.com.

Read

Sadananda Gowda says all legislators will attend the swearing-in ceremony this evening and portfolios will be alloted after speaking to the central leadership. Translated that probably means Yeddyurappa, not New Delhi.

In Karnataka, CM elect Sadananada Gowda, has reached Jagdish Shettar's house for appeasement. The rebel MLAs in the Shettar camp say they have not even been invited for the swearing-in ceremony today, possibly at 4.30 pm. Shettar has also rejected the post of deputy chief minister.

Gowda won the chief ministerial portfolio yesterday in a secret ballot by just seven votes, with three MLAs abstaining.

Stumbled upon this column in the Dawn newspaper, by Javed Naqvi, the paper's correspondent in Delhi. He writes on the trouble people, especially from Pakistan, have with Indian visas and the harassment they face at the customs.

Read

DV Sadananda Gowda will be sworn-in as the new Karnataka Chief Minister in Bengaluru today. The Yeddyurappa backed BJP MLA will be administered oath of office by Governor HR Bhardwaj at 4.30 pm.  

Gowda was elected soon after Bhardwaj gave the go-ahead for Yeddyurappa's prosecution. (Read the drama in yesterday's Live! update.) A secret ballot was called to choose the BJP legislature party leader after the central leaders' efforts to find a consensus candidate failed.  

Gowda, expected to serve out the remaining 22 months of the BJP's first government in the south, got 65 votes.

Coast Guard choppers and the Indian Navy have already rescued nine persons who are among the 30 on board the cargo vessel MV RAK carrier, which is sinking off Mumbai coast.

The Coastguard received a distress signal from MV RAK carrier, a CG official said. Immediately after receiving the signal, the Coastguard and Navy helicopters and boats were deployed for rescue operations. Those on board the vessel include Indonesian and Jordanian nationals. The vessel is believed to be carrying around 30,000 metric tonnes of coal.

Good morning.

MV Rak Carriers, a Panama registered merchant vessel, with a load of 30 MT of coal, gave a distress call about an hour ago. Ship is currently 20 nautical miles from Mumbai. The ship was on its  on the way to Gujarat from Indonesia. Sources say water has entered two holds. Coast Guard has launched a rescue operation -- choppers and a resuce boat have been dispatched.

There are a total of 30 crew on board, 15 still on the ship, while the others have jumped ship. Twelve have been already picked up by the coast guard