Seeking to calm passions over Mullaperiyar Dam issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa saying nothing should be said or done to create "undue alarm" and hoped the issue would be sorted out amicably through dialogue. 

Replying to letters written by Jayalalithaa, Singh said he had asked the Water Resources Ministry to arrange an early meeting between officials of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to "sort out outstanding issues and allay genuine concerns".

The Foreign Policy magazine is out with its list of 100 global thinkers. Notables among a smattering of Indians are Anna Hazare in the 37th place, author Arundhati Roy and thinker Arvind Subramanian.

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A special court today rejected the police plea to conduct narco-analysis test on journalist Jigna Vora, arrested in connection with the murder of crime reporter
J Dey, but extended her police custody till December 5. 

Public Prosecutor Dileep Shah sought eight-day extension in remand of Vora, saying she had sold her mobile phone and police want to find out who the purchaser was.

Her cellphone details are also to be retrieved. However, Special Judge at the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court granted only a four-day remand extension of the woman scribe, the Deputy Bureau chief of English daily 'The Asian Age', who was arrested on November 25.

Anna Hazare has also announced he will go on another fast if the bill is not passed.  

Here's a tweet from senior journalist Kanchan Gupta: Gandhi fasted to purify himself; his emulators announce fasts unto death to blackmail authority. Just as Gandhi is quoted meaninglessly.

The Lokpal meet was held in the backdrop of Team Anna stepping up pressure on the Congress to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill during the Winter Session of the Parliament.

The anti-graft legislation is seen as a weapon to root out corruption and nepotism from the government machinery and public life. The proposed Bill envisages the setting up of a national anti-corruption watchdog to check financial mismanagement and corrupt practices that have deeply entrenched themselves in several democratic and civic institutions of India.

Anna Hazare today said he has no objection to making Lokpal a Constitutional authority provided there is no government interference in its functioning, contrary to his team's stand that the move is a delaying tactic. 

"I am not opposed to the Lokpal being made a Constitutional authority on the lines of the Election Commission which is an autonomous body. But there should not be governmental interference in its functioning," Hazare said.

A Lokpal, with the status of a Constitutional authority, had been proposed by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in an intervention during a debate on the subject in the Lok Sabha.owever, key team Anna member Kiran Bedi had questioned the government's move, terming it as a tactic to delay or avoid its passage and "fool" the people.

Pritish Nandy tweets: Vidya Balan in Kahaani poster rocks. Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture rocks. Vidya Balan rocks. Period.

By the way, the Andhra Pradesh HC has quashed the stay on the release of the film, Dirty Picture, by the late Silk Smitha's brother.

The debate over FDI in multi-brand retail is largely based on assumptions that are far removed from reality. A scrutiny of facts would show our domestic laws and consumer preferences will together ensure farmers get their dues and the market is not flooded by cheap imports.

Read the column on the Pioneer.

The phone short circuited and started to burn 15 inches from a man's face as he slept, the online news website Mashable reported. Ayla Mota said he woke up to see sparks and black smoke coming from the iPhone 4.

See the Telegraph story

In Egypt, the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood is on the verge of gaining the political legitimacy it has sought for decades, but as it steps out of the shadows its credibility will be on the line, analysts say.

Ten months after the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30 years of autocratic rule, Egyptians went to the polls this week in the first phase of multi-stage elections to create a new parliament.

Read more

In the midst of fury, Pakistans absence at the Bonn conference could only prove to be counter-productive in this mess of a war.

Read the blog on the Dawn.

Pakistan's former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani responded to the Supreme Court orders of not allowing him to leave the country by tweeting that he did not return to Pakistan to "leave without an investigation." Haqqani further tweeted that he had resigned because no one could represent their country as ambassador in the middle of a media trial.

More on the International News.

The Standing Committee meet on Lokpal has just begun in Parliament.

On Twitter: Anna Hazare can't wait. He is coming to New Delhi for a long stay. Fast to start just after Christmas. The strategy of India against corruption will be finalised by 22 December.

This was written in the 1990s when the former Pak skipper was still eye candy. '

Excerpt: My Generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan, despite becoming independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public school boys rather than Pakistanis. I read Shakespeare which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal.

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Our Delhi correspondent tells us that Defence Minister AK Antony's wife Elizabeth will hold an exhibition of acrylic paintings at the India Habitat Centre, in the capital, tomorrow.

Titled, Season of the nature solo and presented by Navoothan Charitable Foundation, the proceeds from the paintings will be donated to cancer patients and to cancer hospitals.

The police custody of Jigna Vora, the journalist accused of conspiring to kill former colleague J Dey has been extended till December 5.

One of the best things about the UK is that their museums are free. And for a country that's been called a nation of shopkeepers, it's no small achievement. Every country in the world, charges a fee -- nominal to steep -- for museum entires.

Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the government's decision to end charges at England's national museums. Government-sponsored museums that scrapped entry charges in 2001 have seen their combined visitor numbers more than double since, figures show. Almost 18 million people visited the attractions in 2010-11, compared with 7 million in 2000-01.

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On bbc.co.uk, an Indian policewoman who led a controversial campaign against couples displaying affection in public places has been suspended for harassment. Alka Pandey and her team raided parks and handed out instant punishment, forcing the boys to do sit-ups, in Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh.

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Update on FDI

With the DMK and Trinamool Congress opposing FDI in retail, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reached out to the two UPA partners but gave no assurance of a rollback of the controversial decision that has led to logjamin Parliament. 

Singh made it clear that the government was determined to go ahead with the decision taken last week to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail despite the widespread uproar.

Our Delhi correspondent says that on Tuesday, Union Minister Kamal Nath will be releasing a prototype of what is being called a master mobility card for commuters, which has been designed on the lines of Metro smart cards with the benefits of an ATM card.

This means commuters can use the card to hop on to the Metro, train or government bus across all major cities in India, without the hassle of queuing up for paper tickets.

A Mumbai cardholder can use the same plastic while visiting say Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore or Ahmedabad.

It is so designed that it takes care of different tariffs applicable in different cities for different modes of travel.

The card can be updated like the prepaid mobile phone service by buying the recharge coupons. Plans are afoot to subsequently integrate other modes of transport like autorickshaws and taxis.

The Union Tourism Ministry has laid out a new code of  conduct  for safe and honourable tourism. Though it was formally adopted by the Union Tourism Ministry, along with stakeholders, on July 1, 2010, it has been formally adopted now. 

It is, however, not a legally binding instrument, but a set of guidelines for voluntary adoption by the Indian tourism industry, Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed disclosed in the Rajya Sabha. 

The code's objective is also to prevent prostitution, sex tourism and forms of sexual exploitations like assaults and molestations at tourist places to safeguard the safety of persons, in particular, women and children.

How do religions die? Generally they don't, which probably explains why there's so little literature on the subject.

Zoroastrianism, for instance, lost many of its sacred texts when Alexander sacked Persepolis in 330 B.C., and most Zoroastrians converted to Islam over 1,000 years ago.

Read it on the WSJ

The US said today it will remove trade barriers with India and Brazil and focus on the implementation of stricter enforcement of IPR with China

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk has said, "... With Brazil and India, we'll be utilising all available resources to identify, address and remove barriers to trade and investment between the United States and these growing markets," Kirk said. Growing markets -- India, Brazil and China -- offer "significant opportunities" for US exporters, he said.

Offering its support in achieving peace in the Middle East, India has asked Israel to stop settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and release the tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority. 

Noting that the Middle East region is home to nearly five million Indians and is an important source for India's energy needs, India's Ambassador to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said "as a nation with age-old historic and cultural ties with the Middle East, India has an abiding interest in the early resolution of all pending issues that have troubled the region since the inception of the UN".

Also read: Don't touch my turban, says Hardeep Puri to US security

Kiranas key to service breadth of Indian consumers, says Kishore Biyani, but big, organized bazaars are cheaper. Read it on mxmindia.com. (Biyani is the CEO of Pantaloon Retail).

On November 3, when her fast against the Armed Forces Special Protection Act in force in Manipur completed 11 years, Irom Sharmila penned a heartfelt appeal to her people, which was handed over to Rediff.com on November 30 as she was being produced before the chief judicial magistrate in Imphal.

Translated from Manipuri by Chitra Ahanthem.

Read the exclusive story on rediff.com.

The White House has ruled out President Barack Obama offering "formal condolences" to Pakistan over the killing of its 24 soldiers in a NATO strike,
as suggested by his top diplomat in Islamabad in a desperate bid to salvage deteriorating ties, a media report said today.

The request for this came on Monday, two days after the NATO attack, from US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter, who said that a formal video message from Obama was needed to help prevent the rapidly deteriorating relations between the two countries from cratering, administration officials were quoted
as saying by the daily.

"The ambassador, speaking by video conference from Islamabad, said that anger in Pakistan had reached a fever pitch, and that the United States needed to move to defuse it as quickly as possible," the officials said.

On the Huffington Post:

According to People magazine, Kris Humphries filed for an annulment Wednesday, citing "fraud" as the basis. Kim Kardashian initially wanted to annul the marriage but was told that there were no legal grounds for an annulment. Friends of the reality star say she and Humphries considered annulling the marriage before she filed for divorce.

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Must-watch/read: Kim's yoga session with naked instructor

FDI update:

The DMK says it wants a discussion on FDI in retail in Parliament.

The government says it will not revisit the FDI policy.

In another indictment for the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court has directed it to submit the CDs with call details of senior state police officials allegedly involved in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. The SC pulls up the Gujarat government for not handing over the CDs to CBI which is probing the case.

Also read: CBI remarks against Gujarat court are nonsense, says SC

A lock of Michael Jackson's 'hair', which has been reportedly retrieved from a shower drain is expected to sell for more than 5,000 dollars in an auction.  

The hair, which is reported to have belonged to the late King of Pop, was removed from the drain after he stayed at New York's Carlyle Hotel.  

It is being put up for sale by auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll as part of an online pop culture memorabilia sale.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein may be asked to testify in a market regulator's insider-trading case against a former director of the Wall Street bank, a judge ruled.

Read the Reuters report.

Her mother was Loretta Young. Her father was Clark Gable. Yet Judy Lewis spent her first 19 months in hideaways and orphanages, and the rest of her early life untangling a web of lies spun by a young mother hungry for stardom but unwilling to end her unwed pregnancy.

Read the NYT story.

The Gujarat government has handed over the investigation into the Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case to the CBI and has asked the SIT to register a fresh FIR. SIT Chairman RR Verma has been directed to file a fresh FIR within a span of two weeks and handover the entire report to the CBI.

At present, the Special Investigation Team, the CBI and the National investigation Agency are investigating the case.

The victim's family favours an SIT probe. An FIR may also be filed in the case. The CBI was also directed to form a team of officials to investigate the case that will be headed by an officer of the rank of DIG, says a CNN IBN report.

The court also said that NIA cannot be entrusted with the investigation because it is beyond the charter of NIA and this case cannot be termed as terrorist act after the SIT report.

Michael Jackson's family were last night convinced his killer doctor got four years' jail instead of three as punishment for a Channel 4 documentary he made. A source told the sun.co.uk a day after Conrad Murray was sentenced to the maximum for involuntary manslaughter over the pop king's drug death: "I hope it was worth it. It cost Murray another year on his sentence."

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Another story on auctions:

A knife belonging to Lawrence of Arabia -- the leader of the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War -- is up for grabs.  

Lawrence who died in 1935 had his initials, TEL, burned into the wooden handle, is thought to have been dropped in the garden of his home near Bovington, Dorset, where it lay for decades.  

The seller, who remains anonymous, bought the knife during the nineties from the family of the man who found it 40 years earlier.

Trivia: The lucky dress which the legendary actress Audrey Hepburn wore to collect her first Oscar has failed to sell at auction. The iconic ivory-coloured lace gown was expected to raise between USD 60,000 and USD 90,000.   

Hepburn wore the frock while filming her role in 1953 movie Roman Holiday and she had the gown adapted so she could wear it to the Academy Awards following her Best Actress nomination for the film. She won the award and subsequently put the triumph down to her lucky dress.

The Chinese have called it their 'Underground Great Wall' -- a vast network of tunnels designed to hide their country's increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear arsenal. For the past three years, a small band of obsessively dedicated students at Georgetown University has called it something else: homework.

Read more on the Washinton Post.

As early Egyptian voting results filter in, the Islamists are on track to capture a 65 percent majority in parliament.

The Muslim Brotherhood's party was the big favorite, and won 40 percent of the vote.

Surprisingly, the ultraconservative Islamists, or Salafis, have nearly 25 percent of the vote.

Read more on the Daily Beast.

The BBC was forced to apologise on Wednesday after television presenter Jeremy Clarkson said public sector workers taking part in a 24-hour walkout should be shot in front of their families.

The national broadcaster issued an on-air apology, saying Clarkson's comments on The One Show were a misjudged attempt at comedy. When asked what he thought of the strikers, Clarkson said: "I would have them all shot".

Read the AFP report.

The All Pakistan Cable Operators Association were greatly offended by the foreign TV channels' coverage of Pakistan in the wake of the Mohmand cross-border attack by the US-Isaf forces, which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a border post. They said they could not tolerate the airing of anti-Pakistan programmes and were ready to take action on their own.

Read the editorial on the Express Tribune.

Just in: Food inflation falls sharply to 8 per cent for week ended November 19 from 9.01 per cent in the previous week.

Just in: On World Aids Day, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announces that the government will bring a law against discrimination towards HIV/AIDS patients soon.

Interesting read since you're likely to be on Facebook.

If Facebook and Wall Street become friends, will you like it? For the past couple of years, the potential for Facebook to go public has been bandied about a lot in tech circles, with more and more of the digital tea leaves suggesting that the social-networking juggernaut will, in fact, one day become a publicly traded commodity.

Read the report on cnn.com.

Initial results of Egypt's first parliamentary elections since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak are due as early as today. Both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Noor Salafi Muslim Party have claimed a lead in ballot counting, but election officials have been tight-lipped.

Read more on cnn.com.

A gang in north Afghanistan reportedly indignant at a father's refusal to give his daughter up for marriage have sprayed the family of five with acid.

Allegedly led by the suitor, they broke into the house in Kunduz, beat the father up, then sprayed him, his wife and three daughters in the face. The father and eldest daughter are in critical condition, doctors say, reports bbc.co.uk.

Much of the same happens in India, as well.

Update on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar.

Myanmar president Thein Sein has hailed a "new chapter" in relations with the US during talks with Clinton in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw. Clinton, the most senior American to visit the country in half a century, told the president she was "encouraged" by recent policy changes. The US maintains tight sanctions on senior figures in Burma's hierarchy.

Read more

While on Lokpal, the Bharatiya Janata Party will today submit a note of dissent on the draft Lokpal bill to Abhishek Singhvi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill.

Read the report on rediff.com.

Team Anna member Kiran Bedi today contended that the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendations on Lokpal Bill will only help in making the ombdusman an 'Enquiry Pal' with no powers at all. Bedi said Anna Hazare and his supporters did not fight for such an anti-corruption watchdog.

Contending that they had not agitated for "another CVC which does not have any power, she said, "Without CBI, Lokpal is an 'Enquiry Pa'l. But in the report CBI is the Chief Chef for cooking (investigations) and Lokpal the bearer (prosecution) serving what is there." 

"The CBI is hamstrung. It needs to be set free. Its current occupants need help. Why is the government not letting the CBI go? That's because the government is afraid of losing control of the CBI," she said. 

"Do we let this enslavement continue? Or strive to change it? I pray that the Opposition unites to bring the CBI's anti corruption wing under Lokpal," she said.

FDI update:

The BJP gives notice of adjournment motion on FDI in retail in Lok Sabha.

Commerce and industries minister Anand Sharma is meeting the PM over the FDI logjam.

Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports that the BJP will be submitting a dissent note today to Dr Abhishek Singhvi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, on the Lokpal Bill.

The note has been prepared by members in consultation with Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.  

All the 31 members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill have agreed to include Class III bureaucrats. This is a major sop to satisfy Team Anna who is spearheading the movement for a strong Lokpal bill.  

A member of the committee, who spoke to rediff.com on condition of anonymity, said, "Anna Hazare wants government servants belonging to Class IV under the purview of the Lokpal as well, but this category has not been included due to the sixth pay commission."

The Prime Minister is likely to speak to allies again today on the FDI logjam, but the government has so far refused a rethink or a rollback. The Lok Sabha has also adjourned till noon.

On the Hindustan Times today: Indian retailers have reason to be happy with foreign direct investment (in the retail sector because it is a partnership opportunity that involves a lot of learning that could take them to higher profitability. That is precisely why FDI in multi-brand excites Indian retailers.

Read 

This is the Parliament schedule for today. The adjournments haven't been listed.

LOK SABHA

1. Obituary Reference
2. Damodar Valley Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2011
3. New Delhi Municipal Council (Amendment) Bill, 2010
4. Discussion and voting on the Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for 2011-12
5. Appropriation (No. 4) Bill, 2011
6. Discussion on inflation

RAJYA SABHA

1. Calling Attention on situation arising out of serious financial crisis being faced by Air India
2. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2011
3. The Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research Bill, 2011
4. The Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2010
5. The Cost and Works Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2010
6. The Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2010 
7. The National Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2011.
8. The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2011

India today successfully test-fired its nuclear capable Agni-I strategic ballistic
missile, with a strike range of 700 km, as part of the Army's user trial from the test range at Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.

"The indigenously developed surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test fired from a mobile launcher at about 0925 hrs from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range," defence sources said.
Describing the trial as successful, a senior official said it met the mission objectives. 

The Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army, as part of their training exercise, executed the trial with logistic support provided by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at the ITR, a DRDO official said.
Agni-I missile has a specialised navigation system which ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy, he said.

 The last trial of the Agni-I missile was successfully carried out on November 25, 2010 from the same base. Since the missile has already been inducted into the armed forces, it is important to conduct user trials for training of defence personnel and improvement of their skills, sources said.

FDI in retail: 5 crore traders to down shutters today (The Times of India)

Worlds second largest retailer Carrefour, which is present in the wholesale segment in the country, has beefed up security at its stores in Delhi and Jaipur. Read

Centre set for war of nerves on FDI in retail (The Hindu)

"No decision," an informed source said after the hour-long meeting that took place at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which was also attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Read

Our MPs want a status upgrade, permission to use 'lal batti' cars (The Times of India)

The panel felt the warrant was an exercise in ad-hocism and did not reflect the correct standing of MPs. At serial number 21, MPs came way down in the list, it felt. Read

Breakthrough in 2010 attacks raises fears of renewed jihadist campaign (The Hindu)
Delhi Police investigators have announced the arrest of a terrorist cell that they claim was responsible for a string of nationwide attacks last year. Read

A new low: India sinks in global corruption ranking (The Hindustan Times)
A string of recent corruption scandals like alleged graft in the allocation of the 2G spectrum and organisation of the Commonwealth Games last year in October may have worsened India's image. Read