Coming out of the all party meet on Lokpal issue in New Delhi, senior Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta told mediapersons that there was divergence of views between different political parties in the meeting.

Dasgupta also reiterated Lefts opposition to the inclusion of Group C employees in Lokpal. Lokpal will be overburdened if Group C employees are brought under it, he said.

In latest report coming in, the all party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on the Lokpal issue has finally ended.

In the meeting, the Left parties demanded that the Lokpal should be made accountable to the Parliament.

However, they were opposed to the inclusion of Group C employees in Lokpal.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday evening said that Group C employees should be included in the ambit of Lokpal.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convened an all party meeting on the Lokpal issue earlier in the evening.

Read his remarks here

Our correspondent reports that a core member of Team Anna said that there is a debate within the team on whether the Gandhian should hold his proposed fast on December 27 in Mumbai.

The fast was proposed to be held in New Delhi on December 27, but with a strong winter setting in, members are apprehensive whether they will be able to mobilise the middle-class and lower-middle class to support the movement.

Though no final decision has been made, members of Team Anna have began scouting for a suitable location and the process of obtaining permission from the local authorities in Mumbai have begun.

Arvind Kejriwal has also announced that the decision to hold the fast will depend on developments in Parliament.

Bascially, there are three sticking points on the Lokpal issue, which are under discussion at the all-party meeting at 7RCR.

• Inclusion of PM under the Lokpal purview
• Inclusion of Group C and D bureaucrats

and

• Inclusion of the CBI.

Team Anna says that the government has agreed to the vigilance wing of the CBI to be under the Lokpal.  

Stay with us when details of that meeting filter through.

Lokpal meet underway. Earlier in the day, the heads of the CVC and the CBI met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss various issues related to the proposed Lokpal bill. 

Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and CBI Director A P Singh are understood to have raised concerns over the present form of the proposed anti-corruption bill and sought its redressal. 

Kumar had objected to the proposed inclusion of 'Group C' employees comprising clerical staff under the CVC ambit. The CBI has expressed unhappiness over many issues related to the Lokpal saying many of the clauses would severely impair the functioning of the investigating agency.

Kejriwal has said that Team Anna is against the division of the CBI.

The all-party meet on Lokpal begins shortly.

Another statement by Arvind Kejriwal: What CBI is saying is also right .. They cannot have 10 bosses. We demand that recruitment of CBI employees including the CBI director should be done by Lokpal.

So, then, the big debate/adjournment motion on black money is over and done with. The government says it will bring the White Paper on black money in Parliament.

Highlights from what Pranab Mukherjee said in Parliament today.

• We have agreements with 60 nations; remaining 15 are in the process of negotiation.
• Even with Switzerland the agreement for sharing information has been signed in September 2010; they said they would give us prospective information.
• No country in the world got information from Switzerland with retrospective effect.
• Will not enter into a debate to win brownie points

Much love and affection for Manish Tiwari on Twitter.  

• Shiv Aroor:  If you watch Manish Tiwari on mute, it's like he's ordering for people to be chopped up
• Ravindra:  Manish Tiwari on the black money issue is only fooling himself. He must credit the people with some intelligence before shooting mouth off.
• Janlokpal: Dear Manish Tiwari, if #blackmoney is a legacy issue then kindly check who has ruled India longest ?  
• Rohit Khilnani: Manish Tiwari who stopped trending in his own party is trending on twitter!  
• Prudent Indian: Too cleaver by half Manish Tiwari is offending to Ears and to Intelligence too.

Pranab Mukherjee's homework has worked: The adjournment motion on black money has been defeated by a voice vote. Speaker calls back MPs who were leaving Parliament for the vote.

Advani recap: The government has to name black money hoarders, name Swiss bank account holders, punish the guilty.

He says he hasn't got answers to to these three points.

Pranab replies: Rs 66,000 crore unearthed means tax officers prevented the transfer of this sum as black money.

Pranab: I would have ignored this (black money adjournment motion) if it was not asked by former Home Minister and Deputy PM (LK Advani) of the country, process is on with other countries as waiting for process to complete.

The finance minister has finished speaking.

LK Advani takes over.  

Model Parliament in session today. Far cry from the usual din and ruckus and adjournments.

Pranab Mukherjee sasy the government has taken initiatives, a five-pronged strategy to curb black money. He says the issue is serious, but it is wrong to politicise it.

Pranab Mukherjee says he would like to watch the outcome of Advani's Jan Chetna yatra, whether it can in fact, influence tax evaders, black money hoarders, as a finance minister.

If it is achieved, he says, he would like to congratulate Advani.

(Much bench thumping)

On twitter: Pak Pres Zardari admitted to American Hospital, Dubai with chief complaint of left arm numbness & twitching with a transient episode of loss of consciousness that lasted for a few seconds, which was witnessed.

Zardari is supposed to be discharged tomorrow.

Tharoor on Baba Ramdev's agitation against black money, says, "Let's not learn economy from a yoga teacher."

Meira Kumar is back in the chair.

Tharoor says it is wrong to say the government is not serious about tackling the black money issue, but it has to abide by the treaties. 

Earlier, Advani had said the government was soft on dealing with black money.

Reading from his notes, Tharoor says black money numbers thrown up in Parliament is confusing. India is not the country with the largest Swiss bank deposits, but even one rupee in Swiss accounts is unpardonable.

Shashi Tharoor, Cong MP from Thiruvananthapuram speaking.

Madhuri Dixit-Nene tweets: On my way to Kandivli Big Bazar, for Comfort Fabric Softner event. Looking forward to meet my fans!

Fall from grace?

Pranab Mukherjee looks at this flagged notes as Asaduddin Owaisi, MIM MP from Hyderabad, speaks.

Anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project activists will observe a fast and hoist black flags atop their houses for three days protesting Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia. PM is likely to finalise KNPP units-3 and 4 during the visit. 

"The PM's visit to discuss units-3 and four while we are protesting against units 1 and 2 is adding insult to injury," S P Udayakumar, Co-ordinator, People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), spearheading the stir, said today. Singh leaves for Moscow tomorrow on a three-day visit where he is expected to sign nine agreement.

Right now in Parliament, Deve Gowda speaks on the blackmoney issue, shortly after Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Earlier in the afternoon, the BJP's Yashwant Sinha, who was the Finance Minister in the NDA government, accused the Congress of twisting facts.
Sinha said the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Mauritius was signed in 1982 when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister and FDI and other investments from there were opened in 1993 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister.
"We did nothing except continue the policy," he said. 

Also from Pakistan's The International News: The two-day envoys' conference where 16 representatives from Pakistan's missions in the US, Europe, Afghanistan and India put their heads together to evaluate important aspects of Pakistan's foreign policy challenges has reached its conclusion.

Here's what happened

Rahul Dravid has delivered a speech on the spirit of cricket in Australia. Dravid, the second highest run-scorer in Test cricket history with more than 13,000 to his name, will deliver the Sir Donald Bradman Oration at the Australian War Memorial on the outskirts of the country's capital, Canberra.

Watch

Facebook launched a new suicide prevention tool on Tuesday, giving users a direct link to an online chat with counselors who can help, the company said.

Read the reuters report.

The Oscar trophy which was awarded to Orson Welles for writing 'Citizen Kane' in 1942, will be put up for auction in Los Angeles later this month.  

The gold statuette, which Welles won for best screenplay for the film, is expected to fetch up to 1 million dollars.  

According to auction house Nate D Sanders, the Oscar is overall in very good condition except for some tarnishing on the legs.

Update on the blast in Imphal: A powerful grenade exploded in the office of the Manipur Public Works Department today.  The grenade, suspected to have been kept on the top floor of the three-storey building where the chief engineer's office is located, exploded at around 11.30 am.

It was not immediately known if any employee was injured or whether the chief engineer was in his office at the time of the explosion.

The CBI today conducted raids at business establishments and the house of MLA Malkhan Singh's parents in search of him in connection with the abduction of nurse Bhanwari Devi.

Malkhan Singh has skipping questioning on health grounds for the past few days and the CBI yesterday pasted a notice at his house asking for his appearance for another round of questioning.

Update on the Shrien Dewani honeymoon murder case.

Murder suspect Dewani's life will be at risk if he is extradited to South Africa to stand trial, a court heard yesterday. Dewani, who has been detained under the Mental Health Act, would suffer "inhumane and degrading treatment" in prison there and might well commit suicide, his lawyer claimed.

More on the sun.co.uk.

On the Dawn: It is deeply unfortunate that the trials of alleged war criminals in Bangladesh, 30 years after the war of liberation, have been mired in controversy. There are two levels at which this has occurred.

The 1971 Bangladesh war from Pakistan's perspective. Read

After 10 years of war and reconstruction, and as tens of thousands of international troops and aid workers in Afghanistan gear up to spend yet another holiday season a long way from the comforts of home, a lot of people are wondering: Was it worth it?

Foreign Policy magazine has the answers

Nice read on the Foreign Policy magazine: All you have to do, is call the religious police's Anti-Witchcraft Unit and get them to set up a sting operation.

Read

The Karnataka High Court today adjourned to tomorrow hearing on External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's petition seeking quashing of the private complaint accusing him of facilitating illegal mining during his tenure as state Chief Minister.

The petition was filed by Krishna on December 9, a dayafter Lokayukta Police registered an FIR against him and alsotwo other former Chief Ministers N Dharam Singh and H DKumaraswamy and 11 officials.

We told you last week that Elizabeth Taylor's jewels and clothes were being auctioned. Here's what some of what was on sale fetched.

A necklace containing a huge 16th-Century pearl once worn by European royalty has sold for a record price of more than $11m. Nearly 400 dresses the actress wore to premieres and movie awards will go under the hammer as well as the 269 items of jewellery. It has been estimated the four-day sale will fetch more than $30m.  

More on the bbc.co.uk

Just in: The cabinet is to meet on Sunday to discuss the Food Security Bill.

Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has blamed Afghan refugees living in Pakistan for the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani and said they are responsible for various other problems.

"We are not responsible if Afghan refugees crossed the border and entered Kabul, stayed in a guest house and attacked Professor Rabbani," she told the Senate or upper house of parliament during question hour yesterday. 

Early reports suggest that there's been a bomb blast in Imphal. So far, two persons have been injured, but figures are likely to rise.

Details on the Whistleblowers Bill which was given the nod in Parliament yesterday. All intelligence agencies to come under the Bill, agencies like IB and RAW. They have been included despite reservations by the Home Ministry.

Whistleblowers Bill Officially called the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, it provides safeguards to whistleblowers who complain against corruption or misuse of authority in the government.

The bill makes it binding on heads of departments and other authorities to keep secret the identity of a whistleblower. Anyone revealing the identity of a whistleblower can be punished with jail term of three years as well as fine of Rs 50,000. Anyone trying to misuse the whistleblower protection by making false disclosures can be punished with a two-year jail term.

The bill covers employees of the Centre and state governments as well as any government company or societies where government has administrative control. As of now, the Central Vigilance Commission is empowered by a government resolution (No 89 of April 21, 2004) as the designated authority to receive complaints from whistleblowers.

Tewari continues blame game: Don't blame UPA for black money. Hasan Ali's money increased during NDA regime. Why didn't the NDA act against Ali? The Congress also wants black money back and it is absolutely wrong to suggest we protect black money hoarders. 

On Twitter:  Kanchan Gupta: Today is 40th anniversary of massacre of intellectuals by razakars across Bangladesh. Two days before fall of Dhaka.

Jamaati razakars rounded up everybody they could, slaughtered them. Hands were tied. Most had throats slit. Rest shot. Facing imminent defeat, Pakistani Army instructed Jamaati collaborators to kill students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, journalists.

It's important to remember 1971. Pakistan Army killed Jinnah's moth-eaten dream that year. Since then what remains has turned into nightmare.

On Rediff.com: A soldier remembers a battle won against the odds

Congress response to LK Advani's black money debate begins. 

Manish Tiwari says he agrees with Advani that a shadow economy is corrupting the nation, but quibbles over words. Says it's wrong to call countries like Switzerland, tax heavens, they are sovereign nations. And tax havens are not a new phenomenon.

He says there is a parallel economy in black money worth Rs 1 trillion in India. Every third dollar invested is routed through some tax haven. The problem of black money has been handed over as a legacy. It is therefore wrong to say that the Congress is responsible for black money.

Advani says that figures with him indicate that Indians have stashed Rs 25 lakh crore in Swiss banks. Wants to know why the government has not released the names of the black money offenders.

At the end of this discussion on black money, Advani says, he hopes the government will finally table the names in Parliament today.  

Advani asks Pranab Mukherjee to tell Parliament everything there is to know on the Hasan Ali Khan case.

Congress MPs Manish Tiwari, Shashi Tharoor to speak on the issue in a bit.

Advani says the government is soft on dealing with black money. Pranab Mukherjee checks his papers, while Advani continues with his debate. Advani says if Pranab Mukherjee and the PM could get back all the black money, India would be a different place.

Pranab Mukherjee's reply at 4 pm should be interesting. Stay with us when that happens.  

Advani says the government has to explain why no action is being taken on black money.

According to a report by the Swiss bank, Indians have $2.5 billion in deposits in Swiss accounts in 2010. India's biggest tax evader Hasan Ali Khan has Rs 36,000 crore in black money.

Advani continues debate amid much bench slapping. But many MPs seem to be sleeping. Advani says black money is being diverted to fund terror attacks.

The black money debate continues in Parliament.

What we know so far is that India has income tax information exchange deal with 10 nations, of which the French government gave details of 700 Indians who have accounts. However, names of 782 tax evaders are still being kept a secret.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to reply to this discussion at 4 pm. 

After Pranab's reply, voting will take place either by division or by a voice vote.

When a motion is admitted in Parliament, other business is set aside to discuss it.

LK Advani says black money has never been discussed in the house. He says the PM has been credited with the fact that licence raj ended and liberalisation began when Dr Singh was the finance minister. The credit for that should in fact, be given to the then PM Narasimha Rao, who was the PM, he says.

Continuing the discussion on black money, he says the government has failed to curb black money and high tax leads to black money being hoarded in foreign banks.

In Parliament, senior BJP leader LK Advani has moved the adjournment motion on blackmoney. Discussion will happen at 4 pm. 

The The UPA government has been facing a lot of flak for not doing enough to unearth the black money hoarded by Indians in banks abroad. Read the rediff.com report by Sheela Bhatt. 

Udpate on the AMRI hospital fire.

The Telegraph, Calcutta reports that the former Left government, where Jyoti Basu was the CM, had handed over the Dhakuria land to AMRI in an unusual deal that locked the annual lease rent at Rs 9.94 lakh -- 16 times less than the current market lease rate.

Few lease agreements freeze the rent for more than five years. But AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria, was allowed a flat rate of Rs 6.40 lakh for one parcel of land and Rs 3.54 lakh for another for a long period of 30 years.

More

In other news: The original three-page document that established Apple as a corporate entity in 1976 has been sold for 1.59 million dollars at an auction in New York.  

Eduardo Cisneros, a US businessman who runs a television company, bought the document signed by Apple's three co-founders.  

Sotheby's, which is conducting the auction, said that it had not sold anything like this before.  

The contract, which is on typewriter paper, is the first document to bear the name of a company that has defined consumer technology for the past decade.   It was drawn up by Ron Wayne, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, on April 1, 1976, in California.

Details on Papua New Guinea earthquake this morning.

Despite shaking buildings and swaying powerlines, there is no immediate tsunami warning in the aftermath of the quake, initially rated at 7.3, which struck at 3:04 pm (0504 GMT) at a depth of 121 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.   

Witnesses said people came running out of buildings and parked cars rocked. "It was pretty strong, everybody felt it. I was siting in my car when it hit and it was rocking, rocking, rocking," said an AFP photographer.

Just in: In a surprise move, the Samajwadi Party expels Aligarh general secretary Yadav for showing black flags at his rally yesterday.

Our Delhi correspondent reporting from Parliament tells us that NCP senior leader Praful Patel drove to MK Alagiri's house in Delhi to have breakfast and discuss the all party meeting this evening. UPA allies are bringing pressure on the government about the inclusion of the CBI in the Lokpal.

Alagiri also spoke to Mamata Banerjee on the phone to strategise about the all-party meeting on Lokpal.

For the first time in the Lok Sabha in winter session PM Dr Manmohan Singh intervened on foreign policy on talks between China and India.

Meanwhile, an update on our other neighbour to the west.

Pakistan PM Yusuf Raza Gilani says under no circumstances will Pakistan accept flagrant transgression of territorial frontiers. Foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said yesterday that Pakistan would retaliate against all drone attacks by the US.

Today, the Obama administration has said it has not cut any civilian aid to the country, noting the move in this regard was part of a defence bill in the Congress.

"We have not cut USD 700 million in aid to Pakistan," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said. The clarification came after a Congressional panel agreed to freeze USD 700 million in aid to Islamabad, yesterday, linking it toIslamabad's efforts to control the spread of Improvised Explosive Devices, as part of a defence authorisation bill.

Dr Singh says China is a great neighbour and he has been assured by the highest authority in China that the country wants to maintain peaceful ties with India. We hope both countries work together to resolve border disputes.

Kiran Bedi tweets: Imagine 3 imp bills cleared by Union Cabinet and people are ignorant of even its contents. They are not even on internet

Here's what she's tweeting about

Good morning

The all-party meet to iron out the creases in the Lokpal issue is scheduled for today. Senior BJP leader LK Advani will also move an adjournment motion in Parliament today over the blackmoney issue.

And it is for this, that Rahul Gandhi is back in Delhi today from his campaign tour in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources in the office of the Congress General Secretary said that Rahul, who began his five-day tour of UP yesterday, will resume his campaign after that and no programme has been cancelled. BJP leader S S Ahluwahlia had yesterday said that the party has decided to bring an adjournment motion on black money to be moved by Advani in Lok Sabha. 

BJP has been pressing for the motion since the winter session of the Parliament began over two weeks ago in the backdrop of Advani's yatra against black money and corruption. 

Allies back Congress on Lokpal ahead of all-party meet (The Times of India)

Congress secured the support of its UPA partners amid indications that govt may choose to be accommodative on some of the vexed issues in the Lokpal debate. Read

53 kids chained in Pak madrassa for becoming fighters for Taliban freed (The Times of India)
Pak authorities have long suspected that some of these seminaries are involved in brainwashing students to join violent extremists, including the Taliban. Read

Govt clears 3 anti-graft bills (Hindustan Times)
The union cabinet cleared three major anti-corruption bills - citizen's charter bill, judicial accountability bill and the whistleblower's bill - in a crucial meeting on Tuesday. Read

Supreme Court: No need to reduce water in Mullaperiyar (DNA)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday hinted that there is no need for decreasing the water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam to 120 feet from the current 136 feet mark, as sought by Kerala. Read

Karzai should take a leaf out of India's book: Pak (Indian Express)
India has shown 'enormous maturity' in dealing with bilateral issues, says Pak envoy to UN. Read

Rupee falls further; at Rs 53.75 to a dollar (Indian Express)
Day after it breached the Rs 53 per dollar mark, rupee tanks further by 52 paise. Read