2G petitioner and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has been issued a bailable arrest warrant by the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in a case relating to alleged non-repayment of money deposited by an investor in 1986 by a company which he headed then.

The warrant, issued by forum President Padmini Sadheesh yesterday, directed Delhi police to arrest and produce Swamy before the forum on or before April 2, 2012 .

As Team Anna Hazare and his supporters get ready to begin his three day fast at Mumbai's MMRDA grounds, Rediff.com's Toral Varia speaks to Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik on the big task ahead -- maintaing law and order. Interview on rediff.com shortly.

Point to ponder: Tushar Gandhi on Twitter: When Bapu fasted he never asked for special facilities he fasted from his residence of the time.

Tushar Gandhi is the Mahatma's great-grandson.

On December 11, when Anna Hazare sat on a one-day fast demanding a strong Lokpal, Gandhi attacked the activist saying his methods are "not Gandhian" as they are becoming a "mere ritual". "

His methods are not Gandhian because this is now turning into a mere ritual that every time he lands up in Delhi, he goes to Rajghat. It does not seem to be that the inspiration carry any further than that... because there is talks about beating up and hitting people," he said.

Time for Dear Leader to be buried and for the daisies to be pushed up. North Korea has begun preparations for the funeral of Kim Jong-il, but speculation over the guest list has reached Shakespearean levels of intrigue.

The few non-Koreans attending the funeral could include a Japanese celebrity magician.

More on the Guardian.

Also from the Daily Beast: The defense and prosecution ended their arguments in the pretrial hearing of Bradley Manning, the Army private accused of leaking military secrets to WikiLeaks. Now the Army decides if Manning will be court-martialed and, if so, on which charges.

Read more

Finally, Kiran Bedi comes on record to say why Anna Hazare has moved the fast venue from Delhi to Mumbai. It was always known that Delhi's biting winter was responsible, but nobody from Team Anna has ever said why.

Bedi today said, "The Delhi option won't be open because it is too cold then. It cannot be the venue. We have got to respect his {Anna's} age and he will be sitting throughout the night... but there will be many other people who will fast with him too."

"So we have to be in Mumbai. If the government does not give us public land then Anna has said that all of us will go to jail," she said.

Two people have died after flushing their sinuses using neti pots that may have contained amoeba-contaminated water, causing scientists to look anew at a once rare disease that may be on the rise.

Moreon the Daily Beast

The Pakistani army on Friday rejected a US investigation that concluded mistakes on both sides led to American airstrikes last month that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and severely damaged the already strained relationship between the two countries.

Read more on the Huffington Post.

Shefali Razdan Duggal, a top Indian-American fundraiser at President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, has made it to a prestigious list of the "most powerful and influential women" of California.

Shefali (40), also a member of Obama's Presidential Partners, National Finance Committee and Northern California Finance Committee, will be formally recognised at a ceremony on February 2. She is among the top fundraisers for Obama's re-election campaign and raised between USD 50,000 and USD 100,000.

The court said that it cannot compel MMRDA to give the grounds for free. The court says that the manch is not yet registered, so it cannot ask for a fee exemption. In effect, the court says that it cannot intervene.

Just in: The Bombay High court rejects the Jagrut Nagrik Manch's petition and refuses to grant relief for a concession in rates at the MMRDA grounds at the Bandra Kurla Complex. The HC says the court cannot decide whether the agitation is in public and national interest or politically motivated.

The government has told the court that IAC cannot be allowed to use Azad Maidan.

"This court cannot say if this agitation is in public interest in national interest.
In our view this is not a case where we can compel the MMRDA to exempt the charges. 

"But if the MMRDA states that if IAC applies again under a registered organisation, then it is up to the MMRDA's  discretion if they want to give a concession in the rate or lease the ground free of charge.

"This court cannot ask the state government to open the gates of Azad Maidan. This court is not an expert in deciding whether there would be a law and order problem. Court has said we are not going to direct govt or MMRDA to open gates or give ground free of charge. It is the discretion of the govt authorities."

Just in: Six Indian athletes banned for a year after they tested positive for banned substances. All the six athletes had failed dope tests. The ban has been imposed by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA)

The six athletes are AC Ashwini, Sini Jose, Mandeep Kaur, Juana Murmu, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas. All six claimed that they were innocent and the positive tests were a result of the supplement bought by their Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodonik.

Among them, Ashwini Akunji is a double gold medal winner at the Commonwealth Games -- 400 m hurdles and 800 m relay.

This, in effect means, they will not be able to compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

On Twitter: Amitabh Bachchan  T 599 -Starting early to tweet .. have lots to do during day .. hope to also chat with some after lunch ... rushing to be with little one !!

Mikhail Gorbachev today said he was ashamed of Vladimir Putin and that Dmitry Medvedev's career was over, in what is a stinging rebuke to the Russian ruling duo over their response to protests.

Gorbachev's criticism came on the eve of a new wave of protests over the outcome of fraud-tainted December 4 parliamentary polls.

"This is shameful. And embarrassing. I, for example, am ashamed," Gorbachev said.

"I feel tied to Putin in the sense that at first, when he came to power, I actively supported him everywhere -- both here and abroad. And now look."

Former KGB agent Putin and Medvedev -- suspected of more liberal leanings when he replaced his mentor as president in 2008 -- have both dismissed the fraud allegations and linked protests to shadowy funding from the West.

Kevin Pietersen has signed a contract that will tie him to Surrey until the end of his England career. The 31-year-old, who joined Surrey on loan in 2010 before signing a one-year deal for 2011, has agreed to stay at The Oval until he either loses or rejects his central contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

More on the Guardian.

Christmas cheer for this family in Indonesia.

A girl who was believed to have been swept away by a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in Asia has reportedly shown up alive, nearly seven years to the day after she vanished.

Indonesian state news agency Antara reported the girl, named only as Wati, was aged eight when she was ripped from her mother's arms by the rushing waters near her home in West Aceh, Indonesia, in December 2004.

Her mother, Yusniar, was trying to get her and two other children to safety at the time. The girl's grandfather, Ibrahim, met a teenager who had traveled from another region, Banda Aceh, saying she was trying to find her way home.

The girl said she could not remember any of her relatives' names apart from one -- Ibrahim. He became convinced the girl was Wati, and her parents also later identified the girl as their daughter by a small mole and a scar over her eyebrow.

An interesting read on India Today:

According to the financial memorandum with 'The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011', the anti-corruption body is expected to incur an expenditure of Rs 200 crore in a financial year.

The memorandum attached to the 97 clause, 65 page bill, however, says that it is not possible to give the "precise details" of the expenditure to be incurred on Lokpal at this stage, but would involve a non-recurring initial expenditure of Rs.100 crore for its establishment.

Pakistani forces were "unusually accurate" as they fired shots on an Afghan-US patrol on November 26, an American officer stationed in Afghanistan has said, providing new details about the NATO attack that could put fresh strains on the already tattered US-Pak relations.

He said a joint patrol of 120 Afghan and American Special Operations soldiers had come under Pakistani fire as it was entering an Afghan village, endangering Afghan civilians as well as the soldiers, The New York Times reported today.

The report came as the US Central Command and NATO said in their investigations that mistakes were made by both the US and Pakistani forces. In a briefing, the Pentagon said that fire from the Pakistani military posts against the US-led NATO forces was the "catalyst of the tragedy" last month that led to the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers.

A federal judge has signed a default judgement finding Iran, the Taliban and al-Qaeda liable in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Judge George Daniels in Manhattan signed the judgement yesterday, a week after hearing testimony in the 10-year-old case.

The signed ruling, which he promised last week, came in a USD 100 billion lawsuit brought by family members of victims of the attacks. He directed a magistrate judge to preside over remaining issues, including fixing compensatory and punitive damages.

More on the Indian Express

The Gujarat High Court today directed the Union of India to approach the International Court of Justice within two months for the release of 54 prisoners of war from 1971 languishing in Pakistani jails.

Observing that there was an alleged breach of the Simla Agreement by Pakistan, division bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala also directed the Union of India to pay next to the kin of 54 POWs full salary and retirement benefits within three months.

The court further directed that once the POWs are released, the next to kin would have to return the compensation amount to them.

Virender Sehwag will soon get a unique honour when his brass statue, worth around Rs 10 lakh, is installed at his alma mater, Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. The central university and GMR Sports, whose IPL Delhi Daredevils team is captained by the swashbuckling batsman, have joined hands to pay this tribute to him, reports India Today.

Also read: In pictures: Shane Warne's statue unveiled at MCG.

As Anna and his team wait it out for Azad Maidan, here's what's happening in the rest of the world.  

The Pakistan army wants to oust President Asif Ali Zardari through legal means rather than staging coups, military sources have said.

The revelation comes in the wake of escalating tensions between Pakistan government and the army over the Memogate scandal leading to former envoy Husain Haqqani's resignation, and followed by the deadly November 26 NATO airstrike that killed 26.

"Who isn't fed up with Zardari? It's not just the opposition and the man on the street but people within the government too,' The Daily Times quoted a military source, as saying. "But there has to be a proper way. No action is being planned by the army. Even if we tried, it would be very unpopular and not just with the government and the opposition but most Pakistanis too,' he added.

More on the hearing for a fast venue for Anna Hazare.

At the Bombay Court, Justice PB Majmudar tells the lawyer representing the IAC, "Be very clear that we have not asked you to find out if the gates of Azad Maidan can be opened. It is a suggestion being made by the IAC. You (the lawyer representing the IAC) can go and ask your client for the same."  

Anna Hazare today said he will fast in jail if authorities fail to give him a venue in Mumbai to protest against a "weak" Lokpal Bill.

"They will keep creating hurdles. In August, they did not give me a venue till last minute. I had to fast in jail.... this time also, if they don't give me venue, I will go to jail," he said.

His supporters have approached Bombay High Court seeking direction to the state government to allot a place for the protest.

More on the IAC hearing at the Bombay High Court:

Rediff.com's Toral Varia reporting from the court, quoting the judge says:

"The bill has been introduced in Parliament, so a parallel canvassing cannot happen and the court therefore cannot become a party to it.

"We can't ask the public authority to give the maidan free of charge. In Gandhi's days, such parallel canvassing against a Bill never happened. We cannot compel the MMRDA to give you the space because we have to uphold the Constitution.

"Which bill is to be passed is the prerogative of the Parliament. Your demand is not in the judicial purview. Tell me, who is the authority who can make and pass a law?

I completely agree that it is your right to agitate, but your case is not in our judicial purview."

An influential US Senator has demanded a federal investigation into whether Indian-American Nikki Haley, the Governor of South Carolina, exploited taxpayer dollars for political purposes.

A Haley spokesman, however, refuted the charges and termed them as a joke. Senator Tom Harkin, in a letter to Daniel R Levinson, the inspector general of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, urged to "examine whether the state of South Carolina met the requirements of federal law in spending its exchange planning grant and whether that grant should be returned to the federal government in full."

This is what the Bombay High Court judge told the lawyer representing India Against Corruption. The IAC had filed a writ petition in the HC seeking permission to protest at the sports ground adjoining Azad Maidan.

The judge told the IAC lawyer, "We don't know what Lokpal is, how is this helping the nation? How can we give a judicial notice? We are here to uphold constitutional law. We believe in a democratic setup in this country. If we interfere like this and allow you to agitate will it not be interfering in the functioning of Parliament?

If you think the elected representatives are not doing their duty,  then what should you do? Should you replace them? If we interfere -- we are also party to it, but the judiciary has to function within the parameters of law.

"The remedy is available during the elections. If the bill is passed, we are not allowed to interfere in the democratic process, we cannot interfere in the parliamentary procedure.

"There is a remedy available to challenge it in the appropriate manner and we cannot encourage you by allowing you to use the maidan."

Hazare has expressed his disappointment over the government Lokpal Bill, and termed it to be weak.

On the Guardian, how Daniel Craig is itching to get back into being James Bond. Read (Drool alert)

A clinical trial that demonstrated beyond doubt the benefit of anti-retroviral drugs in curbing the transmission of the Aids virus, in addition to treating the disease, has been named "the scientific breakthrough of 2011" by the journal Science.

More on the Independent.

In other news:

This is North Korea's version of what happened when 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il died: The sky turned red, the ice cracked, the snow ceased and a crane bowed.

That bizarre story on the Independent.

More details on Raja and Achary. 

The former Telecom Minister and the key accused in the 2G scam, today accused the CBI in a Delhi court of making his ex-aide Aseervatham Achary a "false witness" to depose against him. 

"He has been created as a false witness and this is my ultimate case," senior advocate Sushil Kumar, who is defending Raja, contended before Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

Achary, Raja's former additional private secretary and a key CBI witness in the case, in his deposition gave details of how Raja was in regular touch with other accused corporate honchos and their companies which were granted spectrum in violation of law.

It's confirmed now. Anna Hazare has been denied permission to fast at the sports ground adjoining Azad Maidan.

Rediff.com's Toral Varia who is the following the story, confirms it. See our 11:11 am post for the reason behind the denial.  

This is what happened yesterday on Aseervatham Achary.

After a month of protest against commencement of trial, former Raja  on Thursday opened his defence with the cross-examination of key Central Bureau of Investigation witness , who was his former additional private secretary. Achary's cross-examination was disrupted for a while after he told the judge about threat to his life from a man sitting in the courtroom. The man left the courtroom but was nabbed by Delhi [ Images ] police sleuths from the court premises and produced before the judge and handed over to police.

Pakistan and India will have a conventional and nuclear confidence building measures on December 26 and 27 in Islamabad. The 5th round of expert level talks on conventional confidence building measures will be held on December 26 while the 6th round of talks on nuclear confidence building measures will be held on December 27.

This round of talks follow the Foreign Secretaries meet in Islamabad last year, where both sides, agreed to re-convene the two expert groups. D Bala Verma, Director General (Disarmament & International Security Affairs) Ministry of External Affairs, would lead the Nuclear CBMs Group, while Yashwant Sinha, Joint Secretary (PAI), Ministry of External Affairs would head the Conventional CBMs Group.

More

Taking a dig at MPs, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal today said he has little faith in Parliament after seeing the debate over Lokpal Bill in Lok
Sabha. 

"They say (MPs) 'have faith in Parliament'. My mother says 'have faith in Lord Shiva'. I now tend to agree more with  my mother," Kejriwal tweeted.

He said he watched the debate in Parliament yesterday during the introduction of Lokpal "with great pain". 

"Is this Parliamentary democracy? Can it ever deliver India out of poverty, corruption and illiteracy? 

"Is this Parliament really supreme? Are we to treat Lalu (Prasad), Mulayam (Singh Yadav), (Kapil) Sibal, P Chidambaram, and A Raja supreme? Will they ever allow strong anti-corruption law?" he said. 

His remarks came as MPs, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad, attacked Team Anna and said government should not move in haste to pass the Lokpal Bill. Yesterday, actor Anupam Kher had tweeted, "they have never been and they will never be serious about Lokpal. Heard Lalu Yadav. And they want to me to respect Parliamentarians." 

Yet, yesterday, immediately after the Lokpal Bill was tabled, Anna Hazare holding a press brief at Ralegan Siddhi said he had faith in the Parliament.

In Mumbai, N P Mote, the deputy director, Sports has said that the members of India Against Corruption  IAC had approached them demanding the sports field at Azad Maidan to be given for Anna's ptotest.

Speaking to rediff.com's Toral Varia, Mote said the permission has been denied as a High Court ruling says that the sports grounds cannot be used for rallies and protests. "There are about 22 cricket pitches at Azad Maidan. Tournaments are also to be held between 27 and 30 December," said Mote.  

Yesterday, Team Anna rejected the new Lokpal Bill tabled in the Lok Sabha, describing it as "anti-people and dangerous" and demanded that a new bill be brought in Parliament that will make the CBI independent and decentralise the proposed anti-corruption body.

Read the report on rediff.com

As Team Anna wrestles between Azad Maidan and the MMRDA Grounds for his three-day fast beginning on Tuesday, he says discussions with authorities are still on. Yesterday, however, key aide Arvind Kejriwal said Anna would fast at Azad Maidan. Team Anna is still in discussions with the MMRDA to reduce the rent for the grounds at BKC.   

Lokpal bill may falter if challenged in court (The Times of India)

Besides the resistance the Lokpal bill faces from the political class, there are also doubts whether all its provisions are consistent with the Constitution. Read

Sonia powers Cong's Anna charge (Hindustan Times)
The Congress has once again launched an offensive against Anna Hazare and his team after party president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday took a tough line on the Lokpal issue. Read

Hands tied, CBI officials feel Lokpal panel their new Boss (Indian Express)
BILL: Lokpal can set deadlines to CBI, order search and raids, decide on chargesheet or closure. Read

No way Lokpal Bill will stand judicial scrutiny: Ex-CJI VN Khare (DNA)
Theres some serious concern about the constitutional efficacy of the cumbersome Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act as Khare feels that its section 49 cant stand judicial scrutiny. Read

Two suspected Babbar Khalsa terrorists arrested (The Hindu)

One of them was arrested from Punjab while the second person was apprehended from north-west Delhis Shalimar Bagh. Police claim that some politicians and religious leaders were on their target. Read

Achary: I wanted to go in 2005 itself but Raja won't leave me (The Hindu)

When defence asked how he could afford to pay a rent of Rs. 20,000 when his net salary was just around Rs. 40,000, Mr. Achary said his wife was also working. Read