Part II of the Lokpal committee meeting tomorrow. The meeting today, according to the government and civil society, went off well, without acrimony. But 15 per cent of issues remain to be ironed out.

Join us tomorrow for all the news as it happens, wherever it happens. And that's no mean boast...

1. ED to quiz tax evader Hasan Ali tomorrow
2. PC heads to J-K to review Amarnath security
3. Players, advertisers threatened: Modi on ICL
4. Syria's Assad refuses to reform under 'chaos'
5. Internet to open up domain names at a price
6. Players, advertisers threatened: Modi on ICL
7. Aseemanand's bomb ka bomb theory: NIA
8. War on terror cost Pak $67.93 billion
9. Ex-Maha CM on Adarsh: I did nothing wrong
10. Bhushan: Major differences remain in Lokpal
11. Sibal: 85% consensus at Lokpal meet

A Japanese machine has become the fastest supercomputer in the world, making calculations three times faster than a Chinese rival. The K Computer, developed by Fujitsu Ltd and the state-funded RIKEN institute of physical and chemical research, has achieved 8.162 quadrillion calculations per second (petaflops), they said.

One quadrillion is made up of a thousand trillions. It overtook China's Tianhe-1A of the National Supercomputing Centre in Tianjin, which became the world number-one in November and is capable of operating at 2.6 petaflops.

The K Computer's performance was recognised by the authoritative biannual Top500 List of Supercomputers released today at the 2011 International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany

The Indian discourses on Afghanistan have often fancied about a 'Northern-Alliance option' for the policymakers in Delhi in a 'worst-case scenario'. This was all along a mistaken notion.

The NA ceased to exist a long time ago. In fact, but for the heroic and patient efforts by the then Iranian DFM Ala'eddin Broujerdi (presently the chairman of the Majlis commission on foreign and security affairs) in the 1997-98 period, there wouldn't have been NA in the first instance.

Read more from MK Bhadrakumar's blog

Just in: CNN IBN has accessed the government's draft on the Lokpal Bill. The draft accommodates the PM in the Lokpal purview, but with limitations. The PM cannot be chargesheeted.

Over the hill, yet managing to scale the peak, Hugh Hefner is getting over being ditched just five days before his wedding - with the help of another Playboy model. The Sun.co.uk reports that Playboy magazine boss, 85, has installed Anna Sophia Berglund, 25, as his new "main girl".

It comes after Hefner was dumped by Crystal Harris, also 25. The pair were due to wed on Saturday in front of 300 guests at his LA mansion.

Details on the Hasan Ali story.

The Enforcement Directorate is examining a request from the CBI asking it to attach properties of DB Realty worth over Rs 200 crore of DB Group under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED is examining the legal issues on whether to attach the properties of DB Realty as proceeds of crime or that of the former MD of the company Shahid Balwa, who is now in jail.

CBI while reasoning out the attachment of property of the real estate group alleged that Rs 200 crore bribe money was moved to DMK-owned Kalaignar TV from DB realty through a circuitous route, a charge denied by the company.

As Delhi singes, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram head to Srinagar tomorrow. No, it's not a holiday; the home minister will review the security situation in Kashmir Valley and take stock of security arrangements for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage.

During his two-day visit, the Home Minister will chair a high-level security review meeting in the presence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and senior officials of the state police, para-military forces and representatives of state and Central Home department.

Chidambaram will later go to Pahalgam in south Kashmir where he will meet officials. Aaah!

A lovely story on the Independent on something we are all familiar with -- sisters.

Friends, rivals, partners -- sisters can be all these and more. Why is this particular sibling set-up so complicated, and so fascinating to outsiders? From the Bennets to the Middletons, Harriet Walker studies the sacred bond of sorority. Read

Lalit Modi on Twiiter:

Bcci even terminated Zee Sports contract unfairly as they had launched ICL and Bcci wanted window for IPL. Which I am told is in court now

Players were told do not play for ICL or we will black list you. This then Bcci had to implement thru change of constitution.

Advertisers were called and told if you advertise on ICL than you will be barred from all bcci cricket by the Bcci.

Yes we as Bcci called all and sundry to oppose ICL. Cricket associations were told not to give there grounds or fear losing matches.

Lalit KModi on Twitter: All correspondence related to scuttling ICL and any unauthorized League - will be made available on my websitewww.lalitmodi.com soon.  

Former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi blamed the International Cricket Council and the Board of Control for Cricket in India for scuttling the Indian Cricket League. The rebel ICL was launched by Subhash Chandra, owner of Zee's Essel Group, in 2007, but it survived only two seasons because of opposition from all national boards on the directive of the BCCI and ICC.

Ramesh Srivats on Twitter:

 think Chetan Bhagat has spent the whole day writing tweets, staring at them, thinking who will get offended, and then deleting them.

See our 13:54 pm post for reference.

Sounds cheesy and simplistic, but it makes so much sense. As the 70s flower children used to say: Make love, not war... And here's why. 

The number of people forced from their homes by conflict around the world has risen to nearly 44 million, the highest level in a decade, a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council said today.

The number of people displaced inside their own country as a result of conflict stood at 27.5 million in 2010 while a further 16.2 million fled their homeland, according to the report, published to mark World Refugee Day.

The 43.7 million total includes civilian populations which fled in previous years but which have still not returned home.

Half of those classified as internally displaced are concentrated in five countries -- Colombia, Sudan, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. Sixty per cent of the refugees come from the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and the DR Congo.

We've been giving you Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speech to his country in bits and spurts... Here's more of what he said today.

Assad vowed not to reform Syria under "chaos" but said dialogue could lead to a new constitution, after his deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests that has stirred Western condemnation.

Syria was at a "turning point" after "difficult days," the president said in a televised speech at Damascus University, vowing the country would emerge stronger in the face of the "plotting" against it.

He said a "national dialogue" was underway that could lead to a new constitution and raised the possibility of elections and an end to the ruling Baath party's dominance, while warning the economy was on the verge of collapse.

Offering his condolences to the families of "martyrs" from the unrest rocking the country since mid-March, Assad said there could be "no development without stability, no reform in the face of sabotage and chaos."

"We make a distinction between those (with legitimate grievances) and the saboteurs who represent a small group which has tried to exploit the goodwill of the Syrian people for its own ends," said Assad.

The Syrian leader's third speech to the nation since the protests broke out, punctuated by applause from the invited audience, was buoyed by a Russian pledge to block Western moves against him at the United Nations.

Western leaders, meanwhile, have been pushing for concrete measures towards reform in Syria.

What Western leaders are doing is called interference in a country's sovereignty.

From the Daily Beast: The international regulatory body overseeing Internet domain names has voted to allow almost any domain address'"so long as the person or group registering it can pay an $185,000 fee.

That means corporations are likely to be the first to sign up. GM, for example, could buy "cars.gm'; local businesses could also buy domain names relating to their locale, like ".nyc.' or .london'.

Almost any word will work, including words in Arabic and Chinese. People and groups can begin applying for new domains January 12; first approvals are expected by the end of 2012.

We told you earlier in the day, that Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand had been chargesheeted today.

Here's why Aseemanand allegedly planned the attack.

Continued attacks on temples across the country led Swami Aseemanand to propound "Bomb ka Badla (revenge) bomb" theory which led to the bombing of Samjhauta Express train, the oldest rail-link between India and Pakistan.

Read more

If you've always wanted a personificaton of what the word fake meant, watch Simi Garewal's Most Desirable, or whatever the chat is called, next week. And keep the barf bag handy.  

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan today filed his affidavit in the Adarsh housing society scam, basically stating that he has "done nothing wrong' in the matter.

We now have the copy of the affidavit with us. Read

A 20-year-old girl has alleged that she was held captive and gang raped for two days in a hotel in Kanpur but the police have denied the claim saying that the medical reports do not corroborate the allegation.

"The girl today lodged an FIR that she was held captive for two days at a hotel in Kanpur and was raped for two days, but preliminary inquiry has indicated that prima facie the allegations are wrong," Special Director General of Police Brij Lal said.

The girl claimed that she got separated from her brother on June 17 at Rawatpur railway station and was later drugged by a youth, Lal said. "She said that when she gained consciousness, she found herself in a hotel where the manager had locked her up," he added.

Pakistan's economy has suffered direct and indirect losses of upto 67.93 billion dollars due its role as a frontline state in counterterrorism operations since 2001. 

According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2010-11, the events transpiring in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks worsened security environment in the country.  

The 'war on terror' has so far taken the lives of over 35,000 citizens and 3,500 security personnel.  

It said the war has affected the country's exports and the pace of privatization programme. It has also prevented the foreign investment inflows and slowed down the overall economic activity.

On Twitter from Mid Day editor Sachin Kalbag:

Dear journalist friends, J Dey was asked to go to the Philippines by me on the invitation of Philippines Tourism. It's as simple as that

American-funded Afghan militias that were raised to protect villages from the Taliban have begun to prey on the residents, and in some cases they are beating, robbing and even killing with impunity, it has emerged.  

Residents and officials warned that the rush to recruit local defense forces around Kandahar had given rise to poorly controlled armed gangs.  

They listed armed robberies, thefts and assaults by the militias, and said the militiamen had become the main worry for many residents in the province''s rural districts.

While Lopez had a wardrobe malfunction, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell struggled to hide her ample assets as she publicly stripped off on a yacht.

Here you go again

Jennifer Lopez left little to imagination when a wardrobe malfunction saw her breast being exposed during a national TV show in Germany. German TV show 'Wetten, Dass...?' was being filmed in Majorca, Spain when Lopez suffered the embarrassment in front of a stadium audience as well as other celebrities present on the show.

The beauty had a grand entrance in a horse-drawn carriage before taking her seat. But as she indulged in arranging the train of her flowing dress to sit down, the garment suffered a slip, leaving her breast exposed.

Here you go

Across the world in Syria,  Britain said today that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must implement reforms in his country or step aside, as the embattled leader prepared to make a major speech.

Britain hopes Turkey would use its influence on Damascus to tell the regime that "they are losing legitimacy, that Assad should reform or step aside."

Assad is due to address the nation today.

The Lokpal meeting has just ended. HRD minister Kapil Sibal says there was 85 per cent consensus on most issues. He said he was happy with the meeting and was looking forward to taking it ahead and would share the draft of the bills that both sides have prepared.

The next meeting is tomorrow.

Here's why self-confessed geek and wannabe writer Chetan Bhagat is trending on Twitter.

Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Samjhauta Blast case has always denied any role in the incident which saw a total of 68 people, mostly Pakistanis were killed in the Samjhauta Express blast, at Panipat's Diwana village, about 80 km from Delhi. 
Last month, Assemanand had filed a bail plea on the ground that the National Investigating Agency had failed to file a chargesheet within 90 days.

However, this was rejected by the Delhi court.

Poor Karunanidhi. Every time his daughter Kanimozhi's bail plea comes up for hearing, he probably feels she'll be out of Tihar jail. But it's not be. The CBI has made a strong case against Kani saying she was in a position to influence the case and tamper with evidence if she was released.

Her defence that she was a woman and had to look after a minor son, cut no ice with, first the trial court, then the high court and now the Supreme Court. She now has to go back to the trial court, which had rejected her bail anyway.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan today filed his affidavit in the Adarsh housing society scam, basically stating that he has "done nothing wrong' in the matter.

Toral Varia, who has joined rediff.com today, outlines what Chavan has stated in his affidavit: 

Allotment of lands belonging to the state of Maharashtra by the government to cooperative housing societies, at the time when I was revenue minister, was governed by Government Resolution dated 9th July 1999.

All the procedural and administrative compliance are looked into and examined by bureaucrats of the concerned departments.

The membership eligibility was approved by the government in July/August 2004 and subsequently this authority was delegated to the collector in September, 2004.

Some time in February 2000, the Adarsh  Cooperative Housing Society made a representation to the then chief minister for allotment and same was marked to the principal secretary (revenue) by the then chief minister with a remark to put up the proposal.

In early June 2000 representation of the society met me as revenue minister and urged me to consider the allotment. I heard the representatives and requested the revenue department to seek the necessary information and clarifications. This is recorded in a file note of the meeting prepared by the deputy secretary.

I say that there was no question of my suggesting that civilian members be included in the society and any suggestion that this was discussed with me or that I had suggested or directed or decided on the same is false and denied.

In the meeting I had asked the department only to look into the issue relating to the allotment of the land and call for the required information in respect thereof.

No decision was taken at that meeting.

Based on the discussions in the meeting of early June 2000, the deputy secretary, revenue department addressed a letter dated 5th June 2000 to the collector requesting him to furnish information inter alia, in respect of the land, eligibility of members.

The file came back to me only some time in the end of july 2002, that is nearly two years after the aforementioned meeting.

Principal secretary (revenue) put up a note recommending the issue a letter of intent

Both Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar (whose bail has also been rejected) have a 20 per cent stake each in Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, which allegedly received Rs 200 crore through a "circuitous" route from Shahid Balwa promoted DB Realty.

Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, who has been left out of the list of accused, owns the remaining 60 per cent shares in the channel.

A special bench comprising of justices GS Singhvi and BS Chauhan was set up after two judges hearing the case recused themselves on Friday.

The CBI, which is probing the case, opposed Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar's petitions on the grounds that if released, they would try to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses.

Kanimozhi (43), who is the daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, has been in jail for over a month now. She moved the apex court after both the trial court and the Delhi High court denied her bail.

Breaking now: DMK MP Kanimozhi's bail plea, which had been before the Supreme Court, has been rejected. The SC has now directed her to file an appeal before the trial court.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today left for Yangon, as part of the first high-level official visit from India since the civilian government took over in Myanmar.

The three-day visit will focus on a number of issues relating to bilateral relations with Myanmar, which is now ruled by a civilian government after several years of military rule.

Krishna is accompanied by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

Commerce and economic relations are expected to behigh on the agenda of talks Krishna will have with the country's president, vice president, the speaker and his counterpart.  

Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi, whose late husband Sanjay Gandhi was one of the leading lights of the Congress party till his death in 1980, has alleged that half of India's black money stashed in Swiss banks belonged to ministers, leaders and supporters of the Congress party. 

The BJP leader, while talking to reporters last night, also alleged that the Congress had kept the Central Bureau of Investigation in its locker and used the agency as and when it required. 

"As the money of Congress leaders is stashed in Swiss banks, therefore the party wants to curb every voice being raised against it," Maneka has alleged.

If you are the kind who spends hours of your workday on Facebook and other social media sites -- and let's face it, who doesn't! -- here's some good news for you.

Findings of a new Pew Research Center study say that Facebook could make you more trusting, enable closer relationships in your life, ensure more emotional support in times of need and, hey, even prod you into more involvement in politics.

The study is said to highlight a new type of "digital divide" -- the nearly 20 percent of Americans who are not Internet users and missing out on those same social networking benefits, and when you consider that in India the chasm between the Net haves and have-nots is wider, it becomes applicable here as well.

"If people on Facebook are getting all these great rewards, then there's a group of people out there who are really bad off," said Keith Hampton, the report's lead author and an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, has been quoted as saying. "They have the smallest social network, fewer close ties, are way less likely to vote and are less involved with neighbors," he said in an interview.

You can read more about this here

The Union Cabinet met on Sunday to finalise its strategy for Monday's meeting with civil society over the provisions in the Lokpal bill which is to be tabled in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

Seven previous meetings have proved elusive, with the government playing hard ball with Anna Hazare and Co over the inclusion of the prime minister, ministers and members of the senior judiciary under the Lokpal.

Today's meeting is expected to be the last between the two sides, and if it proves inconclusive as well, Anna Hazare is expected to undertake a nationwide yatra to create awareness among the public ahead of his proposed hunger strike on August 16.

Good morning, and welcome to today's News As It Happens, after a weekend break.

There is good news for the Indian Cricket XI in the West Indies, after losing the last two ODIs to a depleted rival team.

PTI reports that the injury-hit Indian cricket team heaved a sigh of relief after opener Murali Vijay was declared fit for the opening Test against the West Indies, starting in Kingston, Jamaica, today.

Vijay, who was hit on his right forefinger in his first practice session on Friday, has suffered no real damage. Vijay was back in the nets and batted with intensity at Sabina Park yesterday.

Let's see how the team fares from hereon, shall we?