R Rajagopalan on Twitter: MK Stalin just went inside Tihar Jail to meet Kanimozhi.

The DMK Rajya Sabha MP has been in jail since May 20 over her alleged involvement in the 2G scam.

Today, the UP Assembly passed the resolution to carve up the state into four parts. Read the editorial on the Hindu.

An interesting read on the Globe and the Mail on slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam. As recently as a year ago, it was possible to speak of Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, with a reasonably straight face, as a reformer who was attempting to take his country in the direction of democracy.

Read

Also see our 15:40 pm post.

Like many airline promoters, Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher has long cultivated a flamboyant image, from his Branson-esque facial hair, sponsorship of sports teams and collection of flash cars to his promotion of a swimwear calendar and innuendo-laden promise, replayed on in-flight videos during take-off, that he has personally selected each of the Indian airline's routinely gorgeous cabin crew.

On the Economist, how Kingfisher, a big Indian airline with an even bigger boss, fights for survival. Read

Imagine being told by a news channel or a newspaper that the minister you voted for was as right a choice as could be or that the zonal officer from your local municipal ward has done an inimitable task or that the food that you consume from a particular brand has the ingredients to unleash the hidden potential out of you or even better, that if you carry out an assignment on an auspicious day as predicted by the pundits your fortunes would change forever'? You'd fall for the bait, right?

On mxmindia.com Read

Iran dares Israel to attack, because the retaliation would send the Jewish state to "the dustbin of history," a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said,
according to the Fars news agency today. 

"Our greatest wish is that they commit such a mistake," the chief of the Guards' aerospatial division, Amir-Ali Hadjizadeh, was quoted as saying.

"For some time there has been a hidden energy we hope to expend to consign the enemies of Islam forever to the dustbin of history," he said. "Our ballistic (missile) capacity never ceases to grow," he added.

On Friday, Supreme Court judges KS Radhakrishnan and CK Prasad gave the go-ahead for 45,000 new auto rickshaw permits to be issued in Delhi. The move has the potential to drastically improve the city's auto-rickshaw service for passengers and drivers alike, but many unanswered questions about distribution, implementation and numbers remain.

Read more on Kafila.org.

"It cannot go on like this," the Supreme Court tersely told the Centre today while rapping it for not taking action against officials allegedly involved in
the multi-crore scam in the purchase of defence equipments in 1999 Kargil operations.

"We do not want to be harsh with you in the case. We have been accommodating but it cannot go like this," the bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam told the government. The court's remarks came when senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, assisting the court as amicus curiae, pointed out that the government has failed to take action against anyone during the last 12 years after the scam was unearthed. 

"We are not happy at all (with Centre's action)," the court observed. Dwivedi submitted that there is lack of political will to take action on the part of the government.

Fears were growing for frail Bee Gees star Robin Gibb last night as he battled liver cancer. The stricken singer, 61, was given the devastating news the disease was getting worse after months of treatment failed to have an effect.  

Even if you did not grow up with the Bee Gees nasal renditions of music in Saturday Night Fever, Gibbs and bandmate Barry became iconic of the disco era.  

Read the Sun story.

It used to be a pleasure to watch Sachin Tendulkar bat; the shots that flowed as he took the attack to the bowlers, constantly challenging them to maintain line and length under fire. At the moment it's painful to see him prod and poke as he seeks to eke out his 100th century.

Ian Chappell on how Tendulkar seems burdened by the expectations surrounding his latest milestone on espncricinfo.com. Read

Father and son Max and Alex Vadukul traveled to Kolkata this summer, to photograph the city's thinkers, writers and artist.

"The misunderstood city welcomed our curiosity. Its grim slums, incessant Ambassador taxi horns and unpleasant street odors tested us at first, but we eventually developed a great affection for the place,' Alex writes in this article for "T,' the New York Times Style Magazine. In pictures.

For several weeks now, Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has been campaigning vigorously to have the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (or AFSPA) withdrawn from his state.

The act, which confers upon soldiers in "disturbed areas' extraordinary powers and legal immunity, has operated in the Kashmir valley since 1990 and in Jammu since 2001.  Read the blog on the New York Times.

On the Wall Street Journal, Swapan Dasgupta's opinion piece: In democracies, dynastic succession should be a deviation from the norm.

In India, many political parties are anyway led by sons and daughters of former bosses, but nowhere is this more prevalent than in the ruling Congress party, which the Gandhi-Nehru family has dominated since independence.

Another succession is now in the offing, assuming of course that Indians keep tolerating this deviation.

Read

Interesting story on the Sun that says how Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was found fleeing Libya disguised as a camel herder.

Saif, 39, was trying to sneak over the border to Niger dressed in the robes and turban of a nomad. When he was cornered, Saif fell to the ground, rubbed sand on his face and said: "My name is Abdul Salem, a camel keeper."

Read

Detains are in: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) today told the Gujarat high court that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was not genuine.

The SIT has recommended that murder charges be filed against those police officers who were involved in the fake encounter of Ishrat jahan and three others.

The Gujarat high court on October 7 asked SIT, probing the encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others, to submit its final report by November 18.

That was the second time that the court had directed the SIT to submit its final report. During the hearing on September 10, the SIT was asked to give its final report by October 7. However, the team had submitted an interim report saying investigation into the case was not yet over.

During the October 7 proceedings, Verma had said that they wanted to conduct psycho-analysis test on some of the witnesses, who have turned hostile and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has given them time to conduct such a test between October 19 and 21.

Verma also told the court that they had some queries regarding the CFSL report on reconstruction of the encounter.

The next hearing of the case was decided to hold on November 21.

Ishrat (19), Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were allegedly killed in a police encounter here on June 15, 2004.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which submitted its final report on the encounter deaths of Mumbai teenager Ishrat Jahan and three others, says the encounter was fake. A division bench of justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari on October 7, had directed the SIT to submit the final report that would conclude if the encounter of the four persons, claimed by Gujarat Police to be terrorists, was genuine or fake.

Australia's opposition parties today questioned Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plans to reverse a ban on uranium exports to India and her snubbing of
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on the matter. 

The opposition raised the issue during question time in Parliament, asking both Gillard and Rudd to speak on the matter. Responding to opposition's call, Prime Minister Gillard said she believed it was a leader's call to raise the need to change the party's platform on an issue.

Sporadic clashes have continued overnight between demonstrators and security forces in the Egyptian capital as protests enter a fourth day. At least 13 people died and hundreds were injured over the weekend as troops launched a major assault to clear Cairo's Tahrir Square of protesters. More on the bbc.

Watch the video

First it was money folded into paper planes that were flown over the walls of dissident artist Ai Weiwei's home. Now Chinese Internet users' latest show of solidarity with Ai has taken the unlikeliest form of protest: mass nudity.

Read the Reuters story.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris is suing the Australian government over a new law making plain packaging mandatory for cigarettes from December 2012. Australia's parliament has passed legislation that means all tobacco will need to be sold in plain olive-brown packets with graphic health warnings.

Canberra said the law was "one of the most momentous public health measures in Australia's history". Read the bbc story.

On Firstpost.com: Size matters. The smaller the states the better governed they are. It is easier for people to be heard, and their development needs are taken care of better.  

Central policies are easier to implement and monitor if the states are smaller. It frees people of the deprivation complex and the feeling of getting oppressed by more powerful sections from other regions of the bigger state.

Also, it fuels new aspirations. This has been the argument of the proponents of smaller states for long. Read

If you've been following up on Demi Moore's divorce with Ashton Kutcher, here's an update.

The actress is reportedly very furious with Kutcher for cheating on her and bringing their six-year marriage to a humiliating end.

The allegations of Sara Lee claiming Kutcher slept with her on the night of his sixth wedding anniversary, caused irreparable damage to the couple, with Moore being widely reported on several occasions as losing a concerning amount of weight due to stress.

According to MTV the actress finally called time on the marriage earlier this week.

Related stories on the Kambli match-fix allegations on rediff.com...

Kambli claims not worth probing: BCCI

BCCI should probe Kambli's fixing claims: Maken

Pak cricket community hits out at BCCI, ICC

The murmurs of Vinod Kambli's match-fix allegations refuse to down on.

Excerpts from the CNN IBN blog:

Aakash Chopra likes to call himself the '245th Indian to represent India in Test cricket'. It is a statement of fact. But it is also a medal, a badge of honour. The aspiration to wear an India cap is spawned every second somewhere in this country. That dream is pursued with vigour and purity. So merely accomplishing it is an Everest. Fail or succeed, the cap is yours. For keeps. Forever. Vinod Kambli is Test cap number 198. And he has been spitting on it.

More

Addressing a press meet immediately after the UP Assembly passed a resolution to carve up the state into four parts, chief minsiter Mayawati says the Assembly has done it's duty by supporting the resolution in a voice vote.

She said the division of the state is not a political move and those who oppose it do not want development in the state. She says the resolution was passed as the Centre did not act on UP.

The BJP says the passage of the resolution shows Maya's dictatorial style.

Cong says the move is a shocking, sad day for the state.

The resolution now goes to the Union Cabinet and has to be passed by a 2/3rd majority.

In other news Theodore Forstmann, a business leader and philanthropist who was romantically linked to Indian born actress-model Padma Lakshmi, died on Sunday. He was 71.

Forstmann suffered from brain cancer, The New York Times, said. The billionaire never married Lakshmi, 41, but was dating her for a long time.

Their relationship made headlines when she gave birth to now 1-year-old daughter Krishna in February 2010, which spawned speculation over the identity of the father.

But it was later revealed that Venture capitalist Adam Dell is the father.  

Back to news on Pak envoy to the US, Husain Haqqani.

The wife of enovy, involved in a controversy over a secret memo sent to the Obama administration, today defended her husband and said he was ready to face an inquiry into the matter. 

Farahnaz Ispahani, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, said Haqqani was prepared to sue Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who has claimed the memo was drafted and delivered on the envoy's instructions. She described Ijaz as "a citizen of another country" whose allegations "make me believe he is working against Pakistan's democracy".

Ispahani said she and her husband want "an investigtion" into the matter and were "ready for a forensic investigation". "Whatever guidance is given to us by our senior leadership (in the ruling Pakistan People's Party), we will take it but personally if the senior leadership allows us, we will go in for libel," Ispahani told reporters outside the Supreme Court.

Read the related stories on the divide-UP resolution on rediff.com...  

Is Mayawati's UP division ploy a sign of desperation?

Mayawati's move to split UP a political stunt' 

Mayawati hits back at oppn for slamming her move to split UP

Just in: UP Assembly passes resolution to divide UP into four parts by a voice vote, even as the Assembly was adjourned indefinitely.

Read on Rediff.com: Mayawati wants to split UP into four new states

The backbiting (we refrain from using the more apt description) has begun.

The president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress party, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, has claimed that state Chief Minister Mayawati has a phobia of Rahul Gandhi, as he has the potential to remove her from office and power.

Bahuguna-Joshi said, "Mayawati has the phobia of the Congress party, especially Rahul Gandhi. So, we are very happy and we congratulate Rahul Gandhi, and hope, that due to his efforts, all Muslims, poor and from the backward classes, who are supposed to get reservation under the backward class category, will get it very soon."

Ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, senior leaders of the BJP today met at the residence of party leader L K Advani to chalk out the party's strategy.

 The meeting of the executive committee of BJP parliamentary party was attended by BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, deputy leader in the Rajya
Sabha S S Ahluwalia. Among other party leaders who were present at the meeting were Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Ravishankar Prasad, Shanta Kumar and Ananth Kumar.

Another report on Haqqani:

Husain Haqqani is now willing to hand over his BlackBerry phone to help in the investigation over a secret memo to Washington that claims President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup, a media report said.

Haqqani had met Zardari on Sunday and spoke to him about the secret memo. He then expressed his willingness to hand over his BlackBerry for investigation, reported Geo News.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani has stuck to his stance that he had nothing to do with the controversial secret memorandum sent to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen to prevent a possible military coup, according to a media report today.

Haqqani conveyed his position to President Asif Ali Zardari during two informal meetings held at the presidency yesterday, the Dawn quoted sources close to the President as saying.

Asked about the possibility of deportation of Anup Chetia, languishing in a jail in Dhaka since 1997, Hossain said due to some legal issues, he has not been deported but hoped that those issues would be resolved soon and that he would be handed over to India "at the earliest". 

"Legal matters are not in our hands... We can't commenton them. They are subjudice. Once that is done, we will take appropriate action at the earliest," he said. 

Singh said discussions on Chetia were on and New Delhi was happy with the status and the steps being taken by Bangladesh. "We consider Bangladesh to be one of our closest friends. In the past one-and-a-half years, our cooperation has been very close, very close indeed.

"We are very happy -- both the countries are very happy with the cooperation which is inplace. We look forward to this cooperation and (want it) to keep going on," he said.

Details of the India-Bangladesh secretary level meet in New Delhi today.

Bangladesh has said it will not tolerate anti-India activities on its soil and gave assurance that fugitives like ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia will be handed over to India at the "earliest". 

Addressing a joint press conference at the end of the 12th India-Bangladesh Home Secretary-level talks, Bangladesh Home Secretary Monzur Hosssain said Dhaka was keen to further improve security cooperation with New Delhi by exploring new areas for mutual benefit of the two neighbours. 

"Anti-India forces are not active in Bangladesh. We don't allow them. We don't allow them to do anything like that. But some time some things do happen, that is a different issue. But they will not be tolerated. We have zero tolerance for them," he said sitting besides Union Home Secretary R K Singh. 

Both the Home Secretaries reaffirmed their commitment not to allow the territory of either country to be used for any activity inimical to each other's interests. 

The Delhi Police today registered a case of causing death due to negligence against the organisersof a transgender meet in north-east Delhi where a fire killed at least 14 people.

Police sources said a case was registered against the organisers of the meet in Nand Nagri.

Fourteen eunuchs were killed and over 40 others injured last night when a major fire swept through the community hall where the congregation of the community was taking place. Sources said the organisers had not taken the requisite permission from fire brigade and police for holding the meeting.

They said prima facie the reason for the fire appeared tobe a short circuit in the kitchen area and that the firespread from there.

And another take on the same story from the International News.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, reportedly held two 'informal meetings' with President Asif Ali Zardari but the Presidency neither denied nor confirmed them.

When contacted, Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar denied any meeting and responded via SMS saying: "No, not yet. It would be difficult for me to say categorically...It was Sunday and no official meeting was planned in the Presidency.' Read more

The Uttar Pradesh assembly has been adjourned till 12:20 pm following an uproar over a resolution to split Uttar Pradesh into four states, says an NDTV report.

Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday asked BSP lawmakers to attend in full strength the Winter Session of Vidhan Sabha beginning today. Issuing instructions to this effect to party MPs, MLAs and ministers at a meeting in Lucknow, she advised them to raise issues of public interest like corruption, Lokpal Bill and problems of the common man.

She also asked them to vehemently counter the Opposition charges in their respective Houses. She said a resolution to reorganise Uttar Pradesh into four states would be presented and a vote on account tabled in the Vidhan Sabha.

Seven people have been detained in connection with the murder of an Indian nun who campaigned for the rights of tribal people in India, police say. Sister Valsa John was killed after about 50 people broke into her home last week in eastern Jharkand state.

The police said they had picked up seven local villagers for questioning. Sister John's brother says she recently spoke of threats from a "mining mafia". There has been no word from mining officials. The bbc report.

Col Gaddafi's fugitive spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi has been captured, Libya's interim government says. He was seized by fighters in the south of the country, officials say. Sanussi, who has not yet been seen in custody, was one of the last senior figures from the Gaddafi regime still on the run.

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was seized on Saturday. Both he and Mr Sanussi are wanted for alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Read the bbc.co.uk report

Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi plans to run in upcoming by-elections, her spokesman said today, days after her party decided to rejoin
the official political arena. 

The National League for Democracy (NLD) move Friday to end its boycott of the political process came on the same day the military-dominated government received a seal of approval from Washington for a string of nascent reforms.

US state department shows PoK as part of Pakistan (The Times of India)

India's map in the official website of US state department completely ignores Indias claim over PoK by not even acknowledging its disputed status. Read

Earthquake rocks Assam, Manipur and Nagaland (Hindustan Times)
An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked India's northeast, Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday, triggering panic among people. Read

Yatra over, anti-graft campaign on: Advani (Hindustan Times)
Ending his anti-corruption Jan Chetna Yatra in New Delhi, BJP patriarch LK Advani set the ball rolling for taking the fight against UPA corruption from the streets to Parliament, which meets for winter session from Tuesday. Read

Mayawati govt likely to place UP division bill in assembly today (Hindustan Times)
The last session of the 15th state assembly, which begins today and is likely to last two days, is expected to be stormy. The ruling BSP is likely to table the issue of division of Uttar Pradesh and the opposition SP and the BJP are planning to bring a no-confidence motion against the government. Read

NDA MPs to give no assets outside India' declaration (The Hindu)
Accusing the government of "lack of political will" to fight graft, Mr. Advani said the only route to end corruption is through public awakening or a change of government. Read