And someone who will be very happy that the baby looks like Aishwarya...  

RGVzoomin Ram Gopal Varma's tweet on Nov 16:  I just hope that she has more Aishwarya than Abhishek

Chiefs of three leading telecom firms --Bharti, Idea and Vodafone-- have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to resolve the dispute of 3G roaming pact or else they threatened to surrender spectrum. 

In a letter, jointly signed by Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel, Kumar Manglam Birla of Idea and Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao, they said, "...in the event that 3G Intra-Circle Roaming (ICR) is now deemed impermissible, then,
it would be a clear breach of our contract and the pre-auction confirmation given by the Government."

Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan are briefing the press, the first since the baby girl was born. The interview on NDTV shows both father and son in white kurta and pyjama, with Amitabh saying how proud and happy they are as a family at the birth of a daughter. Big B says Aishwarya wanted a normal delivery and went ahead with it.  

Film and television actor Swapnil Joshi and two others were today detained at the international airport here, for carrying Indian currency beyond the
permissible limit while returning from abroad, a senior Customs official said.

Joshi, along with comedian Vijay Pawar, who is widely known as 'VIP' and a lady, were intercepted at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here, after their return from Bangkok.

While Joshi and Pawar were found with a cash of Rs 1 lakh each in their possession, the latter was found carrying Rs 40,000, the official said.

Roots In Kashmir , an organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, filed a petition against novelist and social activist Arundhati Roy for allegedly calling for an end to Indian occupation of Kashmir in a speech recently at New York.

The report on webindia123.com says that three members of the organisation headed by convener Vir Saraf filed the petition against Roy before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court through advocate Rohit Kapoor.

Roy had recently in New York in a discussion on Kashmir has made such remarks, which has hurt the entire Kashmiri Pandit community, Saraf said.

Roy as per the published report in various newspapers and a Pakistan-based news agency on November 12 had made a case for Kashmiri people s right to self-determination before an American audience, with an impassioned call for an end to the 'brutal Indian occupation of Kashmir'.

Just in: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court admits a PIL against author and activist Arundhati Roy for her alleged anti-India remarks of Indian 'occupation in the state'.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's claim that the inflation will come down to 6-7 per cent by March was taken by the Left and the Right parties with
more than a pinch of salt. 

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta dubbed the Finance Minister as an astrologer, while BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain said the government's claim could not be relied upon as they have often made such "false promises".

"Finance Minister's statement is a piece of paper without any significant and a colossal denial by government to accept its own failure to control the inflation. He has been saying so...," Dasgupta told reporters outside Parliament House.

"He is an astrologer. Pranab babu has become an astrologer. Let him believe in religion but let him not become an astrologer. He is speaking this for the last four years. Always he is saying it will be done...it will be done...it will be done. But never he says this has been done...this has been done...this has been done," the Left MP said.

Sonia Gandhi entered Lok Sabha at 10:55 hours, Congress MPs queued up meet her tweets R Rajagopalan. 

And more tweets from R Rajagopalan on the aborted proceedings inside Parliament today.  

• PM stopped at T R Baalu's seat and enquired about Karunanidhi's health. PM and Sonia Gandhi today walked across Central Hall and greeted Congress MPs.

• Varun Gandhi BJP MP today was the first to come to Lok Sabha, at 1050 hours 10 minutes before House begins.

• Sharad Pawar today jokingly pinched P Chidambaram in Lok Sabha and pointing to the BJP benches said they will boycott you. Home Minister was seated in the front row

R Rajagopalan tweets on Parliament proceedings today:

Kirti Azad today cried, wiped tears in Lok Sabha when Speaker Meira Kumar read an obituary on his father Bhagwad Jha Azad. Mulayam Singh Yadav's birthday. Inside Lok Sabha each MP went to greet 'Netaji'. A touching scene - tall socialist leader, was happy.

The Press Council has received 30 complaints of Paid News against newspapers in the country since 2009. A majority of the cases have been closed for "non pursuance" by complainants. Some of the complaints have been reported as "matter ripe for listing before the Inquiry Committee of the Council" while in some cases show cause notices have been issued. 

Also read R Rajagopalan's blog on the same issue.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman also ridiculed Hazare's suggestion and said that her party does not support such radical methods and his approach was no way to deal with alcoholism. "It is not something which you can implement,

not because you can't but these(steps) are not the ways today," she said.
Hazare's comments set the cyberspace abuzz with some sarcastic comments. One blogpost said this was 'anna's shariah' punishment for drunkards."
"Dear Anna Hazare, please accept: People won't stop drinking. Nor smoking, infidelity, violence, prostitution etc. Just focus on corruption," said one blogger.

Anna Hazare came under fire from political parties for his controversial comments that alcoholics should be flogged and shamed in public, a prescription dubbed by Congress as a Taliban-type action.

The 74-year-old anti-corruption crusader's approach to combat alcoholism also kicked up a debate today in the cyberspace with some bloggers saying the Gandhian is exceeding his "mandate" and that he should not go "overboard" and remain focussed on his campaign to fight graft.

Hazare's way of going after drunkards came to the fore when he spoke of how he got people in his native village in Maharashtra to give up drinking. He however advocated giving prior warnings before taking any such steps. 

The social activist said that if anyone after drinking creates trouble he would be simply warned thrice because he is "our man (belonging to our village).

" The person will also be made to understand that it is not good to drink. But even after warning him thrice if he again drinks then we will take him to temple and he has to swear by God that he won't drink in future.

"And even after all this he drinks then we will tie him up to the electric pole in front of the temple and then beat him up so that he gets scared," he said.

The only important question in the West right now is how to restart stalled economic growth. So it is easy to be dazzled by India, where a 7 percent rise in gross domestic product is the nightmare scenario, and optimists are shooting for 9. But Indians themselves are starting to worry about how that growth is being achieved '" and who is benefiting. The headline complaint is corruption.

Read the blog on Reuters.

A report from the South China Morning Post:

China will not confront the US or change its policies ahead of Xi Jinping's visit to Washington next year, political analysts say. Beijing has been caught off guard by recent US moves in the Asia-Pacific region, but analysts do not expect China to make major changes in its policies ahead of Vice-President Xi Jinping's trip to America next year.

Beijing has been well aware of the US diplomatic shift to Asia for a long time, with Barack Obama declaring himself America's first "Pacific President" two years ago in Japan.

But analysts said Beijing had not expected Obama to take a hard-line approach against China and confront it by raising territorial disputes in the South China Sea at last weekend's East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

How about a 3D tour of Picasso's Guernica? Watch it on openculture.com

On the NYT: The world is even smaller than you thought. Adding a new chapter to the research that cemented the phrase "six degrees of separation' into the language, scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan reported on Monday that the average number of acquaintances separating any two people in the world was not six but 4.74.

Read

The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution against Iran with a record number of votes, condemning the country for its human rights violations that have taken the shape of "executions" and "torture". 

The 193-member Assembly also passed resolutions condemning human rights violations in North Korea and Myanmar.

The resolution on Iran was passed by a record number of votes -- 86 -- in favour with 32 against and 59 abstentions. India abstained from voting.

The Opposition has been demanding specific discussions on making public the list of Indian black money account holders abroad, food inflation, Telangana, farmers suicide, and recent developments in Indo-Pak relations after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's SAARC visit.

Blockade in Manipur, floods, encephalitis outbreak, Centre-state relations, situation in Kashmir especially after the recent controversy over AFSPA, are some other topics.

On November 14, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority distributed a list of 1,695 words in English and Urdu, the national language, to operators, giving them seven days to implement a filtering system. It's being shelved now.

Read the story on the Dawn.

There was a time when it looked like New York billionaire Theodore 'Teddy' Forstmann might play Aristotle Onassis to Princess Diana's poignantly single Jackie Kennedy.

While not blessed with the good looks of a dashing Major James Hewitt or her other lover, swarthy art dealer Oliver Hoare, he was, like Onassis, reassuringly rich, clever, and more than able to provide private jets and security.

Read the story on the Daily Mail.

Here's Vishnu Prakash's statement on the Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project in Manipur and Bangladesh's apprehensions over it. 

Prakash, who is the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs says it has been clarified to the Bangladesh delegation that the proposed project was a hydro-electric project with provision to control floods and that this would not involve diversion of water on account of irrigation.  

"Subsequently, during the visit of the Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister of Bangladesh to India in January 2010, our Prime Minister had reiterated the assurance that India would not take steps on the Tipaimukh project that would adversely impact on Bangladesh. 

The assurance was again reiterated during the visit of our Prime Minister to Bangladesh in September 2011," he said.

Here's the backgrounder on the Hindu: In Bangladesh, Tipaimukh dam pact sparks fresh row

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi today said nothing can be ruled out including the "involvement of miscreants" in the train fire mishap in Howrah-Dehradun
Express.

"Let us wait for the inquiry report. Involvement of miscreants cannot be ruled out at this stage. But I am not speculating anything. According to the initial report, a person came with some smelly substance, then smoke came out," Trivedi said today. 

Seven persons including two children were burnt to death in the fire in Giridih in Jharkhand. Two AC coaches were gutted in the fire in the early hours.

Bit of a breather for Congress: The CPI today said while the entire Opposition was united on the issue of price rise, it did not support NDA's move to boycott Home Minister P Chidambaram on 2G issue, saying it would "expose" him inside and outside Parliament.

"We are not for boycott of any minister...There are no made for each other propositions in politics. We know who P Chidambaram is. We will expose him inside and outside Parliament," CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said
outside Parliament House.

A doctor, who examined Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's wounds, has fuelled speculations that his fingers were chopped off by the rebels.  

Dr Andrey Murkhovsky refused to rule out the possibility that Saif's injured right hand was the result of a revenge attack.  

Dr. Murkhovsky cast doubt on claims by the tyrant's son that it was caused by a NATO missile strike, the Daily Mail reports. We told you yesterday, that Saif was pictured holding up his bandaged fingers when he was captured.

Incidentally, Team Anna representatives met Arun Jaitley BJP leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha in Parliament today. The meeting comes ahead of the Parliament panel meet on Lokpal.

Details of the attack on the convoy of Chinese engineers in Pakistan.

In a second major attack in as many days, suspected militants in Pakistan's restive southwest Balochistan province today attacked a group of Chinese
engineers being escorted by security forces, killing five persons and injuring 11 others. 

The Chinese engineers escaped unhurt in the attack in which three security personnel were among those killed, officials were quoted as saying by TV news channels.

The incident occurred in Dera Bugti district, which has sizeable gas reserves. But, there was no official word on the incident. Chinese nationals are involved in several projects in northwest and southwest Pakistan. 

On the Wall Street Journal's India Real Time blogs: Rajinikanth's son-in-law Dhanush said he wrote the lyrics to 'Kolaveri Di' while he was bored on the set of '3,' his wife Aishwarya's upcoming Tamil film.

In all honesty, it sounds like he didn't put much thought into it. "Yo boys I am singing song, soup song, flop song,' is how Dhanush starts his song in the promotional video. That sets the tone for the rest of it.

Read

As Rahul Gandhi hits the road in UP today beginning with Barabanki, read the Firstpost.com piece: The Gandhi scion gets some attention in the latest issue of the Economist which abandons its typically caustic tone to take a softer line on the heir apparent. T

he editorial, for example, calls for a move away from dynastic politics but also includes this eyebrow-raising line: 'Anyone who wants India to succeed should hope that Mr Gandhi turns into the leader the country so desperately needs.'

Read

A couple of nice reads coming up.

First, from Open magazine, on the woman who desgined an SUV.

Before Rahul Gandhi began his meeting in Barabanki today, group of Congressmen jumped in front of his cavalcade at Amausi airport, protesting against alleged discrepancies in distribution of tickets for the upcoming
Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

During his earlier rally at Phulpur two weeks ago, Samajwadi Party activists protested with black flags.

Right now, Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa has appeared before the Bangalore court for the second round of questioning in the disproportionate assests case.

See our 11 am post

We told you earlier that the Parliament has adjourned for the day, even as the winter session got off to a stormy start with members raising issues ranging from better price for cotton to a separate Telangana and BJP protesting against Home Minister P Chidambaram. Briefly, here's what happened...

Telangana: Soon after Speaker Meira Kumar completed obituary references, the members were seen on their feet waving placards and raising slogans on various issues.Congress members from Telangana region chanted 'We want Telangana' and carried placards which read 'implement the promise on formation of Telangana', 'introduce Bill on Telangana'.

Amid the din, the Speaker called for the Question Hour. 

2G and PC: As Chidambaram stood up to reply, BJP members rose in unison to protest against him.BJP-led NDA has been demanding resignation of the Home Minister alleging his involvement in the 2G scam when he was Finance Minister, and has decided to boycott him in Parliament.

The Speaker adjourned the House till noon and when it reconvened, was adjourned within minutes as the din continued. Not a promising start.

On day 1 of Rahul Gandhi's roadshow in UP, the Congress general secretary is addressing a rally in Barabanki. Draws on family to begin his speech, saying his family has long ties with Barabanki.

He says the UP government has not allowed central funds to reach the needy, and it is the middlemen and netas who are benefitting from MNREGA. He says the Congress wants to employ people through MNREGA.

Libya is expected to announce the formation of a new cabinet, in a first step to forming an elected government.

Prime Minister-designate Abdurrahim al-Keib said all of Libya's regions would be represented. The transitional government is tasked with drafting a constitution and holding democratic elections.

Three months after Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown, Libya's new authorities are trying to assert their control over the entire country. More on bbc.co.uk

Takeaways on world news

Egyptian activists have called for mass demonstrations after an overnight standoff between security forces and protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Thousands flocked to the square overnight after the cabinet offered its resignation to the military council. At least 26 people have been killed and hundreds injured in three days of protests against the military rulers.

More on bbc.co.uk

Here's why Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will miss the first four days of the winter session of Parliamen. Raul begins his four-day programme in UP.

At 10: 30 am: District worker's meeting at the Govt Inter College Ground, Barabanki

At 12 pm: Interaction with party workers.

At 1:30 pm: Interaction with party workers at Kaisarganj, District Bahraich

At 3 pm: Interaction with party workers at Raja Baundi, Bahraich.

Wednesday:  

9:30 am: District workers meeting at Bahraich

11 am: Interaction with party workers at Bahraich

12pm: Interaction with party workers at Bahraich.

2:30 pm: Interaction with party workers at Shravasti district.

Rahul Gandhi's programme for November 24th and 26th will be released later.

In other news: Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, has declared that he loves Pakistan and is not keen to continue with his ambassadorial job. 

Talking to the International News, Haqqani was absolutely calm and composed and said because of an anti-American bent of mind, some people considered his opinions wrong.

He claimed that he had worked hard to cultivate better Pak-US relations and was prepared to undergo any investigation and face any charges. More

Bill for consideration and passing in LS today: Damodar Valley Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2011, the Public Premises Amendment Bill, 2011 and the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011.

Uproar in Parliament over political situation in UP. RS adjourned till tomorrow and LS till noon.

And it begins: Calls for baith jaiye from Speaker Meira Kumar as Question Hour opens in Parliament. The first question is on Naxal-hit areas.

This is what the PM today said on the boycott Chidambaram issue.

Addressing an informal press meet before the Parliament began, PM Manmohan Singh said, "As far as the boycott is concerned, I sincerely hope that the political parties will desist any such temptation. There is virtually no case for a boycott of the type that has been talked about in the newspapers," Singh told reporters outside Parliament on the opening day of the Winter Session.

In an escalation of confrontation, the NDA had yesterday decided to target Chidambaram by boycotting him and not allowing him to speak in Parliament, holding him also responsible for the 2G Scam.

As the NDA gets set to boycott Home Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament (till he offers his resignation) over his alleged involvement in the 2G Scam, members of the UPA government have been defending him in full strenght.

Minister of State, PMO, V Narainswamy said, "Chidambaram has done no wrong, he is not involved in the scam."

Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh tweeted, "Chidambaram is being targeted by BJP as he refused to slow down NIA investigation on Sangh terror. Keep it up PC don't be bullied by them."

The NDA has decided to target Home Minister P Chidambaram on the 2G issue and there are signs of the Left and Right coming together to corner the government on price rise and black money.

Government hopes to pass two bills a day in the Parliament session with 31 bills listed.

Here's the schedule for the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha today.

Lok Sabha

1. Oath
2. Obituary references
3. Finance Minister to make a statement regarding the latest price situation and inflationary pressures in the economy
4. Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2011
5. Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011
6. Damodar Valley Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2011

Rajya Sabha
1. Obituary references

In other news, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will be appearing personally in a special court today in the second round of questioning in a disproportionate assets case.

Jayalalithaa is accused of accumulated assets worth Rs 66 crore during her tenure as Chief Minister between 1991-96. The case was filed by Janta Party President, Subramanian Swamy, and later followed up by arch rivals DMK, who wanted the case to be moved out of Tamil Nadu.

Special judge BM Mallikarjunaiah has nearly 1400 questions for Jayalalithaa, of which she answered over 560 during a special hearing last month.

Good morning. The winter session of Parliament begins at 11 am today and is expected to be stormy affair with a determined opposition stacking up ammunition against the government on a range of issues including price rise and corruption.

Ahead of the Parliament session, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he hopes that the Winter Session will move smoothly. He said the government is prepared to discuss all issues which the Opposition wants to raise.

PM says there is virtually no case for boycott of Parliament and hoped that political parties will desist from any such temptation.

Howrah-Dehradun Express catches fire, seven dead (The Times of India)
At least 7 people were charred to death when two AC coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun express train caught fire on Tuesday in Giridih district of Jharkhand. Read

Maharashtra has spent Rs 16 crore on Kasab so far (The Times of India)

The Maharashtra government has spent Rs 16.17 crore on security, food and medical expenses of 26/11 gunman Ajmal Kasab in the last three years. Read

Rupee hits record low of 52.2/dollar (The Times of India)

The rupee slid past 52.2 against the dollar in opening trades on Tuesday, dropping to its lowest level in history, as broad gains in the dollar overseas and sustained demand from domestic oil refiners weighed. Read

US removes maps showing PoK as part of Pak from website (Indian Express)
State Dept has taken off 'inaccurate' maps of India and Pak, which did not reflect correct boundary. Read

Govt targets 31 key bills, Oppn to bring adjournment motion (The Hindu)
The winter session of Parliament beginning today is expected to be stormy affair with a determined opposition stacking up ammunition against the government on a range of issues including price rise and corruption. Read

U.P. House votes for split (The Hindu)

Chief Minister Mayawati at a press conference said the there was no political motive in her decision to seek vote on splitting Uttar Pradesh. Read