1. HC admits Maha govt's appeal in Grover murder
2. Furious bus driver runs over passengers
3. Sena toes the MNS line over Mumbai auto strike
4. Karzai says India's great friend, Pak's twin brother
5. Chemistry Nobel goes to Israeli for quasicrystal
6. Auto strikes gift Raj anti-north Indian platform
7. India launches "world's cheapest" tablet computer @ Rs 1756

Army chief Gen V KSingh says around 4,000 Chinese, including members of People's Liberation Army,  are present in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

In May this year, Indian intelligence agencies said they had credible evidence of their own that several hundred of the Chinese working in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are People's Liberation Army engineers. They are in the process of verifying if these Chinese military engineers are engaged in some sort of military construction like bunkers. Read the report in the Times of India.

The Congress today said the Opposition parties should be satisfied with the judicial probe ordered by the Jammu and Kashmir Government into the alleged custodial death of a ruling National Conference worker. 

Party General Secretary and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said judicial probe should be "acceptable" to the opposition parties.

Syed Mohammad Yousuf, a National Conference worker, died allegedly in police custody on Friday last after he was detained for questioning along with two other middle-rung leaders of the party in connection with a case.

Jammu and Kashmir native Abid Hussain, arrested for his alleged role in the September 7 bomb blast in the Delhi High Court premises, was today sent to
Tihar Jail with a city court remanding him in judicial custody till October 7.

Special NIA Judge H S Sharma remanded Hussain in judicial custody as National Investigation Agency sleuths, while producing him before the court after expiry of his police custody tenure, told the judge that he was no longer required for custodial interrogation.

In an act of cold-blooded murder, a bus driver today ordered tourists to de-board and then ran the vehicle over them in Rajasthan, killing six people, police said. The IANS report says the horrific act took place near a petrol station in Karauli district, 180 km from Jaipur.

Four of the dozen injured people were in critical condition. The driver, identified as Raju, reportedly got into a scuffle with the tourists after they refused to pay for the fuel.

The furious driver then got into the bus and ran over the passengers who had de-boarded, killing six and wounding over a dozen others. The driver fled the scene.

On rediff.com, see the slide show of stunning idols of Durga and pandals to match in Kolkata.

Close on the heels of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena hitting out at the auto unions for holding city to 'ransom' over their demands, its arch-rival Shiv Sena today launched a scathing attack on trade union leader Sharad Rao while empathising with the city commuters for their plight.

"Sharad Rao's auto union is behaving in an arrogant manner, which is causing inconvenience to the commuters. If they continue with their similar behaviour then Shiv Sena will come in support of the commuters," Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said.

Anna Hazare feels there is no 'ideological confusion' in his anti-Congress posture and the appeal to elect 'good people' from all parties. 

The anti-corruption crusader is also unapologetic about the prospect of BJP benefitting from his anti-Congress stance after his announcement yesterday that he would campaign against the Congress in five states going to poll next year if the Jan Lokpal Bill was not passed in Winter Session of Parliament.

"There is absolutely no ideological confusion (in my stance). If this is ideological confusion, then what was that thing between P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee? What sort of confusion was that," Hazare said during a televised debate on a Marathi news channel.

If you've just joined us, the Nobel prize for Chemistry has been announced and it goes to a lone scientist from Israel, Daniel Shechtman for his discovery of quasicrystals.

The Nobel Foundation, meanwhile, has declared that Canadian scientist Ralph Steinman will keep his Nobel prize for medicine, after his death on Friday threw it into doubt. The rules state "work by a person since deceased shall not be considered".

But the foundation said it was unaware of Prof Steinman's death from pancreatic cancer and that the award had been made "in good faith".

Prof Steinman was announced the joint winner on Monday, along with Prof Bruce Beutler and Prof Jules Hoffman. Prof Steinman received the award for revolutionising the understanding of the immune system. He discovered the dendritic cell, which helps the body fight off infection.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today sought to reassure Pakistan about his country's new partnership deal signed with India, which will see New Delhi help train Afghan security forces.

"Pakistan is a twin brother, India is a great friend. The agreement that we signed yesterday with our friend will not affect our brother,' Karzai told an audience in New Delhi, reports the Dawn.

The strategic partnership sealed with India on Tuesday -- the first such pact between Afghanistan and another country -- deepens already friendly ties and aims to boost trade, security and cultural links.

Sharif made these comments while talking to reporters in Bahawalpur after condoling the death of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) MPA Mumtaz Jajja, who died of dengue fever recently.

Dismissing as mere "lip service" the Centre's response to a plea seeking a ban on sale of junk food in and around schools in the country, the Delhi High Court today asked the government to take concrete steps in this regard as it affects the health of children.

The court sought a fresh action-taken-report from the Centre by November 2 on a public interest plea to banish junk food and aerated drinks from the vicinity of educational institutions. 

"We are not satisfied with the affidavit you have filed. You have merely written to various state governments informing them about the harmful effects of consumption of junk foods. But what are the effective steps you have taken to prevent the sale of junk foods?," the bench asked.

So what are quasicrystals? Read the report on the Nobel website.

Also read the New York Times report.

A day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray warned that arrogant auto rickshaw unions would be attracting public ire, reports of attacks on auto rickshaws have been surfacing from different parts of Mumbai suburbs.

Rediff.com's N Ganesh reports that ahead of the Mumbai civic elections in February 2012, Thackeray has found an opportunity to rekindle his campaign against north Indians that his party is known for, a political observer said, since a lot of auto drives are from north India. 

An auto driver at Ghatkopar was assaulted and his vehicle vandalized when he refused a passenger. In another incident at Vikhroli, an auto driver was attacked. As of now it is not known whether the perpetrators of the attack are MNS activists or irate passengers. There are also unconfirmed reports of three autos being set on fire.

Yesterday, Raj Thackeray had come down heavily on the striking auto unions saying their strike was inconveniencing the public and their demands were unlawful. He had said that the auto rickshaws and taxis would have to install electronic meters.

The trial of suspected 'underwear bomber' Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab took a tricky turn after he claimed that al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki is alive.   "Sheik Anwar is alive! We will wipe out the US ... we will defend Muhammad!" the New York Post quoted the 24-year-old Nigerian, as saying before jury selection began.  

Awlaki, who was killed in a CIA drone strike in Yemen last week, had been linked to Abdulmutallab's alleged attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underwear.

The IPS officer had yesterday refused to compromise on a proposal from a sessions judge that if he went on remand for three hours, the court would later in the day hear his bail application.

"I cannot compromise with those goons. Whatever wrong the government wants to do I do not care. I will tolerate it," Bhatt had said in the open court.

Bhatt was arrested on September 30 in connection with an FIR filed against him by police constable K D Pant in June, for allegedly threatening him and making him sign false affidavits regarding a meeting called by Chief Minister Narendra Modi on February 27, 2002, hours after the Godhra train carnage.

Sanjeev Bhatt's bail plea will be heard directly in court today. In a setback to the Gujarat government, a local court today rejected its application against the arrested IPS officer and said it would hear his bail plea.

Following this order, hearing on the bail application of Bhatt is to begin soon.
The Gujarat government had opposed the hearing on the grounds that Bhatt's revision remand application was pending. 

Session Judge V K Vyas said he was of the opinion that Bhatt's bail application should be heard, even if the remand application was pending in another court. 

Yesterday, the court had reserved its order on an application by the state government saying that Bhatt's bail plea cannot be heard as his revision remand application is pending.

A madrassa student has been arrested on charges of blasphemy in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly burning pages of the Quran to save them from
desecration, according to a media report today.

Junaid Ahmed, 20, a student of a seminary attached to Imdadia Mosque in Chakwal, was disposing of the pages by burning them on Monday when he was seen by some people, who severely tortured him and got a case of blasphemy registered against him.

Former telecom minister A Raja has filed a petition in the Patiala House court seeking permission to appear in the Supreme Court on Monday. Raja wants to argue in person on the SC monitoring the 2G scam.

Our correspondent in Delhi reports that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday, will  receive an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu on the Kudankulam Nuclear Project at noon at 7 Race Course Road in Delhi to dispel apprehensions about the safety of the project.

This delegation headed by O Paneerselvam, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister, will present a memorandum to the PM before his US visit in September. He had told TN CM Jayalalithaa to halt the project as the agitation by locals was entering a crucial stage.

The Rs13,000-crore nuclear power project at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, which has run into rough weather from the conceptual stage under the Rajiv Gandhi-Mikhail Gorbachev agreement of 1988, has gone into limbo again with the Jayalalithaa Cabinet passing a resolution urging the Centre to halt work on it.

The project is jointly executed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and Atomstroyexport of Russia.

In bizarre news, a Russian woman was saved from an attempted stabbing by her husband thanks to her breast implants. The 40-year-old was the victim of the bizarre incident during a domestic argument when the husband allegedly tried to knife his wife through her heart but the knife failed to even reach the thorax.  

Although none of the parties have been named, the Muscovite's state-of-the-art implants that had been filled with gel-like silicon did not even leak and retained their original shape after the incident.

Just in: 2G accused, former telecom minister A Raja has sought permission to appear in the Supreme Court.

Quick takes:

In a major setback for the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, the court has rejected the police plea not to hear IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt's bail application.  The court sent a notice to the Gujarat government and the state Director General of Police.

Bhatt was arrested in Gandhinagar on September 30 on charges of fabricating evidence and wrongful confinement. The arrest came after police constable KD Pant alleged that Bhatt had forced him to file a false affidavit against Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Stressed at work? Join the legions who agree with you. In fact, the Daily Mail story says that stress 'is the top cause of workplace sickness' and is so widespread it's dubbed the 'Black Death of the 21st century'. Read

With the signing of a strategic pact between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the focus has shifted to what role India can play in Afghanistan in the days to come.  

The new alliance comes as Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States trade barbs over Islamabad's alleged support of the Haqqani network, which reportedly operates from the North Waziristan Agency.

Also on Syria, read this report on the bbc.co.uk, how the pressure on Syria's Bashar al-Assad to step down is now intense: from the United States, from Europe, but also - perhaps more importantly - from his neighbours, including Turkey, and from his fellow Arabs, led by Saudi Arabia.

India to train Afghan forces (The Hindu)
In a major development, India has agreed to mentor the Afghan security forces as they gear up to deal with the drawdown of foreign forces by 2014. Read

Pakistan in mind, Karzai signs pact with Manmohan (The Times of India)
Although he did not name Pakistan, Hamid Karzai spoke of the dangers of using terror as an instrument of policy after his meeting with Manmohan Singh. Read

Centre vs Gujarat over Bhatt (The Hindustan Times)

The union home ministry on Tuesday asked the state government to ensure adequate security for the Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and his family. The Modi government hit back, slamming the unnecessary intervention. Read

Omar home was his second home, he was Abdullahs man (Indian Express)
Yousuf was a 'fixer' who, 'for the right price', could manage nearly any job, transfer or posting. Read