Quick takes...

In the wake of demands for clemency to the three Rajiv Gandhi assassins and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, BJP leader L K Advani today said court
decisions should not be meddled with on political grounds. "Whether it is Rajiv Gandhi killers or the attackers of Indian Parliament, whatever decision has been taken by the court should not be meddled with on political grounds", he
said.

The man who has slipped off the news pages -- Anders Behring Breivik -- admitted to killing 77 Norwegians during a bombing and shooting massacre in July.

Investigators say he is almost overly eager to talk. Still, after 100 hours of questioning, they have seen no signs of remorse and have little information about what really motivated him to kill. Read more on the Speigel.  

Amitabh Bachchan's tweets for the day:

A relief ... just finished acknowledging all the greetings for birthday and Diwali .. should be on their respective journeys !!

It troubles me when I am unable to acknowledge wishes .. it is an arduous task, but one that I try to achieve. Thank you all for it.

To me it seems like someone is talking to you and you are listening to something else, or not paying attention at all .. No like.

Another moment of deep anguish is when at weddings or functions, you invite prominent performers on stage, but are busy entertaining.  

great insult to the artist performing when you do not pay attention to their craft. Don't call them ! But when you do listen to them

With the passing of Steve Jobs earlier this month, the tech industry lost one of its most revered icons. So where will the industry turn for inspiration now that Jobs is gone?

New Apple CEO Tim Cook will keep the business cranking along, but he's unlikely to inspire the same kind of devotion as Jobs.

Facebook leader Mark Zuckerberg has star power, but he and his company are still too young and untested.

At Google, Larry Page is too awkward and Eric Schmidt too slick, and a lot of the company's recent products are too unfinished. But there's one tech leader who just might fit the bill: Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Cnn.com has the story

Just in: Union Minister Jairam Ramesh rejects Mayawati's charge of politics; says there are deliberate instances of embezzlement of MNREGA funds in UP.

Here's what Jairam wrote to Mayawati. On Rediff.com

And what Mayawati wrote to the PM

Citing the case of former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta in the US, Congress leader Digvijay Singh today made a strong pitch for the bail of all accused who have been chargesheeted in the 2G and CWG scams.

Singh's assertion came in the backdrop of former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi languishing behind bars in corruption cases like 2G and Commonwealth Games, but the AICC general secretary stressed he was not taking any names.

"Good to know Rajat Gupta got bail. Would our Judiciary also take a cue and not keep undertrials in lock up once they are chargesheeted," Singh said in his post on micro-blogging site Twitter. 

Gupta, who was arrested on charges of passing insider information to his billionaire friend Raj Rajaratnam, was released on USD 10 million bond after he pleaded not guilty to offences that carry a potential penalty of 105 years in prison.

And the other F1 story: Sauber chief Monisha Kaltenborn reckons it's only time before Indian brands back F1. Read the story on rediff.com    

And another profile of Kaltenborn on GQ, India. Read

Read: The Independent, UK, story on Sachin Tendulkar's coach, Ramakant Achrekar

Software giant Microsoft has topped a list of the world's best multinational companies to work for, where all the top-ten positions have been bagged by American firms.    

Internet giant Google has been ranked at the fourth place in the list of compiled by human resources consultancy 'Great Place to Work Institute'.    

Microsoft is followed by software developer SAS and network storage provider NetApp at the second and third ranks, respectively, while logistics major FedEx Express is ranked fifth on the list of  '25 best multinational workplaces'.

Twenty-and-odd years ago, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, capitalists declared a premature victory over communism. Today, as protests against a failing capitalist model in the west go mainstream, the question is whether the world is going to head in the opposite direction: validate all the failed ideas of the past, including greater state control and socialism in some form or the other.

Not quite.

Read R Jagannathan on Firstpost.com

Hitting back at the Centre, UP Chief Minister Mayawati today wrote a letter to the Prime Minister stating that irregularities cited by Union Minister Jairam Ramesh in implementation of MNREGA in the state are "politically motivated".
She accused Ramesh of having a pre-conceived agenda and arriving at conclusions without taking cognisance of steps taken by her government.

"The minister, through his letter, attempted to score political points by alleging misuse of funds by the UP. The letter was released to the media much before it was received here confirming the intentions of the minister," Mayawati said
in the letter.

Lewis Hamilton fell foul of the Formula One stewards once again when he was handed a three-place penalty on the starting grid for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix after ignoring yellow warning flags in first practice, reports Reuters.

The McLaren driver had set the fastest lap, in the final seconds, in the first ever session run at the Buddh International circuit. Sauber's Mexican Sergio Perez was also handed a similar sanction after stewards ruled he had committed the same offence of ignoring double waved yellow flags at turn 16 while a car was being recovered by marshals in close proximity to the track.

The sanction ended Hamilton's hopes of a second successive pole position tomorrow after qualifying fastest in the last race in South Korea.

A woman who had her face and hands ripped off in a horrifying attack by a pet chimpanzee has spoken publicly for the first time since she had a face transplant. Charla Nash, a 55-year-old single mother from Stamford, Connecticut, nearly died after the mauling two years ago. Read     

Watch: The woman's chilling 911 call

And on an entirely different note: Ra.One might be a flawed dream, but hats off to SRK for trying, says Sanchari Bhattacharya. Read the review on rediff.com..

Also read: Abhishek Mande's review on rediff.com: SRK's most expensive mid-life crisis.

Angela Merkel trivia:

The German chancellor was wearing an amber necklace at the EU negotiations to bring her good luck. German media noted that the 11th hour deal was secured while she was wearing her favourite piece of jewellery, which, said Bild newspaper, she always wears to the big political occasions.

Amber is said to bring good fortune to the wearer and to relieve a range of illnesses such as stomach problems. It also supposedly makes you more lucky and improves your decision making -- qualities Mrs Merkel would have found rather handy. A Daily Mail report.

Here's the letter from Dr Kumar Vishwas to Anna Hazare requesting hm to dissolve the core committe

See our 13:05 post.

Even as Team Anna member Raju Parulekar announced that the Core Committee would be expanded to include new members, another aide, Dr Kumar Vishwas reacted to the announcement saying the Core Committee has to be suspended and reconstituted with new members. He says that real issues are out of focus because of infighting.

And another F1 story.

Even as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton edges out Red Bull's champion Sebastian Vettel to set the fastest time for McLaren as India makes its Formula 1 debut, his former flame Nicole Scherzinger wears show-stopping dress for dinner with new flame... just five days after split. On the Daily Mail. See 

More F1 news: Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya has defended his decision of not having an Indian driver in his Formula One team.

"For all those who pass judgments on why I have not put an Indian driver into the cockpit all I can say is that it is my business. I think I am proud of the fact that since I bought this team at the end of the 2007 season, we have come a long long way. Much much further and much higher than anyone would have ever expected or predicted," Mallya said..

A stray dog spoiled India's grand entry into the world of Formula One when it halted the first practice session at the newly-constructed Buddh International Circuit for five minutes here today. The dog ran around on the track before being chased away by officials in a safety car, making for an embarrassing scene ahead of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix on Sunday.

It wasn't the first organisational glitch to hit the event. Yesterday, Williams' driver Rubens Barrichello's press conference was interrupted by a power cut.

Just in: Raju Parulekar, a spokesperson for Anna Hazare says the core committee will be expanded. Anna will also have two additional committees -- a driving and steering committee. The steering committee will take decisions and members will change.

Also read our 10:55 am and 11:13 posts.

On the New York Times: Europe is drowning and needs a lifeline. A series of marathon meetings this week yielded a new set of proposals, but what they depend on is cash '" and lots of it, perhaps trillions of dollars '" to save Greece and the European banking system and to prevent financial contagion from spreading to Spain, Italy and even France, which would destroy the euro zone as we know it.

Where to turn for help? The answer is obvious: China.

Read the report by Arvind Subramanian

Heads up: Air India pilots threaten to go on strike over low salaries, poor promotions. Pilots from erstwhile Air India claim they are being discriminated against. The pilots' union also claims salaries have been delayed by four months.  Details awaited.

Stories from the Foreign Policy magazine.

As Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel team up to conquer the eurozone crisis, we imagine what it's like on the inside of Europe's most enviable friendship. Great read

Remember the Bush-Merkel massage? Watch

Part 1 of 6 of the BBC documentary, Secret Pakistan, on YouTube.

Watch

F1 weekend in New Delhi.

Former Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have praised the Indian Grand Prix circuit. Hamilton, on his fifth tour to India, was excited about the driving on the new racing circuit, which he had only tested on a simulator.

"We drove through on the simulator, so we have an idea, we have got the grip of what the circuit is like. But of course when you get there it''s always dirty; it''s a little bit different, when you really get on to a big circuit. And they have changed a couple of corners, I think it's different from what we have on the simulator, it's a little bit wider, so the approach could be different, but it I think the track will be great to drive," said Hamilton.

The definitive profile of the man behind the Incredible India campaign: Amitabh Kant.

Working from his New Delhi office, tucked away on the third floor of a government-run luxury hotel, he heads what may be the country's most ambitious ever infrastructure project: building 24 cities from scratch along a 1483-km railway line. "The vision is to create a manufacturing and trading hub with world class infrastructure,' he told Reuters.

Read

Also read LK Advani's comments on the Kudankulam project at Madurai yesterday.

On the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, Advani said, "There has to be caution. The first and foremost consideration has to be safety and security of people. 

The entire world including countries which have had nuclear plants for development of energy for a long time have decided for a second view on all those plants, particularly if they are close to the ocean. So, there is no reason, why India should not adopt a same approach," he said.

Kudankulam N-plant update: The ongoing wave of protests over the construction of Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu could affect India's ambitious nuclear energy generation and could backfire to deprive the South Asian giant of its critical advantage over China, warns a top Russian expert.

"Public fears, fuelled by the Fukushima accident and exacerbated by the regional politicians' populist slogans, may provoke a chain reaction of problems, hampering power generation development and depriving the Indian economy of its critical advantages over China," said Konstantin Bogdanov, in a commentary released here by the government-run RIA Novosti.

Charlie Sheen can officially say he's "winning." Cable network FX has bought the rights to air the former "Two and a Half Men" star's new series, a TV version of the 2003 Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson film, "Anger Management."

Sheen will play the Nicholson role in the show, an infuriating therapist who draws the rage out of his patients. The series initially being optioned for ten episodes, with the option to buy 90 more if it's successful.

Read more on Huffintonpost.com

Bill Gates made a rare appearance at the University of Washington this afternoon, talking about how qualitative and measurable advances in technology are coming together for major advances in some of the area he cares most about these days, including education and efforts to help the poor people of the world. The co-founder and largest shareholder of Microsoft turns 56 today.

Read the story on geekwire.com

Meanwhile, Rajinder Singh, who quit Team Anna due to differences over its political approach, has alleged that Anna Hazare deviated from his objective by supporting a "corrupt" candidate in Hisar bypoll and that his team is full of "arrogant" people.  

Singh also attacked Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, alleging they were the "most arrogant" members of Team Anna.  Being former bureaucrats they are in the habit of throwing their weight about and imposing themselves on others,he alleged. 

"I was in Nairobi when Hazare decided to support a political candidate in Hisar and I immediately parted ways with Team Anna as I did not want to become part of a power brokering process," he said.

In other stories: Recent claims that the Taj Mahal is in danger of  collapsing sparked panic among historians and archeologists worldwide.

Following the reports, a twin bench of Supreme Court justices DK Jain and AR Dave issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Ministry of Environment, ordering probes.

The results of the probes are slated to be examined by the Supreme Court on November 15. Read the report on the Wall Street Journal.

Update: A live, five-foot pipe bomb, found on the route of Advani's yatra at Madurai has been removed. Advani is to proceed on the same route to Virudhnagar near Madurai, but will now take a minor detour. This is the 18th day of his yatra.    

Key figures of Anna Hazare's team will meet in Ghaziabad tomorrow sans the Gandhian, who is on a vow of silence, to discuss the crisis facing the team after
they were enmeshed in a series of controversies. 

Besides Hazare, prominent member Justice Santosh Hegde is also not attending the Core Committee meeting to be held at the office of Arvind Kejriwal-headed Public Cause Research Foundation in Kaushambi in UP's Ghaziabad. 

The Core Committee meeting comes against the backdrop of a series of allegations against key members like Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi as well as resignation of two prominent activists Rajinder Singh and P V Rajagopal citing the political turn taken by Hazare's anti-corruption movement.

Ra.One has ceased to trend on Twitter.

But here's a tweet from Pritish Nandy: A 100 wild horses cannot drag me back to watching Ra1 again. But, yes, I enjoyed my first watch. Glad I made it. Ra1 has no script. It drags on and on. But it has Kareena back to looking devastatingly sexy. And SRK is, ahem, SRK.

In other stories...

Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) has set up a facility in Mumbai to help the Indian government carry out lawful surveillance of its BlackBerry services, according to people familiar with the matter, but the move hasn't fully satisfied India's appetite for access to messages on the popular smartphones. The Wall Street Journal has the story. Read

And here's why RIM was in the news recently...

Details awaited on the bomb scare for LK Advani.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified today that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's comment that he would fight with Pakistan in a future war against the United States was misreported and taken out of context.

"If fighting starts between Pakistan and the U.S., we are beside Pakistan," Karzai said in an interview with the private Pakistani television station GEO on Oct. 22, only days after Clinton traveled to meet with him in Kabul.

"If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan's help, Afghanistan will be there with you."

Read more on Foreign Policy magazine.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a congressional panel on Thursday that any Afghan-led peace process would have to include the Quetta Shura and its leader Mulla Omar, reports Dawn.

Her statement before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs also emphasised several other key points reflecting a major change in US approach towards seeking a peaceful end to the Afghan conflict. "There is no solution in the region without Pakistan and no stable future in the region without a partnership," she said.

Good morning. First up, is this report on The Hindu.

Even as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's proposal to roll back the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has sparked off a war of words within Jammu and Kashmir's ruling coalition, an investigation by The Hindu has thrown up new evidence that suggests the situation in the State no longer warrants large-scale troop commitments for counter-terrorism operations.

Read Praveen Swami's story

Food inflation surges again, hits 6-month high of 11.4% (The Times of India)
Food inflation quickened in mid-October as prices of vegetables soared, sustaining the pressure on overall inflation and the Reserve Bank of India. Read

Omar decision is a blunder: J&K Congress (Hindustan Times)

The Congress, a partner in the coalition government headed by the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, has slammed chief minister Omar Abdullahs move to withdraw AFSPA from some district. Read

Illegal mining: 600 face action in Karnataka (Hindustan Times)
India's battle against corruption and for accountability from its huge bureaucracy is set to get a boost as the Karnataka government prepares to punish over 600 officials, a record for the country, over illegal mining. Read

Anna has deviated from objective; team full of arrogant people: Former aide (DNA)
Before launching his campaign against corruption, Anna Hazare had decided not to let it become political but in Hisar Lok Sabha bypoll, he supported a "corrupt" candidate, former Team Anna Core Committee member Rajendra Singh alleged. Read

Image makeover: Secys told to work on clean, good governance (Indian Express)
Govt has directed top bureaucracy to identify key measures related to good governance. Read