1. Sikkim quake: Toll 75, 100 relief camps set up
2. Hardnosed Iran raises Holocaust, 9/11 doubts at UN
3. Refusal for DNA test means ND Tiwari is father: HC
4. US can't live with Pak and without Pak: Gilani
5. Sachin lacks ability to finish a game: Shoaib
6. 15,000-strong crowd bid farewell to Pataudi
7. BJP: PM can't be silent, has to sack Chidambaram
8. Krishna's brief encounter with the 'Birkin' beauty
9. Assassinated Afghan ex prez has been buried
10. You will lose an ally if accusations go on: Pak to US

In the midst of fresh controversy in the 2-G spectrum case, the anti-graft crusader today said Home Minister P Chidambaram would have been behind bars had the Jan Lokpal legislation been in existence.

"Had there been a Jan Lokpal now, Chidambaram would have been in jail," Hazare, who earlier branded the Union Home Minister as a "mischievous person", said. Chidambaram would have to "go home" in the 2G scam, Hazare
said at his village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district.

Palestine leader Mahmoud Abbas will submit his bid for recognition of Palestine as a state to the UN today, reports bbc.co.uk. The submission comes at the end of a week that has seen a dramatic diplomatic shift in the Palestinians' favour, even though the request, to the security council, is likely to fail.

The Palestinian leader is expected to hand over a letter asking for Palestine to join the UN as a state shortly before he addresses the general assembly to plead the case for admission. Read more

Sikkim quake update: As rescue teams continued their march to the inaccessible quake-hit areas of North Sikkim, the death toll in the ravaged Himalayan state today reached 75, with the recovery of one more body. There is a possibility of the toll rising further as teams reach areas hitherto inaccessible due to inclement
weather and difficult terrain.

Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling said more than 100 relief camps have been set up across the state, while two more Pawan Hans helicopters have been put into service to assist with the relief operation, taking their total number to seven, he said adding the aircraft make nine sorties each to North Sikkim every day.

At the UNGA, New York, Israel accused Iran of "threatening world peace and security", and said the international community should not have "dignified" Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by giving him a chance to speak at the United Nations.
"Once again the Iranian president delivered a message of hostility to the family of nations, threatening world peace and security," the Israeli foreign ministry said
in a statement. 

After having made calls to wipe out Israel from the world map in the past, Ahmadinejad again cast doubts on the occurrence of the Holocaust in which six million Jews perished under Nazi onslaught and dubbed the September 11, 2001 attacks as a western plot. He also criticised United States for killing Osama bin Laden rather than bringing him to trial.

He further emphasized that the US should avoid issuing statements unacceptable to the Pakistani public.  

No compromise would be acceptable on Pakistans sovereignty, the prime minister said, adding that a stable Afghanistan was in the interests of Pakistan.

The assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was in charge of the High Peace Council pursuing reconciliation talks  with the Taliban, is a clarifying moment for Afghans, feels Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center at Washinton-based The Heritage Foundation.

In her article, Curtis says Rabbani's assassination should be seen as a body blow to the political reconciliation process. It "will reinforce resistance among the country's ethnic minority leaders to the very idea of seeking political accommodation with the Taliban."

Curtis opined that Rabbani's assassination was eerily similar to that of Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Shah Massoud 10 years ago, and was likely to strengthen ethnic divisions in the country, besides emboldening hardline Taliban elements that are unwilling to compromise politically and retain close links to al-Qaeda.

Pakistan cricket's enfant terrible Shoaib Akhtar has stirred yet another controversy, this time questioning the class and temperament of India's
batting stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. 

In his just-published autobiography "Controversially Yours", the temparamental Pakistan speedster has accused Tendulkar of being scared to face his scorching pace on a slow Faisalabad track.

 "....Vivian Richards, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and the likes of them are great batsmen who dominated with the bat and were truly match-winners. Initially, when I bowled against Sachin, I found these qualities missing. He might have had more runs and records, he lacked the ability to finish the game," he said in the book, to be formally launched in New Delhi this evening.

There was chaos at the Pataudi Palace's sprawling campus with close to 15,000 people converging at the burial site to catch a glimpse of the proceedings.

The huge police presence was hardly a deterrent as media and the gathered crowd jostled to be the closest to the grave even as the Pataudi family grieved in silence. 

Pataudi's wife, yesteryears Bollywood star Sharmila Tagore, looked calm and composed when she came on the palace balcony once along with other female family members. Pataudi's son Saif Ali Khan, also a Bollywood actor, performed the last rites after offering Friday prayers.

The world's biggest tech giant just fired another CEO. Is all hope lost? It's starting to look that way, reports the Daily Beast. Read

And of course, the tweet from Ramesh Srivats: It's time American companies re-designate CEOs as CIAOs.

R Rajagopalan on Twitter...

The UPA2 likely to disown the Finance Ministry note on 2G to the PMO. Legal experts say the note being seen is different from the note being approved by Pranab Mukherjee. Scare amongst officials in Union Ministry of Finance -- they are not interested in speaking on the controversial note to the PMO on 2G.

The note

BJP senior leader LK Advani has broken with the tradition of 20 years on September 25 of visiting Somnath from where, on this day, he started his first rathyatra to Ayodhya and went on to become deputy PM. He will now begin his yatra from Bihar instead of Somnath. This has caught Gujarat CM Narendra Modi by surprise.

Read the intrigue within the BJP in the TOI.

The BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad addressing the media in New Delhi says the PM must sack home minister P Chidambaram for his involvement in the 2G case. He asks why the CBI is not probing Chidambaram in the case and demands an answer from the PM. He says corruption is the UPA's dharma.

Here's the background.

In other news, Texas prison officials say they're stopping the practice of special last meals for inmates facing execution, after a state senator complained about an extensive request from a man involved in a notorious dragging death. Condemned inmates will get the same meal as other offenders.

The meal request from Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed Wednesday for the hate crime murder of James Byrd, included two chicken fried steaks, a bacon cheeseburger, a pound of barbecue meat, a pint of ice cream, a pizza and fudge. Prison officials said Brewer didn't eat any of it.

The final rites of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi are over and his body has been laid to rest at the ancestral home in the village. The village, in fact, makes-up 52 hamlets and people from there gathered in full measure to pay their last respects.

In the Daily Mail, tabloid grist for the mill.

Zara Phillips, the queen of England's granddaughter, has demanded that shamed husband Mike Tindall give her the phone number of the blonde he frolicked with in a club. Read

Meanwhile, read Tom Alter's piece in Firstpost.com on MAK Pataudi: When Pataudi entered heaven, I am sure the crowd erupted. Read

Pataudi's funeral will be held today at his village by the same name in Haryana.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today met his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar and exchanged pleasantries. The brief encounter took place at the SAARC Foreign Ministers' meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly which is currently on in Washington. During the brief meeting, Krishna extended sympathies to the families of those who lost their lives in the recent floods in Pakistan.

The last time they met in New Delhi, the visit was overshadowed by the Birkin. Read

Here's what's happening at the UNGA. A consortium of nations, including India, has launched a new multilateral body aimed at fighting terrorism by bringing together members to identify urgent needs and devise solutions to tackle the menace.

Launching the Global Counter-terrorism Forum, which includes 29 countries plus the European Union, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last evening that the world needs a dedicated global venue to regularly convene key counter-terrorism policy makers and practitioners from around the world.

A CBI court here today posted to September 29 hearing on the central investigation agency's petition seeking custody of former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, arrested in connection with alleged illegal mining activities.

Following requests by both prosecution and defence counsels, the court adjourned the matter to September 29 as it will also take up arguments on bail petitions of Janardhana Reddy and Srinivas Reddy on the same day.

The contours of a 'New Silk Road' connecting South and Central Asia through a network of road and rail networks and pipelines to boost trade and commerce in the region were discussed by its main proponents, the US and Germany, and Afghanistan here on Thursday. Read more

Details of the SC rejection of Lalit Bhanot's bail plea.

The Supreme Court today refused to entertain the bail plea of former Secretary General of CWG Organising Committee Lalit Bhanot, arrested for his role in
awarding a Games-related contract at inflated rates. 

Bhanot was arrested on February 23 this year along with former Director General of CWG OC V K Verma for awarding the contract for installing Timing, Scoring and Result systems for the Games to a Swiss firm, Swiss Timing, causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the public exchequer.

Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, who is currently in New York for the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), has condoled the death of former cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.  

Pataudi who passed away yesterday after battling a lung infection for the last few months. The PM said, "I am distressed to have learnt of the demise of legendary cricketer, Mansur Ali Khan, Nawab of Pataudi.

"He was a dashing and daring captain, who brought a new confidence to the Indian cricket scene.   Even after his playing days were over, he remained an iconic figure, an embodiment of poise and polish and a great advocate of sportsmanship."

Meanwhile, social activist Anna Hazare has now threatened the Maharashtra government with a fast-unto-death if his version of Jan Lokayukta Bill is not passed in the Assembly by the end of winter session.

He wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan yesterday, saying that he would go on a fast-unto-death at Saint Dnyaneshwar Samadhi at Alandi near Pune if the Bill was not passed.  

Ramesh Srivats on Twitter: I think Anna has these cyclostyled forms threatening fasts to death. He just has to fill in name, cause and venue.

We like.

Pakistan's foreign minister said yesterday that the United States risks losing an ally if it continues to publicly criticise Islamabad's performance in the war against militancy.

"You will lose an ally,' Hina Rabbani Khar told a Pakistani television channel in New York. "You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan, you cannot afford to alienate the Pakistani people. If you are choosing to do so and if they are choosing to do so it will be at their (the United States') own cost."

Khar was responding to Senate testimony by the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who said Pakistan's top spy agency was closely tied to the Haqqani network.

Updates on M A K Pataudi's death.

The cricketing great's body was brought to his Vasant Vihar residence in Delhi
early this morning and the last rites will be performed at his native Pataudi village. Pataudi's wife, Sharmila Tagore, son Saif Ali Khan and his girlfriend Kareena Kapoor, and many other celebrities were at the Pataudi residence when his body was taken to his native village at around 10.30 am. 

Among those who came to pay their last respects were Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik with his wife, former cricketers Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja, and Punjab Cricket Association chief I S Bindra. Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, and BJP leader Arun Jaitley also paid their respects to Pataudi.

Cricketing legend Mansoor Ali Khan's funeral will be held at his ancestral home in Pataudi, two hours from Delhi. At the Pataudi's Delhi home, fans, friends and family, paid their last respects to one of India's greatest and youngest cricket captains ever. Pataudi passed away at a Delhi hospital last evening after battling a lung infection for the last few months. He was 70.

Read on rediff.com: Tiger Pataudi was a prankster

Chidambaram has my full confidence, says PM (Hindustan Times)
Coming out strongly in defence of P Chidambaram, the PM said the home minister enjoyed his "full confidence" amid a controversy over a finance ministry note that blamed Chidambaram for not taking pre-emptive action that could have prevented the 2G scam. Read

Congress closes ranks behind Chidambaram (The Hindu)

The party's official and unofficial view is that the note does not contain any evidence of criminal culpability on the part of Mr. Chidambaram; it only reveals differing views on a policy issue within the government. Read

Tiger Pataudi is no more (The Hindu)
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, one of India's greatest cricket captains ever and whose flair and acumen inspired a generation of cricke t players, passed away on Thursday after battling a lung infection for the last few months. Read

Pataudi taught players to put country before self: Bishan Singh Bedi (The Times of India)

Tiger Pataudi was the first man who brought into the dressing room a sense of 'Indian-ness', a feeling of belonging to, and playing for a country. Read

Parliamentary panel hearing on Lokpal Bill to begin today (Hindustan Times)

The parliamentary panel examining the highly publicised anti-graft Lokpal Bill will today begin seeking the views on main issues concerning the legislation, including the three core demands raised by Anna Hazare. Read

US Senate panel reels back aid to Pakistan over terror links (The Times of India)

The ISI specifically directed the Haqqani network to carry out the September 13 attack on the US embassy and the Nato headquarters in Kabul, US officials said. Read

Varanasi probe team joins NIA in Delhi blast case (Indian Express)
UP links emerge, ATS team camps in Noida; NIA says Aamir is a conspirator. Read