PTI: A police station in-charge and four others including a woman were arrested today in connection with alleged rape of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.   

Cheechli Police Station In-charge Sandeep Ayache and others were arrested today, Narsinghpur Superintendent of Police G G Pandey told reporters. Inspector Ayache had been suspended yesterday, following the rape complaint.     

The victim was allegedly lured by a woman called Parvatibai, who promised her a job and introduced her to Ayache on May 7 this year.     The police officer allegedly raped her, while Parvatibai threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed the incident.     

Next day, she was taken to a crusher owner at Barman by Omprakash and Amzad. The owner, Arun Jain and his associate, allegedly raped her. The Inspector raped her again when she was in Jain's captivity.     

After escaping from there, she lodged complaint with the police yesterday.      Police then arrested Ayache, Parvatibai, Omprakash, Arun Jain and Amzad. Further probe is on.  

Opposition parties on Wednesday condemned the Narendra Modi government for its 'insensitive response' to farmers' suicides in drought-hit areas of Gujarat. In past 15 days, eleven farmers, mainly in Saurashtra region which has had 92 per cent deficient rain, reportedlycommitted suicide due to crop failure.

Congress party president Sonia Gandhi was on Wednesday ranked the sixth most powerful woman in the world, ahead of US First Lady Michelle Obama, by Forbes magazine in its list of 100 influential women, which was topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Amusement arcade, Nicco Park, was closed down today at the instruction of the police a day after 17 people including children were injured when a chute collapsed.

The CBI on Wednesday questioned Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh in connection with allegations levelled by former Army chief V K Singh that he was offered Rs 14 crore by him to clear a tranche of 'sub-standard' vehicles.

Two labourers were killed and another seriously injured in fresh violence in riot-hit lower Assam today taking the overall death toll to 80. Unidentified assailants fired on a group of minority labourers working in a brick kiln field at Bangaldoba in Dhubri district killing two of them and injuring another, police sources said. 

The boundary dispute issue with Nagaland was pending in the Supreme Court and the neighbouring state should maintain the prevailing status quo, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said. 

It's the birthday of the man who gave the world the term 'decisive moment' -- French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Read

The government has given an ultimatum to social networking site Twitter to block nearly 30 of its webpages which continue to host morphed and inflammatory contents or face punitive action.

The move comes after Union Home Secretary R K Singh asked the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEIT) to serve the ultimatum on Twitter as it failed to comply with the government order to block 28 webpages in its site.

Singh told DEIT to take appropriate action if the offending webpages are not blocked immediately by Twitter. Government had already ordered blocking of 310 webpages where morphed and inflammatory contents were uploaded with the aim to incite Muslims in India leading to the mass exodus of people of the Northeastern region from places in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

As many as 8,186 people have left for their homes from relief camps in riot-hit districts in Assam. Altogether 7,498 people have left the camps in Kokrajhar district and 688 in Chirang district since Tuesday, officials said here today.

However, riot victims living in temporary shelters in Dhubri and Bongaigaon districts are staying put, they said. Currently there are 2,56,891 people living in 223 relief camps in the four districts, which were rocked by ethnic violence in which 78 people lost their lives, the officials said.

PC Chacko, Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, said he had no idea why the BJP walked out of the committee even though he asked them the reason. 

The Congress party has slammed the BJP walkout from the JPC saying it was pre-orchestrated. Five BJP members walked out of the meeting demanding the PM and finance minister P Chidambaram depose in the committee.

Veteran Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, facing trial in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, today told a Delhi court that only three out of the 17 witnesses named him as allegedly having instigated the mob.

Continuing his final arguments in the case before District Judge J R Aryan, Kumar's counsel I U Khan said the investigating officer (IO) had "specifically" asked several witnesses about the former MP's presence in Delhi Cantonment area, where the incident took place, but they had denied it.

"Out of 17, only 3 witnesses took Kumar's name that they had seen him in the area during the riots or heard him giving the alleged speech. The IO had specifically asked six witnesses about Kumar's presence, but they had denied seeing him," he said.

The counsel also contended that the CBI had conducted an "unfair investigation" in the case in which five Sikhs were killed in the area during the riots that broke out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

Tony Nicklinson, the "locked-in' syndrome sufferer who challenged Britain's laws on the right to die has passed away, his lawyers said. Read

Also see: The Daily Mail story on the day the court ruled against allowing him to die.

And the world's first right to die debate: The Karen Quinlan story.

All six members of the BJP in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G have walked saying the JPC is like a kangaroo court. The BJP wants the PM and P Chidambaram to depose in the committee. The Joint Parliamentary Committee is examining the 2G telecom scam and the BJP has six members as part of the panel. The list of those who shall depose before the panel is expected to be finalised today. The BJP says it must include Dr Singh and Chidambaram.

The 2G scam dates back to 2008 when the then Telecom Minister A Raja allegedly gave away telecom licences at throwaway prices. The BJP says Chidambaram, as Finance Minister then, was aware of the blatant manipulation of guidelines by Raja, and did nothing about it. 

If you haven't watched Jism 2 -- don't, but read Mahesh Bhatt's opinion on Indians and sexuality. 

Ecuador is pressing for a deal that offers justice to Assange's accusers '" and essential protection for whistleblowers. Read

Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal says that the UPA thought of the bidding process in 2004, but the BJP-ruled states objected to it. He said the CBI was probing the CAG report on coal, and the guilty would be punished.

Remember, Parliament was adjourned thrice today with the BJP insisting that it did not want a debate, but that the PM should resign.

Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal addressing the press over the CAG report on coal block allocations. He says the opposition is scared of debate which is why it will not let Parliament function. "The Opposition will stand nowhere when it comes to debate," he says. Backing Manmohan Singh he says the PM has saved the economy and it was the BJP-ruled states that rejected the proposal for bidding and therefore the PM can't be held responsible.   

Two Guardian columnists who rarely see eye-to-eye on anything, seem to agree that Twitter tends towards a left-wing mob mentality. Read

Sixteen-year-old Caleb Beaver died last year on Christmas day. It was sudden --according to the Associated Press, his parents didn't even know their son was sick until he suffered two strokes in the two days before his death. For the next eight months, Caleb's grief-stricken mother, April Beaver, wished she could feel close to her son again.
Read the heartwarming story on the Huffington Post.

Also read: Donate organ and give a second life

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued show cause notices to BCCI and its officials for contraventions of foreign exchange laws involving over Rs 1,400 crore, the government today said.

Twelve notices, for contraventions involving total Rs 1423.20 crore, under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) have been issued by the agency during 2011-12 to BCCI.

"Based on the investigations carried out by the ED, the adjudicating authority has issued show cause notices under FEMA to BCCI and its officials for the contraventions of the relevant provisions of the said Act," Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He said 11 show cause notices involving an amount of Rs 1317.20 crore in the year 2011, and one notice involving Rs 106 crore in the 2012 have been issued by ED in this regard.

"The passport of Lalit Modi, former IPL chairman, has been revoked," the minister said, while replying to a question on the efforts taken by the Finance Ministry to extradite the former BCCI chairman to make him join the probe into the alleged violation of foreign exchange laws in the conduct of T20 cricket tournaments.

Kiran Bedi today lauded Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his commitment to deliver goods to the people in a time-bound manner. "I like his commitment when he says that he will not seek votes in the next Assembly polls if he failed to provide electricity to the people by then," Bedi, a member of the disbanded Team Anna said today.

"No leader without conviction makes commitment to the people," Bedi said. The Chief Minister had said here during the Independence Day function on August 15 that he will not seek votes if he fails to improve the power situation in the state by the 2015 Assembly polls.

Slum demolitions to spruce up a city hosting a mega-sporting event, long-running efforts to get a telecom company to pay back taxes, corruption in infrastructure contracts  -- reporters have been following these stories for years in India. Read

dharmesh thakkar @news_houndz #MumbaiRiots AC mechanic Niyazuddin Shaikh of wadala & Hussain Kamruddin Ansari of kurla arrested for attacking media and police vans

Russian investigators say a woman in East Siberia has strangled an elderly neighbor to death with her bra.The Investigative Committee in Buryatia said in a statement on Tuesday that the 26-year-old woman from the town of Zakamensk, just miles north off the border with Mongolia, has been charged with murder.
More on the Huffington Post.

The Supreme Court has extended the interim ban on tourism in tiger reserve core areas till next hearing on August 29.

Just in case you were willing to give Prince Harry the benefit of doubt ...

Kate Mansey @KateMansey The naked Prince Harry pictures are real but British newspapers have been asked not to reprint them.

Canadians are stereotypically not the sort to cause a stir. But a bunch of Canucks is currently rattling the cozy world of Indian equity research. Their latest target, Indiabulls, is struggling to fight back. Read

Attacking the BJP for disrupting Parliament proceedings, the government today said it was making all efforts to persuade the main opposition party to discuss the CAG report on coal block allocation.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid rejected the opposition's demand for PM's resignation, saying, "Entire nation accepts that we are fortunate to have such a Prime Minister and that such a Prime Minister is leading us." Khurshid termed as "unfortunate" the continuous disruption of Parliament where MPs come "every morning with hope, expectations and aspirations of the people of our the country".

"We are frustrating (the people) because we are unable to speak to each other. We (Government) have offered a full debate and we are willing to offer every thing that we have and place that before the people, to the House," he said.

The Supreme Court today questioned the government on its stand on tiger tourism in core areas of sanctuaries across the country. On Tuesday, the Centre informed the court that it wants to review its policy of banning tourism in core areas of tiger reserves in the country because of pressure from the state governments.

The SC today asked the government what its plan was on tiger tourism and on what basis had it changed its stand.

In July, based on an existing policy of the Centre, the top court had banned tourism in core areas of all tiger reserves in the country. The ban was imposed after states failed to comply with the Centre's notification of phasing out tourism in core areas of tiger reserves.

Meanwhile, the US has urged India not to step on Internet freedoms as New Delhi seeks to clamp down on social media sites it blames for adding to communal tensions between Muslim and northeastern communities. Read the WSJ report. 

Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha have been adjourned for the day on the CAG report on the coal block allocation. And MPs get paid to attend Parliament. 

The BJP also wants the PM's principal secretary Pulok Chatterjee to be included in the list.

The BJP has announced that it may withdraw from the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G if the list of deposition does not include the Prime Minister and finance minister P Chidambaram.

Elizabeth Windsor @Queen_UK Prince Harry, when one said you should be "proud of the crown jewels" that wasn't entirely what one meant.

Obviously, fake Twitter handle. If you've just joined us, this is the background. Britain's Prince Harry went bare ass naked in Vegas this weekend during a game of strip billiards with a room full of friends in his suite. The 27-year-old Prince of Wales, along with a large entourage, went down to the hotel bar and met a bunch of hot chicks and invited them up to his VIP suite.

See our 11:57 am post for more

PM Manmohan Singh has called Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot offering assistance after four people died as heavy rains lashed Jaipur. The rains created havoc as over 100 colonies in low-lying areas and the walled city were inundated. The district administration announced a holiday for all government and private schools Wednesday. Heavy rains, that began lashing the city from 11 pm Tuesday, were estimated at 148.4 mm Wednesday morning.

The wacky and not-so-wacky conspiracy theories about China's trial of the century. Read

Why do people give credence to rumors? And why can  rumors spread so quickly through a population? Read the report on the WSJ

Since somebody has spent time and effort doing a study on this, read it. When we're waiting in line or sitting in a boring meeting, time seems to slow down. And when we get caught up in something completely engrossing -- a gripping thriller, for example -- we may lose sense of time altogether.

New study has indicated this feeling that time is somehow shorter seems to be the specific result of our desire to approach or pursue something, not a more general effect of heightened attention or physiological arousal.

Both houses of Parliament adjourned till 2 pm over Coalgate and demands over the PM's resignation. Here's the agenda for the monsoon session. Read

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will meet President Pranab Mukherjee over dinner tonight. Details awaited.

Read this for a background of the Mamata-Pranab equation

A classroom on the third floor of the humanities block of St. Joseph's College in Bangalore now serves as a makeshift dormitory. Mattresses have been rolled out atop benches laid side by side and on the professors' wooden podium, surrounded by duffel bags packed for an indefinite stay. Since Thursday, five girls from India's northeastern states have made this space their home.

Read the blog on the New York Times.

And a related story: Internet analysts question India's efforts to stem panic

With Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik's job on the line read the background of what exactly happened on August 11 at Azad Maidan. On the Indian Express.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has tabled "accounting' reports in Parliament, and blamed the government of India, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for condoning and encouraging corruption to the tune of several trillion rupees. But its "accounting" has justifiably raised the question: Who would you trust more, the CAG or Manmohan Singh?
Read the opinion piece on the Indian Express.

Both houses of Parliament have been adjourned till 2 pm as the Opposition continues to disrupt proceedings (as promised). Opposition benches refuse to listen to the Chair and shout slogans presumably on Coalgate. Speaker Hamid Ansari attempts to calm things down, but with adjourns the house with a resigned expression on his face. 

Britain's Prince Harry went bare ass naked in Vegas this weekend during a game of strip billiards with a room full of friends in his suite. The 27-year-old Prince of Wales, along with a large entourage, went down to the hotel bar and met a bunch of hot chicks and invited them up to his VIP suite, TMZ reported.

Once in the room, things got wild with the group playing a game of strip pool that quickly escalated into full-on royal nudity.Some of the partiers snapped photos of the madness.

In one photo, a fully nude Harry cups his genitals while a seemingly topless woman stands behind him.

In another photo, a naked Harry is bear-hugging a woman who appears to be completely naked as well."We have no comment to make on the photos at this time,' a representative for the Royal Family said.

Mamata's support will come as a big relief for the Congress and probably a surprise since she has consistently been inconsistent with her support. 

First official statement from UPA ally Trinamool Congress comes in. The party says it wants a discussion on the coal allocation report but will NOT support the Opposition's demand for the prime minister's resignation. Yesterday, two BJP leaders met TMC chief Mamata Banerjee at midnight seeking her support for the PM's resignation.  

Rajya Sabha resumes, ruckus begins. And yes, as expected, the house is adjourned till noon. That's the second time today, that the House has been adjourned. 

The exodus to the Northeast, perhaps the biggest mass displacement in peacetime, reads like the dark side of the Arab Spring or the reverse of a flash mob. The social and SMS media, which accumulate forces for positive change, were leveraged to spread rumours and disperse minorities by the fictitious threat of violence. And the response is totally inadequate.

Read Pratik Kanjilal's column for the Indian Express.

Yesterday, the Opposition stalled both houses of Parliament over the coal scam as well. But what really made news was when the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Rajiv Shukla, was caught on tape advising the Rajya Sabha Chair to adjourn the House.

The UPA Minister was caught on camera telling the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, "There is going to be an uproar. Adjourn the session for the whole day."

However, defending his act in the Rajya Sabha, Shukla said there was nothing wrong in what he did. He said, There is nothing wrong in what I did in Rajya Sabha. It is up to the Speaker or the Chairperson to listen to our advise or not."

The Rajya Sabha also appeared to defend Shukla, with sources in the Upper House of Parliament saying it was a normal practice by a Parliamentary Affairs Minister to advise the chairperson or the deputy chairperson on adjournment of the House.

Kurien, who was elected as the Deputy Chairman, had just occupied the Chair when members of entire Opposition started shouting slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the government.Amid the din, Shukla, who is Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, went to the chair and whispered in the ears of Kurien to adjourn the House.

More on Moneycontrol.com

BJP had said it would be adamant in its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the alleged irregularities in coal block allocations. And well, it kept its word.

BJP defended its decision to demand the Prime Minister's resignation,saying it owes it to the people in the wake of "regular occurrence" of scams and insisted it will continue to press for his removal. "We will continue to demand the PM's resignation," says BJP senior leader Venkaiah Naidu.

The DMK says it wants a debate and discussion in Parliament, the National Front says the PM should not resign and the Opposition should have the courage to debate the issue. The JD(U) says the government should give a clarification over the coal allocation.

Parliamentary Affairs minister PK Bansal said earlier the BJP's sole purpose is to block Parliament proceedings and it does not want a debate for fear that skeletons in their own cupboard would be revealed. 

Just a few minutes into the Parliament session today, both houses have been adjourned over the CAG report on coal block allocation. The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 11.30 am, the Lok Sabha till noon.

In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, governments around the world have taken on controversial austerity measures to grapple with crippling deficits and mounting debt. Read more

In an aftermath of the Azad Maidan violence, the Maharashtra Home Ministry had sent a proposal to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan recommending the transfer of Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik, reports IBN.

Patnaik drew a lot of flak for allegedly mishandling the situation on August 11 in which two people were killed and 55 others, including 45 policemen were injured. Sources said that the proposal was sent to Chavan four days ago but its still awaiting his consent.

Also read: Madhu Trehan's piece for Indian Express on the issue. 

Parliament proceedings are likely to be disrupted again on Wednesday with the BJP adamant in its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the alleged irregularities in coal block allocations.

BJP defended its decision to demand the Prime Minister's resignation,saying it owes it to the people in the wake of "regular occurrence" of scams and insisted it will continue to press for his removal.

Of the three arrested in Bangalore last week for sending SMSes and MMSes inciting violence against people from the Northeast, the main accused, Anees Pasha, a 26-year-old cellphone repairman, alone forwarded controversial images and messages to 20,000 people using multiple SIM cards and cellphones, according to preliminary investigations. Read the report on the Indian Express

Home minister R R Patil has asked Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik to initiate criminal proceedings against MNS activists for taking out a procession despite prohibitory orders.

"I have asked law-enforcing agencies to invoke provisions of the Bombay Police Act and the Indian Penal Code against MNS activists who marched from Girgaum Chowpathy to Azad Maidan despite the fact that they were not given permission, and prohibitory orders were in force in the metropolis," Patil told TOI.

Read

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi to attend a meeting of the newly-formed UPA coordination committee. The committee, which includes Sonia Gandhi and the PM, is an effort by the UPA to project a united picture in the run-up to the 2014 general elections, reports NDTV.

Several issues on which there have been disagreements between the government and Banerjee are expected to be discussed in the meeting. Top of the agenda are Foreign Direct Investment in various sectors, fuel price hike, reduction of oil and fertilizer subsidies and the Telangana issue.

The Trinamool Congress chief had skipped the last coordination committee meeting in early August.

Read full report here

Incessant rainfall in Jaipur has claimed four lives. Train traffic has been badly hit and relief operations are on.

The Rajashthan Armed Constabulary has been deployed to carry out relief operations.  

On Tuesday, Delhi received the season's highest rainfall which brought along with it woes of waterlogging and traffic jams affecting the movement of thousands of office-goers.

Two persons were killed on Tuesday in North India due to heavy rains, which also disrupted normal life at many places in the region.

A colonel in the Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence had provided vital help to the CIA in tracing Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a new book has claimed.  

The book also claims that Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani may have been briefed by the United States on its operation to kill Osama bin Laden, some five months in advance. 

Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him, penned by eminent American journalist Richard Miniter, hit the stands on Tuesday.

The new book also says that land of the Abbottabad compound, where the Al Qaeda leader lived with his family, was"carved out" from the Pakistan military academy compound.   

"A colonel in Pakistan's feared intelligence service, the ISI, provided vital help in locating Bin Laden when he walked into the CIA's Islamabad station in August 2010," says the book.   

Bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs inside his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011.

A top Syrian minister has held out the prospect of strongman Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace deal.  

 

International powers including the US have long said Assad should step down as part of any negotiated settlement to end 17 months of bloodshed that activists say has killed 23,000.

 

The comments from Syria's Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil came following talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Moscow officials who are keen to keep their sway over the Soviet-era ally in case of the fall of Assad.

 

Read the full story on Herald Sun

US Senate candidate Todd Akin, who caused uproar by saying women's bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of rape, again refuses to quit the race.

 

Read the full story on BBC

An insurgent rocket attack on a US air base in Afghanistan has damaged the plane of America's top military officer while he was on a visit there.

 

Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was not near the plane at the time but two US maintenance crew were slightly injured.

 

Read the full story on BBC

Maharashtra govt moots Mumbai police chief's transfer

Video: 'MNS first party to support Mumbai Police'

Maharashtra dharma is my only religion: Raj Thackeray

Eight farmers commit suicide in Saurashtra

22 TN fishermen injured in Lankan naval attack

Watch: Rajiv Shukla caught on mike in RS

Six fake twitter accounts of PMO blocked

Geetika case: No police custody for Aruna Chaddha

Did ISI use NATO-trained terrorists to spread NE panic?

Hate posts: Govt to ban 250 websites, but is that enough?

Opposition strikes work demanding PM's exit over coal scam

Click here for yesterday's news updates!