Filmmaker Subhash Ghai reacts to the court order asking him to hand over to the Maharashtra government the 20-acre land allotted for his film institute.

Ghai said he would file an appeal in the Supreme Court. "We will move the Supreme Court for our lawful rights. We are at no fault... no wrong ... we had a legal joint venture in 2002 with Film City to use the land for building world
class film and media institute which was challenged by a PIL in court after ten years. We hope we will get justice from the Supreme Court."

What was that about dogs being a man's best friend...

Read these stories from the Daily Mail:

Anchor rushed to hospital after rescued dog bites her in the face... on live TV

Mother 'savaged to death by her OWN pet Alsatian as she tried to protect her children'

TV images show St Mary's School, Chennai packed with journalists, not students as it should be.

Haven't the faintest?

Read our 16:29 pm post or click here.

Twitter gossip: 

Andleeb Rana Farhan: Shobha De in town....and no socialite worth her Hermes has yet announced a party for her. Awww.....mufti sahab, yeh kiya baat hoyee?!?  

Reference tweet:

Shobhaa De: Off to Karachi for the Lit Fest.Excited.Second trip and lots to discover.Local buses are works of art.Someone's bound to take me for a ride!

Early this morning, Pakistan's Supreme Court began the hearing of the intra-court appeal challenging its order in a contempt case against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Here's the outcome: Refusing to buy his arguments, the SC today firmly told embattled PM Yousuf Raza Gilani that he had no option but to write to Swiss authorities to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari as no one was above the law.

Hearing Gilani's appeal against an apex court order summoning him on February 13 for framing contempt charges over his failure to act on its directive to reopen corruption cases against Zardari, an eight-judge bench headed by Chief Justice
Iftikhar Chaudhry said the Prime Minister should have taken the initiative.

The Bombay High Court today directed Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai to hand over to the Maharashtra government the 20-acre land allotted for his
ambitious film institute, Whistling Woods International, located in Filmcity, Goregaon.

"In the interest of justice, we direct respondent number 3 and 4 (Ghai and Whistling Woods) to vacate 14.5 acre area immediately which shall be resumed by the state government. The remaining 5.5 acre where the institute is constructed shall be taken over by the government on July 31, 2014 by when
all the ongoing courses at the film institute shall be completed," the court said.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Rajendra Sontakke and four other agriculturists from Latur and Osmanabad districts alleging "gross abuse of power" by former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in allotting the land. 

The bench has also directed Ghai to pay a rent of Rs 5.3 crore annually since they year 2000 when the director entered into a joint venture with the government to start a film institute.

An student from IIT Delhi was arrested from the college's campus and brought here today for allegedly blackmailing an IIT Kanpur girl, police said.
Surendra Bhukhiya, a third year student of textile engineering at IIT-Delhi, was arrested for attempting to kidnap the girl and pressurising her to marry him.

The girl, a first year BTech student of IIT Kanpur, had registered an FIR against Bhukhiya in Kalyanpur police station on November 26, stating that the boy was threatening to misuse her pictures if she refused to marry him, Lal said.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is to undergo surgery on Saturday morning after suffering from abdominal pain. 

The 69-year-old star, however, has assured fans that the procedure is "not too complicated" without disclosing the nature of the surgery.

 "A surgery that I shall be undergoing on the 11th morning and the surgery they say is not too complicated, but then all doctors say the same as you end up on the operating table, and before long the details and the subsequent anxieties begin to rise. 

"...a pain in the abdomen has to be investigated tomorrow under a CT Scan and then and only then shall the ok for the surgery be given," Big B, who has a history of stomach ailments, wrote on his blog.

The Central Information Commission has directed the PMO to "trace and preserve" the copies of correspondence between the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the President relating to the Emergency proclamation in 1975, as the top office claimed these records are untraceable. 

The transparency panel also directed the competent authorities in the Prime Minister's Office to enquire into the episode that the records of "an important post-independence event" are not traceable in the PMO files.

More on that big story of a student stabbing his teacher for disciplining him.

The 13-year-old student from Std IX goes to St Mary's Anglo-Indian School in Chennai. He allegedly stabbed his teacher to death inside the classroom on today at 10: 50 am.

The incident took place when Uma Maheshwari, who had been teaching science and Hindi in the school for the past 8 to 10 years, was waiting in an empty classroom when the boy allegedly walked in, and slashed her throat, and stabbed her in the stomach.

The teacher raised an alarm but died before she could be taken to hospital.

Al-Qaeda's chief in Pakistan, who once fought in Jammu and Kashmir, was among four terrorists killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan's restive North
Waziristan tribal region today. 

Badar Mansoor, a former commander of the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant group that was active in Kashmir, was killed with three others when a spy plane fired two missiles at a compound in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal agency early this morning.

Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO has moved a local court seeking directions to restrain Devas Multi-media from proceedings with the arbitration it has filed against it in an international court in Paris on cancellation of agreement on S band spectrum allocation. 

Antrix, which cancelled its agreement with Devas, filed the petition before the Additional City Civil and Session Court, seeking an interim injunction against Devas.

The suit is to restrain Devas from proceeding with the arbitration at International Court of Arbitration in Paris. Devas has approached the ICC tribunal challenging the cancellation of agreement by Antrix with it on S band spectrum
allocation.

Update on the Chennai Class IX school student who killed his teacher for being strict.

The school management says that the 39-year-old teacher was stabbed several times at 10:50 am.

As UP goes to the polls, a rediff.com special you shouldn't miss.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Rajiv Gandhi ... Lal Bahadur Shastri, V P Singh, Charan Singh and Chandra Shekhar -- all drew political life from Uttar Pradesh, the state that has historically played a pivotal role in India's political landscape.  Read

In other news: Castigating the Narendra Modi government for not placing reports of NHRC on damages and compensation for destruction of religious places before the state assembly, the Gujarat High Court has termed it as a "grave lapse", violative of human rights. 

The HC, in its verdict delivered yesterday, deplored that no explanation was given by the state government for not placing annual and other reports of the National Human Rights Commission on restoration of religious structures before the assembly till today despite receiving them in early 2005. 

A ninth standard boy allegedly stabbed his teacher to death in a private school in Chennai today. The student stabbed the teacher while she was taking lessons and she died while being taken to hospital. The boy has been taken to custody. The motive of the murder was yet to be ascertained, though TV reports said the teacher had tried to discipline the boy.

The 39-year-old teacher died on the spot.

A TV report says that a Std IX student in a Chennai school stabbed and killed his teacher for being strict. The teacher has died on the spot. Details awaited.

As we told you yeterday, Hurricane Priyanka hit Amethi today.

The Congress star campaigner launched a frontal attack on the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh alleging that it was wasting money on statues and parks even as she said there was a wind of change in favour of the Congress in the state. 

Addressing a series of poll meetings here, Priyanka said there is a chance to effect a change in the state after 22 years and sought votes for bringing the Congress to power. 

"Public money is not for leaders, it is for the common man. It is not for statues or parks. The UP government has looted the state... It is time to bring in change in Uttar Pradesh after 22 years," Priyanka said. 

"Your vote will determine your future for the next five years. Strengthen the hands of Congress and bring it to power," she said.

Campaigning in the twin family pocket boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli, Priyanka said that there is a "wind in favour of Congress in the state this time".

Accompanied by her two children, Rehan and Miraya, she arrived in Amethi this morning to start the next leg of her campaigning in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

The Essar Group has approached the Supreme Court against its trial before the Special CBI Court in the 2G case.Essar pleads before SC that the trial be conducted before a magistrate as the company and its officials are not charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI has withdrawn its application from the SC seeking clarifications over proceedings against the Essar Group from SC. Essar's plea will now be heard on February 17.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari today said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the party's choice as PM candidate in the 2014 elections. He also said he had requested Modi to campaign in UP. He however, remained non-committal about why the Gujarat CM hasn't campaigned as yet.

Gadkari also said Modi remained the party's favourite PM candidate irrespective of the cases against him.

Had to share this, rather mean, but funny, tweet:

Ashish Shakya: "Tedha hai par mera hai" - Marketing slogan coined by fans of Sharad Pawar.

Making news right now:

• Turner Construction Co. and Sahara Prime City forge joint venture.
• Essar Group approaches Supreme Court against its trial before Special CBI Court in 2G case.

Another story on the uprising, coup, whatever you want to call it, in Maldives on the Telegraph, Kolkata. Read

Update on yesterday's so-called porngate scandal.

A battle royale has broken out between the two leading Kannada news channels over who broke the porn video scandal, involving ministers in the BJP's 'gateway to the south', Karnataka, reports churumuri.com.

Market leader TV9 ran a news item on its 9 pm primetime news show on Wednesday, complete with a visual of its head honcho,Mahendra Mishra.

The news item contained an interview with its cameraman in the legislature who caught the ministers prying into their cellphones, and who then sent off an SMS to the reporter, Laxman Hoogar.

Not to be outdone, the Rajeev Chandrasekhar owned Suvarna News claimed it was the first with the story.

Update on the situation in the Maldives.

The police, a key player in events that led to the resignation of president Mohamed Nasheed, accused his party of fomenting "terrorism" as violence spread across the holiday resort archipelago. 

In a statement posted on its website late yesterday, the national police service confirmed that local police stations "across the Maldives" had been attacked in the wake of Nasheed's claim that he was ousted in a coup. 

Pro-Nasheed protesters had committed "atrocious acts of inhumane crimes" the statement said, citing "battery, assault and inflicting destruction of private possessions, trade outlets and government property." 

Also see our slideshow on the coup.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today said he wants minsiters to show results and not just push files. To ensure this happens, the PM has set up a performance monitoring and evaluation system, he has been pushing since 2009.

Our Delhi correspondent says, in this exclusive report, that as part of the exercise, the Cabinet Secretariat has come out with a 16-page circular, detailing a Result Framework Document, where each department is supposed to prepare a summary of the most important results they will achieve during the financial year.

The document would then help the government in making an objective and fair evaluation of the organisation's overall performance at the end of the year, officials said.

All departments have been asked to submit these RFDs latest by March 5 this year. After six months, the Results Framework and actual achievements against the performance goals laid down at the beginning of the year will be reviewed.

Detailed report on rediff.com in a bit.

The Maldives foreign minister says the arrest warrant is illegal. Nasheed, incidentally, is at his house in Male, and not at a safe house, as was reported earlier. Right now, the police have surrounded his house and will arrest him any moment.

And once again, the op-ed piece the former Maldives prez wrote for the New York Times, just yesterday: The Dregs of Dictatorship.

A report on AFP says that the wife and daughters of former Maldives' president Mohamed Nasheed have fled to Colombo as violence worsens. "His wife and two children arrived and spoke to the president over the phone last evening," a spokesman for Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, Bandula Jayasekera, told AFP.

"President Rajapakse was concerned over the safety of Mr Nasheed and his family." A family member in Male, who asked not to be named, confirmed the news, saying: "They are in Sri Lanka... It's much safer than here."

Just in: A Maldives court issues arrest warrant against ex-president Nasheed Mohammed.

Why zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been the subject of decades of debate among scientists. Now researchers from Hungary and Sweden claim to have solved the mystery. The stripes, they say, came about to keep away blood-sucking flies.

Read the story on the bbc.co.uk.

Just so you know: Champagne just isn't champagne sans its bubbles, and researchers have now highlighted the effects that glass shape and temperature can have on carbonation upon serving and the drinking experience.

They found a much higher concentration of the gas above the flute than the coupe, which partly accounts for the very different drinking experiences from the two glasses. Go buy.

Update on a post-coup Maldives.

The new president of the Maldives, Mohamed Waheed, who is accused by his predecessor of taking part in a coup, today struggled to contain "anarchy" in the
holiday paradise as protests and violence spread. Waheed made two emergency cabinet appointments -- home and defence -- after supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed stormed police stations and burned government buildings in outlying atolls of the archipelago nation.

The former president is believed to be in a safe house in the capital, Male.

Coming soon...

Pramod Muthalik, India's self-appointed moral guardian with a tendency towards violence over 'disgusting western culture', speaks to rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa on his plans for Valentine's Day, among others.

Just in: NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, led by Teesta Setalvad and Zakia Jafri, the widow of slain Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri, have filed a petition in court saying that the SIT report on the Gulbarg Society massacare in the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat is incomplete.

The petition also stated that they fear that the SIT has not filed the complete report in the Gulbarg Society massacre case as directed by the Supreme Court. Jafri has also sought a copy of the report.

The court has now asked both parties to appear before it on Monday. 

On the WSJ: If you've used Google search, YouTube, Maps or any other Google products in the last few days, you'd have seen a notice in your browser saying "We're changing our privacy policy and terms. This stuff matters.' 

Read

Flipkart is set to buy LetsBuy.com. A report in medianama says that although the terms of the said deal haven't been disclosed, the report stated: "LetsBuy's valuation was between $20-25 million. Another suggests that it is upwards of $25-30 million, depending on the payout."

More

Search giant Google has announced that it will start paying some users in exchange for their search history as part of the company's new project called 'Screenwise'.  

The new project, which aims to know more about how people use the Internet in their daily lives, is asking for volunteers to install a Chrome browser extension that allows data to be collected in exchange for "up to 25 dollars in gift cards'.  

The company said that those who sign up would be given a 5-dollar Amazon.com Gift Card code, and then an addition 5-dollar gift card code every three months for staying with the project as a "thank you.'

A Delhi court here has refused to direct the Delhi Police to register an FIR against Anna Hazare and his team members for allegedly disrespecting the national flag during their anti-graft protest in August last year. 

"In the complaint, nothing has been mentioned or submitted during arguments as to why FIR should be registered in the matter," Metropolitan Magistrate Anil Kumar said on a private complaint for registration of FIR against Team Anna.

"I am of the considered opinion that if the entire evidence is within the reach of the complainant and no cusodial interrogation or discovery of any fact is required
then registration of FIR is not required to be ordered," he added.

On the Guardian: The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost NO ice in past 10 years. A study shows meltwater from Asia's peaks is much less then previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern.

Read

While on Pakistan, the Supreme Court today began the hearing of the intra-court appeal challenging its order in a contempt case against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Read the report on the Dawn

Even as India's foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai meets with his counterpart in Washington today, where AfPak dominates talks, a report on Pakistan's Tribune says that the Afghan-Pakistan jihad is attracting fewer foreign fighters following the death of Osama bin Laden, the growing threat posed by US drones, and lack of funds.

Read

On Twitter: Subroto Roy, chairman of Sahara, is to make a `strategic announcement' at 1 pm today in Mumbai. What could it be?  

Here's what's scheduled. Sahara Group chairman Subrata Roy will meet the BCCI president N Srinivasan today, to arrive at an amicable solution over the IPL franchisee Pune Warriors and the sponsorship withdrawal.

India's insistence on continuing to buy Iranian oil defying US sanctions, drawing common approach on China, Af-Pak situation and peace negotiations with Taliban dominated the talks of Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai who concluded his maiden bilateral visit in Washington today. 

The "serious situation" in Maldives after the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed, the multi-billion jets deal, found passing mentions during Mathai's meetings spread over three days in Washington, sources said. 

The issues like the implementation of the civilian nuclear deal, the upcoming India-US Strategic Dialogue and finding a common road map of global and regional were also discussed, they said.

More on the UP polls on the Daily Mail.

Dalits, OBCs and Muslims hold the key to Rahul Gandhi's 'Mission UP' success. But even the Congress leader is finding it difficult to keep his flock united.  The OBC face of the Congress, union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma, and the party's Dalit face, National Commission for SC/ST chairman PL Punia don't see eye to eye.  

Read

To highlight the cause of Muslims in the district, the Ulema Council has jumped into the fray by fielding 170 candidates across Uttar Pradesh. Council president Maulana Aamir Rasadi, while accusing BJP of going soft on terror during the NDA rule, slammed Congress for shedding "crocodile tears" to further its
political interests. "BJP released terrorists in Kandahar who later targeted
India....they should not talk about terrorism," he said. 

When asked why Ulema Council protested before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his recent visit to Azamgarh, he said Congress had been shedding "crocodile tears" in support of Muslims to further its political interests.

Good morning.

With day 1 of the UP polls over (55 per cent vote), eyes now are on Saturday, when the second phase begins. Caste and not religion is a major player in the February 11 assembly election in this eastern Uttar Pradesh district which has been in limelight due to the alleged involvement of its youths in terror activities.

But religious leaders from the Muslim community maintain that elections are an important means to highlight their demands including the need to speed up trial of the accused so that justice is delivered on time.

"In 2010, (Congress general secretary) Digvijay Singh had assured an NIA probe into all terror cases and speedy trial of the accused....he had said that all cases will be tried in one place and not different states.

"But nothing has happened," said Masiruddin Sanjari who belongs to Sanjarpur village from where more than 12 accused in various cases belong.

Porn row: 3 Karnataka Ministers resign (The Hindu)
Announcing their resignation, Ministers Lakshman Savadi and C.C. Patil demanded that the Speaker institute a probe into the issue and expressed confidence that "they would come clean from the allegations". Read

India played neutral as Nasheed's men sought military intervention (The Hindu)
Fearing for the personal liberty of the deposed Maldives President, Mohamed Nasheed, close aides said some of his Ministers had sought Indian military assistance when the "coup" was under way on Tuesday but none came. Read

SIT finds no evidence against Modi in Zakia case (The Times of India)
The Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday gave a clean chit to chief minister Narendra Modi over allegations of his involvement in the 2002 riots. Read

UP polls, phase I:55 pct vote in troubled waters for Mayawati (Indian Express)
Though largely represented from these 10 districts, BSP fights graft, tailed by resurgent SP, Cong. Read