More on Anuj Bidve.

A message from the Bidve family was read out at the 'memorial': "He could easily bring a smile to anyone's face. His passing will not only leave a void in our lives but in the hearts of all those who knew him". 

The vigil was organised by Vikrant Gupta, 24, an IT worker living in Manchester. Gupta told the media: "When I read the news I felt really bad. I felt I wanted to do something for him and his family".

Sushant Gupta, 21, a student at Aston University and a friend of Bidve added: "He was the only son and he just came here three months ago and he was looking forward to this a long, long time.

"He was so excited to see Christmas in the UK and he wanted to see Manchester United play on Boxing Day. He was a nice guy, it is a shame to lose someone so good".

Update on the Anuj Bidve murder:

Even as a second autopsy gets underway, prayers by a Hindu priest marked a candle-lit vigil last evening at the spot where Indian student Anuj Bidve was killed in an unprovoked attack in Salford as hundreds of people expressed their grief at the incident. 

The gathering included many residents of the Orsdall area of Salford, UK, where the incident took place on December 26. Expressing shock at the incident, they said Bidve's attackers had brought shame to the area and unwelcome national and international attention to Salford. 

A  lamppost, festooned with fresh floral tributes became the spot for an impromptu shrine, where candles and cards with messages were placed.
The arc of light extended over time as people waited for their turn to place candles around a framed photo of Bidve.

In other news, the daughter of influential former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was on Tuesday sentenced to jail and banned from political activities for "anti state propaganda" dating back to the 2009 disputed presidential election.

Read the reuters report

West Bengal leader of Opposition Suryakanta Mishra today charged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with trying to be more Leftist than the Leftists.
"We have been noticing that she (Banerjee) is trying to be more Leftist than us Leftists," the CPI(M) leader said while responding to charges levelled against the former Left Front government in the state by the chief minister earlier in the day. 

"She has displayed this attitude during the FDI in retail controversy," he said.  Alleging that she was not practising what she was preaching on other issues, Mishra said "when we brought a motion in Parliament against price rise, she voted with the Congress. "She did the same in case of FDI in insurance sector," he claimed.

Iran's military today warned one of the US navy's biggest aircraft carriers to keep away from the Gulf, in an escalating showdown over Tehran's nuclear drive that could pitch into armed confrontation. 

"We advise and insist that this warship not return to its former base in the Persian Gulf," said Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi, Iran's armed forces chief. 

 "We don't have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once," he was quoted as saying by the armed forces' official website. 

The defiant message came just after Iran completed 10 days of naval manoeuvres at the entrance to the Gulf to show it could close the strategic oil shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz if it felt threatened. 

In the climax of the war games yesterday, Iran test-fired three missiles -- including a new cruise missile -- designed to sink warships.

Another story of abuse from Afghanistan. A gang in the northern part of the country reportedly indignant at a father's refusal to give his daughter up for marriage sprayed the family of five with acid.

Read the story on bbc.co.uk

A special 10-man police unit has been set up to hunt for the husband and others behind the torture of a 15-year-old Afghan bride. Sahar Gul was left starving in a basement by her new husband and his family. The case came to light last month when police rescued the teenager.

Read more on the bbc.co.uk.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid has favoured reaching out to the Opposition as also allies on the issue of Lokpal and other issues and dismissed suggestions
that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee was a 'difficult customer'.

Even as the slugfest continued between the Congress and the BJP over the Lokpal Bill getting stuck in the Rajya Sabha, Khurshid said the government should reach out to the Opposition on a priority basis.

Talking to Karan Thapar on 'India Tonight' programme on CNBC, Khurshid also said that "genuine concerns" of UPA's allies should be addressed.

When asked whether government will find it difficult to reach out to BJP as most in Congress think of that party as 'political pariahs', he said "if you live in the same house, you will stop thinking of pariahs. And we are in the same
house.

"We have to shake hands, we have to get our eyeballs meet. We have helped them and they have helped us in matters that are of critical importance to the country," he said.

To a question on Mamata Banerjee, Khurshid scoffed at suggestions that she was 'difficult customer'. "She is not a difficult customer... her politics is
politics of passion. She has great conviction, she is a very very determined person. When you have someone of that nature, you need some technique to communicate better. I think we'll work on that," he said.

After a delay of around two months, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak returned to court in Cairo for his trial and according to rumors flowing in the media, the 83 year old might be acquitted of the charges.

Mubarak has been charged for large-scale corruption and involvement in the deaths of more than 800 protestors during the mass rebellion that transpired last year, and which eventually ended his 30-year old government.

His two sons Gamal and Alaa are also on trial in court along with Mubarak's former security chief and six top police commanders.

After cell phone number portability, it's account number portability.

The Finance Ministry is working on savings banks account number portability, which will allow a customer to retain his account number while changing his bank. "We want to do it (savings a/c number portability). Right now there are some technical problems...we have identified them. We will overcome them soon," Financial Services Secretary D K Mittal said today. 

He said banks would have to work on identification code, know your customers (KYC) norms and core banking solution (CBS) for implementing the savings bank account number portability.  The move would help customers change banks, without the need of going through the KYC norms again.

All that you wanted to know on Reliance Industries Limited investing in Network 18, but didn't know where to look.

Read

On the night of December 29th, Cyclone Thane crossed the coast near Pondicherry bringing devastation to Auroville and the surrounding villages. Writer Claude Arpi who lives in Auroville relives that day.

See

On Twitter: 

Shah Rukh Khan: Rush rush rush all around... kids screaming to take them out...maid shouting to finish packing... can't find camera cap... no sugar in coffee.  

-- Will not allow anyone to look for misplaced items...like won't ask for directions.rib pain is ok...can't accept it hurts. Oh to be a man!

The actor and his family are in Dubai on a short holiday.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reacts to FICCI. Speaking to news reporters today, Mamata lashed out at FICCI saying the state did not want an industry that killed people. "A chamber (FICCI) has said that the directors of AMRI should be released. I want to tell them that we want industry here, but we do not want industry that will kill people.

"A murderer's identity is that of a murderer, a terrorist is a terrorist. I cannot pardon someone on grounds that the person has a different identity," she said.

More on ibnlive.in.com.

FICCI today said it wants AMRI directors held in the fire tragedy to be released.

"God, he's so good-looking,' purrs a friend when I mention meeting Imran Khan. "Umm, the actor not cricketer,' I correct her and she looks promptly crest-fallen. There is only one Imran for women of a certain age, and it's not some cherub-faced Bollywood hero who makes teenagers swoon.

More on Firstpost.com

The Centre should talk to all political parties before arriving at a consensus on the Lokpal Bill, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said
and stuck to her stand that it should be left to the states to set up Lokayauktas on models they choose. 

"We think that the Lokpal should be made on the basis of consensus and that the Centre should talk to all parties in this regard. All parties support the Lokpal. But let it be left to states to decide what model they should choose for the Lokayuktas," Banerjee said at the state secretariat in Kolkata.

The Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation has accepted the proposal for awarding its first Vaccine Innovation Award to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The proposal came in the wake of Bihar's remarkable contribution for effectively strengthening the immunisation programme, Executive Director State Health Society Sanjay Kumar said today.

Nitish will thus be the first recipient of the Vaccine Innovation Award, introduced globally by the Foundation having a cash reward of US $250,000.

The Gate's foundation leadership has on their part acknowledged the winner of the award, Sanjay said.

The Foundation had taken the decision last year to bestow the award on an individual/a team having made the most innovative contribution in vaccination field.

The rise in routine immunisation played a major role, in making Bihar a polio-free state in the country, with not a single case of the dreaded disease reported last year.

The two Indians, who were virtually held captive by local traders in China's Yiwu trade hub, have now been shifted to a hotel for "safety" reasons by the police, even as India issued an advisory asking its traders to "stay away" from the busy commodity centre.

Police in Yiwu, a trade hub in Zhejiang province close to Shanghai, shifted Shyamsunder Agrewal and Deepak Raheja to a hotel where two policemen were deployed to guard them.

Indian diplomat S Balachandran was "manhandled" at a court and fainted as he tried to secure the release of the two traders on December 31, prompting India to lodge a protest.

Interesting read on the New York Times' India blogs: Inexpensive food and lodging are still readily available in India, and the country still draws a patchouli-scented crowd.

But a subset of globetrotters are booking lavish holidays that stretch into six figures, taking advantage of India's fast-growing 'luxury infrastructure' goods and services popular with India's own expanding pool of deep-pocketed businessmen and travel connoisseurs.

Read

Home Minister P Chidambaram, who was at cyclone-hit Puducherry said a Central team would visit the place, as well as Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district soon to make an on-the-spot assessment of the damage caused by the calamity which left 47 dead.

On Firstpost.com: Does honesty have to mean incompetence or impotence? The case of 'honest' Manmohan Singh's frozen impotence in the face of super-scale corruption  -- Commonwealth Games and 2G scams -- is too well known to bear repetition.

Less well known is the case of AK Antony, the 'honest' defence minister of the country. Antony has made personal honesty his watchword -- but few believe that his honesty comes with any kind of competence. 

Read

Nearly a month after directors of AMRI Dhakuria Hospital were arrested in connection with the devastating fire, industry body FICCI has urged the West
Bengal government to see to it that jailed directors who are not involved in its day-to-day operations are released. 

"Those...not responsible for day to day operations of any business should be released immediately," the apex chamber said in a statement here. The West Bengal government had arrested seven AMRI directors, also promoters of Emami and Sharchi Groups, following the inferno on December 9 which claimed at least 92 lives.

American police today erected a security tower and stepped up surveillance around an Islamic centre and a Hindu temple that were among four sites fire-
bombed here in arsonist attacks termed by authorities as hate crimes and also released the sketch of a suspect. 

Molotov cocktails were hurled at the four locations last night, with bombs damaging property but no serious injuries were reported. The attacks took place in Queens area in which unidentified assailants threw homemade firebombs at a house used for Hindu worship services, Islamic centre Imam Al-Khoei Foundation, a home and a convenience store.

A recommended visit if you're in London in the next two months -- on show at the Buckingham Palace, a dazzling collection of diamond jewellery owned by Queen Elizabeth II.

Sneak peek

The Supreme Court today rejected the bail plea of Abdul Naseer Madani, arrested for his alleged role in the 2008 serial terror blasts in Bangalore,
Ahmedabad and Jaipur. 

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar, however, directed the Karnataka government to provide medical treatment to Madani, founder of Peoples Democratic Party in Kerala, at the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala in Bangalore for his various health problems. 

The apex court passed the directions for medical help to Madani, while declining to entertain senior counsel Sushil Kumar's plea for interim bail to him to enable him undergo treatment at the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala in Kerala's Malappuram district.

Just three months after his death, former Apple's visionary co-founder Steve Jobs has been immortalised as an action figure by a pair of toy companies.  

Toy companies in icons and Dragon in Dream unveiled the 12-inch action figure called 'iCEO mini' in tribute to the tech visionary who gave the world the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod.  

The figure features Jobs' trademark black turtleneck, jeans and sandshoes, The Daily Mail reports.  

The figure is due for release in late February for 99.99 dollars plus shipping.

2011 in a nutshell: High inflation, increasing interest rates, depreciating currency, deadlock in government decision making and uncertain global conditions substantially dampened investor sentiment and business confidence.

So, what do you invest in?

Rediff.com gives you the five top stocks lay your bets on.

Also on the Wall Street Journal: Top Congress leaders periodically murmur about reducing the culture of sycophancy around Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son, youth wing leader Rahul Gandhi.

Judging by the front page of  the New Delhi edition of the Hindu newspaper on New Year's Day, they have their work cut out for them.

Here's why

Indian television and Internet conglomerate Network18 Group is expected Tuesday to announce a fund-raising plan and the purchase of assets of Eenadu, a regional media company, said a person familiar with the matter.

Network18 is looking at all of Eenadu's news assets and part of its entertainment business, and an announcement of a deal is expected after a Network18 board meeting Tuesday afternoon, the person said. Further details weren't available.

That's the report on the Wall Street Journal.

Details on what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today at the Science Congress.

Noting that India's position in the field of science has been overtaken by China, sought an increase in spending on scientific research to at least two per cent of GDP and enhanced contribution from industry.

"As far as resources are concerned, the fraction of the GDP spent on R&D in India has been too low and stagnant," he said inaugurating the 99th Indian Science Congress in Bhubaneshwar. 

"Over the past few decades, India's position in the world of science had been declining and we have been overtaken by countries like China. Things are changing but we cannot be satisfied with what has been achieved. We need to do much more to change the fate of Indian science," Singh said. 

He  said the aim should be to increase the total R&D spending as a percentage of the GDP to two per cent by the end of the 12th Plan period from the current level of about 0.9 per cent. "This can only be achieved if industry, which contributes about one third of the total R&D expenditure today, increases its contribution.I believe public sector undertakings especially in the engineering sector should play a major role in this expansion," he said. 

He said there is another proposal for setting up a Neutrino Observatory at Theni in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 1350 crore to study the fundamental particles that form the universe.

Anuj Bidve's murder raises safety issues of Indian students abroad once again. Can foreign universities market themselves as safe? Read the bbc report.

Also read: Australian teen jailed over Indian student killing

Read this at leisure. Savour it. Pritish Nandy's column in the Times of India, which a lot of us can relate to.

For people like me it's not easy. We were brought up being told that No is impolite, rude, and politically incorrect. There are nicer ways to turn down a request. You can gently fob it off. Or procrastinate. Or do what my friend Husain, the painter, always did. He said Yes to everything and promptly disappeared. 

More

Update on the Anuj Bidve murder. Family members of the slain Indian student will leave for Britain today to claim his body.

Bidve, a micro-electronics student at Lancaster University became on December 26, the latest victim of a hate crime in Greater Manchester.

Bidve was a part of a group of nine Indian students who were staying in a hotel in Manchester over Christmas, while heading towards the city center at around 1 pm they were approached by two white men. Reports indicate one of them asked Bidve the time and when Bidve didn't reply one of the men, removed a handgun and shot him.  

Yesterday, a two-member team of the UK police visited the family in Pune to brief them on the circumstances of the tragic incident.

Read the rediff.com story on the murder: Friends, family turn to Facebook for help

Just in: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Air India on a plea seeking minimum compensation of Rs 75 lakh each to families of 158 victims of Mangalore air crash.

In August 2011, a division bench of Justices CN. Ramachandran Nair and P.S. Gopinathan asked Air India to ensure an amicable agreement on the compensation amount after talking to the families of those who lost their lives in the May 22, 2010, crash.

The new order came after Air India filed an appeal against last month's verdict ordering Rs 75 lakh each to the families of the victims.

The flag carrier initially paid compensation of Rs.20 lakh each to the victims' kin as per the terms of the Montreal Convention on air carriers' liability.

Air India Express flight 812 from Dubai to Mangalore overshot the runway while landing at Bajpe airport, about 20 km from Mangalore, and caught fire after plunging about 300 metres off a cliff.

Here's a story that has a happy ending.

Legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin is engaged to her "longtime friend and confidant," William 'Willie' Wilkerson, Franklin's spokeswoman said in a statement.

The "forever friends" are thinking about getting married in Miami Beach, Florida, with a reception afterward aboard a luxury yacht, the statement added. The 69-year-old singer is considering Donna Karan, Valentino and Vera Wang to design her dress.

More on cnn.com

Authorities in New York are investigating attacks at three locations in the city, in which Molotov cocktails were hurled at a temple, a mosque with 100 people inside.

The attacks took place in Queens, the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City, in which unidentified assailants threw homemade firebombs at a house used for Hindu worship services and Islamic centre Imam Al-Khoei Foundation.  

"We were having a gathering tonight, spending some time with members of the mosque after a service, and someone alerted us that there was a fire outside,' The New York Post quoted Maan Alsahlani, the mosque's minister of religion, as saying.  

Good morning.

First up.

An overt nuclear war may be a remote possibility but the threat of non-state actors unleashing "dirty" nuclear bombs, biological or chemical agents to wreak havoc remains a clear and present danger. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the threat, Indian armed forces have inducted NBC defence equipment worth Rs 1,200 crore and another Rs 1,200 crore is in the pipeline, says a TOI report . 

DRDO builds defence against dirty bombs (The Times of India)

An overt nuclear war may be a remote possibility but the threat of non-state actors unleashing "dirty" nuclear bombs, to wreak havoc remains a clear danger. Read

Denied food & drugs, Indian diplomat in China collapses (The Times of India)

India on Monday lodged a strong protest with China over the harassment of an Indian diplomat who collapsed after being denied food and medicines. Read

Cops seek second autopsy, Bidve's family wait for body (Hindustan Times)
The family of 23-year-old Anuj Bidve, who was shot dead on December 26 in Manchester city, was informed that by UK police officials the second post-mortem would be conducted by today. Read

Lokpal: UPA remains a minority in RS for quite a while (Indian Express)
Despite 65 vacancies soon, 23 of UPA retire, even gains in UP will not change equation. Read

New dam is the only solution, says Kerala (The Hindu)
Kerala's offer is not bona fide: Tamil Nadu Read

No outside control should be imposed over media: Manmohan (The Hindu)

The Prime Minister also said media should among themselves find a way by which objectivity and impartiality are encouraged and sensationalism is reduced. Read