Assam and New Delhi, a study in contrasts.

The flood situation in Assam remained alarming with 116 people having lost their lives in flood water and landslides during the current wave as the
Brahmaputra and its tributaries continued to flow above the danger mark today.

Altogether 100 people have died due to floods including 16 in landslides caused by incessant rainfall while 16 others were still missing, official sources said today. An estimated population of 22 lakh have been affected in the worst ever flood in recent years causing large-scale devastation in 2809 villages in 27 of the 28 districts of the state.

New Delhi: Four persons died due to extreme heat wave conditions in North India even as some places across the region got a little respite due to light rain and thundershowers. Delhi today sweltered at a maximum of 41.5 degrees celsius, five notches above normal and a minimum of 29.5 degrees celsius coupled with high humidity reaching upto 77 per cent.

Former Sports Minister Oscar Fernandes has submitted a three-point proposal to the Government, demanding the formation of an exclusive 'Indian Sports Services (ISS) Cadre' and quota for sportspersons in All India Civil Services.

In his draft proposal addressed to the Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken, Fernandes has suggested three steps -- introduction of a sports cadre on the same lines like that of the Indian Forest Services; 5 per cent quota for sportsmen in the IAS, IPS and IFS cadres who have excelled and won medalsat the Olympics and appointment of foreign coaches to improve the standard of sports in India on a 50:50 partnership basis between states and central government.

Britain today banned Indian Mujahideen (IM), making it a criminal offence to join and support the LeT-linked terror group which carried out "indiscriminate mass casualty attacks" in India and "posed a threat" to British nationals there.MPs at the UK's House of Commons unanimously approved a motion last night proscribing IM and placing it on the list of 47 organisations that have been banned from functioning in UK. 

"Indian Mujahideen is a terrorist organisation which has carried out a number of indiscriminate mass casualty attacks in India since 2007. It uses violence to achieve its stated objectives of establishing an Islamic state in India and implementing Sharia law," Home Secretary Theresa May said.

Amid reports that Sri Lankan Air Force personnel are being trained in Chennai, CPI today said the programme amounts to "betrayal" of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka and demanded its immediate scrapping.   

Party National Secretary D Raja said the Indian Government should not have agreed to train personnel of the Sri Lankan Air Force as the island nation has not done anything constructive to resolve the ethnic crisis after the end of the war.   

"Government of India cannot defend its decision this time by calling it a routine programme with neighbouring countries. The programme should be immediately scarpped and the officers should be sent back. This amounts to betrayal of the Tamils," he said. 

The other terror alert happened early this morning, when the British police today arrested five men and a woman in London as part of a pre-planned intelligence-led operation.

The Metropolitan Police clarified that the operation was not linked to the forthcoming Olympic Games. The men and woman were all arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000, and have been taken to a southeast London police station where they remain in custody.

The police have yet to confirm whether the incident on the bus on M6 Toll Road is a terror plot. Remember, there are just 22 days for the London Olympics to begin and the country is on a high alert.

The Telegraph reports that the south bound coach, which belonged to the Megabus company, had already pulled over to the hard shoulder when police arrived at the scene.

A spokeswoman for Megabus, which is operated by Stagecoach, said: "We are assisting police with their inquiries into an allegation made against a passenger who was travelling on board one of our services."

Passengers, many of them appearing to be young adults, were forced to sit on the roadway surface within a police cordon. The incident, which occurred at the height of rush hour, brought chaos to the road network in the area. Fifty people were evacuated from the bus.

Jundal alias Zabiuddin Ansari has confessed that he was planning to launch a major attack on the Nashik Police Academy in Maharashtra, according to media reports. The plan was foiled after the arrests in the Pune German bakery blast case in February, 2010.

Jundal was Ajmal Kasab's handler during the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26, 2008.

Abu Jundal's custody hearing still on. The Delhi police seeks an extension of custody by 15 more days. The Mumbai crime branch, Mumbai police, ATS Pune are also seeking his custody. Media has not been allowed into the courtroom for security reasons.

On Firstpost.com: Why it's futile to have peace talks with Pakistan. Read

And other terror news. The home ministry has called a meeting next Friday to discuss the procedure to deal with human shields in the wake of criticism after the Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) encounter.  The meeting is to be attended by all Naxal-affected states and para-military forces like the CRPF. 

It is believed that Naxals used human shields including children during the gunbattle. The use of innocents and children as human shields is a new trend in this movement. After the killings of top Maoist leaders Azad and Kishenji in encounters, the top Maoist leadership was shaken and hence the new strategy to guard their leaders.

India todayb made it clear that taking action against the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks will be the "biggest confidence-building measure of all" by Pakistan, which rejected involvement of its state agencies in the 26/11 carnage.Pushing Pakistan to take action against the guilty in Mumbai attacks, New Delhi asserted that the ongoing interrogation of Abu Jundal, the LeT handler of the terrorists who carried out Mumbai terror strikes, has added "urgency" to this matter.

At the Tis Hazari court, the media has been asked to clear the premises as Jundal surrounded by 30 to 40 commandos is led into the court room. Media madness outside as custody hearing begins.  

26/11 handler Abu Jundal reaches the Tiz Hazari court for his custody hearing. The custody with the Delhi police ends today. The Mumbai police, the Pune ATS and NIA want his custody. Gives 'most wanted' a new meaning. The court will now decide who gets his custody.

Jundal was earlier taken to the Safdarjung Hospital for a routine medical check-up.   

Five years since he supported UPA's Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil after breaking ranks with NDA, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today appeared having second thoughts on the issue. 

"Pratibha Patil is our President. She could not hang Afzal Guru in the last five years. Now, when you are demitting office, at least 'hang' the Karnataka Government which is anti-Maharashtra," Thackeray, who had backed Patil for the post as she was a Maharashtrian, said.

Thackeray's comments against ally BJP's Karnataka government came after it superseded the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti-controlled Belgaum city corporation for the second time in less than seven months two days ago, raising tempers across the border in Maharashtra.

"After all, you (Patil) are going to settle in Maharashtra at the end of your tenure. A historic opportunity has been presented to you to repay the debt of Maharashtra," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The never-ending saga of the Tom-Katie split.

In the 1993 legal thriller The Firm, Tom Cruise plays a junior member of a prestigious Memphis law firm that's secretly steeped in corruption. After a midnight tryst on the beach during a weekend junket to the Cayman Islands, Cruise's character, Mitch, is confronted by Wilford Brimley at his most unctuous, playing the firm's enforcer, who shows him surveillance photos of his dalliance that could wreck his marriage.

That's just the kind of stuff the FBI could use for coercion, Mitch,' says the Brimley character. "So you watch yourself. I'll do my best to protect you, and I know you'll do your best to protect the firm.'

With a few key words changed, that's as succinct a description of Scientology and its powerful hold over its credulous practitioners as one could hope for. 

Read

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will undertake his much-anticipated visit to Pakistan in the first half of September. Krishna had to defer his July 18-19 visit to Pakistan to review the peace talks, which picked up after the 26/11 chill,due to the Presidential elections scheduled around the same time. 

"We are looking for some time in the first half of September for me to visit Islamabad before the UN General Assembly," Krishna said.

LeT terrorist and 26/11 terror attack handler Abu Jundal has been taken to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital for medical tests. Jundal, who was deported from Saudi Arabia to Delhi last month, is being interrogated by Indian intelligence officials every day, about what he saw, heard and did in a control room in Karachi which served as the headquarters for India's worst-ever terror attack.

166 people died after a three-day siege by ten gunmen in Mumbai in 2008. Jundal was one of five handlers who walked the men in Mumbai through the landmarks they targeted.

If you've just joined us, you should know that India football captain Sunil Chhetri has signed up with Portugal's premier league club Sporting Lisbon. Chhetri becomes the first Indian to sign up with the high voltage football club. Sporting Lisbon has had a hand in producing national football heroes -- Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo. Chhetri said it was a dream come true and promised to work hard.

And more Sarabjit tweets from Salman...

Salman Khan @BeingSalmanKhan: Pakistani human rights activists ansar burney had claimed that none of the 4 FIRs lodged in regard to the bombings contained sarabjits name.

Shaukat salim retracted his statement on tape, on april 26,2008. Salim's father and other relatives were killed in the blast .

Whatever the motivation, Sarabjit will only benefit from the fresh rush of publicity.

Salman Khan, whose film Ek Tha Tiger releases next month, is suddenly the new expert on Sarabjit Singh, or so his tweets make us believe.  

Salman Khan @BeingSalmanKhan Sarabjit singh in solitary confinement in pakistan,authorities consider him as manjit singh. convicted fr alleged involvement in 1990 blast.

Sarabjit strayed into pakistan 3 months after the blasts n was taken in custody as manjit singh, case of mistaken identity.22yrs in jail.

Death sentence in 1991 but hanging was repeatedly postponed. sarabjit is a farmer whose village is rite on the border of india n pakistan.

Pakistani authorities alleged he was manjit singh responsible for the string of blasts in faislabad and lahore.

Read on rediff.com: The ASTOUNDING story of the fall of Kingfisher Airlines

And on Firstpost.com: Is Kingfisher worth saving? Or should it be a bali ka bakra. Read

Just in: Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani seeks retrial in the Katara murder case. Jethmalani who is is representing Vishal Yadav, one of the two accused in the murder, says victim Nitish Katara was last seen with Vikas and not Vishal Yadav. Vishal had also filed an appeal against the life term in the Delhi HC against the trial court sentence.

With the CBI filing its first charge sheet in the Adarsh scam, the Enforcement Directorate, which is separately investigating the case, would speed up its probe, sources in the anti-money laundering agency said. 

"We were waiting for the charge sheet to be filed. Now we will proceed in full swing with the probe into the housing scam and examine whether a case can be made out under thePrevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)," ED sources said. 

The CBI had yesterday charge-sheeted 13 accused, including former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, several retired army officials and bureaucrats in the case. 

The CBI, in its charge sheet has said Chavan also has one 'benami' flat in the 31-storey tower in upscale Colaba in  south Mumbai. The CBI is also probing 'benami' transactions relating to 24 of the 103 flats in the Adarsh Society. It had told thespecial CBI court yesterday that a probe was on to identify the actual owners of these flats.

Update on the Fukushima nuclear disaster report.

The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster", a Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report. The disaster "could and should have been foreseen and prevented" and its effects "mitigated by a more effective human response", it said. The report catalogued serious deficiencies in both the government and plant operator Tepco's response.

More on the bbc.co.uk

Japan today regained nuclear power supply as the first reactor to be restarted since last year's tsunami came back on-line after it was connected to the generator and transmission grid, bring an end to first such nationwide shutdown of nuclear-generated electricity since 1970.

Following the reactivation of the reactor in Ohi in western Japan on Sunday, after being idled for 15 months for mandatory checks, the No 3 reactor at the Kansai Electric Power Co plant in Fukui Prefecture had its turbine linked and began generating and supplying power around 7 am.

Opposition backed Presidential candidate P A Sangma today said his legal team is going through the Returning Officer's ruling in the Pranab MukherjeeOffice of Profit case and he would decide the future course of action after consulting his colleagues and supporters.   

The former Lok Sabha Speaker said he received a certified copy of the ruling of the Returning Officer (RO) last night and has gone through it. After his legal team has studied the ruling of the RO, who is the Rajya Sabha secretary General, a meeting of his campaign committee will be held to decide the future course of action, he told a press conference here organised by Jammu and Kashmir-based National Panthers Party to announce its support to him. 

India today made it clear to Pakistan that bringing those guilty in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice is the biggest confidence building measure that
Islamabad could do. 

After two days of parleys, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani agreed that the relationship has to be normalised by narrowing divergences and building convergences. "The Foreign Secretaries are mandated to discuss among other things peace and security, including CBMs.

It is in this context that Foreign Secretary Jilani and I discussed all issues that impact peace and security between our two countries, including terrorism. "I emphasised terrorism is the biggest threat to peace and security in the region and bringing the guilty to justice in Mumbai terror attacks would be the biggest confidence building measure of all," Mathai said in the joint press conference.

Pakistan and the US are likely to conclude an agreement that will spell out areas of cooperation and their "respective limitations" in order to remove ambiguities in their fragile relationship, according to a media report today. 

The  understanding on the agreement was reached as part of a "package deal" that paved the way for Pakistan to reopen supply routes for US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan, The Express Tribune quoted unnamed officials as saying.  Talks on the proposed agreement will begin soon with an exchange of high-level visits, an official said.

To a question on why Pakistan refuses to accept that state actors were involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, Jilani said Pakistan will probe the attacks but says he "strongly rejectes insinuations that state actors were involved." The Pakistan foreign secretary said there is no point in making accusations.

Jilani says blamegame on terror will not solve any problems and the Abu Jundal issue has been discussed with India and Pakistan was willing to help India on the issue if information on the probe is shared. Jilani says he is serious about moving to a possitive narrative from blame game.

It may be recollected that India has refused share evidence on Jundal till the probe is over. Jundal is an LeT operative and a key handler in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The India-Pakistan foreign secretary talks are over. Ranjan Mathai, foreign secretary, India, is briefing the media at Hyderabad House. He says that talks have been frank and constructive on all issues including terrorism and bilateral ties have been reviewed. Mathai says dialogue has contributed to a better understanding of all issues.

His Pakistani counterpart Jalil Jilani speaking now.

Remember Julian Assange and the Wikileaks story? Try Wikipedia for a quick update.

Ecuador's foreign minister has said that rape and sexual assault cases lodged in Sweden against Julian Assange are laughable, but no ruling has yet been made
on the WikiLeaks founder's asylum application. "Personally, (I think) this is hilarious," Ecuadoran chief diplomat Ricardo Patino told reporters, explaining that Assange "is charged because his condom broke." 

Assange is currently at the Ecuadoran embassy in London, seeking political asylum in the Latin American country. Ecuadoran officials are examining the allegations of  sexual misconduct in their review of Assange's application.Patino said that one of the alleged victims filed a complaint, because she "realized that on certain nights, the condom broke." Assange, an Australian, maintains he only had consensual sexual relations with the alleged victims.

A police officer probing the February 13 attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi has claimed that journalist Syed Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi, arrested for allegedly aiding the attack, told investigators that the module behind the attack belonged to the Quds Force which conducts overseas operations for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

That's the report on the Indian Express.

Rains once again disrupt local trains and cause waterlogging in Mumbai, but in north India, there's the added threat of landslides.

A woman was buried alive and 15 others were injured when landslides triggered by incessant rains hit Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway in
Chamoli district early today. 

The landslides have also flattened a tourist resort and a camp of Directorate General of Border Roads (DGBR), police said. Police said a search operation has been launched to find out if any person might be trapped under the debris of the landslides. The area has been receiving rains since yesterday and the search operation is also being hampered by the continuous rain.

Having invited comparisons with Mayawati's profligate ways, a rattled UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday reversed his decision to allow all legislators to purchase four-wheelers worth up to Rs 20 lakh by dipping into their local area development fund. 

More on the Times of India