Poor Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. Anywhere else, the prime minister would have been praised for resolving months of deadlock with an ally as important as the United States.

But last week, Ashraf was met with nothing but scorn when Pakistan agreed to reopen key supply routes to Afghanistan following a US apology for a NATO airstrike last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

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Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh, (VK Singh retired on May 31, remember) who has spent a major part of his 40 years of service in Jammu and Kashmir, today recalled his days in the Valley saying that he has "shed his blood" there as he was wounded in a terrorist incident there.

"Kashmir Valley is always in my mind. I have shed my blood as I was hit by a bullet while serving there. I have done a number of tenures in that area as I commanded the 15 Corps and the 10 Division and my battalion also there," he
said. 

The Army Chief was interacting with a group of children from Lolab Valley in Kashmir visiting different parts of the country under the Operation Sadbhavna of the force. As a Brigadier, the Army Chief was hit by a bullet in a
terrorist attack when he was commanding the 1 Sector Rashtriya Rifles in south Kashmir. 

The Army Chief was on his way back to Anantnag after visiting various army units. When the army convoy stopped at Janglat Mandi, a militant disguised as a beggar opened indiscriminate fire upon the armymen. The Army Chief has done the important command tenures in battalion, brigade, division and Corps in the state only.

The British government has said it could deport a large number of undesirable Pakistani migrants if the death penalty is abolished in Pakistan.

In an alleged secret deal, Britain has offered to revive the British nationality of the interior minister and other dual national Pakistani parliamentarians in return for implementation of their long-standing demand of repealing the death penalty, reports the Daily Times.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik's statement that abolition of the death penalty is under consideration does not seem to be motivated by any genuine concern towards those facing death sentence, but a direct consequence of the British government's alleged offer and purely for self-interest, with the sole aim to benefit a foreign government at the cost of Pakistani interests, states the paper.

A mystery woman pictured accompanying North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-Un has prompted speculation she is either his sister or new partner.

Read the report on the Sun.

Also read on rediff.com: The most repressive nations in the world

Is the world's largest democracy ready for prime time, or forever a B-list player on the global stage?

Read the report on Foreign Policy.

The Air India relief plane has taken off from Nawabshah airport in southern Sindh in Pakistan. It will bring back the 130 passengers and crew to India stranded at the airport after their plane made an emergency landing this morning.

Tamil, Hindi and Urdu' some of the many languages Indians are using to get online. As more and more people get on the internet to shop, check email or simply access online content, they want to do it in their own language. With over 30 major languages and 1500 dialects, India is a unique market.

Read the report on the bbc.

"Last September, a lawmaker in Indian-controlled Kashmir stood up in the state's legislative assembly and spoke of a valley filled with human carcasses near his home constituency in the mountains: "In our area, there are big gorges, where there are the bones of several hundred people who were eaten by crows," Mirza Waheed wrote in The New York Times.

Read the report on the WSJ

Update on the Assam floods.

The state reeled under the impact of floods with the Brahmaputra and its tributaries playing havoc in 27 districts of the state affecting nearly 24 lakh people and taking the death toll to 124. 

However, there was a glimmer of hope for the flood affected with Brahmaputra and its tributaries starting to recede today though it was still flowing well above the danger level in most of the affected districts. 

Besides the 124 people killed in the calamity, 16 others perished in landslides and 17 more were reported missing. Large-scale destruction of infrastructure, crop land and wildlife have been reported from different areas. 

The floods have caused large-scale devastation in 4,540 villages with more than 9.35 lakh hectares of land lying inundated. The flood water has not only submerged 2.55 lakh hectares of cropland but has caused widespread destruction in the world-famous Kaziranga National Park where more than 560 animals, including 14 rhinos, were killed.

Also read: In Assam, the Brahmaputra river remains uncontrollable

On Sunday, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan returned to territory where his Oprah Winfrey-inspired show has fared well during its opening season: practices which no right-minded person would not condemn.

Read the WSJ report.

The warden who forced a girl to drink her own uring as punishment for wetting her bed has been granted bail. Her parents who were arrested for trespassing in Vishwa Bharati University have also been given bail.

Omar Abdullah @abdullah_omar Just asked a hall full of young Kashmiri boys & girls how many thought a Govt. job was their first choice & almost no hands went up. Great.

Omar Abdullah @abdullah_omar It is very encouraging that the next generation is looking beyond the Govt as a means of employment. Govt should be the last resort.

On Indian TV, there has never been anything quite like "Truth Alone Prevails." Since its debut in May, the weekly show has reached more than 470 million viewers with its inquiries into issues like pesticides in food, domestic violence and the abortion of female fetuses.

Within moments of airing, each episode trends at No. 1 on Twitter in India. Ten million people have sent text messages, emails and comments to the show's website to share their questions, opinions and fears.

Read the report on the Wall Street Journal

Sagarika Ghosh's profile on the Indian Express. Read

Veteran actor Dara Singh, who was hospitalised two days ago after suffering a cardiac arrest, is "extremely critical", the hospital authorities said in Mumbai this morning.

Now, you can wish Dara Singh good health and a speedy recovery right here. Do your bit on Zara Bol

In a story that would make the founder of Visva Bharati University -- Rabindranath Tagore -- weep with shame, the warden of Patha Bhavan hostel who allegedly forced a girl student to drink her own urine to 'stop a bad habit' has been arrested on a complaint by the father. The warden of Karabi Girls' Hostel, Uma Poddar, has been arrested for compelling the student, who wet her bed, to drink her urine squeezed from the bedsheet on Saturday night, Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Bolpur Prasanta Chowdhury said today.

The girl's father Manoj Mistry, a resident of Mokrampur village near here, had lodged a complaint with the Bolpur police station. He had rushed to the hostel that night and taken home his daughter, a student of Class V. 

The Visva-Bharati authorities had yesterday formed a four-member committee to look into the matter and submit a report. University sources had claimed the warden made the girl lick the bedsheet she had wetted and not forced her to drink her urine.

 The sources had claimed that the girl had wet her bed earlier also and that she was ill. The warden had told the distraught mother of the student that what she did was 'treatment to stop a bad habit'. Meanwhile, the father was also arrested on a counter complaint of trespass lodged by the university authorities,
the SDPO said. 

Union urban development minister Kamal Nath today countered the Time magazine's description of Prime MinisterManmohan Singh as an 'underachiever'.

"Everyone has their own opinion. But, Time magazine, first see what is happening in US and Europe, and then compare with India," Nath told media in Delhi.

Earlier, expressing his party's utter displeasure, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari questioned the magazine's logic in arriving at such a ridiculous view.

"In the past eight years, the UPA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has provided political stability, social cohesion, internal amity, economic development and a greater role for India in international affairs. This by no stretch of imagination can be called or characterised or labelled as an underachievement," he said. Home minister P Chidambaram also rubbished the story.

Another one of those 'all that you wanted to know about Higg Boson', this time on the NYT.

Read

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday slammed a Time Asia report that dubbed him "The Underachiever,' saying that it represented another example of bias and inaccuracy in the news media. "It is not 100% accurate by any stretch,' he fumed. "It is only 98% accurate at most.' Finance Minister Manmohan Singh added: "The India underachievement story is intact.'

That's Paul Beckett's tongue-in-cheek piece on the WSJ. Read

India discovered the Devil particle long before the God particle was found. It has existed in our midst for ages, wearing invisible -- and sometimes visible -- horns, and is recognizable by its sleazy smile, arrogant strut and pristine white khadi.

Read Ravi Shankar's take on the God Particle on the Indian Express. 

Just in: The relief plane to evacuate the 130 stranded Air India passengers has landed at the Nawabshah airport in Sindh, Pakistan. The plane carries meals and refreshments and engineers to repair the stranded plane.

The plane had an emergency landing at the Nawabshah airport in southern Sindh in Pakistan this morning due to a technical fault.

The A-320 aircraft, with engineering material, full meal for the passengers and crew and technical staff left Delhi at 1145 hours, officials said, adding provisions have also been made there for refuelling of both the planes. The relief plane was earlier supposed to leave Delhi at 1045 hours, but its departure was delayed by an hour as several clearances were required for this special flight, they said.

It may not sound unusual that Murad Bukhsh Baloch takes pride in his religion and work, both.

Baloch is a unique Muslim who serves as caretaker of Hindu cremation ground and graveyard, depicting harmonious coexistence in a heavily stereotyped country like Pakistan. 

Read the blog on the Balochistan Times.

Did the BJP really sweep the urban polls? The victory in the mayoral election in fact doesn't present a real picture of its dominance -- or lack of it. After the victory in Ghaziabad, though the party now has 10 out of 12 mayors across the state, its position in corporations is a far cry from this 'sweep'. In fact, the saffron party failed to win majority even in a single of them. More than two-thirds corporation seats actually went to Independents.

Read the report on the TOI.

A man in Patna has been detained after he was found with live cartridges at Nitish Kumar's Janta Durbar - a sort of open house where the chief minister meets the public at his residence, reports NDTV. The man, whose first name is Hitesh, had six cartridges with him. His pistol was a in a car outside. It's not known yet if his gun was licensed.

The police is interrogating him. The chief minister holds a janta durbar every Monday with 800 and 2000 people attending it. There's usually careful frisking and security checks, but given the size of the crowd, the man managed to sneak in with his cartridges.

As the race for the presidential elections hots up, UPA nominee  Pranab Mukherjee today said he will talk to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to seek support for his candidature when she is ready to talk to him.    "I am ready to talk to her as and when she is ready to talk to me," Mukherjee, whose candidature has been opposed by the West Bengal Chief Minister.  Mukherjee said since his candidature for the Presidential poll was announced by the UPA, he had expressed the desire to get the support of all the partners in the ruling alliance.   

"I understand they (Trinamool) have not yet taken a decision and that they will take a decision at an appropriate time," said Mukherjee, who is in Kolkata to camapign for the July 19 election. He said he has been visiting state capitals to thank leaders and members of all the parties who have extended support to him.

Mukherjee said all the UPA partners, except one, have endorsed his candidature and he has also received support from the SP, BSP, RJD, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, JD(U), Shiv Sena and some regional parties.

The Aamir Khan column on the Hindu.

If you haven't watched Sunday's Satyamev Jayate, catch it here.

Everything about the heart-rending story of Yannick Nizhanga, an African student who was attacked by local youths in Jalandhar in April and who now lies in a coma in a Patiala hospital, should be a cause for national outrage.

Read the edit on the Hindu.

The Reserve Bank today fixed the reference rate of rupee for the US dollar at 56.0215 and the euro at 68.8275, as against 55.4150 per dollar and 68.6085 per euro on last Friday. 

In a press release issued by RBI, the exchange rates for the pound and yen against the rupee were quoted at 86.7773 per pound and 70.32 per 100 yen, based on reference rates for the US dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon. The reference rate is based on the noon rates of select banks here and the SDR-Rupee rate would be based on this rate.

When asked if he is worried about China, he said: "No, I am not worried. I wish we could find a way to be allies with China." "I really do believe, deep down inside, that...the Indian tiger has not been unleashed," Tata told Bloomberg UTV. He, however, said: "I would prefer to use China as a very
strong ally, to forge a relationship with China which would be a sustaining one and I think it could be done."     

Explaining the complex nature of relationship between the two countries, he said: "I think there is a concern on part of India that China is trying to dominate the region (Asia) and there is an equal concern on the part of China that India is
trying to dominate the region."

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata. today said that China's overpowering economic strength is not a real concern but a way should be found by India to be an ally with it.

Describing India-China relationship as "not adversarial, but it is not the best", he, however, added, "you know China has never done anything adversarial to India, and India, I think, has been more concerned about China's economic strength overpowering India, which we really don't see". When asked if he is worried about China, he said: "No, I am not worried. I wish we could find a way to be allies with China."

UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee today said any aspirant to the exalted post has to live up to the standards set by the founding fathers of modern India. Citing the examples of Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr SavepalliRadhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Hussain and their successors, he said, it would be his endeavour to live up to the standards they set and traditions they established with utmost sincerity. 

Noting that he was schooled in politics by the pro-poor commitment of Indira Gandhi, Mukherjee in his address to Left legislators of the CPI(M), FB, SP and DSP in the assembly premises here said, "It remains my dream to eliminate the last vestiges of that terrifying affliction called poverty within our lifetimes." 

Mukherjee said the passage of a nation's life could never be continuously free from disputation. "This makes it imperative that we set aside differences and unite to serve the nation."

Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats Internet Hindus also have a trinity, no? Sagarika Ghose is the creator. Subramanian Swamy is the preserver. Rest, I don't know.

Read Daipayan Halder on Mid Day on the fast-growing tribe of fanatics who tweet, are e-friends of the BJP, or scuppies on a self-awareness drive. They are out to own the web.

From the Pakistan newspaper, Tribune.

Militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir and US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan are brazenly raising funds and recruiting potential fighters in cities and towns of Pakistan. Al-Badr Mujahideen, a breakaway faction of Hizbul Mujahideen group, organised a two-day 'Shuada Conference' in the Swan Adda area of Rawalpindi on Sunday to seek recruits and raise funds.

Read

Omar Abdullah @abdullah_omar I thought the PM's discussions with political parties regarding Hamid Ansari for VP were to be confidential until final decision was taken.

Here's the context: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has decided to field incumbent Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari in the vice-presidential poll for a second term. 

Though it was known in the Congress circles that Ansari was the front-runner, the first official indication of the candidature of the former diplomat and scholar came when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently called on Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda seeking his party's support for Ansari. Sources also claim that Prime Minister has also appealed to Left leaders to support Ansari. 

Tennis legend Roger Federer just clinched his seventh Wimbledon title, but he's no longer the invincible god he once was'"instead, he's become something far more interesting.

Must-read for Federer fans or otherwise.

India is in constant touch with its High Commission in Pakistan on the emergency landing made by an Air India plane in that country, official sources said. A New Delhi-bound Air India plane with 122 passengers and six crew members made an emergency landing at Nawabshah in southern Sindh in Pakistan this morning due to a technical fault.

"Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai is in touch with the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal, who is in contact with the pilot," sources in MEA said. The pilot has informed that the condition on the plane is "reasonable". The sources said as the terminal is small, passengers can be allowed to disembark in groups.

A bet placed on Wimbledon champion Roger Federer nearly a decade ago has earned more than 100,000 pounds for Oxfam.  

Nick Newlife from Oxfordshire, who was sure that that the Swiss tennis star would win seven Wimbledon titles by 2019, placed the bet in 2003.   Newlife died in 2009, but had left the betting slip to Oxfam in his will.  

Federer's defeat of Britain's Andy Murray in Sunday's Wimbledon final means the charity will now collect a payout from William Hill of 101,840 pounds.

Anonymity is powerful. Ask Ranojoy. The web designer dropped his surname from his passport to do away with his caste identity, and has taken up a new name for his Twitter account to say what he feels.

A fast-growing tribe of fanatics who tweet, are e-friends of the BJP, or scuppies on a self-awareness drive. They are out to own the web, finds Daipayan Halder. Read

Its hard, it's tough to take, but you need to show strength of character to come back from it. We're talking about one of the greatest athletes of all time. You've got to put it in context a little bit, said Murray.

Murray went into his fourth Grand Slam final under a huge weight of public expectation as British tennis fans relished the prospect of a first homegrown champion since Fred Perry in 1936.

The Supreme Court today asked the Gujarat government to give details of shrines destroyed during the 2002 Godhra riots. Earlier, the Gujarat high court had slammed the government for failing to protect over 500 shrines from being damaged and destroyed in the riots.

A bench of justice K S Radhakrishnan and justice Dipak Misra entertained the Gujarat government's appeal against the February 8 high court order and asked the additional advocate general Tushar Mehta to place the entire documentation before the court by August 9.

The high court had charged the state government with "inaction and negligence" in its order. Interestingly, the state objected to the high court order on the ground that it was contrary to the constitutional principle of secularism where no government could favour a particular religion. It said compensation to repair damaged religious structures could be akin to state's help to a particular community.

Update on the Naxal killings in Chhattisgarh...

The Union ministry of home affairs is back to the drawing board on its counter-Maoist strategy, consulting military experts and comparing experiences since the June 28-29 shooting in Chhattisgarh in which an estimated 22 villagers were killed. In one of a series of meetings, a senior officer from the Army Headquarters gave blunt advice to Union home secretary R.K. Singh: "Get your IPS officers to command battalions and lead from the front instead of making them babus behind desks.'

More on the Telegraph.

The southwest monsoon, which has gathered significant pace in the last few days, is expected to cover the entire country in two-three days, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday. The Delhi-National Capital Region, too, received its first monsoon showers on Friday after a delay of almost a week.

Read more

UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee has said he would meet Congress, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc members in the West Bengal Assembly on Monday.

"I will meet members of the Congress, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc at the assembly on Monday. These parties have pledged to support my  candidature," Mukherjee said at the NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata yesterday.

He did not divulge whether he would meet members of key UPA ally Trinamool Congress or the party chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee who had tried to field former president APJ Abdul Kalam as the nominee of the coalition.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said that "Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai is in touch with the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal, who is in contact with the pilot." 

The pilot has informed that  the condition on the plane is "reasonable", they said. Pakistan Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi directed has the civil aviation authorities to provide all assistance to passengers and crew of the Air India plane. 

The captain of the aircraft, flying from Abu Dhabi to New Delhi, contacted Pakistani authorities and sought permission for an emergency landing after detecting the problem with thehydraulic system, Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervez George told PTI.

The captain preferred to have the passengers remain onboard the aircraft though Pakistani authorities had offered to allow them to disembark, George said. 

Former BJP general secretary Sanjay Joshi says he is being threatened and his life is in danger. Joshi has written to home minister P Chidambaram saying he has been getting threat calls on his mobile.

Last month, Joshi resigned as executive member of the party and thereafter from the party as well. Joshi's resignation from the primary membership of the BJP was brought about to bring a truce between party president Nitin Gadkari and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has had a bitter rivalry with Joshi for years and was opposed to his being brought back into the party.

Assam's Kaziranga National Park is home to the largest concentration of one-horned rhinos in the world. In 2005, me and my closest friend, Samudra Gupta Kashyap, co-authored a coffee table book to celebrate the centenary of what we think is India's greatest conservation success story. Read

Just in: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has decided to field incumbent Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari in the vice-presidential poll for a second term. 

Though it was known in the Congress circles that Ansari was the front-runner, the first official indication of the candidature of the former diplomat and scholar came when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently called on Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda seeking his party's support for Ansari. Sources also claim that Prime Minister has also appealed to Left leaders to support Ansari. 

Update on the Air India Airbus 319 which made an emergency landing at Nawabshah airport in Sindh province of Pakistan.

Rediff.com's Onkar Singh says the minister of civil aviation Ajit Singh and chairman-cum-managing director of Air India, Rohit Nanadan could not be reached. The civil aviation secretary, Nasim Zaidi, was busy in a meeting and would not respond to calls.

However, a senior official working with the civil aviation minister confirmed that the plane had made an emergency landing after all its hydraulic systems failed to function. "All 130 passenger and crew members are safe and are being given food," he told rediff.com in an informal chat.

"Another plane is being sent to pick up the passengers and take them to Abu Dhabi. This plane will carry a team of engineers," he added.