Saudi Arabia plans to buy 20 military transport planes and five refuelling aircraft along with related defence equipment, worth an estimated $ 6.7 billion, from the US, the Pentagon has said.       

A bomb scare was reported on board a GoAir flight that was headed to Delhi from Mumbai. 

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's condition is very critical, doctors said on Saturday night.

DMK chief M Karunanidhi today condoled the death of Nadarajah Mathenthiran alias Parithi, a former LTTE commander, at Paris in France.

Former President Pratibha Patil today visited ailing Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai.

Locking horns with Union minister Salman Khurshid over his reported remarks, Arvind Kejriwal today said he is a "dengue mosquito" whose sting can put both Congress and BJP in trouble. 

The government today said it was hopeful about getting voice samples of Pakistan-based handlers of 26/11 Mumbai attackers and the speedy trial of the seven prime accused -- including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.    

At least two people were today injured and over 50 shops gutted in a fire that broke out in the city's biggest firecracker market, officials said.       

The government is likely to approve in the next two-three weeks the proposal to set up National Investment Board for fast-tracking clearance to large infrastructure projects, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today.       

Creating economic growth and employment will remain the focus of government policies in the months ahead, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

Tibet has been witnessing intense anti-government protests, including self-immolations,coinciding with the once-in-a-decade leadership change at the

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose journey on reality show Bigg Boss ended today, said that even though it was difficult to be on the show, he never planned to leave it mid-way.       

RJD president Lalu Prasad today hit out at IAC activist Arvind Kejriwal and dubbed him an 'agent of America'.

After the meet in New Delhi, Anna Hazare said that it has been two months since there has been a split in Team Anna.

He said that senior police officers from across the state has joined his movement.

The team will inaugurate its new office in Delhi on the occasion of Dhanteras tomorrow.

Hazare said that a 13-member committee is formed and met today. He said that Justice Santosh Hegde is a part of the movement.

He also said that he will start a nationwide tour from Bihar from January 30.

Hazare said that government does not want corruption to leave India. "Farmers are facing the brunt - lathicharge and police firing - as the government gives out land to the foreign companies," he said.  

       

After the meeting of the new Team Anna, Kiran Bedi spoke to the media. "We are not for Jan Lokpal alone," she said.

"The movement against corruption will go on. Strong Jan Lokpal is a major solution and we need a mass movement," she said.

Countering Arvind Kejriwal's allegations on the issue of black money, the government today said that appropriate action has been taken on information provide by the French government in 2010.

France has in June 2010 provided information of foreign accounts of Indians. This information is covered under the confidentiality clause.

The government also said that it will probe HSBC. Sources in the Home Ministry said that they are in touch with officials from the finance ministry with regards to the issue. They said that notes have been taken on the reports of HSBC business conduct.

A day after the Congress session in Surajkund was marked by austerity, reports have emerged of a party MP embarrassing it with his remarks praising RSS workers for their dedication and criticising Congress workers for staying in air-conditioned chambers.

Congress MP from Dewas Sajjan Singh Verma said RSS workers are better than Congress leaders because they work with dedication.

"RSS workers work for their party with dedication, surviving on `chana' (gram), while our leaders don't step out of AC chambers," he said addressing party workers at Neemuch two days ago.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who his on a four-day visit to India, said today that Pakistan trained Maulana Fazlullah, the attacker of 15-year-old child activist Malala Yousafzai.

He said he wrote to the Pakistan government on Malala.

"Pakistan must fight terror in everyone's interest," he said.

He also said that he hoped the difficult times between United States and Afghanistan improve. Slamming the US he said that it never attacks the source of terror

Indian-origin CEO of Datawind, the maker of India's low-cost tablet Aakash, Suneet Singh Tuli and Massachusettes Institute of Technology professor Anant Agarwal have been named by Forbes magazine among the 15 "classroom revolutionaries" who are using innovative technologies toreinvent education for students and teachers globally.  

 The Forbes list names 15 education innovators who are"harnessing a slew of disruptive technologies to change everything from the way we teach grade school math to how we train the next generation of teachers.

The governments of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana will be meeting officials of the Environment Pollution Control Authority today to take stock of the smog situation in New Delhi, reports NDTV. 

There was a thick haze over the city's skyline for almost a week before it finally cleared out yesterday. Today's meeting, to be attended by secretaries of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab as well as scientists and environmentalists, is expected to focus on the causes and the solutions to the thick smog cover that has engulfed the city, indicating a sharp drop in the air quality.

Read the full report here

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency David Petraeus has dramatically resigned from his post, after admitting that he had an extramarital affair with his biographer.

Paula Broadwell, Petraeus' biographer has been named as the woman he had an affair with.

Paula Broadwel was the valedictorian of her high school class and homecoming queen, a fitness champion at West Point with a graduate degree from Harvard, and a model for a machine gun manufacturer, writes Micheal D Shear in The New York Times.

It may have been those qualities -- and a string of achievements that began in her native North Carolina, where she was state student council president, an all-state basketball player and orchestra concertmistress in North Carolina -- that drew the attention of Petraeus, as the two spent hours together for a biography of Petraeus that Broadwell co-wrote.

Broadwell's name burst into public view on Friday evening after Petraeus resigned abruptly amid an FBI investigation that uncovered evidence of their relationship.

Read the full report here

The Cabinet today allowed more release of wheat and rice under open sale. 

Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday faced a fresh attack with party national executive member Jagadish Shettigar demanding that he should step down from the top post in the wake of charges of dubious funding of his Purti Group.

"Gadkari is also a swayamsewak (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker) whose dharma (principle) is to protect the interest of the country first and then protect the interest of the organisation. So I am sure being a swayamsewak as per the conscience he will take the best step in the overall interest of the country and the organisation," Shettigar said

HSBC, Britain's biggest bank, is at the centre of a major revenue and customs investigation after it opened offshore accounts in Jersey for "serious criminals" living in the country, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.

The tax authorities have obtained details of every British client of HSBC in Jersey after a whistleblower secretly provided a detailed list of names, addresses and account balances earlier this week, the paper claimed.

The Telegraph reports that among those identified on the list are Daniel Bayes, a drug dealer who is now in Venezuela; Michael Lee, who was convicted of possessing more than 300 weapons at his house in Devon; three bankers facing major fraud allegations and a man once dubbed Londons number two computer crook".

Read the full report here

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Saturday said they are holding a meeting to decide on the future strategies.  

Hazare is holding his first meeting of his core committee in New Delhi to deliberate on future strategies of his anti-graft movement.  

Sources said that former army chief V K Singh is a special invitee to the meet.

The new Team Anna comprises Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar, Akhil Gogoi and former DG (Prisons of Punjab) Shashi Kant as among the 16-17 members.

An officer of the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel died after a fire broke out in an Army barrack in Bandipora in north Kashmir.

The incident occurred late last night at the Special Forces camp in the Sunerwani area.

More details are awaited.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was accorded a red carpet welcome in Karachi on Friday as he arrived in Pakistan on a week-long visit, hoping to augment contacts and cooperation between the two neighbours.

Kumar was received at the airport by Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and senior members of the provincial cabinet and other high-profile personalities from the business and trade community.

The Bihar chief minister, who is leading a high-level delegation will also visit the Mohenjodaro remains and the Sadho Belo Temple in interior Sindh during his week-long visit.

 Tens of thousands of Britons called on the government on Friday to nominate Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The 15-year-old is receiving specialist treatment in the English city of Birmingham after gunmen shot her on October 9 for standing up against the Taliban and openly advocating education for women.

November 10 has been commemorated as 'Malala Day' in honour of the Pakistani child activist. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon extended his support to the young girl and her fight for education, describing her as the "global symbol" of every girl's right to an education.

The Syrian National Council has chosen a Christian former Communist as its leader after talks in Qatar.

 

George Sabra said his election showed that the SNC was not sectarian, and he appealed for more weapons to help overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

 

Read more on BBC

A train carrying petrol has derailed and burst into flames in northern Myanmar, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens more. The information ministry said many of the dead and injured were villagers trying to collect spilled fuel.

 

The train was travelling from Mandalay to Myitkyina in the north, near the border with China.

 

Read the full story on BBC

AP: David Petraeus has resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the American spy agency, after admitting he had an extramarital affair.

 

According to his letter of resignation, Petraeus asked President Barack Obama on Thursday to allow him to resign, and on Friday the president accepted. Petraeus said in a statement that he had shown "extremely poor judgment" in having an affair.  

 

Image: David Petraeus |  Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

Fresh from his re-election, US President Barack Obama today said it was time "to get back to work" on the economy and pitched for raising taxes for the rich. Obama, who has invited the Congressional leaders from both the parties next week to discuss and find a solution to the fiscal cliff, warned that in the absence of unanimity country's middle class would face a tax increase next year.

 

"Now that those of us on the campaign trail have had a chance to get a little sleep, it's time to get back to work, and there is plenty of work to do. As I said on Tuesday night, the American people voted for action not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours," said Obama.

 

Obama asserted that people have voted for the plans and ideas that his administration has advocated, and it was time to put them into practice. "I've invited leaders of both parties to the White House next week so we can start to build consensus around the challenges that we can only solve together. And I also intend to bring in business and labor and civic leaders from all across the country here to Washington to get their ideas and input, as well," he said.

 

Noting that the US economy is still recovering from the great recession, he said top priority has to be jobs and growth and priority should be rewarding small businesses and manufacturers "that create jobs here and not overseas".

PM reaches out to SP; hosts dinner for Mulayam

'From where did Kejriwal get info on black money?'

Karnad's shocker: 'Tagore a second-rate playwright'

'Guj riots documents destroyed': Bhatt seeks probe

When Cong leaders had no clue about Kejriwal's expose

Complaint against Robert Vadra dismissed

India considering special visas for Pak cricket fans

Asaram Bapu, son summoned by inquiry commission

JK: Army kills 4 infiltrating terrorists at LoC

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