Khamis Gaddafi, the youngest son of late Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi has reportedly been killed during fighting, exactly one year after his father was slain by rebels, media reports said on Sunday

Libyan National Congress spokesman, Omar Hamdan, said the 28-year-old died 'in battle' but gave no further details, the Daily Mail reported. 

The body of the seventh son of the late Libyan leader is said to have been found yesterday after fierce fighting between pro-Gaddafi forces and militias allied to the Libyan government in the town of Bani Walid, the report said. 

However, there are conflicting accounts about whether Khamis Gaddafi was killed during conflict or fatally wounded and later died. 

"The seventh and youngest son of the Libyan slain strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi has been declared dead after his capture on Saturday," Al Arabiya news channel quoted its sources as saying.

Khamis al-Qaddafi, who was a military commander in charge of the Khamis Brigade of the Libyan Army, was severely wounded when arrested, it said. 

Hiteen Brigade, belonging to the Military Revolutionary Council in the northwestern city of Misrata, arrested Gaddafi's son, exactly a year after the dictator's death, the sources added.

We lost the iconic,inspiring n always smiling Yash Chopra today.Saddened and shocked by this news.He will be missed forever.RIP Yash Uncle.

I'm in shock and numb, can't believe the news, the man who immortalised love, Mr. Yash Chopra is no more. May his soul rest in peace

Mr Yash Chopra..a legend of love and love stories passes away :( my condolences to all his loved ones. Deeply saddened. Rest in Peace Sir..

All I ever really knew of Hindi films began with Yash uncles brand of cinema. RIP Yash Chopra ji. Will miss you terribly.

Chopra, 80, had been admitted to Lilavati hospital in suburban Bandra on October 13 after being diagnosed with an attack of dengue. 

In his over five decade old career, Chopra has made several hits like Deewar, Trishul, Chandni, Silsila, Veer Zaara and others.

Known for making some of the best love stories and action dramas, the veteran had been busy shooting for his last directorial project -- Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, is "stable" following her sixth night in hospital, doctors treating her said on Sunday. 

"Malala is stable in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham following her sixth night under the care of Queen Elizabeth and Birmingham Children's hospitals' staff," the hospital said in a statement.

Malala, 15, was shot on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of the Swat valley last week as a punishment for campaigning for the right of girls to an education, in an attack which outraged the world. 

British servicemen who are seriously wounded in Afghanistan are treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham as it has a specialist major trauma centre. 

Lenders to Kingfisher Airlines, whose combined exposure of nearly Rs 7,500 crore is at risk, have said they will go in for recovery measures only as the last resort and expressed hope that its promoters will be able to find an investor and resume operations.

Aviation regulator DGCA had on Saturday suspended the licence of the financially-troubled airline.

"At best, we will be able to recover just 10-15 per cent of our overall exposure if we were to monetise the pledged properties. So initiation of recovery measures will be our last recourse," a senior official of a city-based public sector lender told PTI.

This bank has around Rs 500 crore stressed exposure. 

When contacted, SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks and has an exposure of over Rs 1,500 crore, said the airline was grounded for the past three weeks anyway and thus there is nothing new with the DGCA ordering suspension of its licence.

"Though there is nothing new following the DGCA suspension, we are concerned as we have no control on these developments," S Vishwanathan, managing director, mid-corporates at SBI said.

Amid continuing debate over ways to award scarce natural resources, Competition Commission chief Ashok Chawla has said auction is not the only method for their allocation, but is a preferred way to ensure transparency.

A panel headed by Chawla, a former finance secretary, had submitted its report on natural resources to the government last year. 

"Our committee has nowhere said that the auction is the only method for allocation, our general philosophy was, transparency (is) paramount at whatever you do. Whatever resource you allocate through whatever method, transparency cannot be compromised," Chawla told television channel NDTV Profit in an interview.

"...auction is preferred mode for auction of natural resources but it cannot be and shouldn't be the only way of allocation because there are natural resources where the public policy considerations would be more prominent and strong than commercial," he noted.

Railway Police on Sunday claimed to have solved the mystery behind the October 16 train fire at Gulbarga station which left two dead, saying the blaze was caused by a couple setting themselves ablaze in its toilet. 

"The fire in the sixth bogie of the Falaknuma passenger train on October 16 was caused by two lovers immolating themselves in the toilet during its halt at Gulbarga station," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Railways) Srikantappa told reporters in Bengaluru. 

He said the man had been identified as an auto driver and the woman, a first year college student. Their plan to marry was opposed by her parents and they had beaten her up about 20 days ago, he said.

"Sharanappa and Varsha, who used to meet every day at the station, decided to commit suicide. He bought two litres of petrol from a bunk after which they locked themselves inside the toilet and set themselves ablaze," Srikantappa said.

He said Sharanappa's friend, an eyewitness to the incident had revealed it to Railway police during questioning.

The Madhya Pradesh high court has dismissed a petition filed by Dow Chemical challenging the trial court order of 2005 issuing show cause notice to it in the 1984 Bhopal gas leak case.

The Dow Chemical International Private Limited's petition was dismissed by the high court bench of Justice G S Solanki on October 19.

A local court in Bhopal had issued a show cause notice to Dow Chemical in response to a petition moved by NGOs fighting for the rights of the gas victims in January 2005.

The NGOs prayed that Dow Chemical, which had taken over Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 2001, should be issued summons for appearing in Bhopal court, as by acquiring the company it has also taken over all its assets and liabilities, specially with regard to Bhopal gas tragedy.

However, Dow Chemical had appealed against the lower court order in the High Court which granted stay on it in March 2005.

But on Friday, the bench dismissed the company's petition, thus paving the way for legal course to take place against it on the issue of fulfilling its liabilities in the case.

Just in: Arvind Kejriwal is holding a press conference along with injured volunteers, who were baton charged while protesting outside Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's residence in New Delhi against Robert Vadra-DLF deal. 

The press meet is scheduled to take place at 4pm in New Delhi

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Sunday reiterated the government's view that Pakistan is helping terrorists to enter Indian territory.

"We have information that Pakistan is helping terrorists to enter our territory. We are on alert. When I was in Jammu and Kashmir, locals ask me to remove army from the valley but I told them we cant till situation is peaceful. I will remove army when situation is peaceful," he said.

On the Arvind Kejriwal blaming Congress of corruption, he said, "India Against Corruption should think about what they are doing. They are creating indiscipline. This is illegal."

A barrage of requests by security agencies to a leading telecom company for telephone tapping led it to say a polite no even to the country's premier external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing.

The request by RAW to Bharti Airtel for lawful interception of some telephone numbers came even as the telecom company was flooded with similar pleas by several agencies.

A letter from Arun K Sinha, a joint secretary-rank officer in RAW, complained to the Department of Telecom about the "unacceptable" approach of the telecom service provider of not following the instruction with regard to interception of some telephone numbers. 

Though the telecom company replied that the targeted telephone numbers will be put on tapping "once (they) get the space", RAW protested saying "this is an unacceptable situation in the context of our national security."

Another Tibetan has set himself on fire while shouting slogans calling for the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet, a London-based rights group said. 

Free Tibet said Lhamo Kyeb, 27, died on Saturday near a monastery in northwestern China's Gansu province. Citing a witness, it said he set himself on fire and ran toward Bhora monastery in Xiahe county and that state security forces standing nearby ran after him and tried to put out the flames.

The witness said Lhamo Kyeb attempted to stop them from extinguishing the fire, forcing them to back away, and then he walked toward the monastery and fell to the ground. 

The group said nearly 60 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011 to protest Chinese rule over the Himalayan region. 

Calls to the county government and police rang unanswered today. A man on duty at the prefectural government said he had no information. 

Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday dared the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for a public debate and said India Against Corruption will answer questions raised against it only after Congress leadership and Robert Vadra come clean on charges of corruption.

A day after Congress leader Digvijay Singh posed questions to Kejriwal on funding of his NGO and other issues, the activist hit back saying he was willing to reply to all queries but Singh should first convice Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others to answer issues raised by the people.

"We had put some questions to Robert Vadra and the Prime Minister. Let them answer first. Then, we will answer all questions from Digvijay Singh. I request Singh to encourage Mrs Gandhi, Prime Minister or Rahul Gandhi to come for a public debate.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who is embroiled in a controversy over allegations of misappropriation of funds by his trust, has put off his Haj pilgrimage, according to sources close to him. 

His decision to put off the week-long visit for Haj also comes amid speculation of an impending reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.

Khurshid was to leave to for Haj on Sunday and was to return at the end of the next week.

He has been under attack from Arvind Kejriwal following a TV sting which alleged that the Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust run by the Minister and his wife had misappropriated funds meant for providing equipment to the disabled.

Khurshid had refuted the allegations even as the Uttar Pradesh government is probing them. 

A steely resolve to fight cancer ultimately saw NCP supremo Sharad Pawar emerging triumphant in his battle against the deadly disease, which had also caused turbulence in his political career. 

"I got cured of cancer because of a strong will to fight the disease. If I had given up the fight and stopped working, cancer would have won," Pawar said in an informal chat with reporters at the two-day NCP state-level convention which was inaugurated on Saturday. 

Pawar, who was diagnosed with mouth cancer a decade ago, recounted his battle against the disease saying it was important to defy it by remaining strong mentally. 

The Revenue Department has extended the deadline by one month to November 25 for filing of service tax returns for the April-June quarter, as it has not been able to provide electronic return form in time. 

The earlier last date to file the return was October 25.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said the extension of date is due to "circumstances of a special nature" as the ACES (Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax) will start releasing the return in 'Form ST3' in a quarterly format, shortly before the due date of October 25.

"This will result in all the assessees attempting to file their returns in a short time period, which may result in problems in the computer network and delay and inconvenience," it said.

As per the Service Tax Rules, the half yearly return is to be filed by October 25, 2012. However, with the government's decision to tax all services expect those in the 'negative list' from July 1, the CBEC amended the rules and decided that the Form ST-3 required to be submitted by October 25, 2012, "shall cover the period between April 1 to June 30, 2012 only".

Though the Finance Ministry and the Telecom Department (DoT) held different opinions on the issue of pricing of 2G spectrum, neither approached the Union Cabinet for a decision, a former Cabinet Secretary has told the JPC looking into the radiowave scam.

"... In this case, there was no reference to a dispute between the two departments requiring intervention of the Cabinet.... The desire for a Cabinet decision was expressed by neither department. The matter was also not taken up by either department for a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) at any stage," K M Chandrasekhar told JPC in a written submission.

He also said "the fact that there was an ongoing correspondence between the Department of Economic Affairs (in the Finance Ministry) and DoT did not mean that there was a dispute between the two that could not be resolved between them."

The JPC had asked him to explain why the DoT was not advised to approach the Cabinet when there was a "clear difference of opinion" between the Department of Economic Affairs and the DoT on the issue of spectrum pricing.

Hard-pressed for funds, the Central government may ask states to surrender the funds which are unlikely to be utilised for ongoing schemes during the course of current financial year. 

"States can be asked to surrender funds mid-year which they think they will not be able to utilise during the fiscal," a finance ministry official said.

This, sources said, would help the Centre in managing its finances in a better manner, specially at a time when the financial position is tight and there is threat of global agencies downgrading India's sovereign rating to 'junk' grade. 

Unutilised funds anyway lapse at the end of the fiscal, sources said, adding that the surrender of funds by them during the course of financial year would help Centre to tide over its stressed financial position.

The government's fiscal deficit is likely to exceed the budget target of 5.1 per cent of GDP on account of rising fuel, food and fertiliser subsidy bill. 

Finance Ministry officials have already indicated that it would be difficult for the government to maintain fiscal deficit at the budgeted level. 

Ratings major Standard & Poor's in its recent report has indicated that fiscal deficit could go up to as high as 6.1 per cent of the GDP. In the last fiscal (2011-12), the fiscal deficit was 5.76 per cent.

Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the colourful awards presentation function at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said it was a great honour for the country to pay tribute to the people without whom this day could not have been possible for them.

Out of 61 dignitaries, two received Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sammanana awards while the remaining 59 got Muktijuddho Moitri Sammanana.

Among the awardees, 52 were from India and the rest were from Nepal, the United States, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden and Italy.

Anshul Avijit received the award on behalf of his late grandfather Babu Jagjivan Ram who was India's defence minister in 1971 and played a pivotal role in the liberation of Bangladesh, an armed battle that lasted nine months.

The picturesque resort of Gulmarg has experienced its first snowfall. The snowfall means days of prosperity for people engaged in travel, tourism and hospitality sectors.

The snowfall has begun luring scores of tourists from across the country and abroad.  Mall Road in Gulmarg was covered with inches of snow, and on their part, the tourists regaled in playing with snowballs.

Kazmi was earlier granted bail by the Supreme Court of India, as no chargesheet had been filed against him within the stipulated period of 90 days after his arrest. Kazmi was arrested on March 6 this year in connection with Israeli embassy car bomb blast.

A staffer with the national television channel Doordarshan, he also freelanced for Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency. 

Emerging out of Tihar Jail, Kazmi told reporters that he had full faith in the legal system of the country. "I am feeling very good and I am overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of people in my support. I would also thank the media for supporting me in getting justice. I feel my release is the victory of our law and that the law of the land and the Constitution is above all," Kazmi said.