A gunman threw an explosive device during a rampage that's left four people dead and four wounded in Texas. The gunman was arrested without incident when police arrived at the second home and initial reports indicated he was stunned, and muttering his name and a military rank and serial number.

 

Police have not yet identified the suspect and could not confirm whether he was a current or former member of the military. "We do believe this is a domestic related incident," Corporal Melissa Frank of the DeSoto police department told reporters.

 

Read more on news.com.au

On Wednesday evening, when U.S. President Obama cancelled his upcoming visit to Moscow, the Russian reaction was perhaps most clear in the way that Vesti, the state's main propaganda TV channel, conveyed it on the channel's website. 

A bomb planted in a graveyard in rural eastern Afghanistan killed 14 members of a single family on Thursday as the country's president urged the Taliban to lay down their arms.

A military judge said today the US Army psychiatrist on trial for the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage can continue to represent himself, even though the defense lawyers assigned to help Nidal Hasan argue that he seems intent on getting a death sentence. 

It's official! The world's most prestigious sailing club is lifting a 200-year ban on women becoming members for the first time in its history. 

Syrian rebels claimed they struck President Bashar Assad's motorcade with rockets and mortar rounds in a rare attack on an upscale Damascus neighborhood where he attended prayers Thursday to mark a major Muslim holiday.

Assailants on the East African island of Zanzibar threw acid on two British women volunteering at a primary school on the Tanzanian island, police said Thursday.

The Parliament today approved the new Companies Bill that will make sweeping changes in the way firms operate and are regulated and replace a nearly six-decade-old legislation.

The new bill, which now needs the President's nod to become law, makes it mandatory for companies to spend on social welfare, empowers investors against frauds committed by promoters, encourages companies to have women directors, and seeks to bring in greater transparency in corporate governance matters such as executive salaries and the role of auditors.

Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot termed the passage of the legislation a "historic feat" and said it will give impetus to the country's growth momentum by ushering in a regime of "less regulations and more compliance."

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu has had his Twitter account suspended for "aggressively following" other users, just hours after it was launched, reports news.com.au.

The ex-archbishop's TutuLegacy account racked up hundreds of followers in its first hours of use.

Read the full story here

A call on a meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan next month in New York will be taken after all the inputs are brought in, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said today, asserting that it was not the "appropriate" time now to comment on it.

Maintaining that he was not in a position to say anything as it was not the appropriate time, Khurshid told reporters that let us wait for the appropriate time and a call will be taken after all the inputs were brought in.

He was responding to a query whether there will be a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in the backdrop of killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistan Army along LoC.

The name of the Pakistani sufi singer whose concert at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi has been cancelled is Sanam Marvi. 

Nothing could be a sharper contrast than the calmness with which the Pakistani politicians bypassed the temptation to make their country's sensitive ties with India the stuff of grandstanding in the course of the recent general election, and the ease and aplomb with which their Indian counterparts succumb to such a temptation. It does not speak well of a mature democracy.

MK Bhadrakumar writes for the Economic Times. Read

Secretary-level dialogue between India and Pakistan unlikely. 

Political expediency cannot mix with military action. Read Nitin Gokhale's blog.

Former High Court Judge S R Singaravelu, appointed by Tamil Nadu Government to probe the death of a Dalit-boy, said the first round of investigation is over and summons would be issued to all those involved in the matter.

Joint Pakistan-India celebrations on the Sindh-Rajasthan border called off on August 14.  Celebrations were to happen at Khokrapahar at Umerkot in Pakistan on August 14. Bilateral relations have plummeted due to the tensions. On Tuesday, five Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistani troops who crossed the LoC, Defence Minister A K Antony said.

A concert by a Pakistan sufi singer has also been called off in Delhi.

A girl student of a pharmacy college allegedly committed suicide after being ragged by her seniors and a faculty member, police said today. A note, purportedly written by the girl, blamed her four seniors and the faculty member for the suicide, police said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who summoned an emergency meeting today to discuss the fast growing tension with India over the exchange of fire along the Line of Control (LoC), said he was saddened by the loss of lives. He said it was imperative for India and Pakistan to take effective steps to restore peace on the Line of Control. He said he was looking forward to meet PM Dr Manmohan Singh next month.

Sharif is slated to meet Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next month.

As India accuses Pakistani border forces of killing five soldiers at Poonch sector of the occupied valley, Pakistani security agencies have unearthed a network of Indias premier intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in Lahore which was plotting to assassinate Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the banned jihadi outfits Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jamaatud Daawa. Read

LoC killings fallout: A Pakistani sufi singer's concert in Delhi has been cancelled.

The Shiv Sena raised the anti-Pakistan rhetoric yesterday and called for a ban on Pakistani actors and actresses in the Indian film industry. The Chitrapat Sena, which is a union of the film Hindi and Marathi film industry, with allegiance to the Shiv Sena, has warned filmmakers and producers against hiring Pakistani actors and actresses in the light of the Poonch killings.

Defending Defence Minister A K Antony on the Poonch killings issue, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh today accused the BJP of politicising an issue concerning national security.

"It is very unfortunate that the issue of national security is being politicised by the BJP. Antony is a very senior and experienced political leader," Singh said on the controversy over Antony's "contradictory" statements on Poonch killings.

Pakistan killing Indian soldiers was a highly condemnable act and has to be met strongly by the Indian Government, Singh said, adding, "However, the decision should be made after due consideration at the highest level."

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi may have made his aversion to sycophancy abundantly clear, but there is no stopping his doting party members. Here's the latest. Read more

The BJP and the CPI today differed over the issue of holding talks with Pakistan in the wake of killing of five Indian soldiers, with the main opposition saying there is sufficient ground not to hold dialogue with the neighbouring country.

"Five soldiers have been killed. Right now, there is sufficient ground to declare that the Indian Prime Minister will not hold any talks with Pakistan till they fulfil the commitment given to (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee...," BJP leader M M Joshi said.

The BJP has always insisted that the January 6, 2004 joint statement between the two countries- signed by then Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf- should be the basis for all bilateral engagement between the two nations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif summoned an emergency meeting today to discuss the growing tension with India over the exchange of fire along the Line of Control.

Fresh from a private visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Sharif called the meeting to discuss "the situation arising out of recent tension at the LoC". The meeting will also discuss foreign policy and external challenges faced by the country, reported Xinhua.

Five Indian soldiers were killed on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector on Tuesday.

Tensions between Pakistan and India escalated at a time when Sharif's new government started efforts to revive the stalled dialogue with India. -- NDTV

The Supreme Court today sought the response of the Centre and the Jammu & Kashmir government on a PIL seeking judicial inquiry into the BSF firing in Ramban district of the state in which four persons were killed and several injured.

The creator of a popular style of yoga was recently hit with two lawsuits alleging rape; now there's a third suit against the yogi accusing him of racism, misogyny, sexual harassment, homophobia and threats of violence. Read

Sushma Swaraj's vote of confidence for AK Antony. The BJP leader tweets: I am happy with today's statement of the Defence Minister. Let us deal with the terror first. We will talk later.

Reserve Bank Governor-designate Raghuram G Rajan said today he is confident of overcoming challenges facing the economy and the rupee.

"It is a challenging environment and we will overcome the challenges," Rajan said after a meeting of the RBI's central board here.

Rajan's appointment as the 23rd Governor comes amid unprecedented macroeconomic challenges, most visible in the rupee, which has lost over 12 per cent since the beginning of the fiscal.

Amid external sector risks, the domestic economy faces a widening current account deficit, high consumer price inflation and slowing growth.

At a time when the struggles of Indian women are attracting global attention, author Amana Fontanella-Khan reminds us that a different narrative is possible. In her new book -- "Pink Sari Revolution' -- Fontanella-Khan tells the extraordinary story of an all-women vigilante group who fight injustice in remote, rural India. Read

Big day for the BJP today. So, the names of the 20 BJP MPS who had been named in the Rajya Sabha bulletin for disrupting the house, has been withdrawn. The MPs had forced both houses to adjourn.


The BJP had complained about the names being read out and put up in the bulletin of the Upper House. The bulletin said these members had walked to the Well of the House to disrupt proceedings on Wednesday.The BJP questioned why members of the ruling Congress had been left out. The names of two TDP MPs had also figured in the list.

Earlier in the day, defence minister AK Antony amended his statement to say that the Pakistan army was responsible for killing the Indian jawans at the LoC on Monday night. 

Internet Corporation Yahoo is reportedly going to change its corporate logo for the first time since the company was founded 18 years ago.

According to CNN, Yahoo has announced that it will release its new logo on September 4 which will retain the current purple color and its trademark exclamation point.

DMK MPs wore black shirts in protest against the proposed visit of Dr Manmohan Singh to Sri Lanka to attend the Commonwealth summit. DMK wants the PM to cancel the visit.  

The Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day in the wake of demands by several members to have their say on the killing of the five Indian soldiers.That's after the third adjournment today.

The Rajya Sabha adjourned for 10 minutes after agitating TDP member C M Ramesh faints in the Well of the house.

Defence minister AK Antony's statement today correcting his earlier one, was appreciated by many BJP leaders. A Congress MP commented that the draft statement was shown to BJP leaders, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, who vetted it before Antony read it out in the Lok Sabha.

That's the reason why Swaraj was unstinting in her praise for Antony's changed statement.

So, here's how it goes -- the statement was read by AK Antony, drafted and cleared by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon. Congress spokesman PC Chacko defended Antony from the onslaught of the BJP. 

Former Telecom Minister A Raja spent over 30 minutes with BJP senior leader Yashwant Sinha in the Central Hall of Parliament today to discuss what strategy Raja would adopt before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G.

Sinha is believed to have asked Raja to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha -- that he was jailed and the facts of the 2G case were not brought to the public domain. 

Deploring the absence of JD(U) ministers at the airport to receive the bodies of four slains jawans, BJP today alleged that the Bihar government was insensitive to the martyrs.

"None of the JD(U) ministers had turned up at the Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport here last night to receive the bodies of the slain jawans even as many of the ministers were present in the state capital as per information available to me," BJP Vice President C P Thakur said.

"The grim occasion warranted display of sensitivity and solidarity with grieving families of the slain jawans, but the ruling JD(U) ministers were conspicuous by their absence at the airport that explains their insensitive attitude and lack of concern towards the aggrieved families," he said. 

Congress ministers Kamal Nath and Rajiv Shukla were frantically trying to locate Arun Jaitley, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, today.

When Jaitley was finally spotted in the Central Hall of Parliament, Shukla, ran to Jaitley and took him to meet Rajya Sabha chairman Dr Hamid Ansari, to sort out the walkout staged this morning.

You see, the government has three important bills to be passed today. The BJP had told the house that they were upset with the Rajya Sabha bulletin this morning, which had the names of the BJP MPs who had rushed to the well of the house to protest. But the names of the ruling party MPs were missing.

Consequently, the BJP, ADMK and the Shiv Sena walked out of the Rajya Sabha.

Rattled with this development, Kamal Nath met Hamid Ansari to ensure that any such bulletins should not mention names.  

Full text of the defence minister's statement in Parliament. Read

The JD-U rural works minister Bhim Singh, has now apologised for his remarks, but says he was quoted out of context. He apparently said, "Shahadat key liye toh fauj mey jaatey hain" (People join the army to become martyrs). 

The last rites of the four army jawans, who were killed by Pakistani troops, were today performed with full state honour in their respective native villages of Bihar.

Bihar minister Bhim Singh says jawans join the army to become martyrs. BJP slams the statement saying it was insensitive remark. 

Sources from the Ministry of Defence tell CNN IBN, that the first statement by Defence minister AK Antony (Pakistan Army responsible for LoC deaths) was made after consultations with the Indian army.
 
The second version (Terrorists dressed in Pak army uniform) was made at the behest of the PMO, so that the upcoming Indo-Pak talks are not disrupted. The PMO says the inference is mischievous.  Read

External affairs Salman Khurshid says there is still time for the talks and decision has not been made.

No, it won't be a call to arms. Here's a tweet from someone who knows. Lt Gen H S Panag(R): Pak has a professional & competent army. Difficult to predict outcomes. Probability of war is zero.

Heated arguments in Parliament, but Delhi remains cool. Rains continued to lash the city for the third consecutive day today bringing with it the now predictable traffic jams in most parts of the city.

The rain gauges at Safdurjung MeT station measured 0.6 mm of rainfall from 8:30 am yesterday to 8:30 am this morning. It said the city will continue to receive rainfall for next couple of days.

"In my entire stint in Parliament since the seventies I have never seen a situation like this," says LK Advani.  

Lt Gen H S Panag(R) tells it like it is: Crow eaten & digested! BAT(Border Action Teams)always consist of a mix of SSG,local unit&terrorists!No difference between Jan&Aug operations!

Antony said his statement today was based on fresh inputs from the army chief Bikram Singh who had visited Jammu yesterday. He said India will review it's ties with Pakistan and its strategy along the LoC after the incident.

Antony's statement was received with applause across party lines in the Lok Sabha. He is expected to make the same statement in the Rajya Sabha once it resumes.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, says she is happy that the defence minister admitted his mistake and made a fresh statement. "We want the house to know that we do not play politics. We have maintained that the statement made by the defence minister was wrong and we had demanded a correction. We want Pakistan to know that India will not tolerate repeated incidents like this. It cannot take our restraint for granted."

Finally, peace in Parliament.

Defence minister AK Antony makes the much-awaited fresh statement in the Lok Sabha. 

Antony, who has been on the back foot since yesterday, after his statement that the five Indian jawans were killed by terrorists dressed in Pakistan army uniform, has now changed his statement.

The defence minister said, "My statement was based on information available on the LoC killings. We now know that Specialist troops of the Pakistan government were responsible for the deaths of our soldiers at the Line of Control. Nothing happens on the Pakistan side of the LoC without the direct involvement of the Pakistan army. Those in Pakistan who are responsible for the tragedy and the brutal killings of ours soldiers should not go unpunished," he said.

He also used the incident to bring up the inaction of the Pakistan government on the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. Antony said Pakistan should show more determination and solid action to bring the terrorists to justice.

He said the LoC incident will have consequences and the restraint shown by India should not be taken for granted.

The Union government can and must protect upright All India Service officers from harassment by unscrupulous political forces in the States. That's the op-ed on the Hindu. Read

The ambush and killing of five Indian soldiers on the Line of Control has produced exactly the reaction that the perpetrators must have wanted --  an overheated political and media pushback in India against moves by the two countries to restart their stalled dialogue.
Read the editorial on the Hindu

It should not be too difficult to discern the design that lies behind the increasing attacks on Indian posts along the line of control. The Telegraph editorial on the LoC killings. Read

Why Raj could not snatch the Shiv Sena away from Uddhav after Bal Thackeray's death. Read

In other news: Come October 1, Writers' Buildings in Kolkata will no longer be the seat of power. Mamata Banerjee will move lock, stock and babudom across the Hooghly, emptying the state secretariat for a "few months' for renovation. The power shift will cost the public at least Rs 40 crore. Read the report on the Telegraph.

This, according to Sushma Swaraj, is the reason why LS has been adjourned.

Her tweet says: Lok Sabha has been adjourned because Cong members were constantly disrupting the proceedings.

The Supreme Court stays the execution of the death sentence awarded to Maganlal Barela, who had beheaded his five daughters after an argument with his two wives, in Madhya Pradesh. He was to be hanged this morning. Further hearing of the case is scheduled to take place at 10.30 am on Thursday.

And so, the Lok Sabha too has been adjourned till noon. 

Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till noon. That's after 15 minutes of sloganeering, protests, walkouts. Uproar over naming of BJP, TDP members in House bulletin for disrupting proceedings.

That's the first adjournment of the day.

Here's what's happening in Parliament.
In the Rajya Sabha: BJP senior leader Venkaiah Naidu says his party wants a peaceful discussion in Parliament. Ruckus continues over Defence minister AK Antony's statement on the LoC killings giving a clean chit to Pakistan. The BJP stages a walkout, but Question Hour continues.

In the Lok Sabha: MPs demand a united Andhra. The Food Security Bill was tabled in the LS yesterday and will be up for discussion and voting next week.

Just in: Army chief General Bikram Singh has briefed Defence minister AK Antony on the LoC killings.  Antony is expected to make a statement in Parliament today. General Bikram Singh who visited Jammu and Kashmir yesterday and Antony had told an enraged opposition in Parliament that he would make a statement today after the Army chief briefed him on the visit. 

The minister's earlier statement on the incident has led to a huge political storm with the BJP accusing him of letting Pakistan off the hook. The opposition has stalled Parliament proceedings for two days and wants Antony to apologise. 

Read: Talk of command failure in army Pakistan intrusion raises questions

The Supreme Court agrees to hear a PIL challenging the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal in UP and posts the matter for hearing on August 12.

Even as the Akhilesh Yadav government continues to stick to its stand that IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal was suspended for endangering communal harmony, NDTV has learnt that the 28-year-old was instrumental in getting a First Information Report or FIR filed against a man named Omendra Khari, who is reportedly a close aide of Samajwadi Party leader Narendra Bhati.

Read

Delhi's gurdwara management committee president Manjeet Singh GK and other members of a Sikh delegation were not cleared to board a flight from Rome after they refused to take off their turbans at the airport security check on Tuesday. Read

The Kremlin says it is "disappointed" the US cancelled bilateral talks in September, after Russia granted asylum to intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser said the move showed the US could not develop ties with Russia on an "equal basis". A

 

White House aide said Mr Snowden's asylum had deepened the pre-existing tension between the two counties. But Mr Obama still plans to attend the G20 economic talks in St Petersburg.

 

Read the full report on BBC

General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, now the supreme power, appears to be feeding into nostalgia for nationalist president after July coup.

 

Read more on The Guardian

Yemen foiled an al Qaeda plot to capture oil and gas facilities and seize two key southern ports early this week, a spokesman for the prime minister said Wednesday.

 

However, another Yemeni government official said it did not appear that the plot was the terror threat that prompted the United States on Tuesday to urge Americans to leave the country. That official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, downplayed the report of the plot disruption, saying that "these are ongoing threats to oil and gas installations in Yemen."

 

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula "has neither the manpower nor the capabilities to capture ports or seize pipelines," the official said. "Security precautions are always in place regarding all oil installations and energy infrastructure in Yemen."

 

Read more on CNN

More than 60 rebel fighters have been killed in an ambush by the Syrian army, a monitoring group says. The rebels were killed in a dawn ambush near the town of Adra, east of Damascus, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

 

"At least 62 rebels fell as martyrs, most of them youths," the group said. The state news agency Sana confirmed that "dozens" of rebels had been killed, and said they were from the Al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.

 

Read the full report on BBC

PMO says statement on LoC killing not changed at its behest

LoC killings: Bodies of Bihar martyrs arrive in Patna

UPA to benefit if Bihar gets special state status: Nitish

Ishrat case: Non-bailable warrant issued against PP Pandey

PM's visit will not make a difference to the US-Indian ties

BSF jawan injured in firing along LoC battles for life

LoC killings: Pak summons Indian diplomat over protests outside embassy

The bumpy road to Telangana

Cong leader courts controversy over Rahul's marriage, regrets

BJP leaders raise with PM Antony's 'goof-up' on LoC killings

Congress rules out U-turn on Telangana amid statehood demands

AAP candidate succumbs to injuries, Kejriwal lashes out

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