Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal today asked the electors not to fall prey to sops doled out by political parties during elections and vote for an honest and upright candidate to get rid of inflation and deep rooted corruption.

Addressing a gathering in Ayanagar area of Chhatarpur assembly seat, he alleged that for the past 67 years, some opportunistic people from various political parties have "looted the country and stashed the black money in banks in Switzerland, Italy, France and the US".

"Voters should be cautious while electing their representatives. They are equally responsible for the present state of affairs as they vote for those candidates who pay them money or provide liquor," Kejriwal said.

Her silence has made Uttar Pradesh government "stubborn" was how the Supreme Court described the state administration's response to suspended IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal for cracking the sand mafia in Gautam Budh Nagar, adjacent to national capital.

"Poor fellow, she did not say a word and government had become so stubborn that it could not listen," a bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan said while it was hearing the 2G spectrum scam case matter.

The issue of sand mining and media coverage of cases cropped up during the hearing when the bench expressed its displeasure over the media reporting of court cases.

"Media altogether creates a different impression," The bench said prior to making its reference about the sandmining.

Mumbai police have registered an accidental death case in connection with the INS Sindhurakshak tragedy, said an official.

The Gujarat high court today refused bail to suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police N K Amin, arrested by the CBI in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case.     

The MTNL's website for Mumbai has been attacked by a suspected Pakistani hacker operating from Australia. 

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today compared Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the proverbial frog just out of the well, fumbling for his right place in the big wide world.       

It is time for calm, time for reflection, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said while talking about the current condition of the Indian economy."

A five-year-old girl, who was raped allegedly by two youths in east Delhi leading to a huge protest, today appeared before a court and recorded her statement.        

YSR Congress party honorary president Y S Vijayamma has decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike from August 19 to protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, party sources said today.     

A top American official has opposed the grant of visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi because of the "very serious" doubts that remain over his role in the "horrific" 2002 riots in the state.       

Union Minister Anand Sharma today termed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a "national embarrassment".     

Sounding the bugle for the Lok Sabha elections, a meeting of DMK's district secretaries today unanimously authorised party President M Karunanidhi and General Secretary K Anbazhagan to decide on the allies for the polls due next year.        

Fresh ceasefire violations by Pakistan have been reported from Drass and Kaksar areas of Kargil sector, official sources have said.

A Ganesh Nadar reports: A huge banner has come up in Tirunelveli city in Tamil Nadu announcing that her supporters are making an effort to make their 'revolutionary leader and respectful chief minister' J Jayalalithaa the next prime minister of India.

The achieve this volunteers are going to pull a golden chariot with Lord Muruga sitting on it in the famous shore temple at Thiruchendur. After this they will hold an all-community prayer meeting at the St. Antony's church at Uvary. These prayer meetings and pulling chariots will happen every Saturday till December. The occasion will also be used to highlight the achievements of the state government in its first two years in office. This entire event plus rituals have been organized by the Nellai MGR youth wing.

The Cabinet note on Telangana is unlikely to come up before October.
Once drafted, the note will go to the Committee of Secretaries, then to the Group of Union Ministers, and finally to the Union Cabinet.

The additional secretary assigned this responsibility is unable to get in touch with Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to initiate the Cabinet note!

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has among his advisors bureaucrats who were close to the Congress party. After N K Singh, Nitish Kumar picked up diplomat Pavan Verma, who retired prematurely from the Indian Foreign Service.

Former Union home secretary R K Singh is Nitish Kumar's latest advisor; he will coordinate the Bihar bureaucracy's interactions with the government in New Delhi on infrastructure projects.

NDTV reports: The INS Sindhurakshak was fitted with torpedoes and Klub missiles, one of which was accidentally ejected during the twin explosions, a senior source in the navy said.

So far, the navy has ruled out sabotage and a recent recharging of the submarine's batteries as the cause for the explosion which took place in the front compartment, where weapons are stored.

Sources also told NDTV that signs suggest that the experienced crew was not negligent. "Every crew man on board had put in over 10 years and had the highest certifications possible," a senior official told NDTV.

Read the full story here

The Supreme Court today asked former MP Subramanian Swamy to move the Delhi High Court with his plea challenging clearance given to proposed low-cost airline AirAsia India.

A bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan said it was not making any observation on merits of the matter and asked Swamy to move the high court which can hear him in detail.

"We want to have advantage of high court judgement," the bench said while giving him liberty to file the public interest litigation in the high court.

India allowed the US to use one of its air bases for refuelling the CIA's U-2 spy planes to target Chinese territories after its defeat in the 1962 war, adeclassified official document said today.   

The then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru approved overflight by U-2 missions covering the border areaswith China on November 11, 1962, the independent National Security Archive said in a report based on the latestset of declassified documents it obtained from the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act.

Urvashi Butalia recalls her experience while crossing the Wagah border.

Read here blog on the New York Times

Benchmark share indices slumped in noon trades on fears that an early rollback of the US monetary stimulus would spark foreign investors to sell and also due to rupee hitting an all-time low. The rupee was trading at Rs 62 against dollar. Sensex was down 703.5 point at 18,664.09.

Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami reviews situation in Jammu frontier in the wake of ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

Fourth body of a sailor on board INS Sindhurakshak discovered. 14 navy personnel are still missing since the ill-fated submarine exploded on Wednesday.  

There is no such thing as absolute evil, said lawyer Jacques Verges in an interview to Spiegel.

Read the interview here

Jacques Verges, the defender of war criminals and terrorists, dies at 88.

Read the obit in the New York Times

The party is smugly walking towards 2014 in a misplaced belief that power is hers for the taking, says a commentator for the website, Centre Right India.

Read

Bihar Congress leader Sadhu Yadav meets Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad. He is the son-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.  

Sampat Pal, head of India's pink gang, which is best-known for its vigilante tactics. Named after their pink sari uniforms and pink-painted bamboo sticks, this group of around 20,000 members take on everyone from abusive husbands to crooked police, who often refuse to register and investigate rape cases, reports Slate.

Read the full story here

The strongest magnetic field in the universe has potentially been discovered -- a dead star that packs the equivalent mass of our sun into an area just 12 miles across, reports The Telegraph.

Read the full story here

The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL challenging the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal. She can take care of herself, the SC said.

Durga can suspend the order by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in an appropriate manner, the apex court ruled.

Nagpal was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government for allegedly taking on the sand mafia.    

Narendra Vispute, defence, PRO, confirmed that the bodies of 3 navy personnel who were on board INS Sindhurakshak have been found.The bodies have not been sent of DNA testing. The bodies are disfigured and cannot be identified because of sever burns. Unlike that any of the crew will be alive, he said.      

 The rupee fell to a record low today as Reserve Bank of India measures to tighten capital outflows and curb gold imports were seen as unlikely to prop up the currency and could even spark further selling if they spook foreign investors.
The rupee hit an all-time low of 62.03 to the dollar, breaching its previous record low of 61.80 hit on August 6.

One more body of a sailor has been found on INS Sindhurakshak. 15 navy personnel are still missing. The salvage operations continue two days after the submarine exploded.   

Danny Boyle has paid a tribute to the British stuntman who parachuted into the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony dressed as James Bond.

Mark Sutton, 42, died when he crashed into a mountain ridge near Mont Blanc in the Alps at 155mph after jumping in a wingsuit from a helicopter at 10,800ft, reports The Telegraph. 

Boyle, who directed the opening ceremony, said he was honoured to have worked with Sutton and described his death as a huge loss to his profession.

Read the full story here

Bodies of two navy personnel among the 18 on board INS Sindhurakshak have been found, sources tell PTI. Yesterday, the navy released the names of the 18 crew members who were on the submarine when it exploded on Wednesday.

More details are awaited.     

The rupee today recovered by 10 paise to trade at 61.33 against dollar on increased selling of the United States currency by banks after the Reserve Bank of India announced stern measures to curb forex outflow amid weakening of the US currency overseas.

Dealers said selling of the American currency by banks and exporters after the RBI announced stern measures on Wednesday to support the rupee and dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas helped rupee to trade a shade higher.

The exchange of fire between India and Pakistan continued overnight. Pakistani troops are now targetting villages in the Poonch sector. Houses in Saltori village in Poonch have been damaged due to firing from the Pakistan side, reports Times NOW.  

Even after more than 56 hours of the twin blasts and massive fire, navy divers have been unable to make contact or reach the men trapped because of poor visibility, restricted space and the melted hull.

The navy has released the names of the sailors, informing their families of the lack of progress made and is expected to make a statement at noon, reports CNN-IBN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condoled the death of Indian Navymen in the explosion in and sinking of submarine INS Sindhurakshak. In identical letters to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Putin said "accept my sincere condolences in connection with the tragic death of Indian seamen caused by the explosion in the submarine Sindhurakshak". He conveyed "deep sympathy" to the relatives and dear ones of the sailors who died.

There has been intermittent and small firing by Pakistan all through the night along the Line of Control. According to reports, there was massive retaliatory fire by the Indian troops at the Pakistan army at Poonch and Mendhar sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian army action came after three jawans were injured in firing by the Pakistani troops at Indian posts in Poonch

There have been 17 violations by Pakistan since five jawans were killed by it along the Line of Control on August 5.

PM's full I-Day speech: We have envisioned a prosperous India

Modi tears into PM's I-Day speech; says India restless for change

IN PHOTOS: The joyous fervour of Independence Day

Sindhurakshak tragedy: A mother loses hope of seeing her son again

Poonch: Pak violates ceasefire again; 3 jawans, civilian injured

525 killed in deadliest crackdown on Morsi supporters in Egypt

Yesterday's live commentary link