Refuting criticism that his party had done little for the Sri Lankan Tamils cause, DMK president M Karunanidhi today said it had struggled for the ethnic minority since the early days, with even his party led governments being dismissed in the light of the issue.

Referring to the dismissal of his government in 1991 by then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar two years after it came to power, he said there was a 'conspiracy' to topple his government then.

Though the two leaders were on "friendly terms", Chandra Shekhar later took steps to dismiss his government after some "important" persons met him, the DMK president said without mentioning anyone.

With then Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala declining to recommend dismissal of his government, other means were used to dissolve the government, he said at a book release function at the party headquarters

A day after Anna Hazare asked a Aam Aadmi Party member to leave his fast venue, party chief Arvind Kejriwal today said the Gandhian is being misled on the Lokpal issue as the Bill the government seeks to pass does not fulfil his demands and will create a "jokepal".

 In a series of tweets, Kejriwal expressed surprise that how Hazare could accept the Lokpal Bill that was tabled in the Rajya Sabha yesterday. He reasoned that this Bill does not contain any of the three most important provisions that the Jan Lokpal Bill espoused by Hazare and his team contained.

"I m really surprised. How can Anna accept sarkari lokpal bill? Sarkari lokpal is a "jokepal". Who is misguiding Anna?" Kejriwal tweeted.

Buoyed by its performance in Delhi assembly polls, the Aam Admi Party is planning to contest all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and take on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on his home turf.

The two-day meeting of AAP's executive committee, which started here today, is deliberating on planning and execution of the party's campaigning in the state for the  2014 elections, AAP's Gujarat convener Sukhdev Patel told PTI.

"We would like to contest on all the 26 seats and the deliberations are going on in the meeting about it," he said replying to a query.

The state BJP today appealed the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to rethink his stand on INS Vikrant, which is set to be auctioned off as scrap.

"Chavan should withdraw his resolve to sell the ship in scrap. He should understand people's sentiments associated with Vikrant," BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said.

He said in December 2001, the then Defence Minister George Fernandes had stated that Maharashtra government had shown interest in preserving Vikrant as a maritime museum, but the state failed to go ahead with the proposal.

Somaiya said he had discussions with senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on the issue.

In a sharp reaction to Rahul Gandhi's comments on the Lokpal Bill, BJP today alleged Congress and its allies are blocking the passage of the legislation and it is ready to support the measure even amid the din and without a discussion.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley charged Congress has been shifting its stand on Lokpal Bill quite often and the party is not serious about passage of the Bill.

"The government seems to have changed its heart again on the Lokpal Bill.... The Bill should ideally have been passed in Rajya Sabha yesterday itself. We reiterate our stand that it should be discussed and passed on Monday. If Congress and its allies do not allow the House to function, then we are ready to pass it without a debate," Jaitley said.

Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has sent a report to the President on the current political situation after his consultations with the AAP and the BJP. 

NR Narayana Murthy, co-founder of IT giant Infosys and a celebrated public figure, thinks the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi should not be ostracised politically for the Gujarat riots in which over a thousand people, mostly Muslims, were killed in 2002 while Mr Modi was the chief minister of the state in an interview with NDTV.

Read the full transcript here

"What we are working on is a framework to fight corruption. There are a number of steps to fight corruption. We earlier passed the RTI Bill in that regard," Rahul says.

"I am not saying this Bill is the solution to everything. I am only saying that this is the need of the hour," says Rahul answering a question.

Our push for Lokpal Bill has got nothing to do with the AAP, it's about fighting corruption, says Rahul Gandhi.  

"This Bill is the need of the hour, it will help India in a big way. We have a consensus and it is on the finish line."

Rahul Gandhi: The Lokpal Bill will give the country a serious weapon to fight corruption.

Answering a question Rahul Gandhi says, "We are 99 per cent there. Nedd al parties to come together on this. I request all the parties to pass the bill since this is a matter of national importance." 

We have a strong bill that has consensus, says Rahul Gandhi

Chidambaram: Government has made only few changes -- 2 or 3-- to the select committee recommendations. We believe there is broad consensus.

Finance Minister and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi are addressing a press conference on the Lokpal Bill.

Iran said today that it had safely returned a monkey to Earth after blasting it into space in the second such launch this year in its controversial ballistic programme. 

In the first attack of its kind in the region, at least five persons were killed when a US drone targeted a boat carrying suspected terrorists on Kabul river near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border today. 

The Congress has decided to take on the Aam Aadmi Party after its convener Arvind Kejriwal challenged the Congress and BJP on accepting its conditions before deciding to form the government in Delhi.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram, V Narayanaswamy, Kapil Sibal and Ajay Maken will address a press conference on Lokpal and Prevention on Corruption amendment bill today at 5 pm at AICC.

Congress has managed to ward off likely embarrassment it would have faced from anti-Suresh Kalmadi faction, by removing photographs of the tainted MP from its offices in city. 

China will attempt to land a probe carrying the country's first lunar rover on the moon today in a major breakthrough for its ambitious space programme. The spacecraft is expected to make touchdown at about 9pm local time (1830 IST), the mission's official microblogging page said, 12 days after Chang'e-3 blasted off on a Long March-3B carrier rocket. 

Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ordered the transfer of the Mobile Magistrate in connection with stopping an ambulance over using red beacon, which led to the death of a heart patient inside it due to delay in getting medical aid in North Kashmir. 

Twenty-one workers were killed today in a gas explosion inside a coal mine in China's northwest Xinjiang province. 

At least one person was killed and three others seriously wounded when twin explosions rocked the Kenyan town of Wajir near the Somalia border, police said on today. 

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will undertake a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu in the middle of January 2014. 

The AICC media cell says it release, on a daily basis, video clippings of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi's day-to-day programmes.  

Two more Indians were charged today by authorities here for their alleged involvement in Singapore's worst outbreak of riot in over 40 years, taking the total number of Indians arraigned in the violence to 33. 

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday spent two hours interacting with editors and senior journalists at his Thuqlak Lane house. 

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who led BJP to its third straight victory in the Madhya Pradesh assembly election, has been sworn-in as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh today.

On December 8th the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's main opposition party, handsomely won state elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, with a combined population of well over 100m. 

The United States has warned North Korea against any "provocative acts" following the shock execution of leader Kim Jong-Un's uncle, as the reclusive state campaigned to rally support behind the young supremo. 

The first session of the seventh Mizoram Assembly will commence from Monday, according to an official notification. The notification issued last evening said the newly- elected legislators, who won the election to the 40-member state legislature held on November 25, would be sworn-in by the Protem Speaker. 

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has been offered a ticket to contest the general elections next year by the BJP but is undecided on whether to accept the offer. 

Delhi government will be formed on issues, says Kejriwal.  

Kejrwal questions BJP and Congress's motives of offering unconditional support to AAP.  

Kejriwal gives Congress and BJP 7 days to respond to his letter. He has kept aside three days for the AAP to take final decision.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal has met Lt Governor Najib Jung and asked him for 10 days to take a decision on forming a government in Delhi.

Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal has reached  Lt Governor Najib Jung's residence for discussions on forming the Delhi government.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is hopeful that the shaky negotiation talks between Israel and Palestine will be on track as the two sides are committed to seal a peace deal by the end of a nine-month deadline which ends in April.

It is North Korea's version of a youth revolution, and it's making a lot of people nervous.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to sanction those responsible for Syrian chemical weapons attacks documented in a newly released report. 

A shooting incident at a high school in the US state of Colorado has resulted in the death of the shooter and injuries to at least two students, authorities say. The shooting on Friday occurred at the Arapahoe High School in the town of Centennial, near the city of Denver.

 

One student was in critical condition, while another suffered minor injuries, police said. Grayson Robinson, the Arapahoe County Sheriff, said the suspect had appparently shot himself. He added the shooter had entered the premises of the school armed with a shotgun, looking for an individual teacher who he identified by name.

 

"The teacher began to understand that he was being looked at and exited the school," Robinson said. When a student confronted the gunman, that student was shot and seriously wounded, police said. The suspect was later found inside the school, dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Robinson said.

 

Read more on Al Jazeera

CNN: The suspect in the shooting at Arapahoe High School is dead of what appears to have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.   The suspect was a male student at the high school in Centennial, Colorado, Robinson said.  

 

The school is about 10 miles from Littleton, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher in a rampage at Columbine High School in April 1999.

At least two people were injured in a shooting at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado on Friday. Police are calling this an active shooter situation as of 1 p.m., according to 9 News.

 

At least one student was critically injured, according to KDVR. Around 1:15 p.m., Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson told CALL7 he believed the shooter was still inside the school. Arapahoe High School is part of Littleton Public Schools and has about 2,000 students.

 

Read more on Huffington Post

A confrontation between the U.S. and Chinese navies led to a tense moment in the South China Sea, CNN has learned. The incident last Friday, which was resolved peacefully, was the latest sign of Chinese military aggression in international waters and airspace.

 

A U.S. Navy warship was forced to come to a sudden stop when a Chinese military ship crossed dangerously close in what sources described as a deliberate maneuver. No weapons were fired and the incident was resolved.

 

Read more on CNN

Six people were killed after a major fire broke out at the Mont Blanc building in South Mumbai's Kemps Corner area on Friday evening, a fire official said, NDTV reported.

 

Five people were rescued from the 12th floor of the building where the fire started, officials said. The floor was gutted in the blaze completely. It took fire engines three hours to douse the blaze."We were sitting in the garden at around 7 pm when the fire spread. Few people could come down and then the elevators stopped working. The cylinders that were in the passageway exploded and the fire spread. We called the fire fighters around 7:20 pm and the first fire engine arrived around 8:15 pm," said a woman who lives in the building, the report stated.

 

Two fire officials and four firemen were injured while trying to rescue the people; they have been moved to a hospital.

 

Read more on NDTV

Terry Lee Loewen, 58, has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Mr Loewen, an aviation technician, does not appear to have been affiliated with any religious group, police said.

 

Authorities said Mr Loewen was snared by undercover FBI investigators and the public was never in danger. "There was no breach of Mid-Continent's Airport's security," said Kansas US Attorney Barry Grissom in a statement. "At no time was the safety of travellers or members of the public placed in jeopardy."

 

Read more on BBC

Eighteen gas pipeline workers, most of them Iranians, have been shot dead north-east of Baghdad, officials say. Security sources confirmed to the BBC that the 15 Iranians and three Iraqis had been working on a gas pipeline to run between their two countries.

 

The attack happened near the city of Baquba. The sources said it took place in a predominantly Sunni area. Another five Iranians and two Iraqis were wounded in the attack, the sources added. Violence in Iraq this year has reached a level not seen since 2008.

AAP rejects Cong's offer of unconditional support

Mumbai high-rise fire under control; 6 firemen injured

V K Singh pleads J&K assembly to drop privilege motion

Odisha: Maoists set bus on fire; release 3 out of 7 abducted men

Maharashtra assembly passes landmark anti-superstition act

Delhi: Woman journo fights her molestors, manages to capture 1

Navy's UAV crashes due to technical snag

IN PHOTOS: BJP stalwarts attend Raje's grand swearing-in

Karzai meets PM; defence aid, BSA figure in talks

70 pc MP lawmakers crorepatis; 32 pc have criminal cases against them

India summons US envoy, expresses shock over diplomat's arrest

Sting operation: Shazia Ilmi takes channel, editor to court

Najeeb Jung: The man who may run Delhi

Suspended TMC leader Kunal Ghosh gets bail in first scam case

Post riot, India assures support to its workers in Singapore

Treason trial: Court asks Musharraf to appear on Dec 24

Amended Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha, debate thwarted

Hazare asks Aam Aadmi Party leader to leave fast site

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