India's call for dismantling of Pakistan-based terror infrastructure received a boost today when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped Islamabad would be able to minimise terrorist incidents that claimed many innocent lives. 

A string of violence hit three locations across the country Monday a day after more than 50 people died in clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

The United States today blacklisted al-Qaeda-linked Egyptian Islamist militant leader Muhammad Jamal as a global terrorist, accusing him of setting up training camps for suicide bombers in Egypt and Libya. 

India today kept Colombo guessing over the participation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the CHOGM Summit here next month. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who is here on a two-day visit, refrained from giving any commitment on the issue. 

A senior Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh today said BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi held sway over youths and also predicted victory for BJP on at least 10 Lok Sabha seats in Seemandhra region if the saffron party supports the cause of united Andhra Pradesh. 

NGOs and private organisations, substantially financed by government or its authorities, come under the ambit of Right to Information Act making them liable to reveal information under the transparency law, the Supreme Court today said. 

The Supreme Court will tomorrow hear a batch of petitions, including the one filed by social worker like Aruna Roy against the implementation of the Aadhar scheme or the "Unique Identification Number" System, by linking it to various welfare schemes.       

At least nine people were killed in separate militant attacks in Egypt today, a day after clashes between supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi and police left over 50 people dead. 

The US government shutdown has led to the scuttling of a visit by Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh to the country scheduled for this week. The visit by the Army Chief has been put off in view of the government shutdown in the US, Army sources said. 

The Taliban has said it will attempt to kill Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai again after causing worldwide revulsion by shooting her last year.

The group said it stands by its decision to attempt to kill the 16-year-old because she criticised Islam. Read more

Also see: Malala wants to be a politician to transform Pakistan's future

More on the appointment of Arundhati Bhattacharya as the chairperson of State Bank of India -- the first woman to head the country's largest lender in its 207-year history.

The 57-year-old Bhattacharya, the front-runner for the post on account of years of service left, was managing director and chief financial officer of the bank prior to her elevation.

An SBI statement this evening said Bhattacharya assumed charge as the chairperson of the bank today, succeeding Pratip Chaudhuri who retired on September 30.
Bhattacharya joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1977 and has had stints in areas such as retail, treasury and corporate finance during her 36-year career.

She has held various positions including Deputy Managing Director and Corporate Development Officer, Chief General Manager of the Bangalore circle and new businesses and head of its merchant banking arm, SBI Caps, the statement said.

Bhattacharya also played an important role in setting up general insurance, custody services and SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund subsidiaries, the statement added. She also had a stint at the bank's New York office as the head of external audit and correspondent relations, SBI said.

Her appointment comes at a time when the government is all set to open the country's first bank dedicated for women, Bhartiya Mahila Bank.

Bhattacharya joins other women heading public sector banks -- Allahabad Bank (Shubhalakshmi Panse) and Bank of India (VR Iyer) and private sector banks -- Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank, Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank and Naina Lal Kidwai of HSBC India.

Former Army Chief V K Singh's allegations cannot be ignored, says Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Singh had said that ministers in Jammu and Kashmir were given money by the Army. Last month, Omar Abdullah had said the Centre should conduct a thorough probe as the allegations cannot be brushed aside.

Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram will go to polls with 879 candidates with pending criminal cases.

The data provided by the Association for Democratic Reforms states that 13 per cent of the contesting candidates (879 out of 6870 candidates) from five states had self declared pending criminal cases as per their affidavits during the 2008 assembly elections, reports Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.

Three hundred and ninety four (6%) candidates in 2008 assembly elections have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.  Detailed report awaited.

India's latest attempt to simplify the rules for foreign investments are helpful but won't move the needle on attracting foreign capital inflow, say analysts. Read

Arundhati Bhattacharya appointed as SBI chairperson, says the bank.That's another woman to head a bank after Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma and ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar. Bhattacharya, incidentally, is the first woman to head a public sector unit bank.

Television interviewer Karan Thapar has been chosen for the IPI-India Award for Excellence in Journalism for 2013.

In what could be termed a jolt for the Congress in Rahul Gandhi's constituency of Amethi, a number of party workers in the district, including the panchayat chairman, today joined Samajwadi Party.

District Panchayat Chairman Kamla Devi Pasi, a number of district panchayat members, block development committee members and village heads joined SP in presence of Uttar Pradesh state Cabinet minister Rajendra Chowdhury and Amethi MLA and minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati.

The move came on a day when Gandhi was in his constituency to lay the foundation stone for a mega food park.

All three service chiefs are meeting the PM at the his residence to brief him on the incursion at Keran along the LoC.

Yesterday, two army generals visited the Keran Sector, where troops are engaged in a counter-infiltration operation against militants for the past 14 days, and took stock of the ground situation.

The winner of the Nobel Literature Prize will be announced on Thursday, October 10, the Swedish Academy said today.

Its permanent secretary Peter Englund will make the much-awaited announcement in Stockholm at 1 pm local time (16:30 IST).

The date for the literature prize is revealed only a few days in advance, while the dates for the other prizes are known several months ahead of time.

The literature laureate is traditionally revealed on a Thursday during the Nobel week.

The peace prize winner is scheduled to be announced on Friday, and the economics prize on Monday, October 14.

In line with tradition, the Swedish Academy gave no indication of its choice for the literature prize. It never reveals the names it is considering, and its deliberations are sealed for 50 years.

No favourites have emerged for the 2013 prize, but bookmaker Ladbrokes had Japanese author Haruki Murakami as the favourite with 3-to-1 odds, followed by US novelist Joyce Carol Oates at 6-to-1, Hungary's Peter Nadas at 7-to-1 and Norwegian author and dramatist Jon Fosse at 9-to-1.

Right now, Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and five Seemandhra ministers are meeting PM Dr Manmohan Singh at his residence at 7 Racecourse Road.  

The CBI will soon declare that it has found no evidence of terrorist leanings for 19-year-old  Ishrat Jahan, who was killed by the Gujarat Police in 2004 along with three men.

Sources say that in its next chargesheet, to be filed within the next two weeks, the agency will say that Ishrat was "an  innocent college girl", presenting a boldface controversy for chief minister Narendra Modi, who is in the running for Prime Minister.

Read the full story here

The Army press conference on the encounter at Keran at the LoC. The Army spokesperson says six AK 47 rifles, 10 pistols and one sniper were recovered. The designs of terrorists are amply clear from the the weapons recvovered. Radio sets and a large haul of arms and ammunition have been recovered.

The army operation against the holed up militants in Keran Sector entered the 14th day.

The army had launched a massive anti-infiltration operation in Shalbhatti village in Keran Sector on September 24 after noticing a group of 30 to 40 militants trying to sneak into the valley.

The operation is going on in a vast area along the LoC and so far seven militants have been killed -- three in Gujjardoor village on Friday and four in Fateh Gali area on Saturday.

An open letter by Mukul Sinha countering the various allegations made by Arun Jaitley in his letter dated 1 October 2013 to the Prime Minister of India with respect to the fake encounters of Sohrabuddin and others. Read

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban last year for demanding female education, believes British girls take school for granted.

Malala is one of the nominees for the Nobel Peace prize.

She urged the girls to recognise how 'precious' it was to have the chance to study.

Speaking to the BBC1's Panorama programme, she said that 'reading a book, having a pen in our hands, studying, sitting in a classroom is something very special for us because once we were deprived from it.

According to the Metro, she told the students of the UK to think that it is very precious to go to school. Malala has been invited to a reception hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on October 18.

The Army will brief the media on the massive Pakistani incursions at Keran at 4.30 pm. Two army generals on Sunday visited the Keran Sector along the LoC, where troops are engaged in a counter-infiltration operation against militants for the past 13 days, and took stock of the ground situation. 

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu who is on indefinite fast in Delhi to protest against the split of Andhra Pradesh chose the Italian word 'immobilismo', which means standstill, to describe the situation in Andhra Pradesh. He said the Delhi government and the Congress party will only understand this language.

"Government in Delhi understands Italian language. I want to use it. It is more appropriate to government in Delhi and Congress party also," he said.

Asked whether he was in favour of formation of Telangana or not and his party's support to the new state extended in 2008, Naidu was ambivalent saying all the three regions are same to him. "As a father if I have three children, I will treat all the children as same," he said.

James E. Rothman and Randy W. Schekman have been phoned but no contact yet with Thomas C. Sudhof yet, says the Nobel Committee.

In other news: Stating that war was not a solution to any problem, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said Army officers of both India and Pakistan will meet to discuss the issue of terrorism. "For keeping a check on terrorism, Army officers of both India and Pakistan will talk. War is not a solution to any problem," Khurshid said yesterday.

The press release from the Nobel Prize organisation summarises what the Medicine Nobel is about.

The 2013 Nobel Prize honours three scientists who have solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport system. Each cell is a factory that produces and exports molecules. For instance, insulin is manufactured and released into the blood and chemical signals called neurotransmitters are sent from one nerve cell to another. These molecules are transported around the cell in small packages called vesicles.

The three Nobel Laureates have discovered the molecular principles that govern how this cargo is delivered to the right place at the right time in the cell.

Randy Schekman discovered a set of genes that were required for vesicle traffic.

James Rothman  unravelled protein machinery that allows vesicles to fuse with their targets to permit transfer of cargo.

Thomas Sudhof revealed how signals instruct vesicles to release their cargo with precision.

Through their discoveries, Rothman, Schekman and Sdhof have revealed the exquisitely precise control system for the transport and delivery of cellular cargo. Disturbances in this system have deleterious effects and contribute to conditions such as neurological diseases, diabetes, and immunological disorders.

The Nobel Foundation has been able to reach Rothman and Schekman  - and they are delighted, but the suggestion is they have not yet got through to Sudof, says the Guardian.

James E. Rothman is the Fergus F. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Yale University and Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University Medical School.

Randy Wayne Schekman is an American cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley and former Editor-in-Chief of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Thomas C Sudhof is a biochemist well known for his study of synaptic transmission. Since 1986, Dr. Sudhof's research has elucidated many major proteins mediating presynaptic function.

Randy Schekman was fascinated by how the cell organizes its transport system and used yeast as a model system.

James E Rothman is from Yale University, Randy W Schekman from UC Berkeley and Thomas C Sudhof from Stanford University.

The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to the trio, all from US universities for for their "discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic". In other words, Rothman, Schekman and Sudhof have solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport system.

LIVE: James E Rothman, Randy W Schekman and Thomas C Sudhof win Medicine Nobel 

Contenders: Adrian Bird at Edinburgh University for his work on epigenetics; Noboru Mizushima at Tokyo University for unveiling the mechanisms of autophagy, a process by which the body destroys its own cells; Dennis Slamon at UCLA for work on the HER-2/neu cancer gene. 

103 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have been awarded since 1901. It was not awarded on nine occasions: in 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1921, 1925, 1940, 1941 and 1942.

In the statutes of the Nobel Foundation it says: "If none of the works under consideration is found to be of the importance indicated in the first paragraph, the prize money shall be reserved until the following year.

"If, even then, the prize cannot be awarded, the amount shall be added to the Foundation's restricted funds."

During World War I and II, fewer Nobel Prizes were awarded.

The  Medicine Laureates are announced in October every year. Earlier the same day, the members of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel Laureates through a majority vote.

The decision is final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine are then announced at a press conference. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 will be announced on today.

Pakistan's powerful Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's decision to retire and not seek extension has been welcomed by defence analysts and former military officers but they were of the view that the announcement should have been made by the government.

 Lt Gen (Retd) Talat Masood said 61-year-old Kayani's statement was a positive move as it scotched rumours which were affecting the government's image.

"This is a very positive announcement. It was necessary to scotch the rumours. It would have been even more appropriate if the government had made the announcement," Lt Gen Masood said.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu has begun his indefinite hunger strike in Delhi from today to protest against the Centre's decision to divide Andhra Pradesh. Curfew today remained in force in Vizianagaram town with security forces patrolling troubled areas in the wake of large-scale violence by anti-bifurcation agitators.

The TDP chief says that the Congress is playing politics in Andhra Pradesh on the issue of Telangana. "Congress is responsible for the chaos in AP, it is motivated by political gains. The Cabinet nod to Telangana is immoral," he says in Delhi. 

The season will start with the prize in physiology or medicine.  There are a number of contenders, including the trio of Adrian Bird at Edinburgh University, and Aharon Razin and Howard Cedar at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for their work on epigenetics, the molecular volume controls that determine whether genes are switched on or off.  The Guardian has more

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is expected to be announced by at 3 pm IST today. Gran K. Hansson, Secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine will do the honours.

In his will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that one part of his fortune should be awarded "the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine".

Could Air India Ltd., the flagship carrier, face privatization? Such a move would be considered if there is political consensus, the civil aviation minister said Saturday, according to local media reports.  Read

This year's protracted monsoon has also extended the dengue fever season in India, providing disease-carrying mosquitos with more breeding grounds and putting hospitals and clinics under even greater pressure than usual for this time of year. Read

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured the family of Justice J S Verma that responsibility will be fixed in case it is proved that the former Chief Justice of India died due to medical negligence.

"I agree with you on the need to fix responsibility if there were lapses in his treatment," Singh said in his letter to the former CJI's wife Pushpa Verma, who had written to him alleging lapses in the treatment of Justice Verma.

The former CJI had died in April due to multiple organ failure in a private hospital at the age of 80.

Besides Pushpa Verma, 34 eminent citizens led by former CJI M N Venkatachaliah had also written to the Prime Minister demanding a probe into alleged lapses in the treatment of Justice Verma.

They had also demanded establishment of professional standards in the healthcare sector.

If we were to apply the new bisyllabic rule of political nick-naming (pioneered by NaMo and unpersuasively mimicked by RaGa) to modern Indian history, Twitter timelines would know Mohandas Gandhi as MoGa and Jawaharlal Nehru as JaNe. Apart from bad jokes about TarZan, this would have added little to our understanding of these men.

Read Mukul Kesavan's excellent piece on the Telegraph on the Modi-fication of our vocabulary.

Pleased with the new probe panel proposed by the Supreme Court to investigate the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal, petitioner and Cricket Association of Bihar Secretary Aditya Verma today said he would now request the apex court to monitor the committee's functioning.

The Supreme Court today proposed a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal to enquire into the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

Former England footballer David Beckham has presented a Pride of Britain award to sixteen-year old education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for protesting about education rights for girls.

Yousafzai was nominated by thousands of members of the public for her courage in standing up against the terrorists, just a year after they attacked her and almost killed her.

UNICEF ambassador Beckham was so impressed by her bravery he immediately agreed to present the award to her, the report said.

Malala giggled about David''s height as they lined up for the presentation, and said excitedly that she did not know Beckham would be there.

One girl's journey from a rural classroom to the United Nations, and the family and PR advisers that have guided her -- the story of Malala Yousafzai, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Read

A total of 252 cases have been registered and more than 500 people booked in connection with last month's riots in Muzaffarnagar police said today.

Bob Dylan for literature prize? The physics committee has a much bigger dilemma over rewarding the Higgs boson discovery. It's up later today. Read

How former British PM, the late Margaret Thatcher was dumped by a dashing aristocrat - because his mother said she was too common. Read more

The September 27 Manmohan Singh-Obama meeting made some incremental moves, but the India-U.S. relationship needs more energy and stronger economies. Read

President Pranab Mukherjee has admitted that the Indian economy is currently in slowdown mode, but added that the government is taking corrective measures to revive growth.

Mukherjee was addressing a gathering of NRIs in Istanbul on Sunday, where he was on a visit at the invitation of Turkish President.

Mukherjee said: "Media channels who feel that perhaps Indian economy is sliding down and again they are going back to the days of slow growth rate. No doubt there has been some sliding in the recent years."

He, however, defended the Congress-led government by saying it is constantly vigilant and quick to take all necessary steps to revive growth.

At the port in Lampedusa, recovery teams continue to fill trucks with the bodies they're still pulling from the sea.More than 190 so far -- and climbing.

They are among 500 African immigrants believed to be aboard a boat that sank off the island Thursday in Italy's deadliest migrant shipwreck.  Read

There may be a cash crunch at ATMs this festival season on account of a shortage of armed staff in private security agencies that provide logistics services to banks.

According to industry estimates, the number of armed security guards in cash handling agencies has come down to a third of what it was six months ago, hitting logistics operations. Read more

The Nobel season kicks off today amid expectations that the physics prize will honour the discovery of the "God Particle", while a Pakistani girl who was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban could receive the peace prize.

The breadth of the field of candidates exemplifies how the Nobel Prize, seen by many as the planet's most prestigious award, recognises both intellectual struggle with the fundamental riddles of nature -- and real battle against violations of basic human rights.

But it is the award for groundbreaking medical research that will be the focus of attention today at about 1500 IST, when Goeran K. Hansson, secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, steps in front of the cameras at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute to announce this year's winners.

The BJP has launched a tweet attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accusing him of trying to sabotage Narendra Modi's rally this month by inviting President Pranab Mukherjee at the same time.

"If you fear NaMo (Narendra Modi) so much, why use Hon President's shoulder to fire? Have courage to bring your partner Rahul Gandhi to Bihar," said BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, taking a dig at Nitish Kumar's perceived bonhomie with the Congress ahead of polls due in May.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today ruled out the formation of a third front ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections, saying differences could crop up among various parties on ticket distribution if it takes shape now.

Yadav, however, reiterated that the third front will be formed after elections and claimed the next prime minister will be from among the alliance partners.

"The third front formation is not possible now, as differences can crop up among parties on ticket distribution and seat sharing," Yadav said.

Yadav said all political parties of the proposed alliance will contest polls on their own strength and then get together after the next general election. He said his party is in touch with CPI-M leader Prakash Karat and CPI leader A B Bardhan over third front formation after polls and have an understanding on this.

The police have instituted a lookout notice against Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai as they fear he may flee abroad.

Fresh sexual assault complaints were registered against the controversial self-styled godman Asaram Bapu and his son in Surat after two sisters accused the duo of abusing them.

Asaram, 75, was arrested in August on charges of sexually assaulting a minor girl and has been in prison at Jodhpur in Rajasthan since then.

"We have registered two complaints, one against Asaram and another against Narayan Sai of sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges," Surat Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana said. "The victims are two sisters," he said.

The BJP demands to know whether Congress MP Abhijeet Mukherjee met Lalu as an emissary of Sonia Gandhi.

Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee, has called on RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in jail.

The Jangipur MP met Prasad at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi yesterday and spent 20 minutes with the former Bihar CM.

A CBI court had on September 30 awarded prison sentences to Prasad and 44 others for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa treasury when he was at the helm of affairs in Bihar in the 1990s.

Lalu is scheduled to file an appeal in the Jharkhand High Court on October 17 against the sentence passed by a Special CBI court.

Mukherjee, who was going to Rajrappa also met Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Abhijit Mukherjee  stoked a major controversy by describing women participating in Delhi protests against the gang rape of a student as 'highly dented and painted', triggering an angry backlash.

By voicing his concern over the legislators' ordinance, Pranab Mukherjee has demonstrated noteworthy and subtle use of the presidential differential in echoing public opinion. Read

Former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, jailed last week for five years in one of the five fodder scam cases against him, is likely to appear today through video conferencing in two other cases before a CBI court in Ranchi. Read more

Generation and supply of electricity was severely affected in several parts of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions due to ongoing strike by employees of power utilities against the division of Andhra Pradesh.

In the wake of the stir, the railways cancelled several passenger services and the pilgrim town of Tirumala-Tirupati, where the annual 'Brahmotsavams' were going on, was also affected, official sources said.

Around 32 passenger trains cancelled and many others running late, according to television reports. Read more here.

The apex court deferred the hearing on the PIL filed against Srinivasan for Tuesday asking both BCCI and Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) their views on the new committee. The new panel, if constituted, will be headed by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC Mukul Mudgal. Details awaited.

The Supreme Court has proposed a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal to inquire into the IPL spot-fixing scandal. The SC believes that N Srinivasan will not discharge his duties as BCCI president.  The BCCI had suggested BJP senior leader Arun Jaitley to be part of the probe panel.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik has been detained at Delhi Airport. He was on his way to Nepal to meet his family. He was stopped at the immigration check.

While Telugu Desam party chief Chandrababu Naidu started his fast against Telangana statehood this morning, YSR Congress President Jaganmohan Reddy's fast entered Day 3.  

A bomb blast during a polio awareness programme kills six in Pakistan.

India test-fires nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from a test range at Chandipur in Odisha.

CNN-IBN reports: The army today said that there have been no more infiltration bids in the Keran sector. However, 30 to 40 terrorists backed by the Pakistan army have entered Keran, the army said,

PTI reports: Pakistan's powerful army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani declared yesterday that he was not seeking any more extension and would retire as scheduled on November 29, laying to rest intense speculation about his future.

"My tenure ends on 29th November 2013. On that day I will retire. May the Almighty Allah help and guide us all," General Kayani said in a statement.

Kayani was appointed the army chief by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in late 2007. He was given an unprecedented three-year extension by then premier Yousuf Raza Gilani in 2010.

NDTV reports: The Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu will go on an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi from today to protest against the Centre's decision on dividing Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana.

Naidu, scheduled to arrive in the national capital this morning, will also interact with the media before beginning his fast in the afternoon.

Seemandhra power employees begin indefinite strike

Seemandhra: Curfew in Vizianagaram but agitators not deterred

Gunbattle between Army, infiltrators enters 13th day

Lalu Prasad Yadav to lead RJD from behind the bars

Army generals visit Keran, take stock of ground situation

Yesterday's live commentary link