Aqeel alias Dr Usman and Arshad Mehmood have been executed in Faisalabad on Friday night, in the first capital punishment carried out in the country since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on the death penalty.

Stoking a fresh controversy after conversion plans in Aligarh, Hindu outfit Dharm Jagran Manch, which had planned a conversion programme in Aligarh, said that it plans to "finish" Islam and Christianity by 2021. 

China's anti-corruption watchdog today launched an investigation concerning a senior executive of a state-owned car company which is a joint venture partner of Japanese auto major Nissan. 

The hardline cleric of Pakistan's infamous Red Mosque today stoked fresh controversy by calling the military offensive against Taliban militants in the North Waziristan region 'un-Islamic'.

A Parliamentary panel today recommended setting up of special courts with women judges and public prosecutors for trial of cases of sexual harassment of SC/ST women and strongly endorsed provisions of the bill to prevent atrocities against the scheduled castes and tribes.

adhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy cricketer Udit Birla today accused former Test cricketer and current chairman of state's selection committee Narendra Hirwani of using abusive languages over a telephonic conversation regarding his exclusion from the team.

A ruined Spanish businessman has driven a car carrying gas cylinders into the front of the ruling Popular Party's headquarters in Madrid. The car did not explode and noone was hurt, but the attack triggered a major security alert. The man, 37, was said to have blamed Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government for his problems. The central Madrid street was cordoned off as police investigated whether explosives were inside the car. The driver was later arrested. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit his Parliamentary constituency Varanasi on December 25. A senior official said the PM will arrive in morning to attend a few programmes before flying back by in the afternoon. The PM will arrive at the Babatpur airport at 9 am in the morning and reach the BHU helipad from where he will drive to Assighat to attend two programmes. After returning to BHU, Modi will attend a programme at the Swatantrata Bhawan, the IG said, adding that later he will address a small public meeting at the DLW stadium and take part in two other programmes there before leaving for Babatpur to fly back around 2 pm.

BJP president Amit Shah says Rahul won't see the difference that Modi has brought because he is wearing Italian glasses. Ironically, the PM is know to favour Bvlgari frames.  Read more

On his first official tour of Tamil Nadu after taking over as party chief, BJP President Shah will arrive in the state on Saturday on a two-day visit to the state on which the party has set its sights for making inroads ahead of 2016 assembly elections.

Shah is scheduled to address a public rally at Maraimalainagar near the city on Saturday and meet BJP workers on Sunday, party sources said. Shah's visit comes at a time when the BJP's state unit is fancying its chances of putting up a better show in the next assembly polls due in 2016, riding on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

NIA chargesheets SIMI activist Haider Ali in Bodhgaya serial blasts case. Terrorists shattered the peace of the world-renowned Mahabodhi temple and surrounding pilgrim spots in Bodhgaya in July 2013 setting off nine blasts in 30 minutes despite numerous intelligence alerts of such an attack.

Haider Ali, Mujibullah and Taufique Ansari are the the key accused in the case. Ali and his associate Umer Siddiqui, who were SlMI incharge of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh respectively, conspired with other co-conspirators to target the Buddhist site to avenge the alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

NIA had earlier filed a chargesheet against Umer Siddiqui, Azharuddin Qureshi and Imtiyaz Ansari.

Preparations to execute Aqeel alias Dr Usman, a former soldier of the army's medical corps, in relation to an attack on the headquarters of the Pakistan Army in 2009 in Rawalpindi are complete, the Dawn reports.

The execution will be carried out in the next 24 hours.

Arshad Mehmood, convicted for an assassination attempt on former military ruler, General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf will also be hanged today.

Pakistan's government fast-tracked warrants of execution for 3000 convicted terrorists Thursday, moving swiftly on its promise to crack down on militants after 141 people, mostly schoolchildren were massacred Tuesday in Peshawar.

Pic: People chant slogans to condemn Tuesday's attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, during a rally in Karachi. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

You can't make this stuff up. A few days after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy threatened Facebook over a parody page run in his name, his "real" Facebook page, run by Shankhnad and apparently endorsed by him, has vanished from the social media site.

India Today reported that Facebook had deleted his "real" page while the parody page -- the screenshot is above -- was still alive.

The real page is still available in Google cache. The page -- which is actually "Dr. Subramanian Swamy fan page managed by ShankhNaad Team" has over a million likes.

In comparison the parody account has around 19,000 likes.On December 14, Swamy on Twitter had slammed the parody accounts run in his name on Facebook.

From his Twitter account, which is verified, he said, " Desperate Congi & Aaptards seeing the huge knock out response of PTs have resorted to parody accounts. Facebook must act or face legal notice."

It looks like someone at the Facebook noticed it and decided to take some action.

However, considering the teams that curate Facebook content are based outside India, they probably (and erroneously) may have figured out that the page run by Shankhnad is the parody page.

This could explain why the page has suddenly vanished.

Part comedy, part drama, PK opts to share its genre specification with science fiction. To get across his point, Hirani appoints Aamir Khan to play PK, a freakier, flashier version of 3 Idiots' Rancho. Read

Fifty-four missing defence personnel of the 1965 and 1971 wars are believed to be in the custody of Pakistan, but it does not acknowledge their presence in its custody, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the government has been repeatedly taking up the matter with the Pakistan government.

A delegation of 14 relatives of the missing defence personnel had visited 10 jails in Pakistan but could not conclusively confirm the physical presence of any missing defence personnel.

A joint Pakistan military-International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)  has informed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that it will be targeting  Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Fazlullah, the man responsible for the deaths of 141 people, mostly school children, on December 16.

The military leadership and Isaf agreed to target Fazlullah in a drone attack rather than a ground operation in the Nanger Har, Nooristan and Kunar areas of Afghanistan, where Fazlullah is believed to be taking sanctuary.

The Army will provide the Afghan government and Isaf a reasonable amount of time to fulfill their promise of action against Fazlullah.

GST Bill introduced in Lok Sabha. Here's what the bill says.

Pakistan Army Chief leaves for Khyber Agency. Will visit front line troops participating in on going ground action against terrorists.

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft which is carrying out a new mission has made its first exoplanet discovery - a 'super-Earth' located 180 light-years from Earth.

Lead researcher Andrew Vanderburg, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied publicly available data collected by the spacecraft during a test of the new K2 mission in February 2014.

This led to the discovery of a planet, HIP 116454b, which is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our Sun, making the planet too hot for life as we know it.

HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.

The longest war in American history is approaching its moment of truth. Next year, the American- and Nato-built Afghan army will face Pakistani-backed Taliban insurgents with only modest and decreasing foreign assistance. President Barack Obama has promised even that small troop presence will end by 2017. He needs to revisit this decision. Read

In the wake of the terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshwar, Pakistan, the home ministry has issued the following advisory to all  educational institutions.

The Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) mandated for schools include...

-- All schools to display names and numbers of nearest police station prominently.

-- Good lighting in the school.

-- Build concrete boundary walls with at least three gates.

Officials have said that some schools would be given special instructions separately and they would be asked to coordinate with local police and administration for security drills.

According to them, a few top schools in Delhi, Mumbai and some residential schools in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are likely to be given special security guidelines.

In the bloodiest terror attack in Pakistan in years, at least 148 people, mostly children, were killed by heavily-armed Taliban suicide bombers who stormed an Army-run school in Peshawar and took several hostages.

In a significant judgment, the Allahabad high court has ruled that the religious conversion of girls "without their faith and belief in Islam" and "solely for the purpose of marriage" to Muslim boys could not be held valid.

The Pakistan's cricket team is planning to visit the Army school in Peshawar and pay tributes. Shahid Afridi, who is leading the national team in the ODI series against New Zealand, wants to go to the school with the team and the Pakistan Cricket Board has supported the plan.

"Cricket is a passion in Pakistan and we are sure the students who were martyred would have been avid fans of the team. We want to show them we remember them all the time," said Javed Afridi, who is the CEO of Haier Pakistan -- the company which is sponsoring the ongoing series in the United Arab Emirates.

Terrorists stormed the school this week killing at least 148 people including 132 children.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has already come under criticism for not postponing the fourth one-day international a day after the terrorist attack took place in Peshawar.

"The players want to go to the school and share the grief with the students and teachers. They want to pay tributes to the innocent slain students and teachers. They will hand over the ODI series trophy if they win it to the school," Javed added.

GST bill will not be taken up in current Parliament session but in Budget session, says Arun Jaitley.

Lashkar-e-Toiba founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is accused of masterminding the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai spoke to Roznama Ummat, an Urdu newspaper from Karachi, and his story, a first-person narrative, appeared as a four-part series. Read

A tragic backdrop to the Peshawar massacre is that education is revered by Pakistanis, even those can barely afford it, writes Mohd Hanif for the Guardian. Read

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda refuses to comment on the two missing pages of a file pertaining to DLF-Robert Vadra land deal, containing important notings."How can a former Haryana CM be asked to comment on missing papers," Hooda said today.

A huge uproar broke out today after whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka revealed that two important pages have gone missing. 

The issue came to light when Khemka, who was the director general (consolidation) when the land deal was cancelled, filed an RTI application seeking a copy of that file.

Responding to Khemka's RTI application, State Public Information Officer DR Wadhwa said in an affidavit: "The undersigned made many efforts to trace out page no. 1 and 2 of the noting of the official file, but could not trace the pages. Hence, the pages could not be provided to the appellant."

The file is related to a committee which was formed by the previous Haryana government to examine the rights of Khemka who cancelled the mutation of Vadra-DLF deal. Later, the committee gave a clean chit to the deal and chargesheeted Khemka for misconduct. 

At least 32 militants were killed by Pakistan army in the restive northwest region bordering Afghanistan, taking the number of terrorists killed to 89 after the Peshawar school massacre that left 148 people dead. The army targeted the rebels in Khyber valley when they were moving towards Afghan border.

JD-U leader Nitish Kumar today "blamed" the BJP for the stalemate in Parliament and suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his words on controversial issues threatening the secular fabric of the country would rather enhance his stature.

"Agar do shabd bolenge to apki garima badhegi hi (if you speak two words it would rather enhance your stature)," Kumar said in his piece of advise to the PM.

He urged the PM not to make it a "prestige issue" and his disapproval of several "irresponsible and poisonous" utterances by partymen on religious conversion and praising Nathuram Godse, would help clear the air.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has suspended its MLA from Kota for threatening a senior medical officer in an audio that has gone viral on WhatsApp.

"I will skin you alive. You won't sleep at night. I will put such fear in you," Prahlad Gunjal is heard telling a chief medical and health officer.

The lawmaker was allegedly threatening R N Yadav, the CMO of Kota district, for transferring of a male nurse related to a party worker. 

Gunjal has now been booked for threatening the officer. The police on Thursday registered a first information report against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for intimidating and threatening the officer over the phone.

However, doctors across Kota have announced a strike demanding action against the MLA.

In the audio clip, Gunjal is heard telling the CMO that he would kick him, cut off his hair and beat him with shoes; he also threatens Dr Yadav's family.

The doctor has resigned in protest and has been provided security by the police.

Gunjal said he just "scolded" Dr Yadav but didn't threaten him. He claimed that he had asked Dr Yadav to reconsider the nurse's transfer four times but he didn't listen.

Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi writes to the home ministry that he has been getting death threats by a man who called himself 'Bhai'. The call has been traced to Dubai.

The government has asked the police to step up security for all Muslim leaders.

Lok Sabha passes resolution condemning Pakistan court's decision to grant bail to 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. Resolution asks government to take every step to put pressure on Pakistan to bring the matter related to 26/11 to a satisfactory conclusion.

Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, a key planner of the 2008 Mumbai attack, was today detained by Pakistani authorities for three more months, a day after he was granted bail by a court that caused an outrage in India.

Lakhvi, 54, was detained for three months under Maintenance of Public Order.

"Lakhvi was to be freed from Adiala Jail Rawalpindi this morning but the government detained him there for three months under the 16 MPO," Prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar said, adding the Pakistan government had also informed India about this.

Lakhvi was granted bail by Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court yesterday due to lack of evidence against him.

The order of detention was handed over to Adiala Jail superintendent before Lakhvi's counsel could show his bail order to jail authorities.

The prosecution chief further said that the government had decided in principle to challenge the trial court's decision in the high court.

The Lok Sabha today passed with a voice vote the Motor Vehicles (amendment) Bill, 2014, to regulate E-rickshaws which provide affordable last mile connectivity to millions of commuters including women and  senior citizen and also give employment to youth from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and minority communities.

The PM said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would be addressing the House on Monday on Lakhvi's release. Swaraj however, did say that India does not accept this theory that Lakhvi be released on bail. "We've given all the evidence to Pakistan on the 26/11 key accused," she said. "By allowing bail to Lakhvi, Pakistan has made mockery of its pledge to fight terrorism without discrimination," Swaraj tells Lok Sabha.

PM Narendra Modi makes a statement in Parliament on Pakistan's decision to grant bail to to LeT terrorist Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Modi said India has strongly conveyed to Pakistan our sentiments in very strong terms. Every child, every India feels for what happened in Peshawar. India is not less saddened than Pakistan by what happened in Peshawar, there are tears in the eyes of every Indian.

Richard Rahul Verma will be sworn-in as US Ambassador to India on Saturday, becoming the first Indian-American to hold the post.

Verma, 46, was confirmed by the US Senate by a voice vote last week. Secretary of State John Kerry would host the swearing in ceremony of Verma.Verma is expected to head for New Delhi and present his credentials to resident Pranab Mukherjee, ahead of the visit of US President Barack Obama to India to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade on January 26.

The US Embassy in New Delhi is currently headed by charge d'affaires Kathleen Stephens.Verma's association with Obama goes back to 2008, when he worked on presidential debate preparations for the then Illinois senator.

His parents came to the US in the early 1960s.Verma will replace Nancy Powell.

Amul pays homage to the 148 victims of the Peshawar massacre. 

India has refused entry to around 200 Pakistani pilgrims who wanted to visit Sarhand Sharif near Ludhiana to attend the annual Urs of Hazrat Mujaddid Alif Sani.

When pilgrims reached the Lahore railway station to board the Samjhota Express, they were informed that India had not allowed their entry due to security reasons, the Dawn reports.

@quizderek Gvt hints at cutting Rajya Sabha short and ending on Friday. Opposition keen to continue on Mon/Tue. Await PM to join conversion debate.

For the most part, the language we have used to describe the massacre of 132 school children in Peshawar has consisted of cliches -- the perpetrators were evil, cowardly, animals.

This language of righteous rage tells us next to nothing about the perpetrators and why they acted as they did. The Taliban's justification of the carnage may be self-serving, but it also tells us that their acts had context.

It is important to understand this context, because the ideals that drove the perpetrators are inexorably shaping Pakistan's destiny, no matter what the outcome of the war between the state and the Taliban might be.

Read Praveen Swamy's piece for the Indian Express.

President Pranab Mukherjee discharged from Army RR Hospital, leaves for his residence.

The security of Tihar jail has been beefed up after intelligence inputs were received that the high profile prison may be targeted by terror outfits to free jailed terrorists.

The high-security prison, which already has a three-layer security apparatus, was on Thursday enhanced further after the inputs.

Delhi Police is already on a high alert after a home ministry advisory alerting about a possible LeT strike in the city.

"Following the high alert in the capital, the security of the jail has been increased by several notches. No risk will be taken as far as the security of the inmates and the prison is concerned," DIG Mukesh Prasad said.

"Tihar houses many hardcore terrorists and other high-profile inmates, their security remains our priority. There are reports that attacks may be carried out to release Pakistani terrorist lodged in here. Security has been enhanced and tight vigil is being kept on every movement within and outside the jail," a jail-based source said. Tihar jail currently houses many terrorists and politicians.

Ex Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala and Sahara chief Subrata Roy are amongst other high-profile personalities currently lodged in the high-security prison.

NSA Ajit Doval meets PM Narendra Modi.

I wish I could say, "We didn't see it coming.' But that would be a lie. We saw it coming, but chose to ignore all the warnings until it was too late to prevent our children from being murdered before our very eyes. Peshawar, my ancestral city, is dying a slow death at the hands of religious fundamentalists. Slowly, but surely, the City fell to mullahs, madrassahs, and militants.

Read

According to the morning health bulletin from the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, Sonia Gandhi's condition is stable.  Dr Ajay Swaroop said the Congress President was recovering.  Sonia Gandhi was on Thursday admitted to the hospital for an infection in the lower respiratory tract.

The Pakistan government has decided to approach the Supreme Court against the release of LeT terrrorist Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. 

"Often when I meet a new Indian friend, who is not aware of my background, he exclaims: "So many years in India! but why, why? I can't understand! My dream is to go to the States or Europe and you are living in 'this' country!" Claude Arpi, who was born a Frenchman, looks back on his 40 years in India. Read

Pic: Claude Arpi on a bus in north India, some 40 years ago.

Here's what West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was upto in New Delhi yesterday.

Mamata spot-sanctioned a football stadium for the All-India Football Federation at NCP MP Praful Patel's request, volunteered to talk politics with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu and declared that no political party is untouchable -- in between lambasting the CBI for functioning as a "department of the PMO'.

But West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee carefully avoided Prime Minister Narendra Modi though both were present in Parliament at the same time.  Read more

Schools and colleges in Lahore, Pakistan are shut till January 3 after security agencies warned of terror threats.

The international outrage over a Pakistan court granting bail to Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi seems to have worked. The Pakistan government took him into custody under the Maintenance of Public Order.

This comes a day after an anti-terrorism court granted bail to the mastermind and handler of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.

Lakhvi, who was involved in planning, financing and executing the attacks on Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, was granted bail yesterday in the afternoon. The Pakistan government has also decided to appeal against the bail in a high court.

Yesterday, India called upon Pakistan to immediately take steps to reverse the decision to grant bail to the LeT terrorist.

The government asserted that there can be no selective approaches to terrorism. The grant of bail to Lakhvi will serve as a reassurance to terrorists who perpetrate heinous crimes.

"Given the scale of the tragedy Pakistan faced in recent days, it is incumbent on it to realise no compromise can ever be made with terrorists. India can't accept that Zaki-ur Lakhvi, a key conspirator of the Mumbai attacks and a UN designated terrorist, is being released on bail," the ministry of external affairs said.

MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, "99 per cent evidence for 26/11 is in Pakistan, the 1% we have has been handed to Pakistan. It is incumbent on the government of Pakistan to provide us that evidence."

And here's dose of odd news of the day.

A 23-year-old Manchester man idolises Kim Kardashian so much that he shelled out $150,000 on plastic surgery and cosmetic fillers to look like the reality TV star.

Jordan James Parke is a professional make-up artist, and shares his love high-end handbags and luxurious furs on Instagram just like the 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star, reported a US magazine. P

Parke's transformation includes extreme lip fillers, laser hair removal, and drastic eyebrow tattoos, along with ample amounts of Botox to emulate the mother of one's striking features. He said he has no regrets about his many procedures. "I laugh when people try to insult me by telling me I look plastic or fake. Do they think I'm going for the natural look? If I was, I'd ask for my money back," he said.

The 10 best books of 2014 from The New York Times critic Janet Maslin.

India today officially conveyed to Pakistan its strong concerns and sentiments of its people on the bail granted to Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

"We have communicated to Pakistan through diplomatic channels our strong concerns on the matter and the sentiments across country that this will make mockery of Pakistan's commitment to fight terror groups without making distinctions," Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

"We have seen the prosecution of the seven accused in the anti- terror court in Islamabad. The repeated postponement, adjournments, unavailability of law officers or witnesses is well documented. However, the move yesterday to grant bail to Lakhvi has taken this saga to another level," Akbaruddin said.

What is the Vadra deal all about? Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra has been accused of taking an interest-free loan of Rs 65 crore and heavy bargains on land from DLF Limited in exchange for political favours.

In response to the accusation, DLF had responded saying that it had dealt with Vadra as a private entrepreneur and that the loan was business advance which was given to make payments for land purchased from Vadra.

Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif yesterday signed death warrants of six terrorists and if he has his way more executions are likely.

A day after the Peshawar school attack, Gen Raheel tweeted: Asked PM Nawaz Sharif to hang all terrorists. More than 3,000 terrorists should be hanged in next 48 hours, The Times of India reports.  

His Twitter profile makes for interesting reading. Overcome by the sheer horror of the Peshawar attack, he announced, "Enough is enough, now strict action should be taken against those who speak in favour of terrorists." 

Two important pages from the files pertaining to the Robert Vadra-DFL deal have gone missing from Haryana government records.

The pages have found to be missing after IAS officer Ashok Khemka filed a RTI plea. Khemka was relegated to the archives department after he exposed the discrepancy in mutation pertaining to Vadra-DLF land deals.

The files belonged to the panel formed by the Hooda government that gave Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, a clean chit.      

NDTV reports: The Pakistan government has said it will appeal against the bail granted to top Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused of plotting the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai in 2008.

The Pakistan government believes it has a strong case against Lakhvi.

Lakhvi was granted bail yesterday by an anti-terror court in Islamabad which said the prosecution has been unable to provide evidence against him. He was among seven people arrested in the Mumbai attacks trial in Pakistan in 2009.

An outraged India told Pakistan that the release of Lakhvi on bail was unacceptable to it and demanded immediate steps for reversal of the decision.

In a sharp reaction to the bail granted to 54-year-old United Nations-designated terrorist by a Rawalpindi court, New Delhi told Islamabad that there could be no selective approach to terrorism, emphasising that it should realise that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists.

Read the full report here

Pakistan cricket's senior all-rounder Shoaib Malik insists that he is having a happy married life with Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and that there are no differences or problems between the couple.

"Even now I and Sania are together in Dubai and we love to spend as much time as possible together. But being professional athletes we have to also fulfill our other commitments but it does not mean our marriage is on the rocks," Malik was quoted as saying by the Jang newspaper.

He was apparently responding to reports in the Pakistani and Indian media about his marriage being in trouble. The Pakistani media has also highlighted the fact that Malik was seen moving around with actor Humaima Malik and her family.

But Malik insisted that Humaima was only a good friend. "I and Sania have a strong relationship and we knew before we got married it would not be easy. But at times it gets frustrating reading baseless stories about our marriage," he said.

Dawn.com reports: Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif has signed the death warrant of six terrorists, pending execution, by a Field General Court Martial

The six terrorists were convicted by a field general court martial in accordance with the law. Sources said that the men are expected to be executed within the next 48 hours.

The decision comes after the government ended a moratorium on capital punishment in terror-related cases in wake of the terror attack on an army-run school in Peshawar that claimed 148 lives, mostly children.

Read the full report here

A secret CIA review by the Office of Transnational Issues on the use of High-Value Targeting, "in other words, capture and killing of important enemy military targets for the United States", as part of an overall counterinsurgency strategy has been released by WikiLeaks. 

The 18-page study titled, "Making High-Value Targeting Operations an Effective Counterinsurgency Tool", and distributed on June 7, 2009, is labeled as Secret//NOFORN, meaning that it has the second-highest classified categorization considered a 'serious threat to US national security if leaked' and is strictly off limits to foreign nationals.

The study provides an overall assessment of the use of HVT, relying "on clandestine and defense attache reporting, discussions with HVT practitioners, a CIA-sponsored study on HVT operations in counterinsurgencies, and our review of current and historical case studies".

Read more about it HERE

This month's news provides yet another occasion for a friendly public-service reminder to anyone who uses a digital device to say anything to anyone, ever.

Don't do it. Don't email, don't text, don't update, don't send photos.

At least, don't do it if you have any expectation that what you say will remain private -- a sentiment that's usually taken for granted in human communication, but that we should all throw to the winds, at least until we figure out a way to completely rethink how we store and manage our digital data.

Because here's the thing about the digital world that we must remember.

Nothing you say in any form mediated through digital technology -- absolutely nothing at all -- is guaranteed to stay private.

Read more HERE

White House's @PressSec says: "I wouldn't rule out a visit from President Castro," but nothing currently being planned.

CANNOT accept Lakhvi's bail, change your decision: India to Pak 

US hotelier Chatwal avoids jail in illegal donations case

Wanting reply from PM, opposition stalls Rajya Sabha for 4th day 

We have killed all the children, now what: Taliban gunman's chilling last words 

Rupee sees biggest gain in 7 months; ends at 63.11

Sensex snaps 5-day losing streak, climbs 416 points