A South African prison official today recommended Oscar Pistorius clean a museum as punishment for shooting dead his girlfriend, sparking prosecution anger in a court weighing what sentence to give the Paralympian. 

Former CBI Director A P Singh today said there was a "lacunae" in the probe carried out by the first CBI team under the then Joint Director Arun Kumar, in the Aarushi Hemraj murder case. 

The case of a Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a dying Liberian patient shows that the United States needs to rethink how it addresses infection control as an outbreak of the deadly virus spreads beyond West Africa, a top US health official said on Monday.

Enforcement Directorate has issued summons for appearance to Sanjeev Tyagi, cousin of former IAF chief S P Tyagi, in connection with its money laundering probe into the Rs 3,600 crore AgustWestland VVIP helicopter deal. 

Dutch officials today returned to the crash site of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine where the search for remains and belongings resumed despite sporadic exchanges of fire.  

After a brief lull, Pakistani troops violated ceasefire twice today and resorted to heavy firing and mortar shelling targeting 10 Indian forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district injuring one woman. 

The Election Commission today issued a show cause notice to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for his allegedl remarks against non-Maharashtrians and claiming that once his party comes to power, their entry in the state will be barred. 

US and Saudi warplanes carried out eight air strikes in Syria today, mainly targeting Islamic State jihadists fighting for a key border town, the US military said. 

Asserting that the problem of terrorism in India was imported, President Pranab Mukherjee has said indigenous terrorist activity was "extremely negligible" with hardly any involvement of the 150 million Muslims of the country."Of course there may be one or two out of 150 million but all of these are imported.

These are coming from outside. Indigenous terrorist activity in India is extremely negligible and whenever such signs are visible, we take appropriate steps," he said in interviews to the Norwegian media ahead of his two-day state visit in Norway.

What's a hospital supposed to do if an Ebola patient shows up? Read the full report on CNN.

Death toll in cyclone-related incidents rises to 21 in Andhra Pradesh, Special Commissioner, State Disaster Management Authority, K Hymavathi says. 

Fifteen deaths were reported from Visakhapatnam district, five in Vizianagaram and one in Srikakulam, Hymavathi said. 

Advisor (Communications) to Government, Parakala Prabhakar said most of the deaths occurred due to falling of trees on the victims.

Authorities said yesterday the storm had claimed five lives as torrential rains and gale force winds packing a speed of nearly 200 kmph pounded Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. 

This little pug is completely blind and doesn't even have eyes. But you want to know what he does have? Read this

Some words mean less than others. So rum, revenge, soap and winter make sense the moment they're heard or read. Abut, redoubt, discern and limpid are a bit slower-fused. Torpid, saturnine, remiss, rebarbative, endeavour hang like a Shar-Pei's folds off the bone beneath. Read Mukul Kesavan's superb piece on the Telegraph.

Two days after bones found in northern Greece were confirmed to be those of Alexander the Great's father, archaeologists excavating a vast ancient tomb in Amphipolis have uncovered an intricate floor mosaic that could signal another royal Macedonian grave. Read

Meanwhile, Judge Masipa has adjourned the trial of Oscar Pistorius for the day. The court will meet tomorrow. 

Our work is to be the opposition, not be a part of their work: Sanjay Dikshit, Congress on Shashi Tharoor.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today reviewed the status of relief and rehabilitation efforts in flood-hit areas of the state during a meeting with top bureaucrats. The chief minister is in Delhi and took the meeting through a video conference.

"The Chief Minister was told by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Rohit Kansal, that Rs 43.18 crores have so far been disbursed among the families whose houses were totally collapsed in floods," an official spokesman said.

The cases of 3,626 fully damaged houses have been approved for disbursement of interim compensation, the Chief Minister was told.

Omar was also told about the status report of ration distribution and the supply of essential commodities and LPG. He was told that nearly 20,000 tonnes of rice has been supplied to ration depots in the Valley so far and the total requirement of 32,000 tonnes for the month will be met in next
three to four days.

In Jammu, against the total requirement of 25,000 tonnes for the month, ration of 15,000 tonnes has been supplied to the depots so far.

The Chief Minister directed the officials of the CAPD department to visit the ration depots and ascertain the status of supply of ration to the people.

Omar was also told that fumigation of the houses which were submerged during floods has been started in the city and more than 200 houses have been disinfected yesterday. 

The BJP today took a dig at the Congress for removing Shashi Tharoor as spokesperson, saying the step reflects "intolerance" as the party cannot digest somebody doing good work. "It is their internal matter. But certainly, it shows the level of tolerance or intolerance in the Congress," BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said after action was taken against Tharoor for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Singh noted that Tharoor had been selected by Modi as one of the nine prominent people for pushing the "apolitical" 'Swachh Bharat' campaign which was an unfulfilled dream of Mahatma Gandhi.

The action against Tharoor shows that Congress will "sack even those who do good work. There is no regard for good work in Congress," the BJP leader said.

"The Congress still follows the policy that if you go with Modi to clean India, we would certainly clean you up Mr Tharoor," Singh said.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza says the Sunanda Pushkar case had nothing to do with the party's decision to sack Shashi Tharoor as spox. She says the Kerala Congress workers were unhappy with his praise for PM Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.

French economist Jean Tirole has won the Nobel prize for economics for research on market power and regulation.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Monday Tirole "has clarified how to understand and regulate industries with a few powerful firms."

French economist Jean Tirole is awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analysis of market power and regulation. 

The real reason behind the Swedish Academy's decision to award Modiano the Nobel Prize for literature.

Disgust alert: British woman returns from south-east Asia with three-inch leech living in her nose. Read

Former Delhi CM/Kerala governor Sheila Dikshit on Shashi Tharoor: This is the right of party to decide who they want as a spokesperson and who not.

Shashi Tharoor's full statement on his sacking...

"I have seen the press release issued by the AICC and, as a loyal worker of the Congress Party, accept the decision of the Party President to relieve me of my responsibilities as a Spokesman.

"I am in politics to serve the people of India, and my constituency, Thiruvananthapuram, through my service to the Congress Party. This I have always done with utmost sincerity and commitment and I will continue to do so. Whatever responsibilities the Party has entrusted to me I have fulfilled without reservation, and I fully recognize it is the prerogative of the Party to alter these responsibilities.

"While I have not yet seen the KPCC complaint referred to, and while I would have welcomed an opportunity to respond to it and draw the attention of the AICC leadership to the full range of my statements and writings on contemporary political issues, I am now treating this matter as closed and have no further comment to make."

BJP rushes to Shashi Tharoor's defence. "Congress wants their spox to resort to high command's likes and dislikes, not how aspirations of Indians can be met," says party spox Nalin Kohli on Shashi Tharoor.

A spokesman has to be a spokesman for the party not their own: Ghulam Nabi Azad on Shashi Tharoor.

While on Malala read this: How can I rejoice at Malala's global achievement when I've been taught all my life that a girl's place is in the kitchen?  I just can't.

Unlike Malala Yousafzai, Nabila Rehman did not receive a welcoming greeting in Washington DC. Here's why

The Nobel Peace prize for 2014 has been awarded to two South Asian activists in the field of child rights, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi. The first is a thoughtful and fearless teenager who, despite deadly opposition, lit a path to learning and liberation for girls in Pakistan. The second is a 60-year old campaigner from India who has worked to liberate children from the shackles of compulsory labour and bondage. In choosing them, the Nobel Committee may appear to have chosen unusually. Read

Hudhud update: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said a total of 2,33,271 people were evacuated to safe places and are now housed in 2,029 shelter homes.

Kerala Congress reacts to Shashi Tharoor's sacking as party spokesperson. We welcome the move. Had requested the High Command to take action.

It was the Kerala Congress that had demanded action against Tharoor for his apparent fan-boy tweet.

‏@RahulThanvi Probing of Sunanda Pushkar's case is directly proportional to the square of Mr. Shashi Tharoor's praise for NaMo ji #TharoorSacked

‏@ROFL_India  No sir only Diggy can use the word Loyal..bhow Im loyal Congress worker & accept party's decision-Shashi Tharoor #TharoorSacked

@thakervm  Modi to invite RaGa & entire Congress party to #CleanIndia (Congress mukta). Madam will retaliate and remove all of 'em like Shashi Tharoor.

@abdullah_0mar: World's Shortest Resignation Letter :
Dear Sonia Ji,
I admire Mr. Narendra Modi.
Thanks,
Shashi Tharoor."

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor reacts to his sacking as party spokesperson. He said, "As a loyal worker I accept the decision of the party president."

There's precious little else he can do.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today announced an assistance package to cyclone ravaged Andhra Pradesh, including an aid of Rs 5 crore, electrical poles, devices and a team of Highway officials to clear uprooted trees.

Besides the financial aid, Andhra Pradesh will be provided 5,000 electrical poles, 10,000 insulators, 100 transformers and other power accessories to help it rebuild its power infrastructure hit by cyclone Hudhud.

"These will be sent to Andhra Pradesh immediately," the Chief Minister said.

So, has Tharoor become an embarrassment for the Congress?

The Congress had on Friday advocated caution on the Sunanda death case and accused the BJP of playing "politics" over the issue, which it said was "entirely a legal process".

"The Congress' stand is clear. When a legal process is taking place, you do not comment on every document, every comma and full stop. Every week a new document may come up. When that legal process reaches a conclusion or even a semi conclusion, then we will see," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had said on Friday.  

Shashi Tharoor has not reacted to his party's decision to sack him as spokesperson, but he has been trending on Twitter.

Here are some of the tweets:

Champ-u-terology ‏@BolshoyBooze  *Shashi Tharoor removed from Congress* Average IQ of congress drops by 100

Keh Ke Peheno ‏@coolfunnytshirt  Shashi Tharoor removed as Congress spokesperson. This was announced by Congress Sycophancy Committee.

Gappistan Radio ‏@GappistanRadio  Indiscipline by Shashi Tharoor - Is from Kerala and no strikes to show for? Nonsense

‏@nupur1210  This whole Shashi Tharoor being sacked sounds too blatant and stupid to be true. I sense a larger plan here #ConspiracyTheories

@javedmansari  Shashi Tharoor sacked as Cong spokesperson. How stupid is that.

The press release from the AICC that says that Congress President Sonia Gandhi has accepted the recommendation of the AICC disciplinary committee to remove Shashi Tharoor from the list of spokespersons of the AICC with immediate effect. 

Meanwhile, back at the Pistorius sentencing, the court has been adjourned for 30 minutes. The defence is likely to call four witnesses, and the prosecution at least two. It is anticipated that matters will conclude within a week.

Read the editorial in the Telegraph on Tharoor's tweet tempest. "Shashi Tharoor has caught a Tartar. But this time, he is not to be blamed for his own plight. In all good faith, he responded positively to Narendra Modi's invitation to join the Clean India campaign."  

This is not the first time that Tharoor's tweets had earned him a sharp rebuke from his party. In 2009, when he was Minister of State for External Affairs Tharoor, one of the first ministers to tweet,  (he had just 5000 followers then, 24 lakh now) had caused heartburn in the government and the Congress.

On his page on Twitter, Tharoor was asked: Tell us minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?

His reply: Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows.

The Congress said his remarks were unacceptable and totally insensitive.

These came at a time when the party has launched an aggressive austerity drive, which saw Congress chief Sonia Gandhi flying to Mumbai in economy class and general secretary Rahul Gandhi travelling to Ludhiana in an A/C chair car.

Soornad Rajashekeran, Congress party member, in a release issued in Thiruvananthapuram last Monday had pointed out that even though the party champions freedom of expression, Tharoor should immediately end praising Modi because many of Tharoor's statements go against the party's overall interest.

All Tharoor did to earn this rebuke was that after PM Modi invited him to join the Clean India campaign, Tharoor had tweeted saying was 'honoured to accept the invitation of PM @narendramodi to join Clean India   campaign".

Former Union minister and Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor has been sacked as the party spokesperson. This comes after sustained criticism from the party for what it felt to be unwarranted praise for PM Narendra Modi. The recommendations were made by a disciplinary panel over discussions last week.

Tharoor had reacted through Facebook of his colleagues' criticism saying, "I am astonished that anyone would suggest that I am pro-BJP. I have a 30-year paper trail of published writings on my idea of India and my profound belief in India's pluralism. Being receptive to specific statements or actions of BJP leaders does not remotely imply acceptance of the party's core Hindutva agenda. The Prime Minister pitched his appeal as a non-political one and I received it in that spirit. I am a proud Congressman and a proud Indian. In short: not pro-BJP, just pro-India!"

Sonia Gandhi has accepted the decision to remove Tharoor as party spokesperson.

A psychologist is testifying on the first day of the sentencing portion of the trial of Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted last month of culpable homicide for shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Dr. Lore Hartzenberg, who has met with Pistorius, was called Monday by the defense. The runner's legal team hopes to persuade Judge Thokozile Masipa to be lenient when she sentences Pistorius after several days of legal argument and testimony.

Robyn Curnow of CNN says that the sentencing hearing will focus on Oscar Pistorius' character ... Less about law, facts more on perceptions of remorse and guilt.

Oscar Pistorius' prosecutor says Reeva Steenkamp's father suffered a stroke as result of what happened to his daughter.

Oscar Pistorius "felt utterly worthless", his therapist has said in her assessment of him after the killing of Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, but officially cleared the Paralympic star of murder. She said: "It cannot be said that the accused did not entertain a genuine belief that there was an intruder in his house."

The International Paralympic Committee has said that they would have no objections to Pistorius continuing to compete.

The "trial of the century', which began in March, dominated the South African media, with Pistorius, prosecutor Gerrie Nel and defence counsel Barry Roux knocking President Jacob Zuma and even a general election off the front pages. It was obsession that cut across class, gender and race.

A stony-faced Pistorius stared straight ahead as police officers escorted him into the court building. He declined to answer questions from the scrum of reporters but greeted his family inside the court with smiles and hugs.

Oscar Pistorius diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder is in court for the sentencing.

Indian readers increasingly swapping Agatha Christie and Dan Brown for compatriots with a focus on fast plots and happy endings. Read

It's D-Day for Oscar Pistorius. South African judge Thokozile Masipa will decide Pistorius's sentence today. Judge confirms with the barristers for Pistorius and the state that the mitigation and sentencing is not likely to take more than one week. A commonly-held belief, however, is that he will be sentenced to between five and ten years behind bars.

Last month, she found the athlete guilty of culpable homicide after he fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a bathroom door on Valentine's day 2013.Masipa said that the Paralympian had been "negligent" and acted "hastily" when firing into a bathroom door, fearing that there was an intruder on the other side.

However the court cleared Pistorius of the more serious charge of premeditated murder, saying that the state had failed to give enough proof for such a charge.

Pistorius was also found guilty of one count of discharging a firearm in public, an offence relating to his firing of a gun in a restaurant.

Cyclone Hudhud today weakened into a deep depression and lay centred over south Chhattisgarh and its neighbourhood, according to the meteorological centre in Bhubaneswar.

Hudhud, which had already weakened into a cyclonic storm, moved northwestwards and weakened further into a deep depression and lay centered over south Chhattisgarh and neighbourhood, about 90 km northwest of Jagdalpur and 190 km south of Raipur, it said.

It would further move north-northwestwards, weaken into a depression in the next six hours and finally into a well marked low pressure area during the subsequent six hours, it said.

Indian aritstes Parvathy Baul and Astad Deboo (pictured) performed at the Oneness Festival on Friday in Ansan, South Korea. The Festival of Healing was initiated by the Seoul Festival of the Arts. Astad's music was streamed live from New York to an enthralled audience.

Neel Mukherjee is favored to win the 2014 Man Booker Prize  for his latest novel, "The Lives of Others," by bookies. The Booker Prize Foundation opened the competition for the 50,000 pound prize to include all authors writing in English and published in the U.K. for the first time. Read

Heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali, 72, too ill to attend premiere of new documentary about his life. Read

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Palghar, Maharashtra, today. He said the fishermen of Palghar share a special bond with Gujarat. "Fishermen are imprisoned in Pakistan. When I became the Prime Minister, I spoke to Pakistan's Prime Minister on this issue seriously and I told him that not only have you imprisoned fishermen but also have captured their boats," he said while noting that each boat costs Rs 5-10 lakh.

"For the first time in 10 years Pakistan has released our 50 boats and 200 fishermen from jail. Immediately after forming the government, the first thing I did was this," he said.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the Kerala nurses caught in the Iraq crisis, saying that he was able to bring back the girls from the captivity of terrorists with dignity.

"Those asking me for an account never remembered the daughters of poor families, fishermen and the youths from poor families who were locked up in jails abroad," he said, attacking the Congress.

Modi said he was confident that BJP will get majority in the October 15 Maharashtra Assembly elections and asked voters to "punish" Congress and NCP which had "looted" the state.

"With the kind of response I have been witnessing during my rallies in the state, I have no doubt that BJP will get full majority in Maharashtra," he said.

So, is the PM's Madison Square Garden speech a private one?

That's what the BJP has been saying after the Congress complained to the Election Commission against a repeat telecast of Narendra Modi's speech at New York's MSG, by local channels in Maharashtra.

The state goes to vote on Wednesday.

Modi's speech was telecast during prime-time on Marathi channels. The BJP also put out newspaper ads urging people to catch the telecast of what they called "The Speech That's Creating Waves across the World" and listed the time slots on various channels.

NCP's Ajit Pawar sais that Modi went to the US as a representative of India and as the PM of the nation. To use that to win votes in a state election was therefore incorrect.

Over 2.48 lakh people in 320 villages of 44 mandals (blocks) have been affected by the cyclone in Andhra Pradesh.

As many as 1,35,262 persons have been evacuated and accommodated in 223 relief camps.

It was a picture of destruction in Visakhapatnam, which bore the brunt of the cyclone fury, with hundreds of fallen trees, poles and other rubble blocking the roads as winds of almost 200 kmph tore away roofs and hoardings in the city, where the cyclone made landfall yesterday.

"There is no power, no water or milk, no electricity. We are not getting petrol. We cannot move on the roads. It is difficult to survive a single day here," said a harried resident.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa is fit and healthy and has not shown any signs of 'a broken woman', a top jail official said. "I have not seen Jayalalithaa when she was a chief minister in Tamil Nadu. Of whatever I have seen meeting her up during my prison rounds, she is fit and healthy and not shown any signs of a broken woman," DIG Prisons, P M Jaisimha said in Bangalore. Read more

An Army jawan has been critically injured in an encounter in Handwara (J&K), encounter is still on. 

Jayalalithaa's appeal for bail will be heard by Supreme Court on Friday. She is in a Bangalore jail.

Jayalalithaa, who was denied bail by the Karnataka High Court following her conviction in the case, had on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for bail.

The AIADMK chief, who has been behind bars for the last 14 days, challenged the High Court order which had refused her bail.Jayalalithaa has pleaded that she has been sentenced to only four years' jail in the case and she is suffering from various ailments, as grounds for her immediate relief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit cyclone-hit Visakhapatnam tomorrow to take stock of the situation there.

Taking forward its initiative for cleanliness, the Aam Aadmi Party said it would daily send photographs of garbage and litter in the various areas of Delhi to the mayors of the three municipal corporations in the national capital. The party said that it would further update the status of the photographs uploaded on its website by Delhiites by contacting them later to find out whether their grievance was addressed by civic officials. "The party will now send photographs of the ground situation to the three mayors of the municipal corporations in Delhi on a daily basis," AAP said.

Jayalalithaa and her army of loyalists have their fingers crossed. But this man wears his loyalty on his chin.Stand-in Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has not shaved since a special court in Bangalore jailed his leader in a disproportionate assets case late last month. If the Supreme Court "expected to take up the AIADMK leader's bail plea on Tuesday" lets Jayalalithaa walk out of Bangalore Central Jail where she is lodged now, her trusted lieutenant will finally get to put a blade to his fortnight-long stubble.

A Texas health worker has contracted Ebola after treating a Liberian who died of the disease in Dallas, US last week, raising concern about how US medical guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of the disease were breached. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where the new case was announced on Sunday, has already faced criticism for its management of the infection.The infected worker, a woman who was not named, is the first person to contract the disease in the United States. She had close and frequent contact during the 11-day treatment of Thomas Eric Duncan, who died on Wednesday, health officials said.The current Ebola outbreak is the worst outbreak on record and has killed more than 4,000 people, mostly in West Africa's Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

South African track star Oscar Pistorius returns to court today to find out whether he will serve a long stretch behind bars for the negligent killing of his model girlfriend, or walk out a free man. After a six-month, trial that captivated South Africa, and millions more around the world, opinion is starkly divided on the eventual outcome.A non-custodial sentence would likely spark public anger. The paralympic and Olympic athlete was convicted of culpable homicide last month for the Valentine's Day shooting of 29-year-old law graduate Reeva Steenkamp.

Typhoon Vongfong, the second weather disturbance that hit Japan in just a week's time, has injured at least 31 people on Okinawa island. Pounding winds and rain forced people to leave their homes and seek higher ground as VongFong knocked down the power or electricity on the island. Airline companies have likewise cancelled some 384 flights in the Okinawa prefecture and the island of Kyushu. VongFong, which has weakened after crossing Okinawa, forced 200,000 people to evacuate on the island. 

After the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena split in Maharashtra, speculation was rife over a possible alliance between the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. MNS chief Raj Thackeray now has revealed that the Sena wanted talks on a possible alliance after splitting with the BJP, but didn't move forward on it. "I spoke to Uddhav and asked him what happened. He said that the BJP has done this and that. I asked him what to do now. He said we won't target each other and let's talk. So I asked him how. He said he will send his leaders for discussion. My leaders called them the next morning. They were supposed to meet. But then after we made calls they stopped responding. We are not dying for an alliance. We don't need them now. We won't need them in future too. Now we've told the that they will call us if they need to," Thackeray said.

Police in Hong Kong started to remove barricades from protest sites in the city's financial center early today. Protesters have occupied major districts in Hong Kong to demand full universal suffrage for the city, a culmination of decades of frustration among the city's democracy activists. "There are hundreds of police out and they have started dismantling some of the barricades," said an eyewitness. Police issued a statement on Monday morning saying that officers had starting removing "obstacles" outside the protest area in the central district and Mong Kong with the aim to relieve traffic, "not to clear the scene".

Cyclone Hudhud has passed over Visakhapatnam, killing eight people. As it goes deeper inland, the 195-km per hour windspeed has gone down to 120 kmph, and it is set to reduce further over the next six hours. For the battered city, it is now time to focus on relief and rescue work, says the Indian Meteorological Department.