Timeline Refresh
After spending six years in prison, seven of the nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts walked out of jail in Mumbai today. The men are expected to head home to Malegaon, in Maharashtra. The accused were granted bail after Swami Aseemanand's confession, a prime accused in the case. The blasts killed 31.
On the Telegraph, Calcutta:
If you deliver one child every week for a year, all mere mortals can do is marvel at the magnificence of creation and leave the mother alone. So, in the fitness of things, a caring Uttar Pradesh government left Durgavati undisturbed since 2009, the year in which she delivered 52 babies. The mother and the 52 children would have lived happily ever after had a spoilsport called Rahul Gandhi not come along and killed them off in one fell blow.
The Election Commission's recently-released guidelines brings TV stations owned by political parties under its guidelines.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will leave for Bali, Indonesia tomorrow to participate in the ninth India-ASEAN Summit and sixth East Asia Summit. ASEAN Summit to be held in Bali and Singapore from November 17 to 19. India is a dialogue partner with the Association of 10 South East Asian Nations, ASEAN. The Leaders from 10 ASEAN member countries will begin their deliberations tomorrow.
At the press briefing today, it was announced that the PM will meet US president Barack Obama at 9.30 am on Friday and China's Wen Jiabao at 12:15 pm in Cambodia at the hotels where the leaders are staying.
Rediff.com's Saisuresh Sivaswamy, travelling with the PM on Air India One will give us the news as it happens. Stay tuned.
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama today said that "incursions" by Chinese troops along the Sino-Indian border were a "routine" as Beijing does not accept
the existing border in Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
"The Chinese government, you see, never wants to accept that this is the existing sort of borderline (between India and China in Ladakh sector) and also in Arunachal Pradesh", he said in J-K's Akhnoor belt.
Quick takes
- Unidentified militants lobbed a grenade towards the residence of a ruling National Conference worker in Chadoora area of central Kashmir's Budgam district but there was no report of any damage.
- CBI will constitute a medical board to re-examine the circumstances leading to the death of Swami Nigamanand, who was on hunger strike against illegal
mining, as forensic reports show that he was not poisoned as initially suspected by the agency.
- Noting that eleven people have been arrested in connection with the killing of three Hindu doctors, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has promised those absconding would be apprehended soon.
Patna High Court today asked Bihar government to file its reply with regard to notification for appointment of a special CBI judge for trying the fodder scamcase involving former chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra.
The case related to fradulent withdrawals of more than Rs 47 lakh from Banka and Bhagalpur treasuries through forged and fake bills was registered by CBI in 1996.
Former chief ministers Lalu Prasad, Jagannath Mishra, ex-BJP MLA Dhruv Bhagat, JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma, besides former state Animal Husbandry Minister V S Nishadh are among 33 people named accused in the case.
Shah Rukh Khan tweets: All love & health & happiness...this is Masha Allah absolutely beautiful. Bless u Sir. This calls for a dance!!!
How beautiful is this feeling. Allah bless u and Aish. Dying to come & see the three of u...YAY!!!! Now u really r PA lov u
Roebucks 83-year-old mother, Elizabeth, and five siblings - James, Rosalie, Margaret, Beatrice and Paul - said he was a much cherished son and brother whose adventurous spirit and insightful thinking brought much enjoyment to all his family and the wider cricketing world.
Peter has left an important legacy of support and encouragement of cricket and the values of cricket in young underprivileged people from all backgrounds, a legacy of which we are immensely proud, the Sydney Morning Herald quoted a statement released by the family.
Sushma Swaraj reacts to the bail order for the cash-for-votes accused on Twitter: I am happy S/shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahavir Bhagora and Sudheendra Kulkarni have been directed to be released on bail.
They have done no wrong. They only exposed corruption.
We will not rest only with this. We will fight till they are honourably exonerated by the Court.
The much-maligned Press Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju today termed as "incorrect" orders of both the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court in the Times Now channel case and urged for their reconsideration.
"I have a statement to make regarding the orders of the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court in the case of the Times Now channel. With great respect to these orders, I am of the view that they are incorrect and require to be reconsidered," he said in his address at a seminar on the occasion of the National Press Day.
The Supreme Court on Monday had refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court order in the case. Under the Bombay High Court's recent order, Times Now news channel has been asked to deposit Rs. 20 crore in cash and bank guarantee of Rs 80 crore before its appeal against a trial court award of damages of Rs 100 crore to former apex court judge P B Sawant could be heard.
He said the channel made a mistake of showingthe photograph of Justice P B Sawant instead of Justice P K Samanta in connection with the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam.
Back to baby B news with tweets from Abhishek Bachchan:
Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes. Both Aishwarya and the baby are doing great and taking some much needed rest...
And I'm trying my level best to get rid of this caffeine high and get some sleep too. Don't think it'll work. TOO EXCITED!!!!
Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief yesterday said his country opposes any military strike on Iran, amid rising tensions over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
"Such an act, I think, would be foolish. And to undertake it... would be tragic," said Prince Turki al-Faisal, his country's former intelligence chief and a former ambassador to Washington, speaking at a National Press Club briefing. A military strike would rally Iranians around their government, the prince argued.
Read more on nowlebanon.com
Scientists have made a major breakthrough in the form of a test for diagnosing Alzheimer's years before symptoms of the killer disease appear, by simply looking at the patient's nose.
The new test discovered by Professor Boris Schmidt and his team from the Technische Universitat Darmstadt in Germany aims to find protein deposits that cause Alzheimer's before the killer disease shows any physical signs of having struck.
Chemists discovered that deposits of a toxic protein, called tau, found in the brain cells of people with Alzheimer's, are also found on mucous nasal membranes years before dementia starts.
Also read the Indian Express column by Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Rajasthan politics.
The Bhanwari Devi scandal is clearly about the deeds of one minister. But it has also, again, highlighted a protracted pattern of indecision, indifference and ineptitude of Ashok Gehlot's government on issues of governance. Read
complaints relating to alleged irregularities in denotification of government lands. Yeddyurappa had earlier secured bail in two of the five private complaints regarding alleged illegal denotification of government lands.
Good news for beer guzzlers: Moderate and regular consumption of beer, like wine, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, Italian researchers say. The study confirmed what was already known about wine: a moderate consumption (approximately two glasses per day for men and one for women) can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, up to 31 percent less when comparing to non drinkers.
One glass can pair with healthy foods, eaten at proper time, maybe together with family of friends. There is no place for binge drinking or any other form of heavy consumption.
As part of our series of the Guardian's specially commissioned short stories, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells of a girl growing up amid the corruption of contemporary Lagos. Read
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer, based in Nigeria and the US. She won the Commonwealth writers' prize for best first book with Purple Hibiscus (2003) and the Orange prize for fiction in 2007 for Half of a Yellow Sun. The Thing Around Your Neck, an anthology of short stories, was published in 2009
Update on another celebrity baby girl in the news: Victoria Beckham's little daughter Harper.
The night before she left her little angel to go and speak at a fashion conference. But Victoria Beckham isn't a mother who can be parted from her baby girl for too long and today she was back by her side as she and Harper enjoyed a day out in New York, just the two of them.
The Delhi High Court today sought CBI's response on the bail plea of former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G
spectrum case.
Issuing notice to CBI, Justice Shali also asked the probe agency to file a status report by December 1, the date on which the bail pleas of other five accused including DMK MP Kanimozhi are also slated for hearing.
Behura approached the high court, through senior counsel Aman Lekhi, challenging denial of bail to him by the special CBI court which had refused him the relief saying the charges against him and other accused were of "very serious nature".
It's something all of us take for granted, but still makes Fatoma Dia's (a Hilton hotel cleaning worker) eyes widen whenever sees a bar of barely used soap on a bathroom counter. "This," she says, picking it up with a gloved hand and dropping it in a brown bucket, "is valuable where I come from." Read the story on cnn.com
South African police investigating the suicide of iconic cricket journalist Peter Roebuck have reportedly found vital clues on his laptop. Roebuck had plunged six storeys to his death from a Cape Town hotel room on Saturday.
According to the Sun, data found on Roebuck's laptop was helping cops piece together the sequence of events which led to the tragedy.
They are also focusing on websites visited by Roebuck and a Facebook account.
According to reports, Roebuck had earlier been spoken to by Cape Town police, who were investigating claims of sexual assault, but the circumstances surrounding the death will not be officially released by South African police authorities for at least a month.
Trouble brewing in Australia over the uranium U-turn for India. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has been angered by Prime Minister Julia Gillard's decision to lift a ban on uranium exports to India and hermove threatens to divide the ruling Labor Party.
Rudd was in India when Gillard announced her decision yesterday that she would raise the issue of lifting thelong-standing ban on uranium sale during the National Labor conference next month.
According to media reports here, Rudd was not consulted on the decision, leaving him angry.
The earlier story on the Independent: Drugs tested on survivors of Bhopal
A blog on the Jewish Daily Forward of the time Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein met in New York.
It was a media sensation. "They were two celebrities,' artist and scholar Andor Carius said. "It was wisdom from the east meeting philosopher of the west. They were staged together as icons by the media even earlier." Read
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot last night carried out a reshuffle of his ministerial team, dropping six ministers including Education Minister Bharosilal Jatav facing illegal mining charge.
However, Minister of State Amin Khan, who had caused considerable embarrassment by saying that President Pratibha Patil got the top post due to her proximity with Sonia Gandhi, has been rewarded with independent charge in the same status.
Among the six shown the doors last night were Ramlal Jat, who had resigned as Minister of State for Forest and Environment following allegation of being involved with a woman, Education Minister Bhanwarlal Meghawal who had made allegedly adverse comments about women and Motor Garage Minister Bharosilal Jatav.
The resignation of Jat, who had put in his papers on Saturday last, was accepted by Gehlot, official sources said. The others sacked in the reshuffle exercise are Golma Devi and Pramod Jain Bhaya.
A review of Vinod Mehta's autobiography on the bbc.co.uk.
An excerpt: For a country obsessed with people's life stories, Indians don't write absorbing autobiographies or biographies. Most of them turn out to be long-winded hagiographies or self-absorbed and pedagogic narratives. India remains a deeply hierarchical society where criticism is often taken as a personal affront. Vinod Mehta's newly-published memoirs, Lucknow Boy (Penguin Viking), are a welcome exception.
Here's the rediff.com report on Manu Sharma's 2009 parole.
Manu Sharma, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of model Jessica Lal, returned to Tihar Jail on Tuesday on his own, 12 days before his parole expired, after a controversy raged over alleged parole violation by him. More
Manu Sharma, the killer of model Jessica Lal, has been granted conditional parole to attend his brother's wedding. The conditions of the five-day parole are:
- He has to pay a personal bond of Rs 50,000,
- He cannot go to a discotheque'
- And cannot leave Karnal and Ambala
Though the Delhi police had filed an affidavit opposing the parole, the standing counsel for the police, Pawan Sharma, told the Delhi high court during Monday's hearing that if the court deems it fit, Sharma may be permitted to participate in the wedding, provided he gives an undertaking that he won't leave Karnal and Ambala, where two ceremonies of the function are slated to be held.
And Ash-Abhi's baby makes it to the BBC.
The report: Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has given birth to a baby girl, husband actor Abhishek Bachchan has tweeted.
Father-in-law Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan also tweeted: "I am Dada (grandfather) to the cutest baby girl".
The pregnancy has been keenly watched since June when Bachchan announced the pregnancy of his daughter-in-law. "News news news!! I am going to become a grandfather. Aishwarya expecting. So happy and thrilled," he tweeted.
According to reports, bookies had bet 1.5 billion rupees (around $30m) on whether Aishwarya would deliver on 11 November.
In other news...
A strong earthquake hit Indonesia's eastern province of Papua today, causing panic among residents, but there were no immediate reports of damage orcasualties.
The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2, struck at 8:42 a.m. local time, said Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency. The agency said the quake was centered about 34 kilometers southwest of the mountainous town of Oksibil at a depth of 57 kilometers.
Biggest news this morning, is of course, Aishwarya Rai delivering a baby girl this morning. Twitter, of course, is alive with congratulatory messages. Here are some...
Karan Johar Congratulations!! Baby B had a baby girl!! @juniorbachchan!!! All the love and happiness...am sure she will be the prettiest girl ever!!
Celina Jaitly Very happy for the Bachchan family .. They have a little angel fairy amidst them .. She is gonna be gorgeous :)
Ramesh Srivats Ash's baby'll find it damn difficult to learn the alphabet. Whenever she says "A, B,...", her mother, father & grandpa will go, "Yes, what?"
Boman Irani @ @SrBachchan Dadaji!!!!!! All of us here are delirious with joy! Bless you all!
Bipasha Basu OMG! So excited Baby B is Daddy to a lil Angel! Congrats Ash n@juniorbachchan n to d entire family!Welcome sweet baby girl:)
Petrol price slashed by Rs 2.22 in Delhi, Rs 2.34 in Mumbai (Hindustan Times)
Egged on by political compulsions, in a long-awaited relief to the common man, the government finally cut the prices of petrol on Tuesday, even as oil marketing companies continue to be under financial strain. Read
Reliance denies Kingfisher stake-buy talks report (Hindustan Times)
A spokesman for Reliance Industries denied today a newspaper report that the Indian energy major was in talks to buy a stake in cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines. Read
With China in mind, India tests new Agni missile (The Times of India)
India on Tuesday successfully tested a new-generation Agni missile with a strike range of 3,500 km and souped-up "kill efficiency". Read
Aishwarya blessed with a baby girl, tweets Amitabh Bachchan (The Times of India)
Aishwarya was admitted to SevenHills Hospital in Marol, Andheri, late on Monday night for the birth of her first child. Read
Maya splits U.P. poll scene wide open (The Hindu)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati announced that the State Cabinet has approved a resolution for creation of Purvanchal (eastern region) , Bundelkhand, Avadh Pradesh (central region) and Pashchim Pradesh (western region. Read
DMK MP arrested in land grabbing case (The Hindu)
The complainant alleged that Ramanathapuram MP Ritheesh Kumar grabbed his land using forged documents. Read