Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj today alleged the Centre's failure in checking price rise has resulted in snatching the common man's meal away.        

After desperate attempts by the host country Qatar to save the talks, the UN conference on climate change today agreed to extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol, which controls the greenhouse gas emissions of rich countries,through 2020.        

NDA convener Sharad Yadav today said that the alliance was yet to take a decision on its prime ministerial candidate.        

South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela was today admitted to a hospital in Pretoria for medical attention, the government said.        

Former BJP Karnataka strongman B S Yeddyurappa today described as 'vindictive' the party leadership's sacking of his loyalist and Cooperative Minister B J Puttaswamy from the ministry and suspension of Tumkur MP GS Basavaraj.    

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address a poll rally in Vasanda of Navsari district in Gujarat on Sunday, sources said.        

The Pakistan government today responded to President Hamid Karzai's accusation that a suicide attacker who targeted the Afghan spy chief had come from Pakistan by saying that Kabul should share any information it has to back up the allegation.        

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been reinstated as the guardian minister of Pune district.        

In a horrific incident, a physically-challenged youth was allegedly tied to a car by his friend and dragged for nearly one km over some differences with him at Tilwara near Jabalpur on Friday, said the police.

Two Zee editors were today remanded back in two-day police custody by a Delhi court -- to enable the investigators to confront them with Zee Group head Subhash Chandra and his son -- for collecting evidence in the alleged Rs 100 crore extortion bid from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm.        

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who was admitted to a private hospital after she complained of fatigue and uneasiness, is currently doing fine.        

Qatar, the host country, today launched desperate measures to salvage the failing climate talks by proposing a compromise agreement that was low on ambition but kept the Kyoto Protocol and the prospect of a success or deal alive, as the talks went down to the wire.        

After extending crucial support to the Centre on the issue of FDI in retail, DMK today sought to cement its ties with UPA with its chief M Karunanidhi saying the nation looks up to to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to provide a "secular and stable" government.  

Arun Shenoy, a Singaporean of Indian origin, has received a Grammy nomination for his debut world fusion record titled Rumbadoodle.

Indian opener Virender Sehwag today lashed out at the batsmen for showing lack of patience and held them responsible for putting the hosts on the verge of a heavy defeat in the third Test against England.     

Concerned over the spate of eve-teasing cases in the state, the Maharashtra government is considering a proposal to make it a non-bailable offence.

Describing as "unfair and highly disadvantageous" to Karnataka the Cauvery Monitoring Committee's directive to release 12 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reject it.   

Launching an attack on his bete noire and former party colleague Amar Singh, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan today claimed Singh's political career was over.       

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today asked Maoists to engage in a dialogue, saying the government was ready for it.        

"I apologise for what happened. I regret I did it," said Ranjit Singh Rana, the former Akali Dal politician arrested for the murder of Punjab police officer Ravinderpal Singh, who had tried to stop him from harassing his daughter. 

Rana, who has been sent to five days in police custody, offered the apology from his bed at a government hospital in Tarn Taran area, reports NDTV.

Read the full report here

After top central BJP leaders endorsed Narendra Modi as the future prime minister, former Gujarat minister today backed the state chief minister saying he has "all the qualities" required for the top post.              

Earlier, Sushma Swaraj and Gopinath Munde, during their visit to Gujarat, had said that Modi was fit and competent tobe the prime minister.              

"Whether he should be made PM or not, that the party will only decide. But I can say that Modi has all the qualities in him required to be a prime ministerial candidate," Shah,considered a close aide of Modi, said.              

Shah is contesting elections from Naranpura constituency of the city, after being out on bail.

The demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 was both shameful and sad, but But politicians and others must stop exploiting the date to try and whip up passions, writes Ashok Malik.

Read the full column in The Piioneer

The staff of a Bangalore hotel was expelled after the captain of the Pakistan blind T20 team, who is partially visually impaired, accidentally drank diluted phenyl, which was kept in a plastic bottle on a table where usually mineral water bottle is kept, reports NDTV.

The player, Zeeshan Abbasi, who is in Bangalore to play for the first World T20 Cricket Tournament for the visually impaired, has been admitted to M S Ramaiah hospital where he has been treated. "He is was all right now," Mahantesh, organising secretary of the Cricket Association for the Blind, Bangalore, told PTI.

Acclaimed author Anita Desai and her Booker-winning daughter Kiran Desai were spotted at The Times of India Literary Carnival at Bandra's Mehboob Studio. Today was the second day of the fest, which will conclude tomorrow.

Yesterday, they held a session titled 'The Inheritance of Gain' where they discussed love, loneliness and the joy of writing.

Photograph: Abhishek Mande      

South Korean rapper Psy, whose song Gangnam Style became an internet sensation, has apologised for taking part in anti-US protests several years ago. He issued a statement after US media reported he had performed in concerts protesting against the US presence in South Korea and Iraq.

The singer said he would "forever be sorry" for any pain he had caused, reported BBC online.

Psy is due to perform at the annual 'Christmas in Washington' TV special. US President Barack Obama and his family are expected to attend the concert.

Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar expelled Cooperative Minister B J Puttaswamy, a Yeddyurappa loyalist, from the Cabinet for anti-party activities.

The party also suspended another loyalist Tumkur MP G S Basavaraj from the party. A show cause notice has been issued to both Puttaswamy and Basavaraj.

Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress campaign in the 2014 election, said Ahmed Patil, Sonia Gandhi.

China has slammed the United States for remarks by a US official blaming China's restrictive policies in Tibet for a rise in self-immolation protests, reports Voice of America.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called the remarks "disgusting" and said the Tibet issue has nothing to do with human rights, ethnicity or religion.

Read the full report here

In a case of honour killing in Kolkata, a a 29-year-old man dragged his sister out on the street and cut off her head with one stroke of the sword in Ayubnagar locality of Nadial, according to a report in The Times of India.

Mehtab Alam reportedly walked into the police station with the head and the sword.

He told police officers that he killed his sister for "running off with a lover and dishonouring the family".

Read the full report here 

Zee group Chairman Subhash Chandra today appeared before police for questioning in connection with the alleged Rs 100 crore extortion bid by two Zee editors from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's company for not airing news damaging to it.   

Chandra, who had secured a interim protection from arrest till December 14 by a Delhi court, came to Crime Branch office in Chanakyapuri along with lawyers where he was questioned.   

His questioning came following police sending three notices to him asking him to join investigations in the casein which two of his editors Sudhir Chaudhury and SamirAhluwalia were arrested late last month follow inginvestigations into complaint filed on October 2.

The two Australian DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, behind the hoax call to King Edward VII's Hospital, "mutually decided" to go off the air for an undetermined period Rhys Holleran, CEO of the Southern Cross Austereo media group, said Saturday during a news conference, reports CNN.

Their decision came after an Indian-origin nurse, who was duped into transferring a hoax call that gave away information on pregnant Kate Middleton's medical condition, was found dead in a suspected suicide.  

Holleran said he was "very confident that we haven't done anything illegal."

"This is a tragic event that could not have been reasonably foreseen and we are deeply saddened by it," he said.

The captain of the Pakistan blind T20 team (the world cup is currently on in Bangalore) has been hospitalised after drinking a chemical -- he mistook it for water. He is out of danger and recovering fast, reports NDTV.

The sources tell NDTV that the house keeping staff was cleaning the dining room and Zeeshan Abbasi consumed the acid accidentally. He also immediately spat it out.

Read the full report here

The decision on Foreign Direct Investment in retail is supported by farmer organisations, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.

"FDI in retail will introduce new technology. I am confident that it will benefit farmers and consumers," he added.

The UPA government managed an easy win in the Rajya Sabha when FDI in multi-brand retail came up for voting yesterday. 123 members voted against the motion while 109 voted in favour after a two-day animated debate during which the Opposition attacked the proposal to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, while the government strongly justified it saying it was in the best interest of the country. 

The death of a nurse who took a hoax call about Britain's Prince William's wife Kate was a "tragedy", the Australian radio station behind it has said.

Rhys Holleran, chief executive of the company that owns Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian were "completely shattered" by the death of Jacintha Saldanha, 46, according to a BBC report.

The pair posed as the Queen and Prince Charles in a call on Tuesday morning.

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail is now a reality, the law of the land; and the government will look to build consensus on the pension and insurance bills next.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 executive editor Shereen Bhan, Sharma added that the Opposition was graceless in its defeat.

Read excerpts from the interview here

Even after death of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse from the King Edward VII Hospital, her voice could still be heard playing over the airwaves of Australia's 2Day FM, which had spent all week capitalising on the hoax which now appears to have driven her to suicide, according to The Age.

While Britain and much of the world was learning details of  Saldanha's death, the Sydney-based radio station, seemingly unmanned, was repeatedly broadcasting the moment she was fooled into thinking two DJs were the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

Read the full report here

The Maldives government formally took charge of the GMR-operated Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in Male on Thursday midnight and handed it over to the Maldives Airport Company Limited. 

The son of murdered Punjab police officer Ravinderpal Singh is scared for his family as it fights a legal battle against former Akali Dal leader Ranjit Singh Rana, who allegedly killed his father.

"We are still scared. We have been told the accused is very dangerous. The government has provided us security, but I am still worried because my mother and sister live here," Navpreet, who stays in Australia and flew down to Amritsar for his father's funeral told NDTV.

The officer was shot dead on Wednesday in full public view in Amritsar's Chehertha locality after he confronted Rana for allegedly harassing his 23-year-old daughter.

Read the full story here

UN climate talks are heading into the final stretch with a host of issues unresolved, including a standoff over how much money financially stressed rich countries can spare to help the developing world tackle global warming.

 

That issue has overshadowed the talks since they started last week in Qatar, the first Middle Eastern country to host the slow-moving annual negotiations aimed at crafting a global response to climate change. A draft agreement was presented on Friday night, but there was disagreement on several key issues.

 

Read more on Al Jazeera

AFP: Two Australian radio presenters who duped a nurse at the hospital which treated Prince William's pregnant wife Catherine will not return "until further notice", their station said today after the woman was found dead.

 

"Southern Cross Austereo and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII's Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world," the station said in a statement on its Facebook page.         

 

 It said the presenters, Mel Grieg and Michael Christian, "are both deeply shocked" over news of the nurse's death. "SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy."

AFP: Three people were killed and eight wounded in a blast outside a mosque in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross and police said today.          There were "three fatalities" as well as several wounded, some critical, a Red Cross official said after the "explosion near a mosque in Eastleigh", a largely ethnic Somali district of Nairobi.         

 

"We were told that three people have died of injuries from the incident," Nairobi police chief Moses Nyakwama told AFP, "There are eight others in hospital, among them is a member ofparliament."         

 

The grenade was hurled at worshippers leaving a popular mosque minutes after the end of the evening prayers. A handful of protesters took to the streets soon after the blast but were quickly contained by a heavy police presence.         

Egyptian opposition protesters have broken through a barricade erected by security forces to prevent them reaching Cairo's presidential palace. Thousands had marched on the palace in the capital after rejecting a call for dialogue by President Mohammed Morsi.

 

The opposition said the president had offered no concession on his decision to expand his powers and put a new draft constitution to a referendum. A senior official later said Mr Morsi could postpone the vote.

 

Read more on BBC

AFP: Britain will announce plans next week to allow gay marriages in churches and other religious buildings, officials said today, although Prime Minister David Cameron insisted no faith group would be forced to hold them.        

 

Culture Secretary Maria Miller will unveil ministers' responses to a consultation earlier this year, which will propose that religious organisations should be able to 'opt-in' to hold same-sex weddings, according to a government source.        

 

Amid strong opposition from the Church of England and Roman Catholics, however, as well as many members of Cameron's Conservative party, Miller will stress that no religious groups will be forced to conduct gay weddings.         Speaking to reporters on a visit to a car factory, Cameron said: "I'm a massive supporter of marriage and I don't want gay people to be excluded from a great institution.'

FDI vote: 'Anand Sharma lost and Kamal Nath won'

Glitches in system mark voting on FDI in Rajya Sabha

Pakistani Taliban creates Facebook page to recruit

India wants a strong and prosperous Pakistan: PM

Mamata gets standing ovation from IITians

Congress leads crorepati pack contesting Gujarat election

Narendra Modi gets my vote for PM's post: Smriti Irani

Nobody is invincible, not even Modi: Shweta Bhatt

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