Back to news of the chaos and comfort of our thriving democracy...

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today pooh-poohed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's reported allegation that Congress had colluded with CPI(M) in the state.

"Everybody knows that Trinamool Congress joined hands with Congress to fight the CPI(M) and the Left Front in the last elections, that is just seven months ago... all the commitments she had made in the elections, she has not taken any steps to fulfil them.

"So, there is no use blaming CPI(M) for everything. If anything goes wrong, she blames CPI(M). If Congress does something, that is also because of CPI(M)," he said.  

In other news: The still dishy Richard Gere labels China 'the largest hypocrisy in the world', criticising it for its occupation of Tibet.

Read the Guardian report.

If you read The Hindu, information you should know...

N Ram has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief.

Siddharth Vardarajan the new Editor-in-Chief.

His elder brother Tunku 'Patanjali' Varadarajan is the Editor of Newsweek International.

His maternal uncle G Parthasarthy is the former Indian ambassador to Pakistan, television talking head and commentator.

So, will the Hindu change? Wait and watch....

Back to the UP elections for a bit.

The Congress is expected to promise a nine per cent sub-quota for minorities in its manifesto for the ensuing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, notwithstanding the Election Commission notice to Law Minister Salman Khurshid for his commitment to voters on the issue.

"The issue can find a mention in the Manifesto for U P", a senior party leader said as Khurshid remained unfazed by the notice sent by the Election Commission and maintained that he had not violated the model code of conduct by talking of the sub-quota within the OBC reservation.

Khurshid, who is also the Minorities Affairs Minister heads the Manifesto Drafting Committee for U P which has Rita Bahuguna Joshi, P L Punia, Sanjay Singh, Jairam Ramesh among others the members.

Back to the big story in Pakistan.

'Pakistan PM' is trending on Twitter...

Barkha Dutt says: Will Gilani pre-empt the courts by announcing early elections tonight in his address to the nation? Who will blink first in Pakistan  

And another, that the IAC chaps need to read when they slam Parliament and democracy with little thought.

Barkha Dutt: Hope the turmoil in Pakistan & its fight for democracy make us respect what we have a little more. Sadly we take our democracy for granted

In Mumbai:

Three persons, who were arrested in a forgery case and extensively questioned in connection with the serial blasts here in July last year, were today granted bail by a local court. 

The trio--Qamar-E-Alam (19), Abdul Wahab (20), and Shahejahan (20)-- had filed their bail applications after they were remanded in judicial custody. > Alam and Wahab who hail from Darbhanga district of Bihar, were picked up on January 1 from a college in Punjab where they were studying engineering.

They were booked for forgery after being found in possession of over 10 SIM cards procured using fake documents, police sources said. Subsequently, their aide Shahejahan was also arrested.

The trio was interrogated extensively in connection with the last year's terror attack in Mumbai, they said. Powerful IED blasts rocked the bustling Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar areas in Mumbai within a span of 30 minutes on July 13, killing 27 and wounding many others. 

Just minutes after the strongly worded warning by the army, Gilani sacked Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retired) Khalid Naeem Lodhi, considered close to the army chief, marking an escalation in the row. The fast-paced developments came as the government was on a collision course with the judiciary too, with the Supreme Court warning yesterday that action could be taken against
both the President and Prime Minister for failing to act on a court order to reopen corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Earlier, Zardari made it clear that he did not intend to resign even as an urgent session of parliament has been called to consider the situation.

Zardari through his spokesman refuted reports that he had offered to resign at a meeting of his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its allies late last night.

Tweets from  Amitabh Mattoo which will tell you just how serious the situation is in Pakistan.

Pak's democratic leadershp weaker than under ZAB (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) or N Sharif (Nawaz Sharif), but army's legtimacy eroded. And never before a more powerful civil society.

Very serious: change of guard of 111th infantry brigade, notorious for its involvement in military coups. Timing is ominous!!!

Imran Khan on Twitter: People of Pakistan have fought valiantly for a free judiciary and we stand by the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court's verdict on NRO.

The former cricketer heads the party, Tehrik e Insaaf and is (was if the Army takesover) a serious contender for the PM's post.

If you've just joined us and are too lazy to scroll down for all the updates on the crisis in Pakistan between the ISI, the Army and the government, read this:

A confrontation between the army and the government came to a head in Pakistan today with the powerful army chief warning the Prime Minister's critical
remarks against him and the ISI chief over the memo scandal could have "very serious ramifications" for the country. 

Reacting sharply to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's contention that the army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha had acted in an illegal manner in the memo scandal, a terse army statement said these remarks could have "very serious ramifications with
potentially grievous consequences". 

"There can be no allegation more serious than what the honourable prime minister has levelled against COAS and DG ISI (army chief and spy chief) and has unfortunately charged the officers for violation of the constitution of the country," said the army's statement.

"This has very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the country." 

On Twitter:

foreignhina HRK: Defense secretary fired, ISPR fired up. How banana is my republic?

HRK could be Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's foreign secretary, but this is is an unverified Twitter account.

Heads up as Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani battles to hold on to the reins his country. More on that in a bit.

Meanwhile, read Brahma Chellaney on Asias new tripartite entente: The US, India and Japan.   

This is what the Tribune has on the crisis in Pakistan.

Lt Gen (Retd) Naeem Khalid Lodhi was removed from the post of Defence Secretary by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday. Nargis Sethi has been given the additional charge of Defence Secretary.

Lodhi had earlier, in his reply to the Supreme Court in the Memogate case, had said that the government did not have 'operational control' over the army and its intelligence arm, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Participants at a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) core committee meeting had demanded that the government take 'appropriate action' against Defence Secretary Naeem Khalid Lodhi, for his 'controversial statement' in the court.

Analyst Ikram Sehgal said, "Firing Lodhi may be a first step by the government in removing the Chief of Army Staff and the DG ISI' the Army will be forced to react."

Noted economist Joseph Stiglitz today praised Indian performance, saying the country had been doing a good job when institutions in the US and several other countries faltered.

"India is doing a good job and has been pursuing a balanced and cautious policy," Stiglitz said.

The Nobel Prize winner in economics in 2001, Stiglitz, who was delivering a lecture in the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, said that a government needed to play an important role 'in any economy correcting pervasive market failures.

Here's the full story behind the congratulatory tweets on J&K CM Omar Abdullah's comments on Salman Rushdie.

The Jammu and Kashmir CM said today that the visa to author Salman Rushdie is unlikely to be a big election issue for Muslims, who are more concerned with their day-to-day affairs.

"I do not believe there are many Muslims in India for whom visa to Salman Rushdie will be an election issue. They are more concerned with day to day concerns and future," Omar told reporters today.

"I think we underestimate the intelligence of Indian Muslims when we try and raise issues like this which has a no bearing on the day-today concerns of Muslims. Is this the first time Rushdie is coming to India. As far as I know he has come before this also," Omar said adding, "Why is it suddenly becoming an issue -- clearly, there are those who are seeking to exploit this for political purposes given that there are elections in five states in next month or two".

The ex-Lehman Brothers Inc. banker who was to salvage Nomura Holdings Inc.'s ambitious global expansion resigned after he was unable to garner support for a more radical overhaul of the global wholesale-banking operations, people familiar with the matter said.

The resignation of Jasjit "Jesse" Bhattal, Nomura's highest-ranking foreign executive and joint deputy president, is a major blow to Nomura's bid to become a global investment-banking powerhouse. On Bloomberg.

Read

Also see on the WSJ: Nomura banker quits over cuts

Reads on Pakistan:

1. On the NationalInterest.org: Why it has been difficult for the US to accept that it cannot transform Pakistan. Read

2. Policy analyst and British author Anatol Lieven on Understanding Pakistan. Read

Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia with a 9.21 rating out of 10, according to a report by a prestigious consulting firm based in Hong Kong.

India fared worse than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11), said the report by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd released today.

Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89).

The report said India's inefficient bureaucracy was largely responsible for most of the biggest complaints that business executive have about the country.

The complaints included inadequate infrastructure and corruption, where officials were willing to accept under-the- table payments and companies were tempted to pay to overcome bureaucratic inertia and gain government favours, the report claimed.

In Jodhpur, rats have attacked a 70-year-old paralysed man admitted to an ICU in a hospital.

The man, who was put on a ventilator in the ICU of a government hospital in Jodhpur was allegedly attacked by rats who nibbled on his ears, nose, lips and cheeks while hospital staff slept, hospital sources said, reports IANS.

The authorities at the government hospital have launched an investigation into the incident. The incident took place early Tuesday at the Mathuradas Hospital.

"The hospital staff - from doctors to security guards - go to sleep before 11 pm, leaving the patients on their own," a doctor in the hospital told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Since we've sworn on all that's holy to give you news as it happens, here's one, we missed out yesterday...

Shah Rukh Khan visited Aishwarya-Abhishek's newborn daughter yesterday. "Shah Rukh drops by to meet the little one, a few others too from the fraternity visit the still in wonder bundle and we spend all our time in trying to spend as much time as possible with her!! Simple pleasures of life..!!," Bachchan posted on Twitter.

Aishwarya, 38, gave birth to a baby girl on November 16. The family is yet to decide on a name for the baby.

On the New York Times India blogs, another story on single brand retailers finally getting the green signal. Read

Also see the WSJ story on Ikea.

Five Muslims went on trial yesterday accused of a hate crime by handing out vile leaflets calling for gays to be executed. The men are said to have distributed the leaflets outside a mosque and pushed them through letterboxes before a Gay Pride parade.

Read the report on the Sun.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration today termed as "highly irresponsible" the media reports that said a group of scantily-clad Jarawa tribe women were allegedly forced to dance in front of tourists.

While the administration expressed that it was not clear in which year the video clip was recorded, it said it was amply clear that the person alleged to have asked the women to do so was not a policeman.

"It is clarified (sic) that at the time this video was recorded, most of the Jarawas did not wear clothes. Even today those in the jungle are not clothed. It is also obvious that it is videographer (who is breaking the law of the land) and who is inciting them to dance," a statement released by the state police said.

It is amply evident that the person alleged to be a policeman is not a policeman as has been widely and erroneously reported, the statement added.

London-based daily the Guardian, which had claimed in its report that a policeman had taken bribe to make the tribals, especially women, dance naked, has also been asked to apologise to the local police and to "name the videographer so that legal action could be initiated against him for recording and releasing the video thereby lowering the dignity of the members of Jarawa tribe."

Uma Bharti, one of the three faces of the BJP's campaign in the upcoming polls in UP, holds a press meet in New Delhi. Hitting out at the Congress, she says the party is dividing the country and is ushering in a second partition.

Referring to Salman Khurshid's poll promise of a Muslim sub-quota if the Congress comes to power in UP, she said the Cong is trying to divide people by caste. She says the caste quota is against Islam and talking of a Muslim quota is nothing but vote bank politics.

Giving a clear message to ailing Indian carriers, the government today asked Air India to pull up its socks and become competitive as it "cannot keep on pouring money" and told private carriers that there would be no bailout for them.

"Government is not in a position and will not bail out any private airlines. Air India is a public sector unit, so government has an obligation. But Air India will have to become competitive and restructure their costs... as the government cannot keep on pouring money," Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said today, in his first statement since he took over that portfolio last month.

Just in: The Delhi police has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challengeing RK Sharma's acquittal in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.

If you're unfamiliar with the story:

Read the rediff.com report: Ex-Haryana top cop RK Sharma acquitted; cops to move SC

Update on the Dalit woman allegedly beaten, stripped and paraded naked in Satara, Maharashtra. The District Magistrate, Satara, says reports indicate that the woman was beaten but not stripped.

The victim has been admitted to a hospital in Karad.

Reports indicate that her son had eloped with a woman of an upper caste, whose family beat her while she was filling water. No arrests have been made in the case.   

Details of what we told you earlier...

Pakistan's beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari made no offer to resign during a meeting of top leaders of the country's ruling coalition that was held after the Supreme Court warned it could take action against him, the presidential spokesman said today. 

Reacting to reports in a section of the media that said Zardari had offered to resign during a meeting of the Pakistan People's Party and its allies late last night, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said, "There is no truth in these reports. Neither in the allies' meeting on Tuesday night nor at any other stage has the President offered to resign and the reports suggesting otherwise are contrary to the facts  and reality of the situation," Babar said in a brief statement.

As Madhya Pradesh government tries to create a world record tomorrow with thousands of students performing the Yogic 'Surya Namaskar' exercise, Muslim leaders have equated it with idol worship and issued a fatwa against it.

Leaders of the minority community have termed the move as un-Islamic and equated it with idol-worship, which is prohibited in Islam. They also issued a fatwa in this regard.

The school education department has made elaborate arrangements to ensure maximum participation in the Surya Namaskar exercise so that a world record can be created by registering the feat in the Guinness Book of records,
officials said.

Ahem. Rajdeep Sardesai promotes his wife's blog on Twitter.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Power of Shakti and women netas. Worth reading. See

Also on the WSJ: Why the shocking video on the Jarawa tribals in the Andaman is not surprising.

Read

In other news:

On the WSJ: Swedish furniture and housewares chain IKEA Group has been wanting to enter India, but was waiting for New Delhi to open the door a bit wider.

Now that the government has officially enacted a change allowing 100% foreign ownership of Indian single-brand retail ventures, up from a 51% cap earlier, IKEA has what it was seeking: the flexibility to control everything about how it goes to market in India without having to work alongside a local joint venture partner.

Read

Yet another horror after the Guardian's story on Andaman tribals forced to dance for tourists. Details awaited on the Satara story...

North Korea could conduct a third nuclear test or long-range missile launch this year as its new leader Kim Jong-Un tries to strengthen his authority, a South
Korean think-tank said today. 

There are also "ample possibilities" of limited attacks on the South by military commanders competing to demonstrate loyalty to Jong-Un, the Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security said in a report. 

The untested Jong-Un, aged in his late 20s, was proclaimed supreme leader after his father Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack on December 17.

A case has been registered against Samajwadi Party (SP) Uttar Pradesh president Akhilesh Yadav (also known as Mulayam Singh Yadav's son and heir apparent) and 35 of his partymen for allegedly violating the model code of conduct, police said. 

Akhilesh addressed party workers while on way to Siddharth Nagar from Sharavasti last night without permission, District Magistrate Sunita Chaturvedi said.

An FIR has been lodged against Yadav and 35 SP party workers, she said.

Yesterday, the Election Commission issued a notice to Congress leader and Union Minister Salman Khurshid for violating the model code of conduct by promising nine per cent sub-quota for backward Muslims in Uttar Pradesh if voted to power.

Former US diplomat, William H. Avery, writes a 'How To' book for India. Avery, now a business consultant, served at the US Consulate in Chennai in the 1990s, a time when India's relations with the U.S. nosedived following New Delhi's nuclear tests.

Read on the WSJ

On the New Yorker:

"Since the destruction of the Twin Towers, ten years and three months ago, two new edifices have risen. Both were the subject of contentious battles in courts, the political arena, and elsewhere; both have a way of provoking irrational responses.

One is maddeningly unfinished, and the other disturbingly unclosed. But one, the new tower at Ground Zero, is beautiful; that is becoming more and more evident as it gets higher, and its faade refracts the light of different seasons. We can look at it with some pride.

The other, the prison at Guantnamo Bay, which opened exactly ten years ago this Wednesday, is ugly, and only gets more so -- distorting, rather than reflecting, our values. It is the bad twin."

Read

Pakistan's beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari is ready to resign and call an early general elections if parties in the ruling coalition wanted him to take such a step. 

Zardari made the announcement while chairing a meeting of the top leadership of the ruling Pakistan People's Party and its coalition partners last night after the Supreme Court warned that action could be taken against him and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for failing to reopen high-profile graft cases, The News daily reports. 

The President, who is also co-chairman of the PPP, told his allies "that he was elected as the President with their help, and if they wanted, he was ready to resign and even to hold new elections", the report said.

Instructors are calling it the 'elephant in the room': A New York Times story warning of serious injuries, even brain damage, from practicing yoga. Yoga gurus tell the Daily Beast why the story is wrong and how they're fighting back.

Read

A video that's going viral: A toddler confronts a big, angry, hungry lion. Watch

Quick takes

The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic gauge of nuclear danger, has moved one minute closer to midnight because of "inadequate progress" on nuclear and climate issues. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced the move - to five minutes before midnight - on Tuesday. The clock last moved one minute back in 2010, reports the bbc.

In Iran: A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran. The blast happened when a motorcyclist stuck a bomb on the side of the car.

An Indian cab driver here has been arrested on charges that he raped and robbed a 26-year-old passenger in his taxi last year. 

Gurmeet Singh, 40, had allegedly held his victim at knifepoint and bound her wrists. He faces charges of rape, assault and robbery among others.

The woman had told the police that she fell asleep after she got into Singh's cab on her way back to her home one night in May last year. 

When she woke up Singh allegedly held her at knifepoint and raped her, The New York Post reported. Singh also stole her cellphone and some cash before letting her go in the morning. 

Police officers had posed as city taxi commission inspectors to get evidence that Singh was the cab driver they were looking for.

Just in case you are travelling to Indonesia, this is what you should know...

Early this morning the country issued a tsunami warning after an undersea quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale rocked the northern Aceh province. The tremor hit the province around 01.30 a.m. People living in the coastal areas of the province have started fleeing to safer areas up to one kilometre away.

In a devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in Decemeber 2004, over 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province. The overall toll of the affected countries was estimated at about 230,000 people.

On the Daily Mail: Eye candy Justin Bieber has opened up about his view on sex, drugs and religion. The pop star, who is approaching his 18th birthday, also discussed the pressure of coming of age in the spotlight in a new interview with America's V magazine.

More

Stay with us for more on the Andaman horror story when that happens.

On Firstpost.com: When Kanimozhi landed in Chennai in December after spending six months in Tihar for her alleged involvement in the 2G scam, what awaited her was an unprecedented din and jubilation. At the Kamaraj airport and throughout her drive home, she was greeted by folk performers, cut-outs, loud music and fanfare. Six months of jail had created a martyr.

Read

Just in: The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the state government of Andaman to submit a status report on the shocking Guardian video of Andaman tribals being forced to dance in lieu of food and money. The MHA has given the government 24 hours to file the report.

The DGP, Andaman says the video is is vague and without any date and is most likely a 2002 shot. The police said they had filed a case against the videographer.

If you're not familiar with what happened, click here for the horrific story on the Guardian.  

As the EC deadline for covering Mayawati's statues and the her elephants end at 5 pm, the CPI continuing with its criticism, termed the order as "irrational".
CPI national secretary D Raja, while appealing to the EC to ensure free and fair elections in the five poll-bound states, said that attempts by "certain sections" to use money and muscle power to woo voters must be checked.

Raja also said the EC should initiate steps to ensure "level-playing" field for all political parties in the ensuing elections in the states. The EC has announced a seven-phased poll in Uttar Pradesh between February 4 and 28, while assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa will be held in a single-phase.

Accidents on the railway tracks in Dombivali, a suburban Central Railway section, killed as many as 160 persons and left 173 injured in 2011, a railway police official said today. 

There have been 966 deaths since 2006 on the railway tracks in Dombivali, senior police inspector Shivaji Bagul of Dombivali railway police station said. 

Recently, it had come to light that as many as 36,152 commuters died in various accidents on both the Central and Western rail network, while a total of 36,688 people were injured between 2002 and November 2011. This was revealed after an RTI activist Chetan Kothari had sought details from the Government Railway Police (GRP).

The data had revealed that on an average over 3,500 people die on tracks every year in mishaps like crossing the railway lines and falling down from running train among others.

Even as MEA officials in India face flak for gifts they received during official trips, in the UK, a gift from Canada listed by officials as 'brooch' is revealed to be designer platinum with 302 stones.

Read the story on the Daily Mail.

Pakistan's ruling coalition leaders have decided to call an urgent session of parliament tomorrow in the wake of a warning from the Supreme Court that action could be taken against the President and Prime Minister for failing to reopen high-profile corruption cases.

The decision was made at a meeting jointly chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the presidency late last night.

Before the session of the National Assembly, a joint meeting of the parliamentary parties will be held in the Parliament House to work out the strategy to be adopted during the National Assembly session

Details of that tragic bus accident in Uttarkhand.

Thirteen passengers were killed and 10 others injured when a bus fell into a gorge in Nainbagh in the district amid dense fog this morning. The accident took place when the driver of the state roadways bus failed to see a curve due to the fog and the bus plunged into a 150-feet deep gorge, police sources said.
The bus carrying 23 passengers was going to Bad Kot from Dehradun when the mishap took place. The injured have been admitted to a hospital in Tehri.

News alert: Thirteen passengers have been killed as a bus falls into a gorge in Tehri district of Uttarakhand. Details awaited.

That's the second accident today after five persons were killed and nine others injured when the New Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail collided with a goods train at Karonpuroto, Jharkhand.  

On the Indian Express:

The second phase of the government's ambitious military expansion plan -- worth Rs 65,000 crore -- has run into rough weather. The finance ministry has red-flagged the plan with detailed queries and sent it back to the defence ministry with a bizarre question: will the Chinese threat last more than two years?

More

With major political parties shying away from giving them tickets for UP Assembly polls, lesser-known political outfits have become a hot favourite of listed gangsters and those having a criminal past. 

After Brijesh Singh was arrested in 2008 from Odisha in connection with several criminal cases pending against him, the lobby backing him tried to ensure his victory in MLC election on a BSP ticket but instead of him, his wife Annapurna Singh was given chance by the party and she emerged victorious.

Denied ticket by major political parties, Singh has now decided to prove his strength as a candidate of Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party (PMSP) from Syed Raza Assembly seat in Chandauli district. 

Before his arrest, his brother Udaynath Singh alias Chulbul and nephew Sushil Singh had already entered the political arena by becoming an MLC and an MLA on BJP and BSP tickets respectively.

In the world, so far:

A US drone attack has killed at least three militants in Pakistan's tribal area. The missiles hit a house just outside the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border

While we await details on that story, Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services, is exercising caution on damages claimed in a suit filed against its former board of directors, certain employees and audit firm PWC to avoid paying a higher non-refundable court fee initially, sources said. 

According to sources, the company has to pay 1 per cent of the total damages claimed in the petition as court fee and in future, it may seek more damages once they settle all the issues.

The damage claim will assume significance once the trial against former Chairman B Ramalinga Raju and others in a local court is finished. If the judgement goes against the accused, the damages claim will have strength, sources explained.

Train collision in Jharkhand, five passengers killed (TheTimes of India)
Four persons were killed and five others injured when the New Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail collided with a goods train at Karonpuroto. Read

42 per cent of Indian children are underweight (The Hindu)
Describing malnutrition in the country as a national shame, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government could not rely solely on the Integrated Child Development Scheme to deal with it. Read

Pakistani flag hoisting was a Hindutva plot to foment strife, police say (The Hindu)

Well-placed police sources told The Hindu that the incident of hoisting of a Pakistani flag in Sindagi in Karnataka was carried out at the behest of an elected representative of the BJP, whose political agenda was to foment communal disturbances. Read

Will China threat last beyond 2 yrs? Finance stalls military expansion (Indian Express)
Second phase of govt's ambitious Rs 65,000-cr expansion plan has run into rough weather. Read

EC's deadline to cover Mayawati statues ends today (Hindustan Times)
A PIL challenging the EC's order to cover statues of the UP chief minister and her party symbol, the elephant, will come up for hearing in the Allahabad high court today. Read

MEA officials in gift scam: How babus bypassed minister (Hindustan Times)
It's not difficult to circumvent an order even if it comes from the minister himself and it doesn't matter even if it means putting the country's prestige at risk. Read