CNN: US President Barack Obama "is happy that cooler heads at least seem to be prevailing in the House" over raising the debt limit, White House spokesman Jay Carney said today when asked about a GOP proposal for a short-term increase in the federal borrowing limit.  

Carney said he wouldn't be unable to say whether the president would sign the measure if it passes Congress until he gets more details about it.

Sheela Bhatt reports from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott, first time, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Brunei on Thursday he was in for a surprise.  

 

Abott told him that he is well-versed with India and its people. He has, in his young days lived in Jharkhand and Bihar for three months. He fondly mentioned about his stay in Hazaribag and Daltonganj, in Palamu district, which is now in Jharkhand.  

 

In the designational-level meeting PM Abott and Dr Singh gave political push to the ongoing talks to supply uranium to India. There is a strong lobby in Australia and elsewhere to not allow India to get uranium from Australia but Thursday's meeting gave the much-needed political nod to expedite the talks over nuclear fuel.  

 

Meanwhile, because PM Abbott is well-versed with the Bihar-Jharkhand area he understands the importance of historical and cultural significance of project the Nalanda University. Abbott has announced funding of 1 million Australian dollars for the university in Bihar which is going to start its first semester from next year from the temporary building near the ruins of the ancient academic institution.

While cricket is not a popular sport in Brunei Darussalam, a small country with a population of just about 4 lakh people, still, news of Sachin's retirement was all over the place with members of the Indian delegation, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also abuzz with it.People from other countries were also seen asking Indian delegates about the announcement. 

The government has informed the family of Kargil martyr Capt. Saurabh Kalia that it would not be "desirable" to take up his case at the international level as India was committed to resolving its differences with Pakistan through bilateral negotiations only. 

Pakistan's former military ruler Parvez Musharraf arrested in Lal Masjid case. 

Noting that India's slowdown has significant spillover effects on the rest of South Asia, the World Bank has said South Asian countries need to work hard on reforms. 

The Centre today ruled out going  back on the decision to create Telangana but gave no indication of the time-frame for achieving it.     

Yoga guru Ramdev today accused Congress of indulging in "match-fixing", with the creation of a separate Telangana state, during a visit to meet TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who is on an indefinite hunger in protest against the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.       

The Congress wants Rahul Gandhi to take over leadership of the country and the party, party spokesman P C Chacko has said. 

A police team from Ahmedabad has left for Jodhpur in Rajasthan to take the custody of self-styled godman Asaram, who is lodged in a jail there in connection with a sexual assault case, officials said today.     

As the tit-for-tat battle between Republicans and Democrats over the US budget crisis continued, President Barack Obama has stepped up his personal engagement with Congressmen to resolve the fiscal impasse that triggered a government shutdown for the first time in 17 years.        

Visas for the wife and daughter of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik have been cleared by the government to facilitate their visit to Srinagar from Pakistan.        

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's departure has been delayed due to the traffic jam at Bandee Seri Begawana Airport, reports Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is traveling with the PM's media contingent.  

Here is a rewind of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's 51 Test centuries.

The Swedish Academy, which hands out the Nobel Prize, has not been able to get hold of Munro to let her know that she has won the world's most prestigious award for literature!

Alice Munro, the world's most beloved short story writer, talks candidly about the writing process and how she manages to patiently address the zillions of questions posed by readers.

Now that Canadian author Alice Munro has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, are you dying to get your hands on some of the author's marvelous collection of short stories?

Candian author Alice Munro has won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Read Rahul Dravid's freewheeling interview to Wisden India, here

Who is Sundar Raman? The man who runs the kingdom of the BCCI.

Read here

Malala Yousafzai has been awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize honouring the freedom of thought. 

In a BCCI release, Sachin Tendulkar, who announced his retirement today,  said, "All my life, I have had a dream of playing cricket for India. I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years. It's hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it's all I have ever done since I was 11 years old. It's been a huge honour to have represented my country and played all over the world. I look forward to playing my 200th Test match on home soil, as I call it a day."

"I thank the BCCI for everything over the years and for permitting me to move on when my heart feels it's time. I thank my family for their patience and understanding. Most of all, I thank my fans and well-wishers who through their prayers and wishes have given me the strength to go out and perform at my best." 

Sachin Tendulkar to retire from Test cricket after the 200th Test. He will play his last text against West Indies.

"I look forward to playing the 200th Test on home soil. Hard for me to imagine life after cricket. Cricket is all I have done since I was 11 years old."     

At a rally at Sangrur, Rahul Gandhi said, "When I was a child, my father was a pilot. My mother was worried and looked at the sky and told Priyanka and me, "the weather is not great, I worry your father will have accident"

"The country needs women-power. If a mother is perturbed, the house is perturbed and if the house is perturbed, the state is perturbed. There is not a single mother in Punjab who isn't worried about her children's future and the biggest reason is -- addiction."

Praising the prime minister at his rally in Sangur, Rahul Gandhi said, "Manmohan Singh has done for India that not many have done. He is a man of integrity. He has clear intention."

"I have two gurus one is the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and one is Manmohan Singh."         

A dressing a rally in Sangrur in Punjab where is to the lay the foundation of the stone, Rahul Gandhi has once defended his move to rubbish the ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers.

The Congress vice president said that the reporters in Gujarat told him that 'every Indian is with you, but opposition said your timing was wrong.'

"If we want to fight corruption we need to speak the truth. I want to repeat there is no specific time to speak the truth," he said. 

The Nobel Prize on Literature is expected to be announced in the next 90 minutes or so. As the suspense builds up on who will bag the prize this year, here is some interesting trivia from the Twitter feed on the Nobel Prize:

2013 is the 100th year anniversary of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature to Rabindranath Tagore.

The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature was Selma Lagerlf in 1909.

Rudyard Kipling was the youngest to receive a NobelPrize in Literature at the age of 42.     

The Washington Post reports: Some years ago, the economist George Akerlof found himself faced with a simple task: mailing a box of clothes from India, where he was living, to the United States. The clothes belonged to his friend and colleague Joseph Stiglitz, who had left them behind when visiting, so Akerlof was eager to send the box off. But there was a problem. The combination of Indian bureaucracy and what Akerlof called "my own ineptitude in such matters" meant that doing so was going to be a hassle -- indeed, he estimated that it would take an entire workday.

So he put off dealing with it, week after week. This went on for more than eight months, and it was only shortly before Akerlof himself returned home that he managed to solve his problem: another friend happened to be sending some things back to the US, and Akerlof was able to add Stiglitz's clothes to the shipment. Given the vagaries of intercontinental mail, it's possible that Akerlof made it back to the States before Stiglitz's shirts did.

Professor Akerlof and Professor Stiglitz shared the Nobel Prize in 2001. Professor Akerlof's wife is now the Fed Chairman-designate, Professor Janet Yellen.

NDTV reports: The Election Commission has asked Arvind Kejriwal not to give T-shirts with his party's name -- the Aam Admi Party -- to supporters because it violates rules for campaigning.

Read the full story here

Vicky Nanjappa reports: The employees of the power sector in the Seemandhra region have call off their strike against the bifurcation of the state. This would mean that the five-day long power crisis in the region will now come to an end.

After nearly six rounds of talks and the directive from the Union government the  strike has been called off. The talks with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minster Kiran Kumar Reddy were fruitful, the employees' asssociation said.

Investigators who studied a group of recreational marathon runners have established that strenuous exercise such as running a marathon can damage the heart muscle. 

An American admiral who was among those overseeing the country's nuclear weapons has been sacked.Vice Admiral Tim Giardina, who was the second in command of America's strategic command, was relieved of his responsibilities following his being probed for illegal gambling activities, it has been reported.

Giardina, it is charged, used a significant number of counterfeit gambling chips at a casino in Iowa. Following the charges and pending investigation,

Giardina has been demoted to a two-star general. Prior to his sacking as the deputy in charge of the US strategic command, Giardina had been suspended from duty on September 3.

Photograph: Reuters

Just In: Power sector employees in Seemandhra agree to call off strike after talks with government, reports NDTV.

The Group of Ministers on Telangana will the submit the report as early as possible, said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Justice will be done to Andhra Pradesh, he added, and that there was no going back on the Telangana decision.

The state has been struggling with power crisis after employees from the power sector went on a strike following the Cabinet's nod to Telangana.   

An American admiral who was among those overseeing the country's nuclear weapons has been sacked.Vice Admiral Tim Giardina, who was the second in command of America's strategic command, was relieved of his responsibilities following his being probed for illegal gambling activities, it has been reported.

Giardina, it is charged, used a significant number of counterfeit gambling chips at a casino in Iowa. Following the charges and pending investigation,

Giardina has been demoted to a two-star general. Prior to his sacking as the deputy in charge of the US strategic command, Giardina had been suspended from duty on September 3.

Photograph: Reuters

President Pranab Mukherjee has cut short his scheduled visit to Bihar by a day possibly because it was clashing with a rally of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Patna.

Mukherjee mentioned his revised schedule to BJP MPs from Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Shahnawaz Hussain, who met him today.

"The president told us that he will visit Bihar on October 26 to attend a convocation, but will return back to Delhi the same day," Hussain said.

India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway will be be extended to Laos,Cambodia and Vietnam and linked with ports in ASEAN nations, said PM.

India will set up a separate mission for ASEAN in Jakarta with a full time resident Ambassador, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is in Brunei for the East Asia Summit. 

India is ready to sign India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on services and investment by the end of 2013, he added.

The Delhi high court has allowed top badminton player Jwala Gupta to play in tournaments in Badminton Association of India's inquiry is over. BAI's disciplinary panel had recommended a life ban on Jwala.

A World championship bronze medallist, she moved the court saying the disciplinary committee's order was issued in "violation of settled principles of natural justice and fairness, without giving a hearing to her".  

NDTV reports: Three students of an engineering college in Tamil Nadu have been arrested for allegedly killing their principal with knives and a sickle.

Suresh Kumar, the principal of the Infant Jesus Engineering College in Tuticorin district, was attacked outside his office by the students who came armed with sharp weapons. One of the students had allegedly been suspended thrice for indiscipline, the police said.

Twenty Sri Lankan fishermen were arrested by the Indian Coast Guard today for allegedly fishing in Indian territorial waters off this coastal town.

The fishermen along with their four boats have been brought here and would later be handed over to the Tamil Nadu Marine police for filing a case, officials said.

Calling for cooperation among Asia Pacific countries to tackle the global economic uncertainty, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the vast growth potential of India and these nations can be realised only by inculcating a "cooperative temper".     

Addressing the 8th East Asia Summit in Brunei, Dr Singh said the meeting is taking place at a time "when the need for collective action, cooperation and collaboration in the Asia Pacific region has never been felt more acutely."    

"Global economic uncertainty and political turmoil in other parts of the world have impacted countries in our region equally. "In addition, this vast region faces challenges arising not only from its diversity, but also from differences. Clearly, the potential of unprecedented prosperity for our peoples can be realised only by inculcating a cooperative temper," the prime minister said.

Cyclone Phailin has intensified and is expected to hit Andhra Pradesh, Odisha by night of October 12 with maximum wind speed of 175-185 kmph.

CNN-IBN reports: The Allahabad high court issued a notice to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in relation to the Muzaffarnagar riots that claimed lives of over 50 people.

Notice has been issued for allegedly pressuring a Muzaffarnagar police station to release seven persons accused in the riots.

PTI reports: Twenty pilgrims have been killed and 40 injured in a road accident in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district today. The truck carrying the pilgrims fell into a gorge in Hoshiarpur.

More details are awaited.

Representation picture

Edward Snowden's father Lonnie Snowden has arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, Russian media reports. 

Armed rebels escort Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zidan from Tripoli hotel to an undisclosed location, witness tells CNN. 

Curfew in violence-hit Vizianagaram town in the district was relaxed for two hours this morning to facilitate people to purchase essential commodities as the situation is fast returning to normal.

With the situation showing improvement, authorities will also extend another relaxation in curfew between 2 pm to 4 pm, DIG (Vizag) P Umapathi told PTI today.

The curfew was clamped in Vizianagaram town on Saturday night in the wake of large-scale violence by anti-bifurcation agitators.

Arundhati Bhattacharya this week became the first woman to head State Bank of India, the country's largest bank by assets.

Bhattacharya has worked for the bank since 1977. Prior to taking over as chairperson on Monday she was State Bank of India's chief financial officer.

The 57-year-old succeeded Pratip Chaudhuri, who retired in September.

Read more here

India is unlikely to be grantedthe Most Favoured Nation status before 2014 Lok Sabhaelections and resumption of composite dialogue between the two nations, Pakistan finance minister has said.

Describing the recent meeting between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York last month as "excellent", the visiting Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, told a Washington audience that Islamabad had to "put on hold" granting MFN status to India in view of the public pressure in the aftermath of the unfortunate incident on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.   

"There are public sentiments. So we had to put it (MFN status) on hold," Dar said yesterday in response to a question at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based eminent American think tank.

United States President Barack Obama has officially nominated Federal Reserve vice-chair Janet Yellen to be the next head of the US central bank.

He called her one of the nation's foremost economists and policy makers, reports BBC.

She has been the deputy of current chief Ben Bernankefor the past two years, and would become the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.
Read the full report here

CNN-IBN reports: The Andhra Pradesh government has issued a high alert in view of the cyclone along cyclonic storm Phailin along coastal Andhra and Odisha.

After crossing north Andaman Islands, the deep depression over east central Bay of Bengal on Wednesday night intensified into cyclonic storm Phailin, while remaining practically stationary at about 950 km from Paradip.

The cyclone would intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours with a wind speed of 175-185 kmph and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast between Kalingapatnam and Paradip by October 12 night, a bulletin by the IMD said.

YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy, who had been on a hunger strike for five days to protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, was forcibly moved to the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences last night after the police took him into preventive custody, reports NDTV.

Doctors at NIMS said Jagan was forcibly given fluids at the hospital.

The US is suspending a large part of the $1.3bn in aid it gives to Egypt's military. The delivery of large-scale military systems as well as cash assistance to the Egyptian government would be withheld, said the state department.

 

It said "credible progress" must be made towards free and fair elections. A review was launched in August after a crackdown by the authorities on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi left hundreds of people dead.

 

Officials said the freeze amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Mr Morsi is set to go on trial on 4 November on charges of inciting murder and violence, state media reported on Wednesday.

 

Read more on BBC

Almost everything is negotiable in Chinese schools, from admission to grades to teacher recommendations, so long as you know the right person or have enough cash, parents and teachers say. As a result, many believe, the education system is worsening rather than mending the vast gap between the elite in China and everyone else.

 

See the slideshow on The Washington Post

Human rights lawyers filed a class action law suit in a U.S federal court accusing the United Nations of gross negligence and misconduct on behalf of victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010.

 

"The claims are that the U.N. engaged in reckless and gross negligence and misconduct bringing cholera to Haiti," said Ira Kurzban, a lawyer and board member with the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Development in Haiti.

 

The group is demanding financial compensation for the 8,300 Haitians who died as a result of the cholera epidemic as well as some 650,000 more survivors of the illness. U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq expressed to CNN "it is not the United Nations' practice to discuss in public claims filed against the Organization."

 

Earlier this year, however, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared the United Nations could not receive claims for compensation from Haitian cholera victims, arguing that the organization had legal immunity according to an international convention.

 

Read more on CNN

Navy seals launched a daring night-time raid in Barawe, but were forced to retreat an hour later without their target '" why?

 

Read the full report on The Guardian

A drug used to treat Parkinson's disease may provide an effective new therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), research suggests. Early tests on mice show that benztropine stimulates the production of nerve-repairing cells.

 

Scientists hit on the drug after screening 100,000 compounds for their abilitly to trigger the development of cells that rebuild damaged myelin, the protective fatty sheath that surrounds nerve fibres.

MS is an autoimmune disease that causes the body's defences to attack myelin, causing symptoms ranging from mild tingling sensations to full blown paralysis. Cells called oligodendrocytes are able to repair myelin, but their numbers decline sharply in patients with MS.

 

Read more on The Guardian

The trial of Egypt's deposed President Mohamed Morsi on charges of inciting the murder of protesters will start on November 4, the official MENA news agency reported. Morsi will stand trial with 14 other defendants over the killings of protesters outside his presidential palace in December 2012, almost six months before his overthrow in a military coup.

 

The Cairo Appeals Court also named judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef to preside over the trial, MENA said. Lawyer Mostafa Atteyah said a meeting of Morsi's defence team, planned later on Wednesday, was to decide on the course of action and name the head of the team.

 

He said so far the legal team has not seen the case's documents. "This is like all the other cases. It is a fabricated one," Atteyah said, adding that most cases against Brotherhood members are based on weak prosecution. He said Islamist scholar and former presidential candidate Salim al-Awa is expected to lead the defence team.

 

Read more on Al Jazeera

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has told the BBC he is open to "serious talks" with the government but says he has not yet been approached. In a rare interview, he denied carrying out recent deadly attacks in public places but said he would continue to target "America and its friends".

 

The chief loosely controls more than 30 militant groups in the tribal areas. After being elected PM in May, Nawaz Sharif announced he would open unconditional talks with the Taliban. The group has killed thousands of people in its war against the Pakistani state in recent years.

 

Read more on BBC

Late night swoop: Jagan evicted from hunger strike venue

Ibne Abbas to be new Pakistani envoy to India

In tiny Brunei, India makes inroads into ASEAN

Govt of youth will come to power in 2014: Rahul

No respite for Andhra as it faces cyclone threat

'Till there is clarity, turbulence in Andhra will continue'

SC disapproves gun firing to celebrate marriage ceremonies

Is Andhra looking at President's rule?

Patna HC court acquits 26 in Laxmanpur-Bathe massacre case

Why an Indian scientist hasn't won the Nobel after Independence

HC grants bail to accused in J Dey murder case

Karplus, Levitt, Warshel win 2013 Nobel Chemistry Prize

Telangana: Talks between CM, govt employees FAIL; stir to continue

'Keran incursion was nothing, the media hyped the story'

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