Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar was today conferred with the first Yash Chopra Memorial Award for her contribution to cinema. She was presented the award by Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari at a function in Mumbai.

Lata, who has been unwell for the last three days, made it a point to attend the function where industrialist-politician T Subbarami Reddy, who produced Hindi films like 'Vijay', 'Chandni' and 'Lamhe', announced a national award in the memory of the legendary filmmaker.

"I am unwell since three days...I have got fever and doctors have asked me to take rest and not go out anywhere. But I wanted to come here...I have not come here for the award and Rs 10 lakh.

Yashji was special and close to my heart...We did not meet always but we were close as we loved each other," Lata said, adding she felt sad as she could not meet Yashji before his demise last year.

Chopra's wife Pamela was also present and became emotional while talking about her late husband.

Three terror suspects arrested for their alleged roles in the 2011 Advani pipe bomb case are among the 14 accused named in the charge sheet filed before a court here today in connection with a blast in front of the BJP office here in April this year.

Panna Ismail and Bilal Malik, arrested in a joint operation by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh police at border town of Puttur on October 5, and 'Police' Fakruddin, nabbed a day earlier, have been named in the charge sheet filed before the first additional chief metropolitan magistrate's court.

The charge sheet was filed after examining 260 witnesses and is in three volumes with 7,445 pages of material and 201 documents, the police said.

The special NIA court here today directed the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad and the CBI to file replies on the discharge pleas of nine Muslims, arrested in the 2006 Malegoan blasts case.

The order came after one of the accused, suspected to have links with Hindu extremists and arrested in this case subsequently by the National Investigation Agency, filed an application saying that the court should summon ATS and CBI officials who had named members of the banned outfit Students Islamic Movemennt of India as accused.

While the ATS and CBI initially blamed Muslim terrorists, the NIA subsequently arrested four persons with Hindu right wing links. Manohar Singh, arrested by NIA, has opposed discharge pleas of nine Muslim accused. NIA has not objected to these discharge pleas.

Warning against any external military intervention in Syria, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said it would only exacerbate the conflict and pressed the urgent need for promoting a political settlement to the issue.

He said the Geneva-2 Conference should be convened at the earliest as the conflict in Syria could have broader economic and security consequences for the region.

"It is not only a tragedy for the people of that country, but it also threatens the stability and security of the region," Singh said in an interview to the Russian media ahead of his visit there beginning tomorrow.

"India has always held that there is no military solution to this conflict, and has consistently maintained that external military intervention will only exacerbate the conflict," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today urged his well-wishers to donate money in the PM's National Relief Fund instead of sending gifts to him on the occasion of Diwali.

"He has appealed to his well wishers to make donations to the Prime Minister`s National Relief Fund instead of sending gifts for him," a Prime Minister's Office statement said.

The prime minister's statement comes at a time when natural disasters have struck Uttarakhand, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in the last few months and large-scale rehabilitation and relief work is being carried out there.

The prime minister also conveyed his heartfelt thanks to all those who are sending him greetings and good wishes on the occasion of Diwali.

Launching a blistering attack on Narendra Modi, Congress today compared his rallies with circus shows "which also fetch crowd" and questioned his understanding of foreign affairs.

"Do not measure one's strength from one's obesity. Famous filmstar Raj Kumar had once said that a lot clapping is made and a large crowd gathers even when some circus comes in the town," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary told reporters.

Ridiculing Modi for his yesterday's assertions in Chennai on foreign policy issues, Chowdhary said that it was "very very bizarre" and that the Gujarat Chief Minister has "no idea of foreign policy, has no clue.

"He will come out in a Rambo style and shoot at everyone. That does not happen in foreign policy," she said.

Launch of India's Mars Orbiter Mission has been delayed by almost a week and a decision on the new date would be taken on October 22, ISRO said today.

The launch window for the MOM mission was earlier slated from October 28 to November 19 and a decision on the launch date was to be taken today. "The decision on the date of launch of MOM was postponed due to bad weather in the South Pacific Ocean.

The ship-borne communication terminals were on their way there," an ISRO spokesman told PTI here.

The two ships SCI Yamuna and SCI Nalanda -- leased from the Shipping Corporation of India to study the crucial period when the rocket ejects the spacecraft into space -- left for the South Pacific Ocean in mid-September from Visakhapatnam.

The American NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) is also providing communications and navigation support to this mission with their deep space network facilities.

Balwant Singh Rajoana, the death-row convict in the Beant Singh assassination case, has decided to field his sister Kamaldeep Kaur from Patiala Lok Sabha seat against Union minister Preneet Kaur.

Kamaldeep would fight the election as an independent candidate against the three-time Congress MP, Rajoana said in a letter written from the Central Jail here where he is lodged.

On why Rajoana was fielding her as a candidate instead of of supporting any party or group, Kamaldeep said he was upset with the government and political parties over the policies, particularly those relating to Sikh issues, and had taken this decision.

Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today targeted Congress saying that for many leaders, youth is the means to attain power.

"For many leaders, youth is a means to power but for me, youth is for empowerment," Modi said without naming anyone after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi recently stated that the new UPA after the elections, will see a young government.

The BJP strongman was speaking at the convocation ceremony of Pandit Dindayal Petroleum University run by the Reliance Industries. Sharing the stage with Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani, British Petroleum Group CEO Bob

Dudley, he listed out things his government did in energy sector and for youths comparing that with alleged inactions of the UPA government. He also mocked at the prevailing energy scene in the country by raising the issue of missing coal files.

He said that it was extremely unfortunate that some states of India face power shortage.

Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency today said it would complete a probe into the 2007 emergency imposed by former President Pervez Musharraf in six weeks.

FIA Director General Saud Mirza said the statements of some bureaucrats had been recorded as part of the probe, the Dawn newspaper reported on its website.

The investigation will be completed within six weeks, he said.

Mirza said the probe was launched on the directives of the Interior Minister and Musharraf's statement would soon be recorded.

Though the government ordered the inquiry in late June, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on October 12 that he had asked the FIA to fast-track the case of high treason against Musharraf and to take the matter to a logical conclusion in six weeks.

The case was registered against Musharraf for subverting the Constitution by imposing emergency in November 2007. The emergency lasted until December 15 of the same year.

In July 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that the military strongman's decision to impose emergency was unconstitutional and illegal.

 The trail in the investigation of the deadly attack on a Kenyan shopping mall last month leads all the way to Scandinavia, where the Norwegian police have identified a man who may have been among the assailants. 

Turkey's outing of agents for Israel spying on Iran is a major blow to Western agencies trying to gather intelligence on an Iranian nuclear bomb and shows the NATO member is no longer trustworthy, says a former chief of the Mossad, Israel's spy agency.

Nine Lebanese Shia pilgrims held hostage in Syria have been freed, Lebanon's interior minster has said.

A fire destroyed up to 300,000 tons of sugar at several warehouses in the southern Brazilian port of Santos today before it was contained, authorities said. 

Rome's military tribunal today convicted a 90-year-old ex-Nazi in absentia for his role in the 1943 execution of 120 Italian officers on the Greek island of Kefalonia and sentenced him to life in prison. 

A satellite monitoring Earth's gravity field since 2009 will run out of fuel "in the coming days" and eventually crash, with little risk to humans, the European Space Agency said today. 

A car bomb near an ice-cream shop in Baghdad killed 12 people today, while seven died in other attacks, officials said, bringing the October death toll to more than 420. 

The Obama administration is considering helping Iran recoup billions of dollars in frozen overseas assets if Tehran scales back its nuclear program. 

Boeing today said it would cut production of its 747-8 jumbo aircraft for a second time this year, citing weaker demand for big aircraft. The Chicago-based aerospace giant said 747-8 production rate would be reduced from 1.75 airplanes per month to 1.5 airplanes per month "because of lower market demand for large passenger and freighter airplanes."

Syrian air force jets bombarded the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Friday after heavy overnight clashes and the killing of one of President Bashar al-Assad's top military intelligence officers, activists said.

An armed man with a history of mental health issues held four people hostage for two hours at a Paris bank today, demanding social housing for himself and his son before surrendering to police. 

Norwegian and Kenyan authorities are now seeking to uncover the networks of a well-known Al Shabab militant '" said to hail from the Scandinavian nation '" found dead in the bloody rubble of Westgate Mall.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he has received no notification from Saudi Arabia that it will turn down a seat on the UN Security Council.