India’s Saina Nehwal won gold in the women’s singles badminton event at the Commonwealth Games, defeating Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in a cliff-hanger here on Thursday.

India was on Tuesday elected unopposed from the Asian region for a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council after a long 18-year gap. India was last a Council member in 1991-92.

India turned in their best-ever performance at the Commonwealth Games, finishing the penultimate day of the athletics competition with one gold medal and as many as four bronzes at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday.

Property prices in the national capital are set to rise with the Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday clearing a proposal for a 100 per cent increase in circle rates across all categories of properties.

Government has formulated three task forces for Leh, Kargil and Jammu to evaluate the developmental needs of the regions. These task forces will particularly look into the issue of shortage in infrastructure and then make suitable recommendations. Sources said the Union home ministry finalised the three teams in consultations with the state government, which will go into the details of the developments in these three regions.

The CPI(M) on Tuesday termed the vote of confidence by the BJP government in the Karnataka Assembly “farcical’’ and said that a fresh vote should be taken in the House for it to prove its majority.

The NCP, a key constituent of the UPA government, is not in favour of the imposition of President’s Rule in Karnataka, saying it should be the last resort. But it came down heavily on the BJP government for “murdering the democracy” and criticised the Assembly Speaker the way he disqualified MLAs.

Changing its strategy on Karnataka crisis, the Congress on Tuesday hinted that the party was disinclined towards pressing for President’s Rule in the state and instead claimed that the BJP government would crumble under its own weight.

After the Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a 20-minute-long meeting with his ministerial colleagues, who belong to Karnataka, and discussed with them the developments in the state following the controversial trust vote in the Assembly.

On a day replete with much political hob-nobbing, embattled Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa accepted state governor H.R. Bhardwaj’s offer to face a second trust vote on October 14. At the same time, an unhappy BJP sought to rally behind its CM, with senior BJP leader L.K. Advani seeking an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the allegedly “partisan” role played by the governor in the Karnataka developments.