Downplaying J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah’s remark that he was not a “puppet in the hands of the Centre”, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday said he saw nothing wrong in the statement. When asked in what light he saw the remark, Mr Singh replied, “What should he say? Should he say he is a puppet? After all, he

Intelligence agencies have informed the Centre that the monorail projects proposed by the governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra have been awarded to a Malaysian firm whose group CEO allegedly has links to Pakistan’s rogue atomic scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. The Malaysia-based Scomi-Geodesic consortium’s group CEO, Shah Hakim Shahzanim Zan, is reportedly under the scanner of US intelligence for alleged links to Dr A.Q. Khan.

India summoned the New Zealand high commissioner on Thursday to lodge a strong protest against the racist remarks made by a TV presenter about Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. It asked the NZ government to take immediate demonstrative action against the individual.

Interpol red corner notices have been issued against five Pakistani nationals, including two serving Pakistan Army majors, for their alleged role in the 26/11 terror attack and for plotting to carry out more strikes in India.

Nearly 40 Muslim scholars and clerics who met in the capital on Thursday have rejected the Ayodhya verdict and also called upon the government to make clear its stand on the issue. It has also rejected any efforts that might be made towards “reconciliation”.

Literature, for Peruvian writer Maria Vargas Llosa, has been like a akin to fire. The firebrand writer and one-time politician, who made power and its structures, humanity and its contours, the focal points of his writing, has won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Tis Hazari Court additional sessions judge (ASJ) Bimla Kumari has acquitted 27 people of the charges of attempting to kill policemen and torching a police post following the latter’s bid to nab a suspect in Red Fort bomb blast case in 2000. The court absolved all the accused, including three women, of the charges of being members of an unlawful assembly.

The Delhi police has put in place security and traffic arrangement for Commonwealth Games road events this week-end, including helicopter-borne assault teams and commando hit squads for protection of athletes.

The Delhi police has announced a cash reward of `10 lakhs to anyone providing information on the two motorcycle-borne assailants involved in the firing on a tourist bus near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi on September 19, which left two Taiwanese injured even as two suspects hailing from Jammu & Kashmir were picked up by the police from Old Delhi on Thursday.

After putting up things in place for the 19th Commonwealth Games just in time and getting praise for the grand opening ceremony from around the world, chief minister Sheila Dikshit now thinks that the capital city is ready to host the Olympics.