Striking domestic Air India pilots and the government finally began talks at the civil aviation ministry here Wednesday — the strike’s eighth day. These are expected to continue Thursday, providing a glimmer of hope. Civil aviation officials said the talks would continue, while pilots were happy and said things were moving in a positive direction.

India has sought to put a lid on the debate about whether it can or should copy American-style surgical strikes or Israeli targeted assassinations to eliminate targets inside Pakistan by saying that it is an idea whose time may never come. An official source says India would not want to emulate the US or Israel because one, India is not US, and two, India’s relations with Pakistan are historically and qualitatively different from Washington’s ties with Islamabad.

A Delhi court on Wednesday sent sacked CWG organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi to 14-day judicial custody over the CWG time scoring result scam when he was produced in court after his eight-day CBI remand ended. Special CBI judge Dharmesh Sharma sent Mr Kalmadi and his two co-accused, former CWG officials A.S.V.

The US may be celebrating the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. But Muslim leaders here are quick to point out that the man’s whose killing is being hailed worldwide, and particularly in America, was a creation of the US itself.

Five days after the Pawan Hans helicopter he was travelling in went missing, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu was found dead on Wednesday at Luguthang, near border with China.

At least one Maoist was on Tuesday gunned down in an encounter with security personnel inside Ghumra forest in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Bijapur district, the police said. The police also claimed to have found tell-tale evidence of injuries to several other rebels in the encounter site.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday dismissed speculation about the possibility of him entering the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.
“Till 2013, I am out of electoral politics. No and that too in capital letters,” he said when asked about speculation that he could be the “outsider” taking the Upper House seat vacated by Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s disengagement-is-not-an-option line came under increased strain on Tuesday following Pakistan’s unhelpful attitude on the issue of bringing the 26/11 perpetrators to justice.

Over 3,000 rescue workers, which included mountaineers of specialised forces of the Army, ITBP and CRPF, engaged in tracing the missing helicopter carrying Arunachal CM Dorjee Khandu on Tuesday, the fourth consecutive day, failed to reach three possible locations where Sukhoi jets and Isro satellites have found “metallic traces” in the hills of the state.

Pakistan, which had denied knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts, had a lot to explain following his killing by the US special forces in Abbottabad, near Islamabad, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna said.