Prime Minister and Obama dinner in a tent

The Obamas will be holding their first state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, not in the White House's State Dining Room but under a white marquee erected on the South Lawn. Former President Bill Clinton will not attend, but his wife, secretary of state Hillary Clinton, will of course be there.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle have chosen to go for the marquee -much like the shamiana at an Indian wedding, though not as colourful as they plan to host 400 guests, while the State Dining Room can seat no more than 140, media reports said.

The November 24 dinner is the third White House dinner for India in the past decade: Bill Clinton hosted one in 2000 for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, while George W.
Bush had one in 2005 for Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur.

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Railway to launch 2 `Yuva' trains

It's now the turn of the country's `yuva' (youth) to benefit from the Indian railways services. The latter is busy fine-tuning the launch of two `Yuva' trains which, as earlier announced by rail minister Mamata Banerjee in the budget, will be "dedicated specially for the young generation".

The first two trains which are to be launched as part of a pilot project will run between Delhi and Mumbai and Delhi and Howrah. The USP of the Yuva trains is "to ensure that the youth and low income groups can travel at low rates" between major cities.

To ensure that the ticket prices of these trains remain affordable, the railways have decided to have only sitting accommodation on these trains.

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Ship with 100 tourists stuck in Antarctic ice

A Russian icebreaker carrying over 100 tourists, scientists and journalists on a cruise around Antarctica has become stuck in the ice, a shipping company said on Tuesday.

The Captain Khlebnikov icebreaker and the tourists onboard are not at any risk, German Kuzin of the Fareastern Shipping Company told Russia's Vesti 24 television.

Mr Kuzin said the ship is waiting for a stronger wind to try to begin moving again. He said the icebreaker is about 5 miles from clear water near the Snow Hill Island in the Weddel Sea.

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I was sold to Lashkar-e-Taiba by my dad: Kasab

Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist of the group of ten sent by the Pakistan based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba to attack Mumbai, says his father essentially sold him into the group.

Kasab, who was part of the pair that killed 50 and wounded more than 100 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the city's main railway station, makes the suggestion in tapes included in a new documentary, Terror in Mumbai airing on HBO on Thursday.

Snatches of cellphone conversations -- many never heard before between the gunmen and their controllers in Pakistan, as well as video footage of the police with Kasab were aired on Sunday

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Was Rana in Kochi to recruit for terror?

The National Investigation Agency, which has formed special teams to track the activities of David Coleman Headley and his associate Tahawwur Hassan Rana in this country in the past few years, on Sunday conducted raids at a number of places in Mumbai and New Delhi to probe their possible links to 26/11 and other terror attacks in India.

In Kerala, where Rana is learnt to have stayed at the Taj Residency hotel in Kochi for a few days a little before 26/11, investigations are on to ascertain if Headley's associate was on a mission there to recruit local youths to carry out terror attacks. Rana had stayed at the hotel with a woman identified as Samraz Rana, like him also a Canadian national and believed to be his wife, and had posed as a recruiter, interviewing a number of people in his hotel room. A NIA team will visit Kerala soon.

Searches were carried out at cybercafes, telephone booths and a large number of budget hotels in and around the Paharganj area of central New Delhi, and a separate team of officers

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Toll in Bihar: 40 dead as strike by doctors goes on

The death toll of patents at Patna Medical College and Hospital rose to 40 in three days two more than the toll during a fiveday strike by the same junior doctors in August but there was no sign of either any credible effort by the government to end the strike or any softening of stand by the junior doctors, who want their stipends raised, as promised by the Bihar government in August.

Dilip Kumar, a 28-year-old daily-wage labourer who came to the PMCH for surgery to cure his aggravated appendicitis two days ago, left the hospital on Thursday. "I don't have enough money to go to a private hospital. I don't want to go back home either," he said.

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Nasa: Asteroid 2009 VA almost hit earth

A 26 foot-wide asteroid almost hit the earth when it passed within about 14,000 km of the planet recently, Nasa has said.

The asteroid, called 2009 VA, was noticed only 15 hours before it made its closest approach towards the planet on last Friday. It came 30 times nearer than the moon, which is 250,000 miles away, the US space agency said.

Similar sized objects pass by this close to earth about twice a year and impact on the planet about once in every five years, it said. This was the third closest known (non-impacting) earth approach by any asteroid.

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Cyclone alert in Gujarat, Maharashtra

The Indian meteorological department has sounded a cyclone alert for Gujarat and Maharashtra.

A depression formed over the Arabian sea is likely to intensify in the coming days and move towards north and northeast.

"A depression has formed over southeast and adjoining east central Arabian Sea The depression is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move in a northerly direction and cross south Gujarat and north Maharashtra coast by early hours of 12th November 2009," the warning from the weather department said.

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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Outrage

The first day's session of the new Maharashtra Assembly started off in unprecedented fashion, with a new member being slapped and pushed and four MLAs suspended for four years amid scenes that shamed Indian democracy. Four of the 13 MNS legislators Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam, Ramesh Wanjle and Vasant Gite were suspended from the House for four years for manhandling Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi and throwing papers at Peasant and Workers Party MLA Minakshi Patil.

Just after the national song was sung and before actual proceedings had begun in the House, MNS group leader Bala Nandgaonkar wanted to raise the issue of oath-taking in Marathi. However, pro-tem speaker Ganpatrao Deshmukh, exercising his powers, refused to allow him to speak, saying no one could speak in the House without taking the oath.

After the oaths of the protem speaker, other stand-in speakers, the chief minister, deputy chief minister, ministers, ministers of state and former ministers,

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Prime Minister, President wish Advani on his 83rd birthday

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, on whom pressure is mounting to relinquish the Leader of Opposition post, celebrated his 83rd birthday on Sunday. President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar wished the BJP leader. While Ms Patil sent flowers to him, Dr Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker wished him over phone.

Speculations had been rife within the party that Mr Advani would indicate on his birthday as when he would relinquish the Leader of Opposition post. Pressure has been mounting on him to step down from the post, especially after BJP's repeated dismal performance in both Lok Sabha and recent Assembly elections.

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Raj to ride chariot to marry Shilpa

Instead of the traditional horse bringing the groom to Shilpa Shetty's doorsteps, Raj Kundra has decided to ride an elaborate chariot.

It will set the tone for an elaborate yet exclusive Shilpa-Raj Kundra marriage on November 22 where, according to a close friend of Shilpa, "Tarun Tahiliani has designed the wedding outfit that no bride in Bollywood or outside has ever worn before". The guest list for the November 22 wedding is restricted to Shilpa and Raj's family only. Raj's parents and sister are expected any moment from London and his relatives from Ludhiana and Amritsar are expected to arrive closer to the wedding. The wedding will be conducted fully in the Bunt tradition, according to the Mangalorean community that the Shettys belong to."

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Protests over Hanuman song in London Dreams

After fomenting trouble in Chhattisgarh, Hindu organisations in Uttar Pradesh are also waking up to protest against the rock version of Hanuman Chalisa in the newlyreleased movie London dreams.

VHP activists, on Wednesday night, created ruckus inside a cinema hall in Allahabad, demanding a ban on the controversial song. VHP activists, according to police reports, entered the theatre where the film was being screened and raised slogans against the filmmakers and actors. The protesters demanded deletion of the song and steps against the filmmakers. Later, the VHP activists handed over a memorandum to the district officials seeking deletion of the song. The management of the theatre has agreed to ensure that the song is deleted from Thursday onwards.

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Nanny hired out baby for begging

This nanny was more Fagin than Mary Poppins. A young couple in Bengaluru who hired a nanny to look after their baby while they were at work discovered that she had hired out the child to be used for begging on the streets.

Anamika Joshi, an MBA graduate and a consultant with an MNC, discovered by chance that her sevenmonth-old baby boy was being hired out to beggars for Rs 100 a day. She left office early one day and found the nanny watching TV and her son missing when she got home. When Anamika questioned the nanny, she confessed that she had been giving the baby to beggars for three weeks. "What my baby was put through sends shivers down my spine. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had not returned home early that day," says Anamika.

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Sensex is down 491, fall might continue

The Nifty breached the 5,000 mark, and both the Nifty and Sensex saw their lowest point since the first week of September in the Dalal Street carnage on Tuesday following weak global cues. The Sensex was down 491 points, closing at 15,404.94; while the Nifty fell 147.80 points, closing at 4,563.90.

The Indian markets were battered between signals from Asia and Europe; and US futures were down when Indian markets were closed, indicating a further fall was likely Wednesday.

The markets, down for the sixth consecutive day, spiked in the afternoon when European markets fell two per cent uniformly -something which has never happened before, said technical analyst Pradip Hotchandani of Anagram Finance Ltd.

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Twin Bombing in Pakistan

A suicide bomber on Monday killed at least 35 people and injured around 50 others when he slammed his explosivesladen motorcycle into a bank in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near here, when the people were queuing to collect their salaries. The Rawalpindi blast was followed by another suicide bombing, this time in Lahore where two terrorists blew themselves up at the Babu Sabu inter-change police checkpoint, wounding 25 people, mostly policemen, officials said.

"The suicide bomber came on a motorcycle (in Rawalpindi) and blew up close to people who had gathered to collect their salaries. Thirty-five people died and around 50 were injured," a police official said.

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Chief Minister flags off cycle rally to promote 2010 Games

Over 200 students participated in a 15-kmlong cycle rally on Sunday, organised by the Delhi government to create awareness about the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG). Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the rally from Rajghat.

"Apart from being an environment friendly option, cycling is also healthy. It not just involves fun and enjoyment but also encourages sports spirit. It will motivate the people of Delhi to connect with the upcoming Commonwealth Games and take up cycling as a non-polluting and healthy means of transportation," Ms Dikshit said while speaking on the occasion. Over 200 students from about 15 technical institutions of the national capital participated in the rally organised by Delhi Knowledge Development Foundation under the aegis of the Delhi government's Department Of Training And Technical Education (DTTE).

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