Taking serious note of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill 2010, the Janata Dal (Secular) national president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda would lead a delegation to President Pratibha Patil on the August 5 to request her to reject the bill.

The email that Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi has cited to justify payment of a large sum of money to a London-based company is not authentic. This is what the ministry of external affairs, headed by Mr S.M. Krishna, is understood to have conveyed to Mr Kalmadi when he called on the minister here Tuesday.

Rations unfit for human consumption that includes flour, sugar, rice, tea, pulses, and edible oils well past the expiry date were supplied to troops under the Army’s crucial Northern and Western Commands, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed. Another CAG report also highlights the acquisition of “life-

Chief minister, Mr Raman Singh, on Monday said at least four diamond belts are under the Maoist controlled region of Bastar in Chhattisgarh.
Bastar division, which comprises Maoist-infested districts of Dantewada, Kanker, Bijapur, Narayanpur and Bastar, has been identified as possible rich source of diamond reserve, Mr Singh told the state Assembly here.

Jet Airways, JetLite and Jet Airways Konnect on Monday announced closure of all check-in counters 45 minutes prior to departure in the six metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata from August 4 instead of the earlier 30 minutes.

The Defence Research Development Organisation is developing the use of laser broadbeam weapons that can help security forces in controlling violent mobs in states such as Jammu and Kashmir. DRDO officials said on Monday that the emission of a broadbeam can dazzle violent stone-pelting mobs which will be temporarily blinded by the flash of light. The lasers are being developed by the New Delhi-based Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC).

The return of turmoil to the Kashmir Valley found the Lok Sabha not only expressing concern on Monday morning and the government forced to admit that in recent weeks, the “problem has taken a serious turn” after July 30.

As the anger against the police and other security forces has increased with the unrelenting bloodshed in the Kashmir Valley, reports pouring in here from different parts of the restive region suggest that at least local policemen operating from area police stations and posts are trying to buy peace with the home populations.

In spite of the Kashmir Valley being on the boil, the annual Amarnath pilgrimage goes on without interruption. However, the devotees who had travelled to the cave-temple, situated at an altitude of 12,729 feet, in the past few days, returned disappointed as the ice stalagmite that forms a natural Shivalingam has melted almost completely.

In a bizarre act, policemen deployed at a Srinagar hospital to watch over Syed Ali Shah Geelani have walked out on the separatist leader who was earlier informed by a senior police officer that he was a free man now.