In the first phase, between 2010 and 2013, the government is also proposing to generate 200 mw of off-grid solar power and cover 7 million sq metres with solar collectors. The mission, if approved by the Cabinet, will entail three phases with the ambitious targets and financial mechanisms for the latter two phases being reviewed on the basis of performance in the first three-year phase. By the end of the final phase in 2022, the government hopes to produce 20,000 mw of grid-based solar power, 2,000 mw of off-grid solar power and cover 20 million sq metres with collectors.

Solar lighting systems would also be provided to 9,000 villages under existing schemes by providing soft loans which would be refinanced by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited. Instead of the large direct subsidy to solar power producers suggested earlier, the government has decided to integrate solar power production and sale into existing power purchase mechanisms.

Aarti Chhabria has denied that she ever knew Headley or even Rahul Bhatt. She said that although she has been a member of Moksh gym for the last four and half years, where Headley is believed to have worked out and where Bhatt is an instructor, it did not mean she knew Headley. She said she has been “staying in Shyam Niwas in block 5A for the last 13 years and that she has been going to Moksh gym for last four and half years, but does not know Bhatt or Headley.

Snatches of cellphone conversations – some never heard before – between the gunmen and their controllers in Pakistan, as well as video footage of the police with Kasab was aired on Sunday in a preview of the documentary by narrator Fareed Zakaria in his programme on CNN. One of the tapes of Kasab’s interrogation points to how he got involved with the Lashkar terror group:

Kasab: He said, “These people make loads of money and so will you. (Inaudible) We’ll have money, we won’t be poor any more. Your brothers and sisters can get married. Look at these guys living the good life. You can be like them,” he said.
Unidentified Male: “Your dad said this?
Kasab: Yes. So, I said, “Fine, whatever.”
Unidentified Male: What does he do for a living?
Kasab: He used to sell yogurt and potato snacks in the street.
Unidentified Male: How much did they give you? Did they put it in your account?
Kasab: There is no account. They gave it to my dad.
Unidentified Male: How much did they give him?
Kasab: I don’t know. Maybe a few hundred thousand.

A conversation between another young terrorist with his handler was also aired on the show. Locked in a bathroom at Mumbai’s Trident Oberoi hotel, another Pakistani terrorist named Fahadullah knew the end was near. He was out of food, water, energy and ammunition, and could hear the steady stream of police gunshots getting closer. He and nine other terrorists were winding down from a gruesome, 36-hour killing spree through the city, and he was talking on the phone to a handler far away in Pakistan.

“You mustn’t let them arrest you, remember that,” the controller insisted. “Fahadullah, my brother, can’t you just get out there and fight?”
“I am out of grenades,” Fahadullah weakly offered.
“Be brave, brother. Don’t panic. For your mission to end successfully, you must be killed. God is waiting for you in heaven.”

The Gujarat government has directed hotels to take thumb impressions of all guests and keep a copy of their identity cards.

Security personnel have also been deployed to check vehicle movement in the city.

“We will tell the hotel people to take thumb impression of the customers. This is a new thing. The staff can come to the police station and we will tell them how to implement this. If they do not implement it, the department will take the required action,” said M.H Vasani, a police inspector.

Owner of the yacht ‘‘ANDRANA’‘, Pignol and a US national Malcolm Russell Williamson who were on board, are being questioned by Customs and Immigration officials, the sources told PTI. Pignol said they had set sail from Oman and were on their way to Madagascar before they landed near Kochi due to rough seas and bad climatic conditions. The yacht was seized from near the Port administration building at nearby Wellington Island.

The information may not be easy to dismiss as Hersh points to the fear that extremists in Pakistan’s military establishment – even apart from the threat of a Taliban takeover – might grab control of some of the nuclear facilities in the country. He states in his article that Washington has been “negotiating highly sensitive understandings with the Pakistani military’‘ to prevent such a scenario. “These would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis. At the same time, the Pakistani military would be given money to equip and train Pakistani soldiers and to improve their housing and facilities – goals that General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistan Army chief, has long desired,’‘ he states, adding that the secrecy surrounding the understanding was because of growing antipathy for the US in Pakistan.

Hersh goes on to state that the ongoing consultation on nuclear security between Washington and Islamabad intensified after the announcement in March of President Obama’s “so-called Af-Pak policy’‘ which called upon the Pakistan Army to take more aggressive action against Taliban enclaves inside Pakistan. A Pakistan official close to President Asif Zardari with whom Hersh spoke is said to have reacted angrily to the US interest in Pakistan’s arsenal saying that even if there was a military coup, nobody would give up the control on nuclear weapons.

This official, according to Hersh, wondered why the US was not worried about India’s arsenal. “Because India is your friend, and the longtime policies of America and India converge. Between you and the Indians, you will `f…’ us in every way. The truth is that our weapons are less of a problem for the Obama Administration than finding a respectable way out of Afghanistan,’‘ the official said. Pakistan on Monday dismissed the report saying that it was “nothing more than a concoction to tarnish the image of Pakistan and create misgivings among its people’‘.

Kumar, currently president and managing partner of KaiZen Innovation, was nominated assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service in the US Department of Commerce, the White House announced Thursday.

Beating a good 4,000 other competitors, Puru Pratap Singh’s doodle is based on the theme ‘My India – Full of Life’. Singh is a Class 4 student of Gurgaon, the commercial hub adjoining the national capital.

“He surrendered voluntarily before the Tihar Jail administration just before noon today (Tuesday),” a jail official told IANS.

The new Google Books settlement, following months of negotiations, restricts the venture to books with copyrights registered in the US, Canada, Britain and Australia.

The broad story is known to every Tom, Dinesh, and Hamid in strategic circles — that sometime in the early 1980s, China provided Pakistan with nuclear know-how and materials to enable it to make the bomb, in part to weigh down India and in part out of gratitude to Islamabad for facilitating its opening to US. But astonishing details of the transaction, which China has blithely denied because it is in violation of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations, have been exposed courtesy A.Q.Khan, Pakistan’s Dr Strangelove, to spite the military which incarcerated him.

The 15-day course offered by the Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI), Tuticorin, affiliated to the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University inTamil Nadu, will focus on marine biodiversity assessment, underwater photography and monitoring of coral reefs and sea grass.

These proposals are the next step in building on the rapid progress the government has made in tightening up Britain’s border controls. Over the past three years the UK has seen the introduction of e-Borders to check individuals in and out of the country and the implementation of the points-based system which ensures that only those who benefit the economy can come here to work.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown had announced that doors will be shut to highly skilled non-EU doctors and engineers, and the government will consider denying visa to students seeking entry to short-term programmes. In order to bring together the essential changes that have already taken place, the government is proposing a new bill to bring forward a new legal framework to simplify and consolidate 40 years of immigration laws.

A tough new menu of conditions is proposed for those on immigration bail, including restrictions on residence, work or study, access to public funds, and reporting and electronic monitoring.

Ujjawal Choudhary, director Income Tax investigation, told IANS that Koda had told probe officials he wanted to rest and asked them to come in the afternoon.

The Peshawar blast destroyed the three-storey building of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. The city has been frequently targeted by militants in recent weeks.

More than 100 people were killed in a blast at a market in Peshawar two weeks ago. At the time the blast took place, there was light traffic on the roads because it was early morning. Correspondents say that if the attacker struck half an hour later, the death toll would have been much higher because the area would have been far busier.

As a result of the blast, however, schools have now been closed for the day in Peshawar. “I was busy at work then suddenly I heard gunfire. I saw a vehicle moving towards the ISI building and then there was a huge blast. I was thrown to the ground,” news agency AFP quoted Azmat Ali, a 30-year-old mechanic as saying. “I don’t remember anything else, but there was dust everywhere,” he said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack, saying his country’s resolve to deal with militancy would not be weakened. The last time an ISI building was targeted was in May, when 24 people were killed in a suicide attack in the eastern city of Lahore.

There are about 15,000 Punjabis, including Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, in this city of 65,000. Gill will be the first Sikh mayor in California. “We have made history tonight, and everyone is part of that history,” said Gill as outgoing mayor Leslie McBride passed the gavel to him. “I am elated to be honoured with this position. We Punjabis have been here for more than a hundred years, and to be the mayor of this city is a privilege for the whole community,” Punjab-born Gill said. “I feel really great …I have spent all my life here and to represent Yuba City is a great honour,” said Gill, who came to the city in 1967 with his family as a two-year-old toddler.

His family is related to the city’s world-famous peach farmer Didar Singh Bains. “We came from Lakhsina village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab when my uncle Bains sponsored us,” said Gill, who will now command the city’s $80-million budget.

“We have written a letter to SBI administration demanding consideration of locals on priority for 1100 clerical posts announced by them,” MNS general secretary Shirish Parkar said.

SBI is holding an entrance exam on Sunday in the city and the administration has assured the MNS to speak to the authorities in Delhi regarding their demand.

All the passengers, most of whom were sleeping at the time of the accident, had a miraculous escape. Relief and rescue teams were rushed to the scene of the accident and work on restoration of the railway traffic has started. The Central Railway was making arrangements to put the stranded passengers on a special train to their destinations.

The railways have also set up helpline numbers at Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Vasai, Gandhidham, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodra and Bengaluru to provide information to people about their near and dear ones. “Twelve coaches of Gandhidham express were derailed when the train was approaching Bhiwandi in Thane district.” Central Railways PRO A K Jain told PTI. Another train was sent to the incident site and the passengers of Gandhidham Express were shifted into it, he said.

Passengers can send short text messages (SMS) to get the lowest fares available at a given time and sector on jetairways.com.

The virtual re-creation of the “Road to Santiago”, one of the most famous pilgrimage routes in Europe, is one of the features of the service, which also showcases the Alhambra in Granada, the Toledo Cathedral, the aqueduct in Segovia, the moNew Google service allows virtual pilgrimagesque in Cordoba and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

He pointed out that companies from other foreign countries did not feel the need to carry their own workers to projects in India, which has a vast reservoir of skilled workmen and a long history of industry and entrepreneurship. “I have personal experience in working with many of India’s other major economic partners. I cannot recall their investments and projects requiring such large manpower support from home,” Jaishankar, who was earlier ambassador in Singapore, said. Indian companies sourcing equipment and services from China should advise and assist the sellers on reducing their dependence on Chinese workers and using more of Indian skill, he said.

The statement comes at a time when several Indian companies have joined the chorus along with their Chinese partners about increasing the issuance of visas for Chinese workers. But the Indian government remains miserly on this count because large inflow of foreign labor can thwart skill development and cause heart-burning among Indian workers. It is possible that business models of non-Chinese investors are “based more heavily on collaborating with local Indian capabilities,” he said while speaking at a seminar organized jointly by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the China Council for Promotion of International Trade.

Home minister P Chidambaram today said the train and passengers on board were safe and that the Centre has rushed a relief train to bring back the passengers. “The train is safe. All passengers are safe… good news is the train is safe,” he told reporters. “CRPF and state police have reached the spot and the area has been secured. There is no sign of any other adversary there,” Chidambaram said.

He also refuted reports that there was an exchange of fire between security forces and suspected Maoists. “There was firing and a civilian driver was injured but there was no injury to CRPF personnel and there was no exchange of fire,” Chidambaram said. He said the Centre has rushed a relief train to Orissa with doctors and relief supplies. The home minister said the train will bring back the passengers on the Rajdhani Express.

The government blamed militants seeking to avenge an army offensive against al-Qaeda and Taliban close to the Afghan border. The blast set scores of shops on fire, collapsed other buildings, including a mosque, and sent a cloud of gray smoke over the city. TV footage showed wounded people sitting amid the debris as people grabbed at the wreckage, trying to pull out survivors before carrying them down narrow alleys to hospital. One two-story building collapsed as firefighters doused it with water.

Clinton, on her first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state, was three hours’ drive away in the capital of Islamabad when the blast took place. Speaking to reporters on her plane, she praised the army’s anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan and promised a new era in relations between Pakistan and the United States.

Launched in May, Bing initially received a tepid response; some critics essentially called it Live Search with a new coat of paint. But Microsoft is nothing if tenacious. (Old-timers will recall how badly the early versions of Windows stank before Redmond finally found success with version 3.0.) The company has been steadily upgrading Bing since May, including some pretty useful innovations announced Wednesday.

The aim of the loan is to allow Africa to be able to build up financing capacity. Other than the Chinese leader, President’s of Sudan and Zimbabwe are the other key attendees of the forum. The program started with the inaugural note by Egyptian Prime Minister who talked about peace and growth and also the improved cooperation between China and Africa.

The world’s largest internet search engine has been in negotiations with China’s copyright watchdog for scanning works for its online library without permission, the China Daily reported.

The home minister’s statement was greeted with disbelief but analysts said that it had much to do with the criticism that the Union government offensive would degenerate into a whole-scale war against the tribals who inhabited the territory occupied by Maoists. Analysts had said that there was no other way that Maoists could be distingushed from tribals and in the offensive the latter would in effect be targeted.

The vote passed 220-215 with 39 Democrats voting against the bill, and one Republican supporting the sweeping plan, Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. A whoop went up in the Democratic side of the chamber when the vote exceeded the necessary 218 majority needed to pass and when the final tally was read. As the remaining vote time ticked down, Democrats counted down the last few seconds in unison as Pelosi banged the gavel and boomed the standard line with added emphasis, “the bill is passed!”

“We have been gaining strength day by day to counter terrorism from across the border. I have been warning Pakistan not to play games with us. (I have told them that) the last game should be Mumbai attacks. Stop it there,” he told a public meeting here last night. “If terrorists and militants from Pakistan try to carry out any attack in India, they will not only be defeated but will be retaliated very strongly,” he said in his speech in Tamil.

Chidambaram said India would retaliate strongly against any attempt by Pakistan to send infiltrators into India and “we have strength to tackle any such infiltration”.

He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Apollo Hospital.

“We cannot say what exactly is the problem. We are conducting tests and we will be able to say anything after the test reports,” a doctor at the hospital told IANS.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, Shafkat Wattali said here that Rukhsana, her brother Aijaz and her uncle Wakalat Hussain, who was injured in the militant attack, have been appointed SPOs in the police force recently and they were doing their job well. He denied reports in the media that Rukhsana was being shifted to New Delhi for security reasons.

“There is no truth in media reports that Rukhsana or her parents are being shifted to Delhi for security reasons in view of the recent attack by militants on her house on Friday last”, he said.

In the arts, “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout won for fiction, “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II” by Douglas A. Blackmon won in the general nonfiction category, and “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham won for the category of biography.

Supreme Court’s website says declaration of assets is purely on voluntary basis.

Assets of Justice B N Agrawal, who retired last month, are also available on SC’s website.

The decision to make the assets public was taken last week after CJI K G Balakrishnan and other judges finalised the details of their assets during the Dusshera and Diwali festivals with some of them availing the services of professional chartered accountants for the purpose.

The explosion at around 10.40am caused considerable damage to the facade of Shalimar Hotel on Mall Road, a short distance from the army’s general headquarters. Police officials said they believed the bomb was planted in a car or motorcycle parked outside the hotel. Several army officers’ messes, sensitive military installations and other hotels are located near the building.

Military police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off the area and diverted traffic from the road in front of the hotel. Ambulances and fire fighting vehicles rushed to the site to launch rescue operations. An emergency was declared in hospitals in Rawalpindi. Eyewitness and reporters of TV news channels said at least 10 people had died in the blast.