from The Hindu, Tuesday, November 5, 2013

India welcomes scrapping of UK visa bond proposal
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron might stop over in Delhi on way to the CHOGM and interact with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.


Five policemen killed in GNLA ambush
Militants of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) ambushed a police vehicle at Bangjakona in South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya on Tuesday, killing five policemen and making away with three AK-47 rifles and a carbine. The killings occurred two days after suspected GNLA militants gunned down seven persons and injured nine others at Gendamari in Lower Assam’s Goalpara district, close to the Assam-Meghalaya border, on Sunday night.

Syria won't discuss power transition at Geneva
Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Geneva talks are part of a political process, “and not a handover of power or forming a transitional governing body”.


Election Bias
It’s good that we’re asking questions about opinion polls. The problem is we’re asking the wrong questions.


U.S. man skydives on 100th birthday
When Vernon Maynard’s friends asked him what he wished he had done in his 100 years of life, the Southern California man said he had always wanted to jump from a plane with a parachute. The retired car dealer got the chance to mark his centenarian birthday on Monday by doing just that. Maynard and his two great nephews made their first skydive along with trained instructors from 13,000 feet southeast of Los Angeles.


Manmohan favours reset of foreign policy
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday told a conclave of top Indian diplomats that the United Progressive Alliance was seeking a “fundamental reset” in the foreign policy, pursuing what he described as “India's destiny in world affairs.”


Political parties divided on banning opinion polls


A flawed and unwarranted move
The Election Commission might be well-intentioned in seeking to ban opinion polls in the run-up to an election, but the move does not seem to be sound in law, and is certainly not desirable in practice.


Staying on the rails
The move by the Indian Railways to privatise a section of passenger traffic, and the launch by Minister Mallikarjun Kharge of the High Speed Rail Corporation, at this juncture, need to be very closely evaluated.


Child monks rescued in Chennai
Tenzin, 10, and Norubu Sherpa, 7, are not wandering monks, but they are newly-inducted monks indeed, and have wandered far from their home in West Bengal. These children were found roaming around in the Chennai Central railway station before Deepavali, and volunteers of Karunalaya, an organisation working in the area of child rights, took them to their shelter in Royapuram.


Tackling new maritime challenges
The international maritime order will continue to gradually but fundamentally change as new powers acquire greater economic and naval heft


The EU flexes its muscles on caste
The practices concerned are most widespread in South Asia and in South Asian diasporas. The European Parliament’s recent resolution circumvents India’s contention that caste oppression does not constitute racial discrimination.


A new model for journalism
Something shocking has happened to U.S. journalism: it has parted company with the free market. Perhaps the divorce is irrevocable, although a state of denial still exists. This has been a gradual process but the events of the past few months make the rift visible, though still largely unacknowledged.

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India starts historic mission to Mars
PSLV puts Mars orbiter precisely into earth-orbit; trip to the Red Planet will take more than 300 days

Mars Orbiter Mission: Those five minutes are crucial
Mars orbiter spacecraft must be set off between 2.38 p.m. and 2.43 p.m. today

300-day Mars odyssey begins today

‘Meaningful scientific experiments’ to be conducted on the Red Planet