India's Nuclear Isolation Ends,
N-deal on Fast-Track
by Mehru Jaffer and Manish Chand
The 45-nation nuclear cartel Saturday took a historic decision to lift a global ban on nuclear trade with India that ended 34 years of New Delhi's isolation and set the stage for sealing its landmark nuclear deal with the US. The India-US nuclear deal is now headed for the US Congress, which meets Sep 8 to discuss an approval for the 123 bilateral agreement that will bring it to its closure over three years ago after it was first conceptualized. Read On
► White House Hails NSG Waiver
    as 'Historic Achievement'  
► After NSG Waiver, USIBC Vows to Work
   for Congress Nod 

Zardari Elected Pakistan President
by Muhammad Najeeb
Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was Saturday elected the country's 13th president, defeating his two rivals from the Pakistan Muslim League factions with a big majority. Read On
► Once 'Mr Ten Percent',
    Now Pakistan's President 

Two Mumbai Blasts Suspects Caught in Nepal
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Two Indian aides of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, suspected of having a role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts that killed 257 people, were arrested by the Nepal police and have been handed over to Indian authorities in a well-concealed operation. Read On

Indian-Canadians Outraged
by Overturning of Reena Virk Murder Verdict
The Indian-Canadian community here has been outraged by a court's decision to overturn the life sentence of a woman convicted for brutally beating and drowning Indian origin teenager Reena Virk in 1997. The beating and drowning of the 14-year-old girl by Kelly Ellard and her friends made international headlines and shook Canadians. Read On

US, Libya, Formally End Half Century of Hostility
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi formally ended a half century of hostility as Washington's chief diplomat became the highest ranking US official to visit Tripoli since 1957. The two officials discussed their common fight against terrorism and laid the basis for cultural and trade ties during their historic meeting Friday. Read On

• Iran Threatens Western Powers with Sanctions
• Role of Aerosols in Climate Change
  Under Fresh Scrutiny 

Pakistan Using US Aid to Prepare for War
against India: Barack Obama by Arun Kumar
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has advocated putting more pressure on Pakistan as he fears it is preparing for a war against India by using US military aid given to them for fighting terrorists. "The US needs to stay focused on Afghanistan and put more pressure on the Pakistanis," he said in an interview telecast Thursday night, "agreeing completely" with interviewer Bill O'Reilly that "there's no winning the Taliban war unless Pakistan cracks down on the guys that are in Pakistan." Read On

• Paes Fails to Make it a Double
  by Losing Men's Doubles Final 
• Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi Refuses Food
  for Three Weeks 

Cuba Dissidents Ask Bush to Suspend Embargo
for Storm Relief   
Cuban dissidents have urged US President George W. Bush to suspend the economic embargo on the communist country to enable it to receive overseas aid following the devastating Hurricane Gustav, EFE reported Friday. Read On

India Rejoices as N-deal Leaps Across NSG Hurdle
The nuclear deal may not be the common's man fodder for thought, mired as it is in legalese and technical overload, but Saturday thinking India rejoiced as the civilian nuclear energy pact jumped the final obstacle in its path towards fruition. Read On
► India Retains 'Legal Right' to Test: Kakodkar

NSG Ends India's Nuclear Isolation;
N-deal On Course
by Mehru Jaffer and Pranay Sharma
History was made Saturday as the 45-member Nuclear Supplier's Group agreed by consensus to alter its guidelines for India, ending its 34 year nuclear isolation, and setting the stage for global commerce with New Delhi. Politically, the "clean waiver" will be seen as a moral booster for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that had been under mounting pressure from skeptics and political opponents at home on the India-US nuclear deal. Read On
► Manmohan thanks Bush,
    Discusses Next Nuclear Steps
► What Next After the NSG Waiver
► NSG Decision Forward-Looking, Momentous: PM

Singur Talks to Continue Monday
Amid Solution Signals
Amid signals that a formula to solve the 28-month dispute over land allotted to Tata Motors' Nano small car project at Singur in West Bengal has already been worked out, the second round of talks initiated by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi ended inconclusively Saturday. The talks will continue Monday. Read On

• Infrastructure for Cross-border Trade Reviewed
  in Kashmir 
• Jyoti Basu Advised Hospitalization after Fall 
• Shutdown Affects Life in Kashmir Valley
• High Gas Prices Close
  Most of India's Tile-making Units 
• Equity Markets End Week with Big Losses

Stall on Dalit Literature at Delhi Book Fair Attracting Crowds
Books are a way to bridge the gap between Dalits and other sections of society. That's the belief that has driven A.K. Gautam to open a stall exclusively devoted to Dalit literature at the 14th Delhi Book Fair. Read On

'Everything Washed Away, It's God's Curse',
Cries Majuli Resident by Syed Zarir Hussain
The elderly Bhubon Pegu stares blankly from a raised mud embankment at the swirling grey floodwaters of the Brahmaputra river cutting a swathe across his village and washing away a cluster of huts. Pegu and his family of 12, including three grandchildren, are among an estimated 100,000 people in Majuli, South Asia's biggest river island, about 320 km east of Guwahati, whose lives will never be the same. Read On

• Pune Teacher to Die for Raping, Killing 9-year-old 
• Bihar Gets Rs.16 bn Central Aid for Flood Victims
• Increasing Production Answer to Inflation - PM

Getting Away with Murder? Not So Easy Any More
Should the sentencing of Sanjeev Nanda, the grandson of former navy chief S.M. Nanda and son of influential arms dealer Suresh Nanda, to five years for killing six people in a hit and run be seen as a test of the judicial system's ability to take on the powerful? Read On

Sanjeev Nanda Sentenced to Ffive Years in Prison
Five years for six deaths -that was the sentence meted out by a Delhi court Friday to Sanjeev Nanda for crushing to death six people under his BMW in the dark hours of Jan 10, 1999.  Nanda, who nine years ago had run over six people in south Delhi's Lodhi Colony while returning drunk from a party in Gurgaon, was taken into custody soon after the sentence was pronounced. Dressed in a beige kurta, the grandson of former navy chief S.M. Nanda and son of arms dealer Suresh Nanda was surrounded by policemen. Read On