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        Supreme Court of Pakistan made history on Friday by reversing the decision of a military ruler for the first time in 60 years when it threw out President Pervez Musharraf's reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and reinstated the apex judge. The legal community hailed it as a 'landmark verdict' that heralded the 'birth of a new Pakistan'. A Presidential spokesman said, 'the President respects the decision of the Supreme Court'. Major General Rashid Qureshi said President Musharraf 'had stated earlier that any judgement the Supreme Court arrives at will be honoured respected and adhered to'. In a majority verdict of 10 to 3, the full court of 13 judges set aside the 9 March presidential reference against Chaudhary, and unanimously ruled that presidential order of the same day making him non-functional was 'illegal'. Musharraf begins to taste defeat in Lal Masjid storming also.

        Author J K Rowling has reacted with fury after a US paper run a review of the final book in the Harry Potter series two days before its official publication, thereby breaking the cloak of secrecy surrounding the book. With copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows apparently available in some American stores, and other newspaper reviews written from leaks on the Internet, Rowling and her publishers hit out against 'spoilsports' who wanted to wreck the excitement engendered with the last instalment of the epic story being released just after midnight Friday night. 'I am staggered that some American newspapers have decided to publish purported spoilers in the form of reviews in complete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children, who wanted to reach Harry's final destination by themselves, in their own time. Rowling is ruing over 'Deathly Hallows' revelation.

        A top UN monitoring team for Nepal's crucial November elections has warned that the deteriorating security situation poses the most serious threat to the electoral process in the Himalayan nation. The UN Electoral Expert Monitoring Team (EEMT), responsible for assessing the preparations for the upcoming Constituent Assembly elections slated for 22 November, said that the deteriorating security situation in the country continues to pose the most serious threat to the electoral process. In a report submitted to the government and the Election Commission, the EEMT has also recommended that the political leaders reach an agreement on the security issue before the elections. In the Kingdom nation security situation for election is serious.

        India's last Viceroy Lord Mountbatten thought the country's Partition was 'completely unreal, crazy and unworkable' but advanced it by nine months because he 'was desperate that Indians should take on government', says his daughter. 'It was essential that this (Independence and Partition) was brought forward...My father was desperate that they (the Indians) should take on government,' Lady Pamela Hicks said in an interview to Karan Thapar in CNBC's 'India Tonight' programme. 'It's very easy to be in opposition....but when the reality of government faces you, you find out exactly how difficult it is. For them to have to cope with their own problems was really essential...that the new people could begin working for the country that they were wanting and not just sit doing nothing...,' said Lady Hicks, who has written India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power'. Time-tested issue, now we experience.

        Lawmakers across the country on Thursday voted in the murkiest ever Presidential poll marked by open defiance, abstention, cross-voting and a last-minute volte face by AIADMK to join the election, exposing chinks in NDA and nascent Third Front. Despite the electoral arithmetic being heavily loaded in favour of UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil pitted against NDA-backed independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, a total of 682 of 770 MPs exercised their franchise, marking a turnout of 88.5 per cent, while 3,755 MLAs out of 4,170 voted, with seven States recording 100 per cent polling. United National Progressive Alliance with two of its constituents AIADMK and MDMK taking part in the Presidential election Thursday, defying the combine's decision to abstain. And the results are out.

        Pratibha Patil was on Saturday elected the country's first woman President, defeating NDA-backed independent Bhairon Singh Shekhawat by a huge margin in a bitterly contested poll following which he resigned as Vice-President. The 72-year old UPA-Left nominee won by a margin of over three-lakh vote value while Shekhawat drew a blank in as many as four States and suffered cross-voting against him in BJP-ruled Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and some other States ruled by its allies. Shortly after the official declaration of Patil's victory, 84-year old Shekhawat quit as Vice-President. He drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan and handed over his resignation to President A P J Abdul Kalam. Majority counts in a democracy.

        Four 800-year-old mud pots, engraved with figurines, have been found at Avaraikari village near Ranipet in Tamilnadu's Vellore district. The pots with figures of king, queen, dancing girl and elephant were unearthed when an uncultivated land belonging to one Srinivasan was dug up using earth-movers for brick-making. The pots were around two-and-a-half feet wide and three feet tall. On receiving information about the discovery, Vellore Archaeological Museum officer Saravanan rushed to the village and examined them. He said the pots were 800 years old. Our forefathers' lifestyles were buried deep.

        In a twist to the criminal case against the owner of MVV Minerals and Jaya TV shareholder S Vaikuntarajan in connection with 'illegal' mining of garnet sand, complainant Samidoss himself appeared before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court Thursday and said he neither knew Vaikuntarajan nor gave any complaint against him. Filing an affidavit seeking to implead him in the police case, Samidoss said 'I did not give any complaint to Tirunelveli District Crime Branch or anywhere else.' He alleged that police came to his house around midnight Wednesday and took away two cell phones from his house, and also threatened his wife and children. They also told him that he should not come to the court, he submitted. It is not understandable what happens on this part of the land.

        In a shocking instance of poor infrastructure in State-run hospitals, surgeons of the Government Tirunelveli Hospital in Tamilnadu have claimed they often forced to use battery-powered torches during surgeries due to frequent power problems. At least 50 per cent of the operations were conducted using torches in between as lights in the operation theatre goes off due to power cuts, a senior surgeon of the hospital in Tirunelveli, about 150 km from Madurai, said. 'The generator takes a long time to start. We cannot wait once we have started the operation, so we prefer to use torches,' the surgeon said on condition of anonymity. The hospital, the second largest government hospital next to the Rajaji Hospital here, caters to the needs of people in four districts of Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Virudhunagar. Highly deplorable.

        Ridiculing AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa's explanation on her party MLAs and MPs voting in the Presidential polls, Tamilnadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi Friday said she could have at least guided them through senior party leaders. Writing in the DMK's mouth piece Murasoli, he said if Jayalalithaa did not want to convene a meeting of party MPs and MLAs to give instructions, she could have at least conveyed her directions through senior leaders of the party. Explaining her party's u-turn on its decision to abstain in the Presidential election Thursday, Jayalalithaa had blamed the Election Commission for creating 'unnecessary confusion' on the issue that led her party MPs and MLAs to vote in the poll. Politicians fooling whom?

        The Tamilnadu government order cancelling co-operative societies elections was challenged in the Madras High Court on Thursday. Justice A Kulasekaran, before whom the petition filed by advocate D Kulasekaran came up for hearing, ordered notice, returnable by two weeks, to the State government and the Registrar of Co-operative Societies. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on 11 July annulled the then ongoing elections for the co-operative polls and cancelled the elections to be held following complaints of irregularities by political parties, including DMK's allies. The petitioner, a successful candidate in the Madras Advocates Co-operative Society Limited (Canteen) elections, sought to quash the 11 July last order cancelling the elections and consequently direct the authorities to constitute the board of directors elected in the election in respect of his society. Expected counter.

        Tamilnadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi today said the election of Pratibha Patil in the presidential poll 'is a great victory for the womenfolk', Karunanidhi, who played a key role in the selection of UPA nominee in the presidential poll, told reporters that he would be going to New Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony of Patil as the 13th President of the country. He said UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi spoke to him over telephone to thank him for his support to Patil in the poll. Incidentally, Patil launched her campaign for the Presidential poll from Chennai on 1 July, when she addressed a women's rally, organised to felicitate her for being named as the UPA nominee for the poll. Another plume in the cap of Karunanidhi.

        Modern logistics and infrastructure, including cold chains and storage networks, in the marketing of farm produce would be brought in by the organised retail and the Confederation of Indian Industry would deal with the resistance to the entry of big corporates in the sector through a fair and transparent manner. In the absence of storage facilities and transport infrastructure, 37 per cent of farm produce, comprising vegetables, fruits and staple crops, amounting to 42 million tonnes were being wasted in a year, informed Sunil Bharti Mittal, president, CII and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises. Speaking to media persons after chairing the Executive Committee and National Council meets of the apex body here yesterday, Mittal said creating sustainable growth in agriculture was a challenge to policy makers and other stakeholders, though agri-business have to be rejuvenated for raising farm income which was critical for achieving over 9 per cent growth in coming years.

        Sachin Tendulkar went past Steve Waugh's tally of 10,927 Test runs to become the third highest run-getter in Test history after Brian Lara (11,953) and Allan Border (11,174) on the second day of the first Test aganst England at Lord's on Friday.

        While Waugh took 168 Tests to score his runs, Tendulkar eclipsed his tally playing 30 Tests less.Needing just six runs to go past Waugh, Tendulkar completed the formality soon after tea when he flicked an overpitched delivery from Ryan Sidebottom to the square leg boundary.

        Before he walked out to bat in the first innings at Lord's, Tendulkar, who made his Test debut in November 1989 against Pakistan, has scored 10,922 runs at an average of 55.44 in 137 Tests.