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        Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews on Saturday cleared the way for Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef to leave the country after he was cleared of terror charges. He said government has given 'no objection' to Haneef leaving Australia. Haneef was released from prison on Friday after a terror charge against him was dropped. Andrews, who cancelled Haneef's work visa on 16 July when a Brisbane magistrate granted the doctor bail, said the visa remained cancelled. He said Haneef's lawyers had contacted the Immigration Department asking if the doctor could leave Australia as soon as possible. 'After taking advice, including from the Australian Federal Police, I have indicated that the Commonwealth has no objection to Dr Haneef leaving Australia,' he said. Freedom at last for the Indian doctor.

        President Pervez Musharraf held two rounds of talks with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the UAE, apparently to clinch a deal to ensure his re-election and her return home from self-exile, but there were conflicting media reports about its outcome. 'The talks remained inconclusive,' the Dawn reported Saturday, quoting unnamed sources who preferred to call the talk process 'a deadlock'. Differences over the timing for Musharraf to doff his military uniform and Bhutto's insistence on returning to Pakistan before the general elections remained the contentious issues between them, the sources said. Is it the end-game for Musharraf?

        The United States has said India's willingness to commit a new state-of-the-art facility for reprocessing the spend fuel under IAEA safeguards was a 'fundamental turning point' in the negotiations to finalise the 123 Agreement. Making it clear that the US would seek return of nuclear technology and fuel if India conducts a nuclear test, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told reporters on Friday that Washington would like to see positive cooperation in the realm of civilian nuclear cooperation. Asked what would happen if the US and India were caught up in a Tarapur-type situation, he said 'it's hard for me to deal with hypotheticals.' Nuclear deal is bound to strengthen Indo-US relations with thrust on strategic understanding.

        Pratibha Patil on Wednesday became the first President to deliver an address after taking oath in both English and Hindi. Patil's gesture was appreciated by dignitaries who assembled in the Central Hall of Parliament for the swearing-in ceremony. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Tamilnadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi were among the first VIPs who called on the President. A Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman described the meetings as courtesy calls. Earlier, she paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat. The 72-year-old Patil drove straight to Raj Ghat from Delhi Cantonment after seeing off outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam. She paid tributes to former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi on Thursday, officials said. A great leap for Pratibha who is now the first citizen as well as the supreme commander of Armed Forces.

        Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna has wished former President A P J Kalam good luck on his plan to resume teaching. 'I understand from press reports that you are planning to go back to teaching and academic activities,' Krishna said in a letter to Kalam. 'While wishing you well for your post-retirement engagements, I do hope that you will continue to guide the nation in fulfilling your dream of creating a modern and egalitarian India,' he said. Krishna said the former President had left an 'indelible imprint of (his) distinct style, erudition and scholarship'. The youth and students perceived him as an icon of present times, even as the scientific and academic faculty developed a fondness for Kalam as a leader with a vision for India, he observed. No second opinion to Krishna's farewell message.

        Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who resigned as Vice President after losing the Presidential poll is unhappy with the official accommodation offered to him in the Capital by the government. The Urban Development Ministry has given Shekhawat a residence at no: 31, Aurangazeb Road address, a type VII bungalow, in place of the earlier house on Maulana Azad Road when he was the Vice President. 'But his staff told us that he was not satisfied with that bungalow,' Ministry sources said on Wednesday. Former President A P J Abdul Kalam had also declined to stay at a house on Aurangazeb Road and was later given a bungalow at Rajaji Marg, they said. Shekhawat's staff have made enquiries on the availability of a building at no: 9, Janpath, a bungalow next to the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Even VIPs find bungalows a scarcity in posh Delhi.

        Former President A P J Abdul Kalam has said that all projects and schemes under Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) should focus on creating jobs for the rural people. Speaking at a consultation meet on PURA which was being showcased as a model of sustainable development at Gandhigram Rural University near Dindigul, Kalam said creating jobs alone would solve the problem of uplifting over 220 million people living below the poverty line. Agriculture had been growing at a rate of 1.6 per cent. 'If we have to uplift poor and provide them quality life, agriculture sector should grow at least by four per cent a year,' he said. Will jobs be created in rural hinterland based on Kalam's prescriptions have to be seen.

        An accused wanted for the last nine years in connection with the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts has been arrested, police said. Maideen was one among the five accused who were at large since the blasts on 14 February 1998 during the visit of BJP leader L K Advani, which claimed 58 lives and left 250 injured. However, Maideen was arrested later on the charge of murdering three Hindu Munnai leaders in Melapalayam in Tirunelveli district and was acquitted by a Fast Track Court on Wednesday. On learning about Maideen's acquittal, the Special Investigation Team probing the blast cases arrested him from Melapalayam after executing the non-bailable warrant pending against him, police sources said. Really difficult to escape the long arm of law!

        Expressing concern over rampant uprooting of thousands of medicinal plants in different parts of the country, National Biodiversity Authority chairman S Kannaiayan said as many as 427 native plants (medicinal plants) and herbs were on the verge of extinction. If the trees were uprooted then the property of the herb itself might get affected, he said at a college function in Madurai on Thursday. 'We can only pluck the leaves and use it as raw material,' he said. As per a WHO survey, 80 per cent of people in the developing countries were using only native and traditional medicines for ailments and better health. This had increased the need for medicinal plants. Reviving interest in herbal medicine have shifted the focus on traditional care.

        Earth Web, a division of NASA that hosts astronaut photography of the Earth, has said that the Ramar Sethu or Adams Bridge was not a man made structure and their presence was not evidence of any human activity. This was in reply to an e-mail sent by the Sethusamudram

        Corporation on 26 July to clarify whether it was a man made structure or not. 'Our office supports only astronaut photography of the Earth. The chain of small islets connecting India and Sri Lanka are real geographical features that have been mapped for centuries. Chains of islands form a variety of natural geological processes and their occurrence is not evidence of any human activity,' Earth Web said. An official of the Sethusamudram Corporation had mailed Earth Web on the satellite image of Adams Bridge. Claims and counter-claims on Sethu project!

        Opposing the Tamilnadu government's decision allowing the Tata group to set up a Rs 2,500 crore Titanium dioxide project at Tuticorin, PMK on Friday said the government itself could set up the project which was of national importance. 'There is justification in the government's stand that projects like this, which are of national importance, should not be ignored. But minerals for production of nuclear energy which are available in plenty should not be allowed to be mined by private sector,' PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss said in a statement. When the Centre had said that the provisions of land acquisition laws should not be invoked for setting up of SEZs, it was shocking to note that the DMK government had agreed to acquire 10,600 acres of land for Tata's project, he said. PMK has taken a path of confrontation.

        A new satellite channel with an aim to propagate the ideology of Congress, nationalism and development was floated by the family of a Congress MP from the State. The Mega TV would go on air from 20 August, the birth anniversary of late Rajiv Gandhi, former Union Minister and Congress MP K V Thangabalu told reporters here on Thursday. His wife Jayanthi Thangabalu would be the chairperson of the Silverstar Communications, the family-owned company. TV programmes in the new channel would help to wean away youth from the Western culture and inculcate Tamil values and pride, besides establishing the rights of women, he said. Asked if there was scope for yet another channel in the overcrowded satellite channels in Tamil, he said there was good potential as the State ranked first among the TV viewership.

        Mega TV would be a free to air 24-hour entertainment and news channel, he said and added the ISRO's INSAT 2B would be used for beaming the programmes. More TVs, more fun for Tamil viewers.

        Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is reviewing its credit portfolio, even as there is growing demand for capital among industries, especially for infrastructure projects and manufacturing sector. But the bank's exposure to real-estate would be reduced considerably, said S A Bhat, CMD, IOB.

        He said that we are in a process of consolidation and have targeted a 20 per cent growth in total business this year,' he said. The bank would have a mix of CASA (current, savings accounts) and term deposits for mobilising extra resources for its credit growth. High-cost deposits which grew by Rs 6,000 crore for the year ended March 2007 would be reduced in the fiscal 2008. Efforts were on to mobilise at least one million SB accounts before March 2008.

        Sachin Tendulkar Saturday became the third batsman to score 11,000 runs in Test cricket when he reached his individual score of 27 on the second day of the second Test against England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

        Tendulkar, who is the highest run-getter in one-day internationals, drove left-arm spinner Monty Panesar through the covers and achieve the feat during India's first innings.

        After openers Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer had provided a solid start to India, Tendulkar accompanied captain Rahul Dravid to get past the England first innings total of 198.

        The Mumbai batsman was the target of the English bowlers and was treated with several bouncers by the hosts' pace spearhead James Anderson.

        On one occasion, he received a nasty blow on the grill of his helmet but shook off the blow to march on and went on to achieve the rare feat.

        West Indies great Brian Lara (11,953) and former Australian captain Allan Border (11,174) are the other two players to have reached the milestone.

        Tendulkar has reached the milestone in 223 innings, which is 36 fewer than the number Border needed, but ten more than Lara's 213.