N-deal
IAEA talks on
UPA-Left panel will debate outcome
New Delhi, November 16
The UPA government today succeeded in getting clearance from the Left to proceed with talks for India-specific safeguards agreement at the IAEA but with the condition that its outcome will be presented to the UPA-Left committee on Indo-US nuclear deal before it finalises its findings.

Experts to go to Vienna soon

Bhutto freed, calls for govt of national unity Mohammedmian Soomro, chairman of the Senate, was sworn in as the caretaker Prime Minister on Friday and vowed to remain focused on overseeing free, fair and transparent elections. However, the caretaker structure was rejected by the Opposition describing it as an “extension” of the Pakistan Muslim League.
	Pakistan's caretaker prime minister Mohammadmian Soomro (centre) reviews a guard of honour in Islamabad on Friday. — Reuters

Nandigram: HC orders fresh probe
Kolkata, November 16
The Calcutta High Court today ruled that the firing in Nandigram on March 14, which killed 14 persons, was not justifiable. The division Bench comprising Chief Justice S.S. Nirjar and Justice Pinaki Ranjan Sengupta, which resumed its hearing today on the CBI inquiry into the incident, also ordered the CBI to conduct a fresh probe and submit its report to the high court within one month.

We were there, admit Maoists

Plot to ‘kidnap’ Rahul foiled
Lucknow, November 16
The state’s Special Task Force (STF) foiled a reported Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) plot to hold a ‘top VVIP politician’ hostage to mount international pressure for the release of 42 hardcore JeM terrorist at present lodged in various Indian jails, claimed DGP Vikram Singh today.

1100 feared dead as ‘Sidr’ unleashes fury Dhaka, November 16 Over 1100 persons were feared dead, while thousands were injured, as a powerful cyclone lashed the country’s south and south-western regions. Rescuers and survivors feared the death toll would climb up further, but failed to get information from remote and inaccessible islands, which remained cut off till this evening. Coast Guard conducts rescue operation

People watch a tree that had fallen on a taxi during a storm in Dhaka on Friday. A 15-foot-high water surge, triggered by a cyclone that battered Bangladesh overnight, devastated three coastal towns with a combined population of over 700,000.—Reuters

EC bans SMS by candidates 48 hrs before Gujarat, HP polls
New Delhi, November 16
The Election Commission for the first time imposed a ban on the use of short message service (SMS) by candidates 48 hours before polling for the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assemblies. The move is to check mischievous messages during campaigning.

Kidnappers or timber smugglers?
Mandi police arrests three in Chandigarh
Mandi, November 16
Though a seven-member Mandi police team has arrested three kidnappers from a house in Sector 46, Chandigarh, the police suspect that the kidnappers and the kidnapped, a person named Ghanshayam, are part of an alleged gang of timber smugglers. The police is investigating this angle as well.