NIA to come into being today
New Delhi, December 31
In a New Year gift - which will bolster security and help combat terror in speedy and effective manner - to the people of the country, the government today announced that national investigative agency (NIA) would start functioning from tomorrow.

LeT ‘admits’ to role in attacks
Pakistan’s investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks has revealed “substantive links” between the 10 terrorists and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a US media report.

We will sternly deal with non-state actors: Zardari

‘Records do not verify Kasab as Pak citizen’
One of the mobile phone Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) allegedly recovered from the lone surviving gunman of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Ajmal Kasab, was issued from Austria, a senior Pakistani official has claimed.

After Pranab, Chidambaram does Pak bashing

Judges’ appointment can’t be transparent: Govt
New Delhi, December 31
The government has rejected a proposal for transparency in the appointment of judges, stating it would come in the way of “dispassionate consideration” of the names.

Don’t honk on Delhi roads today
Traffic police, NGO urge residents to observe January 1 as ‘No Honking Day’
New Delhi, December 31
With unnecessary honking becoming a habit rather than a necessity among people, an NGO in collaboration with the Delhi traffic police has come forward to observe January 1 as a ‘No Honking Day’ in the national capital.

The Tribune wishes its readers a Happy New Year WELCOME 2009: The New Year’s Eve fireworks based on the Aboriginal theme ‘Creation Storm’ explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. — AFP

New Year gift for Dhoni: Two threat letters
Back-to-back letters warn of harm if Rs 50 lakh not paid; security beefed up
Ranchi, December 31
Team India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s family has received back-to-back extortion letters from suspected local criminals threatening harm if Rs 50 lakh was not paid.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni sits in a car after his meeting with a senior police official in Ranchi on Wednesday. — Reuters

Mega Projects Norms bent to favour private builders Chandigarh, December 31 The recent statement by the Union Minister of State for Finance, Pawan Kumar Bansal, seeking a review of UT Administrator Gen (Retd) SF Rodrigues’s Mega Projects on the ground that it was “heavily tilted in favour of private players” seems justified, as land had been literally given to some developers at peanuts.