PM for war on judicial backlog
New Delhi, August 16
Promising the judicial system that his government would “match each step of the judiciary with two of our own”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked the Supreme Court to play a “vital role” in the “war on arrears” of cases and wiping “every tear of every waiting litigant”.

Nation page: 'Chronic shortage' of judicial officers: CJI

Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily greets PM Manmohan Singh as Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan looks on, at the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, in New Delhi on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Rajnath, Raje call a truce
BJP president confident that former R’sthan CM will heed party advice
New Delhi, August 16
After a heavy exchange of fire for more than a week, the warring factions in the BJP called a truce today with BJP president Rajnath Singh and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje both making conciliatory noises, showing a reluctance to bring their clash to a head.

Finally, Oz initiates steps to protect Indian students
New Delhi, August 16
Just when one thought External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had returned with empty promises from his visit Down Under, the Australian authorities have started putting in place a string of measures to protect foreign students, particularly those from India.
Already done

Kill a scribe in Assam, get away with it
Guwahati, August 16
Investigating agencies, especially police, have cut a sorry figure in nabbing the culprits involved in killing of at least 22 journalists in conflict-ridden Assam from 1991 when the first working journalist was killed by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in broad daylight in Sivasagar district of the state.
Killing Fields

SRK seeks to downplay US episode
Chicago, August 16
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was detained for two hours at a US airport sparking angry reactions back home, today sought to downplay the incident as he said it was a procedure and he would not seek an apology for that.
‘King’ in US media
Editorial: Eyeless in New Jersey

Jinnah was great, we demonised him: Jaswant
New Delhi, August 16
Senior BJP leader and former foreign and finance minister Jaswant Singh has called Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah a great Indian who “was demonised by India” and admitted that he has been greatly attracted to (and) drawn to Jinnah’s personality.

152 fresh H1N1 cases
New Delhi, August 16
The government today said 25 persons, including 13 in Pune, had died of Influenza-A H1N1 infection in the country so far.
3 new cases in UP
4 more in Shillong