Soon after Open magazine published transcripts of conversations between well-known journalists and public relations consultant Nira Radia, the journalists in question said it was legitimate for them to talk to people from all walks of life.

The transcripts suggest that Barkha Dutt, group editor of NDTV, and Vir Sanghvi,  advisory editorial director of The Hindustan Times offered to mediate between the DMK and the Congress, but both journalists dismissed them as routine conversations where they were just being polite. Open reported:

The phone lines of the head of Vaishnavi Communication, Niira Radia, were twice placed under surveillance by the Income Tax Department (based on a tip-off by the Central Board of Direct Taxes) for a few months in 2008 and 2009. Niira Radia is a woman of formidable networking and PR skills, so much so that she represents both the Tata and the Mukesh Ambani group. Some of these recorded phone conversations are now available with Open; they were

As a weakened US President Barack Obama arrives for a 10-day trip to Asia, security, trade and economic issues will top his agenda.

If a sagging US economy has been blamed for his Democratic Party's loss in the mid-term election, reviving the economy would be the key to renewing his presidency, and economic issues are sure to top his agenda.

Ahead of his visit, Obama described India as a "cornerstone of the US engagement in Asia", but held out no assurances on key issues — support for India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and ending curbs on export of dual-use technology.

That clearly indicates that he will not endorse anything that could land him in more trouble than he already finds himself and his party in.

Obama has also stressed that his India sojourn would provide him with an opportunity to work with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to bring Indo-US cooperation on a broad range of issues to a new level, but if he skirts important issues like CTBT and

The affairs of the Indian Premier League just got murkier as members of the Kochi consortium continued to fight amongst themselves to set up a joint venture as per the directives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

According to a report, Kochi owners have sent an e-mail to the BCCI on share structure and seeks Rendezvous Group's sweat equity to be reduced to 10 percent. The Rendezvous Group, however, is refusing to accept anything less than 25 percent. Two different proposals from sparring owners could get the Kochi team scrapped

The Kochi consortium had on October 10 been served a show-cause notice for failing to form a joint venture in accordance with the franchisee regulations of the IPL, by the IPL Governing Council, even as the Council decided to scrap Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab from the multi-million dollar tournament.

The IPL Governing Council was slated to meet again on October 21 to consider the response of the Kochi IPL. Kochi, however, has not

When I first read about how Rohinton Mistry's Booker-nominated novel 'Such a Long Journey' was dropped from Mumbai University's BA English syllabus, I was enraged. Aditya Thackeray — Uddhav Thackeray's son and Bal Thackeray's grandson, had paid a visit to the University's vice-chancellor and demanded that the book be withdrawn for containing a few passages that were critical of the Shiv Sena's violent ways during the 1970's (the period wherein the novel is set). The University immediately fell at Aditya's feet, pulling the book off the second year BA syllabus the very next day.

The issue hit close to home. I was an English major and History Honours student at St Xavier's College — the same institution that Mistry is also an alumnus of and where Aditya Thackeray is currently a final year History student. When I was in college, 'Such a Long Journey' was not a prescribed text but a part of additional reading for the second year subject on 'Indian writing in English'.  I had