Monday, 9 August 2004, 1700 hrs

NATION & STATES
Government keen to discuss with opposition poll bar on criminals
Home minister Shivraj Patil says his government wants to stop " criminally-inclined persons" from contesting elections

BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Petrol and diesel prices may go up in mid-August
Oil companies are contemplating another hike in petrol and diesel prices by mid-August, citing the rise in international crude oil prices...

FEATURED STORIES

Asia Times
Islam: Religion or political ideology?
Some secularized Muslims say Islam is not a religion but "a political movement set to conquer the world". But it is a religion, and that is precisely what makes it so dangerous: for it is driven to jihad by holy rage, says SPENGLER

Indian Express
Siachen: solution lies in a
step-by-step approach
The just concluded Defence Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan have once again brought the Siachen issue into the limelight. Many defence analysts have offered suggestions to find a solution to the crisis on the highest battlefield in the world but in vain, by Maj-Gen HIMMAT SINGH GILL

Deccan Herald
Manipur going the Kashmir way
The draconian AFSPA, which gives a soldier the right to kill without any warning, should be scrapped, says KULDIP NAYAR

The Guardian
Life with Pavarotti: his food, his harem and his 'stupido' rivals
He obviously has - or had - a truly stupendous voice, matched for magnificence perhaps only by the size of his stomach. But, according to a book to be published this autumn, Luciano Pavarotti is also childish, obsessive, over-demanding, lecherous and very, very rude.

Deccan Chronicle
Bananas in a Republic
Politicians make few friends by their behaviour. Something in their character, or perhaps their experience, makes them very resistible to common sense. Why did Shibu Soren waste a week in counterproductive drama when an immediate resignation would have checked the collateral damage to Dr Manmohan Singh and the government? It is obvious that Shibu Soren thought as a Union Cabinet Minister he would never be arrested for a crime he apparently committed in 1975, even if that crime was nothing less than murder, writes M J AKBAR

TOP PICKS

OPINION
Inflation Surges (Hindu)
A senseless confrontation ( Hindu)
Personnel to gain (Deccan Herald)
Manipur going the Kashmir way (DH)
Ignoring history (Pioneer)
Feel bad era (Pioneer)
Reservations Tangle (Statesman)
Justice for Bilkis (Tribune)
Siachen dialogue (Tribune)