Name the former Maharashtra CM who assured Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray that he will assist state lawyers in the Supreme Court on the issue of the merger of 865 Marathi-speaking villages of Karnataka.

Detained LTTE leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), former chief of the Tigers’ international wing, is now reportedly leading efforts to bring together Tiger sympathisers to assist in rebuilding the war-torn northern areas that were once their stronghold. Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the government is working with KP to mobilise the support of the Tamil diaspora but denied reports that it had formed an 'alliance' with the remnants of the LTTE.

Mohammed Daoud Odeh, also known as Abu Daoud, died in Andalus Hospital in Damascus of kidney failure. He was 73. A former leader of the Black September Palestinian guerrilla group, Abu Daoud planned the Munich hostage drama in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed.

Lodi Gyari, a Tibetan diplomat residing in Washington, DC, was one of the 19 candidates whose names were posted on a Tibetan language website as contenders for the post of prime minister. But after his refusal to be a candidate for the post, former minister Tenzin Namgyal Tethong and Harvard law graduate Lobsang Sangay are the favourites among the Tibetan diaspora which will go to preliminary polls on October 3, 2010, and final polls on March 20, 2011.

In a letter to Gandhi, Bir Devinder Singh insisted that she ask prime minister Manmohan Singh or sports minister Mohan Singh Gill to put an end to the glorification of the queen's baton. "The heroic welcome being accorded to the queen's baton at various places in the country with great pomp and show is a manifestation of our unconscious slave mentality which speaks volumes about the lack of wisdom and fickle memory of our people," he said.

Speaking at a discussion on Security Council reforms, India's envoy to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said this compromise would "ensure that the veto does not veto council reform". The deliberations on the veto are part of the growing momentum to achieve concrete progress on UN Security Council reforms.

The title, which was won by Londonderry in Northern Ireland, comes with no government funding. It is designed to help areas boost their economy through tourism and the creative industries. Northern Ireland's second city competed against Birmingham, Norwich, and Sheffield. The competition was launched following Liverpool’s success as European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Wilders said he will launch the movement later this year, initially in five countries: the US, Canada, Britain, France, and Germany. “The message, ‘stop Islam, defend freedom,’ is a message that is not only important for The Netherlands, but for the whole free Western world,” he said. Among the group’s aims will be outlawing immigration from Islamic countries to the West and a ban on Islamic law. Starting as a grassroots movement, Wilders hopes it will eventually produce its own lawmakers or influence other legislators.

Sir Nigel Sheinwald’s admission in Washington, DC, followed a furore that was whipped up over al-Megrahi’s release amid revelations that the British company BP got a major oil deal coincident with the release. Also, a doctor involved said the terrorist convicted of killing 270 people in the 1988 Pan Am bombing could live for a decade but he was released on “compassionate” grounds with the claim that he had just three months to live.

Argentina's senate passed the homosexual marriage law on July 15, 2010, following more than 14 hours of charged debate, as hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside Congress in near-freezing temperatures. Senators voted 33-27 for the proposal, with three abstentions.

Abdul Rehman Antulay, a close friend of Thackeray, called on the Sena leader at his Bandra residence and discussed the boundary dispute for more than two hours. Antulay has written a book, Mahajan Report Uncovered, on the issue and been a strong advocate of the inclusion of the disputed villages of Karnataka in Maharashtra. Sena leader Subhash Desai presented a copy of the book to Manmohan Singh on Thackeray’s behalf when an all-party delegation met the prime minister last week.