What is the name of New York’s mayor who has defended plans to build a controversial mosque near Ground Zero?

With wife Monica and seven-month-old daughter Ana by his side, Kansas state representative Raj Goyle declared victory before a large crowd in Wichita on August 4. Goyle, who has made jobs and the economy his campaign's focus, vowed to eliminate the tax breaks and loopholes that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas.

Meeran Chadha Borwankar, who happens to be the first woman to take over the top police job in the city, said she had reviewed the training and fitness of the force deployed in the sensitive areas identified after the terror attack.

In a writeup titled ‘The Huge Scale of Pakistan’s Complicity’, Chris Alexander, a former Canadian envoy to Kabul, said, “The Pakistan Army under Gen Kayani is sponsoring a large-scale, covert guerrilla war through Afghan proxies.” According to Alexander, Kayani told Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai that the condition for peace in his country would be the closing of several Indian consulates, while offering to broker deals with Islamic Emirates in the Gulf region.

The New York landmarks preservation commission voted unanimously on August 3 to allow a Muslim organisation to tear down a 152-year-old building in Manhattan near Ground Zero and make space for a mosque. Republican Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska, urged “peace-seeking Muslims” to reject the centre, branding it an “unnecessary provocation”. New York’s mayor Bloomberg, however, has emerged as a passionate defender of the project.

Bardekar, who was released after being held captive by Bodo extremists for 83 days, met chief minister Ashok Chavan and forest minister Patangrao Kadam on August 3 and briefed them about his ordeal. Bardekar was accompanied by his relative and retired IPS officer Sudhakar Suradkar, who negotiated with the Bodos for his release.

Meeting the press and students of the Rizvi College of Architecture in Mumbai, Rashad Hussain was in his element as he listed the Obama administration’s efforts in the field of education, science and technology, entrepreneurship and health to reach out to the global Muslim community and bridge the gaps created by past US governments.

Bhujbal, who has been fighting for the mantle of Maharashtra's foremost OBC leader, met Union home minister P Chidambaram, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union minister for social welfare justice Mukul Wasnik and Union law and judiciary minister M Veerappa Moily and discussed the significance of having a separate population census for OBCs in the state and across the country.

The Senate confirmed president Barack Obama's nominee, James Clapper, as US intelligence chief on August, 5 after Republicans dropped their objections. Several Republican senators had delayed, or threatened to delay, Clapper's nomination so that they could get some intelligence reports from the administration. Obama had nominated Clapper as director of national intelligence in June after ousting Admiral Dennis Blair from the job. Clapper is the fourth person in five years to hold the post.

BSF chief Srivastava, who flagged off a 125-member BSF contingent to the Congo on August 4 on peacekeeping duties told his men that their batch could be the last as he had been told that the UN may be winding up its operations or scaling down the strength of its forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a candid live discussion on state-run CCTV on August 3, Jaishankar said, "If there is a lack of trust between the two countries the real issues between them should be addressed." Jaishankar said there are far more Chinese companies in India doing business in India than Indian companies in China and called for more openings for Indian trade and businesses in Chinese markets.