Foggy weather in the northern region led to cancellation and rescheduling of several popular trains starting from the city like Poorva Express to Howrah and Sampoorankranti express to Patna.

While six trains were cancelled for the day, departure of 13 trains leaving the city were rescheduled. The cancelled trains also included the Kaifiyat Express from the city, said a Railway spokesperson.

As many as 17 trains arrived in the city four to 15 hours behind schedule, he said. Poor visibility due to foggy conditions have badly hit rail services since the last week.

Controversial Pakistani actress Veena Malik today tied the knot with a businessman in Dubai, according to a media media report.

The 29-year-old actress, best known in India for her appearance in 'Bigg Boss', and businessman Asad Bashir Khan Khattak were married in a court in Dubai, Geo News channel reported.

The channel aired footage of the couple flashing their wedding rings and meeting relatives. Khattak, who runs businesses in Dubai and the US, is the son of a friend of Malik's father.

Our Delhi correspondent reports: Veerappa Moily, who assumed the additional charge of the environment portfolio, after the controversial exit of Jayanthi Natarajan, was surprised at the speed at with which appointments of the member secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board and changes regarding work allocations for senior joint secretaries in the ministry were carried out.

Without Moily's approval, a new director general of forest was also being appointed. Insiders reveal that the secretary of the environment ministry Dr V Rajagopalan is responsible for the drastic changes. A war of sorts between Dr Rajagopalan and Natarajan was hotting up.

In November, Natarajan had not receiving files for project clearances. Around 35 files were intentionally kept away from her by secretary.  

Moily sought to review the transfer and appointment orders made by Dr Rajagopalan in three days between Natarajan leaving and Moily assuming office. 

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has directed Aam Aadmi Party leader and chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal to prove majority of his government on the floor of Delhi assembly by January 3.

The direction came after President Pranab Mukherjee conveyed to Lt Governor Jung that Kejriwal be asked to prove his majority on the floor of the House within seven days from the date on which he takes oath of office. 

Kejriwal will take oath on Saturday along with six other AAP MLAs who will be part of the cabinet.

NDTV reports: The driver of the speeding Aston Martin which crashed into two other cars in Mumbai earlier this month has been identified by one of the victims, sources have said.

Phorum Ruparel, whose Audi car was smashed in the pile up on south Mumbai's Peddar road, has identified 55-year-old Bansilal Joshi, a driver with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Ports, to be the Aston Martin's driver, say sources, adding that Ruparel has been compensated for the crash.

Read the full report here

Our Delhi correspondent reports: BJP President Rajnath Singh was harsh when he illustrated how the party lost 18 seats with narrow margins in the Delhi assembly polls. "Why go slow and lethargic on the last four days of poll campaigns," he asked.

He said each leader has been given a timetable to spend more time with the voters. Popularise the one note-one vote slogan, he emphasised. 

Narendra Modi today told BJP spokespersons to add fresh political inputs during their media interaction and television debates. He repeatedly asked to focus on the "weakening Congress" and on the BJP's efforts to educate voters to have a "Congress-free India", reports our Delhi correspondent. 

Faculty members of West Bengal's National University of Juridical Sciences write to the administration demanding that the institute should dissociate itself from former Supreme Court judge A K Ganguly, accused of sexually harassing a law intern, reports CNN-IBN. 

Ganguly was an honorary professor at NUJS when he was accused of sexual harassment.         

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said today that the party will clear the Lokpal Bill within 15 days of forming the government.

Kejriwal will be sworn in as the Delhi CM on Saturday.  

Pope Francis has begun to make his first Christmas address as pontiff in front of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square in the Vatican, reports BBC.

The Argentine pope is expected to tackle themes such as global poverty, which he has focused on since taking over from Benedict in March this year.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today slammed the Congress saying it has put the issue of special category status for Bihar on the "back burner" under the influence of its "natural ally".

"The Congress has put the issue of special category status for Bihar on the back burner under the influence of its natural ally. We will certainly raise the issue in 2014 Lok Sabha polls," Kumar told reporters at the airport on landing from New Delhi, in an apparent reference to the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Pop star Justin Bieber broke the heart of many of his fans by announcing on Christmas eve that he was officially retiring.

The 19-year-old singer, who has been at the centre of many controversies in the recent past, had recently hinted about a planned retirement and now he has gone ahead and spoken about it with his millions of followers on Twitter. "My beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring," he wrote.

The singer, however, followed the announcement with a confusing tweet about how he would never leave his fans. "The media talks a lot about me. They make a up a lot of lies and want me to fail but I'm never leaving you, being a belieber is a lifestyle," he further wrote.

The most complete all-rounder of his time Jacques Kallis has announced his retirement from Test cricket after the second Test against India starting at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, Durban on Thursday. However, the South African will remain available for selection in the limited-over formats for South Africa.

NDTV reports: A 17-year-old who was held captive and allegedly raped repeatedly for two weeks in a house just 50 feet away from her own home in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, was rescued today.

The girl, a class 9 student, had gone to lawyer Balkrishna Joshi on December 12, for help to get a caste certificate. The man, in his late 40s, allegedly held her captive and repeatedly raped her for 14 days. He has been arrested.

Read the full report here

The ruling National Conference today welcomed the court martial proceedings ordered by the army against six of its men for their alleged involvement in 2010 Machil fake encounter case that had triggered a two month-long agitation in the Valley.

"It is a welcome step but we strongly feel that the proceedings and the results be made transparent so that there is no scope for any allegation or feeling of a cover up," National Conference leader and political secretary to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Tanvir Sadiq said.

Senior BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee turned 89 today with a stream of leaders wishing him on the occasion.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to greet Vajpayee on his birthday. Dr Singh, who reached Vajpayee's 6A Krishna Menon Marg residence around 12:30 pm, remained with the BJP veteran for nearly 20 minutes.

Vajpayee's deputy in the NDA Cabinet and senior BJP leader L K Advani also wished the former PM on the occasion. Vajpayye has been ailing for some time now and is confined to his official residence.

The United States on Wednesday said employment of domestic workers will now be on agenda for the bilateral talks with India with which it is in conversation to "determine the way forward" in resolving the 14-day-long diplomatic row.

"The department of state is in conversation with the Government of India on determining the way forward on the immediate case," a state department official told PTI, as it continued to review the application of transfer of Devyani Khobragade from the Indian Consulate in New York to India's Permanent Mission in United Nations.

"However, we recognise the need to address the larger issues. The employment of domestic workers will be on the agenda for bilateral discussion in the weeks and months ahead," the official said.

The army today ordered court martial proceedings against six of its men, including two officers, for their alleged involvement in the 2010 Machil fake encounter case that had triggered a two month-long agitation in the Kashmir Valley.   

Court martial proceedings have been initiated against the accused personnel, the army said. 

Sources said those who will face proceedings include Col D K Pathania, Commanding Officer of 4 Rajput Regiment,Major Upinder and four of its men.  

On April 30, 2010, the army had claimed that they had killed three infiltrators in the Machil sector along the Line of Control. It had later claimed that they were Pakistani terrorists.   

However, they were later identified as Mohamad Shafi, Shehzad Ahmed and Riyaz Ahmed, all residents of Nadihal in the Baramulla district. They were allegedly lured to a border area and shot dead.

Arvind Kejriwal to be sworn-in as Delhi chief minister on December 28 at noon. The ceremony will take place at the Ramlila maidan in New Delhi.    

President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's proposal on government formation by Aam Aadmi Party.

The home ministry has now sent the President's communication to Najeeb Jung. "It is up to the L-G to decide the date of swearing-in after holding consultation with Chief Minister designate," the Home Ministry said.

The home ministry has sent President's communication to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on government formation by Arvind Kejriwal. It is up to the LG to decide the date of swearing-in after holding consultation with the chief minister-designate, said the home ministry.

Bollywood icon Aamir Khan's latest release Dhoom 3 has broken box office records in Pakistan in the first week of its release, with multiplexes running five shows a day to capitalise on interest in the film.

In the country's largest city of Karachi, Dhoom 3's box office receipts from 56 screens on its opening day was around Rs 20 million. This easily broke the record set by the Pakistani film Waar last month for the highest box office collections on the first day of release.

Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi on Tuesday said that mega star Amitabh Bachchan sharing the dais with MNS chief Raj Thackeray was an "insult" to north Indians.

"Amitabhji sharing the stage with Raj Thackeray is an insult to millions of north Indians," Azmi told reporters in Mumbai. Sinking their five-year-old differences, Bachchan on Monday shared dais with Thackeray, who said whatever happened between him and the actor was a thing of the past.

They had come together at the seventh anniversary of his party's movie industry wing Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena at the Shanmukhanand Hall in Central Mumbai.

Devyani Khobragade's lawyer today said the United States authorities goofed up in the investigation and arrest of the Indian diplomat on visa fraud charges as a federal agent made a "serious" mistake in reading the paperwork submitted regarding her maid's salary.

Daniel Arshack, Khobragade's lawyer, said Mark Smith, the diplomatic security services agent handled the investigation and arrest of Khobragade and drew up and swore to the accuracy of the formal complaint in the case.

Smith "simply made an error in reading the DS-160 form which supported the visa application.

The Congress today clarified that it will provide outside support to the Aam Aadmi Party as promised.

"There is no change in the official stand. The Congress will lend outside support to AAP as promised earlier," Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely told CNN-IBN.

The Congress yesterday said that the party is divided over the outside support given to the AAP.

Arvind Kejriwal today denied any rift within his Aam Aadmi Party over cabinet posts.

He also said his swearing-in ceremony was unlikely tomorrow as the party has not heard from Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung yet. He said that he would invite Anna Hazare for the functions once there is clarity on the dates. 

Kejriwal to head youngest cabinet comprising first-time MLAs
Why is Rahul Gandhi undecided on his projection as PM
Blast in Egypt kills 13, 'terrorist' group Brotherhood blamed
Congress seriously considering withdrawing support to AAP
Deora disagrees with Maha govt rejection of Adarsh probe report
CBI files closure report in Barak missile deal