The Delhi BJP today launched its 3-D video campaign for assembly polls through which they will telecast recorded speeches of the party's prominent leaders including Narendra Modi and promised to change Land Reforms Act to help farmers get good compensation for their acquired land.

"The Rath will cover 10-12 different areas in the city every day. Due to this unique technology, the public will feel that Modiji and other party leaders are speaking 'live' in front of them," said a party official.

The Rath was launched at Delhi BJP headquarters by state BJP President Vijay Goel, Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Harsh Vardhan.

Speaking at the occasion, Goel accused the Congress government in Delhi of neglecting the development of villages of Delhi during its 15-year long misrule.

Britain's Channel 4, whose staff was blacklisted in Sri Lanka after after it produced a documentary on alleged war crimes in the nation, was today allowed into the country to cover the CHOGM summit amidst protest by nationalist groups. 

An Indo-Canadian woman has alleged that she and her friends faced racist slurs at a bar in the city of Vancouver in Western Canada. 

The UK today appointed a seasoned Indian-origin diplomat as its non-resident Charge d'Affaires in Iran even as Tehran named its envoy to London in order to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2011. 

The Defence Ministry today cleared proposals worth over Rs 5,000 crore for procuring equipment including night vision devices for infantry soldiers and rockets but deferred decisions on buying anti-tank and anti- ship missiles from an Israeli firm facing a CBI probe. 

Nine persons have been killed in incidents triggered by Typhoon Haiyan, after the deadly storm claimed over 10,000 lives in the Philippines.        

 

Two bodies were found by rescuers in the southern island province of Hainan today and the victims are suspected to be sailors from a cargo ship that went missing in the South China Sea yesterday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.        

 

Five crew members of the ship remained missing after the ship's mooring rope broke when the typhoon drove the vessel away from Sanya in Hainan, the report said. Ships, speed boats and helicopters were mobilised to join the search, but the rescue effort proved futile as the typhoon raged, it said.        

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Iran backed out of a deal on its nuclear programme during talks with world powers in Geneva on Saturday.

 

Amid reports that France's reservations scuppered an agreement, Mr Kerry told reporters in Abu Dhabi: "The French signed off on it; we signed off on it." Iran had been unable to accept the deal "at that particular moment", he added. Mr Kerry said he hoped in the next few months they could "find an agreement that meets everyone's standards".

 

Representatives from Iran and the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany - will meet again on 20 November.

 

Read the full report on BBC

What makes neighbours murder and brutalise each other? The portrait of two warring groups in Muzaffarnagar, UP, illuminates the ancient question. Read

Government will probe the findings in a book on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks which claims that a "super- agent" code-named 'Honey Bee' in the Indian establishment had helped Pakistan's ISI in identifying the landing site for the terrorists.

"This (the book's contents) is not to my knowledge but we will inquire into it," Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said when asked whether he had information on the revelation in question by two foreign journalists in their recent book.

The information on Badhwar Park, the landing site, was shared by ISI operatives with Pakistani-American Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT) operative David Headley who checked it out while conducting a recce of the area, the book claims.

Also read: Who is ISI's Honey Bee in New Delhi?

First phase polling in Chhattisgarh ends. There has been 70 per cent polling in the Naxal affected areas. Of the total 4,142 polling booths set up for the first phase, 1,517 are deemed `sensitive' while 1,311 are deemed `hyper-sensitive'.

Last time, of the 18 seats, BJP had won 15 while Congress had won three. The remaining 72 constituencies, including Bilaspur and state-capital Raipur, would go to polls on November 19. A total of 562 companies (56,200 personnel) of paramilitary forces have been sent by the Centre for beefing up security in the state, in addition to existing 40 battalions (40,000 men and women) of paramilitary forces.

Addressing judges as My Lord or Your Lordships in courts is a relic of the colonial era and a sign of slavery, a petition filed in Supreme Court said today and sought a ban on their use in the country.

A PIL was filed today by a 75-year-old lawyer seeking the apex court's direction to strictly prohibit the use of My Lord or Your Lordships in the courts throughout India alleging that "it is against the dignity of the country."

"Using the word My Lord and Your Lordship which is symbol of slavery should be strictly prohibited to be used in the courts throughout India as it is against the dignity of the country," the petitioner Shiv Sagar Tiwari submitted before a bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

A proposed amendment to Indian press legislation will outlaw the practice of paying news outlets for coverage, but journalists and media experts warn that the law doesn't do enough to stem the practice and is open to abuse by the government. Read

Criticising the BJP for not cleaning Gandhi Maidan before their October 27 rally which "helped in hiding bombs inside polythene bags", Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said a protocol is being formulated for booking the field for rallies and functions.

"I have instructed officials to formulate a protocol for booking Gandhi Maidan for organising any political rally or other public function in future," Kumar said.

The protocol would include ensuring cleanliness of the ground before and after the event by the host or they will be charged extra money for the same.

"What America could figure out is that this finally was an American with an American passport operating in Pakistan who had access to Al Qaeda. Now the prime objective of that time was the capture of bin Laden.''

This is three years before Abbottabad, the only thing that the US intelligence agencies were thinking about was how do they decapitate him, how do they cut the head off of Al Qaeda and here was this tantalising, untrustworthy, difficult, hard to control, psychopathic individual, who was American.'

Adrian Levy, co-author of the book The Siege: The Attack on the Taj, speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt in an compelling interview. Read

Slamming Narendra Modi for his charge of 'criminal negligence of security' at his rally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today dubbed his Gujarat counterpart as an "expert in cultivation of falsehood" and said terrorists in a way helped BJP in its "otherwise flop" rally.

"The incidence of serial blasts at the rally in Patna was most condemnable... But terrorists in a way helped BJP, otherwise its rally at Patna was flop in terms of size of crowd," he said.

"Had the blast not happened, everybody would have talked about the thin attendance at the Hoonkar rally for which BJP leaders had claimed it would be unprecedented in terms of size," Kumar said after the 'Janata Ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri' programme.

The Mumbai Cricket Association begins its ceremony to rename its swanky clubhouse at Kandivli, in suburban Mumbai, as the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana Club. This is the MCA's gift for Tendulkar's 200th Test, the last of his illustrious 24-year career, at the Wankhede this month. 

Prime Ministers of both Australia and New Zealand have ruled out boycotting this week's CHOGM summit in Colombo despite mounting pressure at home after lawmakers from their countries were detained in Sri Lanka while on a fact-finding mission over alleged war-crimes.

France, successfully bribed by the Wahhabi Salafi Sheikhdoms of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, is all set to veto any peaceful resolution of the Iran-West standoff on Iran's nuclear programme. Read

India is concerned about periodic provocative incursions by Chinese troops that have resulted in "eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations", but was hopeful that the border issues will eventually be settled. "Obviously, we are concerned about periodic steps that seem provocative or adverse to our interests," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.

"But, of course, they (incursions) are occurring in the context of a different perception of what the Line of Control is and where it should be. The good news is that there hasn't been a casualty on the Chinese front for several years. There have been skirmishes and eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations, but no casualties", he said.

He believed the border issues will eventually be settled and peace and stability between India and China will become stronger over time, Khurshid said in an interview to The Australian.

Governments attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting should press the host, Sri Lanka, on accountability for alleged war crimes and ongoing human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch and the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice said today. The two groups released a media guide for the November 15-17, 2013 summit. Read

In 2003, the Metropolitan Museum mounted an exhibition of just under 100 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and pulled in close to half a million visitors in just over two months.

This fall, the Morgan Library & Museum is presenting a miniature -- very miniature -- version of that show called "Leonardo da Vinci: Treasures From the Biblioteca Reale, Turin,' and it, too, should generate serious traffic, particularly as it includes two outstanding items -- a book and a drawing -- that the Met didn't have. ReadIf you're in New York in February, catch it.

Hitting out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan as he completed three years in office today, state BJP said that he kept his own image clean but shielded others who were corrupt.

"Chavan kept his own image clean, but shielded his cabinet colleagues and others in irrigation and co-operative sector scams. He betrayed the people of the state by not tabling the Adarsh Society probe report within six months of its submission," state BJP chief Davendra Phadanvis said in Nagpur.

The Chief Minister had promised the opposition leaders that the probe report would be tabled in the legislature, he claimed.

The death toll in accident in the coal mine in Jharkhand has gone up to four. There are at least 50 miners feared trapped 30 to 35 feet below the surface. The accident happened after the roof of a portion of the mine caved in. The incident happened at 11 am.

Here are the details on the death of Nasiruddin Haqqani.

The son of the chief of the Haqqani terror network, blamed for attacks on US forces and the Indian Embassy in Kabul, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen near the Pakistani capital, leaders of the group said today.

Haqqani network leader Nasiruddin Haqqani, the eldest son of warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed by gunmen riding a motorcycle when he was returning home from a mosque late last night in Barakahu area, leaders of the group said.

"I can confirm that Dr Naseer has been martyred," a militant, who previously worked with the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

Giving details of the incident, the militant said Nasiruddin's body had been sent to Miranshah for burial yesterday.

Nasiruddin had been mainly involved in dialogue-related matters of the Haqqani network.

Jalaluddin's three other sons have also been killed.

Born in Paktika province of Afghanistan, Nasiruddin was put on the UN Security Council's sanctions list for individuals subjected to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo after the 9/11 attacks.

According to the sanctions list, Nasiruddin had travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to raise funds for the Taliban and operated from Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.

The Haqqani network, founded by Jalaluddin, is considered the most dangerous Taliban faction in Afghanistan.

The Haqqanis have been blamed for devastating attacks on the Afghan government, US and Nato forces and the Indian Embassy in Kabul. The network is also considered to be close to the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Pakistani military.

Nasiruddin Haqqani, a key fundraiser of the Haqqani outift had been arrested by Pakistani security agencies in 2010, but since released. Nasiruddin goes by the jihadist code name Dr Khan.

Reports coming in that warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani's eldest son Nasiruddin has been gunned down near Islamabad today. Jalaluddin is the leader of the Haqqani network, a terrorist group fighting against US-led NATO forces and the government of Afghanistan. Haqqani has been accused in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul and the February 2009 Kabul raids.

Times Now reports that 50 miners have been trapped, while four have been killed in the mishap. The roof of the coal mine in the Basantimata Colliery in Dhanbad, is believed to have collapsed. 

BCCL says that there were a 170 miners trapped inside, of which 20 miners are trapped inside. Earlier reports said 100 miners were trapped, which is fortunately not true. So far, the exact number of people trapped inside is yet to be reported. The death toll is believed to be three. Confirmations expected in a bit.

Reports suggest that at least three miners are reported dead, with over a 100 injured.

In August this year, at least four persons were killed and five others injured when a coal dump caved in near an open cast mine area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited in Sundargarh district of Odisha. 

Nearly 100 miners are reportedly trapped inside Basantimata Colliery in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, CNN IBN reports.

Rescue teams of Bharat Coking Coal Limited have rushed to the spot, the report adds.

Details awaited.

Criticising Narendra Modi for incorrectly saying that Jana Sangh leader Shyama Prasad Mookerjee had died abroad, Congress today said BJP was trying to "invent" new ancestry.

"History of Jana Sangh by Narendra ji Modi- Shyama Prasad Mookerjee died in London in 1930. Poor Mookerjee Sahib must be turning in his grave!" Union Minister Manish Tewari tweeted. 

In another tweet, he said it is "Intriguing - The past months BJP has been trying to deny parentage and invent a new ancestry. Are the ghosts of their past haunting them?" Modi had said while addressing a gathering in Gujarat's Kheda district that Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was a revolutionary who had died abroad but Congress never bothered to bring back his ashes.

Mookerjee had actually passed away in the country, and as per some reports, the Gujarat Chief Minister may have intended to refer to another nationalist Shyamji Krishna Verma.

Congress moves the Election Commission against BJP CM candidate in Delhi, Harsh Vardhan, accusing him of making "distorted claims" on polio eradication.

Dr Harsh Vardhan had played a major role in eradicating polio in the country. The party claimed that most of the progress in polio eradication happened during Congress rule. The letter addressed to states Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev, the party wrote: It is to bring to your kind notice that Dr Harsh Vardhan, a BJP candidate from Krishan Nagar assembly constituency, Delhi, has been campaigning for himself and his party and have also issued advertisements.

One such advertisement is continuously being broadcasted on F.M. radio channels, which is false, misleading and in violation of Model Code of Conduct. He was Health Minister, Delhi prior to 1998 when the B.J.P. government was ousted by the Congress Party.
 
He has claimed in the advertisement that he made Delhi Polio free but according to the official records available even on the websites, his claim is contrary to the records. It is revealed from the records that in 1998 there were 47 polio cases and 1999 the no. of cases were 73.

This by itself would show that his claim is false and misleading. If Delhi would have been left polio free by B.J.P. in 1998, the no. of cases in 1998-1999 would have been nil. Even in 1999 the no. of cases came to be 73 because of the earlier mismanagement by them."
 

Congress ally NCP today made a strong pitch for a "grand secular alliance" of parties even outside UPA in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to check "communal forces".

Union Minister Tariq Anwar, a senior leader of NCP from Bihar, said, "Those talking of checking communal forces should strive to do it in Bihar and UP if they really want to do so as these are the states which BJP is focussed on."

In the event of a triangular contest in these states, the "division of secular votes" will benefit BJP, he said.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has refused to release a documentary on the CBI since it contains references to A Raja, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sibu Soren, all cases that are being probed by the CBI. 
The PMO is apprehensive that the same CD documentary would be used against Dr Manmohan Singh on Coalgate.

CBI director, Ranjit Sinha, has stated that the CBI has spent Rs 2 crore to launch this CD.

Ambitabh Bachchan and Kabir Bedi are the voiceovers to this 30 minute documentary.

The CBI director however ensured that V Narayanaswami, Minister in charge of the CBI released the documentary.

Bugs of the crawling kind seem to have taken over Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, the state guest house. The 120-room Maharashtra Sadan on Copernicus Marg in Lutyen's Delhi has been shut down temporarily.

Bedbugs have made life hell for visitors who occupy the rooms. Tired of complaints, the state government shut down the entire sadan for fumigation.

Congress MLAs jokingly comment that NCP MLAs have caused the infestation. 

In a relief to Bollywood actor Govinda, the Bombay High Court today quashed a complaint filed against him by Santosh Rai accusing the industry veteran of slapping and intimidating him in 2008.

Our sources in Delhi tell us that chaos and turmoil rule in the Congress war room headed by Rahul Gandhi. Though Rahul  shifted the war room to his Tughlaq Road residence and appointed Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh as head of the Special Group for election strategy and  coordination, there has been absolutely no reference about the special cell on the AICC website. And there has been no meeting in the war room either.

And more chaos... Digvijaya Singh who chairs the Lok Sabha poll media committee where Jairam Ramesh is a member, has refused to be part of the Jairam Ramesh committee.

The buzz is that conflicts within the Congress are growing and a concerned Sonia Gandhi has taken the command back into her hands.

When senior party leader, Narsingh Malaviya, committed suicide after  being denied a party ticket, Rahul Gandhi's chosen Man Friday Madhusudan Mistry was ticked off.

Now, Sonia Gandhi has asked her political adviser Ahmed Patel to oversee the ticket distribution and contain dissent.

Sonia has also  directed Rahul to stick to the written script during his election rallies and if he wants to speak extempore, he should stick to the party's achievements.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde says Narendra Modi is not a challenge to Congress. "It is my view as well as that of the party," says Shinde.  

Senior BJP leader L K Advani today referred to another book to support his claim that there were differences between Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel over sending the Indian army to Hyderabad when the Nizam was trying to join Pakistan at the time of partition.

In his latest blog post, Advani refers to a book by Balraj Krishna, a journalist, titled 'India's Bismarck: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel'.

"In a democratic set-up, Cabinet sanction was essential for police action. Patel faced a formidable task in overcoming Nehru's reluctance. At one of the meetings of the defence committee, of which Nehru was the chairman, there was so much bitterness that Sardar Patel walked out," Advani said, quoting from the book.

The then Home Secretary V P Menon later told a Rotary meeting that when he saw the Home Minister's seat vacant, he too walked out of the Cabinet meeting after five minutes, the BJP leader said, reading from the book.

"This seemed to have shaken Nehru out of his complacent mood and mellowed his opposition. Later, at a meeting attended by the Governor General (Rajagopalachari), the Prime Minister, the Home Minister (Patel), and Secretary to the state's Ministry (Menon), it was decided to order troops into Hyderabad," he said, citing excerpts from the book.

Supreme Court Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan, a sympathiser of AAP, says the party is ready for a probe into the party's funding. He said attempts are being made to confuse the voter in Delhi.  

Today, Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has said that the government would be probing the source of AAP's funds. He said the government has received complaints that AAP is receiving foreign funds in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

Seeking a record fourth term in office, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit yesterday questioned the source of funding of Arvind Kejriwal's AAP - a new force in the city's political scene - whose main election plank is to check corruption.

Launching a counter-offensive on AAP, Dikshit lambasted it for making baseless allegations against her government and trying to paint everybody with the "same brush" and questioned its credibility as a political party.

"Where do you (AAP) get all the money from. You can call me a liar or I can call you a thief. But is there any proof to say that I am a liar? Is there any proof to say that you are a thief. Just by pointing fingers you cannot make somebody corrupt. Everybody is living in glass houses," Dikshit told PTI in an interview.

Also read: Just who is funding the Aam Aadmi Party?

Update on the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.

The head of the Red Cross in the Philippines has described the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan as "absolute bedlam". Officials estimate up to 10,000 people have died in Tacloban city and hundreds elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced. The typhoon flattened homes, schools and an airport. Read more

India's mission to Mars, launched last week, has hit its first problem. Last night, the satellite was not able to raise its orbit by the required 100,000 km.

The Indian Space and Research Organisation or ISRO says the satellite is "healthy" and another attempt to push it higher will be held early tomorrow morning.

Lacking the power to fly directly, the launch vehicle is meant to schedule the orbit of Earth for nearly a month, building up the necessary velocity to break free from our planet's gravitational pull.

The 450-crore mission to Mars, India's first attempt at inter-planetary travel, has made international headlines, at least in part for its cost-efficiency. Read more

Violence in Xinjiang appears to be worsening significantly, despite Beijing's large commitment of money and manpower to build a comprehensive surveillance apparatus intended to preempt social disorder. China now spends at least $111 billion per year nationwide on internal security --  nearly as much as its reported 2013 military budget of approximately $114 billion.
Read more

On Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's birth anniversary today, here's a quick look at the man and his life. Read

Just In: A crude device explodes outside the Indian Consulate in Chittagong in Bangladesh. No injury reported.

Narendra Modis coded speeches, barbs and propaganda machine have seen the Congress scrambling to get its communicators to return fire. Read

North Korea publicly executed around 80 people earlier this month, many for watching smuggled South Korean TV shows, a South Korean newspaper reported today.

The conservative JoongAng Ilbo cited a single, unidentified source, but at least one North Korean defector group said it had heard rumours that lent credibility to the front-page report.

The source, said to be "familiar" with the North's internal affairs and recently returned from the country, said the executions were carried out in seven cities on November 3.

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), which appointed KyaZoonga.com as the the Official Ticketing Partner for the second Test between India and West Indies, says it's website is not down.
This was the message that appeared when you logged on to the website at 10.30 am.

Server Error in '/' Application.

"A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)"

However, little later, the website still did not open despite this message: 'Servers aren't down':  "We are using waiting room technology since inventory isn't deployed yet. Sales will begin at 11. Servers aren't down."

And now, here's what you get.

"Unable to connect
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at www.kyazoonga.com.
The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments."

Just in: Bangladesh cabinet submits resignation to pave the way for formation of neutral poll-time cabinet.

The Winter Session of Parliament will be held from December 5 to December 20. The winter session is generally a month-long affair, but this time it is likely to be curtailed in view of Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram. Polling in all these states will end on December 4 and counting is scheduled to take place on December 8.

She was attacked at a rural police station, and her landmark case awakened India decades ago. But did she manage to love, have children, find happiness? New headlines about rape in my homeland set me on a journey to find her. Moni Basu reports for CNN. Read

Within an hour of Chhattisgarh going to polls this morning, television channels and other media reported an outbreak of violence in the state's Kanker region.

A BSF paramilitary soldier  was reported to have been injured in a blast in Bastar District's Kanker region.

On Sunday, two Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were reported to have been injured in a landmine blast in Rajnandgaon District.

State Assembly polls are being held in 18 constituencies -- 12 in Bastar District and six in Rajnandgaon District.Chief Minister Raman Singh and three of his ministers are among 143 candidates contesting the polls in the first of the two-phase polls to the 90-member assembly. In all, 29,33,200 voters will be exercising their right to vote on Monday.

"Our foundation began working in India a decade ago, at a time when many feared that the country would become a flashpoint for HIV/AIDS.

"Since then, we have expanded into other areas, including vaccines, family planning and agricultural development. In all of this work, Melinda and I have seen many examples of India's poor making dramatic contributions.

"But nowhere has this power been demonstrated more clearly than in the fight to end polio. Indeed, India's accomplishment in eradicating polio is the most impressive global health success I've ever seen."

That's Bill Gates on India's unparalleled efforts at eradicating polio. Read

At least four people were feared dead and eight others injured after a seven-storey building caught fire in the Mumbai suburb of Vikhroli early on Monday morning.

Fire officials and police said the blaze was first noticed around 3 a.m. this morning, and could have started in the electric meter cable box before spreading through the rest of the cable network.

The fire was put out at around 6:30 am, and everyone from the building has been evacuated.The injured have been admitted to the Rajawadi Hospital and other medical institutions.

The building was a slum redevelopment structure, according to local authorities.

Full text of the PM's speech at International Conference on "Evolving Common Strategies to Combat Corruption and Crime". Read

Update on the Chhattisgarh polls. The state administration faces a big challenge as the state goes to the polls today amid unprecedented security.

Intelligence inputs suggest that Maoists are likely to use teenagers dressed in school uniform to target security forces while cadres posing as voters could attack polling booths.

The inputs, received in the run-up to the polls, say women cadres of CPI (Maoist) have been carrying out surveillance on force movements and poll arrangements.

The Maoists are also said to be sitting on a stockpile of more than 20,000 kg of explosives that could be used to target political cavalcades and security forces. Read the full story here.

A clash broke out between supporters of BJP and Congress ahead of polling in naxal-hit Bastar district of Chhattisgarh today, following which cases were registered against members of both the groups, police said.

So far, there has been 13 per cent polling in Chhattisgarh till 11 am.

In spite of all of India's problems, I share the optimism about India's long-term prospects of many like Raghuram Rajan: demographics give us huge human energy, our diversity makes us good at coping with different difficult environments, and obedience to precepts and interpretations of the Constitution are foundations for achieving our potential. The doubts are about the present.  Read more

The 'Jacintha Real Estates case' shows that discrimination against Muslims (and Sikhs, Christians, non-vegetarians, single women, journalists, lawyers, live-in couples, stated homosexuals, and policemen) is a reality to confront and defeat. Read

Here's the context for the column: A leading property portal is in the line of fire after a broker posted an advertisement for the sale of a flat in Mumbai clearly mentioning that Muslims are not welcomed. The advertisement about a flat located at Dadar's Hindu Colony in Mumbai was put up on 99acres.com by broker Vishal D'Souza.

At the CBI conference, the PM also said there is a growing exchange of people, ideas, goods, services, capital and data across the country and across national boundaries.  The economic reforms of the 1990s followed by periods of fast economic growth have brought about rapid changes in our country. Fight against corruption should not only be confined to investigation and prosecution of corruption related offences once they happen.

Seventy-six years ago, insult was heaped upon injustice because his surname was Singh. He was not even Indian.

Wilmeth Sidat-Singh was allowed to join Syracuse University's football team in 1937 for a game against the University of Maryland because the latter was told that Singh was an "Indian' name.

The sports authorities of Maryland assumed he was Native American as they were unfamiliar with Indian or native names.

But when the Syracuse players arrived at the stadium and the Marylanders discovered that Singh was not white as they had expected, they refused to take the field unless Singh, a quarterback and the star player of his team, was excluded from the game because of the colour of his skin.  Read more

BJP's national spokesperson, responding to the article "Narendra Modi and why 2002 cannot go away', by N Ram, published in The Hindu on November 6, 2013, says the Gujarat administration and the police were in no way complicit in the 2002 riots, and Mr. Modi has been able to reach out to the people, including Muslims, through "good governance."

Read more

The PM says that in the public debate on corruption, it is forgotten that economic growth provides greater opportunity for corruption. While transparency is essential, we must not compromise on nation-building.

"Economic growth also implies greater possibility for corruption. We can't be running down institutions. We need to highlight their achievements as well. Sensitive investigations are becoming the topic of running media commentary. "

On the necessity of exempting CBI from RTI, he says confidentiality is vital and it is the need of the hour to introspect on autonomy of the CBI.

"We must remember that the CBI is a part of the executive. Sensitive probes have become a topic of running media commentary and we must work to ensure that confidentiality is maintained," says the PM at the CBI conference on corruption.  

The PM says the work of nation building must go on at a fast pace. "It is important that errors of judgment are distinguished from criminal acts. Confidentiality in the interest of integrity should be maintained."

The PM says the issue of CBI's legality will be looked at by the highest court of the land. 

In a huge relief to the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Supreme Court on Saturday stayed the Gauhati high court verdict declaring the agency as "unconstitutional", saying accused in "sensational cases" have sought halting of criminal proceedings based on that judgment.

The apex court relief came on an urgent petition filed by the Department of Personnel and Training, the nodal ministry for the CBI, from a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh speaking at the CBI conference to celebrate 50 years of the establishment of the investigating agency says the government will look into the issue of legality of the CBI seriously and promptly. He says the CBI has contributed to efforts to contain crime and corruption. 

Minutes before the sale of tickets for Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test match at Wankhede were to go live on kyazoonga.com, the ticketing site, it seems, is unable to handle the traffic that must be flooding it. The sale was supposed to start at 11 am today.

Two people have been killed and one injured in firing at Park Street, Kolkata on Monday morning, reports CNN-IBN.

Rupee has again breached the 63-mark, plunging 60 paise to trade at 63.07 against the US dollar.

A policeman was injured when a pressure bomb planted by Naxals exploded in Kanker district of north Bastar today, police said.        

Three people have been killed in a Naxal attack in Abkola village in Bihar's Gaya district.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti will be represented at an all-party meeting convened by the Centre on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, by its president K Chandrasekhar Rao and secretary-general K Keshav Rao.   

Terming the situation in Afghanistan as the "greatest concern" for the region, India, along with Russia and China, has demanded "additional measures" from the international community to prevent escalating threats in the war-torn country while agreeing to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation.        

In a sharp reaction to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress today said he has no other agenda but to abuse leaders of the ruling party.    

Parliament is likely to have a short winter session starting from the first week of December in view of assembly elections in five states.    

The BJP today slammed Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal for meeting cleric Maulana Tauqeer RazaKhan, saying the people will never support a party which is in touch with such a "controversial" person.        

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said that the voting percentage in the state, including the Bastar region, will increase and he BJP will register better results than the previous assembly polls.    

Maldivian President Mohammed Waheed today defied international calls for an interim government until a new president is elected, saying he will stay in office until his successor is sworn in on Novemeber 16.        

Voting in the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections began today amid high security where the Raman Singh-led BJP government is aiming for a hattrick against the Congress.