A bonny and chubby Prince George, a future British monarch, was today baptised into the Christian faith with holy water from the River Jordan, at a private ceremony. 

The United States, its NATO partners and Afghanistan voiced confidence today that an agreement will soon be reached to allow some alliance troops to remain after next year's withdrawal. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the Iranian nuclear issue can be resolved diplomatically, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu is calling for the dismantlement of Iran's controversial program.

NATO and Russia could play a role in eliminating Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles if they were asked to do so by the United Nations, said U.S., NATO and Russian officials on Wednesday.

The Vatican has suspended a senior German Church leader dubbed the "bishop of bling" by the media over his alleged lavish spending.

President Obama's staff has unmasked and fired a national security official who tweeted critical comments under a pseudonym.

An Italian judge today ordered Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial for allegedly bribing a senator to join his party's ranks, in the latest legal woe for the former prime minister. 

The CBI court hearing the Aarushi case today rejected a petition of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar seeking summoning of journalist Nalini Singh and CBI DSP Anuj Arya as court witnesses, and said it was a delaying tactic. 

NCP president Sharad Pawar has turned blogger and in his maiden post sought to reply critics questioning his contribution as the agriculture minister.         "What has Mr Sharad Pawar done in the field of agriculture?" or "what is Mr Sharad Pawar's contribution to India's agricultural growth?" Such verbal missiles are often targeted at me. Good questions. Let's address them," the veteran leader said.        

 

"Agriculture is an immensely complex proposition in a country known for its diversity," he said, adding that abundant diversity in soil and weather condition lead to variations in productivity from one region to another.     

 

"Notwithstanding good production, the escalating import bills of pulses and edible oil has been a matter of concern. The tangle can be resolved by optimizing the resources by way of better input supply, adoption of technology, extension and R&D, vigorous marketing and remunerative prices," he said.  

 

"I also believe that the scientific community should be given greater autonomy. This would enable scientists to make farming a viable proposition," the minister said.        

 

 

"When UPA-1 assumed office, I volunteered to take charge of the agriculture portfolio as I had a blueprint in my mind to enhance the food yield in the country. The country's food grain production stood in the range of 200 million tonnes, barely sufficient to meet the domestic requirement," he said.

The Election Commission todaychanged the Mizoram assembly election schedule by advancingthe polling on November 25 and postponing the counting by a day to December 9.    

Kanchan Gupta: Rahul Gandhi's prattle on Punjab's Khalistani phase, terrorism, Mrs Gandhi's and Rajiv's assassination shows how ill-informed he is.

Read what Rahul said at the Rajasthan rally today.

With the cyclone Phailin rendering lakhs of people homeless in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today demanded that the Centre allot at least three lakh additional houses under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and a package of Rs 500 crore labour budget under MGNREGA.

In pictures: How Phailin left 2.5 lakh marooned in Odisha

A testimony to Kolkata street food. Watch

The BJP today attacked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for making an emotional pitch to garner votes and claimed he had been compelled to do so as he had nothing to drive home about UPA government's performance.

"It is very unfortunate that Rahul has spoken about the assassination of his grandmother and illness of his mother during electioneering and made an emotional appeal to the people to vote for Congress," senior BJP leader Ravishanker Prasad said.

"It's very mean on the part of the Congress Vice-President to harp on the sacrifices made by his family about which the country already knows," he said, adding the emotional appeal made by Rahul at the same time "explains the fact that he has nothing positive to talk about the performance of UPA government for nearly two terms".

"It (Rahul's speech in Churu, Rajasthan) also explains that your government has nothing to offer as far as the problems of modern India is concerned," the senior BJP leader said.

Angry over the killing of a BSF jawan in overnight firing by Pakistani troops, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said a fitting reply would be given against such unprovoked acts from across the border.

Shinde said additional BSF troops were being sent to man the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of continuing ceasefire violations.

"We will give a fitting reply to Pakistan," Shinde told reporters in his reaction to yesterday's firing by Pakistani troops on 50 BSF outposts along IB.

The firing came on the heels of a visit by Shinde to the Jammu region yesterday to review the situation along the border and discuss ways to deal with ceasefire violations.

Altogether, more than 130 ceasefire violations have been reported so far this year, the highest for the past eight years. Pakistani Rangers had on Monday opened fire at 10 border posts and heavily shelled over 50 border outposts the following night, killing a head constable of BSF.

A Delhi high court bench has decided to settle the question of law raised by a public interest litigation filed by Subramanian Swamy -- whether a foreign national can be the editor of an Indian newspaper.

The order, as dictated in the open court, says, "the larger issue raised by the PIL needs to be considered'.

Swamy's case was that Siddharth Varadarajan was ineligible to be the editor of The Hindu because he is a US citizen.

Varadarajan resigned on Monday. Accepting that the editorship of Varadarajan has now become a "non-issue' as he "has since resigned from the position', the court will now hear only the issue of foreign editors in Indian newspapers.

The matter will be heard on 8 November. More

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today issued notices to the Centre, Delhi government, police chief and Asaram Bapu's trust on a petition seeking direction to demolish an alleged illegal 'ashram' constructed by the self-styled godman in the ridge area here.

The Bombay High Court today asked police to carry out further investigations on allegations made by the mother of actress Jiah Khan in a petition that the latter had been murdered and had not committed suicide.

The judges asked police to carry out further investigations on the material furnished before the court that the actor had been killed.

Kanchan Gupta tweets: Families want Zaibunissa Kazi and Sanjay Dutt back home. So touching! What about 250 killed in the bombings who will never return home.

"If indeed policies or editorial values were flouted, the solution would have been to get another professional editor." Read Siddharth Varadarajan's interview on why he stepped down as Editor-in-chief at The Hindu.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that he found no difference between the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi elections, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, both of whom were known to be soft on tackling corruption.

"The way Manmohan Singh was named as PM by the Congress, the BJP has named Harsh Vardhan. The way Manmohan Singhji keeps quiet at the corruption of Congress, Harsh Vardhanji does not raise a voice against (the) BJP's corruption,' he said.

Expressing confidence about the Aam Aadmi Party's victory in the December 4 Delhi assembly polls, Sisodia said Harsh Vardhan's selection as BJP chief ministerial candidate, proves that the BJP does not have a strong enough candidate to take on three-time Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on various issues bedeviling the national capital.

Just in: Home Ministry seeks the opinion of the Maharashtra Government on reducing sentence of actor Sanjay Dutt.

Dutt, 53, is serving the remaining 42-month jail term for possessing illegal firearms, part of the cache of weapons which were supposed to be used during the 1993 bombings.

He was shifted to Yerawada jail from Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail on May 22 in a hush-hush pre-dawn operation. In its March 21 verdict, the Supreme Court had reduced Dutt's jail term from six years to five.

The actor had already served 18 months behind bars. On May 10, the Supreme Court had dismissed Dutt's plea seeking review of its judgement on his conviction and the five-year jail sentence.

Political parties will have to bear the expenses on inviting star campaigners but in case a candidate shares dais with the star or exhibits his photo or poster with his name, the money spent will be included in his account, Delhi Election Commission said.

Moreover, if star campaigner travels with the candidate, then 50 per cent of the travel expenses will be apportioned to the expenditure of candidate.

In case the advertisement for general party propaganda with photo or appeal of the star campaigner is made in the print or the electronic media without any reference to any candidate, expenditure on such general advertisement will be included in the account of the political party.

Harsh Vardhan also said that he has the support of the party's PM candidate, Narendra Modi. "Modi has never ignored me. I have the support of all my seniors," he told CNN IBN. 

BJP's Delhi CM candidate, Dr Harsh Vardhan, speaking to CNN IBN says Vijay Goel is a capable colleague and has not been dumped, but the BJP has taken a strategic decision by naming him. He says the BJP has always put the people first in Delhi.

Slamming AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, Harsh Vardhan says he is not like Kejriwal, who has a habit of abusing everyone. On Kejriwal's charge that he had praised Delhi CM Sheila Dixit, he says that he was just being civil as he was at same function with her.
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Terming as illegal the decision of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to christen its newly built suburban Kandivali club house after Sachin Tendulkar, the Shiv Sena has sought municipal commissioner's intervention in the matter.

"We are not opposed to naming the club house after Sachin. We are against the procedure. The plot on which it has come up belongs to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and has been leased to MCA."

And more reactions on Rahul's rally...

Nikhil Narayanan: Rahul Gandhi is that guy who would talk about office politics, and parents' illness during an appraisal, and ask for a promotion.

Sensible Sarcasm: Why do Rahul Gandhi's speeches only consist of how his family members died, how they will die? Ridiculous..

QueenBee: People though today #RahulGandhi may speak on biology after his brilliant speeches on hindi (rani ki jhansi ) and physics (escape velocity).

Reactions to Rahul Gandhi's speech in Churu, Rajasthan...

Lily D'Penha: ‏Truly PM potential. "@firstpostin:Rahul Gandhi: The youth will be able to go to countries abroad like Australia & take the nation forward."
Shuvankar Mukherjee: ‏Rahul Gandhi is right about his unhappy childhood.. is liye kehta hun, pappu - family business chodo, apna kuch shuru karo..
Pallavi Kamat: ‏"I need to tell you about the future & foresight as well.your children will go abroad & make India proud": Rahul Gandhi. Why abroad Bhaiyya?
Aria: Rahul Gandhi has hired a Saas-Bahu soap speech writer. If he really gets killed as he claims he'll make a comeback and get double sympathy.

The Supreme Court has begun contempt proceedings over the remarks that former Army Chief General VK Singh made against the apex court on September 22 in connection with his age row case in a report that was published in The Indian Express.

The General had attacked the SC saying that the court had not gone into the merits of the arguments that he had given on the issue during the proceedings.

The SC after hearing the issue had asked the retired general to either withdraw his petition or invite an adverse judgement.

Rolling out the red carpet for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chinese leadership today conveyed a message of friendship, serving him some exotic Chinese dishes mixed with Bollywood and Western music.

As the two countries signed nine agreements, including one on strengthening the cooperation on the trans-border rivers, the Chinese military band played Flowing River as the background music for the well laid out banquet hosted by Premier Li Keqiang in honour of Singh.

There were other old Bollywood numbers - the likes of 'Mera Naam Choon Choon', 'Baar Baar Dekho', 'Gore Gore' - to strike a chord with music loving Indians.

Also, the background music played 'Red Dates for Family' topping it with 'Our Life Full of Sunshine'.

The banquet had some interesting quintessential Chinese dishes Sponge Bamboo and Mushroom soup, Bean curd with vegetable topped, Grouper to provide a taste of ancient Chinese cuisine.

In many ways Singh's visit, dominated by strategic issues like border differences, had a striking informality. Besides meetings, it was marked by back-to-back banquets hosted by both Li and President Xi Jinping.

Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today expressed confidence that the party will do well in Delhi Assembly polls under the leadership of Harsh Vardhan.

"Congratulations to Dr. Harsh Vardhan on being named BJP's CM candidate for upcoming Delhi elections. My best wishes," Modi said on twitter.

"As Health Minister, his (Harsh Vardhan's) trend-setting polio eradication drive made Delhi polio-free & now I am sure he will free Delhi from misgovernance," he further said.

He wrote that "under the leadership of Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Shri Vijay Goyal, I am confident BJP will do great in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha Elections."

Twenty-two foreign nationals among the 35 arrested crew of detained US-based private ship were today shifted from the Central Prison at Palayamkottai here to Chennai while a court remanded three others to police custody for seven days, officials said.

Rahul Gandhi's gets emotional at the rally in Churu, Rajasthan. Says he understands the pain of loss. "I have faced this twice, they killed my grandmother and my father, they might kill me too. But I'm not afraid. I used to play with the men who killed my grandmother," he says and adds that Indira Gandhi's assassins wanted to kill her on Diwali.

On to the anti-BJP rhetoric: The BJP sets fires, the Congress douses fires. BJP plays with the anger of people, vitiates the atmosphere.

Indian and China on Wednesday morning signed the Border Defence Co-operation Agreement in Beijing in a ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People. The agreement is a step forward in one of India's most important bilateral relations, and one of the most complex as well.

Immediately after the meeting, China's Premier Li Keqiang hosted a lunch for PM Dr Manmohan Singh. We are privy to the menu, exclusively created for the PM. The prime ministers's wife Gursharan Kaur was absent since the delegation went directly on to lunch.

The eight-course lunch began with Hors d'oeuvres, followed by sponge Bamboo and Mushroom Soup, Curry-flavoured prawns, Beancurd with vegetables, Grilled Grouper and a dessert selection of Sweet Potato Cream, Pastries and Fruit.

Burp.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries plans to run an exclusive chicken restaurant chain in India in partnership with a UK-based company as he seeks a bite of the quick service restaurant (QSR) pie, which is pegged to grow at 30% per annum.

Given that Ambani is a strict vegetarian, it is a clear sign that business decisions can be separated from an individual's dietary and lifestyle choices.

The chain, to be called 'Chicken came First' will directly compete with KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain.  -- TOI

In a fresh petition before the special CBI court hearing the Aarushi-Hemraj murder trial, dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar on Tuesday sought summoning of journalist Nalini Singh and CBI officer Anuj Arya as court witnesses in the case. Read

Facebook Inc removed a video of a woman being beheaded from its website on Tuesday and said it would use a broader set of criteria to determine when gory videos are permitted on the site. Read

Congress vice-president Rahul to address a rally at Churu in Rajasthan at 1pm. 

Just in: Delhi CM aspirant, BJP's Vijay Goel says he is not upset at Harsh Vardhan being named the candidate. "I am not upset. I have told party workers to assist Dr Hash Vardhan."

In other news: A BSF head constable was killed and seven security personnel injured as Pakistani troops opened fire and heavily shelled over 50 border outposts along the International Border overnight, in the biggest-ever provocative act from across the border in recent times.

The heavy shelling and fresh ceasefire violation come close on the heels of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's visit to areas long the IB yesterday to review the security situation arising out of ceasefire violations since October 14, in which two jawans have been killed and 18 people injured.

BSF officers said Pakistani Rangers opened fire with automatic weapons and attacked over 5O border posts (BOPs) along IB in Jammu frontier belt with mortar shells since last night. 

Rajnath says Vijay Goel backed the party's decision to name Dr Harsh Vardhan as the CM candidate. Harsh Vardhan is a four-time MLA and former health minister.

The BJP's website says that in Dr Harsh Vardhan's capacity as the Health Minister, he had launched the Polio Eradication Plan in October 1994.

He was re-elected to the Second Legislative Assembly in the general elections held in November 1998, reelected MLA in 2003 and in 2008 in the 4th Delhi Legislative Assembly.

LK Advani also echoes much of Rajnath Singh's speech and praises the work done by the Vijay Goel as well, who lost out in the race to be CM candidate.

Photo-op now with Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel feeding each other sweets. A hug from Sushma Swaraj and Goel and other senior leaders garland Harsh Vardhan. 

All senior BJP leaders at the press briefing in New Delhi to announce the CM candidate for Delhi. BJP president Rajnath Singh says he had called a Central Parliamentary Board meeting to decide on the CM candidate. Rajnath Singh says Harsh Vardhan is the right person to lead the party to victory in Delhi. 

Ending uncertainty, BJP has announced the name of former Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan as its Chief Ministerial candidate for Delhi Assembly polls notwithstanding strong opposition from its city unit head
Vijay Goel. The decision on Vardhan's name was taken by the party's parliamentary board today.

Goel has already been informed about the party's move to nominate the four-time MLA for the top post. Goel had reportedly threatened to resign from the post of Delhi unit president when told about the likelihood of Harsh Vardhan being made the Chief Ministerial candidate.

Goel had on Monday sought an early decision on the issue but remained non-committal on supporting Vardhan if the former health minister was named for the post.

BJP President Rajnath Singh to announce Dr Harsh Vardhan's candidature shortly after the Parliamentary Board meeting ends.  

Reports indicate that Vijay Goel has agreed to support Dr Harsh Vardhan's candidature as the BJP's Delhi CM candidate. 

BJP's Parliamentary Board meeting is underway. Ending uncertainty, BJP is likely to announce the name of former Health Minister Harsh Vardhan as its Chief Ministerial candidate for Delhi Assembly polls notwithstanding strong opposition from its city unit head Vijay Goel.

Sources in the party said a decision on Vardhan's name is likely to be taken by the party's parliamentary board today. They said Goel has already been informed about the party's move to nominate the four-time MLA for the top post.

Harshvardhan enjoys the support of the RSS  -- the BJP's parent body -- as well as most senior leaders including former president Nitin Gadkari, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley.

Meanwhile, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tweets: In 2010, Dr HarshVardhan actually praised Mrs Dikshit and said Delhiites were v fortunate to have her. Why fighting against her now?  Read

BJP is likely to accept former health minister Harsh Vardhan as its candidate for Delhi CM this week, turning down the strong claim of state party chief Vijay Goel.

In a typical "two steps forward, one step back" pirouette that characterises the current relationship between Asia's two giants, India is set to sign a significant Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) among other deals with China tomorrow but will not ink the visa liberalisation pact that the host country was particularly keen on. Read

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will meet President Barack Obama today at the White House, where he intends to raise the issue of drone attacks in Pakistan and seek America's help in resolving the Kashmir issue.

The officials on both sides said the two leaders would chalk out an action plan to not only address their differences, but to also put their ties on a strong footing.

Obama and Sharif are scheduled to meet for about 90 minutes, which has components of both delegation level talks and provision of one-on-one meeting between the two leaders.

With onion prices continuing to be on fire in the run-up to crucial state polls, an embattled government scrambled to stem the surge but appeared to lack a coherent plan. Read

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Water Resources, the Republic of India and the Ministry of Water Resources, the People's Republic of China on Strengthening Cooperation on Trans-border Rivers has been signed. Read

"When India and China shake hands, the world notices," says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. India and China sign nine agreements including one on trans-border rivers. The two nations have resolved to realise the full promise of their partnership and maintain the friendliest of relations.

The BJP Parliamentary Board meeting to announce the chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi polls at 11:20 am. 

NDTV reports: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is on a visit to Washington, was, according to sources, reportedly questioned today by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on terror-related issues, including Hafiz Saeed, the Lashkar e Taiba and their role in the Mumbai attacks of 2008 in which 166 people, including six Americans were killed.

Read the full report here
 

Bringing up the visa issue in Beijing the PM said, "To foster mutual understanding, we have decided to encourage provincial exchanges. I communicated to premier Li to simplify the visa process for Chinese travellers. Hopefully, China will do the same. When India and China join hands, the world looks safe."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses the media in Beijing after signing the border agreement with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. "I'm touched by the warm welcome and generous hospitality in China. Prosperity and progress would be a major factor Asian resurgence and global prosperity."

"Peace at our borders should remain the foundation of our relationship. As large neighbours relationship with other nations should not become a concern. The agreement on border defence cooperation will ensure peace, stability on our borders," he said

The PM said he appreciated China's cooperation in the development of Nalanda University. "We have just agreed to hold talks to full promise of our relationship and friendship. We have agreed that peace at the border should be the foundation of our relationship, We decided to institutionalise greater exchanges between the armed forces of India and China. We are taking forward the suggestion made by premier Li in Delhi of a Chinese industrial park," he said.

Bringing up the visa issue he said he expected China's cooperation in the matter.   

In Beijing, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signs agreement on border defence. MoUs on water resources, power and development on Nalanda University also signed.

"The border agreement has been signed to increase communication to solve counter terrorism," said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. He said he chose Indian as his first destination after assuming office.

A day after controversy over reports that Nawaz Sharif hinted at United States intervention to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the Pakistan Prime Minister again asked for America's help to settle outstanding issues with India, including the "core" dispute of Kashmir.

"With its growing influence in India, the US now has the capacity to do more to help the two sides resolve their core disputes, including Kashmir, and in promoting a culture of cooperation," Sharif said on the eve of his meeting with President Barack Obama.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has begun talks with his Chinese counterpart premier Li Keqiang to discuss various bilateral and international issues.   

Earlier Dr Singh was received at the Great Hall of the People and accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour, after which the two leaders met for restricted delegation talks followed by another meeting with full delegations from both sides.

One Border Security Force jawan was killed after Pakistan opened fire on 15 Indian posts along the LoC in RS Pura sector in Jammu.

The attack came after Home Minister SushiklKumar Shinde and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reviewed the security situation in the state.

There have been more than 200 ceasefire violations along the border this year.

More details are awaited. 

Cong worried about facing electorate with onion @ Rs 100

India, Pak DGMOs discuss issue of ceasefire violations

Water logging at Barabati, uncertainty looms large over fifth ODI 

Credit growth will be satisfactory for the whole year: Chidambaram

Rupee falls for third day, near one-week low