Turkmenistan's president has demanded that construction work begin in 2015 on the TAPI pipeline that will carry natural gas from his energy-rich country to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. 

Ten people were killed, half of them high school students, when a truck slammed into a tour bus full of college hopefuls heading for a campus tour in northern California on Thursday, police said.

New information emerged Friday in the investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and, with it, new questions:

Gujarat Congress today filed a complaint with returning officer of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, alleging that senior BJP leader and the party's candidate L K Advani submitted false information regarding his education in the election affidavits.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has hurt his feelings by refusing to don a skullcap offered by an imam. 

Congress today attacked Arvind Kejriwal for his statement that AAP should not have quit the government in Delhi in a hurry, saying the party made the non-passage of Jan Lokpal Bill an alibi to "run away". 

In his strongest personal remarks yet on the clergy sex abuse scandal, Pope Francis on Friday asked forgiveness "for the damage' that abusive priests have inflicted on children and pledged that the Catholic Church "will not take one step backward' in efforts to address the crisis.

One person was killed while six others were injured today when two coaches of a Mathura bound train derailed here between Maura and Goverdhan stations. The last two coaches of Alwar Mathura Passenger train derailed and were dragged for about one km before the train came to a halt, according to Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Agra.

BJP's Prime Minister nominee Narendra Modi's acknowledgement of his marital status has given a handle to Congress in this vituperative poll campaign with senior leader Digvijay Singh raising the pitch of propriety. 

Myanmar's opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi warned today that her country, despite a spate of reforms hailed by the international community, "is not yet a democracy". 

The Election Commission banned public meetings and rallies addressed by BJP leader Amit Shah and Samajwadi Party minister Azam Khan. 

"This time we voted with aan, baan and shaan. A red carpet was literally rolled out for differently-abled people at all polling stations across the city,' said an elated Sanjeev Sachdeva, as he returned from his polling booth in Mansarovar Garden in West Delhi on Thursday.

 

Mr. Sachdeva, director of NGO Sanjeevani, said: "It was a pleasure being made to feel important and to participate in the electoral process.' "I drove to the polling station in my motorised wheelchair. A sturdy wheelchair of a well-known brand was kept with the words "May I Help You' written on it. An attendant had also been provided and he turned out to be an employee of the Union Ministry of Urban Development. As I entered the corridor, the police personnel accorded me priority and I was ushered in. It was the first time I saw an electronic voting machine and with the help of my attendant, I managed to vote. It was such a heady feeling.'

In fact, a large number of differently-abled people gave the Election Commission a thumbs up for the manner in which they ensured that all polling stations and booths were made barrier-free this time, and also for providing wheelchairs and volunteers.

 

Read more on The Hindu

Brushing aside as "speculation" that he has differences with the leaders of BJP, widely expected to form the next government, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said they are "media invention".        

 

"On differences with the new government, I haven't had any discussion with the new government. I think its all press invented difference. I think it should be seen as speculation rather than any actual differences," he said while commenting on reported differences with the BJP leaders.        

 

Rajan's comment comes against the backdrop of certain BJP leaders questioning his policies to deal with the current economic woes.         BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is reported to have said: "We can make it worthwhile for him (Raghuram Rajan) to leave."        

 

Expressing similar opinion BJP Treasurer Piyush Goyal attacked Rajan over a series of interest rate hikes intended to curb inflation, now at double the RBI's longer-term 4 per cent target, at a time when economic growth has fallen to its slowest in a decade.         During the 7-month stint, he has raised key policy rate thrice by 0.25 per cent each.  

Novelist Sue Townsend, best known as the author of the successful Adrian Mole series, has died, a friend of her family has told the BBC. Townsend, 68, died at home on Thursday after a short illness.

 

The first of her comic series, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4, was published in 1982 and the eighth instalment, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, was released in 2009. Her other best-selling novels included The Queen and I.

 

Read more on BBC

M I Khan reports from Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday said that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has derailed as he is defending rapists.  

 

"It is a very bad thing to defend rapists, Mulayam Singh Yadav has derailed,' Lalu Prasad told newspersons in Patna in his reaction to Samajwadi Party chief's statement that death penalty in rape cases was "unfair" as boys make "mistakes".  

 

Lalu said that he strongly condemned Mulayam Singh Yadav for his statement. "It's a really shocking statement'.   Lalu said that rape is a heinous crime and there is no place for rapists in the society. "Rapists deserve death penalty and toughest punishment known to us because it is an intolerable crime" he said.   Lalu said capital punishment to rapist is justified.    

This is what Rahul Gandhi said at the Doda rally today: Accusing the BJP of raising hollow slogans about women dignity and their empowerment, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said that its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi even hesitates in taking the name of his wife.

Addressing a rally at Doda town, as part of his election campaign in Udhampur parliamentary constituency where Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is in the poll fray, Rahul said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has contested the elections earlier also, but he has never before filled up the column pertaining to his spouse.

While there may be some reason behind it, the entire machinery of the Chief Minister and the Gujarat Police have now swung into action to belie the quote of a woman, he pointed out.  Read more

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

"If Rahul Gandhi is raising personal issues of Modi ji's life, we can pick up loads of Gandhi family issues which we don't," says BJP leader Ravi Shankar  Prasad. Another senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitaraman, says, "Instead of worrying about Modiji's marital life, Congress should protest against Mulayam Singh Yadav."

Why does Gujarat have indifferent social indicators, in spite of having enjoyed runaway economic growth and relatively high standards of governance?  Read

SP chief Mulayam Singh has refused to back down over his rape remark saying there is nothing wrong in what he said. He added that there should be no debate over the remark.

Farhan Azmi, who is the son of Maharashtra SP chief Abu Azmi says his father may have been trapped into saying adultery should be punished by death. He said no political party should comment on these matters.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Cracking the whip, the Election Commission today directed the West Bengal Police chief to arrest all persons named in an FIR for beating up poll personnel in the state and send the compliance report by this evening.

The Commission has also directed the DGP to arrest persons who had organised the bike rally in the state yesterday in violation of rules.

The EC officials were filming the bike rally in Malda district yesterday when they were allegedly beaten up by the supporters of Trinamool Congress.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea questioning the Special Investigation Team probe giving clean chit to Narendra Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots.

The apex court also declined the plea to reconstitute the SIT for probe into the riots case. The SIT report gave Modi a clean chit in 2012 in the Gulbarg Society massacre. Zakia Jafri had then filed a protest petition against clean chit given to Modi.

But, a lower court had in December 2013 upheld a SIT closure report giving the Gujarat CM a clean chit. In its closure report, the SIT had said that it found no evidence whatsoever against Modi. Zakia, however, argued that there is adequate evidence to prosecute him and others including police officers, bureaucrats and political leaders.

Ashish Shakya @stupidusmaximus Pretty sure Abu Azmi is trying to win an election in Afghanistan.

Just in: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea questioning the SIT probe giving a clean chit to Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The SC also declines a plea for the reconstitution of a SIT.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Lakshadweep Lok Sabha constituency recorded 87.05 per cent polling for the lone seat in the polls held yesterday in the Union Territory, where Congress sitting MP Hamdullah Sayeed is trying his luck for the second time. The polling percentage in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls was 85.98 per cent.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Abu Azmi continues in his defence of 'netaji'.  "Mulayam respects women, he made Phoolan Devi an MP,' he says.

In an interview to Mumbai newspaper Mid Day, Azmi, who is the Maharashtra chief of the Samajwadi Party said, " "Rape is punishable by hanging in Islam. But here, nothing happens to women, only to men. Even the woman is guilty.

"Solution is this: any woman if, whether married or unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent, should be hanged. Both should be hanged. It shouldn't be allowed even if a woman goes by consent."

He further added, "In India, if you have sex with a person with consent, it's fine. But if that same person complains, it's a problem. Nowadays, we see a lot of such cases. Girls complain when someone touches them, and even when someone doesn't touch them. It becomes a problem then, and the man's honour is ruined in this. If rape happens with or without consent, it should be punished as prescribed in Islam."

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

SP leader Abu Azm defends Mulayam Singh's rape remarks: "Netaji is strictly against violence on women, I know his nature. He has been quoted out of context."

UP CM and Mulayam's son has said, "I won't comment on that. I don't know in what perspective he has said that. It's the generation of TV channels. You don't know how it will be played out. We all want stringent action on all the sensitive matters. But I don't know in what context he has said this."

At a rally in Moradabad yesterday, Mulayam seemed to be defending rapists when he questioned the need for a death penalty. "Rape cases mein faansi di jayegi? Ye ladke hain, galtiyan ho jati hai (Will the rapists be hanged now? Boys are boys. They will make mistakes)," he said.

'If the Nairs split between Shashi Tharoor and the BJP candidate, O Rajagopal and the Nadars combine with the Leftists and the Christians to vote for the CPI candidate, Bennet Abraham, what would happen to Tharoor. 'It is presumed that the voters do not cast their votes, they vote their castes,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.  Read

Known for always sporting flashy gold chains, veteran Bollywood musician Bappi Lahiri's wife owns more jewellery than hubby and he owns moveable and immoveable assets worth nearly Rs 12 crores besides five cars including BMW and Audi.

According to Bapi's affidavit filed with the Election Commission, he owns 754 gram gold jewellery worth Rs.17,67,451 while his wife Chitrani has 967 gram gold ornaments worth Rs.20,74,830.Bollywood's 'Disco King' Bappida', who is contesting Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket from Serampore, also owns silver ornaments and bullion of 4.62 kg worth Rs.2,20,000.

His wife has 8.9 kg silver worth Rs.3,59,600 and 3.2 diamond carats estimated to be valued at Rs.4,27,353.

The Indian Medical Association has appealed to its 2.75 lakh doctor-members across India to give 25 per cent discount in doctor's fees for one week to all patients who visit them with their fingers bearing the voting ink mark.

The Bengal chapter of the IMA has gone one step ahead by appealing to doctors, based in the state, to give the 25 per cent discount in pathological tests too and that too for two weeks.

The IMA with a 86-year-old history behind it took the unusual initiative to raise awareness about the importance of voting.

On a day when Mulayam Singh Yadav made headlines for his comments on rapists saying 'boys will be boys' and they commit mistakes, for which they shouldn't be hanged, the party's senior leader Azam Khan called BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi 'a big dog'. Referring to Modi's earlier statement that he felt as sad about the post-Godhra massacre as he would if his car were to drive over a puppy. Azam said, "Agar hum chhote kutte hain, to woh bade kutte hain." (If we are puppies, he is a big dog.)

That's the cartoon on the Hindu today.

In line with the constitutional mandate to curb the corrupting influence of money power in elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued detailed guidelines and set up an elaborate administrative machinery to monitor the expenses of candidates and ensure a free and fair poll. Read

Narendra Modi's economic philosophy appeals to the urban middle classes fed up with the Congress style of social democratic politics and welfare policies. Read

None of the six major political parties in Tamil Nadu have given sufficient representation to the fairer sex in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in the state despite having claimed to espouse the cause of women in Parliament.

While ruling party AIADMK, which is captained by one of the popular woman leaders of the country -- J Jayalalithaa has alloted only four of the 39 seats across the state to women, DMK president M Karunanidhi, a strong advocate of the Women's Reservation Bill, has named only two candidates.

When reporters pointed this out to him recently, the 90-year-old patriarch sought to downplay it saying the state has had enough even with just one woman, indirectly referring to his arch rival, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who takes a dig at him at every available opportunity.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Mizoram votes for its lone Lok Sabha seat today. 

The battle for 2014 Lok Sabha polls continues to get more personal as Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has now challenged BJP's Uttar Pradesh in-charge Amit Shah saying he can't take revenge from them for the Muzaffarnagar riots.  

 

Khan said, "Amit Shah said he wants to take revenge from us. A man who couldn't save the hair on his own head, what can he do?" The remarks came in the backdrop of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's close aide telling Jat voters that the 2014 election was an opportunity to take revenge for the communal riots.  

 

While addressing a rally Shah had said, "If you want to take revenge you should vote for the BJP. You can no longer resolve a matter with swords and arrows. Today you can take revenge by voting for the BJP."

 

Read more on CNN IBN

CNN IBN: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav got himself embroiled in yet another controversy as he defended rapists saying sometimes boys make mistakes but don't deserve the death penalty which was strongly criticised by his rivals.

 

While addressing a rally in Moradabad, he even went to the extent of saying if voted to power his party will scrap death penalty for repeat rape offenders.   SP leader Naresh Agarwal backed the party chief saying, "Such strong rape laws are being misused by many and it's acting against the innocent. If Mulayam said so, then he is right."

 

Mulayam's son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav refused to comment saying he does not know in which context remarks were made.

At least a dozen people suffered njuries in a bomb blast in Ichhra, one of Lahore's densely populated localites, early today.        

 

According to Lahore police chief Chaudhry Shafiiq, a device was planted outside an electronics shop in the Pakistan Chowk that went off in early hours of Friday, injuring over a dozen people.        

 

Shops were closed while scores of people were present at the roadside eateries that remained open till late hours.Window panes of houses and vehicles parked near the blast site were also damaged.        

 

The injured were shifted to Services Hospital where the condition of two is stated to be critical. 

 

Momin Wali Shah, owner of an electronics shop, told reporters that his shop was targeted by extortionists. "I had received threats from unknown persons who demanded Rs 2million from me as extortion," he said, adding he had reported the matter to local police.        

 

The bomb disposal squad said at least 250 grams of explosives was used in the device.

US regulators warned Facebook about making changes to the privacy policy of WhatsApp, the smartphone messaging service set to be acquired by the social network for a whopping $19 billion.        

 

The warning came as the Federal Trade Commission informed Facebook it had approved the deal, according to sources familiar with the review, allowing Facebook to go forward with its largest-ever acquisition and expand its footprint and mobile offerings.        

 

In a letter to both companies, the FTC noted that WhatsApp has made "promises" to consumers on protecting their data and that both companies have told consumers that after the acquisition, WhatsApp will continue its current privacy practices.        

 

"We want to make clear that, regardless of the acquisition, WhatsApp must continue to honour these promises to consumers," FTC official Jessica Rich said in the letter.        

 

Rich said that if the deal is completed and WhatsApp fails to honour these promises, "both companies could be in violation" of the law "and, potentially, the FTC's order against Facebook."        

A woman was arrested after throwing objects, including a shoe, at Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state was giving a speech in Las Vegas, and according to the AP, she "ducked but did not appear to be hit by the object.'  

 

The Las Vegas Review Journal said the woman threw what appeared to be a strappy shoe and a bunch of papers at Clinton during her speech at a meeting of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. The paper reported that Clinton had several comebacks, including "Is that somebody throwing something at me?' and "Is that part of Cirque de Soleil?' and "My goodness, I didn't know that solid waste management was so controversial.' 

 

 In July 2012, Clinton's motorcade was pelted with shoes and tomatoes in Egypt. The most famous incident of shoe-throwing at a political figure was in 2008, when Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw a shoe at then-president George W. Bush at a press conference in Baghdad. "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!' al-Zaidi shouted. Bush also ducked.

 

Read more on MSNBC

Voting for the lone Lok Sabha constituency and an assembly by-poll in Mizoram began today, for which additional eight companies of central para-military forces have been deployed.         The by-poll is being held to the Hrangturzo assembly constituency.        

 

The Mizoram Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the United Democratic Front which is an alliance of eight opposition parties.        

 

Congress has fielded its sitting MP C L Ruala, while UDF has nominated Robert Romawia Royte. AAP has put up Michael Lalmanzuala as its candidate for the seat.        

 

An electorate of 7,02,189, of whom 3,55,954 are women are eligible to cast votes in 1,126 polling stations.        

 

In 385 polling stations, mainly in urban areas, the VVPAT system, under which a paper trail would show the voters their choice of candidates, has been installed.        

 

Eight companies of central paramilitary forces apart from six state armed battalions as well as unarmed policemen are looking after the security. International borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh and inter-state borders have been sealed, official sources said.        

 

The election, scheduled for April 9, was shifted to April 11 after a clutch of civil society bodies called a 72-hour bandh from April 7 to protest against the EC's permission to Bru refugees, camped in Tripura, to vote in that state instead of Mizoram which the strikers had demanded.  

At least 51 jihadist and Islamist fighters were killed as rival forces clashed in Syria on the border with Iraq today, a monitoring group said. The fighting erupted at dawn after an assault by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on posts held by al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and its allies. 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked USAID today to turn over all records about the Obama administration's secret Cuban twitter programme as part of a broader review of the agency's civil-society efforts worldwide. 

A ancient piece of papyrus that contains a mention of Jesus' wife is not a forgery, according to a scientific analysis of the controversial text, US researchers said today. 

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held US-mediated talks today to try to revive their crisis-hit peace process, a Palestinian official said, as a report of a possible breakthrough was played down. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that his decision to take the Crimean peninsula under Russian control was made final after "secret polls" showed that its people wanted to be ruled by Moscow. 

In a pummelling cross-examination the prosecution called Oscar Pistorius's account of killing his girlfriend "impossible" today, zeroing in on apparent inconsistencies in key parts of his testimony. 

 The pro-Russian militants who have put this country on the brinkby seizing buildings and declaring independent republics in the east appeared to be ready to soften their tactics Wednesday, and politicians saw an opportunity to promote a deal.

Northeast Delhi constituency, where sitting Congress MP J P Agarwal, BJP's Manoj Tiwari and AAP's Anand Kumar are in the fray, recorded the highest voter turn out among the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital at 67.08 per cent. 

A small team of US Marines are to head soon to Chad's Zakouma National Park to train local forces in the fight against the poaching threatening the area's elephant herds. Around 15 marines are to arrive in the Central African country by the end of April and will stay for around a month, a military official said.