A Palestinian minister died on Wednesday shortly after an Israeli border policeman shoved and grabbed him by the throat during a protest in the West Bank, an incident Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described as barbaric.

The Delhi High Court in an interim order has restrained Xiaomi as well as online e-commerce site Flipkart from selling in India handsets of the Chinese mobile maker that run on the technology patented by Ericsson. 

The US needs to provide "shoes" and not "boots" on the ground in foreign countries, as it works towards promotion of democracy in nations across the globe, US Vice President Joe Biden has said. 

BJP President Amit Shah congratulated Nobel Peace prize winners Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai and said their contributions for protection of child rights will act as a source of inspiration across the world. In his congratulatory message, the BJP leader said that Satyarthi has put in years of service for removing the ill of child labour from the society. He also lauded the role played by 17-year-old Malala, a Pakistani, for the cause of education of girls.  "Their contribution will in removing the ill of child labour and education of the girl child will serve as an inspiration all across the world," he said.

In case you hadn't already realised, it's the year of the selfie. That's according to Twitter's top trends of 2014. Ellen DeGeneres's star-stuffed Oscar photo was retweeted more than three million times -- a Twitter record.

Alan Rusbridger is to step down as editor-in-chief of the Guardian newspaper next summer, after 20 years in the role. Rusbridger is leaving to take up the position of chair of The Scott Trust, which owns Guardian Media Group. He said he felt "privileged" to have held the role at the Guardian and was "honoured" to take up the new position.

A mood of jubilation prevailed in Vidisha as child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, who hails from the city, received the Nobel Peace Prize along with Malala Yousafzai at a ceremony in Oslo. 

More than two months of pro-democracy protests that transformed the heart of Hong Kong's financial district could be coming to an abrupt end this week.Police have announced that they plan Thursday to clear the main protest camp, which sprawls along a multi-lane highway next to the city's government headquarters.

Sources have said that the  Cabinet has approved the Insurance Amendment Bill after incorporating changes suggested by Parliamentary panel. It is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Monday

Hundreds of supporters in Malala Yousafzai`s hometown cheered as they watched their heroine accept her Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday on a giant TV, as Pakistan`s prime minister promised the activist`s dream for girls` education would come true. 

Islamic State jihadists say they have thrown a gay man off a rooftop and stoned him to death for blasphemy. The jihadists have also published a photograph to corroborate the punishment handed over to the victim, by what they call as the Islamic court. "The Islamic court in Wilayet al-Furat [Iraq-Syria frontier] decided that a man who has practiced sodomy must be thrown off the highest point in the city, and then stoned to death," read a statement released by the IS.

The Delhi High Court has ordered Xiaomi to stop sales, advertising, manufacturing or importing of devices in India. This is the result of the company infringing upon Ericsson's standard essential patents. 

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will tomorrow visit Jammu and Kashmir where he will be briefed by top army commanders on the overall security situation in the state that has of late seen an increase in violence perpetrated by militants. 

In the wake of the alleged rape of a 27-year-old woman by an Uber cab driver in Delhi, the Maharashtra Government has decided to ban web-based taxi services in the state.        

Speaking without notes, unless there is a teleprompter, Malala, says, "I'm the 1st Nobel Peace Prize recipient who still fights with her brothers." 

Malala Yousafzai is holding her Nobel Lecture now.

"Thank you everyone for your continued support and love. I thank my father for not clipping my wings and letting me fly. 

"It's a day of great happiness for me and I am humbled.

"I am honoured to share the prize with Kailash Satyarthi."

"Dear brothers and sisters, I was named after the inspirational Pashtun Joan of Arc, Malalai of Maiwand.

"The word Malala means "grief stricken", "sad", but in order to lend some happiness to it, my grandfather would always call me Malala -- the happiest girl in this world and today I am very happy that we are standing together for an important cause."

They risked and persisted, sacrificed and saved. Editor Nancy Gibbs explains why the Ebola Fighters are TIME's choice for Person of the Year 2014. Read

A standing ovation for Satyarthi as he ends his Nobel acceptance speech.

"Let us democratise knowledge.

Let us universalise justice.

Together, let us globalise compassion, for our children!

I call upon you in this room, and all across the world.

I call for a march from exploitation to education, from poverty to shared prosperity, a march from slavery to liberty, and a march from violence to peace.. 

Let us march from darkness to light. Let us march from mortality to divinity.

Let us march!"

Satyarthi goes back to the remainder of his notes and says, "My daughter Malala and daughters from all over the world are rising up and choosing courage over fear, peace over violence. My only aim in life is that every child is free to be a child, free to grow and develop. Free to laugh and cry, free to go to school and free to dream."

Satyarthi fumbles and turns the pages of his speech and says a page of his speech is missing. "I don't know if this has happened before, but I seem to have lost my speech," he says and speaking extempore says, "What I do know is that today a young courageous Pakistani girl met an Indian father and a Indian father met a Pakistani girl."

Satyarthi's stirring speech, now in English...

"I refuse to accept that all the temples and mosques and churches and prayer houses have no place for the dreams of our children.

"I refuse to accept that the world is so poor, when just one week of global spending on armies is enough to bring all of our children into classrooms.

"I refuse to accept that all the laws and constitutions, and the judges and the police are not able to protect our children.

"I refuse to accept that the shackles of slavery can ever be stronger than the quest for freedom. 

I REFUSE TO ACCEPT."

Rousing applause as Satyarthi continues...

Kailash Satyarthi giving his Nobel lecture. Speaking in Hindi, Satyarthi quotes from the Vedas before beginning his speech and says, "I bow before my parents and my motherland India. Let us work for the good of the whole world. I have seen God's smiles in the children I rescued."

And now Ustad Amjad Ali Khan playing the sarod. He is accompanied by his sons Aman and Ayan Ali Bangash. Magical!  

Kailash Satyarthi receives Nobel peace prize. Malala will be called up next. 

Malala's parents and Satyarthi's wife and the rest of the assemblage give them a standing ovation.

In a first, a live qawali performance at the Nobel prize ceremony. The legendary Rahat Fateh Ali Khan singing now. 

Since we are on the Nobel Prize, last week an anonymous buyer purchased controversial DNA co-discoverer James Watson's Nobel Prize medal for $4.1 million at auction. That buyer has now revealed himself as Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia -- and he says he's going to give Watson his medal back. Read

Wan smiles from Satyarthi and Malala when the Nobel chairman point out that one is a Hindu and the other Muslim. 

Satyarthi and Malala are precisely the people whom Alfred Nobel in his will calls "champions of peace", says Thorbjrn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, while introducing the two Nobel Peace prize winners.

Malala Yousafzai is, at just 17, the youngest Nobel prize winner.

This is the Nobel Lecture by Kailash Satyarthi:

(My dear children of the world') Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses,

Excellencies, distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, dear brother Tom Harkin, brothers and sisters, and my dear daughter Malala.

Read more

Pic: The Nobel diploma that will be given to Kailash Satyarthi today

The Award Ceremony speech is being made by Thorbjrn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

First up are the Peace Prize winners -- Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai. All the winners today will be given the formal citation. 

Nobel Prize ceremony begins in Oslo and Stockholm. Satyarthi and Malala to receive the Nobel Peace prize shortly.

Angry over Delhi rape, Uber GM Sailesh Savlani hit by a man outside the transport commissioner's office in Mumbai. The man who slapped the GM is believed to be Congress MLA Nitesh Rane's aide. Watch this space. 

In a short while from now, the Nobel Prizes for 2014 will be awarded in Stockholm and Oslo.

Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to the Laureates at ceremonies on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. As stipulated in the will of the Swedish-born inventor and international industrialist Alfred Nobel, which was opened after his death in 1896, the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, while the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Pic: Parvesh Sharma, Kailash Satyarthi's nephew says it's a historical day for the family and nation. "I can't express my feelings in words," he says. 

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, nearly a third of all female prisoners worldwide are incarcerated in the United States of America. There are 201,200 women in US prisons, representing 8.8 percent of the total American prison population. See

Actress Freida Pinto will attend the Nobel peace prize ceremony where Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi will be felicitated with the honour in Oslo today.

Pinto, 30, will be seen attending both the ceremony today and the concert tomorrow and will be presenting Malala at the concert to the crowds.   Malala and Satyarthi will receive a medal and USD 1.4million in prize money.

India's Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for their fight against the oppression of children and their right to education, will today receive the award at a ceremony in Oslo.

"Even if one single child is in danger then the entire world is in danger," Mr Satyarthi, 60, said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with 17-year-old Malala, with whom he will share the $ 1.1 million prize.

Satyarthi and Malala spoke to children in a special interaction ahead of the Nobel awards function in Oslo, Norway. Satyarthi said, "Each time I go to rescue a child I think he is the most beautiful child on earth, that he is my own child."

Malala, who has always been a great public speaker and certainly wiser beyond her years, told the children, "You have given me more energy than Red Bull."

Senior IPS officer Vivek Srivastava was today appointed as Inspector General in the elite Special Protection Group which guards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other VVIPs, including the Gandhi family.

Srivastava, a 1989-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, will be the senior-most IPS officer in the elite force and may thereby be made the officiating SPG chief. Srivastava was the head of the Patna unit of Intelligence Bureau last year when Modi's rally in the Bihar capital was attacked by a splinter group of banned terror outfit, Indian Mujahideen (IM).

50 years ago today, Martin Luther King JR received his Nobel peace Prize in Oslo.

Read his stirring acceptance speech here.

Pakistan's former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf has said he believes in a tit-for-tat policy on all fronts and claimed that Kargil conflict was in response to India's role in the creation of Bangladesh.

The 71-year-old former president, who masterminded the Kargil conflict in 1999 and ruled over Pakistan for nine years, said that India had played role in creating Bangladesh and trying to seize Siachen.

"They also undertook such operations so Kargil also happened," he told Samaa TV channel.

"I believed in a tit-for-tat policy on all fronts," said Musharraf, who was the chief of the Pakistani army during the Kargil conflict in 1999. Musharraf, who is currently facing treason charges, said that "friendship with India is only possible on equal terms and with both countries respecting each other."

Much desk thumping and cheers for Mumbai women and MPs Smirti Irani, Poonam Mahajan and Supriya Sule in Parliament today.

Irani was cheered for her reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on the National Translation Mission.
Poonam Mahajan for this suggestion: She said hundreds of spoken languages which do not have a written script are dying. She suggested that FM radios and recordings digitizing these dying languages should be made.

CPM MP Mohd Salim congratulated Mahajan for the suggestion as did Speaker Sumitra Majahan.

NCP MP Supriya Sule seated behind TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee asked TMC MPs to apologise for the caustic remarks against the PM by Banerjee
At once, Kalyan Banerjee stood up and said he regretted the remark.

Dr Murli Manohar Joshi piped in to say that the the three Mumbai girls did a good job in Parliament. 

There are no intelligence inputs to suggest that Al-Qaeda and ISIS terror groups are working together to target Indian cities, however, a video was uploaded on 3rd September, 2014 containing the speech of Sheik Eyam Al-Zawahiri of Al-Qaeda, in which he announced the establishment of a new Wing of Al-Qaeda, namely "Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS)'.

It is learnt that Asim Umar and Usama Mehmood have been appointed as the 'Amir' and 'Spokesperson' respectively of AQIS.

Similarly, Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi of ISIS in a video, uploaded on 29th June, 2014 on internet, highlighted the alleged plight of Muslims in various countries including India and stated that rights of Muslims are forcibly being seized in these countries.

However, there are no intelligence inputs about specific threat to Bengaluru by these two outfits.

This was stated by the MoS Home Haribhai Chaudhary in a written reply to Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the Rajya Sabha today. 

Naxals are reportedly extorting a "levy" of about Rs 140 crore annually from a variety of sources, the government today said.

The extremists have killed 5,024 civilians in the last 10 years, a majority of them tribals.

The Left Wing Extremists groups are reported to extort 'levy' from industrialists, businessmen, contractors particularly Tendu patta contractors, transporters, government servants and various illegal mining mafia groups in the LWE affected states.

What's common between TMC and AIADMK MPs? Both MPs never mention their leaders names without a salutation.

So, TMC's Sultan Ahmed inadvertently caused much laughter in Parliament when he spoke about the West Bengal CM calling her Didi Mamata Banerjee. 

Congress benches commented that it was the Amma syndrome -- which is that an AIADMK MP always opens his speech with a salutation to the former TN chief minister, calling her Amma Jayalalitha..

Ahmed, refused to take the taunt lying down and said Congress MPs do much of the same to Priyanka Vadra. 

BJP senior leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi asked union minister Najma Heptullah about rumors of her appointment as governor of Punjab. Heptullah told Dr Joshi that she had indeed heard about it from the media, but had received no official intimation.

Bonhomie across party lines in Parliament today. BJP MP Hema Malini and NCP MP Supriya Sule spoke for over 30 minutes inside Lok Sabha today. While the jury's out on what the conversation was about, we do know that after Hema Malini, almost every MP met Sule asked after her father, NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Pawar was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday after he sustained leg injury from a fall at his Delhi residence.

Whatever happened to good old fashioned sensible advice? Be a feminist, but not foolish. Read

In pictures: The final meal of death row convicts. See

Don't get me wrong. Real innovations are important -- and increasingly hard to come by. In a never-ending flood of app offerings created in Silicon Valley, Uber seems to be one of the few based on a really good idea.
later' model.  Read

Committing suicide no longer an offence. Govt removes Section 309 IPC (attempt to commit suicide) from the statute book.

The government has decriminalized attempt to commit suicide by repealing Section 309 of IPC which makes the act punishable with a jail term of up to one year and a fine.

In an open letter to world leaders ahead of receiving her Nobel Peace Prize today, activist Malala Yousafzai asks world leaders to raise their ambition.

Dear World Leaders,
This year's Nobel Peace Prize shows that generations and nations can stand side-by-side to demand a better world for children. But it also puts in stark relief the injustice of a world where education can be classed a crime, a 15-year old girl is shot simply for wanting to learn, and boys and girls are forced to spend their childhoods working in a factory. So whilst it must
be a moment for celebration, it must also serve as a rallying cry to the world to do more to ensure every child can be certain of a better future.

Tremendous progress has been made. More girls are attending school than ever before, the number of children under-5 dying of preventable diseases has halved and fewer young people are living in poverty. But it is not enough. Too many girls have their education cut short and are forced into marriages they do not want, too many children grow up without enough food to eat or water to drink and too many of them live in communities whose very existence is threatened by changes to the climate.

It doesn't have to be this way. 2015 can be a pivotal point for the world. It can be the year in which the world commits to a better future for boys and girls, men and women. It can be the year in which we all commit to seeing the last child out of school, the last child forced into slavery and the last child forced to flee their home because of the danger of climate change.

In 2015 two United Nations summits give us a unique opportunity to begin a journey towards a better future for all. Both present an opportunity to think bigger and to do better for ourselves, our children and all those that follow. The first, in September, will see the agreement of new Development Goals which have the potential to transform the lives of
millions.

Two months later, in December, world leaders will meet again to agree new climate change targets. This is our chance to commit to do better. That is why I am issuing a call today to urge you to raise your ambition. If the right decisions are made and kept we could see the beginnings of a better future in 2015. A future of 'lasts', rather than half measures.

I am not the only one raising my voice and calling for a greater ambition. A global movement action/2015 made up of citizens around the world and with young people at its forefront is forming. They will soon be launching their call for action demanding you commit to ambitious action in 2015 and deliver on your promises.

I stand side by side with them. 2015 must be the year the world wakes up and delivers a safer, more just future for children and young people. We all must play our part in ensuring this is the case. Do not let this opportunity go to waste.

Yours sincerely,
Malala Yousafzai

A judge in Pretoria ruled Wednesday that South African prosecutors can appeal Oscar Pistorius' conviction, but denied the state's bid to appeal his sentence.

Prosecutors had said Pistorius' sentence of five years in prison for shooting dead his girlfriend is nowhere near enough punishment.They also want the double-amputee track star to be convicted of a more serious charge.

They had originally sought conviction on a charge of murder. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, in the death of Reeva Steenkamp.Pistorius didn't attend the hearing, which began Tuesday. -- CNN

Shashi Tharoor tweets: A bit taken aback to see a PM taking the salute wearing a party symbol. I beg @PMOIndia not to politicise the Army. 

Delhi Police has recovered the iPhone which was provided by Uber to the driver accused of raping the 27-year-old finance company executive on Friday night inside the cab which she had booked through the company's App.

The smartphone was recovered from Mathura by a Delhi Police team which had gone there with the accused Shiv Kumar Yadav yesterday in search of the phone. The phone was recovered at his instance. Police have already recovered two of the three phones used by Yadav.

Uber provides its cab drivers an iPhone with the Uber App. Customers book a cab through the company's App. The system then sends a message to the driver of a cab nearest to the customer and when he accepts the 'assignment', his name, photo and other details of the cab like its registration number is sent to the customer through this App.

"The phone is an important evidence for us. It will prove that Yadav works for Uber which will help us prove the culpability of the cab service. It will also prove that Yadav was driving the cab which the victim has booked," said a senior police official. Its GPS signature will help us corroborate the route from where she was picked, the course the cab took to reach the spot where the crime took place and when he dropped the victim near her home, he said.

The issue of alleged forced conversion of 100 Muslims in Agra today echoed in Lok Sabha with Trinamool Congress members raising the issue in the House. Sultan Ahmed (TMC) raised the issue of alleged forced conversions as soon as the House met for the day.

"What is happening in Agra," he asked, waving a newspaper. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she has rejected his notice for an adjournment motion. Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD) raised the issue of "increasing" number of rape cases in the past six months.

Kirit Somaiya (BJP) demanded stringent punishment for Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee for his reported controversial remarks against the Prime Minister. Mahajan said his notice is under consideration and she would also talk to Banerjee on the issue.

India has the largest number of poor people. A third of the poorest of the poor in the world live here. We also have the largest number of children under five who die every year, uncared for, untreated. Over 60% of us shit and piss under the skies. We have no toilets. We have no homes either. There are more homeless people here than anywhere else. Those who live in slums outnumber Britain's population three times over. Read

And Uber remains in the news for all the wrong reasons.

A former driver with the company has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a six-year-old girl when he rammed his car into the family as it was crossing a street last year. 

"BCCI opposes setting up of high power panel to look into the conflict of interest issue and punishment to be meted out on the basis of the Mudgal committee report. The game of cricket will collapse if people's confidence in
the sport is not restored," SC tells BCCI

The mother of Uber cabbie Shiv Kumar Yadav accused of rape says, "I don't know what the truth is. I haven't seen my son in a year. I don't know how he is and where he is. I have only heard of what has happened. But I want to hear it from my son's mouth," she says.

"They say he raped a woman. Since childhood he has been accused of teasing women. There is even a case of chain-snatching against him. But nothing has been proved. Everyone here knows he has money. They are only jealous."

Read more

The Asia-Pacific head of US-based cab service Uber will be questioned by the Delhi Police for the second consecutive day today in connection with the rape of a 27-year-old finance executive by the company's driver. Eric Alexander, the Uber Asia-Pacific head, had joined the investigation yesterday and had met senior police officials.

Peace: Presented jointly to India's Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. The two will split the Nobel award of USD 1.1 million. Satyarthi, 60, gave up his job as an electrical engineer to run an NGO Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (Save Childhood Movement) in India for rescuing children from forced labour and trafficking while 17-year-old Malala survived a near-fatal Taliban attack two years ago for advocating education for girls.

Literature 2014: Given to France's Patrick Modiano "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation".

Physics: Given jointly to Japanese scientists Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano and Japanese-born American Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".

Chemistry: Awarded jointly to Americans Eric Betzig and William Moerner and German scientist Stefan Hell "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy", a new method that let microscopes see finer details than they could before.

Physiology or Medicine: Divided, one half awarded to US-British scientist John O'Keefe, the other half jointly to Norwegian husband-and-wife duo Edvard and May-Britt Moser "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain", revelations that could well lead to advances in diagnosing Alzheimer's.

Economics or The Sveriges Riksbank Prize: Presented to Frenchman Jean Tirole "for his analysis of market power and regulation", which shows how regulators can manage markets dominated by a few powerful companies to keep them from blocking competition and overcharging customers.

There is an Assam connection to this year's Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm -- a special tea which will be served at the grand banquet ceremony.

The Nobel Museum Tea Blend is made of Assam and Chinese Keemun tea.

"In honour of Alfred Nobel, we have composed a special tea blend. The blend is based on a Chinese Keemun tea produced in Qimen country situated in Anhui Province. Blended together with an Indian Assam tea, this tea attains a gorgeous colour and lovely scent," the Nobel Museum  said about the unique tea.

The Supreme Court stays the execution of Yakub Memon, the only death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

Senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, appearing for Memon, said that a similar plea by a death row convict in the 2000 Red Fort attack case, Mohammed Arif, had been referred to a Constitution Bench.

The court then said that this petition be also tagged and heard along with the plea of Red fort attack case convict.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan had on March 21, 2013, upheld the death sentence of Memon.

Saradha scam: CBI has summoned Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra. Mitra is expected to visit the CBI's Rajarhat office on Friday unless he falls 'sick' again. 

Delhi cab rape case: Delhi police recovers GPS enabled-phone which was given to the Uber cab driver from Mathura.

Srinivasan seeks SC permission to contest BCCI election.

N Srinivasan gives undertaking in the Supreme Court to keep out of IPL matters if elected as BCCI president till he gets a clean chit from the high power panel.

Yesterday, the SC questioned the 'rationale' behind Srinivasan stepping aside as BCCI president but attending its meetings as Tamil Nadu Cricket Association president.

The court sought a dispassionate investigation into the prima facie findings of the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee into the Indian Premier League scam because otherwise, "an entire nation would feel cheated."

Kapil Sibal, counsel for Srinivasan, who stepped down as BCCI president after the scam, responded that the Bench may appoint anyone it had confidence in to take the panel's findings forward. "Justice must be seen to be done," he said.

Despite a ban on Uber cabs in Delhi after the arrest of one of its drivers for rape, they can still be hired. A driver who responded to NDTV's call on Tuesday evening said the internet-based cab service has not informed anyone about the ban.

When NDTV tried to call an Uber cab using its app, one driver said the company is banned, but the next driver agreed to come after initially refusing a ride to a different destination.The taxi that came was unmarked and untagged; it had no company logo.

Read

Days after a woman executive in Delhi alleged she was raped by a cab driver she hired through Uber, the US-based firm's India GM Gagan Bhatia told police that his company was just an "aggregator" that did not conduct any verification of the drivers it engaged. But just last month, an Uber spokesman had told a woman customer in Mumbai quite the opposite. Read

Indian anti-slavery crusader Kailash Satyarthi will receive the Nobel Prize for Peace in Oslo today, December 10. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com visits the infamous cages of Mumbai's oldest red light district, Kamathipura, to find out how human trafficking has given India the terrible reputation of the nation with the highest slavery rates in the world. Read

When Uber cabbie Shiv Kumar Yadav visited his village Ramnagar in UP's Mainpuri district, parents would ask their daughters to stay indoors. He would pass lewd comments, pull duppatas, and if he got the chance, do worse. Some years back, the local police, exasperated by his habitual waywardness, had to extern him from the area - a measure that's locally called "zilabadar" which is more popularly known as "tadipaar".

Read the full report here.

Continuing its falling streak for the fourth straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by nearly 87 points in early trade today on sustained selling by funds and investors amid weak global cues.

After Delhi, Hyderabad has decided to ban Uber cabs a day after Home Minister Rajnath Singh advised all states to stop the operation of web-based taxi services.

Uber operations were banned  in Delhi after the arrest of one of its drivers for allegedly raping a 23-year-old passenger on Friday.

Uber has been charged by the Delhi police with cheating and defying government orders.

Pakistan is placed eighth in the list of the most dangerous countries in the world which is led by Iraq, according to a US-based intelligence think tank.

Speaking for the first time since the news of a 25-year-old financial analyst was raped by an Uber cab driver broke, the mobile app based cab hailing service said banning it is not the solution to the challenge of safety for women in the city.

A key Taliban commander responsible for masterminding a 2007 bomb attack that killed 140 people in a botched attempt to assassinate Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto was killed today by police.

It should have been a peaceful, contemplative night for Levi Rosenblat, studying the Torah inside a Brooklyn synagogue.

CNN reports: The release of a Senate committee report on detention and interrogation techniques of the CIA, which mostly amounted to torture and have raised concerns across the globe, shows how the US effectively promotes human rights and democracy, top American officials have said. 

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate have visited the 9/11 memorial in the pouring rain, placing a bouquet at one of the reflection pools on the final day of their New York tour.

A mum who boasted to neighbours that she had the 'best Christmas tree in the world' was busted by police -- who revealed that it wasn't a fir tree at all, but a gigantic marijuana plant.

Rabbinical student Levi Rosenblat was in stable condition after the pre-dawn attack at the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, the movement's Rabbi Motti Seligson said in a statement.

Information gained through interrogation of detainees resulted in the finding of Osama bin Laden, the CIA said after an explosive US Senate report today alleged the spy agency's torturing did not yield any substantial information.

Britain's Prince William and his wife, Kate, laid flowers today at one of America's most somber sites the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum. The couple crossed the memorial plaza in Lower Manhattan in pouring rain and wind, each holding a black umbrella.

From the NYT: The report released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence discloses new details about the C.I.A.'s torture practices.

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said that friendship with India could only be "possible on equal terms" without sacrificing the country's self-respect.

The police today questioned two friends of the Uber cab driver, accused of raping a 27-year-old executive on Friday night.

The CIA's harsh interrogations of terrorist detainees during the Bush era didn't work, were more brutal than previously revealed and delivered no "ticking time bomb" information that prevented an attack, according to an explosive Senate report released on Tuesday.

Uber 'ignored warnings' about driver days before alleged attack
Uber's 4,000 drivers were not verified by cops
Unfazed by terror, J-K records 58 per cent in third phase of polls
Govt asks states to stop all web-based taxi services
Jharkhand: 2 Naxalites killed during escape bid, 3 others injured
Jharkhand polls: Ranchi registers lowest voting percentage