Doku Umarov, the Chechin terrorist dubbed "Russia's Osama Bin Laden," has reportedly been killed in the North Caucasus, according to the Kavkaz Center, a website for Islamists fighting in the North Caucasus.

 

There have been several reports of Umarov's demise, but not from a pro-Chechin site like Kavkaz. Doku Umarov became one of the most wanted rebels in the Caucasus after styling himself as the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate and masterminding several attacks against Russian targets both within Chechnya and throughout Russia over the past twenty years.

 

Umarov had reportedly been fighting against the Russians in Chechnya since 1994. Although he started as a Chechyn nationalist, he reportedly became involved in the global terror network in 2007.

 

Umarov had called for attacks against the Olympics earlier this year. He was also reportedly behind plans for car bombings and 'Black Widow' suicide bombings, as well as having given the orders for the Volgograd bus bombings before the Olympics began.

 

Read more on Business Insider India

The Russian action to annex the Ukrainian region of Crimea is a threat to global peace, the US said today, warning Moscow that there would be consequences to such a move in violation of the international norms. 

Gujarat unit of Congress today lodged a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner against BJP's Uttar Pradesh in-charge and Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah for alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct, a party leader said. 

India's Ambassador to the US, S Jaishankar today welcomed the move by over 100 members of Congress asking Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel to allow Sikhs to serve in the American armed forces. 

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal's Varanasi rally has been postponed by two days to March 25 after the district administration denied permission for it in view of the Legislative Council polls.

"The rally scheduled for March 23 has been cancelled due to the Legislative Council elections on the same day. It will now be held on March 25," AAP's national council member Vaibhav Maheshwari told PTI today.

Kejriwal had announced that he would take the decision on contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi after the proposed rally.

"Narendra Modi has announced that he will contest from Varanasi. So even I am going to Varanasi. We will ask people there on whether I should contest against Modi. If they say yes then I am ready to contest," he said.

Scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi was tonight denied ticket by Congress which fielded young leader Vishwajeet Kadam in his place as it released the third list of 58 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls naming several Union ministers and senior leaders.

Former Team India captain Mohd Azharuddin, who is a sitting member from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, was shifted to Tonk-Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan having substantial minority population.

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has been brought from Mahasamund while Paranjayaditya Sinh Parmar, son-in-law of Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, has been made a nominee from Panchmahal's seat in Gujarat

United Democratic Party working president Paul Lyngdoh today filed his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls after having secured the support of one regional party and despite the reluctance of two other outfits to back his electoral bid.

Lyngdoh has the support of National People's Party in the Shillong constituency but the Hill State People's Democratic Party and Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement are reportedly upset over his candidature.

The latter two parties are more keen on PBM Basaiawmoit as their candidate of choice.

Sandeep Dikshit gets the East Delhi ticket.

Sachin Pilot will contest from Ajmer in Rajasthan.

Cong fields Vishwajeet Kadam from Pune. The seat was represented by Suresh Kalmadi, accused in Commonwealth Games scam.

Ajit Jogi to contest from Mahasamund in Chhattisgar.

Cricketer-turned-politician Mohd Azharuddin fielded from Tonk Sawa Madhopur in Rajasthan. He was MP from Moradabad in UP.

The Congress has announced its third list of candidates fopr the Lok sabha polls.
Here is a list of candidates according to media reports:

V narayanswamy: Bangalore North

Kapil Sibal: Chandani Chowk, Delhi

Rao Dharampal from Gurgaon

No ticket has been given to Suresh Kalmadi

More details are awaited

The BJP has named former army chief V K Singh as its candidate from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat.

The Election Commission today warned internet companies against misuse of the popular platform by political parties during election campaign.

In a letter to Internet and Mobile Association of India and Chief Grievance Officers of all major social networking sites, the poll body has also asked the internet sites to inform the Commission regarding the expenditure incurred by political parties and candidates on political advertisements as and when demanded.

While the EC has already flagged the issue with political parties, it issued a directive to the Association saying that it was "very concerned" with the use of internet and social networking sites in election campaign.

The EC emphasised that no political advertisement should be accepted and displayed on internet and internet-based media without pre-certification.

The March 16 referendum on whether the southeastern Ukrainian province of Crimea should unite with Russia or have greater autonomy within Ukraine has presented the United States and the European Union with their most severe political test in decades. Read more

Union minister Shashi Tharoor today filed his nomination as a Congress candidate from the Lok Sabha seat in Thiruvananthapuram. The seat is likely to witness a three-cornered fight among sitting MP Tharoor, CPI's Bennet Abraham and O Rajagopal of BJP. Abraham, the LDF candidate, is yet to file his papers. Rajagopal is a former Union minister. In 2009, Tharoor had won the seat by defeating CPI's P Ramachandran Nair by a margin of nearly one lakh votes.

US Vice-President Biden says Russia action on Crimea "nothing more than a land grab" and "blatant violation" of law.  Putin, speaking to a joint session of Parliament in Moscow, also stressed the historical and cultural ties between Russia and Crimea, and said Crimea is an inalienable part of Russia."In our hearts we know Crimea has always been an inalienable part of Russia," he said.

And here's what's happening in the netherworld:

Supermodel Tyra Banks tweets: Running late to a meeting. Why? Because I couldn't get my damn winged eyeliner straight!

A section of the confidential Henderson Brooks report that critically reviewed India's defence preparedness and strategies during the 1962 war with China has been released online by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell.

While the report may not contain significantly new revelations about the poor state of India's forces during the war, it discusses "how the Army was ordered to challenge the Chinese military to a conflict it could only lose," according to Maxwell, a retired foreign correspondent who was based in Delhi at the time of the war.

As the report gained traction, Maxwell's website, Nevillemaxwell.com cannot be accessed anymore with tweets saying that the site had been blocked by the Indian government. A section of that report however is available right here on Rediff.com. Read

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty on Tuesday on bringing the Crimea region into Russia, shortly after delivering a speech before the parliament in which he said that Crimea was and is an integral part of Russia. Putin and leaders of Crimea and Sevastopol signed an agreement making the two entities new members of the Russian Federation.  Read more

Russia and Crimea sign treaty on the region joining Russia after President Putin staunchly defends Moscow's actions.  President Putin has told a special session of Russia's parliament that "in people's heart of hearts, Crimea has always been part of Russia".

Residents of the remote Maldives island of Kuda Huvadhoo in Dhaal Atoll have reported seeing a "low flying jumbo jet" on the morning of the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.  Read

President Putin has told a special session of Russia's parliament that "in people's heart of hearts, Crimea has always been part of Russia". Putin is speaking at the Kremlin, where he is urging MPs to back Crimea's attempt to split from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

Crimean officials say 97% of voters backed splitting from Ukraine in a controversial referendum on Sunday.The EU and US have declared the vote illegal and imposed sanctions. Read

Also read: Will I ever be able to go back to Crimea?

Anti-corruption activist-turned-politician, Arvind Kejriwal, made his most audacious political move yet Sunday by suggesting he would contest national elections against the man who has consistently emerged in opinion polls as the most popular candidate to become India's next prime minister. Read 

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to contest from two places in UP -- Azamgarh and Mainpuri.  The issue was discussed at a recent meeting of senior leaders in Lucknow. That Azamgarh was an important district for SP can be gauged from the fact that the party had launched its campaign for the 2012 assembly elections from here.

Speculations were rife regarding Mulayam's candidature from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency, but senior party leader Shivpal Yadav had earlier denied it saying that there was no such proposal.

In the 2009 elections, Mulayam won the Mainpuri seat by a margin of over 1.6 lakh votes. BJP's Ramakant Yadav won the Azamgarh constituency by nearly 50,000 votes. SP candidate Durga Prasad Yadav came third in the constituency behind BSP's Akbar Ahmad Dampi.

Union Minister Dr Sudharshan Nachiappan has written to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi expressing his desire to contest from the Sivagana parliamentary constituency.

In his letter, he has assured the Congress President that he will win the seat. In fact, it was Nachiappan who defeated P Chidambaram in the same Sivagana Lok Sabha seat. Nachiappan's effort is also to ensure that nobody from Chidambaram's family is given a Lok Sabha seat.

Congress sources have said Chidambaram would want his son Karthi to replace him in Sivaganga but the final word on the passing of the baton would depend on the leadership.

Kirron Kher  tweets: Time I get on Twitter & make direct connection with all of U! I'm the BJP candidate from Chandigarh! Need all ur support & best wishes! :-)

And Zakia Jafri battles on... The 75-year-old widow of Ehsan Jafri moves the Gujarat HC against a lower court order accepting the SIT's clean chit given to Narendra Modi, others in 2002 Gulbarg Society riot case.

On February 28, 2002, Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was attacked by a mob at Gulberg Society, a cluster of 29 bungalows and 10 apartment buildings housing mostly Muslims. The mob breached the boundary wall and torched houses. Jafri was dragged out, hacked and burnt to death, along with 68 others. His frantic phone calls to police officers and senior politicians for help allegedly went unanswered.

Former SP leader Jaya Prada, who recently joined Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal will be contesting from Bijnore. An RLD says that Jaya Prada is closer to Ajit Singh than Amar Singh. In Bijnore, we are told, many of Jaya Prada's old Hindi films are now being screened in theatres and also on the local cable network, in contravention of the election code of conduct. The RLD has got eight seats in Uttar Pradesh under a seat-sharing alliance with the Congress.  

Long-term girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman, 'found hanged' by her assistant in a Manhattan apartment, was millions of pounds in debt. Read

The Aam Admi party today announced its choice for Rajasthan's Chittorgarh Lok Sabha seat while declaring 7th list of its candidates for the upcoming polls.

Dr Narendra Guptal, who runs an NGO and works for tribal welfare, will represent the party from the Chittorgarh seat.

His name figured in the 7th list of the 26 candidates released by the AAP today, AAP spokesperson Mulk Raj said.

With this, the party has so far announced nine candidates for the ensuing LS elections.

Other candidates of the party include: Dr Virendra Singh (Jaipur), social activist Virendra Vidrohi (Alwar), Rajasthan Kisan Union president K K Saharan (Churu), tribal leader and activist Velaram Meena (Udaipur), AAP state committee member Sunil Agiwal (Bhilwara), former Deputy Chief of Army Lt Gen Raj Kadyan (Jhunjhunu), Major Surendra Kumar Poonia (Sikar) and the party's state convener Ashok Kumar (Kota).

Rahul Gandhi today alleged that BJP's "divisive" policy was responsible for spoiling the country's secular fabric and incidents of hate crime, while stressing that Congress' ideology was to unite the people irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

"The opposition wants to divide the people on political and religious lines, but we want to surge ahead for peace, progress and prosperity of people irrespective of their reigion," he said starting his party's poll campaign for the April 9 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

AAP candidate from northwest Delhi Mahendra Kumar returns his LS ticket to party, say reports.

Kirron tried to downplay the protest against her by a section of BJP workers. Seeking to reach out to those who were protesting her candidature on the grounds that she was an 'outsider', Kirron told reporters that she had her roots in Chandigarh and also had connection with neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.

Kirron, wife of veteran actor Anupam Kher, said she is contesting from the City, where she was brought up and would work to ensure its development. "We will sort out any grievance which some people may have (those who are opposing her)," she said and exuded confidence that she will win the Chandigarh seat.

As actor Kirron Kher arrived in Chandigarh today to begin campaigning as the BJP's candidate, protesters waved black flags and shouted slogans to signal their disapproval. Her husband, actor, Anupam Kher had to dodge eggs.

The protests were not sponsored by her rivals, model and actor Gul Panag of the Aam Aadmi Party or Congressman and sitting MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal. These were members of the BJP, who are disgruntled that the party chose to field Kher, who arrived at the party headquarters to slogans of, "Kirron Kher go back". 

The party has named Kher as the candidate from Chandigarh, ignoring three frontrunners including former MP Satya Pal Jain, Chandigarh BJP President Sanjay Tandon and former Union Minister Harmohan Dhawan.

When Kher's candidature was announced by the party high command on Saturday, there was a revolt in the Chandigarh unit of the BJP, leading to a few resignations by some office bearers of the city unit.

From the Chandigarh seat, where polling will be held on April 10, former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is seeking re-election as Congress nominee.

Bansal had earlier downplayed the presence of prominent women - former Miss India Gul Panag (AAP) and actor Kirron Kher (BJP) - in the fray, saying paratroopers cannot do some overnight magic.


This is the picture retweeted by Anupam Kher which says: A Grand Welcome of  Kirron Kher in City Beautiful Chandigarh.

A BJP state parliamentary board meeting being held now wants LK Advani to contest from Gandhinagar, Narendra Modi from Surat or Ahmedabad (East).


A five-time MP from Gandhinagar, Advani was earlier offered a Rajya Sabha seat by his party but declined to enter the house of elders, choosing to continue in electoral politics.

Advani has remained unbeaten from his Gandhinagar seat  five times in 1991, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009. In the 2009 elections, when he was BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Advani won the hustings with the margin of 1.21 lakh votes defeating his nearest rival Suresh Patel of the Congress.

The Congress is expected to announce its third list of candidates today. 

The BJP on Saturday announced that its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

Way back in May 2012, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt had said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was likely to contest the next Lok Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh. We reproduce that exclusive interview.  Read

The March 16 referendum on whether the southeastern Ukrainian province of Crimea should unite with Russia or have greater autonomy within Ukraine has presented the United States and the European Union with their most severe political test in decades. Read

Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.

Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt's fascinating column where she reveals the ground realities in the Battle for India. Read

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has moved the Madras high court seeking Rs 100 crore as damages from the private television network Zee.

On Tuesday, Dhoni also won an interim order from the court, restraining the Zee group from telecasting interviews or news pertaining to certain match-fixing allegations against him.

Denying his involvement in any such unlawful activities, Dhoni said his hard-earned reputation was under stake and his name was being sullied by unverified reports.

Admitting his Rs 100-crore suit on Tuesday, a single judge of the Madras high court restrained Zee group channels from telecasting any interview or discussion on Dhoni and the alleged scandal.  -- TOI

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will address a public rally in Wardha city on March 20 and hold a 'Chai Pe Charcha' with villagers in Yavatmal where the recent untimely rains and hailstorm have damaged crops.

"Modi will be arriving in Wardha on March 20 to address his first election rally in Vidarbha region where the party has fielded former two-term MLC Ramdas Tadas," state BJP unit president Devendra Phadanvis said.

Tadas is pitted against Sagar Meghe of Congress. He had once worked with Sagar's father Datta Meghe when both were in NCP. Datta Meghe, the sitting Wardha Congress MP, has opted out of the race in favour of his son.

On the evening of March 20, Modi will visit Dabhadi village in Yavatmal where crops were badly damaged due to untimely rains and hailstorm. He will participate in the 'Chai Par Charcha' (discussion over tea) with the villagers, Phadnavis said. Sitting Shiv Sena MP Bhawana Gawali is contesting from Yavatmal Lok Sabha Constituency.

A blue bungalow in Bandra that retains its old glory as others lose theirs. Read

There's been a minor accident during Arun Jaitley's roadshow in Amritsar, when balloons caught fire when crackers were being burst. In this picture, tweeted by ANI, party workers apply a cold compress to Jaitley.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, the party's 50-year-old MP from here, who has evicted to make room for Jaitley, was absent, but Sidhu's wife, Navjot Kaur, a BJP lawmaker from Amritsar East, welcomed Jaitley in the morning with party workers.

Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and four-time MP today filed his nomination papers for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, polling for which will be held on April 10.

Bansal is pitted against three prominent women candidates in Chandigarh-- former Miss India and AAP candidate Gul Panag, BJP's actress-turned-politician Kirron Kher and BSP's Jannat Jahan.

The Aam Aadmi Party's US chapter has launched a unique online platform that it expects to be a game changer in the upcoming general elections by tapping into popular support from inside and outside India.

"Today we are using technology to tap into support base and further extend it to leverage people's personal network of friends and acquaintances," said Ravi Sharma, AAP volunteer and architect of 'my.aamadmiparty.org'.

The website, launched yesterday, has been developed by its volunteer cyber warriors from Silicon Valley.

The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry into audio tapes between Gujarat ministers and officials purportedly trying to derail the Ishrat Jahan case. The meeting was attended by Narendra Modi's personal secreteray GC Murmu who is now being questioned and was held a day before the SIT was to present its report.

The CD has been provided by chargesheeted police officer GL Singhal.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally in Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh. He has credited north-east women for the work progress in the state. He said India should get inspired by the way the north-east treats its women.

A suicide bomber detonates explosives-packed rickshaw at a market in northern Afghanistan, killing 15 people. Details awaited. 

Arvind Kejriwal's hurried resignation as chief minister of Delhi confused the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) grassroots workers in Uttar Pradesh. It created an impression that he and his colleagues ran away from governance. The reasons cited by them might have been insufficient numbers, inability to handle law and order without controlling Delhi Police or the non-introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill.  Read

Former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's son Pervez Ahmed will contest as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. Ahmed's name figured in the fourth list of nine TMC nominees released today, including seven from Assam, one each.

Here's the 7th list AAP candidates. Read

The Aam Admi Party releases its seventh list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Prominent among the list, which features 26 candidates, is anti-Kudankulam activist SP Udayakumar, who will battle it out in Kanyakumari. 

Read: 'If they arrest me, they will make me a martyr and a winner'

The Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, has drawn support and admiration from many prominent individuals: intellectuals like Lord Meghnad Desai and Amartya Sen, bureaucrats and diplomats, military generals, people from media and Bollywood celebrities.

They publicly endorsed the AAP and a few joined the party.

Many of whom now are disenchanted with the AAP. And a few have resigned.What went wrong so swiftly for the new party that raised so much hope and optimism?

Read AAP member Capt Gopinath's column.

An Italian court has barred India from encashing bank guarantees worth over Rs 2,360 crore of AgustaWestland as part of the penalties imposed on it after scrapping of the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

India has decided to file an appeal against the decision of the Italian court, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said. India has already encashed bank guarantees of around Rs 240 crore deposited in banks in India but it is yet to recover the bank guarantees deposited in banks of Italy.

An Italian court in Milan yesterday accepted a plea by AgustaWestland's parent company Finmecannica to stop India from encashing over Rs 2,360 crore (Euro 278 million).

Is the blind implementation of social welfare schemes the only approach of governance in rural India, especially in Maoist-affected areas? A small village in Chhattisgarh provides a viable alternative. Read

For Tintin fans mystery of missing Malyasian jet is eerily familiar. Read

"At the beginning of the year 2001, no one could predict or imagine what was coming with the 9/11 attacks and everything that followed. American intelligence got some information, but no one really trusted that information. "We could be in the same situation right now. Who can say what will happen after Syria? I fear we are in a pre-9/11 situation." Read

MH370: Free conspiracies are for sale, with cautious restraint that propels the absence of truth. But you're still obsessed, aren't you? Read

Union Minister of State for IT and Communications Milind Deora will be taking on Shiv Sena, MNS and AAP candidates as he tries to win the South Mumbai seat for the third time in next month's Lok Sabha elections. Deora had won the seat for the second time in 2009, in a three-cornered fight with Bala Nandgaonkar (MNS) and Mohan Rawle (Shiv Sena).

This time around, his fight will be with Nandgaonkar, Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant and AAP's Meera Sanyal. The 37-year-old MP initiated the Bhendi Bazar cluster development project and pushed for the Eastern Freeway project and the second phase of the Rs 80-crore Marine Drive makeover project. He claims credit for the lighthouse tourism policy, guidelines to regulate cell tower radiations and the state's decision to set up a housing regulator.

"India has changed since my youth. There were three classes then: the rich, the poor and the middle class. The rich were generally maharajahs, zemindars and industrialists. They had palaces in Bundernagore and bungalows in Bulleypore. They could be identified by their cars.

"The poor, who cooked for them, swept their driveways and cleaned their toilets, could be identified by their dirty, skimpy clothes and bare feet.

"The middle class either lived on salary or manned shops.

"The salary-earners wore trousers, polished their one pair of shoes every day and took a train or a bus to work every morning. The shopkeepers wore topis and dhotis, sold kirana and counted cash at the end of the day."

Read

"I must confess, Pakistan, that when I first set eyes on you, I blamed you for the destruction. As much as Rushdie could not forgive Karachi for not being Bombay, I could not forgive you, Pakistan, for not being India. My biases were legion: I grew up in India, with an Indian mother. My father was Pakistani. They were both Punjabis. The line that had gone through Punjab affected me directly. No nostalgia, no bittersweet ironies for me: I had a parent on one side, and a parent on the other."

Author Aatish Taseer's ode to Pakistan. Read

Going by the increasing number of companies queuing up at the doors of the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) cell, the strain on banks' balance sheets doesn't seem to be easing. Read

In other news: Varanasi has become the centrepiece of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi being challenged by Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal. A parliamentary constituency with a chequered past, Varanasi has become increasingly safronised over the years, although at least 70 percent of the electorate remains on the non-BJP side of the fence. Read

Possible plot investigated after Al-Qaeda supergrass told court that four or five Malaysian men planned a passenger airliner hijack. Read

In other news: With just two months to sign off from power, the UPA government led by prime minister Manmohan Singh is set to unveil a draft of national security doctrine for public debate.   Read

Sherlock Swamy solves MH370 case:

Subramanian Swamy: Based on my world wide sources,it appears that MSA 340 was hijacked,went over India to some remote Al-Qaeda type area, and then waiting for?

When hijackers took control of four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, and sent them hurtling low across the countryside toward New York and Washington, frantic passengers and flight attendants turned on their cellphones and began making calls to loved ones, airline managers and the authorities. Read more

Indian stock markets hit fresh record high tracking positive global cues and continued strong buying by foreign investors.

The BSE Sensex rose as much as 1.1 per cent to an all-time high of 22,040.72 points, surpassing its previous record of 22,023.98 hit on March 10. The broader Nifty gained as much as 1.1 per cent to a record high of 6,574.95 points, surpassing its previous record high of 6,562.85 points hit on March 11, reports NDTV.

Fashion desinger L'Wren Scott, who was dating Mick Jagger, was found dead in her Manhattan apartment from an apparent suicide.

The 49-year-old designer was found hanging from a balcony door handle by her assistant, Brittany Penebre around 10 am yesterday.

Penebre called 911 and Scott was pronounced dead at the scene, reported the New York Post.

A spokesperson for Jagger said the rocker, who was in Australia for a Rolling Stones tour, is completely shocked and devastated by the news and is racing back to New York. The couple had been dating since 2001 The New York police department spokesman did not confirm the identity of the dead person but said she was 49 years old and had been found unconscious and unresponsive.

The police will not identify her until the family is notified.

NDTV reports: Goldman Sachs has upgraded India to "overweight" ahead of make-or-break elections in which business friendly BJP-led NDA is expected to win more seats than other combinations.

Goldman, which expects domestic fundamentals to improve, said elections may be an important domestic catalyst for markets.

In November, Goldman had suggested a BJP win.  

Read the full report here

The Independent reports:  The missing Malaysian airlines flight MH370 may have been deliberately flown under the radar to Taliban-controlled bases on the border of Afghanistan, it has emerged.

Authorities said that the final message sent from the cockpit came after one of the jet's communications systems had already been switched off.

The Independent has learnt that Malaysian authorities are seeking diplomatic permission to investigate a theory that the plane was flown to one of a number of Taliban strongholds on the Afghan border in Northwest Pakistan.

Read the full report here

India and China held their third round of the strategic economic dialogue in Beijing today focusing on collaboration in a number of areas, including railways and Information Technology.

The Indian side at the talks is headed by deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia while Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Reforms Development Commission led the Chinese delegation.

Ahead of the talks, five working groups covering different areas finalised the details for the high-level economic and trade dialogue between the two countries. Besides attending the SED, Ahluwalia would call on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang tomorrow.

The working groups covered areas like infrastructure, mainly the railways and operationalise the agreement for service centres to be set up in India for Chinese power equipment, environment and resources protection, water management and policy coordination, collaboration on planning and urbanisation, cooperation in high technology including the IT sector.

The Mumbai police arrested four men yesterday for allegedly molesting a woman journalist working with a news channel and assaulting a cameraman who was accompanying her.

"We have arrested four persons, while about 30 to 40 others are wanted," a police officer said.

The incident happened in suburban Andheri when the journalist and the cameraman were returning in their office vehicle from a shoot and the accused had allegedly blocked the road.

Crimea votes to split from Ukraine

I welcome Modi becoming prime minister: Alagiri

Will Pawan Kalyan alter political equations in Andhra?

MH370 and three worrying 'ifs'

Karunanidhi under grip of betrayers, alleges Alagiri

Yesterday's live commentary link