The nation's nuclear forces lack resources, support and effective leadership, a legacy of neglect that could impact America's security, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi have adopted one village each in their respective constituencies to develop them into model villages under "Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana" launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

Putin slams G20 for imposing sanctions over Ukraine:  President Vladimir Putin today slammed G20 member countries for imposing sanctions on Russia, saying this violated the group's principles, but said he did not plan to raise the issue at the summit in Australia. 

Boko Haram has seized the town of Chibok in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, from where 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped more than six months ago, a local pastor and a senator told AFP today. 

An Australian newspaper gave G20 leaders an irreverent welcome today, with Barack Obama depicted bare-chested and in swimming trunks, Angela Merkel shown hugging a koala and Vladimir Putin wearing a hat made from beer cartons. 

The comet lander Philae has attempted to drill into the surface of comet 67/P, amidst fears that its battery may die in hours.

Barack Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi met today, and in the light of recent events seemed like battle scarred political veterans. Both are struggling with setbacks in the rough-and-tumble politics of their home countries; both face doubts about their leadership and a dimming of their star power.

In a bid to attract more viewers, public broadcaster Doordarshan is relaunching its National Channel with a "new look and feel", while positioning it as the country's "own channel".

Viswanathan Anand's Game 5 against Magnus Carlsen ends in exciting draw.

Having shocked Magnus Carlsen with a victory in game three and then having held him at bay in game four, Vishwanathan Anand, playing with white, has a chance to take the lead in game five.  

"Democracy for Nehru meant responsible and responsive political system governing through consultation and discussion. Nehru's contribution to the freedom movement was unique," says the president at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture (pictured). 

"If India is today counted amongst the technologically advanced nations of the world, it is because of Nehru's promotion of scientific temper and the chain of scientific research laboratories that he built across the country...."

-- President Pranab Mukherjee at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture on 'Jawaharlal Nehru and the Making of Modern India'

Read his full speech here.

Pic: Pt Nehru with his wife Kamla and daughter Indira.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani today said he had no regret for not becoming the Prime Minister as the respect he got from all parties was more than enough and "overwhelmed" him.

"I have no regret for not becoming the Prime Minister of the country. The place I got in the Parliament and the respect I got from all political parties have been more than enough. The respect makes me feel overwhelmed. It is more than becoming a Prime Minister," Advani said.

The 87-year-old veteran leader was in Patna to attend a function.

Kolkata: Kunal Ghosh being taken for CT scan after he allegedly attempted suicide in jail

In a major diplomatic gaffe just ahead of the G20 Summit in Australia, a map of India with a part of Kashmir missing, was shown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Queensland University in Brisbane.

Modi was interacting with students at the Queensland University of Technology and had even tweeted -- "I am fortunate to be among children on Chacha Nehru's birthday."

However, a picture of the PM watching a presentation at the university with a picture of the wrong map of India drew immediate reactions with the @SamajwadiSocial pointing out: Kashmir missing in the Map shown during @PMOIndia visit to @QUT @MEAIndia any objection raised?

The spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin then confirmed and tweeted that India had lodged a 'strong protest' and that the organisers had apologised.

"Immediately lodged strong protest & received an unqualified regret from the organisers," Akbaruddin tweeted.

This was followed up by another message: Syed Akbaruddin ‏@MEAIndia: They erred and have given an unqualified apology for error.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar inspecting his 1st Guard of Honour at the INS Hansa in Goa.

The BJP today appealed to the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir to join the political mainstream and approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of knocking at the doors of Pakistani PM.

"Instead of approaching Pakistani Prime Minister or Pakistan High Commissioner, it is better to join (political) mainstream. Come to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, the doors are always open," Ram Madhav, national spokesman of BJP, said in Jammu today.

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi asks Parliament to pass the anti-child labour law in the current session. Satyarthi is the first India-born person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the seventh Indian Nobel laureate. Mother Teresa, who was born in Albania, was the first Indian Nobel peace prize winner. She was honoured in 1979.

This way Mr Modi. Japan PM Shinzo Abe shows the way just before they met for dinner. 

Indian Air Force's Sukhoi-30 fleet cleared for flying after being grounded for a month following a crash, says IAF sources.

The Sukhoi-30 fleet, which was grounded after a crash near Pune, but will now be back in air 'within a week's time', Air Force Chief Arup Raha said today. He also said that the findings of a Court of Inquiry into the crash are being finalised.

PM Modi dines with the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who told Modi he was happy to meet him once again. High on the dinner agenda was a  strengthening  of India-Japan economic ties and exchange of views.

To the PM's right is NSA chief Ajit Doval and to his left is foreign secretary Sujata Singh.

British Prime Minister David Cameron today told Vladimir Putin to stop bullying smaller states as Australian counterpart Tony Abbott accused the Russian leader of trying to relive the "lost glories of tsarism".

The Russian president is due to arrive in Brisbane for the G20 summit at a time of heightened tension with host Australia, which has sent three ships to its northern coast after a flotilla of Russian navy ships appeared there this week.

Abbott said the appearance of the four Russian vessels, which include a heavily armed cruiser and destroyer, were "part of a regrettable pattern" of growing Russian military bullishness.

The PM also met UK PM David Cameron who told him, "Yours is a very inspiring vision, UK wants to partner in any way we can. Relations with India are at the top of priorities of the UK's foreign policy."

Modi will attend the G20 summit over the next two days and meet several world leaders, before participating in bilateral engagements with the Australian government.

Meanwhile, Down Under, the Prime Minister had a change of scene, at least sartorially. The PM wore a lab coat over a full sleeved white shirt and a beige trousers at the Queensland University of Technology, which he visited immediately after landing in Brisbane.

The Prime Minister, who is in Australia for the G20 summit starting tomorrow and for bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott next Tuesday in Canberra, was given a guided tour of the QUT campus and interacted with a group of selected students, some of whom were Indians.

Pic: The PM at a lab at the university studying specially developed iron-fortified bananas

The SC says that the copy of the report be provided to BCCI, Srinivasan and other non-players. It also asks BCCI, Srinivasan and other non-players who are named in the report to file their objections within four days of the receipt.

ICC Chairman N Srinivasan and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's names popped up in the Mudgal committee's final report submitted on November 3. It was made by a panel that included former India captain Sourav Ganguly, apart from former judge Mukul Mudgal.

This is what happened on November 3.

So, here's what we have finally:

The Supreme Court today disclosed the names of Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and former IPL COO Sundar Raman among 13 who were investigated by the court-appointed inquiry panel for corruption in IPL.

In February, the court revealed the names of the then BCCI president N Srinivasan and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.

The court also inadvertently disclosed the names of three cricketers.

The hearing has been adjourned to November 24.

A Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice TS Thakur, had recently said it would open the Mudgal committee report on Friday, adding there will be "no difficulty" if there was nothing against Srinivasan and his relatives in the report.

The bench had also turned down the Board of Control for Cricket in India's plea, seeking its direction to stay the proceedings on a plea at Bombay high court which is to decide validity of amendments in the BCCI rules allowing Srinivasan to contest the election for the post of board president.

The Apex court, however, had asked the HC to confine its hearing on the validity of the rules.

Five other names have been put on hold by the SC, says Aditya Verma, petitioner on IPL Spot fixing case in SC

The complete Justice Mudgal report released in February.

Justice Mukul Mudgal speaking to ANI says there was no pressure on him or the committee while submitting the report to the Supreme Court. "We have submitted our report to the SC, can't comment further. We will wait for the court's orders." 

In February this year, the Mudgal Committee probing the alleged corruption in the cash-rich Indian Premier League had said in its report that Board of Control for Cricket in India chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was "the face and team official" of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings and "the allegations of betting and passing information' against him "stand proved'.

The Justice Mukul Mudgal-headed panel, which included Additional Solicitor General N Nageshwar Rao and Assam Cricket Association member Nilay Dutta, said the allegations of fixing against Meiyappan as well as Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra need to be further investigated.

The SC, while disclosing the seven names today, said it suggested that they were 'guilty of misdemeanor'. 

In the wake of the disclosure of the names, the Annual General Meeting of the BCCI for holding elections has been postponed, the cricket body has told the SC.

There is some irony, and a lot of hypocrisy, when a person like Modi chooses to disdain Nehru's popularity. Does this man, who is considered India's most popular leader as of today, believe that popularity is of little concern when it comes to choosing leaders, asks Amberish K Diwanji.
Read the piece on Rediff.com.

The NDA government kick-started its year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru -- the first Prime Minister of India '" with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressing a select crowd of academicians and historians at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi.

Release of commemorative coins on Nehru and organising "Bal Swachhta Mission" in schools across the country between November 14 and 19 will mark the celebrations of the anniversary of the late Congress lead

Pic: Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi pay tributes to former PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 125th birth anniversary, at Parliament House, in New Delhi

Allahabad High Court issues notice to Aligarh Muslim University Vice-Chancellor over curbs on undergraduate women students using the library. 

It is at once sobering and shocking that the sterilisation procedures (laparoscopic tubectomy) carried out on 83 women at a camp in Pendari village of Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on November 8 ended up killing 11 women and leaving 69 others ill, some of them critically.  Read more

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission or DERC has withdrawn the power tariff hike of up to seven per cent in the national capital which was announced last night. The hike would have come into effect from tomorrow.

The regulator had hiked the tariff by levying surcharge heeding to the demands of the three private power distribution companies.

According to the DERC order, the hike would have been on seven per cent for consumers of BSES Yamuna Power Ltd while BSES Rajdhani customers will have had to shell out 4.5 per cent extra on their electricity bills. The hike for consumers of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd was fixed at 2.5 per cent.

US President Barack Obama has commended the personal leadership role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in finding a forward path on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

"The President had extensive discussions with Prime Minister Modi on this issue and appreciates his personal leadership in finding a path forward," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement after India and US announced that the two countries have reached an agreement on TFA. In Myanmar, where Obama met Prime Minister Modi briefly on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit described the Indian leader "as a man of action".

A doodle by a Pune schoolgirl artfully depicting the natural and cultural richness of Assam has been featured today on the Google India homepage on the occasion of Children's Day.

Vaidehi Reddy, a class IX student of Army Public School, was adjudged the winner of this year's India Doodle4Google (D4G) contest in which there were more than a million entries from over 2,100 schools across 50 cities.

The winning doodle titled "Natural and Cultural Paradise - Assam" in which Reddy depicted the state's famed wildlife by sketching the one-horned rhinoceros, the tiger, tea bushes and bamboo trees.

A woman performing the Bihu dance carrying a 'japi' (traditional hat) is also there in the doodle.

Rajnath Singh @BJPRajnathSingh on Pt Nehru's 125th birth anniversary: "One can have differences over Nehruji's policies but his integrity, his contribution and his love for the country was unquestionable."

And a must-read if you haven't already, is Nehru's Discovery of India. Everything that you wanted to know about India but didn't know where to begin.

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That's the message on the website PM Modi's visit to Melbourne. Modi is expected to hold a public address on November 17 for which over 150,000 attendees have already registered. Modi's public address in Sydney is expected to be similar to his New York visit in September, where he was greeted like a rock star as he addressed a sellout crowd of several thousand members of Indian diaspora at the Madison Square Garden.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee reacts to the attempted suicide of her aide and ex-TMC MP Kunal Ghosh's attempted suicide. She says Presidency jail's superintendent, attending doctor, nurse and on-duty staff of the hospital have been suspended. 

A depressing 30 per cent of rural and 20 per cent of urban households said they practised untouchability. Just five per cent of Indians said they had married a person from a different caste, says the first direct estimate of inter-caste marriages in India.

Read

From his sartorial elegance to linguistic flair to sexual charisma, Nehru was the aesthete-moderniser. Read

At the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia), PM Narendra Modi is being accompanied by industrialist Gautam Adani.

India's global competitiveness is inextricably linked to its ability to formulate and implement sound public policies, the making of which is one of the most ignored aspects of governance. Read

Wholesale Price Index-based inflation declined to 1.77 per cent in October, down from 2.38 per cent in September. A Reuters poll had earlier predicted wholesale inflation to ease to a near five-year low of 2.2 per cent. 

On Pt Nehru's 125th birth anniversary, a must-read (or for that matter, at any other time)

Nehru did a far better job of gaining knowledge of the larger sweep of history than any of his contemporaries. The confidence with which we condemn Nehru exposes the narrowness of our certainties more than it detracts from his achievements. Read

In other news, the Bombay HC stays the Maharashtra government's decision to give 16 per cent reservation to Marathas in public service and educational institutions. HC also stays the state government's decision to provide 5 per cent reservation to Muslims in public service, but allows them reservation in education.

And...

Rajya Sabha session to begin at 12 pm instead of 11 am. Decision to come into effect from the upcoming session beginning November 24. 

The PM poses for selfies with students at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia and says, "I am fortunate to be among children on Chacha Nehru's birthday." (That should calm an angry Congress party who has claimed that the BJP has chosen to forget Jawaharlal Nehru).

And this is the picture he tweeted with students at the QUT: "The PM and his friends at QUT."

Meanwhile, in Kashmir, two militants were killed in a fierce gunfight in south Kashmirs Kulgam district today.

The incident took place after security forces surrounded a village Chinigam near Frisal after receiving a tip-off that militants were present.  Following the gunfight, more reinforcements were called in. Two militants died in the gunfight, but the encounter is still on.

-- Mukhtar Ahmad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Brisbane, Australia, this morning and reported that it was "bright and sunny." He will attend the G20 summit, meet world leaders on its sidelines, and will visit three other Australian cities - Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. Modi signs on the 'Agrobot' at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin who was present at the event, helpfully translated what the PM wrote, tweeting: "Research is the mother of development. Narendra Modi wrote this message on the Agro robot at QUT. "

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployed in Maharashtra's Naxal hotbed of Gadchiroli will soon be replaced with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, a senior CRPF official said.

The process of withdrawing the CRPF battalions has already begun following which the deployment of ITBP jawans will commence.

The deployment process includes the induction training of the ITBP men who are posted in hilly regions and would be deployed to combat Left Wing Extremism for the first time, he said.

The swapping of CRPF with ITBP in Gadchiroli is being done after a government decision in this regard, he said. This will enable the ITBP jawans, some of whom are from Maharashtra, to get closer to their families.

Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh, an accused in the Saradha scam, attempted suicide in jail. According to reports, he consumed at least 58 sleeping pills.

On Monday, the suspended TMC leader had threatened to commit suicide inside the jail if other culprits involved in the same scam were not arrested within 72 hours. He had then alleged that the CBI was not investigating the matter properly.

Speaking at the Bankshall court, he had said, "Investigation is being influenced. It is not acceptable that I will rot in jail while those involved will roam freely. I am giving three days' time, if action is not taken I will commit suicide."

In an apparent attempt to cosy up with the Congress, the Shiv Sena has cautioned the Maharashtra BJP government against preparing to win the next trust vote by suspending Congress legislators.

The Devendra Fadnavis government had on Wednesday won a contentious trust vote in the state Assembly amid dramatic protests by the Opposition.

Later, five Congress MLAs were suspended for allegedly causing "injury" to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao when they tried to block his entry into the legislature complex.

Sharad Pawar, the former president of the International Cricket Council, is set to contest for the Board of Control for Cricket in India chief's post again. The Mumbai Cricket Association (president on Thursday had asked for BCCI nomination forms, said sources. An MCA official said, "Pawar is very keen to contest. We all feel he is the right man to lead the BCCI." Currently, Sunil Gavaskar is the interim president of the BCCI. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the 161-year-old Melbourne Cricket Ground during his trip to Australia and pose for shutterbugs alongside his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott with the 2015 cricket World Cup trophy. Modi today became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Australia in 28 years since Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. Modi is scheduled to visit the MCG on Tuesday and attend two events hosted by Abbott at the ground.

After the successful initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to connect with millions of Indians through All India Radio, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will today go live on AIR as well as Doordarshan to answer queries from the audience. This will be his first interaction since he was inducted into the union cabinet November 9. The live phone-in programme will be held today between 5.30 pm and 6.30 pm. 

On the 125th birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute on Twitter. The PM tweeted, "Today we mark the 125th birth anniversary of our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. My tributes to him. We remember Pandit Nehru's efforts during the freedom struggle and his role as the first PM of India."

The he CBSE which brought many nationalist  figures into the limelight in the last six months, seems to have forgotten Jawarharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. He seems to have become the casualty in the political war between the Congress and the BJP in New Delhi. 

As world leaders arrived in Brisbane to attend the crucial G20 summit, an Australian newspaper gave them a unique welcome on their front page. The report showed the world leaders enjoying -- with Obama being shown as bare-chested, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a koala bear. 

British jihadists who fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq will be barred from returning to this country for at least two years to prevent terror attacks, British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced. The PM has unveiled a raft of new anti-terror laws including powers to strip teenage jihadists of their passports and bar airlines from landing in the UK if they fail to provide passenger information.

Punjab and South Carolina may soon be exchanging their best practices, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said after meeting South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Haley reportedly told him that they would like to support Punjab in establishing aerospace, pharma, tourism, and agro-processing industries. 

After Myanmar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his second leg of his three-nation tour this morning when he reached Brisbane, Australia. He will be attending the G20 summit in Brisbane. He was welcomed by the Premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman. In Brisbane, Modi will also be meeting Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron. 

US President Barack Obama will hold talks with Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon today as the nation turns towards next year's elections with uncertainty over the direction of reforms. 

The military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has warned of renewed violence unless Israel allows the reconstruction of the war-battered Gaza Strip.

U.S. President Barack Obama pushed Myanmar in meetings Thursday to allow its stateless Rohingya population to call themselves by that name and to allow them full access to humanitarian aid after sectarian attacks halted relief earlier this year.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar's president today to address citizenship concerns for members of the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim community. 

Militant leaders from the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda gathered at a farm house in northern Syria last week and agreed on a plan to stop fighting each other and work together against their opponents, a high-level Syrian opposition official and a rebel commander have said. 

French authorities hunted today for a young tiger on the loose near Disneyland Paris, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, and urged residents in three nearby towns to stay indoors. 

French authorities hunted today for a young tiger on the loose near Disneyland Paris, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, and urged residents in three nearby towns to stay indoors. 

The Islamic State jihadist group announced today it will start minting its own gold, silver and copper coins for use in areas under IS control in Syria and Iraq. 

India and the United States settled a dispute on Thursday that had paralysed the World Trade Organization and risked derailing a $1 trillion package of reforms of global customs procedures.

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy was wounded today when a non-lethal round fired by Israeli police hit him between the eyes during clashes in annexed east Jerusalem, medics said. 

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress on Thursday that he wouldn't rule out sending a small number of American forces to fight alongside Iraqi troops during some of the more complex missions against the Islamic State. 

WhatsApp messages to be under scanner during poll period: CEC
Parrikar, 9 others elected unopposed to RS
Burdwan blast: NIA team to visit Dhaka on Nov 17
'I took a vow to eradicate cheating from examinations'
RPI threatens to pull out of 'Mahayuti'
Machil fake encounter case: 5 armymen get life term
Pakistan test-fires nuclear ballistic missile
Where is Rs 15 lakh for each Indian: Nitish asks Modi
Angry people are running India; Clean India a photo-op: Rahul
UK, France support India as permanent member of UNSC
World must reject linkage between religion, terror: Modi
Doctor behind Chhattisgarh sterilisation horror arrested

Yesterday's Live Commentary