Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York today. The two leaders held discussions over a number of topics. 

Modi @ UN 

Chairman and founder of Adani Group, Gautam Adani was seen waiting patiently to hear his Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the United Nations General Assembly. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

Two Royal Air Force (RAF) jets today left for their first combat mission over Iraq, hours after the British Parliament authorised air strikes targeting Islamic State (IS) militants. 

The AIADMK chief, Ms. Jayalalithaa, who stands disqualified as an MLA forthwith because of her conviction and four-year sentence of imprisonment in the Rs. 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case, cannot contest elections for 10 years including 2016 Assembly polls, unless her conviction is also stayed besides stay of sentence.

A correspondent in Tirunelveli:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the second day of his US visit by paying homage to the victims of the dastardly 9/11 terror attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people, including many Indians.

Modi, dressed in impeccable white kurta-payjama and wearing a grey stole, visited the memorial and the museum early this morning.

A sombre looking Modi placed yellow rose buds on the memorial at 'ground zero' and folded his hands. The prime minister was accompanied by India's Ambassador to the US S Jaishankar and other officials.

A correspondent reports: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's signature lifestyle is creating waves in the traveling Indian delegation.

Ever since the 70-plus strong delegation left India with Modi, nobody is being served chicken and mutton or even fish, which some foodies consider almost vegetarian.

 Punjabi hacks in PM's entourage are aghast to be served in 15-degree cold dhoklas, sabudana and poha for breakfast.    Some officers have even found the regular chole-kulchas sugary.

The lunches and dinners are regular Indian and strict vegetarians, but nobody dares to 'bell the cat'.

Many Indian houses since centuries  have been traditionally non-vegetarian. But the PM's visit is serving them cold dhkolas. Too bad.

At least 46 elected US officials, including a Governor and 45 Congress members, have confirmed their participation at a reception hosted by Indian-Americans for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will address the gathering at the iconic Madison Square Garden.

Modi will address the community tomorrow at a packed Madison Square Garden, while speaking from a 360-degree rotating platform, and those in attendance would include over 16,000 general public and about 2,600 VIP guests including a governor, Senators and other elected officials in the US.

Releasing the list of confirmed participation, the organisers Indian American Community Foundation said this would include South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the first woman and second Indian-American governor in the US.

The three confirmed Senators are Robert Menendez, also chairman of Foreign Relations Committee of US Senate, Joe Donnelly and Cory Booker.

A Ganesh Naradar reports: Just  as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was found guilty in the disproportionate assets case, life came to a standstill in South Tamil Nadu.

Vehicles have been stopped from leaving the Tirunelveli junction. Tirunelveli is very important, as it is the point from which Vehicles coming from North India go to Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram and Thiruchendur.

Long distance travellers are have been all over the National highway.Vehicles coming from Ambasamudram have been blocked in Chernamahadevi.Shutters have been downed in Madurai. The city has come to a standstill.

But vehicles continue to ply on the ring round around the city. Traffic to the southern port town of Tuticorin is still open. Anxious relatives are calling those who are on the road and party workers planning mischief have jammed phone lines in Tamil Nadu. Calling anyone anywhere has become very very difficult.

Violence broke out in several parts of Tamil Nadu today after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted in a graft case with angry AIADMK supporters indulging in stone pelting and arson and forcing closure of shops.


Tension prevailed as protesters burnt effigies of DMK President M Karunanidhi, his sons M K Stalin and M K Alagiri and tore party posters in various places including in Chennai and Madurai.

While some protesters pelted stones at the residence of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, DMK and AIADMK supporters clashed at Gopalapuram here. A state-owned transport corporation bus was set on fire at Veppur village and some 20 buses damaged in stone-pelting in Cuddalore district, police said.

Image: Stone pelting at Karunanidhi's residence. Photograph: ANi/Twitter

Rahul Thakre and Nitesh Rane, sons of Maharashtra PCC Chief Manikrao Thakre and state campaign chief Narayan Rane, figure in the third and final list of 26 Congress candidates for the Assembly polls released this afternoon.

While Rahul has been made the nominee from Yavatmal in Vidarbha, Nitesh is the candidate from Kankavli in Konkan region. Kunal Patil, son of former Minister Rohidas Patil, has replaced his father from Dhule Rural constituency while another former Minister Chandrakant Shivarkar has come in place of Kamlatai Behere from Hadapasar in Pune city.

With this list, Congress has named candidates for 287 of the 288 seats in the state. It means the party has given up plans to align with like minded parties like Samajwadi Party in the wake of the parting of ways by Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party.

Late last night, the party has come out with the second list of 143 candidates.

A Delhi court today fixed October 15 for hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler by a senior lawyer representing the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

The matter was put for the next date as Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao was on leave today. Tytler had earlier told the court that he was ready to tender "unconditional apology" to senior advocate H S Phoolka, complainant in the case, to settle the matter as no public interest was involved in the complaint filed by an individual.

Phoolka, however, had refused to accept Tytler's offer, saying "any compromise" in a serious matter like this would send a wrong message to the people.

The sentencing and the quantum of punishment will be made at 3 pm.

A special court pronounce the verdict in an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, and announced her guilty. The court also found her associate Sasikala Natarajan and three others guilty in the case.

Jaayalalithaa will have to step down as from the chief minister's post now.

Jayalalithaa, who has waged many legal battles and seen several ups and downs in her political career, had to quit asthe Chief Minister immediately after her swearing in 2001 following the Supreme Court declaring null and void the action of the then Governor Fatima Beevi appointing her as the chief minister as she had been sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment in a corruption case.

O Paneerselvan, a junior Minister in her Council of Ministers, was appointed as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.By 2002, she was cleared of all charges and sworn-in again as the chief minister.

The Rs 66.65 crore assets case dates back to Jayalalithaa's first term as the Chief Minister, from 1991 to 1996. It was filed before a special court in Chennai in 1997 by the Tamil Nadu's Department of Vigilance and Anti Corruption.

The case was transferred to Bangalore's Special Court in 2003 by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by DMK leader K Anbazhagan who had expressed doubts over conduct of fair trial with Jayalalithaa as chief minister.

Union Home Minister Rajanath Singh today expressed confidence about effectively tackling problems of terrorism and insurgency faced by the country.

"The country is facing problems of terrorism, insurgency and separatism but I am fully confident that we will be able to resolve these problems and save the nation," he said while speaking at the 61th birthday celebrations of Mata Amritanandamay at Amrithapuri. Blessings of spiritual leaders like Mata Amrithanandamayi were important in tackling the problems faced by the nation... India would become not only a super economic power but also a super spiritual power, Singh said.

Referring to the messages by ancient sages such as 'Vasudhaiva Kudumbakam' (the whole world is a family), he said such concepts would certainly help the country to emerge as a spiritual leader for the world.

Criticising Nawaz Sharif for raising the Kashmir issue in UN, Congress today said his speech had "imprints" of Pakistani military hawks as the Prime Minister and his government were "under siege" in Islamabad.

The party said it was "unbecoming" of the Pakistan Prime Minister to rake up bilateral issues at international forum and asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and is not negotiable. Underlining that Sharif's speech had imprints of Pakistani military hawks, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said his raising the Kashmir at the UN deserves to be condemned.

"It is unbecoming of a prime minister to use an international forum to rake up issues which in fact concern only Pakistan and India," he said. Sharma, a former Union Minister, said it is clear that there is "signature, the imprint of hawks of Pakistan establishment, the military establishment on Nawaz Sharif's statement because he himself, his government is under siege". Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of country and it is not an issue which is negotiable, he said.

Germany today delivered arms and ammunition to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq to boost their firepower against the Islamic State militants who have captured large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. The first transport plane carrying 27 tonnes of weapons landed in the Kurdish provincial capital of Irbil.

Airlifted from Leipzig in eastern Germany, the cargo included "Milan" antitank missiles, machine guns, ammunition and other military goods. More cargo flights will operate to Irbil in the coming weeks to ferry over 600 tonnes of weapons and ammunition intended to boost the firepower of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, German defense ministry said.

Around 10,000 Kurdish soldiers will be equipped with the military supplies from Germany, which include "Unimog" trucks and offroad vehicles, the ministry said in a press statement.

Germany had also supplied night vision equipment, protective clothing, helmets and other military materials to the Kurdish forces earlier this month.

Security has been increased at the DMK headquarters and residences of its senior leaders here as a Special Court in Bangalore is set to deliver verdict in the 18-year-old wealth case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today.

On a request from DMK, security had been increased at "Anna Arivalayam", the headquarters of DMK, two residences of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi and the residence of K Anbazhagan, party's General Secretary, police said.

It was on Anbazhagan's petition that the case had been transferred to Bangalore by the Supreme Court.

Germany has warned its nationals against heightened risk of terrorist attacks and kidnappings by the dreaded Islamic State or other militant Islamist groups in over 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The German foreign ministry yesterday issued an "urgent regional security warning" for the nations where radical Islamist groups are active. It referred to the recent threat by IS to attack the interests of those nations participating in the international coalition to fight the jihadists in Iraq and in Syria.

In view of this threat, "it cannot be ruled out that Western nationals in a foreign country could become the targets of terrorist attacks, kidnappings and criminal offences by IS sympathisers," the ministry said. Increased risk of attacks and kidnappings existed in areas frequently visited by Western nationals.

Special Court Judge John Michael D'Cunha had directed all the accused to be present in his court on the judgement day. Several Tamil Nadu Ministers are already in Bangalore.

Platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police, the city Armed Reserve and the Rapid Action Force are stationed near the court, besides hundreds of police personnel, including those in plain clothes, police said.

Police are also closely checking vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration at the check post at Attibeli on the border. AIDMK supporters had gathered at the border but were stopped by police, who have been deployed in strength.

The verdict will be delivered at the makeshift court at Parappana Agrahara prison complex. The one kilometre area around it has been turned into a fortress with massive deployment of security personnel.

According to media reports, the the verdict in an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa  has been deferred until 1 pm.

Amid tight security, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa arrived in Bangalore this morning to appear in a special court which is set to pronounce the verdict in an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case against her that could have far reaching implications for her government.

The AIADMK flew in by a special aircraft at the HAL Airport along with the other accused -- her close aide Sasikala Natarajan and Ilavarasi, the latter's relative, and headed towards the court by road. Sasikala's nephew and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son Sudhakaran, is the fourth accused in the case in which the Tamil Nadu chief minister has been charged with accumulating Rs 66.65 crore wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income from 1991-96 in her first term in office.

The verdict will be delivered at the makeshift court at Parappana Agrahara prison complex.

The one kilometre area around it has been turned into a fortress with massive deployment of security personnel. Police are also closely checking vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration at the check post at Attibeli on the border.

AIDMK supporters had gathered at the border but were stopped by the police, who have been deployed in strength. Special Court Judge John Michael D'Cunha had directed all the accused to be present in his court on the judgement day.

The civil rights body behind a lawsuit filed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots case has offered a reward of $10,000 to anyone who could serve him with the court summons.

New York-based legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun told reporters here yesterday that American Justice Centre is offering a reward of $10,000 to anyone who will serve the summons on Modi during his various public engagements in the city over the period of next two days.

The reward will be given to the person who serves the summons and brings a pictorial and video proof that the summons have been served. The group has also hired process servers to serve the summons.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met with Nobel laureate and famous cancer specialist Professor Harold Varmus and invited him to visit India to assist in health and public care research.

Interestingly, 74-year-old Varmus, currently director of the US National cancer Institute, had done his apprenticeship in a mission hospital in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh in 1960s.

He received 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes. During his 30-minute interaction with Modi, the two discussed a wide range of public health care issues, including those related to cancer research, vaccine and possibilities of research in India.

A special court in Bangalore will deliver its verdict today in the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and others.

.If proven guilty by judge Michael d'Cunha, Jayalalithaa and her aides -- Sasikakala Natrajan, Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi -- could face up to six years in jail.

A guilty verdict in the 18-year-old case will also force Jayalalithaa to step down as chief minister and forfeit her assembly membership.

Read the full story here

hree European nations '" including Britain '" joined the widening U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq on Friday, even as the group's fighters renewed their attempt to overrun a strategic border city in Syria.

A fire apparently set by an employee at a Chicago-area air traffic control center led to the cancellation of nearly 1,700 flights at the city's two major airports, snarling air traffic across the United States, officials said.

Hours after raising the issue of Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sent message of good wishes to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Congress releases its second list of 143 candidates for Maharashtra Assembly polls late tonight

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that he was "cautiously optimistic" about talks on Iran's nuclear program despite statements from France that negotiations had failed to yield progress.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have called on the global community to cooperate in efforts to address the threat posed by foreign terrorists, including by preventing their recruitment, movement across borders and cutting their financial support. 

BJP tonight criticised Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for raking up the Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly and blaming India for cancellation of talks, saying the neighbouring country was more keen on talking with separatists rather than New Delhi. 

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today rejected adding new permanent seats in a reformed UN Security Council, saying the UN body should reflect the interests of all members and not the "ambitions of a few". "The ongoing UN reform must be comprehensive. 

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here today on a five-day US visit, he was greeted with 'Har Har Modi' slogan, heard first during Lok Sabha poll campaign, by a large group of Indians who had gathered outside his hotel. 

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas demanded an end to Israeli occupation today, telling the United Nations that "the hour of independence for Palestine has arrived." "There is an occupation that must end now. There is a people that must be freed immediately. 

US President Barack Obama today said West Africa has been "overwhelmed" by the Ebola crisis and that the world must never allow such a tragedy to happen again. 

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