The Aam Aadmi Party has expressed shock over BJP's Haryana government's decision to transfer whistle blower IAS officer Ashok Khemka yet again. 

Significant agreements have been reached regarding Iran's nuclear program, according to tweets by officials ahead of a planned joint statement.

India tonight strongly condemned the outrageous terror attack on a university campus in Kenya that killed at least 70 students, saying the international community needs to further strengthen its fight against terrorism.

Nine British nationals, including women and children, have been detained in Turkey after allegedly trying to enter Syria amid fears the 'family' may have travelled there to join the dreaded Islamic State militant group, triggering a probe by authorities.

Masked al-Shabab militants stormed dormitories at Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya early on Thursday killing 70 people, the Kenyan government said.Militants stormed the campus around 5.30 a.m., shooting students and taking some hostage. 

Posters have been put up by anonymous individuals in the Mainpura area of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Shatrughan Sinha's constituency Patna Sahib (Bihar).

India tonight evacuated more than

300 Indians from Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, taking the total number of those rescued to over 800 from the strife-torn country as government stepped up efforts to get clearance for air sorties to bring back its nationals from Sanaa.

"INS Sumitra proves to be a 'good friend'. Docks in Al

Hudaydah for the evacuation of 300 plus Indian nationals," the

Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said.

The Navy vessel INS Sumitra, which had evacuated 350 Indians from Aden on Tuesday night, was dispatched to Al Hudaydah yesterday to pull out over 300 Indians from there.

They will reach Djibouti tomorrow morning and then will be flown back to the country.

Naik Police Sepoy Doge Atram and Sepoy Swarup Amrutkar died for the sake of democracy, fighting the Maoists in Gadchiroli. But the politicians of Maharashtra's ruling party couldn't care less.  Read

Three soldiers were killed and four others were injured in an ambush in Tirap district in southern Arunachal Pradesh, near the Indo-Myanmar border. The attack took place at around 8:30 am this morning near Old Tupi Village, which is about 530 km from capital Itanagar.

The soldiers in the four-vehicle convoy were going towards Longding when the attack took place.

The soldiers had moved from Lekhapani in Assam and were headed to Longding after staying overnight at a transit camp in Konsa. Read more

Four trusted Gujarat babus to join Team Modi. Read

Three Indian Army jawans killed in ambush by terrorists in eastern Arunachal Pradesh this morning. All three were from the 4 Rajput battalion.

Amul's excellent take on Deepika's Choice. Click on the picture for a larger image.

The BJP today took a swipe at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi over his likely appearance at a farmers' rally on April 19 after a long sabbatical, saying it is not sure if such news reports are true and his "vacation' is finally over.

"Are you serious?," is how BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain responded when reporters sought his response on Gandhi's return to active politics with the rally against the land bill amendments brought by the Narendra Modi government.

"We do not know if reports about the date Rahul Gandhi is coming on are true. No Congress spokesperson has made any statement to this effect. What plane is he coming on, when will he meet (others), if his vacation is finally over' this all will be discussed when he does finally come back," he said.

Rahul Gandhi has been missing in action for over a month and Congress has insisted that he has been granted leave of absence to introspect over the party's affairs following a string of electoral reverses starting with its rout in Lok Sabha elections.

He skipped the first leg of the crucial budget session of Parliament, inviting sharp criticism from the opposition parties with even senior Congress leader like Digvijay Singh finding fault with the timing of his leave.

Read: The genesis of the 'Are you serious jibe'.

PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah at BJP National Executive meeting underway in Bengaluru. 

And so, in Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and FIR has been filed by Sanjay Singh of the Congress against BJP MP Giriraj Singh for his remark on Sonia Gandhi. 

Al-Qaeda militants stormed a prison in southeastern Yemen on Thursday, freeing several hundred inmates including one of their leaders, a security official said.

Khalid Batarfi, a senior al-Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jail in Hadramawt province.

Two prison guards and five inmates were killed in clashes, the official said. Batarfi is among Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) top regional commanders, known for his leading role in a 2011-2012 battle with Yemeni government troops during which extremists seized swathes of territory in the south and east.

Pakistan is close to signing a $4 to $5 billion deal to buy eight submarines from China, the Financial Times said on Thursday, in what it added would likely be China's largest overseas arms sale.

The decision had been agreed "in principle", the newspaper said, citing a hearing in the Pakistani parliament's defence committee. Pakistani newspaper the Dawn said on Wednesday that negotiations with China on the sale were at an advanced stage.

Neither China's Defence nor Foreign Ministries immediately responded to a request for comment.

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi quotes British writer and historian Patrick French in a tweet. French wrote in his book on India in 2011: "Sonia Gandhi's appeal rested in part on iconography... Had she been of blonde, northern European or black African origin, she would never have been credible as an Indian leader. In a country where skin tone is noticed, this is part of her allure."

The party has said that Giriraj Singh has accepted regret and the matter is over.

Sonia Gandhi also reacted mildly and excellently to say she does not want to dignify Giriraj's statement by reacting to it.

Read our 2011 interview with French right here.

More celebrities clambering on to the feminist bandwagon.

Days after the Vogue India campaign featuring Deepika Padukone generated a heated debate on women's rights, Men in Blue from the Indian cricket team like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu along with Team Director Ravi Shastri came forward in solidarity for women by shooting a video called "Respecttoprotect' on the request of a Hyderabad-based NGO, My choices.

Read

Bihar court orders FIR to be filed against Giriraj Singh for his comments against Sonia Gandhi that the Congress accepted her as a leader because she was white.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's response to racist Giriraj on his Facebook page. Read

With Congress stepping up attack over the controversial remarks of Union Minister Giriraj Singh, BJP today said it considers the matter closed as the minister has expressed his regret.

"Giriraj Singh has clarified his position. The matter has ended and should not be made an issue by our opponents. Giriraj Singh has expressed his regret," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters in the city, where party leaders have converged for the National Executive meeting.

"The matter should be considered as closed. BJP considers the matter as closed," he said.

Hussain was replying to questions posed to him on Congress' protests against Singh's remarks against Sonia Gandhi.

The BJP leader, however, evaded queries on Congress' demand for sacking of the minister.

Congress and NSUI workers today staged a major protest at a junction, about a kilometre away from a hotel where top BJP leaders have gathered for the party's two-day National Executive meeting beginning tomorrow.

The protesters shouted slogans Singh and burnt his effigy. BJP chief Amit Shah today addressed a meeting of office bearers ahead of the National Executive meet.

According to party sources, Singh was forced to express his regrets after a call from Shah who made it clear to him that "such language" was not acceptable. They said Shah called Singh over telephone and made it clear in no uncertain terms that it was unbecoming of a minister to use such a language.

Update on the attack at a university in Kenya.

Gunmen have taken students hostage and killed at least 14 people at a university in north-eastern Kenya, aid workers and police say.

About 30 others were wounded after attackers stormed a university in Garissa town. Troops have surrounded the campus and are engaging the gunmen.

The Somali-based Al Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility.

Kenya's interior ministry tweeted, "Of the four hostels, three have been evacuated. The attackers have been cornered in one hostel & the operations continue."

Police and security officials have surrounded the building and trying to secure the area.  Kenyas National Police Service said in a written statement that armed attackers forced their way onto the campus by shooting at guards, triggering a fierce shootout with police guarding student hostels.

As Sonia Gandhi rightly says it was beneath her to comment on Giriraj Singh, her MP, Raj Babbar has posted a flurry of tweets condemning the BJP MP.  Mr Babbar was trending on Twitter over his tweets.

Babbar slammed Singh's comments and said that the BJP leader must be sent to a mental asylum.

Here's what he said.

"Perhaps, he is suffering from mental illness. Should thus, resign & be sent to asylum for recovery. Giriraj Singh's remarks has hurt Indians,' he wrote on Twitter.

"Giriraj Singh's remarks has hurt Indians. It's not only dangerous for society but also for @girirajsinghbjp to roam freely without treatment. I'm ready to offer him all assistance.  I'm ready to have @girirajsinghbjp admitted & treated at Agra Mental Asylum at my expenses, as duty towards our society. May he gets well," Babbar tweeted.

Ice-breaker at a party?

Astronauts leave nothing to chance, and alongside the checks and double-checks carried out before a rocket launches, there's a clutch of rituals that have taken root in the world of space travel. Perhaps the oddest of these (at least visually) is the official blessing dished out by a priest from the Russian Orthodox Church. Read

The prosecution of Purvi Patel began in sorrow and ended in more sadness this week. Patel, a 33-year-old woman who lives in Indiana, was accused of feticide '" specifically, illegally inducing her own abortion '" and accused of having a baby whom she allowed to die. The facts supporting each count are murky, but a jury convicted Patel in February, and on Monday she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  Read the full story here.

BBC reports that students have been taken hostage during an attack at the University of Garissa in Kenya. The AFP news agency quotes the Kenya Red Cross as saying an "unknown number" were being held.

An unnamed policeman at the scene also told the Reuters news agency there were hostages: "We can't tell how many but they are many since the college was in session."

Everyone gets to take on Mr G Singh. Congress leader Kapil Sibal says, "There can be either Giriraj or Ramraj in this nation, and Modi-ji has decided there will be Giriraj."

As a matter of interest, Mr Sibal is one of the three lawyers defending Dr Manmohan Singh in the coal allocation scam. 

Sonia also told reporters that Rahul would be back soon and among people. Rahul Gandhi has been MIA for nearly 45 days. 

Congress president Sonia Gandhi reacts to BJP minister Giriraj Singh's remarks. Sonia said, "It's difficult for me to react to such remarks. People like Giriraj Singh have a narrow mentality."

Motormouth BJP minister Giriraj Singh kicked up a huge storm when he asked whether the Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi's leadership if she was not white-skinned. The comments were slammed by a furious Congress and opposition which asked the prime minister to dismiss him and apologise to the nation.

Giriraj told journalists on Wednesday, "Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her leadership?"

As the BJP distanced itself from the minister, Giriraj Singh apologized saying, "Many things are said off the record in many ways but if they have hurt Rahul or Sonia ji in any way, I regret."

The BJP leadership has also asked the 63-year-old minister to "observe absolute restraint in public and in private" and stop embarrassing the party and the government.

Also read: 5 reasons why Giriraj Singh should SHUT UP

A woman accused of posing as an IAS officer at the country's premier training institute for civil service officers, on Thursday said a top official issued her a fake identity card to facilitate her stay at the Mussoorie-based academy, according to media reports.

The woman, identified as Ruby Choudhury, stayed at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie for six months before her cover was blown on Wednesday.

Chowdhury said, "If I am at fault, send me to jail. Yes, I did make a mistake, but catch the Academy guys too  I was offered Rs 5 crore to keep my mouth shut. I refused. I believe it is a question of my reputation now. I was also assured a job but they gave me nothing and instead framed me."

In an interview to CNN-IBN, she said the academy's deputy director Saurabh Jain issued her the fake ID of a sub-divisional magistrate from the Administrative Training Academy in Nainital, also in Uttarakhand.

Read more

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today took up the cause of farmers of Uttar Pradesh who have been hit by the recent unseasonal rains, saying a fresh survey needs to be done to assess the losses and compensation be paid accordingly.

Gandhi wrote a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, saying that during her recent visit to Rae Bareli she had seen for herself the extent of damage to the crops in the area and the crisis it posed to the affected farmers.

The district administration has made assessment of damage to just 10 to 15 per cent of the crops, she wrote and said a fresh survey is needed to ensure adequate compensation to the farmers. She noted that as per rules only those farmers whose 50 per cent crops are hit get compensation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked banks and industrial houses to nudge their employees to give up subsidised LPG, saying if one crore people surrender it, an equal number of poor families would get the benefit of this clean energy.

Modi had recently launched 'Give It Up' campaign, asking well-off people to surrender their LPG subsidy.

Addressing the 80th anniversary of the Reserve Bank, he said so far about two lakh consumers have joined the initiative.

There are about 15.3 crore LPG consumers in the country. "I believe that our banks should take all their employees in confidence. Every bank should resolve that their employees would give up the subsidy. All industrial houses should decide that their employees would give up subsidy," Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that the government's intention behind the campaign is not to add to its coffers by saving on subsidy bill, but to provide LPG cylinders, a clean energy, to poor households who use firewood for cooking.

"Give up voluntarily. If one crore people give up this gas cylinder subsidy... one crore poor families who burn firewood, which leads to deforestation, carbon emission (and) their children grow up in smoke... The cylinder (subsidy) you give up should reach to the house of that poor," he said.

In the backdrop of the esteemed Giriraj Singh's racist rant against Sonia Gandhi, an apt read in the Guardian 

The quip that's gone viral on social media.

To err is human,
To blame it on driver is Being Human.

Gunmen attacked Garissa University College early today, shooting indiscriminately in campus hostels, killing at least two people and wounding four others, police said.

Police and military surrounded the buildings and were trying to secure the area in eastern Kenya, police officer Musa Yego said.

Kenya's National Police Service said in a written statement that armed attackers forced their way onto the campus by shooting at guards, triggering a "fierce shootout" with police guarding student hostels. However the attackers managed to get into the hostels.

Seventy years ago, Anne Frank died of typhus in a Nazi concentration camp at the age of 15.

Just two weeks after her supposed death on March 31, 1945, the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where she had been imprisoned was liberated -- timing that showed how close the Jewish diarist had been to surviving the Holocaust.

But new research released by the Anne Frank House shows that Anne and her older sister, Margot Frank, died at least a month earlier than previously thought.Researchers re-examined archives of the Red Cross, the International Training Service and the Bergen-Belsen Memorial, along with testimonies of survivors.

They concluded that Anne and Margot probably did not survive to March 1945 -- contradicting the date of death which had previously been determined by Dutch authorities.  Read more

A video purportedly showing the final seconds inside the cabin of the Germanwings airliner minutes before it crashed has emerged, two European media outlets said April 1, although French police denied the claims. One sequence reportedly shows a chaotic scene with passengers screaming "My God".  Read    

Tarun Vijay becomes the first north Indian to be conferred the prestigious Tamil Award. The Indian author, thinker, social worker, and parliamentarian was the editor of the RSS weekly in Hindi, Panchajanya, from 1986 to February 2008. 

The MP who told the Parliamentary committee of subordinate legislation (of which he is also a member) that beedis have "nil' harmful effect is a beedi baron. Shyama Charan Gupta's beedi business, by his own admission, has an annual turnover of Rs 200-250 crore -- between 1-1.5 per cent of the total beedi trade in the country. Read

The 'surrender' by two alleged naxals before police recently has created a controversy with their relatives claiming that they were not ultras and were illegally detained by the police after being forcibly picked up from their homes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asks the RBI to prepare a 20-year road map for financial inclusion. Modi says as much as Rs 14,000 crore was deposited in Jan Dhan accounts.

Speaking at the Financial Inclusion Conference of the Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai, Modi also said that he will meet RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan once in every two months.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was also present at the conference.

Addressing the conference, Jaitley said the government would restore the credibility of decision-making, while easing processes and making India`s tax structure non-adversarial.

The comments reiterate the government's promises to make India more business- and investor-friendly.

Differences have emerged between the Reserve Bank and the Finance Ministry over the structure of a committee that will set interest rates and take monetary policy decisions - instead of the central banks Governor - even as the two sides downplayed reports of friction over the biggest regulatory shakeup in its 80-year-old history.

The number of cases of eve-teasing and rapes are increasing in Haryana, but it seems the panchayats in the state are not much bothered. In a latest incident, a panchayat in Bhagwanpur village of Yamunanagar district reportedly let off an accused in a "rape case" with minimal punishment of "five shoe strikes". Read more

Do Arvind Kejriwal and his men have the ability, the foresight, and the historical sense to tread a path different from their historical forebears? And, even more important, do they want to? Read

Narendra Modi's informal interaction with all Secretaries to the Government of India at 7, Race Course Road.

James Bond fan? This is a must read.

No one really seems to mind when Metin Tolan carries clips of James Bond movies into his physics classroom lectures. Not even when he decodes 007's myriad feats, gadgets and stunts through the lens of a physicist.

Read

The Narendra Modi government is prepping for biting comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on recent attacks on India's Christian community when they meet the Prime Minister in April, after hints of concern from the two nations. Read more

The flood threat in Kashmir eased today as overnight rainfall, which had led to slight rise in water level of River Jhelum, stopped.

Jhelum was flowing at 14.10 feet at Sangam in south Kashmir, nearly nine feet below the danger mark, while the water level at Ram Munshi Bagh in the city was 15.25 feet, an official of the Flood Control Department said. Yesterday's rainfall had resulted in an increase in the water level of Jhelum but there was no immediate threat of floods, he said.

 "The weather has improved since late last night and if it holds like this, the worst phase might already be over," the official said. He, however, said moderate rainfall was forecast for tomorrow at many places in the Valley but it should not lead to a flood situation.

'Those of us who have seen the Indian military from close quarters for decades now are outraged at Admiral Sushil Kumar's irresponsible and in my view flippant remark,' says Nitin A Gokhale. Read

Dr Manmohan Singh's daughters were at the Supreme Court yesterday. An insider's view of what happened in court.

In the jam-packed Hall No. 9 of the Supreme Court this morning, two figures stood out for their composure. Upinder Singh and Daman Singh were there to find out whether their father would have to appear before a special court seven days from now. Read

And news of the other party that always finds itself in the news for the wrong reasons. AAP 'rebel' Prof Anand Kumar speaks of what went wrong with the party in the last few days in this interview with Rediff.com's Upasna Pandey.
Read

So, why did Giriraj Jain issue a public apology to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi after his racist statements yesterday?

Media reports say that it was BJP president Amit Shah who asked the 63-year-old minister to "observe absolute restraint in public and in private" and stop embarrassing the party and the government.

The BJP ordered Singh to apologise for saying on Tuesday, "If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian lady and not a white-skinned woman, then would the Congress have accepted her leadership?"

He had also likened Rahul Gandhi's absence to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

Forced to apologise, Singh then issued a statement saying, "All sorts of things are said off the record. But if Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were hurt by my remarks, then I regret them."

The indelible ink mark on your forefinger signifying participation in democracy will now be bigger and bolder, helping you show it prominently in a selfie.

An encounter is on in the Baramulla district of Jammu Kashmir after 3 terrorists were found hiding inside a civilian home. Security forces have rushed to the spot and are fighting them off. Heavy firing is being exchanged and personnel from the Rashtriya Rifles unit have cordoned off the area.  

Haryana's BJP government transferred whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka to a low profile post just four months after appointing him as state transport commissioner.  In his 45th transfer, the government has moved Khemka to the post of secretary and director general of state archaeology and museums department.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will visit rain-hit areas in Neemuch district of Madhya Pradesh today. She will be visiting the farmers who have been affected by the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms. MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a jibe at the Congress president, saying, "She is our guest and I welcome her in the state. But where was she when a natural calamity of much more magnitude hit farmers in Madhya Pradesh in previous years, specially when UPA was in power."

The BJP government in Gujarat has gone ahead and passed the controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill -- despite it being rejected on three earlier occasions by two presidents for violating basic principles of justice. 

A freezer trawler with an international crew of 132 has sunk in the Sea of Okhotsk off of the Kamchatka Peninsula and at least 43 crew members have been killed, rescue workers said. The emergency services in Kamchatka, citing the head of the rescue operation, said 63 crew members were rescued and the fate of the remaining 26 from the Dalny Vostok trawler was unknown. More than 25 fishing boats in the area were helping to rescue the crew members, the emergency services said in a statement on their website.

After appearing in the 'My Choice' video, Deepika Padukone has been forced to face a lot of flak with many taking to social media to flay the post. Bharatiya Janata Party's veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi also criticised the video saying, "We don't realise how much we have changed. It has been an Indian tradition of addressing woman as 'mother', but now there are objections at being called a mother. When god wanted to be everywhere, he created mother. But now that has become an old concept. Now I have a choice. Now you see we have a choice (video). Now you are a body, a commodity. This is the height of lack of consciousness."

JUST IN: The IAF plane carrying 190 Indian nationals evacuated from strife-torn Yemen has landed in Mumbai.

An Indian Air Force plane carrying 168 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen landed at Kochi on Thursday morning in the government's first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation.

Three people are dead and about seven others remain unaccounted for after an avalanche Wednesday in the French Alps, an official in the Hautes-Alpes prosecutor's office said.

The CJM court today included Section 120 B under IPC as charge against the two Bangladeshi accused in the 71-year old nun gang rape case at a Ranaghat convent school in Nadia district.

The UN Human Rights Council today unanimously adopted a resolution appealing to international community to provide more active support to African countries fighting Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram. 

Turkey has arrested nine British nationals on the Syrian border as they sought to illegally cross over from Turkey, the army said on today.

Secretary of State Kerry has extended his stay at the Iran nuclear talks for another day as negotiations falter, according to a US official.

The second C-17 aircraft of the IAF has left Djibouti for Mumbai at 11:43 pm, chief spokesperson for the ministry of defence Sitanshu Kar has tweeted.

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Giriraj Singh makes racist remark on 'white-skinned' Sonia; then regrets it