Heavy Rainfall warning for next four days for south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema has added to the woes of the southern states already slammed by torrential rains.

Army called in for rescue and relief operations in Chennai, which has been affected by heavy rains.

"This just doesn't happen in other countries," US President Barack Obama on #PlannedParenthood shooting that claimed the lives of 3 people.

BJP MP Kirron Kher in Parliament: Questioning the "tolerance" of intellectuals who returned their awards, Kher said where was their intolerance during ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits or the anti-Sikh riots and questioned the yardstick or data being used to measure intolerance. "These intellectuals had accepted awards from the Congress," she said. Noting that a "perception of intolerance was being created", she asked where was the tolerance of Congress when Amitabh Bachchan's invitation as Chief Guest at the Goa Film Festival was withdrawn when UPA was in power.


She, however, also said there were "wrong statements from both the sides" and condemned the attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni allegedly by Shiv Sena activists.


She also referred to an alleged attack by NCP when her husband and actor Anupam Kher supported the Anna movement and said "fringe elements are everywhere."


To this NCP's Supriya Sule said, "For all this time those who did it were hooligans. But this time they are your partners in the government." This also led to protests by Shiv Sena members.

If you missed Rahul Gandhi's speech in Parliament today, here's what he said.

The Congress vice-president today launched a scathing attack on the government on the issue of intolerance telling it not to learn the "wrong lessons" from Pakistan and pleaded that it should listen to the people who have been "disturbed" over recent incidents.


"People like Narayana Murthy, Raghuram Rajan and P M Bhargava are among the many protesting... They are disturbed like millions of other people. Respect them and try to understand what is disturbing them. Go and listen to them," he said speaking on the debate of intolerance in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress Vice President's speech was repeatedly interrupted by BJP members, especially when he targeted Union Minister V K Singh who, he alleged, had likened two Dalit children in Haryana who were burnt to dogs to dogs. This was strongly contested by the BJP members. The Minister was not present in the House.


"Our Prime Minister allowed this man to continue as Minister. Ambedkar spent his entire life ....and wrote the Constitution so that the two children are not burnt. The Prime Minister is unable to see this contradiction," he said amid cries of 'shame-shame' from the Opposition benches.


"I request government, please do not learn the wrong lessons from Pakistan. Be tolerant. Listen to your people, embrace your own people. Mahatma Gandhi gave voice to the people.


"Pakistan became a failure because their leaders crushed voices of their people...were intolerant. Let us not learn the wrong lessons," he said. Gandhi regretted that the Prime Minister remained silent after the Dadri lynching incident despite the fact that the son of the person killed is an air force personnel. "The ultimate responsibility for his protection is with the Prime Minister who remained silent", he remarked.

Highlights of home minister Rajnath Singh's speech in Lok Sabha.

-- I thank all leaders for giving their views on intolerance.

-- Tolerance means accepting views or things without agreeing to them.

-- Tolerance is in our tradition and culture. Why is intolerance given more importance than tolerance? We are not tolerant under pressure, but we are tolerant by nature.

-- Allegations of intolerance is serious. Is India not fit to live?

-- If there is social tolerance anywhere in the world, its in India.

-- One of the people who returned their award had once said that a person like Modi is a source of anxiety and he is not fit to rule India. I want to say that they are not even respecting peoples mandate.

-- If any political party is victim of intolerance it is BJP. The biggest victim of intolerance has been PM Modi himself .

-- I want to assure the people of this country, if anyone will try to disturb the social harmony of this country, he will be punished.

-- There are people who think there is no freedom of speech in India.

-- A Muslim cleric last week said Lord Sri Ram was born in Pakistan. Still there was not reaction from majority. Can he says all this about Islamic God?

-- Intolerance has been displayed only thrice. Partition, during emergency and during 84 riots.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has written to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi calling for the return of six British sailors held in India for more than two years on charges of illegal possession of a huge cache of weapons on their ship.


In the letter to Modi shortly before his visit to London in November, Cameron said the long-running legal case was causing the sailors' families immense mental agony as well as financial hardships, The Daily Telegraph reported.


The six were working as security guards for AdvanFort, which provides anti-piracy protection for commercial vessels, when their ship, moored off the coast of Tamil Nadu, was intercepted by the Indian coastguard on October 12, 2013.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till tomorrow.

In 1946 Dr Ambedkar had said, "it is easy to give power but it is difficult to give vision."


Ethics Committee had to be formed. I am not criticising anyone. Members of the Committee will have to keep reminding us.


On August 14 Dr Radhakrishnan said, from tomorrow we cannot blame British, whatever we do we will be responsible for it.


Let us resolve to change the situation and it is not yet so late to do that.


We are a young country with majority of population under 65. There is no reason to feel let down.Sambhaav and Mambhaav both are needed.


Country will run only when there is equality and love. No one needs to prove his patriotism, neither is there any reason to do so.

I am thinking of a programme. 'Ek Bharat Shreshtra Bharat'. It is just a thought. People in South think we impose Hindi on them. Can we ask 36 states to organise Kerala Mahotsav next year. And in Chhattisgarh, we teach Malayam alphabets. Later, why not a Malayalam festival in Chhattisgarh. Similarly, one state connects to another state. If we can do this slowly, we can stay united.


We have to imbibe that feeling of being one.

I would like to quote Max Muller today. He had said, "If I look across the world where nature has given money, power and beauty, if there is any heaven on earth I will point towards India."


I once again thank members from my heart. We can create laws and try to take society forward.I bow before Basaheb Ambedkar and all those who contributed to the framing of the Constitution.

Nobody should have to prove their patriotism every day, says the PM.

TV channels choosing to play the PM's speech and not Rahul Gandhi's.  

"We have to look for reasons for uniting people; keep promoting unity and harmony. Baba Saheb Ambedkar used to say that industrialization is very important for India. We have to look for reasons for uniting people; keep promoting unity and harmony," says Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha.

PM: Pandit Nehru had said to make our Constitution effective there should be mutual cooperation between both Houses. The country is looking at us; we have responsibilities and duties towards the nation.


In 1946 Dr Ambedkar had said, "it is easy to give power but it is difficult to give vision."

If Rahul's speech is combative, the PM's speech is subdued and differential to the nation builders of India like Dr Radhakrishnan and Dr Ambedkar. 

Highlights of the PM's speech:

In a democratic country like India, if there is any source of guidance, it is Constitution. The Constitution is our source of inspiration, our guide to move ahead.

For generations to come, we should make them aware of the Constitution and the situation in which it was framed and the contribution of our founding fathers and their vision.


Our nation cannot forget or ignore the exemplary contribution of Babasaheb Ambedkar.


Basic reason is that we don't think from the Constitution's point of view. That is why we fall prey to politics. That is why we see it with the prism of politics. Don't you think there must be pressure on our founding fathers as well?


Constitution should be a celebration and the message of the Constitution must reach the future generations.


People never thought that we will last for so long as one country. Our founding fathers gave us such a Constitution that keeps giving us strength. Our main work is to frame laws, people voted us for that.


We have to rise about political differences to succeed.

Our constitution is a social document,it is not about only laws.

Our Constitution is not about laws only. It is a social document. We admire these facets of our Constitution.

The Constitution is a celebration. It is our guiding light. We must respect every contribution. It is our responsibility to live up to it.

PM: Constitution should be a celebration and the message of the Constitution must reach the future generations. Every person has made a positive contribution to the nation & that is how the nation was made. 

Rahul: Pakistan's weakness is their intolerance. Their leaders don't hear the voice of their people: Rahul.India is successful because we have embraced our people. Our strength is our tolerance. Let us learn from that and listen to our own people, give them their voice.

Rahul in Parliament: Today in India, protest is considered sedition. While I heard the PM I could see how profoundly we differ in our thinking. What happened in Gujarat? The Gujarat Model burst like  balloon and Patidar protest broke out

PM in the Rajya Sabha: This debate is special because we mark the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.  Our nation cannot forget or ignore the exemplary contribution of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. We need to rise above obstacles. 

PM in the Rajya Sabha: This debate is special because we mark the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.  Our nation cannot forget or ignore the exemplary contribution of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. We need to rise above obstacles. 

Rahul in Parliament: The Constitution gives all Indians fundamental rights. All of us here swore an oath to protect these rights for each one of our citizens. When Dhabolkar is shot dead in cold blood by fantatics, the Prime Minister has nothing to say. 

Stepping up the attack against the government, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi rakes up General VK Singh's dog remark. "Everyone in this room swore to protect rights of our people. Where is VK Singh? A general who compared Dalit children to dogs. He has directly challenged the constitution by equating Dalit children with dogs. Our PM has let a man like that (VK Singh) continue as a minister," says the Congress vice-president. 

Talk about timing. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks in the Rajya Sabha, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi simultaneously steps up the attack against the government on the intolerance debate in the Lok Sabha

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused France of "supporting terrorism" and said he saw Prague as a possible venue for signing any future peace deal to end his country's four-year civil war, in comments that have broadcast on TV.


In an interview due to be aired on Czech TV in full today, the Syrian strongman was asked whether he could see a peace deal being signed in Prague, as Czech President Milos Zeman had suggested in September.


"Naturally, if you ask Syrians they will tell you they don't want a peace conference in France, for example, because France supports terrorism and war, not peace," he said on the CT public station.


"And as you mention Prague, it would be generally accepted because of the balanced position of your country." As the last diplomatic outpost of the West in Syria, the Czech embassy has become a hub for confidential US and EU communication with the Damascus regime amid moves aimed at ending the four-year conflict.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing suspected links between a leader of hardline Hurriyat leader, Firdous Ahmad Shah, and one of the financiers of 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a prosecution complaint against two people under Prevention of Money Laundering Act after the Jammu and Kashmir police filed a chargesheet under anti-terror law UAPA.


"The prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate does not disclose any links of the two accused with the financing of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. "However, the Enforcement Directorate is conducting further investigations in the matter," the minister said.

The intolerance debate continues in Parliament:

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor speaking: The govt should start taking its own slogans seriously and think 'India First'. The government must know that you can't promote Make In India abroad while promoting "Hate In India" at home. Today we feel ashamed when foreign newspapers report of mounting intolerance in India. India becoming safer for a cow than a Muslim."


Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak in the Rajya Sabha in a bit.

Japanese authorities are investigating nearly a dozen wooden boats carrying decomposing bodies found drifting off the northwestern coast over the past month. Coast Guard officials said today they have found at least 11 boats carrying the bodies of unknown nationalities since late October. They have also found fishing equipment and nets on board and signs written in Korean, suggesting they came from North Korea.

Officials say dozens of wrecked boats drift toward Japan's northwestern coasts every year. On November 20, officials found four bodies in two capsized boats off the coast of Ishikawa prefecture.


Two days later, seven bodies were found inside another wooden boat off nearby Fukui prefecture. Coast Guard said officials autopsied some of them but could not determine their nationality or cause of death

Actor Govinda reacts to the Supreme Court asking him to apologise to a fan he slapped in 2008. "The Supreme Court's order has to be abided by all, but I'm surprised that the complainant dragged on the case for so many years. I wonder if he has got some backing. The fact is I never intimidated anyone, nor did I legally challenge the man. I was just trying to teach him a lesson," the actor says.

The court said if the actor does not apologise, he will face prosecution for criminal intimidation and assault that may land him in jail for two years.

We also like watching his movies. He is a big actor. When you make a mistake you should have a heart to admit it. You should ask him (the complainant) to forgive and forget, a justices TS Thakur and V Gopala Gowda told Govindas counsel when he opposed a petition that wants the SC to revive a criminal case against the actor.

Complainant Santosh Bateshwar Ray has moved the SC against the Bombay high court judgement that quashed a trial court order summoning Govinda as an accused in the assault case. Ray had filed a private complaint before the trial court for the stars prosecution.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram reacts to the raids on firms associated with his son Karti, by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax. "My family and I are quite prepared to face the "malicious onslaught" launched by the government. If the government wants to target me, it should do so directly," he said.


In August, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned two directors of Advantage Strategic Consulting, a company allegedly linked to Karti Chidambaram, in the Aircel-Maxis case.


In the Aircel-Maxis case, ED had in December last year questioned former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi after the agency had probed all the financial transactions of their Sun Network group companies. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's confabulations last Friday with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh on the long-pending Goods and Services Tax Bill, a few hours after he struck an unusually conciliatory note on the floor of Parliament, signalled a dramatic change of style.


Gone was the air of aggression, the taunting tone, and the reminder that his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, had won an election last year. Mr. Modi's new mild manner seemed to be an acknowledgement that a majority in the Lok Sabha is not enough, and he needs to build a consensus to give his government's legislative agenda a chance. Read more

Social activist Anna Hazare points out the lacunae in the Jan Lokpal Bill. Hazare today said he will step in if the NDA government at the Centre puts obstructions in the way of Janlokpal Bill, introduced in the Delhi Assembly by the AAP government. Anna has in effect backed the Bill and warns the BJP not to obstruct the Bill. Former AAP leaders say the Bill is a betrayal of promises.


The anti-corruption crusader was talking to reporters after Aam Aadmi Party leaders Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh met him at Ralegan Siddhi village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district to brief him on the salient features of the Janlokpal Bill, tabled in Delhi Assembly by the Arvind Kejriwal government yesterday.


Hazare said that during his discussions with the AAP leaders, he expressed apprehension that the Centre may pose obstructions as the legislation provides for probing corruption in Delhi, where the central government offices are located.


"If that is the case then I assured them of my full support. I told them I am with them," Hazare said when asked if he would launch an agitation on the issue.


He said the central government lacks the will to fight corruption and there should be no "parochial attitude" on the issue of dealing with graft.


Hazare and some top activists of his team had in 2012 parted ways with the Kejriwal-led group, opposing their plans to form a political party, after a roller-coaster ride of 18 months in which they came together to run a high-steam anti-graft movement.


One of its prominent poll promises, the AAP emphasised that the Bill is similar to its original 2011 version. It will empower the proposed ombudsman to act against any public servant in the national capital, including those of the Centre.


While the draft bill of 2015 states that no prosecution or legal proceedings can be initiated against the Janlokpal or any staff member of the Janlokpal office, AAP leaders said the process of impeachment will be applied for removal of any member of the Lokpal. The Bill has to be cleared by the Lieutenant Governor before it becomes a law.

The years ends well for social activist Teesta Setalvad. The Supreme Court has extended the interim protection against arrest till January 31 in fund embezzlement case.

Change in time: PM to speak in Rajya Sabha at 4 pm, not 3:30 pm, as reported earlier. 

Pakistani media reacted positively to the brief meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Paris, describing it as "ice-breaker" which will lead towards easing of tension.


The two leaders had an unscheduled meeting and brief chat after they found each other under the same roof in Paris and free of cumbersome rites of protocol. Sharif later told media that the interaction was "good". Dawn reported that Modi took the initiative as finding Sharif alone he walked up to him and they had a warm handshake as they sat for an engaging short chat.

The Delhi High Court today asked controversial AAP MLA Somnath Bharti and the police to file their response on a plea by his wife Lipika seeking cancellation of his bail in a domestic violence case.


Justice P S Teji issued notice to Bharti and Delhi Police and directed them to file their reply by February 16. Bharti's wife has sought cancellation of his bail, granted on October 7, on several grounds, including that the trial court has not applied its mind while granting relief to the former Delhi minister.

The Congress Party on Tuesday referred to the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit as a "sixty second selfie" and asked the government to frame a substantive policy towards Pakistan.


"It looked like a sixty second selfie rather then any substantive dialogue. In any case, this government has no policy towards Pakistan. It drifts from the sublime to the ridiculous," Congress leader Manish Tiwari told ANI in an exclusive interview.


"At times, they hug and kiss Nawaz Sharif and play verbal kabaddi with him. It is high time that this government sorts out its Pakistan policy," Tiwari added.


Prime Minister Modi and Sharif met briefly yesterday in Paris as the climate conference began in the French capital. The two leaders warmly held hands before sitting down for a chat amidst frosty ties between the two neighbours. The two leaders had earlier met in Russian city of Ufa and had agreed that their National Security Advisors would meet

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today said the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations will not upset fiscal maths as additional expenditures will be offset by either surplus revenues or expenditure cuts. In the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review for 2015-16, the Reserve Bank said the implementation of the Pay Commission proposals, and its effect on wages and rents, would be factored in by the RBI in its future deliberations.

A fault with the rudder control system was a major factor in the AirAsia plane crash last December in which 162 people died, Indonesian investigators have said.


In their final report into the crash, Indonesia's official national transportation safety committee also said that crew action in response to the fault caused the jet to lose control.


Repeated problems with the rudder system led to the pilots disengaging the autopilot in stormy weather in an attempt to fix the situation. Investigators said the soldering on the Rudder Travel Limiter system '" which helps control the rudder's movement -- was cracked, leading it to send repeated warning systems to the pilots.


When they received the fourth warning, the pilots pulled circuit-breakers on part of the aircraft's control system in a bid to reset the system. This turned off the autopilot, and the plane then started to roll, the report said.


"Subsequent flight crew action resulted in inability to control the aircraft,' said the report. The plane went into a "prolonged stall condition that was beyond the capability of the crew to recover', it said. It added the flight data recorders did not indicate the weather had affected the aircraft.


The cracked solder joint had malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during the flight, and 23 times the previous year. The Airbus A320 aircraft crashed less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on 28 December last year.

Just in: Peter Mukerjea has been sent to judicial custody till 14th December.

A local court yesterday had sent the former media baron Peter to CBI till today, after the agency said it was expecting results of a polygraphtest conducted in Delhi over the weekend. Peter, who was arrested two weeks ago, is accused of murder and criminal conspiracy in the death of 24-year-old Sheena Bora, the daughter of his wife Indrani Mukerjea.

The wife of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani was admitted to the All India Institute Of Medical Science today due to health complications. According to sources at the premier institute, Kamla Advani who is in her early eighties, had breathing problems early in the morning following which she was rushed to AIIMS at about 5.30 am.

"Advani-ji's wife was admitted to our hospital today early in the morning. She is admitted in the ICU of the hospital for observation," a senior doctor at AIIMS said. Though, the exact cause behind her health complication was not established, sources said that she has been suffering from age-related problems.

The Enforcement Directorate and income tax department on Tuesday conducted raids at firms of Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, Times Now reported.

In August, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned two directors of Advantage Strategic Consulting, a company allegedly linked to Karti Chidambaram, in the Aircel-Maxis case.

In the Aircel-Maxis case, ED had in December last year questioned former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi after the agency had probed all the financial transactions of their Sun Network group companies.

In a shocking incident, a Class IX student delivered a child in the washroom of her school in Madhapur area in Hyderabad, which is the city's IT hub, police said today.


The 14-year-old student of a government high school went to the washroom after complaining of stomach pain while sitting in the classroom on Saturday, Malkajgiri's Deputy Educational Officer (DEO) A Usha Rani said.


"After sometime the students and teachers heard cries of a newborn baby and were shocked to find the girl with the baby. Both the mother and the baby girl were handed over to police," the DEO said, adding, even the girl's friends said they did not notice her swelled abdomen.


Madhapur Police Inspector K Narasimulu said that based on a complaint by the girl's father, they have registered a case of rape against a person named Dhanu who is known to the victim.


The DEO has suspended the school headmaster, S Basavalingam, and issued charge memos to class teachers as to why they failed to notice that the girl was pregnant. The girl's father is a labourer and lives in nearby Lambada Tanda (hamlet), the police officer said, adding, the girl's family was aware that she was pregnant.

North Korea's catalog of abuses against its own people within the secretive country's tightly controlled borders has been widely reported. But Kim Jong Un's regime is also believed to be pocketing huge sums from tens of thousands of its citizens who are sent abroad to toil in forced labor conditions, the United Nations says.


The laborers are made to work as long as 20 hours a day without enough food and under constant surveillance, according to a new report from Marzuki Darusman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea.  Read more

The real dirt of India lies not on the streets but in "our minds and in our unwillingness to let go of views that divide society into them and us', President Pranab Mukherjee said here today emphasising on cleansing minds of divisive thoughts.


Speaking at a function in Sabarmati Ashram here, Mukherjee cited Gandhiji's vision of India as an inclusive nation where every section of population lived in equality and enjoyed equal opportunity and said the essence of being human is "our trust of each other'.

A little over a year ago, the marbled lobbies of five-star hotels and colonial clubs in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi buzzed with businessmen eyeing government contracts, liaison men dangling favours, and government servants seeking lucrative postings.


A cozy nexus of cash, influence and favours that greased the wheels which ran India's capital. Today, these antechambers to the erstwhile Delhi Durbar have fallen silent, the result of a clean-up by theNarendra Modi government and the setting up of a new mechanism in the top bureaucracy to eliminate nepotism and bring in honest bureaucrats.

Read more

AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh meet social activist Anna Hazare at Ralegan Siddhi after the Jan Lokpal Bill was introduced in the Delhi Assembly yesterday.

Nine months after storming to power, the AAP government on Monday introduced the Delhi Janlokpal Bill in the Assembly, which provides for an ombudsman with powers to act against any government functionary, including those of the Centre, in the national capital through its own investigation wing.


Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who tabled the Bill, termed it as the most "effective and independent" in India's history and said the proposed legislation brings under its ambit every act of corruption occuring within the boundaries of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

PM Modi to reply to 'intolerance' debate in Parliament today. Rahul Gandhi will also speak in the house today.

Stay with us.

The question hour in the Lok Sabha is on communal violence. BJP MPs have been told not to make provocative statements as it deflects from PM Narendra Modi's developmental agenda, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said outside Parliament today.

BJP MPs told not to make provocative statements as it deflects from PM Narendra Modi's developmental agenda, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said outside Parliament today.


Yesterday, CPM leader Mohammad Salim began proceedings in the Lok Sabha, with a stinging allegation against Home Minister Rajnath Singh. It was Salim's contention that in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi being appointed prime minister in 2014, Rajnath told a magazine that Modi was 'the first Hindu leader in 800 years.


Rajnath asked the CPM leader to apologise saying he had never made the remark and asked him to prove it. "In my parliamentary career, I am hurt for the first time. This is a serious allegation. I think no home minister should continue after making such a comment," said Singh.


Salim's remark led to frequent disruptions in the house thereafter.

The government had braced itself for a tough week in Parliament, with Opposition parties giving a number of notices in both Houses seeking a debate on 'intolerance' in society and action against some ministers for their alleged provocative remarks. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its key repo lending rate unchanged at 6.75 percent on Tuesday, as widely expected, after consumer inflation picked up to a four-month high and as emerging markets brace for a U.S. rate hike.


All 45 respondents surveyed by Reuters last week expected the RBI would keep the repo rate unchanged.The RBI has lowered the rate by 125 basis points this year, including a larger-than-expected 50 bps cut at its last policy review in late September. -- Reuters

Just in:  RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.75 per cent, reverse repo rate stays at 5.75 per cent. 

As world leaders met in Paris on Monday to commit to a united fight against climate change, the capitals of India and China remained blanketed in heavy smog triggered by pollution. The difference was that Beijing sounded an alert for its citizens while in Delhi it was business as usual. Authorities in Beijing have issued an 'orange' pollution alert, the second highest of four levels, wherein outdoor activities in schools and construction work is suspended and residents warned to stay indoors, agencies reported. Read more

Extending gains for the fourth straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 91 points in early trade today on sustained buying by investors, driven by encouraging growth data for the September quarter and positive Asian cues.


Besides, further recovery in the rupee and widening of positions by participants ahead of the RBI's fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review, to be released later today, influenced the sentiment. The 30-share index rose by another 91.45 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 26,237.12 with all the sectoral indices, led by metal, realty and IT, trading in positive zone with gain of up to 0.99 per cent.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is expected to speak in Parliament today during a debate on 'rising intolerance' in the country.

Zee News reports: Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan has triggered a fresh controversy with his remarks on homosexuality.

Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh became a climate change activist at age 6 when he saw an environmental documentary. He asked his mom to find a way for him to speak at a rally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi departs from Paris for Delhi after attending COP21.