"I want to talk about something I have been studying for many years, the development of a liberal market democracy. In doing this, I will wear my hat as a professor in the field known as political economy,"said RBI Govenor Raghuram Rajan at the DD Kosambi Ideas Festival held in Goa.

In an extraordinary speech titled 'Democracy, Inclusion, and Prosperity', he said, "Strong governments may not, however, move in the right direction. Hitler provided Germany with extremely effective administration -- the trains ran on time, as did the trains during our own Emergency in 1975-77. His was a strong government, but Hitler took Germany efficiently and determinedly on a path to ruin, overriding the rule of law and dispensing with elections. It is not sufficient that the trains run on time, they have to go in the right direction at the desired time."

Read the complete speech here

An FIR has been registered against two AAP MLAs and their supporters, six of whom have been arrested, over a violent clash with police at Burari police station in north Delhi yesterday which left 15 people injured.

While the MLAs, Sanjeev Jha from Burari and Akhilesh Pati Tripathi from Model Town, have not been arrested, they have been named in the FIR, police said today.

Nine policemen and six AAP members, including Jha, were injured in the clash which erupted after Jha's vehicle was not allowed entry into the Burari police station, where he and his supporters had come around 11 pm yesterday to register a case against an alleged kidnapper whom they had caught abducting a boy from Pradhan Enclave colony.

Soon, Tripathi also came with his supporters. As AAP workers pelted stones at police, cops resorted to lathicharge. Several vehicles were also damaged in the clash and those injured were taken to hospitals.

Days after kicking up a controversy over his comments on a Hindu deity, Jamiat Ulema's Mufti Muhammad Ilyas found support from Yoga guru Ramdev, reports PTI. 

Ramdev said that the scholar's statement of 'Lord Shiva was first prophet of Muslims' was appropriate. "The comment of learned Mufti on Hindu Gods is appropriate. His watching a glimpse of Paigambar (Prophet) in Hindu Gods is nothing wrong. He has established an example of brotherhood," he said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here last evening.

The saffron-clad spiritual leader extolled the Vedas, an ancient Indian body of texts. "Vedas are the oldest Granth (scripture) and Kuraan is the new one. Entire world has great regard for Vedas," he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhala and the two leaders discussed the issues relating to Bangladesh and India.

While the issues related to settlement of Teesta water sharing pact and ratification of the land boundary agreement were expected to come up during the talks, it was not clear as to what transpired between the two leaders during the 30-minute one-to-one meeting.

Hasina has hosted a luncheon in honour of Banerjee. Banerjee, who arrived in Dhaka on Thursday on a three-day visit, has said she was keen to respond to Bangladesh's "expectations" from West Bengal.

Banerjee's visit has raised hopes of a breakthrough in the settlement of Teesta water sharing pact and ratification of the land boundary agreement.

Intensifying its probe into the sensational corporate espionage scandal, Delhi police crime branch today raided the office of a petrochemical company in Noida after it searched the office of arrested energy consultant Prayas Jain.

Police sources said that Subhash Chandra, a senior executive with Jubilant Energy, who was arrested along with four other top officials of energy companies yesterday, was taken to Jain's office in the morning.

After searching Jain's office, the police team took him to the Noida office of Jubilant Energy. His office and some other rooms were searched by the police to recover stolen documents. Asked about the issue, Delhi police Commissioner B S Bassi said, "We have searched places which were necessary for the course of investigation. We may further raid places as our aim is to reach the bottom of the whole thing."

The five senior executives from top energy firms, who were arrested in the sensational corporate espionage scandal, will be produced in a local court in New Delhi this afternoon and the police will seek their custody for further interrogation.

"We had arrested five persons. There interrogation is going on. They will be produced before a local court. We'll request court to send them to police custody, so we can further interrogate them," added Bassi.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan would not like to take any sides on the controversy surrounding the AIB roast as he feels humour is a tricky thing and will always invoke different reactions from people.

When asked about the celebrity roast involving Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, the actor said he believes in humour but has also become careful with his words as an entertainer. "I am someone who has always believed in sense of humour. Over the years my sense of humour is rounded off if not completely over. I have learnt to curtail it because there is always going to be a thin line when it comes to humour. It is always going to invoke radical reaction, either you are going to laugh at it or hate it," Shah Rukh told PTI in an interview.

"When you are a popular actor like I am, people listen to you... So, you need to relook at it and I am only speaking about myself here. There will always be issues and questions. I can't take any sides."

Sri Lanka has approved a bill for the protection of victims and witnesses of crimes, seen as reflection of the new government's will to implement reforms.

Fulfilling a long-held international demand for justice and human rights accountability in the country, the law is believed to encourage more witnesses to speak up -- an important requirement to end the culture of impunity.

The law provides for compensation to witnesses cooperating with investigations and punitive action against those who would harass victims or witnesses to a crime.

Sri Lanka faced US-backed UN Human Rights Council resolutions on rights accountability for three consecutive years since 2012. The 2014 resolution mandated the setting up of an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses during the last phase of the nearly three decade-long civil war that wiped out the LTTE leadership.

United States President Barack Obama has welcomed the recent remarks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he condemned religious-based violence and gave an assurance that his government will give equal respect to all religions.

"The president welcomed Prime Minister Modi's February 17 condemnation of religious-based violent acts, and his assurance that his government will give equal respect to all religions," the White House said on its website yesterday in response to an online petition.

Launched by the New York-based Sikh for Justice, the online petition had urged President Obama before his India trip to raise the issue of "Sikh Genocide" and "Sikhs' Right to Self-determination" during his talks with PM Modi.

Aditya Thackeray, 24, the son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and his recent efforts to bring nightlife back in Mumbai are well known.

What is less known is his interest in business.

In March last year, months before he got busy with back-to-back election campaigns to the Centre and Maharashtra Assembly, Thackeray incorporated a Limited Liability Partnership called Como Stocks & Properties LLP, reports Business Standard.  

Documents filed with the ministry of corporate affairs, reviewed by  Business Standard, listed business activities to be carried out by Como as property developers, construction, buying and selling of properties, property rights and development rights, dealing of transfer of development rights, building development activities and any other related infrastructural activities.

Read the full report here

Five Britons have made the shortlist for Mars Ones human colonisation mission. One of them, 23-year-old astronomer Hannah Earnshaw, explains why she wants to be part of it.

Read the full report here

Two terrorists, believed to be from Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Rafiabad in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore today.

The terrorists were reportedly active in the area for a long time. Acting on a specific input about their presence, the army and police had earlier launched a search operation; they finally zeroed in on the house where the Lashkar men were hiding, reports NDTV.

R&B star Rihanna has shared a black-and-white topless photo of her on Twitter in honour of her 27th birthday. Rihanna, who turned 27 on Friday, captioned it with a lengthy message.

"27 years ago, my mother gave birth to her very first child at the tender age of 27. Life is never a piece of birthday cake, but I feel special that I was chosen by my Father in Heaven to make it here! And each year that goes by I am more grateful!

"Every day we wake up, means we get another chance at life.... To live what we've learned and to discover even more, to be good to other people and to know that you are a part of their smile! I cherish these days, and I pray that God will spare my life to see many more! #Feb20," she wrote.

Photograph: @Rihanna/Twitter

The Shiv Sena today came to the defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the auction of his pinstripe monogrammed suit and said the two-piece ensemble was valued highly because of the person who wore it.   

"Instead of criticising, the Congress can auction the wardrobe and footwear of Rahul Gandhi and see what amount they fetch. Similarly, Arvind Kejriwal can auction his muffler while Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav can call for bidding of their belongings...The suit which fetched over Rs 4.31crore is because of the person who wore it," an edit in party mouthpiece Saamana, said today.   

"Modi plans to utilise the money for Ganga river cleaning and girls education. Modi wore the suit only once and builders, industrialists, diamond merchants made a beeline to buy it. Modi wears new clothes every day, if some of them are auctioned, black money from within India will come out and the assurance of unearthing of black money would be fulfilled,"it said.

"No guilty person would be spared and strictest punishment would be given to them," said Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the corporate espionage case.

Five top energy company officials were arrested by the Delhi police's crime branch yesterday in connection with the case of corporate espionage involving top-secret government documents. Among those arrested yesterday were Shailesh Saxena of Reliance Industries Limited, Rishi Anand of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Vinay Kumar of Essar and KK Naik of Cairn India.

An historian has unearthed the first unseen Sherlock Holmes story in more than 80 years that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote to help save a town bridge.

Walter Elliot, 80, found the 1,300-word tale starring the famous detective in a collection of short stories written for a local bazaar.

Elliot has now unearthed a copy of the book and spotted his story "Sherlock Holmes: Discovering the Border Burghs and, by deduction, the Brig Bazaar". He was given the 48-page pamphlet more than 50 years ago by a friend, but forgot about it until recently when he looked in the attic.

Read the transcript of the lost story here

Just in: One terrorist killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore. Two are still believed to be hiding in the area.

Details awaited.  

The first India-US space security dialogue will be held in early March in New Delhi, the state department has said.

The US assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, Frank Rose, would lead the US delegation for the important talks, the decision on which was taken after the maiden meeting between the PM and the US President Obama, at the White House in September last year.

Rose would be in India from March 5 to March 9, the State Department said on Friday.

There is a sense of dj vu about the way the Narendra Modi government has tried to cover itself with a bit of glory after claiming to have busted a corporate espionage racket in the petroleum ministry this week, reports The Telegraph.

The government claims the racket had festered and grown over years. That has always been something of an open secret within journalistic circles and the chatter in Delhi Press Club has been about how Santanu Saikia, a former mainstream journalist who now runs an energy website called Indian Petro.com, found himself embroiled in the controversy.

Saikia has been here before: several years ago, he was battling a charge of a violation of the Official Secrets Act after filing a report based on "top secret" documents.

In his defence at that time, Saikia had said the OSA was a relic from the British past that was supposed to target enemies of the state. To use the provisions of the legislation against a journalist was blatantly high-handed and a gross attempt to muzzle a scribe who would naturally use any means at his command to gather information. Saikia was acquitted in that case.

On Friday, Saikia was trotting out the same argument to blunt the charges that have been levelled against him. Delhi police have claimed that he had a trove of official documents in his possession and that, by itself, seemed to suggest that he was passing on information to certain corporate houses.

Read the full report here

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the wedding of Mulayam's grandnephew Tej Pratap Yadav with  Lalu Prasad Yadav's youngest daughter, Raj Laxmi.

The wedding rituals are one at Safai. 

The PM was smiling and chatting with Lalu.

Photograph: ANI/Twitter

Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, is all geared by for a grand wedding.

Samajwadi Party chief's grandnephew and parliamentarian Tej Pratap Yadav is marrying Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's youngest daughter, Raj Laxmi. A pre-wedding 'Tilak' ceremony is being held today.

Among the one lakh invitees for the event the most prominent is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports NDTV. Interesting, Mulayam and Lalu, have been bitter critics of Modi and had even launched an agitation against his government in December last year.  

Image: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav ahead of the pre-wedding ceremony of their daughter and grand-nephew respectively at Saifai. Photograph: PTI

A post-mortem examination was today conducted on the body of veteran communist leader Govind Pansare, who died in Mumbai late last night after he was airlifted to the city from Kolhapur for treatment.

Pansare, who was shot at four days ago, had been flown to Mumbai last evening and admitted to the Breach Candy hospital in the city where he succumbed during treatment after he developed bleeding in the lungs.

Dr T P Lahane, dean of the state government run J J Hospital said the post-mortem procedure was complete and the report was awaited. Today, the mortal remains of Pansare will be taken to Kolhapur around 10.30 am for last rites, he said.

The government had arranged for an air ambulance with two doctors from Nanavati Hospital and necessary medication, to transfer Pansare to Breach Candy. The 82-year-old, who was in the forefront of the anti-road toll agitation, and his wife Uma were shot by unidentified persons near their house in Kolhapur on Monday when they were returning from their morning walk.

India's high air pollution, ranked by the World Health Organisation among the worst in the world, is adversely impacting the lifespans of its citizens, reducing most Indian lives by over three years, a new study has said.  

Over half of India's population -- 660 million people -- live in areas where fine particulate matter pollution is above India's standards for what is considered safe, said the study by economists from the University of Chicago, Harvard and Yale published in this week's 'Economic & Political Weekly'.   

If India reverses this trend to meet its air standards,those 660 million people would gain about 3.2 years onto their lives, the study said. Put another way, compliance with Indian air quality standards would save 2.1 billion life-years, it said.  

Five high ranking officials from energy companies were arrested by the Delhi police's crime branch yesterday in connection with the case of corporate espionage involving top-secret government documents.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today tweeted that the police should try and reach the "top people" involved in the case in which government information, according to the police, was being leaked not just from the petroleum ministry, but the coal, power and defence Ministries too.

In a tweet this morning, Kejriwal said, "Compliments del police 4 bursting espionage rkt. During interogations, police shud try to reach top people, who wud benefit from leaked info."

A massive fire broke out in one of the tallest towers here today morning, media reports said.

The fire broke out in the 'Torch tower' on the northeastern end of the densely populated Marina district. The fire began at the 50th floor of the 79-floor tower, the Gulf News daily reported.

The tower is one of the tallest residential building in the world. The tower reaches 336.1 m (1105 ft) in height with 79 floors above ground. No casualties are reported so far.

"This building has been plagued since opening with false fire alarms on an almost daily basis. I personally had threaten to call the civil defence on many occasions but was constantly fobbed off by the building management," Digby Taylor, head of operations at GN Broadcasting was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Photograph: Twitter

In some of its sharpest criticism to date, Washington accused Moscow on Friday of "undermining" the global order by supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine.

A US woman, accused of providing assistance to the members of Al Qaeda terrorist group with clothing, first-aid equipment and donations, has been arrested in the southwestern German town of Heilbronn.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight appreciated all those who took part and contributed in the auction in Surat of his personalised pinstriped suit and other items and said proceeds from it would "add impetus" to efforts to clean the Ganges river.