After a week-long lull in firing from across the International Border, Pakistani Rangers tonight violated the ceasefire and targeted a Border-out-Post (BoP) in the R S Pura sector of Jammu.

A young security guard was allegedly beaten to death on Thursday by a group of about seven persons, with the act being captured by CCTV cameras, the police said.

Details have emerged of footage filmed by Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly during a bloody rampage inside a Jewish supermarket, a French website says.

Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed today said he was not a terrorist and nor did he authorise any arrest as he appeared for a late night hearing in a criminal court here four days after he was arrested under anti-terrorism laws.

A young security guard was allegedly beaten to death today by a group of about seven persons, with the act being captured by CCTV cameras, police said. Sunil Kumar, 29, of Chamaria village, was attacked with sticks by the group in the parking lot of the shopping mall in the wee hours today. The police said they went through the CCTV footage, in which Kumar can be seen coming under unprovoked attack by the group which attack him indiscriminately.

Ukraine's army is starting the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line in the east as part of a truce, the defence ministry says.It says the pullout of 100mm calibre artillery "is the first step" and will be monitored by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers.

Film producer Pahlaj Nihalani, a self-confessed Narendra Modi fan, is in the news again after a list of 28 cuss words devised by the Central Board of Film Certification was leaked on social media. This list of 13 English and 15 Hindi words embarrassed the government, and Bollywood filmmakers saw in it another version of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. 

An out-of-this-world collection of more than 600 vintage, rare NASA photos including the very first photograph ever captured from space goes up for auction in London.

Mufti Mohammed Sayeed will be sworn-in as chief minister of the Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir at 11 amon Sunday. The two parties have finally ironed out their differences -- namely on AFSPA and Article 370. 

Ex Rajasthan Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria and marble baron Vimal Patni discharged by the CBI court in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. 

R K Pachauri barred from entering TERI office by the court but has been  granted protection from arrest till March 28. He won't leave the country without court's permission, he won't contact TERI employees directly or indirectly, says the court.

The masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named.

The BBC reports that he is Mohammed Emwazi, a British man believed to be from West London, who was known to British security services.

They chose not to disclose his name earlier for operational reasons.

Emwazi first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the American journalist James Foley.

He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff,  British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter.

Last month, the militant appeared in a video with the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, shortly before they were killed.

Emwazi is believed to be an associate of a former UK control order suspect, who travelled to Somalia in 2006 and is allegedly linked to a facilitation and funding network for Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unlike former rail minister Dinesh Trivedi's immediate boss, praised Suresh Prabhu for marking a pradigm shift from the usual announcement of new trains and coach factories to actual reform measures and a larger focus on technology upgradation.

"The rail budget lays out a clear roadmap to make the Railways the key driver of India's economic growth and playing a key role in India's progress," the prime minister tweeted this afternoon.

Prabhu, who announced a slew of measures including e-catering and enhanced security, was made Railway Minister a little over three months ago.

Read: Prabhu unveils big initiatives to reform the Railways

"What budget? This was a budget?" Dinesh Trivedi (former railway minister) on Suresh Prabhu's budget.

Venkaiah Naidu on criticism to the rail budget: "It's a democracy, people can say what they want to about the rail budget."

Speaking on the disruption in Parliament over his introspection comment, Naidu said,  "When I talk about their performance they get angry, what do I do? They can't bear criticism. People spoke about our PM's dress, said "Jhaadu haath mai, kachra vichaar mai", that's not unparliamentary?" Venkaiah Naidu

British graffiti artist Banksy, known for his subversive street art, released a two-minute video from war-torn Gaza on his website Wednesday.

It's a must-watch.

This is what the BJP ally Shiv Sena had to say on the railway budget:

"We are completely dissatisfied with the budget. They have said so many things in the budget. But from where will the money come?" senior Shiv Sena leader and North-west Mumbai MP Gajanan Kirtikar said, adding the budget has kept everyone in "dark".

Despite a patch-up post Maharashtra Assembly polls, Shiv Sena has been taking a stance against BJP on several issues, including the Land Acquisition Bill, reflecting the unease in ties.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had quit Sena to join BJP before his induction in the Narenda Modi Cabinet.

"He (railway minister) is talking about raising the height of platforms which requires Rs 97 crore. One has to allot money for these projects at one go if they have to be completed. They are talking about tripling and doubling lines, but which lines will they undertake work on. They have kept us in dark," Kirtikar said. 

Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav today praised the railway budget for its lack of populist measures like announcement of new trains and lauded Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for focusing on fulfilling projects unveiled in past budgets.

Amid criticism for its first full-fledged rail budget by opposition parties as well as ally Shiv Sena, the BJP government had something to cheer as Yadav refrained from attacking the budget and even lauded some of its measures.

"This is a good job. He (Prabhu) has not announced new schemes and promised that he will focus on executing past measures. If he succeeds in doing so, it will be a huge accomplishment," Yadav told reporters outside Parliament.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi says she accepts union minister Venkaiah Naidu's clarification in Parliament today. Parliament was disrupted just ahead of the presentation of the railway budget with the opposition, led by Sonia Gandhi, demanding an apology from the minister.

Naidu had taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for taking leave during the parliamentary session to "introspect".

In an apparent dig at Rahul Gandhis leave to "introspect", the minister said if the Congress cant do it here, then it should go somewhere far and do it. He also drilled in the fact that it was his party in power at the Centre for the next five years.

And about the Delhi verdict, Naidu said, "We need to examine why after winning in seven states we lost in Delhi You (Congress) have been reduced to zero."

The Trinamool Congress has expelled ex-minister Humanyun Kabir for six years for making anti-party statements, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee announced today. 

Former minister and Murshidabad leader Humayun Kabir yesterday expressed doubt over Mamata Banerjee continuing as Chief Minister till 2016 and said the TMC supremo is grooming her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for the post.

Earlier, we had seen the Chief Minister running from one place to another to reach the common people. Now she does not have time for them. Would she be able to continue till 2016 as Chief Minister? I have doubts, Kabir said.

Expressing solidarity with party MP Mukul Roy, whos wings were clipped recently following his name cropping up in the Saradha chit fund scam, Kabir accused Mamata, who is also the TMC supremo, of indulging in nepotism.

Ten people have been arrested and another 160 booked for refusing to vaccinate their children during the anti-polio campaign in northwest Pakistan.

Some parents and relatives refused polio vaccine to their children in Nowshera district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the Dawn reported.

Police arrested 10 people and registered cases against 160 others in the area, the paper said, citing officials.

For sheer cruelty, they are well matched. They also share an apocalyptic "end-of-days" vision. Now there are signs that Boko Haram -- the most feared group in West Africa -- may be edging toward a formal pledge of allegiance to the self-declared Caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Read

LJP's Chirag Paswan on the rail budget: It is an innovative budget with out-of-the-box ideas.

Chirag is LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan's son. 

In a narrow escape for over 170 people on board an Air India flight from Delhi, a rear tyre of the aircraft burst as it landed at the Nedumbassery airport today.

All the 161 passengers and 12 crew members of flight AI467 have safely disembarked, airport sources said.

As the plance landed at 9.10 am, smoke was noticed and further examination revealed that the rear inner tyre had burst.

Technicians from Bengaluru have arrived at the airport and the flight was being examined. The onward journey of the flight to Sharjah with 138 passengers scheduled at 10.20 am was delayed due to the incident, the sources said.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress reacts to the rail budget: "Respect Suresh Prabhu's reform minded thinking, good they haven't started new trains, but it's a below average budget."

First reactions from former railway minister Pawan Bansal, "It has been disappointing for me, was expecting reduction in rail fare."

Ahmedabad will not allow more than four people to meet in public in an attempt to stop spread of potentially deadly swine flu virus. Read

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's presentation of the Modi government's maiden budget had a lighter moment today when he punned on his own name.

As Prabhu began his opening remarks, to an already delayed budget, he said, "Our priority is to improve the capacity in the high density section. But I thought, hey Prabhu (oh god), how will it happen.

"Prabhu (God) didn't answer, so this Prabhu thought, why can't we do something?"

The remark drew laughs from across party lines, and Prabhu continued his speech uninterrupted. 

Prabhu, who is known to be fond of poetry, also said in Hindi, "Kuch naya jodna hoga, kuch purana todna hoga, kuch engine badalne honge, kuch repair karne honge (we have to add something new, break something old, change some engines and tune some engines)"

For now, there will be no hike in passenger fares.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the family of Narottam Das, the CRPF jawan who lost his life in a Naxal attack in Bihar.

"Although we cannot compensate the loss, but Delhi Government will help his family monetarily. The Delhi Government will provide a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the family of Narottam Das. He has sacrificed his life for the nation. We are proud of him. He laid down his life to safeguard ours. We stand with his family in this difficult hour," Kejriwal said.

It was in April 2011 that Anna Hazare made his national debut at Jantar Mantar promising to slay corruption by forcing Parliament to pass a stringent Jan Lokpal bill.  Read

Just in: Six civilians injured in a grenade blast while removing debris after the Shopian (J&K) encounter concluded yesterday.

Lok Sabha adjourns for the second time for 15 minutes following opposition protests over Naidu's remarks. Will Suresh Prabhu be allowed to present his maiden budget? Will Venkaiah Naidu apologise to the House?

Questions that will be answered if you stay with us...

Alright, so the Lok Sabha has resumed with Venkaiah Naidu addressing the house saying he had no intention to hurt or defame anybody. He said he made a general statement of a political nature. "I respect all political parties," he said.

Venkaiah Naidu has not apologised for his alleged insults to the Congress.The united opposition, led by a belligerent Congress, met on Thursday and said it will not let Lok Sabha run until Naidu apologises for his "insulting statements" made during the land ordinance debate on Wednesday. They have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan seeking apology from Naidu for his statement.

Naidu said he never used unparliamentary language. "I have said nothing wrong," Naidu said.

And the Rajya Sabha has been adjourned for 15 minutes after protests over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments on Mother Teresa. Bhagwat on Monday said there was a motive behind the service Mother Teresa provided to the poor to convert them to Christianity.

The opposition has delayed the tabling of the railway budget with both houses of Parliament adjourned for a while.

The alleged 'insults' by union minister Venkaiah Naidu sent opposition parties walking out of the Lok Sabha yesterday and today, just 20 minutes into the session, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said Naidu had no right to insult the party.

What happened yesterday was that he advised the Congress to self-introspect on its electoral and political decline.

In an apparent dig at Rahul Gandhis leave to "introspect", the minister said if the Congress cant do it here, then it should go somewhere far and do it. He also drilled in the fact that it was his party in power at the Centre for the next five years.

And about the Delhi verdict, Naidu said, "We need to examine why after winning in seven states we lost in Delhi You (Congress) have been reduced to zero."

Sonia Gandhi on rumours that Rahul Gandhi will be made Congress president in April. "When he will be made the President of the party, you will be informed," she says.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's sudden sabbatical to "reflect upon the future course of the party" may be a prelude to his elevation as Congress president.

There are indications that Gandhi, who is currently the vice president, could be made the party chief later this year as the tenure of Congress President Sonia Gandhi comes to an end in September.

While it is not clear whether the elevation could happen at the All India Congress Committee session itself, which is expected to be held in the first week of April, top party sources do not discount the possibility of the Congress Vice President taking over as the party chief finally this year.

DMK Gen Secy K Anbazhagan moves the Supreme Court seeking stay of DA case against J Jayalalithaa questioning impartiality of public prosecutor in the matter.

The Karnataka High Court yesterday questioned Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh on how the investigating authorities had arrived at framing former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for having amassed Rs 66.65 crore of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income during the check period.

Film producer Pahlaj Nihalani, a self-confessed Narendra Modi fan, is in the news again after a list of 28 cuss words devised by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) was leaked on social media. This list of 13 English and 15 Hindi words embarrassed the government, and Bollywood filmmakers saw in it another version of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. Read more

Corporate espionage case: Delhi Police arrests Jitender Nagpal, PS to Joint Secretary in Forest and Environment ministry. Vipan Kumar, PA to a UPSC member, also arrested by Delhi Police in the case.

Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew remains on life support in an intensive care unit at a hospital in the country, the Prime Minister's Office said today.

The update was issued by the PMO after rumours spread that the 91-year-old leader, who is widely credited with the city-state's economic success, had died.

Lee, co-founder of the People's Action Party which has governed Singapore since 1959, was admitted to the Singapore General Hospital on February 5 for severe pneumonia.

"He remains sedated and on mechanical ventilation. His doctors have restarted him on antibiotics, and are continuing to monitor him closely," said the statement issued by the PMO. Mechanical ventilation is to support patients in breathing.

Lee led a government for over 30 years and built Singapore into an international business and financial centre after independence in 1965. He stepped down as the Prime Minister in 1990.

Extending gains for the third day, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 61 points in opening trade today on the back of increased buying by foreign funds and retail investors ahead of the Rail Budget to be announced later in the day. 

Modi is the first prime minister to give Railways the attention it deserves, said Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu before presenting his maiden Budget in Parliament today.
He added that he expected to improve Railways with everyone's support. 

Extending gains for the third day, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 61 points in opening trade today on the back of increased buying by foreign funds and retail investors ahead of the Rail Budget to be announced later in the day. 

Tech giant Apple has been ordered to pay USD 532.9 million in damages after a federal jury found it guilty of wilful patent infringement. 

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu will unveil his first Budget on Thursday and a lot of suggestions from the Prime Minister's Office have been incorporated in the budget, said sources. Prabhu's Budget will focus on attracting investment, modernisation of trains, expansion of Wifi service and transparency in railway systems. 

A 30-year-old Indian-American physical therapist along with a patient recruiter has been convicted in a USD 1.6 million Medicare fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said. 

A North Korean shipping company that famously tried to hide fighter jets under a cargo of sugar has tried to evade ensuing UN sanctions by renaming most of its vessels in an attempt to obscure their origins, a new report says.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard used a mock US aircraft carrier in its defense drills for the first time Wednesday, blowing up the replica warship near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

Apple this week lost a patent infringement case related to iTunes software and was ordered to pay $532.9 million in fines.

The case of three teenage British girls, who are believed to have traveled to Syria to join ISIS, has refocused attention on the Islamic extremist group's appeal to young people.

New Delhi is the worst place in India for Internet access considering that it recorded a very high percentage of malware infections in 2014.

The corrupt practices of Yemen's former autocratic leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have netted the strongman up to $60 billion, a UN sanctions panel will report to the Security Council on Tuesday.

Three journalists for TV station Al-Jazeera were arrested here today after flying a drone from a park on the edge of the city, a judicial source said.

How's this for an awesome payday?Google is offering a reward of an 'infinity million dollars' to hackers who bring to light vulnerabilities in its Chrome browser and operating system.

Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow have killed at least 124 people in north-eastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said on Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath.

In 1984 a photo of a green-eyed girl staring out of the front cover of National Geographic became an icon of the plight of Afghan refugees forced by war into Pakistani refugee camps.

One of three men arrested in the United States for attempting to join ISIS in Syria said the plan was to travel on Wednesday, hijack a flight and divert it "to the Islamic State, so that the Islamic State would gain a plane," according to a New York federal court complaint that was released Wednesday in Brooklyn.

The SAD-BJP alliance today swept the civic polls in Punjab as it won 1,161 seats out of results declared in 2,037 wards, with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal describing the verdict as mandate in favour of 'pro-people' and "development oriented policies" of the state government. 

The IS is holding many more Assyrian Christians hostage than previously thought -- and it is reportedly planning to release a message Wednesday threatening to kill them.Osama Edward, founder of the Assyrian Human Rights Network, told CNN that the extremist group is now believed to have 150 hostages, citing the latest information from the network's team on the ground.