The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations today formally requested membership in the International Criminal Court, which would allow them to lodge war crimes complaints against Israel. 

The Italian coastguard has rescued a drifting ship towards the coast of Italy with hundreds of migrants on board in the second such incident this week.

An encounter today took place between NDFB-Songbijit militants and 12 Assam Rifles personnel in Itakhola area of Assam's Sonitpur district along Arunachal Pradesh, a police officer said. 

Pakistan troops began firing at Indian 12 different locations including Hiranagar and Samba Sector in Jammu and Kashmir at around 9 pm on Friday.

Pakistan troops began firing at Indian 12 different locations including Hiranagar and Samba Sector in Jammu and Kashmir at around 9 pm on Friday.

Amid a raging row over the issue of conversions and reconversions, VHP today justified its 'ghar vapsi' programme saying it connects people with the national mainstream while conversions takes them away.

Indonesian recovery teams searching for the AirAsia flight QZ8501 have recovered 30 bodies, including some strapped in their seats, and spotted debris resembling parts of the tail, officials said on Friday.

It was not the commander-in-chief of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction), I K Songbijit , but his deputy Bidai who masterminded the December 23 carnage of over 70 Adivasis in the state. 

A Delhi Court today said the criminal proceedings in the case relating to the of a 27-year-old woman executive allegdly by a driver of US-based cab service provider Uber will be conducted on day-to-day basis without any adjournment. 

Pakistan government today sought the early hearing of LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi's case in the Supreme Court, a day after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind was remanded to 14-day judicial custody for the abduction of an Afghan national. 

Alleged pro-Islamic State Twitter account handler Mehdi Masroor Biswas was in touch with ISIS combatant stationed in Iraq, a top police official said.

Eminent scientist and Padmashree-recipient Dr Vasant Gowarikar died at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital here this morning. He was 81. 

Pak Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said today that a statement had been lodged protesting the killing of two soldiers of Punjab Rangers in Zafarwal sector with the Indian external affairs ministry.

An Improvised Explosive Device was recovered from inside an ATM booth in Mokokchung Town of Nagaland. 

An inadvertent slip by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav while declaring Bollywood hit 'PK' as tax free has not only earned him criticism on the social media but a social activist has also moved an application for lodging an FIR, accusing him of piracy.

"People had been telling me for many days to watch 'PK'. I downloaded it a few days ago, but only found the time to watch it last night. I liked it immediately and decided to make it tax-free so that more people can watch it," Yadav had said while declaring the film as tax free during a press conference on Wednesday.

Founder of TAHRIR (Transparency, Accountability and Human Rights Initiative for Revolution) Sanjay Sharma has moved an application with the Hazratganj Police today requesting it to lodge an FIR under Section 154 of the CrPC against Yadav for the offence of downloading the film from a website and watching a pirated copy of the film.

On Twitter too, the chief minister faced criticism for overlooking piracy laws. "Akhilesh Yadav spprts piracy by wtchng PK after downloading it.

It's a federal crime 2 download a film. I&B ministry shd take actn.#PKdebate (sic)," reads a tweet.

The chief minister's office also took to Twitter to react to the controversy. "#UPCM #Akhileshyadav has licensed @UFOMoviez digifacility to download & watch movies. Controversy around pirated download is unwarranted (sic)," said the tweet.

Sri Lanka's beleaguered President Mahinda Rajapaksa today appealed to the minority Tamils to back him, the "known devil", in the January 8 presidential polls as he campaigned in the former LTTE bastion.

"There is a saying that the known devil is better than the unknown angel", Rajapaksa said in Sinhala, speaking through a translator at a rally in Jaffna, the erstwhile stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam.

Rajapaksa (69) has been battling a flurry of defections from his ruling coalition- the United People's Freedom Alliance- with another parliamentarian switching loyalties to the opposition ranks today.

May be the threats and call for a ban on the film helped, but Aamir Khan's 'PK' has become Bollywood's highest grossing film of all time in India.

PK collected more than Rs 276 crore in two weeks of its release, reports the Indian Express.

The film has overtaken Dhoom: 3 which earned Rs 265 cr and Chennai Express which earned Rs 258 cr in the domestic market.

Trade analyst Komal Nahta tweeted saying: "PK becomes the highest grossing Hindi film ever with a net all-India total of Rs. 276.32 crore in just 2 weeks. O-U-T-S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G!'.

The country's top bankers have gathered in Pune in a one-of-a-kind huddle to discuss long-pending reforms vital to improving the health of ailing public sector banks in Asia's third-largest economy.

Besides the heads of all public sector banks, the two-day meeting ending on Saturday will also be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.

India's more than two dozen state-run banks have been constrained by a pile of bad loans and corporate governance issues. They also lag their private sector rivals in profitability. For years, political interference and union opposition have thwarted major reforms. If reformed, however, the country's mega state lenders offer investors the best exposure to any sustained upswing in India's economy.

"When the country is trying to achieve accelerated growth in economic development it is absolutely essential that banking reforms are thought about, deliberated upon and implemented also," said Hasmukh Adhia, Financial Services Secretary in the Finance Ministry.

The issues to be discussed include industry consolidation, restructuring of state banks for better efficiency and governance, as well as asset quality.-- Reuters.

JMM MLA Stephen Marandi was today sworn-in as the Pro-tem Speaker of Jharkhand Assembly. Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Parliamentary Affairs Minister C P Singh, former Chief Minister Hemant Soren and several other dignitaries were present on the occasion. The four-day Assembly session begins on January 6 when the newly elected MLAs will take oath.

Ghanshyam Shah, a leading political scientist on Gujarat, explains Modi's communal idea of India and rates Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's performance. Read

Kiran Vadodaria elected president of the Indian Newspaper Society. Vadodaria is a Gujarat-based media baron.

Meanwhile, the new US Ambassador to India Richard Verma, who arrived in New Delhi today, said he was looking forward to work with India on the shared goals of security, development and prosperity as he described the times as "exciting" for the ties.

Verma (46), former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, is the first ever Indian-American to be appointed as the top US envoy to India.

His arrival comes ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to India later this month to attend Republic Day on January 26 as the Chief Guest.

The ministry of defence says that the vessel was indeed carrying explosives and confirms that it was intercepted after an hour-long chase. Four crew on board the vessel, set it on fire, which led to the vessel sinking.  

The midnight operation was carried out on the basis of intelligence reports and conducted on the night of Dec 31. As per intelligence inputs, a fishing boat from Keti Bunder near Karachi was planning some illicit transaction in Arabian Sea.

The operation was conducted on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. The Pakistani vessel took off from Keti Bunder near Karachi. The coast guard intercepted the vessel and asked it to stop, but the vessel did not. The coast guard ship fired warning shots at the vessel but it failed to heed the warning. Moments later the vessel set itself on fire and there was a huge explosion thereafter. Four people were seen on the Pakistani vessel. The boat is believed to have carried explosives.

Remember, it was a fishing boat called the Kuber, that carried the 10 Pakistani terrorists to the Mumbai coast on November 26, 2008.

There has been a vigil on the seas over the last few months after intelligence inputs warned of a maritime attack. 

Just in: Suspect Pakistani fishing vessel intercepted off the coast of Gujarat, 350 nautical miles off Porbander. A coast guard vessel intercepted it and chased it for an hour after which the Pakistani vessel blew itself up. Details awaited.

Representational picture

In a freak incident, three students of a private school suffered minor injuries today when gelatin sticks they took from a waste dump exploded in their classroom, police said.

The children studying in the Sai Baba School at Madiwala had found the gelatin sticks lying in a waste dump while they were playing and carried them to their classroom, police said.

The explosion occurred as soon as they switched on the electric panel into which they had stuffed the gelatin sticks, he said. The injured children have been admitted to ESI Hospital and are undergoing treatment for minor injuries.

A 'ghar wapsi' organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Bathinda today was postponed as none of the 100 Christian families, who were to be reconverted to Hinduism and Sikhism, turned up at the venue.

The Indian Express reports that the VHP said that the families -- 20 of whom were to be converted to Hinduism and 80 to Sikhism -- refused to show up because of "pressure and threats from Christians and local Sikhs who support Akali Dal'.

"We are extremely saddened that on New Year's day, we were not able to give good news of ghar wapsi of almost 100 families, who were converted into Christianity years back. It is all because of the influence and pressure of Christians that the families refused to come today.

BJP president Amit Shah is likely to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow five Union Ministers to brief both the media and the BJP government every day. Shah will of course, discuss the matter with the PM, the BJP Parliamentary board and the five chosen ministers, before the decision is made public.

Shah is not satisfied with the news coverage that the party gets in the print and TV and feels that that the BJP government's performances are neither being highlighted nor being explained to the media.

Many of the BJP spokespersons are articulate but eversince negative reporting about the government's performance has begun, Shah is believed to be worried about the impact the stories are creating among the public.

Shah has been keeping an eagle eye on the performances of BJP ministers and their interactions with the cadre.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has taken strong exception to the alleged abduction and gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl by two constables inside a police station in Badaun and directed officials to make all out efforts to arrest them.

Instructing that a serious disciplinary action be taken against the culprits, Yadav has asked for all out efforts to apprehend the two constables. The Chief Minister has already instructed for the immediate suspension of the two constables who are absconding.

The girl was allegedly abducted from her house on December 31 by constables Veer Pal Singh Yadav and Avnish Yadav and taken to Musajhag Police Station and allegedly raped there. An FIR was registered after the victim's mother lodged a complaint against the two policemen.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Mumbai the disruption of suburban train services today: "I called a meeting with the CM, MPs, Eknath Shinde-ji (PWD minister) and concerned officers. We need to take some long term and some immediate measures for improvement of Mumbai suburban train services. Long-term measures are being pursued. I appeal to all political parties to not politicise the matter and work towards this common goal."

Trains on Central Railway running two hours late. But railway authorities say that services will be back on schedule by evening. After a motorman was injured in a stone pelting incident, the railways have provided two policemen to accompany each motorman.

The problem started with a technical fault in the pantograph of a local train near Thakurli station and this led to bunching of trains and delays of more than half an hour. As crowds swelled on the platforms, the passengers went berserk and a section of commuters resorted to rail roko at Diva station. This brought the services to a standstill and only after the police removed the protestors from the tracks, the trains were allowed to ply. Sources said that irate passengers then resorted to stone pelting at Diwa station, damaging property.

Pic: Motorman RK Chavda who was injured when commuters pelted stones.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has reviewed the situation after the outbreak of train commuters' fury and appealed for peace.

"Police is taking all steps to restore peace," Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil said.

"The CM is monitoring the situation every five minutes. He has spoken to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu," he said.

Angry rail commuters staged a 'rail roko' at Diva station between Thane and Kalyan, after they were stranded for hours following breakdown of pantographs of a CST bound train at 6.30 am near Thakurli station.

The protesters also set on fire at least three vehicles, including a police jeep, a Thane civic official said. Three pantographs of a CST-bound train from Badlapur got damaged and the train came to a standstill with huge sparks.

Pic: An ATVM machine on the tracks at Diva station.

Two persons have been injured in a bomb blast at Borogoria village in Burdwan district, a police officer said today.

The victims were first taken to the local health centre and later shifted to a hospital in Durgapur.

Describing the two injured as party supporters, Trinamool Congress accused BJP of hurling bomb at the two while BJP charged that they were injured yesterday while making bombs.

The police officer, however, said that they have not received any complaint from any party in this regard.

An empty rake leaves from Diva station at 12.30 pm for CST. An injured motorman has been admitted to the Byculla Railway hospital. Train services on CST-Panvel and CST-Andheri have been shut since 11.50 am after a section of motormen go on strike.

First local starts from Diva station after police clear tracks. Motormen threaten to go on strike after a motorman at Diva station was slapped.

Harbour line services affected, angry commuters vandalising railway property at Tilak nagar station...  Trains are running late by over an hour on both Central and Harbour lines in the Mumbai suburban rail network.

Pic: Commuters walking the tracks near Diva station this morning. Passengers at Diva station said they are fed up with the frequent breakdown of services on the Central line.

Fast train to CST was stuck between Dombivli and Diva for over 30 minutes after protestors got on to the tracks and staged a rail roko. 

A few motormen have been injured, other motormen are planning a strike to protest against the unruly behaviour of commuters.

Harbour line services came to a halt after CR motormen reportedly refused to operate trains due to security reasons.

The services were delayed on Friday morning on the Central Railway due to disruption in power supply in the overhead equipment (OHE) wire during the peak hours.

Following this, the public began agitating and got on the tracks to protest the regular failure in the suburban services. Public occupied all the four lines on the fast and slow corridor between Diva and Mumbra.

The rail roko has affected the Central Railway line since Friday morning. The railway officials expressed helplessness to operate the services due to the rail roko.

Early reports suggest that Mumbai's Western Railway, Central railway and Harbour line trains have stopped due to a motormans' strike.

More ships were deployed today with high-end equipment to locate the fuselage of doomed AirAsia jet even as the weather, which has hindered the search for the last several days, remained a worry.

Rear Marshal Henry Bambang Soelistyo, head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, said bad weather was a worry, with forecasts of rain, strong winds and high waves up to 4 metres till Sunday.

Nine bodies have been recovered so far, Soelistyo said, as the search in waters off Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan entered its sixth day.

One victim of the crash has been identified and the body was returned to her family yesterday. Earlier, officials said it could take a week to find the black box of the ill-fated Airbus 320-200 which went missing on Sunday after taking off from Surabaya with 162 people on board.

Suburban rail services on Central Railway were hit this morning, putting lakhs of commuters at discomfort.

As per reports, trouble started after a pantograph of a local train broke near Thakurli station in Thane district.

The train stopped on the tracks and blocked the busy route.

Trains were delayed by 15-10 minutes with the railway authorities diverting the slow trains to fast tracks as an interim measure.

However, commuters waiting at the Diva station protested against the delays, leading to disruption of services. Passengers also resorted to a rail roko at Diva and burned a police van. Early reports say agitated passengers who were protesting on the tracks were lathi-charged by the police.


Pic: Irate passengers at Diva attempt to wreck a van.

Rahul Pandita quits The Hindu.

Reproduced here is his resignation letter to Malini Parthasarthy...

Dr. Parthasarthy,

I think I made my point quite clear in my email to the editor-in-chief. In the current situation what the Op-ed page really needs is a bunch of interns who can seek instructions from you on an hourly basis and then get in touch with the authors on your behalf. An Op-ed editor, the way I see it, has to be given some broad guidelines in the beginning and then left free to run the page. But there is absolutely no freedom for the current editors to do so. Every article that comes to us or has to be commissioned has to go through your approval. And it really depends on what you think at that point.To tell you the truth, it is just a waste of talent, as far as I am concerned.I came to The Hindu to steer some top-notch reportage and to strengthen the edit pages - by making it more accessible and more nuanced. But I am bogged down with this hourly need to consult you, and with the practice of selecting articles on the basis of whether you've been addressed as "Malini" or "Ma'am" in the covering letters.I am also sick of this constant play of yours: to pitch one person against another for one week, and then reverse it in the next. One is also tired of your changing goalposts. The Sunday Anchor has to be reportage-driven, and then suddenly it becomes policy-driven, and then suddenly, depending on what you hear or get impressed with, it has to be made reportage-driven again.I am a hardcore journalist and I came to journalism with a certain anger, with a certain cockiness. I have seen people dying in front of my eyes, their entrails in their hands. I have had guns pointed to my temple. Getting my blood pressure high in a conflict zone is a part of my life. But I do not like to get my blood pressure high while sitting in a cabin, waiting for a phone call from yours, of which I'll not understand a word.I have resigned with immediate effect. And that is what I have conveyed to the editor-in-chief.

Warmly,
r

The benchmark BSE Sensex rallied over 325 points and Nifty reclaimed the 8,350 level in morning trade on across the board buying, led by banking, oil, metal and auto stocks.

Positive economic data amid hopes of more reforms fueled the buying by funds and retail investors, brokers said. Stocks from midcap and smallcap companies also joined the rally along with key private financials like HDFC bank, ICICI and Axis Banks.

The Sensex resumed higher at 27,521.28 and surged to 27,832.60 points at 1100 hrs, a gain of 325.06 points or 1.18 per cent over the previous close.

Despite a change in mood in Pakistan after the Peshawar massacre, India cannot afford to be complacent given that the network of the various 'Talibans' is more united and synchronised than ever, and benefits from the differences between South Asian neighbours. Read more

Two people have been injured in a crude bomb blast in West Bengal's Burdwan district. According to officials, the blast took place while the men were trying to make crude bombs. 

Despite a change in mood in Pakistan after the Peshawar massacre, India cannot afford to be complacent given that the network of the various 'Talibans' is more united and synchronised than ever, and benefits from the differences between South Asian neighbours.

The search for AirAsia flight QZ8510 which crashed into the sea on Sunday is to move underwater today, with the arrival of specialist equipment.A French crash investigation team will use sensitive acoustic detection devices to try locate the plane's "black box" flight recorder. The Airbus A320-200 was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board when it vanished.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday launched 'Himmat', a free android-based application of Delhi Police that will enable women to send a distress call. Within an hour of its launch, 420 users had downloaded the application. The application will send SOS messages to the police control room, family members and update the person's location on her social networking account. Police said that the number was increasing by the hour. According to police records, the application was downloaded by users outside the country too. The total number of registered users within four hours of its launch was 357.

Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo -- who rose from the Depression-era streets of Queens to serve three times as governor -- died Thursday. He was 82. Cuomo had been hospitalised recently to treat a heart condition. His family said he passed away, at home, from "natural causes due to heart failure."

A day after Border Security Force jawans shot dead four Pakistani rangers at the International Border and the row escalated, Pakistan's Foreign Office lodged a protest, saying that India must punish those who killed the Rangers. 

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee may have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna by the United Progressive Alliance government if PM Manmohan Singh had his way. Former media adviser to PM Singh, Sanjaya Baru has revealed that he had suggested that both Vajpayee and former PM Narasimha Rao be given the Bharat Ratna together and Singh had agreed. 

A day after the death of a pregnant woman due to swine flu, another woman tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The woman, aged around 25 years, is a resident of Banjara Hills in the city and has been admitted to a private hospital. Besides her, another 45-year-old man from Kadapa also tested positive and has been admitted to a private hospital in Telangana.