There are reports coming in of another hostage situation in southern France at a jewellery store. 

Radical imam Abu Hamza al-Masri was sentenced on Friday to life in prison, eight months after he was convicted of federal terrorism charges in New York.

French television network Canal Plus today cancelled the broadcast of an interview with one of the country's top novelists about his new book imagining a France under Islamic rule. 

CNN reports: Hayat Boumeddiene, the 26-year-old woman wanted in Thursday's fatal shooting of a policewoman outside Paris, escaped Friday from the grocery store in the confusion as hostages ran away, Alliance Police Union spokesman Pascal Disand said. 

DawnNews reported that the blast took place outside Imambargah Aun Mohammad Rizvi in Chatian Hatian area of Rawalpindi, also damaging the building. 

Reuters reports that four hostages have been killed. According to the French media the gunman has been killed.

The number of hostages that were being held inside the supermarket is still unclear, according to police sources. Though many people claimed to see at least 10 people running out from the building.

Two policemen were injured in the operation. The fourth suspect, a woman, is still on the run. Emergency vehicles have been rushed into service in the aftermath of the storming of the supermarket. 

Several hostages freed at the Jewish supermarket in Paris. Several officers have been injured.

According to the French police, all the hostages survived. 

According to the latest media reports the standoff at the printing factory in Dammartin have been shot dead by the French police.

The gunman in Vincennes hostage drama has demanded that the police release the Kouachi brothers holed up at Dammartin-en-Goele, north-east of Paris.

According to latest media reports, explosions and gunfire has been heard from both the hostage sites. 

Members of the media are being evacuated from the immediate vicinity from the scene. Reports say as many as three explosions have heard from the printing plant where the suspected killers have taken a hostage. 

Smoke can be seen out from the roof of the building where the Charlie Hebdo killings suspects are holed up. Several explosions and gunfire were heard.

The BBC is reporting that shooting is erupting now at the warehouse in Dammartin in north-east Paris where a hostage is being held.

Several explosions have been heard at the printworks.

According to media reports, Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman in Vincennes hostage drama knows at least one of the two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo killings. He is also wanted for killing a policewoman on Thursday.

Sources say that it is now understood that the Kouachi brothers were on British watch and no-fly list to stop them entering UK or passing through British airport.

UK cops have evinced concerns regarding how UK would cope with attacks like the ones their neighbour France is currently facing, with half police numbers of France and few armed. 

Witnesses said the gunman who opened fire in the kosher market, near Paris' Porte de Vincennes, declared "you know who I am."

Gunman in Vincennes hostage drama demands police release Kouachi brothers holed up at Dammartin-en-Goele.

Interior Ministry says the Trocadero incident is a false alarm. Trains are not stopping at the Trocadero.

Contrary to earlier reports there is one gunman, not two holding six people hostage at the Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris. 

And yes, reports of ANOTHER incident in Paris - at the Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower. Police have weapons drawn - no official word yet, reports Sky News.

The interior ministry denied press reports that two people had been killed. Police sources said one person was injured after being shot.

The supermarket was filled with people, say reports. Amedy Coulibaly, the suspect in the Montrouge shooting who may also be the gunman currently holding people hostage in Vincennes, was married to the other Montrouge suspect, Hayat Boumeddiene, according to a source close to the investigation, reports France24..

Reuters says that apart from two dead, one person is seriously wounded, six taken hostage in incident at kosher supermarket in Paris. 

French police say both Hayat Boumeddiene and Amedy Coulibaly are armed and dangerous and have asked for anyone who recognises them to come forward.

Armed police have now sealed off the area around the kosher shop in Paris's Porte de Vincennes.

RTV reports that the Charlie Hebdo suspects want the two hostage takers at the Kosher supermarket to be released.

The two suspects at the Kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, are Hayat Boumeddiene and Amedy Coulibaly.

Meanwhile, Melbourne International Airport has been closed due a bomb threat, according to reports.

The Kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, AFP reports. At least two people have been killed in the shootout at a Kosher supermarket. There are two gunmen, not one, in the standoff at at Porte de Vincennes. 

Maithripala Sirisena sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president.

An official at Dammartin says all 150 children in infant and primary school 500m from print work siege have been evacuated.

A shopkeeper near the Kosher market said, "I heard shots. I saw one guy with a weapon. Everybody started running. Police told me to stay inside." Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve is on his way to Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, where a gunman, believed to be linked with Thursday's killing of a policewoman, has taken hostages.

Pic: The scene at Dammartin

@H_E_Samuel: Five women and children taken hostage in Kosher grocery at Vincennes, saying: You know who I am". The hostage-taker is believed to be the policewoman killer. 

At least five people are believed to have been taken hostage at kosher grocery store in eastern Paris, the AFP reports.

MEA tweets: PM Narendra Modi extended condolences on behalf of the people of India and extended solidarity with the people of France. Modi spoke to President Hollande over the telephone and strongly condemned the attack in Paris a few days ago.

Will this never end? The Telegraph reports: An armed man has apparently taken a hostage in a kosher grocery in eastern Paris. Early reports say that one person is wounded in a shootout at the shop. It is thought that it is the gunman who shot dead a policewoman yesterday morning.

Le Figaro newspaper says that primary and nursery-aged children are being confined in a Dammartin school. Carpets have been placed over the windows and police are guarding the entrance.

However, this is the picture @anaisginori --  journalist at La Republica tweeted: The high school boys of Dammartin Affaciati peeking out. The school is 1 km from the siege.

And here's the tweet by Shashi Tharoor.

"Addressed the press outside the Ayurveda Mana Guruvayur since they have been waiting for days. But won't discuss details with media. Meanwhile many thanks to 100s of you for your concern, faith and solidarity. For the others, if you know there was a murderer, tell the police, not Twitter. Public discussion of issues within the scope of the police inquiry risks compromising a fair and impartial investigation. Hence my silence for a year."

Breaking his silence for the first time since the Delhi police confirmed that his wife Sunanda Pushkar had indeed been murdered, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that he was troubled and pained by the fresh findings.

Tharoor asked the media to be more sensitive in covering cases where a 'loved one' had died.

"I have been the one who has been remaining silent on the issue.  I could not engage myself in a public debate on the issue. I, my personal staff and the personal staff of my wife Sunanda Pushkar will fully cooperate with the police probe.

"The issue has got so much unwanted public attention. There should be a professional investigation without any pre-determined outcome,' said Tharoor.

"My silence is not sinister,' said Tharoor adding that he is not being allowed to mourn in peace after the tragic death of his wife.

Tharoor said he had been undergoing Ayurvedic treatment in a hospital in Thrissur district since the last week of December and chose to be silent since a police enquiry was underway and did not want to compromise the probe by speaking on the issue.  

It's been a rough December for President Pranab Mukherjee, who is still recovering from a angioplasty. To cheer him up and to herald sankranti and pongal, there will be a recital by Pandit Jasraj on January 17, at 7 pm at the Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium. Union Ministers and political leaders are also expected to attend. Here's wishing the President good health and a quick recovery. 

French police are now officially linking the Charlie Hebdo shooting to the attack in which a policewoman was killed in southwestern Paris yesterday morning. Police have also asked the press to move away from the industrial complex, into the village of Dammartin-en-Gole in car convoys.

That's the cartoon on the Guardian

This is the Catholic League's response to the Charlie Hebdo attack.

"Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated. But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction.

"Those who work at this newspaper have a long and disgusting record of going way beyond the mere lampooning of public figures, and this is especially true of their depictions of religious figures. For example, they have shown nuns masturbating and popes wearing condoms. They have also shown Muhammad in pornographic poses.

"While some Muslims today object to any depiction of the Prophet, others do not. Moreover, visual representations of him are not proscribed by the Koran. What unites Muslims in their anger against Charlie Hebdo is the vulgar manner in which Muhammad has been portrayed. What they object to is being intentionally insulted over the course of many years. On this aspect, I am in total agreement with them.Stephane Charbonnier, the paper's publisher, was killed today in the slaughter.

"It is too bad that he didn't understand the role he played in his tragic death. In 2012, when asked why he insults Muslims, he said, "Muhammad isn't sacred to me.'

"Had he not been so narcissistic, he may still be alive. Muhammad isn't sacred to me, either, but it would never occur to me to deliberately insult Muslims by trashing him.Anti-Catholic artists in this country have provoked me to hold many demonstrations, but never have I counseled violence. This, however, does not empty the issue. Madison was right when he said, "Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power.'

@ObjectivityNews tweets: The attackers said "We do not kill woman", they have 1 hostage, said to be a woman, if true officials have hope hostage will live.

A picture tweeted by the Telegraph shows a battle tank at Dammartin-en-Goele where the suspects are holed up.

At least one police sniper in position on a roof opposite the printing works where the hostage situation is. 

Ironical, that the two men are hiding in a printing factory. As we told you earlier, the two men holed up in a printing and advertising company office, want to die as martyrs. The police have made contact with them.

The Paris correspondent for The Guardian Angelique Chrisafis tweets: Yves Albarello, UMP MP for Seine-et-Marne has told @itele: "the two fugitives declared they wanted to die as martyrs."


Pic: The New Yorker pays tribute

@prefpolice Dear journalists, refrain fr filming scene to avoid communicating positions of police #DammartinEnGoele.

During the Mumbai terror attacks the terrorists were alerted to the security personnel positions in the Taj and Oberoi hotels and outside on the streets as well, thanks to 24X7 coverage.  

Governor's rule imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. This comes after Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra sent a report to the Centre on the political impasse in the state after Omar Abdullah wanted to be relieved as caretaker Chief Minister.

French president Francoise Hollande heading to the interior ministry to give the green light for start of special forces operations to seize the Kouachi brothers, reports France24. 

Journalists were murdered for exercising free speech. They trampled on religious taboos. But the principal conflict is not between liberty and majority Muslim opinion, rather it is between a handful of terrorists and everyone else. Here's the Guardian's take on the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Read

Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo. That's of course, the work of Uderzo, easily one of the best cartoonists of all time.

Dammartin-en-Goele is a thickly wooded area and is larger than Paris. Police are protecting people in buildings near the factory where the hostage takers are. The printing press where the suspects are has less than a dozen workers, but it is not known how many workers are in the building right now. 

French government "almost certain" hostage takers are Charlie Hebdo suspects.

Residents of Dammartin-en-Goele have been asked to stay indoors. Students have also been confined to their schools, says the statement on the town's website.

Two out of four runways shut at Charles de Gaulle airport closed due to hostage taking, Le Monde reports. A helicopter air ambulance has been stationed near to the scene of the siege amid fears of further serious injuries, say reports.

BREAKING Now reports that flights being cancelled and abandoned at Charles de Gaulles airport, close to hostage scene.

French prosecutor denies one person have been killed in hostage-taking.  

Le Figaro newspaper says that negotiations are under way with the two kidnappers but this remains unconfirmed.

Photo of the printing factory in Dammartin-in-Goele where the suspects have taken hostages. Reports of one fatality and one injury.

French interior minister did not confirm the presence of hostages as has been widely reported by the media.

The brothers are believed to be holed up inside the office of a printing company.

The BBC reports that one person is believed to be dead. Shots have been heard in the printing company the suspects are hiding in. France's RTL Radio says that 20 people have been injured in a shootout near to the scene of reported hostage taking in northeast Paris.

French newspaper Le Figaro reports that five police helicopters have been sent to the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, about 40km (25 miles) from what had been the search area. The entrance to the village has been blocked by security forces. The French government says that an operation to detain the suspects underway.

The Kouachi brothers now holed up in a company building in Dammartin-en-Golle in Seine et Marne region. 

French government confirms that a police operation is taking place at Dammartin-en-Goele. 

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says 88,000 police and security forces have now been mobilised across the country, as the search for the suspects is continuing for a third day.

Pic: Police chase the car the suspects are believed to be in on the road to Paris.

Paris newspaper Le Monde says that an employee in the Kuehne Nagel warehouse in Dammartin-en-Goele heard two gunshots. "And within five minutes there was all this security, police helicopters," the employee adds.

The suspects have carjacked a Peugeot and have now take one person hostage and is believed to be close to Charles de Gaulle airport .

Kouachi, 32, is a known jihadist convicted in 2008 for involvement in a network sending fighters to Iraq, but not much is known about his 34-year-old brother, Said.

The car chase is reportedly taking place on the N2 road, which leads from the region in which the manhunt was taking place toward Paris, the Telegraph reports.

Other reports suggest the chase is going on in the direction of Paris, close to the Charles de Gaulle airport. Europe 1 radio reports that a hostage has been taken inside a business in Dammartin-en-Gole, and could be in the car with the gunmen, reports the Telegraph.

Helicopters and hundreds of police - including black-uniformed officers from the elite counter-terrorist unit RAID - have scoured forested woods near Paris and gone house to house in the village until late on Thursday.

Latest reports said the suspects are on the move again in another car.

Hostage-taking under way, according to RTL at place where gunfire heard. The attackers are believe to have abandoned the car in the forest. Helicopters with night vision were tracking the car.

Charlie Hebdo update: Shots fired in a car chase in north-east Paris, says AFP quoting police source. A while ago, the getaway car used by the two suspects was found.

The Telegraph reports that a gunfight is reportedly underway with individuals in Seine-et-Marne near Dammartin-en-Gole, where French police had been searching for the Kouachi brothers.

Ritesh Batra's 2013 film, The Lunchbox, has been nominated for the Baftas -- the British film awards -- under the 'Film Not in the English Language' section. In the race are also, Ida, Leviathan, Trash, Two Days, One Night.

The Lunchbox is written and directed by Ritesh Batra, and produced by Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap, and Arun Rangachari and stars Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles. The film was screened at International Critics' Week at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and later won the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award.

Just in: Three workers have died and four injured after an explosion at a construction site of a wind power station in Satara district in Maharashtra. Early reports say gelatin sticks were being used at the construction site.

There's yet another twist to the Sunanda Pushkar murder mystery.

Media reports say that former union minister Shashi Tharoor's domestic help Narayan Singh told the Delhi police that a man named 'Sunil' had visited Sunanda Pushkar at the Hotel Leela Palace two days before she was found dead.

Narayan, who was again questioned yesterday, told cops last year that 'Sunil sahab' had assisted Tharoor's wife Sunanda in posting messages on Twitter and also in copying some of the tweets.

The domestic help has also revealed that Sunanda had told Tharoor over phone from the hotel that he was "finished" as she had revealed everything to the media and that the couple had been fighting frequently over the last one year.

Sunanda was found dead in a south Delhi hotel room on January 17, 2014 in mysterious circumstances.

Police registered a murder case earlier this week based on a final medical report by AIIMS which said she died due to poisoning. 

Two senior former UPA ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushil Kumar Shinde are likely to be questioned by the Delhi Police in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case, according to senior officials.

The police want to know whether there was any pressure from Shinde, the then home minister, on the Delhi Police to go slow on the investigation of Pushkar's death. Or whether he was prodded by the party high command to scuttle the case. 

The links, if any, will be exposed by early February. Shashi Tharoor, meanwhile, is expected to be back in Delhi by Sunday and is likely to be questioned in the case.

The final medical report by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar says that she died of poisoning, administered either through oral route or injection and the injuries on her barring one were a result of a "scuffle", according to the police FIR lodged in this case. 

Read: Why Delhi cops believe Sunanda was murdered

PM Narendra Modi invites President-elect Sirisena to visit India and writes that he looks forward to receiving him in India. The PM wishes @MaithreepalaS success in building a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka on foundations of genuine and effective reconciliation.

Metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources can make fresh investments of over USD 30 billion in India if the investment climate in the country remains positive, its chief Anil Agarwal said today.

"We have invested heavily in India - USD 30 billion in last ten years. Numbers will never be a constraint. It is going to be more than previous USD 30 billion now if things remain positive," Agarwal said.

He exuded confidence that things are looking positive with the change of guard at the Centre and India has caught the fancy of the world.

A senior US administration official said it was believed that one of the two suspects, Said Kouachi, had trained with Al Qaeda in Yemen. The AFP reports that both brothers had been on a US terror watch list "for years'.

The brothers were both flagged in a US database as terror suspects, and also on the no-fly list, meaning they were barred from flying into the United States, the officials said.

A police source told AFP the younger of the pair, Cherif Kouachi, had not traveled overseas recently and neither brother was being monitored "as targets who could move into action."

Days before his visit to India, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the dispute between New Delhi and Rome over the marines issue and called on the two nations to reach a "mutually acceptable solution."

Ban will visit New Delhi and Gujarat from January 10 to 13 during which he will meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Ban has maintained that the case of the two Italian marines being tried in India for killing two fishermen off Kerala in 2012 should be resolved bilaterally.

One of the two Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre, has undergone a heart surgery in Milan to correct a cardiac anomaly, days before his scheduled return to India. He has been in Italy after the Supreme Court allowed him to visit his home country on September 12 for four months for medical treatment after a stroke he suffered on August 31. Latorre had then sought an extension of his stay.

After a marathon meeting with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, finance minister Arun Jaitley heads to Chennai where he is likely to meet AIADMK chief and former TN CM Jayalalitha.

The meeting is purely an administrative issue and the two will discuss the GST issue, not politics.

Jaitley also plans to meet Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav and some Congress chief ministers to get smooth passage of the GST Bill in Parliament.

Here's what the GST Bill is about. Read

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been told to rush to Colombo to interact with the new government in Sri Lanka. In a turn of events unthinkable just a few weeks ago, Sri Lankans seem to have voted out two-term President Mahinda Rajapaksa, opting instead for 63-year-old former Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena.

Whenever a new dispensation assumes office, India extends the courtesy of offering political guidance to the neighbouring country.

During former PM PV Narasimha Rao's tenure, it was then Principal Secretary Amar Nath Varma who along with two top diplomats rushed to Colombo during a change of government in Sri Lanka.

Similarly, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh had sent TKA Nair, Principal Secretary to meet Rajapakshe on the day the Sri Lanka poll results were announced heralding his win.

Lakhvi gets bail in a kidnapping case, not the 26/11 terror case. 

Islamabad Lower Court grants bail to LeT terrorist and 26/11 key accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, ANI reports. 

Just two days ago, the Pakistan supreme Court had ruled that Lashkar operations commander Lakhvi, and 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, would continue to remain in jail.

The court overturned the high court order granting bail to Lakhvi.

The apex court sent the case back to the Islamabad high court directing it to hear the arguments again and decide on merit without rushing through.

In other news: A research centre on developing bullet train technology will be ready at IIT-Kharagpur by the end of this year.

Funded by the Indian Railway Board, the new building of the Centre for Railway Research is being constructed at a cost of Rs 20 crore inside the IIT campus, centre in-charge Prof Subhransu Roy said.

He said that the Indian Railways has identified four thrust areas for research - high-speed trains, developing heavy haul capacity to carry more freight, intelligent maintenance and use of advanced materials like polymers, rubbers, etc.

This is the image that is trending on the #CharlieHebdo hashtag.

Thousands paid tribute to dead Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet using the rallying cry 'JeSuisAhmed' after the heroic officer was gunned down in Paris.

Merabet was killed as he begged for his life by suspected Islamic fanatics, and the 'JeSuisCharlie' (I am Charlie) demonstrations that have swept the world in the wake of yesterday's shocking massacre paid tribute to him.

A huge manhunt for the two suspected gunmen in Wednesday's deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine has entered its third day. French police are concentrating their search in a rural area of Picardy north-east of Paris where the two men reportedly robbed a petrol station.

The iconic Eiffel Power in Paris turned off its lights for five minutes on Thursday night to pay a sombre tribute to 12 people killed in the attack on the officers of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

The French landmark plunged into darkness around 8 pm (local time) as thousands of protesters gathered in the Republique Square for the second night. 

The metro stopped for a minute at midday and France paused briefly to remember those murdered; similar vigils were held worldwide.

This is the image that is trending on the #CharlieHebdo hashtag. Click on the image for a large picture.

No surprises here either. A Saudi blogger who was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes will be publicly flogged for the first time after Friday prayers outside a mosque in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, according to a person close to his case.

Raif Badawi was sentenced on charges related to accusations that he insulted Islam on a liberal online forum he had created. He was also ordered by the Jeddah criminal court to pay a fine of 1m Saudi riyals, or about $266,000.  Read more

The Delhi police today said they would question Shashi Tharoor's friend and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar about her online spat with Sunanda Pushkar in the days before the latter's death by poisoning.

An officer said the police would email a questionnaire to Tarar. If she did not cooperate, "We will seek the external affairs ministry's help to record her statement."

Sunanda was found dead in a hotel suite she was sharing with husband Tharoor, a Congress MP and then a minister, in January last year. In her final days, she had posted a series of tweets accusing Tarar of stalking Tharoor. Police sources claimed a distraught Sunanda had told her friends that she suspected an affair.

The Supreme Court today set aside the lower court order summoning as accused Bharti Airtel CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

However, the trial judge is at liberty to summon them at any stage if material on record is found, the apex court said. The trial court wrongly applied the legal principle while summoning Mittal and Ruia as accused, it added. 

Image: Sunil Mittal/Reuters 

Rod Taylor, the Australian-born actor who starred in The Birds, The Time Machine and most recently in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, has died. He was 84.

The actor's representative confirmed that he dies on Wednesday, reported People magazine. His daughter Felicia, a former CNN correspondent, said in a statement, "My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion -- calling it an honourable art and something he couldn't live without."

Two dreaded NDFB-Songbijit militant leaders responsible for the massacres of Adivasis in Assam have been arrested along with four of their associates and a largequantity of arms seized from their possession, a senior police officer said today.   

"NDFB-S Kokrajhar platoon 'second-in-command' Mithinga and Khuren along with their four associates were arrested from Serfunguri in Kokrajhar district of Assam last night," IGP L R Bishnoi told PTI.   

They were accused of massacre of the adivasis at Pakriguriin Kokrajhar district on December 23.

Hollywood Kung fu superstar Jackie Chan's son Jaycee Chan was today sentenced to six months in jail by a Chinese court for drug offences.

The sentence was pronounced by the Dongcheng district people's court in Beijing after a brief trial during which 32-year-old Jaycee, who like his father has worked as an actor and singer, admitted taking drugs at his house in Beijing.

Jaycee and Taiwan movie star Ko Chen-tung along with others were detained on August 14, last year from Jaycee's resident following complaints from public that they were using drugs.

Jackie and his family members were not present at the court today, when the verdict was pronounced, state-run CCTV reported. Jaycee and Ko tested positive for marijuana and both admitted to having taken the drug. Police seized more than 100 grams of marijuana from Jaycee's home.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called up Maithripala Sirisena to congratulate him on his victory in Sri Lankan polls. He reaffirmed India's continued solidarity and support towards its neighbour.

"I spoke to Shri Maithripala Sirisena and congratulated him. I congratulate the people of Sri Lanka on the peaceful and democratic poll process," he said.

"As a close friend and neighbour, reaffirmed India's continued solidarity and support for Sri Lanka's peace, development and prosperity," the PM said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa today conceded defeat in Sri Lanka's tightest-ever presidential race, with cumulative results showing opposition candidate Sirisena ahead.

Indonesia search and rescue teams hunting for the wreck of AirAsia Flight  QZ8501 have detected pings in their efforts to find the black box, Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at the national transportation safety committee, told Reuters today.

The AirAsia jet vanished from radar December 28 less than half way into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board.

Read the full report here

The New York Times reports: One of the two brothers who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris killing 12 people traveled to Yemen in 2011 and received terrorist training from Al Qaeda's affiliate before returning to France, says a senior American official.

The suspect, Said Kouachi, 34, spent "a few months' training in small arms combat, marksmanship and other skills that appeared to be on display in videos of the military-style attack on Wednesday. Both French and American officials were aware that Kouachi had trained in Yemen.

Read the complete report here

Europe is on edge after the firing on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday and the attacks on mosques the day after.

The busy Madrid station was evacuated during the rush hour last evening after a suspicious package was found, the Spanish police said.
The package was located at one of the entrances to the Nuevos Ministerios station, which serves three lines of Madrid's metro system as well as six regional commuter railway lines, just before 6.00 pm (local time), AFP reports. 

Spain upgraded its anti-terror security level after the Hebdo attack. 

Sri Lanka's Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena is expected to be declared winner by around 4,00,000 votes in the presidential elections.

With nearly a third of the ballots officially declared, Sirisena has 52.3 per cent of the vote and Rajapaksa 46.5 per cent, according to the Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa left Temple Trees, after a discussion with the opposition leader this morning  assuring smooth transfer of power, the presidential media division said.

CNN reports: A massive manhunt for two brothers wanted in the Charlie Hebdo magazine firing  focused on northern France's Picardy region, where sources close to the investigation said a police helicopter might have spotted the suspects.

Authorities believe that Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, entered a wooded area on foot, the sources told CNN. Now investigators are using helicopters equipped with night vision tools to try to find them, the sources said.

Earlier Thursday, a police helicopter glimpsed what investigators believed to be the fugitives in the same area, near Crepy-en-Valois, France.

Read the full report here

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse has conceded election defeat, his press secretary announced on Friday morning.

 2 Charlie Hebdo attack suspects located in North France

Policewoman dies after second Paris shooting

Sanjay Dutt surrenders after furlough ends, but is asked to go home

Govt to go ahead with coal sector reforms

Sensex jumps 366 points to snap 3-day losing streak

Plethora of records for Kohli... surpasses Dravid and Chappell