The Outlook magazine today approached the police in the wake of reported threats to its correspondent here after a row over an article containing alleged defamatory and objectionable remarks against a senior woman IAS officer.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah shouted at the then RAW Chief A S Dulat for "hours together" during their meeting after a decision was taken to release three hardcore militants in exchange for the freedom of the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, it was recalled today.

At least 23 militants were killed today in airstrikes by army on militant hideouts in Egypt's restive North Sinai, a day after heavily-armed IS terrorists launched simultaneous suicide attacks on army checkposts in the Peninsula, killing at least 70 people, mostly soldiers.

BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini's car has met with an accident with another car in Rajasthan's Dausa district. One child has died, while two others are injured.

Hema, who reportedly received head injuries, was in a Mercedes, while the other car was a Maruti Alto.

St Stephen's college professor, accused of molesting a PhD student, today moved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail apprehending arrest in the case.

The Supreme Court has set aside the acquittal of a Pakistan national, a Hizbul Mujahideen operative who was involved in the serial blasts at Maulana Azad Memorial Stadium in Jammu during Republic Day function in 1995 that had claimed eight lives. 

A "No" vote in the Greek referendum on bailout terms would not provide Greece with an easy way out of its economic crisis, the head of the grouping of eurozone finance ministers has said.

Eight people are in custody in Tunisia, suspected of having direct links to a deadly beach attack that killed 38 people, but four other possible suspects have been released, a minister said today. 

Militants killed five United Nations soldiers today in Mali's restive northern desert, sources from the organisation's peacekeeping mission said. 

Washington DC's Navy Yard facility is under lockdown Thursday morning, according to a Tweet from the US Navy, reports CNN.


This is the site of a 2013 shooting where 12 people were killed. So far, officials haven't found any evidence of a shooting, a law enforcement source told CNN.


Police are searching building 197 on Thursday morning, the same building where the 2013 Navy Yard shooting took place, a source with DC's Metropolitan Police Department tells CNN.


Police have cleared part of that building, according to the same law enforcement source.


The source said the original 911 call reported a shooting on the second floor.


The source confirmed that the Metropolitan Police and multiple law enforcement agencies are checking for a person with a gun in the building.


The US Navy says the facility is under a shelter-in-place order.

In a tweet, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reiterates that he did not cause any delay to the Air India flight from Mumbai to New York.

Fadnavis tweeted, "If at all any report has been submitted, states that I refused to travel without my delegation then it is a blatant lie. Passengers sitting besides and behind me are witness that I was sitting quietly waiting for departure. Not even once I asked to offload me. Enough is enough. Once I'm back to India. I will initiate proceedings of criminal defamation."


An official email, had confirmed that Fadnavis did hold up the flight for 57 minutes. According to the email, the flight was delayed because Fadnavis' Principal Secretary Praveen Pardeshi had forgotten to carry his old passport which had the US visa. The email further states that Fadnavis refused to leave without his Principal Secretary.

The BJP government goes on damage control mode over the deboarding to passengers to accommodate a minister

Union aviation minister PA Gajapathi Raju said the government apologised to all passengers who were inconvenienced. "We will avoid such incidents in the future and will ensure such incidents don't recur, but it's too small a issue to pull the PM into," Raju said.


Union Minister Kiren Rijiju was at the centre of a controversy for delaying an Air India flight from Leh to Delhi for about an hour and for offloading three of its passengers, including a child, allegedly to accommodate him and his aide.

According to sources, the aircraft doors were shut for takeoff on June 24 but the flight did not depart at its scheduled time as Rijiju, along with his PA, had not boarded the flight.

When Rijiju finally arrived, three passengers were allegedly deboarded to accommodate the minister and his PA, sources said.

While an Air India spokesman said it has sought more details on the incident, Rijiju claimed it was not a "delay" as the departure of the flight was "preponed" due to technical reasons.

A Shiv Sena leader has written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding that the 35-km long coastal road, that will connect the island city with Kandivali in North Mumbai be named after late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.


"Balasaheb Thackeray had a stature that has got Maharashtra not only national but international repute. Thus, I have demanded that this coastal road, which will be a one of kind project, be named after Balasaheb," Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu said.

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Barkha Shukla Singh today called AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas and Somnath Bharti as "anti-social elements" who have no respect for women. She also said that the complaint against Vishwas has been referred to police and has not been "dropped".


"They (Kumar Vishwas and Somnath Bharti) are anti-social elements who enjoy Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's protection. They have no respect for women and for the Commission. I urge Chief Minister Kejriwal to take action against them," Singh said in a statement.


DCW chairperson Singh, whose terms ends on July 18, said that "every woman is a victim of AAP be it Shakuntala Gamblin, Lipika Bharti, the victim in Vishwas' case or Barkha Singh".


Singh clarified that the complaint lodged by a woman AAP volunteer against Vishwas has been referred to police as per the procedure and have not been "dropped". "The case has not been dropped or closed as has been reported in some section of the media. The complaint has been referred to police. "We had issued summons to Vishwas thrice but he did not respond or appear before the Commission. So as per the DCW's case handling policy it has been referred to the Police. How can we drop or withdraw the case which was not even filed by us?," the DCW chief said. She also said that DCW was mulling on taking legal action against Vishwas and Bharti for "defaming" the Commission.

Nicholas Winton almost single-handedly saved more than 650 Jewish children from the Holocaust, earning the label of "Britain's Schindler". He arranged trains to carry children from Nazi-occupied Prague to Britain, battling bureaucracy at both ends and saving them from almost certain death -- and then kept quiet about his exploits for half a century. Read more

Madrasas which do not teach primary subjects such as English, Maths and Science would be considered as "non-schools" and children studying in them as "out of school" students, Maharashtra government today said. "Madrasas are giving students education on religion and not giving them formal education. Our constitution says every child has the right to take formal education, which madrasas do not provide," State Minorities Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse told PTI.

Controversial VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi on Thursday kicked up another controversy with her remarks that Haj pilgrims will face the consequences if devotees going to Amarnath yatra are harmed.


The comments come in the wake of reports that the Amarnath cave could come under terrorist attack. "Eent ka jawab pathar se diya jayega (We will give a befitting reply) in case of a terror attack this time. It is shameful that Haj pilgrims get subsidies while Hindu pilgrims are taxed," Prachi added.


Earlier Sadhvi Prachi had courted controversy by saying that those who oppose to yoga should go to Pakistan and they have "no right" to stay in the country.


The second batch of 1,525 pilgrims today left from the base camp in Jammu to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security. The trek will take 59 days.

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on Thursday said that ACB chief MK Meena's appointment is legal.


"MK Meena is head of ACB, his appointment as per my understanding is legal, in case you have any questions you should direct them to him," Bassi said.


The Aam Aadmi Party government had filed an interim application in the Delhi High Court against the appointment of Joint Commissioner of Police Meena as ACB chief.

The recalling of India's high commissioner to New Zealand, after his wife allegedly assaulted a domestic help, has again brought under focus Devyani Khobragade who continues to suffer in the absence of a closure to her case which threatened to derail Indo-US ties not so long back.


The ministry of external affairs has sought to make better her situation by reinstating her and making her director of the important States division but with a US arrest warrant still pending against her, the 1999 IFS officer has not been able to travel abroad. Read more

Not for the faint-hearted.


A man, who was found dead in a home in suburban Australia, had his right leg missing and the left one gnawed to the bone by his pet dog, a media report said today.


The 49-year-old man, who was not named, was last seen four weeks earlier and lived by himself in a suburb of Geelong, the Geelong Advertiser reported.


Police said officers had been called to a home on Sparks Rd, Norlane, on Tuesday for a welfare check after neighbours reported persistent barking from a dog inside it.


"Police looked through the door at the rear of the house and saw a male on the bed," Sergeant David Magher told the newspaper.


"His right leg was missing and the other gnawed to the bone. The dog inside the unit appeared to be extremely aggressive so council rangers were called in to restrain the dog."


The report said that the man's solitary death went unmissed and unmourned for up to a month but it was not clear whether the man was already dead when the dog starting eating his leg.


 "His dog, we presume his one true mate and companion, did what nature would intend him to do. Starving, he mauled his master's legs," the report said. Sergeant David Magher, who confirmed the police's gruesome find, said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.


The dog was restrained and Geelong council's health and local laws officer Steve Sodomaco said council officers and Geelong Animal Welfare Services staff would conduct an assessment to determine its future.


The council staff who went to the house were "understandably shaken by the incident and we are looking after their welfare", he added.

Calcutta's architecture is unique. Its destruction is a disaster for the city, writes Amit Chaudhuri. Read

The judgements of our financial and political leaders are breathtakingly narrow. Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen considers the alternatives. Read

Nestle India shares surged over 3 per cent intraday on Thursday, bolstered by UK's food regulator Food Standards Agency (FSA) giving a clean chit to Nestle for Maggi manufactured in India. FSA stated that levels of lead in the product are well within the EU permissible levels.

The PMO has asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation for a report on the delay in Air India flights on account of VIP travels in the recent past.

The rupee may see some indirect impact from the Greece crisis, even though India has limited direct exposure to the European nation in terms of trade, Reserve Bank of India chief Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday.


Cash-strapped Greece became the first developed country to default to the IMF, when it failed to pay an installment of $1.8 billion by June 30.


Now, all eyes are on the July 5 referendum in Greece when it will decide on the bailout proposals from its creditors.


A "no" vote could increase the possibility of Greece exiting from the euro zone, analysts say.

Modi dreams of a renewable revolution. But with his government's reliance on foreign investment, shoddy infrastructure, and crippling red tape, that dream could be over before it begins. Read more

In an exclusive first-person account to The Hindu, Christine Mehta recalls how she was forced to leave India ostensibly for her scathing report on the draconian AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir. Read

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today began the JD(U) campaign for upcoming Assembly elections through a programme called "Har Ghar Dastak" to seek feedback about the work done by the state government in the past.


As part of the programme, the Chief Minister knocked on the doors of 10 households in Pachim Darwaza, represented by BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav, in Patna city area falling under Patna Sahib Assembly seat.


Starting the programme after offering prayers at a temple, Kumar knocked the first door of one Krishna Sahu near Paschim Darwaza. The house members were excited to find him at their doorstep. Kumar talked to the family members if they were satisfied with the work done by his government in the past 10 years and also sought views about work the government should do in the future. After coming out of Krishna Sahu's home, Kumar knocked on the doors of nine other homes in the vicinity and talked to the family members.

Ruling parties have an inherent advantage in by-elections. With no possibility of bringing about a change of government, voters in geographically circumscribed constituencies have no incentive to offend those in power or to encourage those in the Opposition. Read

Seizing on reports that an Air India flight for US was delayed for about an hour by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan today demanded an apology from him for causing inconvenience to over 200 passengers.


"If Fadnavis did request for delaying the flight, then he must apologise," Chavan said, referring to reports in a section of media that the flight was held up as one of the officials accompanying the Chief Minister forgot to carry proper travel documents with him.


"Nobody can delay the flight except for safety reasons. By interfering with the flight procedure, Fadnavis inconvenienced the hundreds of passengers on board," the senior Congress leader said.


"There should be an in-depth probe to ascertain which Air India officer accepted a verbal request by the Chief Minister and delayed the flight by over an hour," he said.


"If it is proved that Fadnavis made a request to Air India for delaying the flight, then he is responsible. Action must be taken against him (that officer) for interfering with the airline safety," he said.


"I have already demanded a full fledged probe by the Civil Aviation Ministry and sought action against whoever was responsible for the flight delay. Only a thorough inquiry can find whether Fadnavis is telling the truth or if the Air India officials are telling the truth," Chavan said.

Asserting that Prime Minister  Narendra Modi was concerned about Jammu and Kashmir, Union  Home Minister Rajnath Singh today assured "maximum possible  assistance" to the victims of the last year's devastating  floods.   


"I want to assure the state government of maximum  possible assistance for relief and rehabilitation in future as  well. The PM is also concerned about Jammu and Kashmir," Singh told reporters here after paying obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath.


Responding to a question about the recent package of Rs 1600 crore for flood victims, Singh said the Central  government does not provide the entire assistance in one go.


"It is given in instalments. We have given some (money), it  should be spent first," he said.      


The Home Minister said the Centre is very sensitive  towards Jammu and Kashmir and acted quickly soon after the  floods hit the state in September last year.

The Maharashtra government has classified madrassas in Maharashtra as non-schools and has directed the district administrations to declare madrassa students as "out-of-school children". A letter to this effect has been sent by Jayshree Mukherjee, principal secretary of the minority affairs department, to Nand Kumar, principal secretary, school education and sports department.

Read more

A short ride on the Chennai metro has catapulted DMK leader MK Stalin, who is party chief Karunanidhi's son, into a major controversy.


Stalin, who is the treasurer of the DMK was caught slapping a man on board the Chennai metro. According to a video which has gone viral, Stalin is seen slapping a man standing in front of him inside the metro, and then asking him to move from there.

Stalin was accompanied by his supporters and travelled from Koyambedu to Alandur.

While the DMK has maintained that Stalin did not slap the man who is believed to be a party worker, Stalin said that the man was blocking his way and stepped on people's feet. "I was directing him to an emptier space, I didn't mean to slap him," Stalin said.


The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu has condemned the incident. 

At least 34 people are dead after a boat carrying 173 capsized off coast of Philippines, Red Cross says.

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar tweeted a picture with his daughter Sara, @sachin_rt saying, "Selfie with my daughter Sara #BetiBachao".


On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new initiative to address the country's skewed sex ratio: a #SelfieWithDaughter.


In his radio address, the PM appealed to parents to post their pictures with their daughters on social media. The idea was originally floated by a village head in Haryana, a state in northern India with one of the country's worst child-sex ratios.

And a follow-up tweet: "What's the hurry. All the media and @INCIndia had five years - they wasted my 5 years. I too need to ensure my first global reality show #lalitgate becomes bigger than #ipl - wait and watch." 

Former IPL chief Lalit Modi tweets another offensive against BJP MP Varun Gandhi. "Ask @varungandhi80 if he was not staying at the most expensive hotel suite in #london "The Ritz" go on there site check rate."


Modi dragged the BJP MP into the controversy tweeting two days ago that he met him in London "a few years ago" and offered to "settle everything" with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.


"@varungandhi80 came to see me at my house a few years ago and said he can settle everything in @INCIndia with his aunt," Modi tweeted late Tuesday.


"He wanted me to meet her sister from Italy. I heard him next I heard from our common friend who introduced us that auntie wants 60 million dollars. Told them whaaaat are u nuts go HKG a kite. Can he deny that. I hope he does," Modi posted on Twitter.

In another tweet, he clarified: "The auntie he refers to is #soniagandhi. The sister is #soniagandhi sister - just for clarity."

The death toll in the bus-truck collision in Madhya Pradesh has risen to 25 with four more persons succumbing to their injuries, police said today.


"A total of 25 people have died so far, with four persons succumbing to their injuries late last night, after a private bus collided with a truck on Khandwa-Indore Road in Khandwa district last evening," Khandwa SP M S Sikarwar said.


Of the thirteen injured persons, the condition of six remains serious, he said.

China has denied any of its armed personnel were posted in Pakistani Kashmir, stating that these were "just stories".


A senior leader in charge of bilateral relations with India and Pakistan said that with modern technology and satellites no troops could remain undetected anywhere.


"Even 5,000 ants cannot hide from being seeing," Deputy Diretor-General of Department of Asian Affairs at the foreign minister, Huang Xilian said. Xilian recently returned from Kathmandu after attending the conference on reconstruction with China's foreign minister. India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was also there.


The DDG, who was meeting visiting Indian journalists and those based in Beijing, said that any mention of armed forces in the region (Pakistani Kashmir) "was groundless". India had "very good spy satellites", so where could the troops hide, he asked. "Show us the evidence," he added.

Nearly 4,000 doctors across Maharashtra have gone on an indefinite strike from today in support of their various demands, a move that is likely to affect medical services in public hospitals in the city and elsewhere.


The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has a charter of 10 demands, MARD president Dr Sagar Mundada said. "We have been asking the government to take our security seriously from the last 5 years, but nothing has happened. A patient dies and doctors are assaulted," he said.

Google has apologised after its photos app tagged African people as 'gorillas.' Twitter user @jackyalcine posted a picture of her friends that had been tagged as Gorillas. (See the picture alongside).


Google Photos, a new app launched in May, automatically, tags pictures that a user uploads using the search engine's own artificial intelligence software.


Obviously, the intelligence has been found wanting.


Google also issued an officially apology on the issue, saying they were "appalled and genuinely sorry" that it happened. The company was taking immediate action to prevent similar results from appearing.

People dining at Delhi's Summer Smoke House bar would have hardly imagined the treat they were in for last night, as none other than Coldplay front man Chris Martin took the stage. The 38-year-old singer randomly walked in and gave an impromptu performance, without any heads up, NDTV reported. Read

International Yoga Day, celebrated on June 21 for the first time, had its share of controversies in India. The man in charge of the massive exercise was Minister for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy Shripad Naik. The AYUSH minister, spoke to A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com about the controversies and his ministry's plans for yoga. Read

Union home minister Rajnath Singh today said that the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Aact "will be revoked from Jammu and Kashmir when the situation is conducive."He also said there are no proposals to hold talks with the Hurriyat.


Rajnath, who is in Srinagar since yesterday, held a review meeting on security provisions for the Amarnath Yatra. The second batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims were flagged off from Jammu base camp today.


In March, following two incidents of fidayeen (suicide squads) attacking a police station and an army establishment in the Jammu sector close to the border with Pakistan, Rajnath had said, "AFSPA ko samapta karne ke abhi halaat nahin hai (The situation is not conducive to ending AFSPA)."

A judge in Himachal Pradesh has been suspended following a sexual harassment complaint by a woman judge.


The judge has been accused by the woman of harassing her on June 8, during a trip to Manali hill town for a conference on drug abuse.


The complainant says the judge tried to force her to go with him to a resort and teased and harassed her. Both are trial court judges.


The state Chief Justice has suspended the judge pending a detailed inquiry, for which he has given two months.

No proposal to hold talks with Hurriyat, says Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Shiv Sena has expressed reservations over the outcome of the proposed cloud-seeding project by the BJP-ruled Maharashtra government, which is aimed at generating artificial rains, and asked it to explore other alternatives as well to make water available for scarcity-hit regions.


"If the monsoon conditions do not improve in the near future, it will be the fourth consecutive year of drought in the state. There is no reason to complain against the cloud-seeding project, but the question is how much rainfall will this project actually generate?" Sena questioned in an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.


Expressing doubts over the success of the ambitious project, Sena asked the Devendra Fadnavis government, in which it is also a partner, to also explore additional alternatives to provide water to dry areas and not rely only on generating artificial rains.

"We think of ourselves as being most patriotic and will come to tears when a song like Ae mere pyare watan or the national anthem is playing, but that is the extent to which most of us will display our patriotism," says Rediff.com columnist, Aakar Patel and Executive Director, Amnesty International India.

Read

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, easily the most active Indian politician on Twitter has urged his 'followers' on social media especially Twitter, to "be positive" because "abuse will finish this exciting medium."


Modi, who has effectively leveraged social media in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and even after assuming office, has tweeted his policies, made announcements, and wished international leaders, on Twitter.


NDTV reports that yesterday, the PM met over a 100 people -- staunch followers of the BJP and Modi -- at his 7 Racecourse Road residence to caution them against reacting to trolls.


The PM said, "If all the abuses I receive are printed, that paper will cover the entire Taj Mahal," and asked his social media followers to refrain from responding to negative comments with harsh words.


The PM also said he "has not blocked anyone" of his 13 million followers on Twitter.


In the evening yesterday, the PM launched the Digital India initiative, which seeks to connect 250,00 villages by 2019. 

The benchmark Sensex rose over 95 points in early trade today, extending gains for the third straight session, on sustained buying by funds and investors.


A stronger global market driven by hopes of a Greece deal kept up the pace. The 30-share index, which had gained 375.72 points in the past two sessions, gained another 95.09 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 28,115.96.

The second batch of 1,525 pilgrims today left from the base camp in Jammu to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security. The trek will take 59 days.


The batch, consisting of 1,074 male, 236 female, 7 children and 208 sadhus, left in a cavalcade of 47 vehicles from Bhagwati Nagar base camp at 5:15 am today, a police official said.


The convoy for the yatra has already crossed Patnitop on Jammu-Srinagar National highway and would reach its destination at Baltal and Pahalgam base camps by this evening, he added. With today's batch, as many as 2,805 pilgrims have so far left from the Jammu base camp for the Amarnath cave shrine.


Operation Shiva comprising 7,500 army personnel has been set up to provide security to those devotees taking part in the Amarnath Yatra.

Indonesian Air Force plane that crashed in Medan had propeller problem that indicates engine stalled, says Indonesia air force chief.


A military aircraft carrying 122 people crashed into a neighborhood in the Indonesian city of Medan on Tuesday, killing all those aboard, according to the chief spokesman of the country's armed forces. At least 20 people on the ground were also killed, and search and rescue efforts were continuing Wednesday.


By Wednesday morning, 142 bodies had been recovered.

The IMF and Germany's response to Greece's social crisis has set in motion political responses that could have long lasting impact on big power equations within Europe and beyond. In Greece, it is the IMF and Europe's regional financial institutions that have been found wanting.

Author, former media advisor to Manmohan Singh and policy analyst, Sanjaya Baru writes for the Hindu.  Read 

Jammu Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh who was accompanying Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has issued an apology to the family who was deboarded from an AI plane to accommodate them. "Have apologised to the family for the inconvenience," said Singh. A huge row has erupted after it emerged that a family of three were off loaded to accommodate Kiren Rijiju and Nirmal Singh.  

Patients in government medical colleges in Maharashtra are set for a harrowing time after around 4,500 resident doctors, attached to 18 such institutions in the state, are going on an indefinite strike from today in support of their demands. The strike is to press the state government to act on their demands including a hike in stipend, strict implementation of the Doctors Protection Act, two-month maternity leave for female doctors and fixed working hours, among others.

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik launched legal action, accusing the Norwegian state of violating his human rights by keeping him in strict isolation in prison four years after he massacred 77 people. 

Darshan Jain, an Indian American teacher is one of the 108 teachers named by President Barack Obama as recipients of the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. 

Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi on Thursday asked BJP's Sudhanshu Mittal to explain his relations with hawala racketeer Vivek Nagpal. " World exclusive brought to you by Lalitgate. Wants to know @SudhanshuBJP what is your relationship with master hawala racketeer Vivek Nagpal. Lalitgate wants to know truth from @SudhanshuBJP," Lalit Modi tweeted. 

With a text message warning of an attack on the 15th day of Ramzan surfacing, the Mumbai Police has upped security in the city. Extensive deployment has been made in sensitive pockets and vantage locations across Mumbai. "The SMS warns Muslims of 'Qayamat' on the 15th day of Ramzan and directs them to remain indoors on that day. Post the SMS, security has been tightened across the city, specially in sensitive pockets," said an officer. "A similar message was spread before the 1992 riots and therefore we are not taking the SMS lightly," he added. 

Here's an image that the HRD minister Smriti Irani posted on Twitter. A beaming minister poses with her two daughters outside the White House. Irani captions the image '@narendramodi 's #SelfieWithDaughter finds support.'

Notwithstanding the Union government's claim of fast-tracking extradition proceedings against the former IPL chief Lalit Modi, it may take almost a year for the Enforcement Directorate even to secure an Interpol red-corner notice against him in the money-laundering case.