An Egyptian court today set April 4 date for the retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons on graft charges. 

Apple kicked off an event expected to focus on Apple Watch with something else: an announcement that HBO's streaming service will debut on Apple TV and devices exclusively next month.

BJP today said top separatist leader Masarat Alam is not a political prisoner but an "extremist with Rs 10 lakh bounty" on his head. 

A large business delegation from India will participate in Egypt's economic conference this week to explore opportunities in the most populous Arab country. 

Four persons died today of swine flu in Maharashtra, raising the fatalities from the disease in the state to 215 so far.

Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with a decade-old case of terror financing through 'hawala channel'.

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav's health has improved and he has been shifted out of the ICU.

The Shiv Sena today virtually justified the lynching of a rape accused in Nagaland, saying mob fury reflects people's anger towards sexual crimes against women and the kind of justice meted out to the man should happen in Maharashtra as well.

 The Gujarat government today said that as many as 124 lions died during the last two years in and around Gir forest. During the question hour in the assembly, Congress MLA Natvarsinh Thakor raised a question about deaths of lions aswell as leopards in Sasan Gir and Dhari Gir forests in the last two years.

Lok Sabha is set to witness a confrontation over Land Acquisition Bill tomorrow when it is taken up for voting with opposition bent on opposing it even as the government again offered to make changes in the legislation in the "larger interest" of the farming community.

India today unveiled its indigenously developed and manufactured Rotavirus vaccine, claimed to be the world's cheapest at the rate of around Rs 60 per dose and aimed at boosting efforts to deal with diarrhoea that kills up to 80,000 children under 5 every year.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said political rivalry with BJP notwithstanding he would not hesitate to knock doors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the interest of the state.

Toughening its stand, Congress today decided to vote against against controversial Land Bill in Lok Sabha tomorrow if Government does not withdraw changes or refuses to send it to the Standing Committee.

A Sri Lankan court today imposed a travel ban on Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, former defence secretary and brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and impounded his passport amid a probe into huge private floating arsenals set up during the previous regime when he was in office.

A magistrate court in the southern port city of Galle issued an order preventing Gotabhaya -- the powerful defence secretary under his brother's administration -- and three others from leaving the country until the conclusion of investigation.

The court also impounded their passports, police said. "Police investigating the Avant-Garde Security Service floating armoury case sought and secured a ban on their travel abroad," police said in a statement. In January, shortly after the defeat of the President Rajapaksa, a ship carrying 12 container loads of weapons was discovered in Galle.

The ship was carrying over 3,000 automatic weapons, including machine guns.

Sidelined Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy in an interview to CNN-IBN said, "I will not confirm whether I plan to join the BJP, my present status is what should be of interest."

"I am presently just an MP of the upper house of the Parliament elected by the party and nothing more," he said.

"I think that the TMC should not have opposed the Presidents statement in the Parliament, it is against the convention and hurts the prestige of both the Parliament and the President," he added.

An Indian student was denied an internship at the  Leipzig University in Germany because he comes from a country with a "rape problem."

Professor Annette Beck Sickinger denied the  Indian male student an internship  at Institute of Biochemistry, saying that they don't take Indian male students because they might commit crimes like rape, a thread of e-mails reproduced on Quora reveals.    

The email reads, " Unfortunately I don't accept any Indian male students for internships. We hear a lot about the rape problem in India which I cannot support. I have many female students in my group, so I think this attitude is something I cannot support."

Actress Anushka Sharma has joined other Bollywood celebrities to criticise the government's move to ban the documentary on December 16 gang rape in India, saying such things make our country look regressive.

The 26-year-old actress said although she has not watched the documentary 'India's Daughter' by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, she feels the audience is mature enough to decide what they should watch.

"I think such things should be left to public discretion and people's intelligence. We are old enough to deal with our emotions in that way. If other people decide what we should watch then in a way they are judging our thought process. That is my problem."

"Keeping silent about such things is not an option otherwise, it will make us regressive as a society. People will feel repressed and it would lead to a lot more problems," said the actress, who will be next seen in 'NH10'.

Controversial Uttar Pradesh politician and former MP D P Yadav today surrendered before a special CBI court in Deharadun in connection with the 1992 murder of Mahendra Singh Bhati.

Soon after Yadav surrendered in the court of special CBI judge Amit Kumar Sirohi, he was sent to Dehradun jail, his counsel Rupendra Bhandari said. The court which held Yadav and three others guilty in the case on February 28 is likely to pronounce the quantum of punishment in the case tomorrow, he said.

The CBI court had issued an arrest warrant against Yadav when he did not appear in the court on February 28 on medical grounds. D P Yadav, Pal Singh, Karan Yadav and Praneet Bhati had been convicted in the case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Mahendra Singh Bhati, who was an MLA from Ghaziabad's Dadri area, was shot dead at the Dadri railway crossing in December 1992.

Just in: SMS services have resumed in Nagaland. Mobile and Internet services were blocked in the state after the tension mounted in the state after a rape accused was lynched on March 5.

Bharatiya Janata Party legislators in Jammu and Kashmir today lodged a strong protest with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed over the release of hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam and demanded his re-arrest. The party also took exception to the "misinformation campaign" that the decision to release Alam was taken after consulting it.   

The MLAs led by state BJP General Secretary Rajiv Jasrotia met Sayeed at his residence and submitted a memorandum. "We have lodged a strong protest with the chief minister and expressed our deep concern over the unilateral decision (of release of the Masarat Alam)," Jasrotia told reporters later.   

He said that Sayeed assured them that their concerns would be addressed.   The BJP also asked Sayeed to consider re-arrest of Alam in view of the statements made by him soon after his release in Kashmir.

Just in: At least one person was killed, while another was injured in firing near a tea stall in the Qutub Minar area in Delhi. 

The Delhi High Court refused an urgent hearing on a PIL that sought to lift the ban on a documentary on Nirbhaya gangrape case. 

The documentary, India's Daughter, which was aired by BBC under much protestation from the Indian government featured a controversial interview with one of the rape accused in the Nirbhaya gangrape case.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani met Pakistan envoy to India Abdul Basit on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sets off tomorrow on a five-day tour of Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka that is expected to give traction to the country's Indian Ocean outreach during which he also visit a former war zone and Tamil heartland of Jaffna.

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare announced that he would set off on his padayatra against the Land Bill on March 25 from Sevagram. He said that the yatra would start on March 25 and willconclude on April 27. Before that he would visit Bhagat Singh's village in Punjab and pay homage to him on March 23, the death anniversary of the iconic revolutionary.

The Peoples Democratic Party has hit back at the Centre over the release of hardliner Masarat Alam. Sources within the party have expressed their ire over the issue, saying, "We don't have to share every decision with the Prime Minister's Office."

Sudhir Gautam would be eternally grateful to Sachin Tendulkar. Facing troubles with the New Zealand Customs officials, the superfan was let out of his dilemma when he showed them a letter written by the Little Master. 

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of Bengal, today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time since he took power in May. During the meeting, Banerjee raised the debt problem that the state was facing and said most of them were a result of the actions of past governments. The debt burden, leading to high interest payments, was affecting development expenditure in West Bengal, she said, and asked for debt relief and relief from interest payments.

A comic has broken the world record for telling the most jokes in a minute -- taking the humourous title off a German. Clive Greenaway managed to say 26 one-liners in 60 seconds in front of a live audience to claim the record. Although the 57-year-old fell two jokes short of the 28 he had hoped for, it was still enough to outdo rival Markus Weise by five jokes. 

Pakistan today successfully test-fired surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Shaheen-III, capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 2,750 kilometres. 

The centenary commemoration of World War I was inaugurated by a wreath laying ceremony by President Mukherjee at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate. The President endorsed his remarks in the visitors book, stating "On the centenary commemoration of World War-I, I join my fellow countrymen in paying homage to the brave and valiant sons of mother India, who laid down their lives on the line of duty. I am sure that our great nation will continue to draw inspiration from the sacrifice of these bravehearts.'

Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was removed from the post of Rajasthan Cricket Association president as the members of the association passed a no-confidence motion against him and his office-bearers at the extraordinary general meeting. 

Slamming Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe for his remarks that Indian fishermen may be shot if they intruded into Lankan waters, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham said it "amounted to a slap" on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face ahead of his tour to the island nation. "It is not proper for the Lankan Prime Minister to give an interview amounting to a slap on the Indian PM's face ahead of his goodwill tour," DMK President M Karunanidhi said.

Amid statements from the PM and the Home Minister on separatist leader Masarat Alam's release from prison in Lok Sabha, Hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani stirred a controversy over the status of Kashmir, saying that India should realise that "Jammu and Kashmir is disputed territory and not a part of the country".

Srinagar based journalist Shujaat Bukhari tweets on the Masarat Alam release: This mindset that an elected CM of JK should always get a nod from home ministry even for release of a prisoner has always proven disastrous

Breaking his silence over the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a statement in Lok Sabha on the same. Speaking in Lok Sabha, the PM said, "I am in sync with the outrage that is being asserted in the nation and the Parliament." He assured the House and the country that the central government had not been consulted on decisions taken by the J-K government."We will not tolerate any step which undermines unity of the country," he assured the house.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrives in Lok Sabha to issue a statement on the release of the separatist leader Masarat Alam's release. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, he said, "As soon as we heard the news of Masrat Alam's release we asked for a report from J&K home ministry. Public safety and public security will not be compromised by this government and neither will we compromise on nation's security."

The situation in Dimapur town of Nagaland, where a mob lynched a rape accused, was returning to normalcy with curfew being relaxed and markets reopening after three days even as more arrests were made in connection with the incident. The total number of persons taken under custody has risen to 43, said police officials. 

Not long after coming to power the National Democratic Alliance government made sweeping changes to the land acquisition law of 2013, claiming that the legislation was making land acquisition and economic growth impossible. The claim was brazen in its assumptions because there was no empirical indication to back it. More audacious, however, was the route the government chose to push the changes through: instead of putting the amendments through the parliamentary process, the government pursued the ordinance path.

Within minutes of the Lok Sabha proceedings beginning, chaos ensued with Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge raising the issue of the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam. Speaking on the issue, Kharge said, "If Masarat Alam is released it raises question on democracy, this release needs to be stopped." Kharge further added that PM Modi should provide an answer in the matter. Leaders in the Lok Sabha then started chanting, "Jawab do, jawab do' and not allowing proceedings to continue. 

A special court postponed its verdict in the multi-billion dollar Satyam fraud case to April 9. The six-year-old case rattled the corporate world after its founder and former chairman Ramalinga Raju on January 7, 2009, confessed to manipulating Satyam's account books and inflating profits over many years to the tune of Rs.7,136 crore. The Central Bureau of Investigation probing the case said that the fraud was much bigger and alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs. 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam.

"As half the planet, women make immeasurable contributions to our world. They are entrepreneurs, farmers, educators, scientists, artists, soldiers, mothers, heads of state, the list is endless. Without them, economies would collapse, political systems would deteriorate, and families and communities would fall apart. Yet in too many places, women are treated as second-class citizens. Their abilities are undervalued. And their human rights -- the right to learn, to express themselves, to live free from violence, to choose whether and whom to marry -- are routinely violated. This gap between women's inherent value and how many of them are treated every day is one of the great injustices of our time," said US President Barack Obama to honour women. 

After the Congress and other opposition parties have raised a hue and cry over the release of prominent separatist Masarat Alam, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will issue a statement on the same in Parliament. The Congress has demanded that the PM explain why their government is going easy and has allowed this to happen. 

In an angry response to the ban on India's Daughter, the BBC documentary, an activist involved with the NGO 'Stop Acid Attacks' set up a huge projector in an Agra village on Sunday evening, and screened the film. 

"The Indian government is inviting the world to point fingers at India, and call it undemocratic and unconstitutional," said Leslee Udwin of the ban on the documentary India's Daughter, which has resulted in the film going viral on YouTube. "Why are they doing this? Why are they intent on committing international suicide?" asked the award-winning British producer who directed the documentary that has been at the centre of a storm in India. "All I want to say to the world through my film and campaign is this: India led by example, now follow India's lead."

A record-breaking attempt to fly around the world in a solar-powered plane has got under way from Abu Dhabi.The aircraft - called Solar Impulse-2 - took off from the Emirate, heading east to Muscat in Oman.Over the next five months, it will skip from continent to continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process.Andre Borschberg was at the controls of the single-seater vehicle as it took off.He will share the pilot duties in due course with fellow Swiss, Bertrand Piccard.

In today's age when high profile journalists are increasingly known for their hubris and self-servicing sermonising attitude, Vinod Mehta didn't let success go to his head. In fact, one of his greatest strengths was irreverence and the ability to look at things from a perspective. The irreverence even lead him to name his dog Editor! 

It seems the Bharatiya Janata Party is in for more trouble after its ally in Jammu-Kashmir, the Peoples Democratic Party, is now securing the release Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a separatist leader, who has been lodged in in Srinagar jail for the past 22 years.