Timeline Refresh
Like many who travel to the so-called Islamic State, his actions appear to have been motivated more by a thirst for power, violence and unaccountability.
In an interview printed in Islamic States english magazine, Dabiq, Abaaoud told how he had travelled to Belgium to terrorise the crusaders waging war against the Muslims.
The Independent reports that according to his family, the young man showed much more interest in petty crime than Islam, and they were shocked when he took his 13-year-old brother Younes with him to travel to Syria in January 2014.
After he was trained and further radicalised in Syria, Abaaoud was able to return to Europe via Athens. He was picked up by European security services and reportedly even stopped by police but let go, after which he disappeared.
He bragged: My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely when doing so became necessary.
The French government has now confirmed that the dead included the suspected overseer of the Paris bloodshed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and a woman militant who blew herself up.
According to the study released on the occasion of World Toilet Day today, the world's second most populous nation has 60.4 per cent of its people without access to safe and private toilets.
"Since 1990, access has improved by 22.8 percentage points, putting India at seventh out of eight countries for improvement in South Asia. In South Asia, Nepal has seen the most improvement, followed by Pakistan and Bhutan," the report stated.
Noting that the resulting health crisis is a serious matter, the report said that more than 140,000 children younger than five years die each year in India due to diarrhea.
"Nearly 40 per cent of India's children are stunted; this will affect both their life chances and the future prosperity of India. India also has high rates of maternal and newborn mortality linked to sepsis," the report said.
The equipment necessary to prevent infection during and after child birth is simple and inexpensive, but requires clean water and soap along with clean surroundings, which are difficult to achieve in an environment contaminated by open defecation and without good hygiene practices such as handwashing with soap by clinic staff and midwives, it said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the sanitation issue a top political priority, and last year launched Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission. Commenting on Swachh Bharat, which aims to ensure a toilet for every household by 2019 and to educate people about the long-term health and economic benefits of using a a proper sanitation system, the report said that "by simply building the toilets won't be enough."
"What will be absolutely crucial is getting local, state and national government to make this a priority, and creating the cultural shift that will ensure that once the toilets are built, they are used by everyone," it added.
Swamy had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, urging her to refer the matter of Rahul's alleged violation of Constitution and ethical code on citizenship to the Ethics Committee and disqualify him as MP if he is guilty.
Will Advani now agree to discuss the Rahul Gandhi issue given his peculiar and precarious position in the BJP of leading a dissident group.
"The BJP and RSS people have been flinging dirt on my family forever, on my grandmother, my father and my mother. I have been seeing this since I was a child," Rahul said at a function to mark the 98th birth anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
"I want to say this, Modi-ji it's your government, you have all the agencies. Set them after me. Launch an investigation me and if find anything in six months put me in jail... but stop using your lackeys to dump dirt on my family," he said.
The woman, who was produced in court by police after the petition was filed, told the judges that she had got married in a temple at Palani, to which they asked how the marriage was valid as per Hindu law if the man did not convert.
The woman, however, remained steadfast in her decision to go with him, which they did as she was a major. "As she is a major she can go anywhere she likes, though they had not married as per law," the bench here said. The judges said that the girl became a major on May 29 and she was free to go to any place at her will. As per law, she did not need care and protection.
The Independent reports that Hamid Sulaiman and Aurlie Ruby posted a photograph together, taken in front of the Place de la Republique, each holding their respective passports and brandishing a sign declaring "love will always win.'
Sulaiman, who fled from Syria in 2012, and Ruby, have been together for three years after meeting in a theatre in Paris and both work as artists. Their Facebook post has been shared more than several times, with other couples inspired to make similar declarations.
Here's why.
"We must not rule anything out. I say it with all the precautions needed. But we know and bear in mind that there is also a risk of chemical or bacteriological weapons," Valls told parliament.
"The macabre imagination of the masterminds is limitless," he said in a speech in the lower house of parliament meant to gain approval to an extension of the state of emergency.
Evidence is mounting that Isis could be both manufacturing and using chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq. Months of reports by Kurdish forces fighting the so-called Islamic State sparked the start of an investigation by the US and a United Nations probe earlier this year.
No findings have been announced by either group but an anonymous UN official has told the BBC that at least four attacks using powdered mustard agents have been documented on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.
Representational picture: Soldiers wearing gas masks hold bottles containing chemicals during a news conference at the Defence Ministry in Baghdad
Union minister (MoS finance) Jayant Sinha can hardly be blamed for thinking so.
Jayant's father, former union minister Yashwant Sinha was among four senior leaders -- L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Shanta Prasad -- to issue a stinging statement in the wake of the Bihar debacle that the party was being forced to kow-tow to a handful. The statement said the BJP's consensual character has been destroyed, and it has been emasculated in the last year.
An embarrassed Jayant Sinha has been compelled to cancel a quiet dinner he was planning to host for foreign investors and top honchos from India Inc. Our sources tell us he believes it's better to keep a low profile till the dissidence issue blows over.
Some things however cannot be swept under the carpet.
In a two-page confidential note to Sonia Gandhi, Dwivedi sought her immediate intervention for damage control since he felt many TV channels were portraying that the Congress stands for the minority community.
Motormouths are found not only in the BJP, but also in the Congress, feel many senior Congress leaders.
The Vasundhara Raje government nominated the controversial sculptor and 11 others as the members of the Governing Board of Jaipur's Jawahar Kala Kendra on November 16.
Kapoor's article critical of Modi appeared in the Guardian on November 12, where he had raised the issue of alleged 'intolerance'.
Rajasthan Tourism minister Krishnendra Kaur, however, canceled the nominations of all 12 members, including Kapoor, last night saying that she was unaware of the nominations and the Principal Secretary of the department had issued the order without consultation.
And now, Kishor, the man who put together Nitish Kumars campaign strategy for the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan), in a professionally slick and agile package of moves, is yet to decide whether he will make a serious political intervention in Bihar or will continue to be a professional running the Indian Political Action Committee (I-Pac). Or help the Congress.
Two people close to Kishor and a senior Congress leader told the Economic Times that he and the Congress were in a active discussions on him helming the Grand Old Party's UP campaign.
Kishor has also been sounded out for campaigns in Bengal (Trinamool), Tamil Nadu (AIADMK) and Assam (Congress) as well but the UP assignment for Congress is for him the most important decision.
"I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power," Obama said, just days after meeting Assad's top backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a telephonic talk with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, she apprised him of the situation and sought a central team to make assessment after which the Minister assured her that it will be deputed once the Centre receives the memorandum, the state government said.
Singh, who is in China, said on Twitter that he had spoken to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and assured of all possible help. "The Centre is assisting the state agencies of Tamil Nadu in rescue and relief ops. Assured TN CM of all possible help," Singh said in his tweets.
The state government said that the "Chief Minister apprised the Union Home Minister of the current situation in Tamil Nadu due to the unprecedented rains and floods, particularly in the districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Cuddalore."
The body has conducted a mid-session review of various countries and economic powers of the world in the wake of the increased activities of dreaded terrorist group, ISIS, around the globe. The banned group has also been held responsible for the recent terror attacks in Paris which killed 129 people.
As part of India's initiative against suspect funds and those related to terrorism, the FATF report said the country has frozen assets to the tune of Euro 3 lakh belonging to 37 entities till August 15 this year. India is a full-member of this reputed global body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), along with other nations like the US, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
This is the UK Home Office's statement during the visit.
"The Home Office issued a statement in which it said, with neither warmth nor respect:"We are aware he's visiting the UK. He is not visiting at Her Majesty's government's invitation nor does the government plan to have any contact with him when he's here. We do understand the concerns expressed but there were no appropriate grounds to refuse Mr Modi a visa." Read more on Modi's UK visit here.
That story appeared in The Wire on November 17, but Twitter is abuzz with speculation about whether Facebook is blocking people from posting this not too flattering article on their walls?
Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah posted: "Dear @facebook what is it about this article that worries you enough to block it from my wall???" Followed by the link of the Wire piece.
Radha Khan @70kha tweeted: Some censorship happening - I had posted http://thewire.in/2015/11/17/when-mr-modi-went-to-london-15802/ on FB. And it's been deleted. Now when I've retried FB says no. @thewire_in.
Hmmm.
According to news website Rmf24.pl, which contacted one of the passengers, it has not been ruled out that the man who talked about a bomb was drunk.
"Already in the airport, the man joked what would be done to him if he had a bomb. We were locked on the plane for an hour, and at a certain moment the doors opened and anti-terrorist forces rushed onto the plane and started shouting in English: 'Where is the bomb, where is the bomb?' They asked us to raise our hands above our heads, then they grabbed the man. They ordered us out of the plane with our hands up, one by one, and to leave our belongings. Buses carried the planes passengers to the airport," one passenger told Rmf24.pl.
The planes captain decided immediately to make an emergency landing after learning of the bomb threat, which was made by a 64-year-old passenger, who is currently being questioned by authorities, the TV channel reports.
This comes just a day after two Air France flights from Los Angeles to Paris were diverted after a bomb threat was called in.It was not known if the same person called in both threats.
Air France Flight 65, headed from Los Angeles to Paris, was diverted to Salt Lake City because of a security incident, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.
A little while later, Air France Flight 55 from Washington's Dulles InternationalAirport to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris was diverted to an airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia because of the same reason, a government source said.
Pic: Bulgaria's Burgas airport
Saeed through his counsel Advocate A K Dogar filed a petition in the Lahore High Court yesterday, challenging the ban on his organisations. Justice Aminuddin Khan took up the petition of Saeed and allowed Saeed's counsel to argue. Advocate Dogar told the court that JuD and FIF were charitable organisations and had "no nexus with the banned Lashkar-i-Taiba". He said JuD has established 142 schools and four universities in different cities of the country.
A 21-gun salute is on now, as the funeral pyre is lit by his son.
The colonel's mother breaks down as she is led to the funeral pyre where his body has now been laid. .
Mahadik's entire village has come to pay their last respects, as have politicians from across parties; defence minister Manohar Parrikar will also be there.
There will be a 21 gun salute, followed by the last rites by the family and the colonel's mortal remains will then be laid to rest.
His body was brought to Pune yesterday, where the Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis paid his respects. Reports say that all the women in Mahadik's village have removed their bindis to mourn the death of their son as thousands of men and women weep openly before TV cameras.
The army officer is survived by his wife and two children, aged 11 and seven. The army officer, in fact, has two mothers in a manner of speaking. His mother gave him to his aunt who did not have children and he was brought up by both women.
The army on Wednesday paid floral tributes to Colonel Mahadik, Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, who was killed while battling militants near Line of Control in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.
Tributes to the valour and sacrifice of the late officer were paid in a solemn ceremony held at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Jammu. Mahadik, 39, a resident of Maharashtra, who was the commanding officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was critically injured during an operation in the Haji Naka forest area of Kupwara near the LoC in Kashmir on Tuesday.