That's a jam-packed Churchgate station this evening. The picture was tweeted by @nitish_nitigya. 

When Mr Anthony D'Costa, a senior journalist with the Times of India, left his home in Vasai this afternoon and reached the railway station, he had little inkling of the horror that awaited him, and lakhs of other commuters like him who travel to South Mumbai every day on work.

The train derailment at Andheri in the morning had crippled the railway network on the Western Railway local line, and the station presented a picture of utter chaos.

It was 3 pm by the time the noon Virar-Churchgate local pulled in, and D'Costa boarded it. The train crawled its way to the next major station on the line, Borivli, where it was abruptly terminated. D'Costa managed to board another local train, which too snailed its way towards Andheri station, where it was halted for a long time.

When we spoke to D'Costa, his train had just pulled out of Andheri station. "We are passing the derailed train, and there are lots of people working on it. But tell me, the derailment happened in the morning, and it takes so long to clear it? Is this a sign of the government that works?" he was understandably furious as someone who has spent hours getting to work.

Although the railways seems to claim that services were being restored or are near-normal, that is not a story Mumbai's harassed commuters are willing to buy.

Pic: Sahil Salvi.

Just in: Kolkata's iconic Writers' Building evacuated after bomb scare. A bomb disposal squad is at the site. Writers' Building is the secretariat of the government of West Bengal and also houses chief minister Mamata Banerjee's office.

Just in: The Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in Rajasthan has climbed down from its earlier stance of cancelling the holiday on Eid, on September 25. The state government says the holiday will stand, and it's up to employees to decide if they want attend work. No prizes for guessing what the decision will be.


The BJP-ruled Rajasthan government has ordered schools and colleges not to declare a holiday on Bakri Eid this year. Instead, it had asked schools and colleges to prepare for blood donation camps on September 25, to mark the birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, an icon of the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. 

Train services still affected on the western line of Mumbai's suburban railway as this indicator at Mahim station shows.
Pic: Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

No, Charlie Hebdo did not mock Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi in its cartoons. Read

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been criticised for publishing a cartoon depicting the death of three-year-old Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi as its own controversial take on the refugee and migration crisis, the media reported on Tuesday.


The cartoon attributed to the publication and circulating on social media features Aylan lying face down on a beach with the words "So close to his goal..." written above him, The Huffington Post reported. In the background a McDonald`s-style Happy Meal Board states, "Two children`s menus for the price of one."


Aylan drowned along with his brother and mother on September 2 when the boat they were travelling from the Greek island of Kos to the Turkish town of Bodrum capsized.


The family fled after Islamic State militants advanced upon their home town of Kobane. Another cartoon said to be from the same edition of the magazine is entitled The Proof that Europe is Christian and features a man believed to be Jesus standing on the surface of the ocean while a child`s legs`s (presumably meant to be Aylan`s) protrude from the water. It says: "Christians walk on water? Muslim kids sink."


The cartoons have been met with a mixed response. Turkish newspaper The Daily Sabah claimed the images mock the drowned toddler. Morocco World News concurred, accusing the publication of "hiding behind the freedom of speech."


"Charlie Hebdo is a purely racist, xenophobic and ideologically bankrupt publication that represents the moral decay of France," Barrister Peter Herbert, who is Chair of the Society of Black Lawyers and former vice chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, tweeted.


"The Society of Black Lawyers will consider reporting this as incitement to hate crime and persecution before the International Criminal Court." Complaints are being left on the magazine`s Facebook page and Twitter users have criticised the images, describing them as "tasteless" and "disgusting."


But some commenters have said the cartoons are not mocking the dead child and are instead using the tragedy to ridicule Europe for not doing enough to prevent it.

If it isn't rains, it's trains.

Mumbaikars using the suburban train network on the western railway were left stranded after a seven coaches of a local train today derailed between Andheri and Vile Parle stations, disrupting traffic on the busy route linking Churchgate in South Mumbai to Virar. The incident occurred at 11 am. No casualty has been reported.

All trains on the western railway on the slow track were affected, with a few services working on the fast track. Early reports say the Virar fast line will be restored by 6 pm today.

The effects of the train derailment spilled over on to the roads with BEST buses overcrowded, and autos and cabs overcharging customers.

The following long-distance trains were also affected:
2955 Mumbai Central-Jaipur Express will depart at 21.00 Hrs instead of its schedule departure at 18.50 Hrs.

12961 Mumbai Central Indore Avantika Express will depart at 21.15 Hrs instead of its schedule departure at 19.05 Hrs.

19005 Mumbai Central Okha Saurastra Mail will depart at 21.30 Hrs instead of its schedule departure at 20.25 Hrs.

12959 Dadar-Bhuj Express will depart from Borivali at 00.38 Hrs.

The harbour line was also affected after another train derailed while entering the platform at Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), causing inconvenience to commuters during the peak hours.


Suburban harbour line services, both up and down, were yesterday suspended between CST and Wadala Road Station owing to the mishap.

Pic credit: Anil Phansekar. 

Heads up if you are taking a long-distance train out of Mumbai:


Due to derailment between Andheri and Vile Parle, following WR trains are rescheduled today, 15th September,2015:


12955 Mumbai Central-Jaipur Express will depart at 21.00 Hrs instead of its schedule departure at 18.50 Hrs.

12961 Mumbai Central Indore Avantika Express will depart at 21.15 Hrs instead of its schedule departure at 19.05 Hrs.


19005 Mumbai Central Okha Saurastra Mail will depart at 21.30 Hrs instead of its schedule departure at 20.25 Hrs.


12959 Dadar-Bhuj Express will depart from Borivali at 00.38 Hrs.

India's health ministry gets a sanitary-napkin machine -- but there's just one problem. Read more

AAP's Ashutosh on absconding colleague (and his dog) Somnath Bharti:  This is Somnath-ji's personal matter, AAP won't interfere. But we advise him to come forth and take part in an investigation.


An arrest warrant has been issued for Somnath Bharti, the Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Law Minister of Delhi. Bharti, 41, has been accused by his estranged wife Lipika Mitra of domestic violence and attempt to murder.


Since the case was filed late last week, Bharti has ignored multiple requests by the police to make himself available for interrogation.The police says that the former minister did not keep a Friday appointment, and has gone missing since then. On Thursday, Bharti tweeted, "This too shall pass".


A Delhi judge yesterday refused his request for anticipatory bail, which would have ensured he could not be arrested till a date decided by the court.


The judge said "as per the complainant, on March 19, 2013, when she (Lipika) asked Bharti to pay the rent, he not only tried to strangulate her, but also unleashed his dog on her despite knowing that she was in the seventh month of pregnancy."

A horrific blast in Petlawad, in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, has claimed the lives of about a hundred people. It was caused by a stockpile of gelatine sticks stored illegally in a building. The detonation, which ripped through a three-storey residential-cum-commercial complex that also housed an eatery, raises disturbing questions about the practice of illegally storing explosives in congested residential areas. Read more

Yasin Malik who was on his way to Sopore, detained by police in Sangrama area of Baramulla district (J&K).

"I am very sure that Rajnikanth, a patriot and spiritual person, will not do this movie which is about a tyrant, killer and murderer," BJP leader H Raja tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com Read

The arguments over the quantum of sentence in the 7/11 local train blasts will continue on Tuesday in a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act or MCOCA Court in Mumbai. 189 people died and over 800 people were injured in the 2006 blasts.

Last Friday, the special court convicted 12 of the 13 people allegedly belonging to the Students Islamic Movement of India or SIMI, while one was acquitted. Arguments on their quantum of sentence began today after the convicts recorded their statement.

Two men in China's Jiangsu province tried to sell their kidney for Apple's latest offering, the iPhone 6s. One of the men, surnamed Wu, wanted an iPhone 6s but could not afford it. His friend Huang suggested they sell a kidney each for money, reported China Daily on Tuesday. The two found an illegal agent on the internet who asked them to take medical examinations at a hospital in Nanjing. However, when they arrived on September 12, the agent did not turn up as scheduled. They later reconsidered selling the organs. Wu told his friend, Huang, to stop the plan but Huang did not listen. Wu then called the police, but Huang ran away and has been out of reach ever since.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who arrived in India on Monday on a three-day state visit, held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Excerpts from the joint statement.


-- This is a historic year for India-Sri Lanka relations.

-- We had the honour of hosting Sri Lankan President  on his maiden foreign visit. As a close neighbor and friend we wish Sri lanka every success and assure India's unwavering support.

-- We are confident Sri Lankan will achieve all round development. And Sri Lankan Tamils can achieve a life of dignity and prosperity.

-- As a close neighbor and friend we wish Sri Lanka every success and assure India's unwavering support.

-- We are confident Sri Lanka will achieve all round development and Sri Lankan Tamils can achieve a life of dignity and prosperity.

-- We welcome development in bilateral relations including currency swap agreement in March.

-- We both want deeper economic engagement.

-- We want trade to become more balanced for Sri Lanka.

-- I also sought support for Indian investors in Sri Lanka's economic development.

-- We both reaffirm commitment to security and defense cooperation.

-- We reaffirm commitment to fight terrorism. Sri Lanka is largest partner in defense training. Will continue cooperation.

-- We agreed that the fishermen community will continue to find solution to disputes.

-- I am here to convey our desire to continue our relationship, says Sri Lankan Premier Wickremasinghe.

-- We have briefed his excellence (PM Narendra Modi) and Foreign Minister that we will are looking forward to reconciliation.

Two stamps featuring Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, launched by the Department of Posts (DoP) in December 2008 as part of its series titled Builders of Modern India, have been discontinued, an RTI query by The Indian Express has revealed.


The government now plans to introduce stamps under a new series featuring Deendayal Upadhyaya, Jayaprakash Narayan, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Ram Manohar Lohia in the coming months, the RTI further stated.
Read more

The Pentagon has established a first-ever country special cell to speed up its defence ties with India and accelerate the process of co-development and co-production of hi-tech military equipment in the country.


Established soon after Defence Secretary Ashton Carter assumed Pentagon's leadership role in February, India Rapid Reaction Cell (IRRC) is headed by Keith Webster, Director, International Cooperation Office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. India is the only country to have a specific cell of its kind inside the Pentagon.


Currently, seven persons are working on this cell, representing various wings of the US Department of Defence. Given the new thrust on India-US defence relationship under Carter, officials say there is quite a few on the waiting list who have shown keen interest in working at the Pentagon's India Rapid Reaction Cell.

A close-up of the wheels off the train that went off the track.

Pic courtesy: Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com

Another picture of the derailed train, between Vile Parle and Andheri stations.

Pic courtesy: Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com

Seven coaches of a local train today derailed between Andheri and Vile Parle stations in suburban Mumbai, disrupting traffic on the busy route linking Churchgate in South Mumbai to Virar. No casualty has been reported, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Western Railway, Sharat Chandrayan said.


The train coming from Borivili to Churchgate derailed at around 11 am between Andheri and Vile Parle stations, the second such incident involving local trains in as many days.


A team of engineers and rescue officials have rushed to the spot to restore the services, the CPRO said. An inquiry would be conducted to ascertain the cause of the derailment, he added. The suburban train services were badly affected on the busy route due to the derailment.


A local train coming from Bandra had last evening derailed on the Harbour Line of Central Railway while entering the platform at Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), causing inconvenience to commuters during the peak hours.


Suburban harbour line services, both up and down, were yesterday suspended between CST and Wadala Road Station owing to the mishap.

@DaddysPride tweets this picture of people on the tracks at Goregaon station.

One is forced to wonder whether Modi is serious about all the bills people want him to pass. Because to me he has made no real honest effort at getting things moving legislatively,' says Aakar Patel. Read more

Another picture of the suburban train in Mumbai that derailed between Andheri and Vile Parle stations.

Just in: Early reports say seven coaches of a suburban train travelling from Mumbai's Andheri to Churchgate station, derails between Andheri and Vile Parle. Details awaited.


The picture was tweeted by @Dhrumil929 

US President Barack Obama has advised her daughter Malia to be open to new experiences when she goes to college and ensure that she gets a good grade.


"The advice... is to be open to new experiences when you go to college. Don't go to college just to duplicate the same experience you had in high school," Obama said yesterday at a Town Hall on college access and affordability at Des Moines, Iowa.


"Don't make your decision based on, well, where are all my friends going so that I can do the exact same things with the exact same friends that I did in high school," Obama said.


"The whole point is for you to push yourself out of your comfort level, meet people you haven't met before, take classes that you hadn't thought of before. Stretch yourself. Because this is the time to do it, when you're young. Seek out new experiences," he added. 


He was responding to a question on what advice he would give to his daughter Malia, 17, when she goes to her college. "My best advice to Malia. Now, this is assuming that Malia would listen to my advice. She's very much like her mother at this point. She's got her own mind," he said.

Notwithstanding claims of an amicable seat sharing arrangement having been reached among NDA partners for Bihar assembly polls, discontent seems to be brewing in Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP over allotment of 40 seats to it.


LJP sources said there was a feeling in the party that Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLSP of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha got a "better deal" given their political clout in the state.


They said before HAM joined the NDA, the proposal from BJP was that it would contest 75 per cent of the state's 243 assembly seats and the rest would go to LJP and RLSP. Another proposal mooted by BJP was that LJP and RLSP would get six assembly seats for every Lok Sabha seat contested by them in 2014.


Under the arrangement, LJP, which has contested seven LS seats, would have got 42 and Kushwaha's RLSP 18.When the decision to include HAM into the NDA fold was taken, it was decided that the new entrant will get 12 seats to contest in the assembly polls, LJP sources said.


Accordingly, it was decided that BJP will spare nine seats from its quota for Manjhi's party, LJP two and RLSP one. Under that arrangement, LJP would have been allotted 40 seats, RLSP 17 and HAM 12, they said.


"As Manjhi remained adamant on more seats, he ultimately succeeded in getting 20 and also extracted a promise that five of his candidates would contest on BJP symbols," a senior party leader said.


"HAM and RLSP secured a better deal than us despite our steadfast support to the NDA and our decision not to engage in hard bargain," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Meanwhile, Chirag Paswan, son of the LJP chief and chairman of its Parliamentary Board, is scheduled to address a press conference on Tuesday where he is likely to articulate the party's unhappiness over the 'raw' deal it has got and said the party was shocked at the seat allocation.


Earlier on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah had announced the seat sharing formula under which BJP will contest 160 seats, LJP 40, RLSP 23 and HAM 20.


Claiming all differences over seat sharing had been sorted out, Shah had said,"There is no tug of war. There is no tension. You can see their smiling faces."

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today described Sasmita Rana, who died at Sishu Bhavan in Cuttack a day after his visit, as the bravest girl he ever met.

Expressing grief over the death of the little girl from Raitala village in Odisha's tribal dominated Keonjhar district, Gandhi tweeted, "Sasmita Rana -- the bravest little girl I ever met died at Sishubhawan in Cuttack today. She remained proud and strong against all odds."

"My thoughts are with her mother and family in this time of grief," he added.

The seven-year-old succumbed to aplastic anemia on Saturday, a day after meeting Gandhi. The Congress leader had come in contact with the girl during his visit to Sishu Bhavan in Cuttack on September 11. He went to Sishu Bhavan after being informed about the death of more than 60 infants in a span of 12 days last month.

Photograph: PTI

Four men suspected to be supporters of Islamic State have been detained in Kerala. They were deported from UAE, reports NDTV.

Two of the men were held at the Thiruvananthapuram airport and two from the Kozhikode airport. The police say they are verifying the allegations.

Two Maoists including a woman were today killed in an alleged exchange of fire with police in a forest area of Warangal district of Telangana in the wee hours.

"There was an exchange of fire with the KKW (Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal) committee near Somlagadda in Tadavai mandal under Pasara police station limits wherein two cadres including a woman were killed," a senior police officer told PTI.

Police seized one-carbine and one .303 weapon besides six kit-bags from the spot, he said. The combing and search operations is still on. There was no casualty on the police side, the officer added.

A day after being ousted as Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott fronted the press with a message for his successor.

"My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can ... There will be no wrecking, no undermining and no sniping," Abbott said.

"This is not an easy day for many people in this building. Leadership changes are never easy for our country."

"I want our government and our country to succeed. I always have and I always will. I've consistently said in opposition and in government that being the prime minister is not an end in itself; it's about the people you serve. The great privilege that I have had is to see the wonder of this country like few others. And I want to thank the Australian people for giving me the honour to serve," he added.

Australia is set to swear in Malcolm Turnbull as its new prime minister, after  Abbott's ouster by his party in a leadership challenge. Turnbull will go to Government House in Canberra today to be sworn in by the governor-general.

Read complete text of Abott's speech here

Just in: Four Islamic State supporters detained from Saudi Arabia detained in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode in Kerala.

Details awaited.

The Delhi police said the recovery of Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bhartis pet dog was key to their probe in a alleged domestic violence case against him filed by his wife.

The pet Labrador, named Don, was alleged to have bitten a pregnant Lipika at the behest of his master, reports The Indian Express.

Where is Don? He is very crucial to our investigation. He is still missing, we need to recover him, the police reportedly said.

Opposing Bharti's anticipatory bail petition in a Delhi court yesterday, police said the recovery of Bhartis pet dog was key to their probe.

Bharti faces arrest after a trial court issued a non-bailable warrant against him in the domestic violence and attempt to murder case filed against him by his wife.

The Centre today decided to provide additional 50 days of work in drought-hit areas under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme to provide relief to farmers in view of deficit monsoon in various parts of the country.

At present, 100 days of work is provided to rural job card holders under the MGNREGA. The decision has been taken after monsoon deficit today reached 16 per cent across the country, which could affect kharif crops and rural income.

Already, Karnataka has declared drought in 27 out of 30 districts, while Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are also likely to declare drought-hit areas in their states.

"The government has decided to provide an additional 50 days of unskilled manual work in the financial year, over and above the 100 days assured to job card holders, in such rural areas where drought or natural calamities has been notified," the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been announced as one of the winners of the United Nations Champions of the Earth award in recognition of her country's initiatives to address climate change.

"Serving as the prime minister of Bangladesh, one of the world's least-developed countries Sheikh Hasina has proven that investing in climate change is conducive to achieving social and economic development," said the announcement issued by the UN Environment Programme, which confers the awards.

UNEP noted that Bangladesh is one of the world's most populated countries, with over 159 million people. It is also one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Cyclones, floods and droughts have long been part of the country's history, but they have intensified in recent years.

"Through a number of forward-looking policy initiatives and investments, Bangladesh has placed confronting the challenge of climate change at the core of its development," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said. "These initiatives, from climate change adaptation measures to ecosystem preservation legislation, mean that current and future generations of Bangladeshis are better prepared to address climate change risks and reverse the impacts of environmental degradation," he said.

He added that Hasina has demonstrated "leadership and vision" in both making climate change an issue of national priority and advocating for an ambitious global response.

US President Barack Obama has determined India and its three neighbours, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, among a list of 22 nations that are major illicit drug producing or transit countries. 

EU interior ministers have failed to reach unanimous agreement on a plan for binding quotas to relocate 120,000 refugees and take the strain off Greece, Italy, and Hungary, officials said. "Yes, not everyone is on board at the moment," Luxembourg minister Jean Asselborn told a press conference in Brussels yesterday, adding however that there was a "large majority" in favour and they would return to the issue in October. 

Around 1,000 migrants still arrived in southern Germany from Austria today despite a shock decision to reimpose border controls, German federal police said. 

Russia today successfully launched a Proton rocket, carrying a Russian telecoms satellite, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the second successful launch since the disastrous loss of a Mexican satellite in May. 

The United States today condemned "all acts of violence" at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound where Muslims and Israeli police clashed for a second straight day. 

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor today said that there is a "massive gap" between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'impressive speeches' and the reality, as he might have given "excellent" ideas but could not provide "adequate" attention to them. 

A professor was killed in his office at Delta State University in Mississippi, an official said today, and the campus remained on lockdown with the shooter still believed to be on the loose. 

French President Francois Hollande, whose country is carrying out surveillance flights over Syria, said today it would be "necessary" to carry out air strikes against Islamic State militants there.

The governor of the US state of California today declared a state of emergency after massive wildfires in the state's north intensified due to a prolonged drought, destroying many homes and forcing thousands to flee.

Pope Francis says he has felt "used" by people claiming to be his friend since he became pontiff, in a radio interview touching on the personal side of his papacy. 

Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel tonight renamed his controversial 'reverse Dandi Yatra' as `Ekta Yatra' as he met Chief Minister Anandiben Patel during which he demanded suspension of cops who used force during the August 25 rally and release of those held. 

Dengue scare: Delhi sees 613 fresh cases in a week
India's bid for UNSC permanent seat gets a shot in the arm
7/11 train blasts: All 12 convicts plead for leniency
Diplomat rape case: India walks the tightrope with Saudis
Malcolm Turnbull is Australia's new PM, Abbott voted out
The Hero of the Battle of Dograi
PM accepts Facebook invite, Sikh rights group doesn't 'like' it