According to reports, a Union cabinet meet is set to take place tomorrow morning. 

A senior culture ministry official was today given the additional charge of Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, following the controversial exit of Mahesh Rangarajan from the post last week.             Sanjiv Mittal, Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Culture, has been given the additional charge of NMML Director, sources said here.             

Twelve people died of dengue and over 1,900 fresh cases have been reported in the past one week alone, taking this month's total to nearly 3,000 even as both Delhi and central governments continued their efforts to contain the disease in the city, which is facing its worst outbreak in the past six years.             

The draft National Encryption Policy formulated by an expert group set up by DeitY for formulation of rules under Section 84A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 Rules wants users to store all encrypted communication for at least 90 days and make the same available to security agencies when required.  Read more

The Bombay High Court today asked the city police to file a detailed affidavit on its investigation into a complaint alleging that self-styled godwoman Radhe Maa is running a sex racket in the name of religion.


A bench of Justice S V M Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi was hearing a public interest litigation by advocate Falguni Brahmbhatt accusing Radhe Maa of obscenity and police of inaction on her complaint against the self-styled godwoman.


The police today submitted a report saying that an FIR has been registered and investigation is on. Brahmbhatt, however, countered by saying that she has submitted additional information to the police but no action was taken in that. 

US-based Taxi hailing app Uber today launched a carpool service in India that could halve the price of a customer's ride. UberPOOL will be initially available in Bengaluru. With this, the metropolis joins millions of commuters in San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Austin and Paris who have been using UberPOOL for months now to get around their cities more efficiently and reliably. The service will launch soon in beta in select cities in India, starting with Bengaluru, to gain insights from commuter adoption and usage, the company said in a statement.

@minhazmerchant  "Take in India" @OfficeOfRG turning out to be a star campaigner for BJP in #BiharPolls. (Must keep his Savile Row suits for Bangkok though)

Just in: 7/11 Mumbai train blasts: MCOCA court to continue discussion tomorrow on pronouncement of quantum of sentence for the 12 convicts.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra on Monday said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was nothing but a grown up child and his views have no significance for the country.


"Rahul Gandhi's speeches have become like worn out tape recorders. He speaks the same words again and again. Rahul Gandhi, the tallest leader of the Grand Old Party, is nothing but a grown up child. And, that's why, his puerile views on topics of importance, carry no meaning for this country," Patra said.


"People are aware that Rahul Gandhi and the others leaders of the Congress Party have been destroying the country since the last ten years," he added. Earlier in the day, Gandhi criticised the NDA Government at the Centre and claimed that farmers across the country were abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling promises made during the 2014 general elections.

And in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, two of the three trapped workers inside a tunnel was rescued by the NDRF team amid cheers. The name of the rescued workers are Mani Ram and Satish. The third worker untraceable.


The operation to rescue the three trapped tunnel workers resumed this morning, a day after it suffered a setback due to a high-speed drilling machine developing a snag. A portion of the under-construction tunnel of the Kiratpur-Nerchowk-Manali four lane project had caved in last Saturday. Since then the efforts were on to rescue the three trapped workers.

FLASH: Bombay HC rejects plea asking for interim lifting of the Beef Ban. A plea had been filed for relaxing the beef ban for three days -- September 25, 26 and 27 -- during Bakri Eid. The court said the matter should be decided by the state.

First look at Aamir Khan's next: Dangal. Aamir plays a wrestler in the film and shooting begins today. 

RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat has said that "mere change of guard is not enough" and frowned on the power-driven "present-day politics", barely two weeks after joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale publicly endorsed the Narendra Modi government. Read more

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, who passed away yesterday, donated his eyes to Vanmukta Eye Bank, a part of the city's Susrut Eye Foundation and Research Centre.


"It may be recalled that social welfare programmes about 'Eradication of Blindness' which included restoration of eye-sight through cornea grafting and transplantations were initiated by Mr. Dalmiya earlier," BCCI was quoted as saying in a press release.


"The themes were widely known as 'Cricket for Life beyond Death' and 'Chance of Second Innings'," it stated.

Update on the Sheena Bora case: The judicial custody of all three accused -- Indrani Mukerjea, Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai -- have extended by 14 days. Their custody was to end today.




The Sheena Bora case is now being handled by the CBI.

Downing Street has refused to comment on extraordinary allegations made in a new book that David Cameron performed an obscene act with a dead pig and smoked cannabis while he was at Oxford University. Lord Ashcroft, the former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and a prolific donor, reported the claims in Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography.
Read more

Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs found mention in Congress VP Rahul Gandhi's speech in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The allusion was Jobs' resurrection of Apple's fortunes.

Rahul was addressing party workers in Mathura and told them to learn from Jobs as they go about rebuilding the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, which votes in two years for its next government.  


The Congress Vice President acknowledged that his party has been sidelined to the fringes of India's most populous state, but said, "Our ideology will make us win and turn us into No 1."


He also told Congressmen to "attack Prime Minister Modi... but remember, he is best at attacking himself".  

The CBI has given a clean chit to the Trinamool Congress in the Saradha scam, which quite naturally comes as a great relief to West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.


Keeping the passage of the GST Bill in mind, the BJP government wants to attract opposition votes in the Rajya Sabha. The relief from the CBI to Mamata Banerjee will bring peace in the upper house of Parliament.

BJP president Amit Shah has ambitious plans to launch Lotus TV -- an English TV channel  -- as the official voice of the party. The paperwork is over and the channel is likely to be launched on Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday on December 25. On the anvil are a Hindi and six other regional language channels from the BJP.

This is on the lines of other parties which have official mouthpieces. The DMK has Kalaignar News & Sun News and other general entertainment channels; the AIADMK has Jaya TV; the PMK has Makkal TV, while the
MDMK has Captain News and Captain TV.

The Winter session of Parliament is being brought ahead by a week, but does it mean the Modi government is keen to pass the GST Bill?  If the BJP is victorious in Bihar, it wants to split the opposition which will distance themselves from the Congress party.

Congress VP Rahul Gandhi at the Bankey Bihari Mandir, Vrindavan. 

CRPF jawan commits suicide by shooting himself, in Chandrakhuri Baradera, Raipur. More details awaited.

JUST IN: The Supreme Court refuses to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to the Centre to declassify confidential documents on Subhash Chandra Bose.

Air India could soon be operating the world's longest nonstop commercial flight. The airline is planning to link the IT hotspots of India and US -- Bengaluru and San Francisco -- which are almost 14,000 km apart. Read

Malegaon blast case: The Central govt has sought two more weeks to respond to the petitions on the issue of the removal of Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian (pictured). Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi rubbishes allegations in the Supreme Court that former prosecutor Rohini Salian was pressurised by the NIA to 'go slow' in the case.

Kicking up a controversy, the special public prosecutor in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case in which some Hindu extremists are accused, alleged that the National Investigation Agency had asked her to "go soft" on the accused after the Narendra Modi government assumed power in May last year.

"An NIA officer called me up and said he wanted to meet me. He then met me some time last year and asked me to go soft on the accused in this case," claimed Rohini Salian, who is the SPP in the case. She said the officer, who she declined to name, had apparently got instructions from higher-ups to convey this to her, Salian told reporters in Mumbai. 

Read the full report here.

Have money, want to invest in a start-up? Hold on and read what Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla has to say.


Khosla whose net worth is estimated to be around $1.7 billion -- has always stayed away from "the herd mentality" of investors backing popular startup ideas.


In an exclusive interview with ET this weekend, Khosla, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, said the startup valuation bubble is being caused by bad ideas and copycats chasing money-making opportunities.   Read

Well-known Marathi journalist Nikhil Wagle has refused an offer of security from the Maharashtra police after reports that he may be the next target of right-wing groups suspected in the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare.


Sameer Gaikwad, who was recently arrested from Sangli in connection to Pansare's murder is alleged to have made statements saying that Wagle was the next target in phone conversations accessed by the police.


Pansare was gunned down outside his home in Sagar Mala locality of Kolhapur city when he was out for a morning walk. His murder was part of a recent spate of attacks on rationalists across the country.


Gaikwad, a member of the Sanatan Sanstha, the extremist group suspected to be behind the killing of Mr Pansare, is allegedly heard in phone conversations saying that Wagle is the next target after Pansare.


Gaikwad was arrested in Maharashtra after his phone was placed under surveillance.


CPI leader Govind Pansare was shot and killed in February this year when he was out for a morning walk in his hometown of Kolhapur, in the south west of Maharashtra. 

A special MCOCA court is expected to pronounce on Monday quantum of sentence to the convicted 12 of the 13 accused for their involvement in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai suburban train bombings.


Twelve people were convicted last week by a special court here in the serial blasts that killed 188 people.Designated MCOCA Judge Yatin D Shinde had on September 11 held them guilty of complicity in the crime while acquitting 34-year-old Abdul Wahid Shaikh, also an accused, in the case.


They were found guilty of planting bombs in local trains which exploded at various stations in the peak hours in the evening.


All the twelve convicts found guilty in the case, had pleaded for leniency in the court on the point of sentence citing humanitarian grounds.


The judge had called each convict before him and recorded their respective statements on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to them.


After the court recorded their statements, their lawyers and the prosecution began argument on the quantum of sentence.

Just in: Himachal tunnel collapse: The boring is finally complete and the NDRF rescue team are set to enter the tunnel. The operation to rescue the three trapped tunnel workers resumed this morning, a day after it suffered a setback due to a high-speed drilling machine developing a snag. A portion of the under-construction tunnel of the Kiratpur-Nerchowk-Manali four lane project had caved in last Saturday. Since then the efforts were on to rescue the three trapped workers.

Just in: Five bombs detected near State Bank of India bus terminus in Mangaluru, one arrested.

Stating that the legal notice served by the Congress "cannot silence her', Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani Sunday dared Congress and its vice-president Rahul Gandhi to put her behind the bars.


She was reacting to a legal notice that the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress had served to Irani on Saturday for allegations that the party had
grabbed land belonging to Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Amethi.


During her previous visit to Amethi on August 23, Irani had accused the Congress of "taking' away the industrial land acquired from farmers for setting up bicycle factory.


She had said that the state government had given nearly 65-acre, acquired from farmers, to Samrat Bicycles for setting up its manufacturing unit and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust had purchased it illegally on February 24 this year. Read more

Armies of India and Pakistan will hold a flag meeting today at Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir to discuss how to bring peace on the border which has been volatile in the recent past.


"India and Pakistan will hold a flag meeting at Brigade Commander level at Chakan da Bagh crossing point at LoC to address the issue of ceasefire violations," PRO Defence Northern Command Col SD Goswami said.


The ceasefire violations have escalated in last few days and resulted in large number of civilian casalities and collateral damage to properties. The field commanders from both sides will discuss the modalities to defuse the tense situation, he said.

Vietnam has freed a high-profile blogger who has travelled to the United States, which is pressing for more such dissidents to be released.


"We welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release Ta Phong Tan who decided to travel to the United States after her release from prison," said Terry White, a US Embassy public affairs officer.


"We remain deeply concerned for all persons imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms and call on the government to release unconditionally all these prisoners and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views without fear of retribution," he said.


Tan, 47, a former policewoman, was arrested in 2011 for writing about human rights and corruption on her blog and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda in a trial that also convicted fellow blogger Nguyen Van Hai, better known as Dieu Cay.

Asaram rape case: Two arrested by police in Ahmedabad for attacks on witnesses.

On the first day of his Jammu and Kashmir visit, Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a newly-constructed building at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police camp in Samba.

Addressing the jawans, Singh said, "You are not only Himveers, but also Himalyaputras. The ITBP is guarding the 3488-km long India-China border which is one of the most inhospitable and difficult borders  There are issues of road connectivity and telecom connectivity close to Indo-China border. The MHA is building many roads to provide connectivity."

"India has always been a peaceful neighbour willing to maintain good relations with all its neighbours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it very clear to China that resolving all outstanding issues including border disputes is key to improved bilateral ties," he added.

"The ITBP is not only guarding the borders, but also protecting India's assets in countries like Afghanistan."

Singh lauded the role played by ITBP in defending the Indian consulate at Herat from a terrorist attack last year. Terming the ITBP as first "responders" to natural calamity situation in Nepal after the earthquake, he hailed its role in saving lives during rescue operations.   

Image: Home Minister Rajnath Singh addresses jawans in Samba. Photograph: @HMOIndia   

A Dewas court has framed charges against eight people, including 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in connection with the murder of former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi.

Second Additional Sessions Judge Rajendra Kumar Verma yesterday framed the charges under section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against Pragya Thakur, Vasudev Parmar and Anand Raj Kataria.

The court also framed charges under sections 120 (B) and 302 (murder) of IPC against others accused -- Harshad Solanki, Lokesh Sharma, Rajendra Chaudhary, Ram Chandra Patel and Jitendra Sharma. Joshi had been chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency in connection with 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast case. He was shot dead on December 29, 2007 when he was walking back to his hideout at Chuna Khadan locality in Dewas town of Madhya Pradesh.

The MP police, after having closed the Joshi murder case, reopened it and filed a charge sheet in Dewas, alleging Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, arrested in the Malegaon blasts case, and four others had murdered him, fearing he might expose the entire conspiracy from Samjhauta to Ajmer blasts.

Days before Union minister General V K Singh retired as the army chief, dozens of documents on a military intelligence unit that he had created and whose activities and funding had attracted widespread scrutiny were destroyed.  

According to documents perused by The Hindu, between May 22 and May 25, 2012, the Southern Army Command based in Pune moved very quickly to assemble two different boards of officers to carry out the complete destruction of all documents in its custody on Technical Services Division -- the controversial military intelligence unit Gen Singh had set up in 2010.

He retired on May 31, 2012 and later joined the BJP, and is now Minister of State for External Affairs in the Narendra Modi government.

Read the full report here

Apple said it is cleaning up its iOS App Store to remove malicious iPhone and iPad programmes identified in the first large-scale attack on the popular mobile software outlet.

The company disclosed the effort after several cyber security firms reported finding a malicious programme dubbed XcodeGhost that was embedded in hundreds of legitimate apps, according to a Reuters report.

The hackers embedded the malicious code in apps by convincing developers of legitimate software to use a tainted, counterfeit version of Apple's software for creating iOS and Mac apps, which is known as Xcode, Apple said.  

India and Pakistan will hold a flag meeting at 10 am at the Line of Control in Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir to discuss peace issues on the volatile border.

Public Relations Officer Defence Northern Command Col S D Goswami said that the meeting will be of the brigade commander level and will take place at Chakan da Bagh crossing point at LoC, adding that the meeting will address the issue of ceasefire violations.

The ceasefire violations have escalated in last few days and resulted in large number of civilian casualties and collateral damage to properties.He added that the field commanders from both the sides will discuss the modalities to defuse the tense situation.

Nepal adopted its first democratic constitution yesterday amid protests. At least person was shot dead and 15 other injured in clashes in Birgunj in the southern part of the country.

Two of those injured are critical, reports Al Jazeera. The protesters vandalised the residence of CPN-UML lawmaker Rajkumar Gupta at Birgunj-17.

Photograph: @ANI/Twitter

A curfew has been imposed in the city after protests against the constitution.

Just in: Sensex slumps nearly 250 points to slip below 26,000.   

HBO was clearly the big winner at this year's Emmys.

The big awards went to 'Veep', which won best comedy series and 'Game of Thrones' won the best drama.

Viola Davis made history. Shes the first black woman to win the best lead actress award for a drama for her role in 'How to Get Away With Murder'. And finally a win for Mad Men's Jon Hamm.   

And here's the complete list of winners

Image: Viola Davis accepts the award for her role in ABC's 'How To Get Away With Murder' during the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California September 20, 2015. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Amid the continuing Patel quota stir in Gujarat, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on pitched for a review of the reservation policy, contending it has been used for political ends and suggesting setting up of an apolitical committee to examine who needs the facility and for how long.

He said though "interest groups" do get formed in democracy, aspirations of one section should not be met at the cost of others.

"Interest groups are formed because we have certain aspirations in democracy. At the same time, we should remember that through interest groups we should not strive to address those aspirations at the cost of others. We should have integral approach of welfare for all.

"It is sensible to realise that my interest lies in larger national interest. The government also has to be sensitive to these issues that there should not be any agitations for them," Bhagwat told Sangh mouthpiece Organiser and Panchjanya in an interview.

The radicalisation of the Islamic State in worrying indeed.

Intelligence Bureau officials have been trying to convince a 20-year-old against joining the Islamic State, The Indian Express reports.

The daughter of a retired Indian Army Lieutenant Colonel went to Australia for three years for post-graduate studies. When she returned, she was reportedly a changed person.

Intelligence sources said it was her father who approached the National Investigation Agency and reported her activities. The agency, in turn, got in touch with the IB which is now handling the matter, according to the report.

The former army officer stumbled upon some communication related to the Islamic State. On further investigation, it was found that she was in touch with recruiters of the terror group and planned to travel to Syria,   
 

Eiffel Tower shut after 'terror suspect' scales French landmark

Nepal adopts historic constitution amid protests

The spectacular 1965 war carnival at Rajpath

No entry for anti-dengue team at Kejriwal's house; Delhi govt cries foul

India and Pakistan to hold flag meeting to defuse LoC flare-ups

On Mann Ki Baat, Modi says he is eager to meet Bose's kin but stays mum on files

Yesterday's live commentary