Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, whose concert was cancelled in Mumbai last year following Shiv Sena protests, today enthralled a packed audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.

"I am always happy whenever I go anywhere, but this time I am very happy. I used to visit Kolkata often, but this year it seems I am coming after 50 years. I was so sad and today my sadness ends," the 75-year-old singer of Patiala gharana said.

 Thousands, who gathered to hear him, cheered when he crooned his popular numbers Chupke Chupke Raat Din and Hungama Hai kyon Barpa.

His son Aamir Ali also sang with him at the programme.

Describing Ghulam Ali as 'Sangeet Samrat', Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was also present said, "Music has no boundary".

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who was back from Europe trip on Sunday, will visit Mumbai on January 15 and 16 during which he will hold meetings with party leaders and is expected to hold an interaction with students.

Rahul on Tuesday held confabulations with a number of senior party leaders, including Amarinder Singh, chief of Punjab Congress where the party is making a bid for power in the 2017 assembly polls.

The Congress vice president is learnt to have enquired in detail about the Pathankot terror attack during his meetings with party leaders.

Sources said Rahul as well as Congress president Sonia Gandhi were of the view that the decision to hold the Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks should be left to the government based on merits and 'since the government has not involved the major opposition party' on the issue, it should not pre-empt the government's decision on the matter.

Pakistani military officers were behind the attack on Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, says police chief of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province.

Sayed Kamal Sadat was quoted as saying by Tolo News that the attackers 'from across the border were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege'.

'We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 percent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation,' Sadat was quoted as saying.

'The attackers were military personnel. They were educated and well prepared and had intelligence. They fought us and only by Allah's grace were we able to control them and eliminate them'.

After Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday urged the Centre to promulgate ordinance to conduct Jallikattu.

'I urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promulgate an Ordinance forthwith to enable the conduct of Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu immediately,'  M. Karunanidhi said in a statement.

'Central government has failed to take appropriate actions. It should've brought ordinance instead of notification,' he added.

The Supreme Court earlier this afternoon stayed a central government notification that paved the way for a return of the banned bull taming sport, thereby effectively scuttling plans of staging the event during the Pongal celebrations in Tamil Nadu later this week.

The suicide bomber who killed nine people on Tuesday in a popular central Istanbul tourist area had Syrian roots, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Erdogan did not specify which group his government thinks is behind the explosion, which happened between the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque tourist attractions in the cultural and historic heart of the city.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus later said the bomber was born in 1998 and was from Syria. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Islamic State and various militant factions have been battling in Syria, with Turkey siding against those groups. IS has targeted Turkey in recent months, putting Erdogan on the cover of its Dabiq magazine with President Barack Obama and playing up the country's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation role.  

Read HERE

The policeman, who had allegedly molested several girls and women during a recently-held festival in Ahmedabad, has been arrested and suspended from duty, police said today.

A video clip purportedly showing the policeman groping girls and inappropriately touching women at Kankaria Carnival held between December 25 and 31, had gone viral on social media, including WhatsApp, following which the city police had launched a search to nab him.

The accused, identified as Ramsinh Valvai, 48, a head constable attached to Danilimda police station in Ahmedabad, was arrested on Monday night after three days of extensive search operation by several police teams.

"Valvai was part of the police team deployed at Kankaria Carnival on bandobast duty, where the incident took place. He was suspended from duty today and we would produce him before court in due course," Maninagar police inspector N S Desai said.

He has been charged under Indian Penal Code Section 354 (outraging modesty of women), 354A (sexual harassment) and 268 (public nuisance).

In his defence, Valvai claimed that he was just trying to make his way through the crowd.

Turkish officials have blamed today's blast in Istanbul which killed 10 people on Islamic State terror group.

They said there are high probabilities that IS was involved in the blast at a major tourist spot in the city.

IS had claimed two earlier blasts in the country.

Congress vice-president Sonia Gandhi was surprised, and probably pleasantly surprised,  to receive a letter from BJP MP and Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani. The letter was in commiseration with Sonia and Rahul's legal woes in the National Herald case.

Sources tell us that Jethmalani assured Sonia that she would win the case in the lower court and he wrote, "I am with you."

Sonia smiled on reading it and marked it to her legal team.

BJP circles are unconcerned for they believe it is a prestige issue between Jethmalani and Dr Subramanian Swamy. Swamy is the complainant in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the functioning of the now-defunct National Herald newspaper.

Many in the Congress are still unable to reconcile to the fact that this is the Ram Jethmalani who fought the Bofors case against Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi.

They way the 92-year-old legal stalwart has turned against the Modi government and will go to any extent to defame the BJP.

As we know, Jethmalani will defend Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the defamation case filed against him by Finance minister Arun Jaitley.

The New York Times' Pakistan correspondent today accused the Rangers of raiding his house illegally, triggering a storm on the social media with the Interior Minister ordering a probe into the incident. Salman Masood tweeted that paramilitary "Rangers have shown up at my house, saying they want to search the premises but have no documents or warrants."

"Spoke with a senior Islamabad police official. He said a "terrorist search operation underway"," he said in another tweet as he uploaded pictured of the officials searching his house in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The tweet created a storm on the social media with civil society and media professionals condemning the search of journalist residence.

Arvind Kejriwal today responded to Arun Jaitley's defamation suit with a stinging reply in which he taunted the Union Finance Minister for "losing by over one lakh votes" in the national election and said he has no high public "reputation to protect".

NDTV reports that in a statement to a Delhi court,  the Chief Minister said Jaitley's "claim that he enjoys a high public character is totally frivolous and unsustainable."

He wrote: "The last time he contested the election to the Lok Sabha was from Amritsar as a BJP candidate in 2014. Despite the success of the BJP this plaintiff lost by a margin of more than 1,00,000 votes. Indian democracy has never accepted his claim of public character."

Last month, Jaitley filed the suit against Kejriwal and five other leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party over their allegations that he had presided over large-scale corruption in Delhi's cricket body, the DDCA, during his 13-year-stint as the organisation's chief. He has also filed a civil suit, claiming Rs 10 crore in damages.

BJP MLAs hold meeting at Nirmal Singh's residence in Jammu to discuss political situation in J&K, Ram Madhav also present.

The friendship between President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and is well-documented. They have lunch together every week, wear matching ties,and their families go on vacation together. Obama even gave the eulogy at the funeral for Biden's son Beau, who died of cancer last year.In an interview with CNN, Biden this week revealed just how deep bond runs.

The veep told CNN that Obama offered him money during Beau's illness. Biden told the president that, to make sure he could take care of Beau's family, he and wife Jill might have to sell their house. But Obama wouldn't stand for that.

"He got up and he said, 'Don't sell that house. Promise me you won't sell the house,'" Biden said. "He said, 'I'll give you the money. Whatever you need, I'll give you the money. Don't, Joe -- promise me. Promise me."

In Kolkata, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee attends Ghulam Ali's concert. 

Just in: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa writes to PM Modi requesting the government to issue an ordinance that will enable the conduct of jallikattu. "Important that sentiments of people of Tamil Nadu attached to jallikattu are respected," Chief Minister Jayalalithaa writes in her letter to PM Modi. Jallikattu is seen as a populist measure to ensure poll victory in the assembly elections later this year.

The Supreme Court today stayed the Centre's notification lifting the ban on the controversial bull taming sport during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

The bench also issued a notice to the MoEF and Tamil Nadu on petitions filed by various bodies including Animal Welfare Board of India seeking striking down of the Centre's notification and sought their replies within four weeks.

The Centre's notification lifting ban on Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu was challenged in the Supreme Court yesterday by AWBI, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals India and a Bangalore-based non-governmental organisation.

The Centre has reportedly asked Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) chairman Maj General (retd.) R.M. Kharb and vice chairman Chinny Krishna to resign from the statutory body for challenging  its January 8 notification lifting a four-year-old executive order prohibiting jallikattu.

The Wire reports that AWBI filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday against the government's move.

Jallikattu is a traditional Tamil bull-baiting sport which animal rights activists say involves cruelty to bulls.

Though there has been no official confirmation of the resignation call, sources in the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) said both Kharb and Krishna were called by a senior ministry official today and asked to resign from their posts for going against the government's decision.

Earlier in the day, the AWBI, along with People for Ethical treatment of Animals (PETA), the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisation, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action and some individuals, filed a petition in the apex court challenging the latest notification of the ministry as it was in violation of the court's May 7, 2014, judgement banning jallikattu.

The Bombay High Court today granted two weeks additional time to actor Salman Khan to furnish sureties as directed by it while acquitting him in the 2002 hit-and-run case.

On December 10, Justice A R Joshi of the high court had acquitted Salman and quashed and set aside the trial court's order convicting the actor and sentencing him to five years in jail, for allegedly driving his car under the influence of alcohol and running over people sleeping on the footpath in suburban Bandra in 2002. One person lost his life in the incident.

Salman was convicted by the trial court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The actor had appealed against his conviction and the high court allowed the appeal and acquitted Salman. Justice Joshi, while acquitting Salman, directed him to submit two sureties of Rs 25,000, as per section 437-A of CrPC.

The sureties had to be submitted within two weeks. The actor yesterday approached the high court once again, seeking further time to submit the sureties as certain formalities are not yet over. Justice A M Thipsay today permitted the actor two more weeks to complete the formalities and submit the sureties.

A Delhi court has dismissed a plea by Telangana Police seeking its nod to take Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy, facing trial here for allegedly trying to set up a base for the banned CPI (Maoist), to produce him before courts in that state in some other cases.

65-year-old Ghandy is facing trial here in the case for alleged offences punishable under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and various provisions of the IPC. The court had earlier framed charges against co-accused Rajender Kumar under various sections of the IPC in the case. Ghandy, an alumnus of the prestigious Doon School and St Xavier's College Mumbai, is facing prosecution in around 20 criminal and terror cases in different parts of the country.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will take oath as the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister anytime after the end of the seven-day official mourning for her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Wednesday, party spokesman Mehboob Beg said on Tuesday.

Beg also said that neither it nor its alliance partner -- BJP -- had set any preconditions for the formation of the new government in the State.

"Without any preconditions from either side, Mehbooba ji will take oath as the Chief Minister anytime after the seven-day official mourning ends tomorrow,' he said.

"The terms of alliance already worked out will continue to govern the relationship between the two parties in the next government," Beg asserted.

A Fortune magazine cover of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos resembling Hindu god Vishnu has drawn outrage from the community in the US over "trivialisation of their venerated deity'. 

'Nasir' is one of the lucky ones. He managed to escape from the grasp of Islamic State, which was training him to be a suicide bomber. He is just 12 years old. The boy is now reunited with his mother at the Esyan refugee camp in Kurdistan, home to almost 15,000 Yazidis fleeing IS. 

Fifteen people have been wounded in the blast at Istanbul. The governor's office said, "Investigations into the cause of the explosion, the type of explosion and perpetrator or perpetrators are underway," it said in a statement quoted by the Dogan news agency after the blast in the Sultanahmet neighbourhood.

Rescue teams gather at the scene after an explosion in central Istanbul, Turkey. Kemal Aslan/Reuters.

Eyewitness said the explosion was very loud. "We shook a lot. We ran out and saw body parts," one woman who works at a nearby antiques store told a Reuters correspondent, declining to give her name.

Turkey has also become a target for Islamic State, with two bombings last year blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. Kurdish, leftist and Islamist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

Another update on the explosion in Turkey.

An explosion occurred in Istanbul's touristic Sultanahmet neighborhood, reportedly causing injuries and deaths.

According to reports by private broadcaster CNN Trk, the explosion occurred by the obelisk of Theodosius in the touristic Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul's Fatih district.

Tourists were among the victims of the explosion, reports indicate, while wounded persons were transferred to nearby hospitals, mainly Haseki Training and Research Hospital. According to Istanbul's governor's office, 10 people have been killed in the explosion while at least 15 people have been reported wounded.

Details awaited.

And the still stunning Jerry Hall is now engaged to media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Hall, an American actress and former supermodel had a long-time relationship with Mick Jagger.

Murdoch (84) and Hall (59) placed a classified ad Monday in the Births, Marriages and Deaths section of the Times newspaper, which is owned by Murdoch's News Corporation.

Dating since late summer Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corporation, and Hall have been dating since late summer after being introduced by one of his sisters and his niece in his native Australia, the Times reported in a story posted online.

They made their relationship public in October when they appeared together at the Rugby World Cup Final in London and got engaged last weekend while attending the Golden Globes awards in Los Angeles.

An explosion rocked a central square in Istanbul on Tuesday, Turkey's semi-official Anadolu news agency reported.

The Independent says there were reports of a number of people injured in Sultanahmet Square, close to the major tourist attractions of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. 

Witnesses reported hearing a loud blast and video footage on the CNN Turk channel showed police and ambulances at the scene.

Casualties were reported, but no further details were immediately available. News reports showed Turkish security forces clearing the area.


The picture tweeted by Haidar Sumeri @IraqiSecurity shows people, probably injured, lying on the road.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today it was premature to say whether Moscow would grant asylum to embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who had made "many mistakes."

"You know I believe that it is premature to discuss this," Putin said in the second half of a two-part interview with German mass circulation daily Bild.

"We gave asylum to Mr Snowden, it was more difficult than giving it to Assad," he said, referring to fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, granted asylum in Russia in 2013.

"First one needs to give the Syrian people an opportunity to have their say," Putin said, according to a Russian-language transcript of the interview published by the Kremlin.

"And I assure you that if this is done in a democratic way, then maybe he won't have to go anywhere. And it does not matter whether he is president or not." Global powers are seeking to push the Syrian regime and opposition to the negotiating table in a bid to end the nearly five-year war that has killed 260,000 people.

A UN-backed plan foresees talks between the different sides starting on January 25, the establishment of a transitional government within six months and elections within 18 months. Putin - who launched a bombing campaign in the war-torn country on September 30 - appeared to defend Assad, although he acknowledged the Syrian president had made "many mistakes" since the conflict broke out in 2011.

Several injured in explosion in Istanbul, says Turkish media report, reports Associated Press.

The US has said it is encouraged by the fact that the Pakistan government has condemned the Pathankot terror attack and promised investigation. "Our expectation is that investigation will be thorough and complete and as transparent as possible. But in terms of its progress and where they are, you'd have to talk to Pakistani authorities on it," State Department Spokesman John Kirby said at his daily news conference.

"We're encouraged by the fact that the Pakistani Government condemned the attack and said that they would investigate," he said.

The spokesman said that the US would like the two countries to continue with their peace talks. Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to find out the truth and stressed on the need to stay focused on the pressing challenge of terrorism in the region.

The Supreme Court has said NO to Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu this year.

The court heard a clutch of appeals challenging the Centre's notification to allow the bull taming sport Jallikattu, during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

Senior lawyers Sidharth Luthra and Anand Grover had mentioned the matter before Chief Justice T S Thakur for an urgent hearing, pointing out that the decision to lift the ban has been taken days before traditional harvest festival Pongal is set to begin.

This morning Justice R Banumathi recused herself from hearing the case in the Supreme Court.

Petitions seeking stay/quashing of batch of petitions have been shifted for hearing to a Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra.

Justice R. Banumathi had first banned jallikattu during her tenure as Judge of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

"In our media and general population the idea of 'strong posture' was successfully sold by Modi. This is now a liability for him, as he has discovered," says Aakar Patel. Read

Indian-American Bobby Jindal has demitted his office as Louisiana Governor after the end of his second four year term.

Jindal, 44, was replaced by John Bel Edwards of the Democratic Party, who was won the elections last November.

In 2008, Jindal was sworn in as Governor of Louisiana, becoming the first ever Indian-American to hold the top position. In an interview over the weekend, Jindal did not rule out running for any other elected position.

As for now, he has decided to work with a think-tank America Next.

Putting the onus on Pakistan to speed up the investigation in the Pathankot attack probe, the BJP on Tuesday said that India has done its job by giving enough leads and evidence and the time had come for Islamabad to take concrete steps.

"India has done its job and has given the evidence to Pakistan. Their attitude seems positive to some aspect but we want a fair probe and demand that justice is delivered as fast as possible," BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI.

Further pressuring the Pakistan government to speed up the investigation, he added that India will only respond when Islamabad delivers on the leads and evidence provided to them.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Pakistan has rejected the evidence provided by India in the Pathankot attack and has denied the credibility of the proofs.

Security has been tightened around the army cantonment in Punjab's border district of Ferozepur, after a man called the police and said he had seen two men in military fatigues lurking suspiciously. The caller, the police said, did not identify himself, reports NDTV.

The Army has been alerted and extra police forces have been rushed to the area; search operations are being conducted.

Security forces have spent days combing through thick sugarcane fields after a similar alert from villagers around the Tibri military cantonment in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, which like Ferozepur, borders Pakistan.  

The villagers in Gurdaspur too had reported two men in uniform "moving around suspiciously" in a village not far from the Tibri cantonment.   Gurdaspur is about 40 km from Pathankot, where six Pakistani terrorists dressed in Army fatigues attacked an air force base on January 2.

The terrorists were eliminated after an 80-hour gun battle. Seven security personnel were martyred and 20 were injured. Security has been tightened around all military instalments in the country after the Pathankot attack.

India is the world's biggest outsourcing destination in terms of financial attractiveness and business environment, according to a study published today by a London-based global management consulting firm.

A T Kearney's 2016 Global Services Location Index (GSLI) rated India as number one out of the total 55 countries analysed. China, Malaysia, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, Mexico, Chile and Poland respectively made up the top 10 list.

Offshoring to India remains a high attractive proposition for many companies, said the study which also takes a deeper dive into optimal cities for offshoring within the ranked countries.

The White House has assured American-Sikhs of their safety and security in view of the increasing threats and hate crimes against the community members in the recent past.

In a rare gesture, Melissa Rogers, Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and head of the Office of Faith Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships office of the White House, visited a Gurdwara in Maryland to deliver the message of reassurance from the President.

Asserting that the US Government's stand with Sikhs in America, Rogers also expressed empathy with the Sikh community over the recent incidents of violence against Sikhs and a reported case of vandalism at Los Angeles Gurdwara, a media release said.

No rules learnt from Gujarat.

The Congress will bring in total prohibition if elected to power in the coming state assembly polls, TNCC president E V K S Elangovan has said. At a public meeting at Gobichettipalayam near Eroed last night, Elangovan promised the gathering that if Congress formed the government in Tamil Nadu, it would bring in total prohibition besides free education from kindergarten to postgraduate level.

Party spokesperson Kushbhoo said the election was crucial to all parties and claimed the Congress would form the government in the state. Both leaders slammed the state government over its handling of the flood situation during the heavy rains in early December.

They also flayed the functioning of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, claiming that there was no development during its 19-month rule.

Security agencies alerted after caller sees men in Army fatigues in Ferozepur cantonment area. 

The Pathankot attackers said they wanted revenge for the hanging of Afzal Guru; and in the Kashmir valley, Afzal Guru's "martyrdom" has becoming a rallying cry in the valley. But Afzal Guru's 17-year-old son Ghalib Abdul Guru says he has nothing to do with the azaadi (freedom) sentiment and wants to become a doctor and study at AIIMS.  Read more

The benchmark BSE Sensex pared its early gains to drift lower by 135.33 points in late morning deals on selling in key blue-chips stocks IT, Teck, telecom, banks and oil and gas.

Participants traded caution ahead of key macro numbers of Industrial Production (IIP) for December and (CPI) Inflation data to be released later in the day and quarterly earnings IT major TCS. The BSE Sensex opened higher at 24,862.93 and moved between 24,882.30 and 24,654.97.

It was quoting 24,689.71 at 1100 hrs, down 135.33 points or 0.55 per cent. The 50-share Nifty also dropped by 50.25 points or 0.66 per cent to 7,513.60 at 1100 hours. Major losers were Axis Bank 2.41 per cent, ONGC 2.32 per cent, Infosys 1.50 per cent, Dr Reddy's 1.34 per cent, TCS 1.31 per cent, Tata Motors 1.26 per cent and Hero MotoCorp by 1.25 per cent.

Around 100 short-finned whales have been washed ashore in Tiruchendur coast of Tuticorin district since Monday night.  According to officials, the local fishermen and rescuers dragged many of them back into the sea, but they kept returning to the shores.

Putting the onus on Pakistan to speed up the investigation in the Pathankot attack probe, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said that India has done its job by giving enough leads and evidence and the time had come for Islamabad to take concrete steps.

But the woman has now claimed that the video is fake. "They have made a fake video clip to ruin my life as a dowry case is in court," she says.

 In CCTV footage from a home in Uttar Pradesh, an elderly woman is seen wrapped in a quilt, cowering in her bed as she is slapped, kicked, choked and beaten with a brick.

Justin Bieber recently marked a historic first on the British singles charts as he occupied the entire top three of the chart.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended wishes to 'venerable' Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary.

New Delhi, Jan. 12 (ANI): Former Pakistan President General (retired) Pervez Musharraf has called on India to not 'overreact' to the terror strike on the Pathankot IAF base saying that both nations were victims of extremism and also accused New Delhi of creating pressure on Islamabad over terrorism.

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has called on India to not 'overreact' to the terror strike on the Pathankot Indian Air Force base saying that both nations were victims of extremism and also accused New Delhi of creating pressure on Islamabad over terrorism.

Asserting that the talks with Pakistan must take place, former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said that the government must take responsibility for any decision that it takes on the bilateral talks. 

The Supreme Court will today be hearing the petitions challenging the central notification allowing 'Jallikattu' in Tamil Nadu.

Senior Hurriyat Conference (G) leader and chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Syedah Asiya Andrabi has been invited for a two-day round table conference to be held in Islamabad.

On the day the state decided to reinstate suspended IPS officer Sunil Paraskar, the government also decided to reinstate suspended subinspector Daya Nayak.

In order to strengthen the security ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, 10,000 additional paramilitary forces have been deployed in the national capital.