"Bihar mein kanoon ka raj hain aur kanoon ka raj rahega (There has always been a rule of law and will always be there," Nitish Kumar told newspersons in a reaction to charges of BJP leaders that jungle raj has returned in Bihar.

Nitish Kumar has also claimed that there is no problem of law and order in the state. "I am committed to rule of law, there is no chance to compromise with it,' he said.He said his government is closely keeping watch on every incident of crime -- small or big. "We have directed the police to act tough against criminals."

The Palestinian side, however, did not offer any concrete evidence in this regard but said that they have information from third parties proving that all the Indians are still safe. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had also assured President Pranab Mukherjee during his October visit that the missing Indians were safe. There has been speculation that the Indians are being held in captivity by Islamic State in the Mosul region of Iraq.

Though the state witnessed growing radicalisation of the youth during the period, particularly after the emergence of Islamic State, the security forces were effective in countering militants and terrorists. The number of security personnel killed dropped from 51 in 2014 to 41 in 2015, whereas the number of militants killed in counter-insurgency operations marginally rose to 113 from 110 in 2014, official data reveals.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict in Syria and has a network of sources on the ground, reports 85 civilians were killed in Saturday's attack, as well as 50 government soldiers and militiamen.

Car bombs, suicide bombers and executions were carried out as jihadists stormed the Al-Bghiliyyeh and al-Jura areas of the town. Scores of people have also been reported kidnapped by IS, with one monitoring group reporting that 400 people are now missing.

"More than 600 police personnel led by Assistant Commissioners and Superintendents of Police from nearby districts will be deployed for smooth conduct of the Ghazal concert," Assistant Commissioner of Police (Special Branch), P T Balan said. 

The ACP said Ghulam Ali would be accompanied to the venue later this evening by commandos in two vehicles, his personal escorts in one vehicle, besides a pilot vehicle. Those entering the venue would be frisked and no handbags or other items would be allowed inside, he said. 

Balan said police would block the protest march planned at the venue by Shiv Sena and Hanuman Sena volunteers by blocking them about 600 metres away from the spot. Ghulam Ali is in Kerala on the invitation of socio-cultural organisation 'Swaralaya'.

"Delhi Police Chief (B S Bassi) has asked his force and police departments of the neighbouring states to keep a vigilant eye on drones, as they have been perceived as a major threat to security, especially in view of Republic Day," a senior police official said.

This is the second time in two weeks the veterans have staged demonstrations outside the minister's official residence. 

"We had staged protest outside the Minister's residence on January 3. At that time, he had assured us he will speak to Defence Minister (Manohar Parrikar) over our demands. "He had said he would get back to us within a week. But it's two weeks now that he has not responded. What kind of finance minister he is if he can not keep his word?" said Group Captain (retd) VK Gandhi.

"Modi ji trying everything possible to create hurdles in Delhi govt," Kejriwal tweeted."Then they say that we have a problem of picking up fights. Every morning Modi ji gets up and thinks how he could create hurdles in the functioning of Delhi state government. He is trying everything possible to create hurdles," he added.

"NC is not power hungry and is not interested in political power that comes through an ideological compromise. We shunned prospects of an alliance with the BJP a year ago and the reasons for having done that remain unchanged," Omar wrote on his official Facebook page.

The Delhi government has also asked the actors to join its anti-tobacco campaign to save the lives of lakhs of people who die due to oral cancer every year. 

"You are often seen on TV and other media advertising pan masala products. Even if these pan masalas do not contain tobacco or nicotine, they surely contain areca nuts (supari) and now there are a lot of scientific evidences which prove that supari causes cancer. 

"Moreover, some of these pan masala advertisements are surrogate advertisements of tobacco products which the manufacturing companies try to promote," said Dr S K Arora, Additional Director (Health), Delhi government, in his letters.

A few days earlier, Jalalabad witnessed another explosion after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing as many as seven people near the Pakistan consulate. 

This is part of the $370 million (Rs 2,508 crore) Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project for which the bank is extending assistance of $250 million (Rs 1694 crore) from 2015-2020.

"None is coming. Nobody can come without any information to us. Rather, India should be allowed access to places in Pakistan from where perpetrators had come to our land," said Parrikar. 

The statement came two days after external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said India would "extend all help" to the Pakistani investigators. 

It came in response to a query about how safe it would be to share details of a strategic defence location with Pakistan. Parrikar said India was attacked, lost precious lives and has lost patience. He added it was high time Pakistan contained terror outfits operating from its soil.

"At least, I am short of patience as defence minister and we cannot tolerate it anymore," he added

Diplomats, including US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have gathered in Vienna to announce that the Islamic Republic has fulfilled its commitments under July's nuclear accord with world powers, thereby ending a decade-long standoff with world powers over the country's nuclear programme.

"Implementation day" of the nuclear deal agreed last year marks the biggest re-entry of a former pariah state onto the global economic stage since the end of the Cold War, and a turning point in the hostility between Iran and the United States that has shaped the Middle East since 1979.

It is a defining initiative for both US President Barack Obama and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, both of whom faced strong opposition from hardliners at home in countries that have called each other "Great Satan" and part of the "axis of evil".

The sanctions have cut off a nation of nearly 80 million from the global financial system, drastically reduced the exports of a major oil producer and imposed severe economic hardship on ordinary Iranians. Most will be lifted immediately.

Even before the expected announcement, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on Saturday that executives from two of the world's largest oil companies, Shell and Total, had arrived in Tehran for talks with the state oil and tanker companies.

Several Republican presidential candidates criticized the Obama administration's decision to swap seven Iranian prisoners for The Washington Post's reporter Jason Rezaian and three other Americans on Saturday.

Some of them, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), accused the administration of not pushing hard enough for the American prisoners' release when the United States negotiated a deal with Iran last year. A group of 21 senators, led by Rubio and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last year to demand the prisoners' unconditional release. Kerry has said that he repeatedly pushed for their release during negotiations.

On Saturday, Republicans said that Obama should not have given up Iranian prisoners because it made the United States look weak and that the U.S. prisoners should have been released without condition.

Shortly after the exchange was announced, Rubio said that while he was happy the Americans were coming home, the release would only encourage U.S. enemies to take more hostages abroad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pipped bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to become second most followed Indian on social media site Twitter. 

As on January 16, Modi had over 17,371,600 followers while Khan was being followed by 17,351,100 Twitter members. 

In terms of number of followers on Twitter, Modi now trails only superstar Amitabh Bachchan who has close to 18.9 million followers on the social network. The number of followers of Modi's account, @narendramodi, has consistently increased by about a million every two months. The number followers of Modi on Twitter crossed 15 million mark on September 22 last year and on November 20 it surpassed 16 million mark. 

It is about two months now when his followers have increased by more than a million on Twitter.

Active on Twitter since 2009, Modi is the most followed Indian politician, and the second most followed politician in the world, right after US President Barack Obama (@barackobama), as per Twitter.

Freshly elected Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen disappeared from China's most popular social network, with censors working swiftly to block any mention of the Beijing-wary politician as she stormed to victory on the island.

Searches for "Tsai Ing-wen" and "Taiwan elections" on the Twitter-like Weibo network turned up a message that read: "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the results for this search cannot be shown," a signal for words blocked by China's army of Internet gatekeepers.

The island's first female president won in a landslide victory over the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) today, as voters turned their backs on closer China ties.

Tsai wasted no time in warning China that "suppression" would harm cross-strait ties in her first comments to international media following her win, adding that "our democratic system, national identity and international space must be respected".