In an obvious reference to controvesies surrounding promotion of Sanskrit language, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani today said when some outsider "praises" the same language he gets applauded, but when it is done by an Indian, he is subjected to criticism. Irani was speaking at the launch of a web portal -- 'Bharatvani', which focuses on becoming a single point source for multiple language learning.

Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko returned home to a hero's welcome today after nearly two years in a Russian prison, drawing a line under a damaging diplomatic spat between Moscow and Kiev.

The 35-year-old army helicopter pilot flew home as part of an apparent prisoner swap with Moscow, with two alleged Russian soldiers leaving Ukraine earlier in the day.

"I'm ready to once again give my life for Ukraine on the battlefield," a defiant Savchenko declared as she touched down on home soil, wearing a white T-shirt bearing the Ukrainian trident, a national symbol.

A presidential motorcade was on standby at Kiev's main Boryspil airport to whisk Savchenko to Poroshenko's office where she was to be decorated by the president, reported AFP.

In Ukraine, she has become a symbol of resistance against what Kiev sees as Moscow's aggression in the east and has been elected to parliament in her absence.

While in prison, she launched several hunger strikes to protest her detention, refusing both food and water during her high-profile trial in southern Russia.

She constantly defied the Russian authorities and even raised her middle finger at the court in March. Kiev and its Western allies view Savchenko as the latest pawn in Moscow's broader aggression against Ukraine that has seen Russia seize the Crimean peninsula and fuel the separatist uprising in 2014.

The Bombay high court today extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Pankaj Bhujbal, son of former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and nine others, who are facing charges of money laundering in Maharashtra Sadan scam, till June 7.

Pankaj, businessmen Asif Balwa, Vinod Goenka and others have challenged the non-bailable warrants issued by the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases.

They have also sought pre-arrest bail from the HC. Last week, the vacation bench had granted them interim protection from arrest. ED counsel Poornima Kantharia today submitted reply affidavits, following which the petitioners' lawyers sought time to file rejoinders.

Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi adjourned the hearing to June 7 and extended the interim protection till then. Aabad Ponda, lawyer of one of the petitioners, argued that ED had already recorded the petitioners' statements and it did not arrest them at that point.

The high court was also informed that the special PMLA court today cancelled the non-bailable warrants issued against Asif Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Sanjay Kakade and directed them to appear before it on June 6.

JUST IN: Policeman injured in Pulwama attack succumbs to injuries in Srinagar hospital.

In another attack in Kashmir, militants fired at the personal security officer of a National Conference leader in Pulwama town. A senior police officer said the cop escaped unhurt, but the militants snatched his AK-47 rifle. However, another policeman was critically injured and has been hospitalised. A massive manhunt has been launched to nab the militants.

Former J-K CM Omar Abdullah tweeted: "The PSO of my District President Pulwama has been injured in a militant attack. Hope he makes a complete & swift recovery."

Just two days ago, militants shot at and killed three cops in Srinagar. Security in the capital city has been beefed up following the incidents.

-- Mukhtar Ahmad/Rediff.com in Srinagar

Abhishek Bachchan on the Congress party opposing his hosting the BJP's 2nd anniversary bash: "He (Amitabh Bachchan) is not hosting any political event. He is part of a function where hes talking about educating the girl child, that's not a political event," Abhishek said.

The Congress has raked up the Panama Papers controversy to ask why Amitabh Bachchan has been chosen to host a mega show in Delhi to celebrate the Modi government's two years in power.

"We want to question Modiji...he promised to bring back black money, promised to punish each person who was involved. Would it not send a wrong message to all investigative agencies when a person accused of money laundering is seen hosting a program to celebrate two years of the Modi government?" asked the Congress' Randeep Surjewala today, prefacing the comments with, "Everyone in India loves Amitabh Bachchan as an artist and as an elder".

"He has denied charges and he may be proved innocent, but for now it sends the wrong message," Surjewala asserted

Making light of reports that a public toilet in Allahabad has been named after him, actor Rishi Kapoor said he is thrilled to read about it as at least he will be of some use to someone.


The 63-year-old actor has courted controversy and faced wrath of Congress party after he attacked the practice of naming all the major assets of the country after the Gandhi family members during the Congress rule.


The "Kapoor & Sons" star had also said people from the film industry should also have buildings named after them. Following the controversy, Congress workers in Allahabad recently named a public toilet in the city after the Bollywood actor.


Asked about it, Rishi joked, "I am thrilled. At least, I will be of some use to someone. These people (Congress loyalists) are of no use to anyone. I take pride in the fact that the Sulabh Shauchalaya is named after me because it is the Prime Minister's pet project right now."


However, he said he is not against the Nehru-Gandhi family but has a problem with people exploiting their family name. "On a serious note, it really doesn't matter to me what they do. They seem to have not understood what I implied by my tweets. I have nothing against the Nehru or Gandhi family. I am against the people exploiting their family name," he was quoted as saying. "What I am saying is of national importance; people should realise the folly of naming everything after two families. This is just an observation by a citizen of the country and I have every right to voice my opinion. I know I have ruffled a few Congress feathers but they have misunderstood my intentions."

The Congress today hit out at Amitabh Bachchan saying it was ethically and legally wrong to get the megastar to host the BJP's 2nd anniversary celebrations -- 'Zara Muskura Do' on May 28. The government is organising the event-- (Smile Please)--  which will have several performances and programmes highlighting its "achievements". The show will be beamed across the country by Doordarshan.

The Congress asked what is the message the government is sending out by asking Bachchan, whose name has appeared in the Pananma Papers, to host the event.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has clarified his comments about BJP MLA Angoorlata Deka saying he was just paying a compliment after being bashed for his narrow opinion of women. Varma's this tweet, "If MLA can look like this, Achche din aagaye hai.. Thank you Angoorlataji, Thank you Modiji.. 1st time I love politics," had evoked sharp reaction from Twitterati.


Soon users started blasting him over the tweet. One wrote, "@rgvzoomin mocking Angoorlata Deka only proved how you think of women #GetWellSoon," while another tweeted, "@RGVzoomin I am disappointed reading your comment, you should support young woman for taking this responsibility not looking at her in a dirty way."


The 54-year-old "Satya" director, who is not new to controversies, said he was only praising the MLA from Assam as most politicians "don't look good." "With regards to my comment on Angoorlataji,I was just paying a compliment to her . since most MLA's don't look good it was such a change," he wrote. "My every compliment is taken as negative comment... I don't know if it's the lack of their English knowledge or their dumbness quotient."


Image: That's the picture RGV tweeted, saying, "If MLA can look like this, Achche din aagaye hai.. Thank you Angoorlataji, Thank you Modiji.. 1st time I love politics."

RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to attend Mamata Banerjee's swearing-in ceremony in Kolkata.

Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today accepted his responsibility for the Congress' debacle in Assam Assembly polls and apologised to the people for not being able to fulfill their expectations.


"Yes, I am responsible for the poll debacle. I am the leader. If I am not responsible, then who will be?" Gogoi told a press conference when asked if he would take the responsibility for the poor performance of Congress. Probably his government failed to fulfil the expectations of people and so they were defeated in the poll, he said.


"We will analyse why we faced such a debacle. We must have committed some mistakes. We apologise to the people for that. We will now strengthen the party. We are working on how to reorganise the party. The challenge is to find out the mistakes and go to people," Gogoi said.


Stating that the situation this time was similar to 1985 when AGP came to power, foreigners issue had played the main role then, "also like this election". "AGP had benefited that time and now it is BJP. They (BJP) succeeded in dividing the people by doing publicity that existence of Assamese and Hindus are at stake... We took steps on infiltration issue. But the way RSS presented it, we could not guess it. Already reports have come out that over 25,000 RSS members worked during the polls," Gogoi said.


He said the Congress workers are not disheartened as 31 per cent of people of Assam voted for Congress, while BJP alone got 29 per cent votes and BJP-led alliance got 41 per cent.

Pinarayi Vijayan takes oath along with 19-member cabinet. 

Just in: Pinarayi Vijayan takes oath as Kerala Chief Minister.


Vijayan, known as a taskmaster and an organisation man to the core, pipped his bitter rival V S Achuthanandan to the top post in Kerala politics, notwithstanding the spirited campaign by the 93-year-old leader to ensure the Left's victory in the assembly election.


Hailing from a poor toddy tapper's family, the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader belongs to the politically dominant Thiyya community like his party rival  Achuthanandan, who is an Ezhava from South Kerala.


Popularly known as 'Pinarayi', Vijayan is a party politburo member and perhaps the only communist leader in recent years to have had a complete control over the party for 16 years till he stepped down from the post of state secretary last year.


A man of few words, he proved his organisational capability in the state during this period. He had a short stint as the state's power minister during 1996-1998.

Days after they claimed that no calls were made or received on Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse's phone number from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's number, the Mumbai Police today said a probe into the matter is still on as some "new elements" have emerged in the case.


"Neither calls were made nor received at the said number of the Minister during period September 4, 2015 to April 5, 2016, that we spoke about. But after that we got some new elements into which our investigation is on," Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar told reporters on the sidelines of an event at a suburban police station.


Padsalgikar, however, declined to divulge any further information on these "new elements". He also parried questions on whether Khadse was given a 'clean chit' by the Mumbai police. Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon had last week alleged that Khadse had received several calls from Dawood's wife Mehjabeen Shaikh's number between September 4, 2015 and April 5, 2016.

So, Ashish Nehra has undergone surgery on his right knee in London. Nehra had injured a tendon on his right knee during his IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kings XI Punjab on May 15. Virender Sehwag tweets this picture saying, "@virendersehwag  tweets agoGhayal hai apna Sher, Lekin jald lautke fir laga dega Wicketon ke dher."

The Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal has named noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha. Given its strength in the 243-member Assembly, the RJD, with 80 MLAs, will easily get two Rajya Sabha seats and two Council seats. Though Misa Bharti, elder daughter of Lalu Prasad, and Dr. Ejaz Ali, another RJD leader, are also keen on making it to the Rajya Sabha, party insiders say their chances appeared to be "bleak.' Party leaders said that since Jethmalani had been fighting the fodder scam cases in court for Lalu he was a natural choice for the Rajya Sabha.

Just in: Ram Jethmalani will be candidate for Rajya Sabha from RJD.

Just In: Stockholm court maintains European arrest warrant against Julian Assange.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party candidate Amar Singh files nomination for Rajya Sabha.

THE killing of Mullah Akhtar Mansour signals a more aggressive US policy stance, as hopes of the Afghan Taliban coming to the negotiating table fade. The death of the recently elected Taliban leader, who had only just managed to consolidate his authority over the group, has given a new twist to the festering Afghan crisis. Read more

Pakistan's Army chief General Raheel Sharif in a meeting with United States Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale on Wednesday expressed serious concerns over the US drone strike in Balochistan. The US drone strike targeting Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was the first-ever in the province which has long been a 'red line' for Pakistan.
Read more

Religious scholar Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, named Wednesday as the Afghan Talibans new leader, was a senior judge during the insurgent groups five-year rule over Afghanistan and issued many of its harsh verdicts. 
Read more

BJP MLA from Rajasthan Gyandev Ahuja, who had earlier said that thousands of condoms and beer bottles are found every day in Jawaharlal Nehru Univeristy, again made a controversial remark about the varsity and its students today.

According to ANI reports, Ahuja said that he stood by his earlier comments. "I stand by what I said. Rapes happen daily in JNU. It is hub of criminal activities, he said.

Earlier in February, after the anti-India slogans controversy broke out in JNU, Ahuja an MLA from Alwar had commented that 50,000 pieces of bones, 3,000 used condoms, 500 used abortion injections, 10,000 cigarette pieces were found every day in the university campus and students danced naked during programmes 

Sir Venki Ramakrishnan says risks and benefits of germline therapy, which is banned in Britain, should be debated. Read

Delhi woke up to full page advertisements of Pinarayi Vijayan in the Times of India, Economic Times, The Hindu, The Indian Express and the Hindustan Times. Mumbai had Vijayan splashed on the 1st page only in the Times of India. Vijayan takes oath as CM of Kerala today and his smiling face in the ad says, "Committed to turn Kerala into a truly God's own country."

The ad in the 'Communist red' background announces that Vijayan will be sworn in today and lists the promises made during the LDF campaign in Kerala.

There's however one miss -- the Left symbol of the hammer and sickle is absent.

The new Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front ministry, headed by party leader and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, will be sworn in at the Central stadium in Thiruvananthapuram at 4 pm today.

Interestingly, the LDF yesterday decided to implement some austerity measures in Kerala. The Indian Express reports that the party has decided that the official residences of the ministers will not be refurbished. Moreover, the size of the ministers personal staff will be reduced from 30 to 25.

Govt to issue notification on June 2 making mandatory panic buttons in public transport buses to ensure women's safety: Transport Ministry. 

Kabul : Suicide attack on a bus carrying staff from an appeal court kills 10 and wounds 4.

For effective waste management in an eco-friendly manner, the Sikkim government has restricted the use of mineral water bottles in government programmes and banned the use of foam food containers all over the state.


In two recent notifications issued by the home department, the government said there has been rampant use of packaged drinking water during departmental meetings and functions which is creating a huge piles of garbage that adds to the burden of the landfill.


"Therefore, in order to reduce creation of garbage in the form of used drinking water plastic bottles it is notified that the packaged drinking water bottles may not be used during any government meetings or functions," said the order signed by Chief Secretary Alok K Shrivastava.


It suggested that as an alternative, departments can use filtered water or water from large reusable water dispensers or re-usbale water bottles in government functions.


In another notification, the Chief secretary said that the government has been initiating various measures to manage the waste and maintain a clean environment but it has been found that a lot of disposable foam containers are being rampantly used not only in the bazaar areas but also in the rural pockets.


It said a huge quantity of municipal waste is created in the form of disposable products which are environmentally hazardous and occupy a huge space in the landfill. The order banned the use and sale of disposable items such as cups, plates, spoons, containers, etc made from foam throughout the state with immediate effect. Made from polystyrene foam, such food containers are generally white in colour.


Ruling Sikkim Democratic Front leader and MP Prem Das Rai said the decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pawan Chamling recently.


"We were the first to ban the use of plastic bags. This is in tune with the same ideology that we have been following on protecting the environment. In the mountains tourists end up dumping the plastic waste which is hazardous so we took this step," Rai told PTI.


Being developed as a green state, Sikkim had become India's first fully organic state in 2016 which means that all agricultural and horticultural produce are free of chemicals.

Chaghan Bhujal and Sameer Bhujbal's judicial custody extended till 7th June.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhuri has asked the recently-elected 44 MLAs from his party to sign an undertaking that will stop them from defecting to the ruling Trinamool Congress. Read more

The Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment on May 13, 2016. It returned to the Haryana Urban Development Authority 280 acres of land that had been licensed to Uddar Gaggan Properties Limited by the Haryana government in 2006.

The land was acquired by the government from farmers and then transferred to Uddar Gaggan Properties to build residential houses. The court termed the process "illegal" and deceptive. What is the main issue here? Land that was privately owned by farmers was acquired by the state government and then handed over to a private commercial interest. The state acted as an intermediary in a transaction between two private parties.

Read more

Just in: 5 men arrested for Siwan journalist Rajdeo Ranjan's murder.

An Indian Army officer asked two journalists to leave an event because they "did not stand up when the Indian national anthem was played and the Indian flag was unfurled".


The anthem was played during the passing out parade of recruits at the regimental centre of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment.


The national flag was disrespected in front of a Jammu and Kashmir minister and senior bureaucrats.The photograph issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Government's Department of Information on Tuesday, clearly showed the two journalists showing disrespect to the national flag in front of the state's Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation and senior PDP leader Syed Basharat Ahmed.


"The army had invited us to cover the event, not to participate in it. When the Indian anthem was played, I was jotting down notes for my story. After the anthem finished, a Colonel Burn came up to us and said, "All people here stood up for the anthem and the flag except you. We don't need people like you here, so leave," said Kashmir Reader correspondent Junaid Bazaz.


The other journalist who was asked to leave was a correspondent of the newspaper Rising Kashmir.

A minor fire broke out at the reception of Delhi Secretariat this morning but no injuries or major damage to property was reported in the incident. The fire department received a call at 9:50 am about a fire at the reception hall near the entrance gate of the secretariat premises. Eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot but it turned out to be a minor fire, suspectedly caused by short circuit in an AC, a fire official said. The fire was doused by 10.10 am and a cooling operation was launched

India reacts to the African diplomatic community's boycott of this year's Africa Day celebrations. The African community in India has decided to boycott the annual celebrations in protest over the murder of a Congolese national in the capital and other "attacks and harassment' of African students and others in various parts of the country. The community has sought strong action on the part of the government.


External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweets on the issue saying, "Have asked my colleague VK Singh to meet the heads of missions of African countries in Delhi and assure them of the Indian Government's commitment to the safety and security of African nationals in India. General V.K.Singh will also hold meetings with African students in metro cities to assure them of their safety and security."

"I have already asked Lt Governor of Delhi to take steps and ensure that this case is tried by a Fast Track Court. I would like to assure African students in India that this an unfortunate and painful incident involving local goons," she tweeted.

Even as the Modi government wants more African students to come and study in India, African heads of missions, who met in emergency session Tuesday, said the climate of fear and insecurity in Delhi was forcing the African heads of mission ' with little option than to consider recommending their governments not to send new students to India, unless and until their safety can be granted'.

"The Group of African Heads of Mission have met and deliberated extensively on this latest incidence in the series of attacks to which members of the African community have been subjected to in the last several years," a statement by Ambassador of Eritrea Alem Tsehage Woldemariam, who is also dean of the Group of African Heads of Mission, said late Tuesday night.

AIADMK nominates R. Vaithilingam, Navaneethakrishnan, Vijayakumar and S. R. Balasubramaniam to Rajya Sabha.

Men dip their shaven heads into a smelly puddle of water amid chants and the chimes of temple bells. Some are here to pray, some for the funeral rites of loved ones.

Ram Kund, on the Godavari's hallowed banks in Nashik city, is one of the four holy sites where the Kumbh Mela is held once every 12 years. But something unusual is afoot: the Godavari - "Ganga of the South" - is withered by drought. So, Ram Kund has to do with a green, filthy pond created on the parched riverbed by municipality water tankers. Read more

Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada has been named the new Afghan Taliban leader following the death of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, a Taliban spokesman said in a statement.


The same statement confirmed the death of the previous leader, who was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan's Balochistan province Saturday.

The Taliban had previously confirmed Mansour's death to CNN but today's announcement is the first public statement from the group to affirm the death.Mansour had inherited the leadership from longtime leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, who died in Pakistan in 2013.

Chief Minister-designate Pinarayi Vijayan today called on Kerala Governor Justice (retd) P Sathasivam and handed over a list of his 19-member cabinet.

The governor greeted Vijayan with a bouquet and exchanged pleasantries. The meeting lasted for about 15 minutes.      

Vijayan told reporters at Raj Bhavan that he had handed over the list containing names of his ministers. "People are seeing this government with a lot of expectations", he said.     

When asked if any decisions can be anticipated to match the expectations of the people, he quipped "wait and watch."    

Before proceeding to Raj Bhavan, he visited AKG Centre, the headquarters of CPI(M)'s office. Hundreds of party workers, who had come from various parts of the state, especially from Kannur and Kasaragod districts in north Kerala, cheered him as he left for the Raj Bhavan.

72-year-old Vijayan, son of a toddy tapper, will be sworn in as 12th Chief Minister of Kerala at a function at the Central Stadium Thiruvananthapuram at 4 pm today.

Uttarakhand: 12 dead, 8 injured after a bus falls into a gorge on its way from Masi (Almora) to Ramnagar; rescue operation underway

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to dedicate buses with safety measures for women under Nirbhaya Scheme to public, in Delhi today

JUST IN: Kerala CM designate Pinarayi Vijayan meets Governor P Sathasivam ahead of swearing-in

JUST IN: Afghan Taliban name Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as new leader following death of Mullah Mansour in drone strike.

Mukhtar Ahmad reports: Militants shot at and killed a persons early Wednesday morning in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, was carrying a fake Pakistani passport, the Obama Administration said today as it asserted that Pakistan needs to do more to root out terrorists using its soil to find refuge.

Tech industry titans Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt took their battle for corporate domination to the heart of Europe on Tuesday seeking to win over new startups and IT enthusiasts.

Amid Opposition's claim that 'Jungle Raj' has returned in Bihar in view of alleged spurt in crime in the recent past, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today used latest crime figures to assert there is 'Mangal Raj' and 'rule of law' in the state.

Several areas of Himachal Pradesh were hit by squall today in which a person was killed when a gate collapsed on him, while heavy rains lashed mid and lower hills of the state causing fall in mercury.

The general manager of Western Railway has ordered a high-level inquiry into an alleged assault of a couple from suburban Bhayandar by around 20 pantry car staffs on board the Hazrat Nizamuddin-Bandra Garib Rath Express on Sunday night.  G C Agrawal, General Manager, Western Railway, had taken a very serious note of the incident and ordered a high-level inquiry against the catering firm Sunshine Caterers.