The Army today paid its last respects to Naik Tupare Rajendra Narayan, who laid down his life while guarding the nation's frontiers at the Line of Control in Poonch Sector of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.

A wreath laying ceremony was organised in honour of the brave martyr Narayan who laid down his life guarding the nation's frontiers at the LoC in Poonch Sector, a defence spokesman said.

He said the ceremonial military send-off was held at Rajouri this morning.

"General Officer Commanding, Ace of Spades Division, laida wreath on behalf of Lieutenant General A K Sharma, General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps and all ranks," the spokesman said.

He said the mortal remains of the soldier are being sent to his native village for performing the last rites.

Narayan, who hailed from Karve village of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, is survived by his wife Sharmila.

"He was a thorough professional and loved his job to the core. The nation will remain indebted to him for the supreme sacrifice and his devotion to duty will continue to motivate the future generations," the spokesman added.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was on Monday admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, where she will undergo certain endocrinological tests.

"The minister (Swaraj) was admitted at around 7.22 pm at AIIMS. She is having diabetes and other medical problems. She will undergo certain endocrinological tests tomorrow," a senior doctor said.

Swaraj is admitted at the cardio-neuro centre under the supervision of Balram Airan, chief of the Cardio Thoracic Centre.

The 64-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader was admitted to AIIMS in April this year after she complained of chest congestion.

She was also brought here on October 25 for a routine medical check-up.

Senior journalist and TV anchor Girish Nikam died in New Delhi on Monday following a massive heart attack. Nikam, 59, complained of uneasiness after a programme shoot in the studio and was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where he breathed his last, according to his associates.

Nikam started his journalistic career with Star of Mysore in Mysuru and later shifted to Indian Express, Bengaluru. He had worked in other media organisations including India Today, Deccan Chronicle and News Today before doing programmes for Rajya Sabha TV.

Nikam contributed a memorable feature for Rediff on Mrs Kaul, a close friend of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when she passed into the ages two years ago.

Nikam's body is being taken to Bengaluru tomorrow for the last rites.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is leading her Republican rival Donald Trump by four percentage points, a latest poll said on Monday on the eve of the elections which would elect the next United States president.

Clinton has the support of 45 per cent of likely voters as against 41 per cent for Trump, CBS News said in its latest weekly poll.

She had a similar lead over Trump in the last weekly poll. This poll was conducted by telephone November 2-6, 2016 among a random sample of 1,753 adults nationwide, including 1,426 registered voters.

CBS said Trump leads among white men, whites without a college degree, and seniors.

On the other hand Clinton leads among women, African-Americans and younger voters. She has an edge among whites with a college degree, the poll said.

In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Trump is now trailing by two percentage points.

Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi over his strident attack on the Modi government, Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said his talk of democracy and fundamental rights is like the 'devil quoting scriptures'.

"Every word said by (Rahul) him, suits them and reminds the nation of what they have done. He may not be knowing," Naidu said, reminding people of Emergency clamped by the Congress in 1975.

"The Congress talking of democracy and fundamental rights is like the devil quoting scriptures." Naidu told reporters that the country is vibrant and people from all walks of life feel they have a stake in the governance issues. He claimed that the Congress vice president's outburst at the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday is a result of the party's frustration that even after showing readiness to strike 'unnatural and unholy alliances', it could see no prospect of faring well in Uttar Pradesh or other states.

Naidu justified his ministry's order that Hindi news channel NDTV India be taken off for a day, saying that 21 channels were 'banned' during the United Progressive Alliance regime.

Many of these channels were banned, he said, for airing 'midnight masala' while the present action is with regard to giving details like ammunition depot etc during the Pathankot terror attack.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi, Naidu said he would like to remind him that the UPA government for the first time stipulated the norms of coverage of anti-terror operations.

JUST IN: Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Kanu Gandhi passes away in Surat after prolonged illness.

Massive fire breaks out in slums near Sadar Bazar area of Delhi, 30 fire tenders are on the spot.

Efforts are on to douse the fire. Earlier, 15 fire tenders were sent to the spot, but 15 more were sent in view of the massive fire.

Situation is still not under control.

A 39-year-old Indian, who triggered a bomb scare here at the Geneva airport to avoid missing his flight to India, has been sentenced to six months prison and slapped with a hefty penalty of 50,000 Swiss francs (Rs 34,200), Swiss media reported today.

The Indian, who has not been named, called up an Aeroflot airline employee at Geneva's Cointrin airport last month and told them there was a bomb on his Moscow bound connecting flight to India, which he was rushing to catch, the Le Matin daily reported.

The plane, with 116 passengers on board, had to be evacuated and thoroughly searched after the Swiss police was alerted about the bomb scare made by the Indian man who lives in the Swiss town of Montreux.

The man, who was arrested by the police after he reached the airport to catch his flight, was sentenced to six-months prison term and also slapped with a fine of 50,000 Swiss francs ($51,200) to compensate for the loss time of police and airport authorities, the report said.

Geneva police chief Francois Waridel said that the amount would be enough to pay the 101 police officers and six security agents who were called in to respond to the alert.

"Considering the times we are living in, we have to take maximum security precautions," Waridel said.

A Judicial Inquiry Commission was formed on Monday under retired Judge S K Pandey to investigate the Bhopal encounter. The panel has been given three months to submit its report.

A public interest litigation was also filed in the Madhya Pradesh high court earlier on Thursday on the issue demanding judicial probe into the incident.

The under-trial activists of the outlawed Students' Islamic Movement of India escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail on the intervening night of October 30-31 and were subsequently killed in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on October 31.

Before escaping from the jail, the SIMI activists also killed a head constable Ramashankar Yadav.

Since the encounter took place, conflicting versions from the police and state home minister surfaced, leading to allegations that it might be fake.

A controversy also raged over the police action following the daring pre-dawn jail-break, after TV channels showed footage purportedly from the encounter site in which a policeman is seen pumping bullets into a man from close range after some unidentified person takes out what appears to be a knife said to be in a plastic cover and places it back.

Amidst reports of not being given an appointment by the UP CM, Congress party's election strategist Prashant Kishor on Monday finally got to meet Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow. Earlier during the day, Akhilesh said any decision on a grand alliance for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will be taken by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and stressed that he would give his suggestions only at party platform.


"I will give my suggestions only at party platform. Elections are near, who will be benefited, who will lose (in alliance) is to be taken note of. The decision is to be taken by party's national president," Akhilesh told reporters, refusing to publicly state his stand on the issue. He was speaking outside Gayatri Prajapatis official residence where he had gone to condole death of his cabinet colleague's father.


When asked specifically about the possibility of SP joining hand with Congress, Akhilesh parried a direct reply, saying, "If SP and Congress want alliance, will you (media) stop it'?' He did not elaborate on the query made against the backdrop of Kishor meeting Mulayam, triggering speculation of a maha-gathbandhan (grand alliance) similar to the one in Bihar.


Kishor held prolonged discussion spread over two sessions yesterday just a day after top leaders of socialist- leaning parties attended SPs silver jubilee meet -- a move seen as an attempt by Mulayam to forge an alliance for the crucial polls hardly a few months away.


This was for the third time in six days that Kishor met Mulayam, who is trying to cobble together an alliance of like-minded parties. The first meeting had taken place at Mulayams Delhi residence on November 1.

-- ABP News.

Cartoonist Satish Acharya on press freedom and the 1-day ban on NDTV India.

Uttar Pradesh: Congress strategist Prashant Kishor meets UP CM Akhilesh Yadav at KD Marg (CM's official residence), Lucknow.


What's brewing?

The first woman to serve as America's attorney general, Janet Reno, died early Monday at the age of 78, reports CNN. She passed away in her Miami home after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. Reno served in the White House under Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. During her tenure, she oversaw the conviction of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who bombed for the World Trade Center in 1993. She also oversaw the prosecutions of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for their parts in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995.

A Delhi police constable slapped an MP, a former royal, when Congress VP Rahul Gandhi was being detained during protests in the immediate aftermath of former army subhedar Ram Kishen Grewal's suicide last week. The incident took place in the pandemonium that broke out during the protests. The ex-armyman allegedly committed suicide due to his grievances in the implementation of One Rank One Pension.


Rahul Gandhi was detained three times in two days, with Delhi Police picking him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide.


A cop unintentionally manhandled the royal and gave him a hard slap and pushed him into a Delhi bus. The incident went unreported because the prestige, name and fame of the royal was at stake and the royal, a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, decided to hold his silence. But a few Congress leaders are now sending Whatsapp and text messages about the incident and a few even have a photograph as proof.

Royal dilemma, this.


Image: Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia during the protests last week.

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor is turning into another Amar Singh, says Uttar Pradesh Congress President Raj Babbar. The reason for this 'affectionate abuse' is that Kishor has been seen cosying up to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. He has also begun suggesting that the 'Mahagadbandhan' (which is yet to take form) should project someone from the minority community as the chief ministerial candidate  of Uttar Pradesh.


So Congress leaders from UP are now questioning Prasant Kishor about his brainchild of projecting Sheila Dikshit, a Brahmin, as the party's CM candidate. The Congress leaders are now asking how can both their strategy and the SP's be right.

UPCC leaders accuse Kishor is projecting himself and not the Congress and says the poll strategist's USP is that he worked with the Modi-Shah combine and ensured a historic win for the BJP in the Lok sabha polls.


Now that Kishor has worked with the JDU UPCC leaders feel he considers himself close to Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka  Gandhi, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, and now even Mulayam Singh Yadav, which has made him lose focus on the party.

UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has also begun to suspect the role of Prasant Kishor. Akhilesh's men are not being taken into confidence when Mulayam Singh met Prasant Kishor thrice. The Akhilesh camp also believes that Amar Singh played a role in wooing Prasant to Mulayam. The Akhilesh camp is taking solace in the fact that Nitish Kumar has abstained from 25th year function of the Samajwadi  Party.

The Supreme Court today dismissed a review petition that challenged the discharge of BJP President Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.


A review plea had been filed after the Supreme Court in August discharged Shah from the case.


Sheikh, a gangster and his wife, Kauser Bi, were killed while travelling from Hyderabad to Sangli near Gandhinagar in 2005. The Mumbai sessions court had on December 30 2014 discharged Shah in the case.

It was the dense smog enveloping Delhi today that prompted Congress president Sonia Gandhi to skip the party's working committee meeting.


An SPG bulletproof vehicle was ready and waiting at 10:55 today at the portico of 10 Janpath, but doctors attending on Mrs Gandhi impressed upon her not to venture out from the air-conditioned environs of her home to the Congress party office at 24 Akbar Road. The office is just a minute's drive from her home but doctors told her that pollution levels were so high that it could damage her lungs. Ranjit Surjewala, Congress spokesperson also told the media that Mrs Gandhi had developed a throat problem. 


The CWC meeting was headed by Rahul Gandhi today. The CWC asked him to take over as Congress president. Elections to Congress party posts within a year.

The dense cover of grey haze shrouding Delhi for almost a week, reminiscent of the 1952 Great Smog in London, plunged the city's air quality to the season's worst, with even the 24-hour-average threatening to go past the maximum limit.

The real-time readings of respirable pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 breached the safe standards by over 17 times at many places. The hourly air quality index of monitoring stations run by Central Pollution Control Board and SAFAR remained 500 plus, which is beyond the maximum limit.


Experts said while the level of sulphur dioxide is still in control in the city, in terms of other parameters like volume of particulates, the situation was nearly as bad as the infamous London episode that had resulted in around 4,000 premature deaths.



The CWC meeting comes at a time when a section of party men feels that Congress President Sonia Gandhi, 69, should hand over the mantle to her son as she is suffering from ill health, especially after her roadshow in PM Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi on 2 August when she was hospitalised.


File pic.

Just in: Kerala's LDF government favours women's entry into the Sabarimala temple.

The Supreme Court on Monday is hearing the petition seeking the entry of women into Kerala's Sabarimala temple. The government told the Supreme Court that women of all ages should be allowed entry into the temple.


This will be the first hearing after the Supreme Court changed the Bench hearing a decade-old petition against the restriction on women aged between 10 and 50 from entering the temple.

Earlier, the three-judge Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra included Justices Gopala V. Gowda and Kurian Joseph, who were replaced by Justices C. Nagappan and R. Banumathi on July 11.

A total of 10 Supreme Court judges, sitting in various combinations, have already heard the case in as many years since it was first filed in 2006.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra Government to ensure that women are not denied entry at any temple.

Defending the ban, the Sabarimala temple administration said the tradition is connected to essential religious practice.

Supporting them, the the LDF Government had told the court earlier that beliefs and customs of devotees cannot be changed through a judicial process and that the opinion of the priests is final in matters of religion.

Real estate barons Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal today moved the Supreme Court seeking de-sealing of the Uphaar cinema hall where 59 cine-goers had lost their lives in 1997 in a blaze when a Bollywood movie was being screened. The cinema hall has remained sealed since the tragedy.


A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao said it will discuss the matter with Justice A R Dave, who had heard the petition in the case.


A trial court had sentenced the Ansal brothers to two-year rigorous imprisonment, in 2007. However, an year later the Delhi High Court reduced the sentence to one year. The Supreme Court upheld their conviction in the case in 2015 but considering their age and the period already spent by them in prison, it decided not to send them back to jail and rather asked the duo to pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each in lieu of a jail term.


The brother Sushil and Gopal Ansal, held guilty of criminal negligence had deposited Rs 60 crore with the Delhi government in adherence to the Supreme Courts order.

Manak Matiyani @Dafliwala  tweets: State of the canal in Ghaziabad at Delhi Border. Happy Chhatt Puja!

As the bitter boardroom battle in the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate continues, the Tata Group today found a mention in the UK Prime Minister Theresa May's first address to Indian businesses in New Delhi.


Addressing the inaugural session of the India-UK Tech Summit organised by the CII, May said that over 800 Indian businesses have presence in the UK, with "Jaguar Land Rover's owner, Tata, our largest manufacturing employer."


The mention of the Tata Group by the UK PM during her visit to India -- marking her first bilateral visit outside Europe and her first ever trade mission -- comes amid the on-going boardroom battle at the Tata Group, whose UK businesses include IT, automobiles and steel among others.


May is in India on a two-day visit here. Earlier this year in January, JLR became the UK's largest car maker eight years after it was acquired by Tata Motors for USD 2.3 billion from Ford. Last month, in a sudden and dramatic turn of events, Cyrus Mistry was unceremoniously removed as the Chairman of Tata Sons and replaced by his predecessor Ratan Tata in the interim, triggering a confrontation between the single-largest

Darjeeling MP and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, S S Ahluwalia has written to External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, seeking her help in ensuring speedy return of the body of a Gorkha jawan who died in Congo.


The letter released to press today stated that Brijesh Thapa of 4/5 Gorkha rifles was sent to Congo as part of the UN Peacekeeping force and was posted there where he died last week. The letter said Thapa hailed from Tayang Dang Basti, Sinjee, Kalimpong district.

The father of a fallen Pakistani-American Muslim soldier, whose public spat with Donald Trump won him a lot of support, has attacked the Republican presidential nominee for his divisive rhetoric but expressed satisfaction that "thankfully, this isn't your America".


Khizr Khan (pictured), 66, father of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, hit the campaign trail for the first time along with Hillary Clinton to make an emotional endorsement of the Democratic nominee.


"Donald Trump, would my son, Capt. Humayun Khan, have a place in your America? Would Muslims have a place in your America? Would Latinos have a place in your America? Would African Americans have a place in your America? Would anyone who isn't like you have a place in your America?" he asked.


"Thankfully, Donald Trump, this isn't your America," he added as the crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire roared and applauded in response.


"And on Tuesday we are going to prove America belongs to all of us," said Khan, who has emerged as a national hero particularly among Muslim Americans after his July speech in the Democratic National Convention.

Seven children drowned in three districts in the state during Chhath puja this morning. Two girls, aged between 8 and 9 years, died in Barh sub division of rural Patna near Malahi ghat, officer in-charge of Barh police station Manoj Kumar Sinha said. Two other children were saved by locals at the same venue, he said.


Three boys aged between 14 and 16 years lost their lives near Bharpura ghat in river Bagmati in Khagaria district during course of Chhath rituals this morning.


The boys, all friends, went deep in the water, while bathing during morning Arghya of Chhath. As one of them started drowning, two other boys with him tried to save him and all the three ultimately died, Officer in-charge of Chautham police station of Khagaria district Sunil Kumar Sahni said.


An uncle of one of the victims, who unsuccessfully tried to save them, managed to swim to safety, he said.


File picture

NDTV India today moved the Supreme Court against the government's order banning its telecast for a day on November 9 for its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack. The petition challenges the Constitutional validity of the government order, the channel said in filing to the stock exchanges.


In the filing, NDTV said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had directed stopping of transmission or re- transmission of its Hindi news channel, NDTV India for a day from 00.01 hrs of November 9, 2016 till 00.01 hours of November 10, 2016.


"We now update that NDTV Ltd and others have filed a writ petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court challenging the said order, inter-alia, challenging the constitutional validity of the said order and the provisions of law pursuant to which the said order has purportedly been passed," the company said.


Also read:  This arbitrary dictatorial order must be opposed.


Image: NDTV India head Ravish Kumar

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi chaired the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday as party president Sonia Gandhi skipped the meet due to health reasons. Reports say she decided to sit it out due to the the unprecedented smog enveloping Delhi posing a severe health hazard. 


Rahul, expectedly lashed out at the government saying, "Democracy under the present dispensation is going through one of the darkest hours."


"Attempts by the government to suppress freedom by "abusing" state
power will only strengthen our resolve to defeat such dangerous designs. PM Modi is obsessed with power it seeks to silence voices of dissent; TV channels are being forced to shut down," the Congress VP said. 

With the security along the India-Pakistan border being increased in the wake of several terrorists attacks, the Lashkar-e-Taiba men are now planning to infiltrate into India through a different route, reports India Today.


According to sources, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed is planning to use the rivers, Nikki Tavi and Badi Tavi, to enter India. Saeed has made Lashkar commander Abu Irfan Tandewala the in-charge of the operation.


Sources said that at least eight to nine men are likely to be a part of this operation. The Pakistan Army, said sources, is allegedly helping them infiltrate the border.


Following the reports on terrorists planning to use a river route for infiltration, the vigil along all the rivers and streams in and around the border areas has been increased.


Representational image.

There was a semblance of normalcy in Srinagar as increased movement of people and traffic was witnessed in the city today, but life elsewhere in Kashmir Valley remained affected due to a separatist-sponsored strike.


As more people defied the separatist diktats by coming out to carry out their day to day activities, a large number of taxis, auto-rickshaws and private cars were seen plying in the city especially in the areas in the civil lines and the outskirts, including in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk, officials said. Inter-district cabs also plied on the routes connecting many district headquarters with the summer capital.


Some shops were also open in these areas, while there was huge rush of customers at banks, the officials said.

Rahul Gandhi's elevation within the Congress is likely to be delayed as the party's top brass is expected to further defer the process of organisational polls, which had been postponed earlier by a year till this December-end.


In today's Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, the party's top decision-making body is unlikely to take a decision on the elevation of Rahul Gandhi, with a section within the party feeling that this should be done after the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.


According to news agency PTI, Congress sources have said that the organisational elections are to be deferred by more than a year as there is very little time to hold the polls and the party has to focus on the upcoming assembly elections due early next year.


Many in the Congress are, however, divided on the timing of Rahul Gandhi's elevation and want it to be deferred till the upcoming assembly polls. Some party leaders, however, also feel that in view of the current situation Sonia Gandhi should continue to steer the party and not take a back seat.


The current political situation is expected to be discussed at the CWC meeting, including the one-day ban on 'NDTV India' which has created uproar in the opposition as well as the media.


The meeting is significant as the Winter Session of Parliament is starting from November 16 and the Congress will finalise its strategy for the session at this meeting.


The Congress is seeking to corner the government on several issues including on the issue of freedom of speech and expression in the wake of the day-long ban on 'NDTV India'.


The organisational elections in Congress are overdue and the party had sought time from the Election Commission to complete the process by December 31. The party had informed the poll panel about it as required under the rules.


Besides the organisational polls and the strategy to be adopted for the Parliament session, the meeting would also take stock of the current political situation and discuss its plans for assembly elections to some states including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab due next year, party sources said.

A black bag with a pistol and ammunition was found inside Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Monday. The bag was found around 50 metres from the north gate of JNU campus by one of the guards deployed there. One 7.65 calibre country-made pistol along with seven catridges was found in the bag at 2 am.

-- Sonia Gandhi will not be able attend the CWC meet today due to health reasons.


-- Real estate barons Ansal brothers move SC seeking de-sealing of Uphaar cinema where 1997 fire tragedy took place.


-- High intensity blast in a club at Shreebati Gram killing one; allegedly large number of bombs were kept there.

The Supreme Court to take up the Delhi pollution issue tomorrow. The court will hear the plea filed by environmentalist Sunita Narayan tomorrow. The plea says it is a 'public emergency'. 


The dense cover of grey haze shrouding Delhi for almost a week, reminiscent of the 1952 Great Smog in London, plunged the city's air quality to the season's worst, with even the 24-hour-average threatening to go past the maximum limit.


The real-time readings of respirable pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 breached the safe standards by over 17 times at many places. The hourly air quality index of monitoring stations run by Central Pollution Control Board and SAFAR remained 500 plus, which is beyond the maximum limit.

Experts said while the level of sulphur dioxide is still in control in the city, in terms of other parameters like volume of particulates, the situation was nearly as bad as the infamous London episode that had resulted in around 4,000 premature deaths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed grief over the death of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union Minister Jayawantiben Mehta. Saddened by the passing away of Jayawantiben Mehta. We remember her rich contribution to the nation. Condolences to her family, said Modi in a tweet.


Mehta, 78, passed away in the early hours of the day at her residence in Mumbai following a brief illness. She had served as a minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Pakistan Army violated ceasefire and resorted to unprovoked firing in Mendhar Sector, Jammu and Kashmir today, to which the Indian troops gave a befitting reply.


This is the 101st incident of ceasefire violation by Pakistan, following India's surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29.


Pakistan opened fire at 9:15 a.m. using 120 mm mortars, 82 mm mortars, automatics and small arms.No casualties have been reported on the Indian side till last reports came in.


Another Indian soldier was killed and two others suffered injuries during the cease fire violations in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.


This came hours after an Indian soldier was killed and a civilian was injured at the R.S Pura Sector.


Yesterday's ceasefire violation took place three days after two women were killed and a child was severely injured in Manjakote Sector of Rajouri distric

China's top legislative body passed an act on Monday to effectively bar the recently elected lawmakers Yau Wai-Ching, and Baggio Leung from taking office in Hong Kong's legislature, reports Reuters.


A spokesperson of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office issued a statement hailing the adoption of an interpretation of Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) as "absolutely necessary" and timely, Xinhua news reported.


China's top legislature adopted an interpretation to Article 104 that "demonstrates the central government's firm determination and will in opposing 'Hong Kong independence'," the spokesperson said.


The spokesperson also said that the interpretation "safeguards the authority of the Basic Law and the rule of law in Hong Kong" and "complies with the common aspiration of the entire Chinese people, including the compatriots in Hong Kong".


Hong Kong police had fired pepper spray at protestors throwing bottles and road cones in clashes near China's representative office on Sunday night where activists had gathered to demonstrate against Beijing's attempts to stop a fledgling independence movement.


Image: Hong Kong's financial district

"There were multiple turnarounds that were happening in the Tata group.''In fact, it can be called the biggest turnarounds in the history of Indian corporates. Just see where the companies were three years ago and where they are now."
Dev Chatterjee finds out how Cyrus Mistry fixed 'legacy hotspots' to clear the financial mess. Read more here

Just in: Abandoned bag found in JNU; 1 pistol along with 7 cartridges also found. A case of arms act being registered.

Noted historian Irfan Habib today said BJP president Amit Shah "does not have the right" to decide what is an anti-national act. "This right rests with the Constitution of India," the 85-year-old historian told PTI.


Habib said it was ironical that Shah seldom lost an opportunity to dub others as "anti-national" when his own party was repeatedly indulging in acts that went against national interest.


Referring to the controversial one-day ban on NDTV India by the Modi government, Habib said a number of news channels and mediapersons in the country had the courage to speak the truth. "...and speaking the truth can never be an anti-national act," he said.

Noted historian Irfan Habib today said BJP president Amit Shah "does not have the right" to decide what is an anti-national act. "This right rests with the Constitution of India," the 85-year-old historian told PTI.


Habib said it was ironical that Shah seldom lost an opportunity to dub others as "anti-national" when his own party was repeatedly indulging in acts that went against national interest.


Referring to the controversial one-day ban on NDTV India by the Modi government, Habib said a number of news channels and mediapersons in the country had the courage to speak the truth. "...and speaking the truth can never be an anti-national act," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at the Tech Summit. Highlights...

-- UK can benefit from India's liberal FDI policy in areas like defence, manufacturing and aerospace.

-- 'Make in India' to be the key sector in India-UKcooperation.


-- India-UK bilateral trade has remained the same for the last five years; India is the third-largest investor in UK.

Science is universal, technology must be local.

British Prime Minister Theresa May with PM Modi at the Tech Summit in Delhi. May arrived in Delhi on Sunday evening on a three-day India visit. This is her first bilateral engagement outside Europe since taking office in July.


The 60-year-old leader's visit is aimed at enhancing Indo-UK ties in the key areas such as trade, investment, defence and security. May is being accompanied by 40 business delegates from UK companies which will showcase itself at the Tech Summit in Delhi. May on first day will hold talks with Prime Minister Modi, who will host her for lunch post the Tech Summit.

The Supreme Court on Monday will hear the appeal filed by the December 16 Nirbhaya gangrape convicts, who have moved to top court challenging their death sentence.


The death sentence of four of the convict- Akshay, Vinay Sharma, Pawan and Mukesh was upheld by the Delhi High Court.


They had challenged their death sentence awarded by the Delhi High Court in the Supreme court.


The top court had on April 4 begun final hearing of the convicts' appeal almost two years after staying their execution.


Two of the four death-row convicts had written to Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice Deepak Misra, stating that they do not approve of the defence counsel appointed by the court to argue their case before the top court as they had given statements against them to the media in the past.


The trial court had in September 2013 awarded death sentences to the convicts.Six months later, the Delhi High Court upheld their conviction and sentence. All the convicts moved the apex court in 2014, which stayed their execution.

The Congress Working Committee (CEC) meeting today will take a call on extending the deadline for the completion of the party's organisational elections which were to be completed by December 31st.


The meeting is expected to take stock of the current political situation and discuss its plans for assembly elections to other states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur in next year.


The meeting is significant as the Winter Session of Parliament is starting from 16th of this month and the Congress will finalise its strategy for the session.


There have been repeated suggestions that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should take over reins of the party from his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the CWC is likely to take a call on that issue today as well.

Residents of Jabrouli village, which has been adopted by the Clinton Foundation, performed a holy yagna for the victory of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the upcoming US elections.

In an extraordinary last-minute twist to a volatile campaign, FBI director James Comey lifted the cloud he had placed over Hillary Clinton, saying the bureau had found no evidence in its hurried review of newly discovered e-mails to warrant criminal charges against her.