Raising Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that peace between India and Pakistan cannot be finally achieved without resolution to the Kashmir dispute.  

Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif has began his speech 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Congress on Wednesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Italian marines issue in the wake of Centre telling the Supreme Court it has no objection over one of the two marines to remain in his country.

Karnataka cabinet has decided not to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till September 23. Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired a cabinet meeting to discuss the issue, after an all party meeting. 

The Bombay high court on Tuesday refused to hear a petition against the decision of the Maharashtra government to provide 16 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and educational institutions.

"Not before me," said Justice V M Kanade sitting in a division bench with Justice Swapna Joshi when the PIL, filed by the activist Ketan Tirodkar, and an application filed by Vinod Patil seeking expeditious hearing, came up.

Justice Kanade did not give any reason for recusing himself.

In December 2014, the HC had stayed the decision to grant reservation in response to PILs filed by Tirodkar and others.The stay is still in operation.

Tirodkar's PIL contended that the decision to term the Maratha community as socially and educationally backward is a 'fraud' committed upon the country and its Constitution.

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in 2014 had announced reservation for Marathas, a politically dominant community.It had also provided five per cent reservations for Muslims.

The PIL has only challenged the reservation for Marathas.

75 per cent or more land in the state is owned by the Maratha community and between 1962 and 2004, over 1,200 out of the over 2,000 MLAs were Marathas, and more than 72 per cent of the cooperative institutions are controlled by the people belonging to the community, it said.

The Sindh assembly today unanimously passed a resolution against exiled Mutthaida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, demanding action against him under the treason laws for making anti-Pakistan remarks.

'The house condemns all sorts of crimes, torture, terrorism and anti-Pakistan slogans and activities carried out by any side and the most strict action should be taken against those responsible as per law and the Constitution,' said the resolution which was also backed by the MQM lawmakers.

The resolution also stated that the assembly expresses solidarity with the parliament, armed forces, media, judiciary and all democratic institutions in Pakistan.

It was the first sitting of the Sindh assembly since August 22 when the MQM chief made anti-Pakistan comments while addressing a hunger strike camp outside the Karachi Press Club which led to violence in the area and an attack on the ARY news channel offices.

The MQM lawmakers supported the resolution just a day after the MQM's Pakistan leadership removed Altaf's London-based advisors from the party's top decision-making forum.

All schools on Canada's Prince Edward Island are being evacuated due to a 'potential threat', police say.

Students are being taken to safe locations, where their parents will later be able to collect them, the BBC reported, quoting a statement from Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Universities in Nova Scotia have also been evacuated, reports say.

Two campuses of Nova Scotia Community College -- the IT campus in Halifax and Marconi campus in Sydney -- have been evacuated due to bomb threats, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

It is unclear if events are linked.

Image for representation only. Photograph: Matthew Smith/Reuters

The cabinet has approved the Rafale deal to purchase 36 fighter jets. The deal will be signed on Friday.

The Cabinet Committee on Security, which includes the prime minister, defence, foreign and finance ministers, has cleared the deal worth $8.9-billion (Rs 59,630 crore) for Rafale fighter jets.

Namita Khatri, high commissioner of Fiji, presented her credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

Apart from her: Riho Kruuv, ambassador of Estonia; Sirajuddin Hamid Yousif, ambassador of Sudan; and David Goldwin Pollard, high commissioner of Guyana also presented their credentials to the President.

Photograph: @RashtrapatiBhvn /Twitter

JUST IN: Some 60 Canada schools, universities evacuated over possible threat: police, reports AFP.

The Gujarat high court today issued notice to the state government in response to a petition by the Aam Aadmi Party, which alleged that Surat police are not giving it permission for a rally by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Justice Sonia Gokani issued notices to the additional home secretary, Gujarat, Surat police commissioner and the district collector and adjourned the hearing to September 27.

The rally in Surat to be addressed by Kejriwal, AAP's national convener, is scheduled for October 16.

'This is going to be the first rally of Kejriwal in the state, to be held at Varachha in Surat. Considering that we have to prepare for the rally well in advance, we applied for police permission on August 19, but have not received any confirmation so far,' AAP's media convener Harshil Naik said in the petition.

The party leaders have repeatedly approached the police commissioner but got no clarification, it said.

The petition claimed that Surat police had allowed rallies by Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela recently.

Following a meeting with the Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit, the aftermath of the Uri terror attack.

The Prime Minister's residence on Race Course Road has been renamed Lok Kalyan Marg. The NDMC changed the name of the road on which PM Narendra Modi's official residence lies. Yesterday, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi proposed to the New Delhi Municipal Council to rename the road as 'Ekatma Marg' based on the philosophy of her party's ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay. She said that the existing name, Race Course Road, "does not match with Indian culture".


The prime minister's official residence for the last 30 years, 7 Race Course Road, or 7 RCR, is a misnomer. It is not one house but a cluster of five bungalows -- Numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 -- on an avenue lined with putranjiva trees. Bungalow 1 has a helipad. Bungalow 3, white in colour, is where Manmohan Singh has lived with wife Gursharan Kaur for 10 years.

While Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was opposed to Meenakshi Lekhi's suggestion for the new name, he said the decision to change the name of RCR to Lok Kalyan Marg was unanimous.

Siwan journalist murder case: Wanted shooter Mohammed Kaif (close aide of Mohammed Shahabuddin) surrenders before police. Siwan Court sends Kaif to 14 days judicial custody.

Journalist Rajdev Ranjan was allegedly murdered by the Kaif purportedly at the behest of RJD leader Mohammed Shahabuddin.

Ranjan's wife moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking a CBI probe against Shahabuddin and Bihar Health Minister and Lalu Prasad Yadavs son Tej Pratap, after the duo were spotted with Kaif.


Image: Slain journalist Rajdev Ranjan

JUST IN: A fire has broken out in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. 

Wash your hands after you pet a cat or else... Read and be forewarned. 

Just in: Israel mission in Turkey attacked. The Jerusalem Post reports that a man with a knife was shot by the security guard while attempting to enter the Israeli Embassy in Turkey, the Foreign Ministry said. The ministry has not commented on the condition of the suspect. There were no other reports of injuries at the mission in Ankara.

Other reports say that two people tried to storm the Israeli mission in Ankara. Speaking to Reuters in a text message, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said the attacker was "wounded before he reached the embassy."

"The assailant was shot and wounded by a local security man," he said, adding that all staff at the embassy are safe.

In yet another arrest of an AAP MLA, Amanatullah Khan was today held in connection with a sexual harassment case filed against him by his sister-in-law, the second time the legislator has faced action by Delhi Police in three months.

Earlier on September 18, the Okhala MLA, who is out on bail in another case of molestation and criminal intimidation, had gone to the Jamia Nagar Police station and asked the police to arrest him but they refused.

"Khan was called to join investigation at the office of DCP(Southeast) and he was arrested on charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation around 2.10 PM today," said RP Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police, southeastern range. Khan claimed that he was called for a "general discussion" at the DCP office but was arrested.


"Came here at @DCP OFFICE sarita Vihar for general discussion.but they arrested me #Delhi Police (sic)," he tweeted. After arrest, Khan was taken to a Saket court. The Okhla MLA had alleged that he was "being framed by the police" which is "under pressure" to arrest him.


On a complaint by Khan's sister-in-law, a case under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) was registered at the Jamia Nagar police station against him and the woman's husband. This is the second time in three months that Khan has been arrested by the Delhi Police on complaints by women.

Curtis Hanson, the director of LA Confidential, has passed into the ages. An interview to remember him by. Read it here.

Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo has won the 2016 Forward prize for best poetry collection, making it three years in a row that a Caribbean poet has won one of the most prestigious poetry awards in the UK and Ireland.  She comes from a well-known Trinidadian family of politicians and writers, which includes Booker prize-winning novelist VS Naipaul. Read more

The pension given to freedom fighters and their heirs will be hiked by 20 per cent after the Union Cabinet today gave its nod to the proposal. In his Independence Day speech this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the government would increase freedom fighters' pension.

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan arrested in sexual harassment case filed by his sister-in-law: Delhi Police.

First reactions from the opposition on the government's decision to merge the Rail Budget with the Union Budget.

JDU chief Nitish Kumar, who was a railway minister: "Merging rail budget and general budget won't do any good, it will lose its autonomy."

The Rail Budget will be merged with the Union Budget starting next year. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley described the move as "top priority" after the Cabinet gave its approval.

Jaitley said the government is also in favour of advancing the Budget process, including the date of presentation. Dates for next year's budget session of Parliament, he said, would be fixed taking into account the calendar for assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand due early next year.

The gruesome death of 18 jawans in Uri is, arguably, a defining moment for PM Modis foreign policy. But Indias larger enduring strategic conundrum remains the same. How do you deal with a nuclear state that uses terror as an instrument and which is still bankrolled by major powers? How do you deal with a state where the army has incentives to maintain its centrality, whose identity is marked by resentment? There are no easy or comforting answers. India is well within its rights to take any action that it thinks appropriate. But this will be a game of many moves.

Read Pratap Bhanu Mehta's column here.

The counter-infiltration operations along the Line of Control in Kashmir today entered the second day even as the Army conducted a search to recover bodies of terrorists killed in the failed infiltration bids in Nowgam and Uri sectors.

"The operations along the LoC in Uri and Naugam sectors continue," an Army spokesman said. One soldier was killed yesterday as Army foiled two infiltration bids in the two sectors of Kashmir. While bodies of militants have been spotted nearly 300 meters short of the Line of the Control, a search is on in neighbouring areas to find out if there are more casualties on ultras' side, official sources said. About 15 terrorists had attempted to cross the Line of Control, the sources said.

It was a unique event for the United Nations laced with nostalgia, humor and tributes the secretary-general and the US president toasting each other for the last time in front of the world's leaders. Every year, the UN chief hosts a formal lunch for the presidents, prime ministers and potentates attending the annual ministerial meeting of the UN General Assembly. And every year, the US president responds as representative of the host country on behalf of the leaders. But Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday's lunch was unique.

"Never before have a president of the United States and a secretary-general of the United Nations completed their terms at about the same time within just 20 days of each other." Ban then looked at Barack Obama, sitting just a few feet away at the head table, and said: "Mr President, we need to find something to do!"

The secretary-general's second five-year term ends Dec. 31. Obama leaves the White House on January 20 after eight years. "I challenge you to a round of golf," said Ban, whose whirlwind globe-trotting schedule doesn't give him much time to play. "But please don't challenge me to a game of basketball!" Obama, a golfer and avid basketball player, didn't say whether he would take up the secretary-general's challenge ' or what his future plans are.

Neither did Ban, who repeatedly refuses to say whether he will run for president of South Korea, where he was foreign minister before taking the helm of the United Nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project -- the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train has been shown the green light with the formation of the company tasked with taking the project forward -- the National Highway Speed Rail Corporation Limited.

The Prime Minister's Office has two other two routes apart from the Mumbai-Surat one in mind and these include the Chennai-Bengaluru and Varanasi-Kolkata routes.

These three projects are likely to cost more than Rs 1 lakh crore as the trains have to ply on a specially-constructed elevated platforms. The construction is likely to be on the pattern of the metro rail projects across many Indian cities.

Chinese and French companies have already shown interest in these three projects.

The PMO is also keen that these projects be completed before the 75th Independence day in 2022. The mandate for the company is to first identify three such bullet train prototypes and then float the tenders.

Since this is a gigantic task with huge investment, the PMO is keen to monitor the progress of the project.

The Indian Railways has initiated a global hunt to recruit the top management of the newly formed company and yesterday, the company invited applications for four top posts.

These include managing director, director (project), director (electrical and systems) and director (finance). Selections will be made by a committee headed by the cabinet secretary.

Just in: Ajay Shirke re-elected unopposed as BCCI Secretary.
-- Venkatesh Prasad appointed selector from south zone.
-- Subroto Banerjee gets east zone
-- Rajesh Chauhan gets central zone and
-- Sarandeep Singh appointed selector from north zone.

The National Green Tribunal today ripped into the Delhi government and civic bodies on the dengue and chikungunya outbreak in the national capital saying, "shameful and shocking. Don't show us fabricated figures on work done."

The civic body had told the tribunal that it has inspected 56 lakh houses but could not produce evidence.

"56 lakh houses visited by 700 people is the biggest lie we have heard," the tribunal snapped, adding that it was yet to see any public authorities talk of any challenges or spell out any plan of action.

From media reports and even common knowledge it was clear, the green court said, that there had been a "failure on part of MCD and Govt in prevention of these diseases".

Nearly 30 deaths in Delhi have been linked to dengue and chikungunya and over 2,800 people are reportedly infected.

For London rabbi Julia Neuberger, Britain's vote to leave the European Union has had a very personal impact: she has decided to seek German citizenship, laying to rest her family's painful legacy of the Nazi era.Neuberger is among a significant number of Jewish Britons whose dismay over Brexit has led them to invoke a German law allowing people stripped of German citizenship by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945, and their descendants, to have it restored.

"It was Brexit that tipped me off, but now in my mid-60s I feel like I've made my peace with Germany and this step will only take me closer," said Neuberger, whose mother left Germany for Britain in 1937 to escape Nazi persecution of the Jews.Now, a German passport holds the promise of a future with full access to the EU and its practical benefits such as freedom to travel, live and work anywhere in a bloc that has 27 other nations -- rights that Britons may no longer enjoy after Brexit is enacted. Read more

Defying separatist leader Syed Geelani's call to not join the police force, J&K youths line up for the police recruitment test in Pulwama (J&K). 

The Uri attack poses a major challenge to the method in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's strategy to counter the internationalization of the Kashmir issue on an intensified scale, which is clearly on the cards in the coming months. Read more

The benchmark BSE Sensex rallied 140.86 points to 28,664.06 in late morning deals on across the board buying led by consumer durables, telecom, metal, realty, auto, oil & gas and financial sectors.

A special cabinet meet was chaired by Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, to discuss India's strategy in responding to attack on Army headquarters in Uri, which claimed the lives of 18 Indian soldiers.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar were a part of the meet.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discussed the terror attack with top ministers, the CCS formally discussed the issue. The CCS could also have other agenda besides the Uri strike.


File pic.

In a clear defiance of Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call to Kashmiris against joining police service in the valley, thousands of youths have opted for the job of special police officer after Union home minister Rajnath Singh's announcement of an employment package for 10,000 youths in the J&K police.

Pakistan to scale down presence at the SAARC security meet in Delhi. Pakistan won't send top officials, only High Commission officers will attend the meet.

With New Delhi trying to corner Islamabad over the terror attack in Uri, Pakistan has decided not to send its Intelligence Bureau chief to India to attend the second meeting of High Level Group of Eminent Experts from SAARC countries beginning Thursday.

As per Pakistan sources, Director General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan Aftab Sultan will not attend the SAARC meeting and the country will be represented by an official of the Pakistan High Commission.

The source also stated that Pakistan is "fully committed' to SAARC related events.

The two-day conference of top security experts of SAARC countries will begin from tomorrow in the national capital. The aim of the meeting is to strengthen the SAARC Anti-Terror Mechanism. The first meeting was held in New Delhi in February, 2012.

In a criticism of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's rhetoric, US President Barack Obama said if America turned away refugees simply because they are "Muslim", it would reinforce the terrorists' propaganda and the "ugly lie" that the US is opposed to Islam.


Obama, who hosted a 'Leaders Summit on Refugees' during the 71st UN General Assembly session here yesterday, said the world was facing a refugee crisis of "epic proportions" with more than 65 million people having been driven from their homes, more than any time since the World War-II.


"Among them are more than 21 million refugees who have fled their countries - everything and everyone they've ever known, fleeing with a suitcase or the clothes on their back," he said. "And if we were to turn refugees away simply because of their background or religion, or, for example, because they are Muslim, then we would be reinforcing terrorist propaganda that nations like my own are somehow opposed to Islam, which is an ugly lie that must be rejected in all of our countries by upholding the values of pluralism and diversity," he said at the summit attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Bangladesh Prime Minsiter Sheikh Hasina. He highlighted that in recent years, the US has put in place intensive screening and security checks to take in refugees as well as ensure the nation's security.

In a development that gave India some small satisfaction, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon refrained from taking up Pakistan's repeated requests to intervene in Jammu & Kashmir.

In his opening statement, he dwelt on areas of concern in the world like Syria and West Asia. But there was no mention of India-Pakistan or J&K. This made Nawaz Sharif 's opening gambit in the UNGA bite the dust early, but the Pakistani PM is expected to make an impassioned speech against India at the gathering.

Another early diplomatic success by India at the UN was the acceptance of the India-sponsored Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) by the BRICS group in the UN.

This is the first time a powerful grouping called for its early acceptance by the global community. The UN face-off will kick off with Sharif 's speech at the UNGA on Wednesday.

The additional district judge in Siwan, who awarded a life sentence to former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Shahabuddin and his three accomplices last year, in connection with the brutal murder of two brothers by pouring acid in 2004, has been transferred to a court in Patna following his request. According to reliable sources in the Patna high court, Judge Ajay Kumar Srivastava had requested the high court to transfer him outside Siwan soon after Shahabuddin was granted bail. 
Read the report on Rediff.com here

"Our vehicle screeched to a halt. We were returning from Uri where 18 soldiers were killed in a terror attack a day before. Security forces deployed along the highway were pulling back for the day.From the front seat of the car, I could only see the top of a head.  A boy, no older than 12, had forced our vehicle to stop. With him was a group of another dozen, all in the same age group - 12 to 14 years old."

A compelling report by NDTV's Sudhi Ranjan Sen. Do read

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has teased his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to "sleep well" ahead of the first presidential debate next week which is likely to attract a record number of viewership.

Clinton appeared at no public events yesterday with less than two months before the election, and 70-year-old Trump promptly ridiculed her "taking the day off".

"Hillary Clinton is taking the day off again, she needs the rest. Sleep well Hillary - see you at the debate!" Trump said in a tweet after it was reported that Clinton has taken a day's off from her grilling campaign schedule. It was only the latest dig on 68-year-old Clinton by Trump, who has repeatedly mocked his rival's 'stamina,' although he wished her well after she was diagnosed with pneumonia after she left the 9/11 commemoration ceremony.

The first of the series of three presidential debates are scheduled for September 26 in New York.

The Sikh-American who helped police capture the man wanted for the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, said he feared he might have been mistaken as the perpetrator because of the misconceptions about his faith.

Harinder Singh Bains, 51, said he does not like being called a hero for accurately identifying 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, the Afghan-born American man behind the bombings. Asserting that he is "what America looks like," Bains said he did what any other American would have done.

"When I heard about the attacks and realised the suspect was sleeping in a doorway across the street, I did what any American would do. I called the police. I'm not a hero. The police are heroes; the EMTs are heroes; everyone who is working to bring New York and New Jersey together today is a hero," Bains, who owns a bar in Linden, told reporters.

He said as a Sikh-American, he understand that "I could have been mistaken for the perpetrator. My faith teaches me justice and tolerance for all and I know that I'm lucky to live in a community that shares this view." Bains, who had emigrated from Chandigarh in 1996, stressed that after any attack, Americans should target people based on evidence of their role in the crime and not because of their faith or their country of origin or their accent.

"I came to this country from India 20 years ago to create a better life for my family. I am a father of four and a proud American citizen. I am also what America looks like," he said.

Army foils an infiltration bid in Lachipura area of Jammu and Kashmir's Uri sector

In what could turn out to be a significant move, the BCCI may decide in its AGM to propose former president N Srinivasan as it's representative in ICC's powerful Board of Directors in place of Shashank Manohar. 

- Nations engaged in 'proxy wars' must end them, says Obama at UNGA