Amid concerns over the United States' changed H1B visa programme, India said today it was in touch with the Trump administration and making "full assessment" of its impact on Indian professionals.

British Prime Minister Theresa May today won the backing of Parliament to hold an early general election on June 8. 

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday taunted the Bharatiya Janata Party saying that LK Advani was made a bali ka bakra' (sacrificial goat) in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.

Soon after the Supreme Court allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation plea and restored the criminal conspiracy charges against 13 BJP leaders including L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, Lalu told mediapersons that as Advani was a strong candidate for the Rashtrapati's (President) post, he now stands no chance.

"The CBI is under the control of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who used it to sideline and oust Advani from the Presidential race. Advani was hopeful about becoming at least the President after he was not able to become PM in 2014" Lalu said.

Lalu said Advani was made a bali ka bakra in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case, under a well planned political strategy.

India's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian tweets: @arvindsubraman Humbled/honoured. Mumbai Univ. formally adopting Economic Survey as textbook replacing all current ones bcoz of quality of recent Surveys.

Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale is expected to meet Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua later today to discuss the issue of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav.


Sources in the Foreign Office said that Bambawale has sought the meeting with the Foreign Secretary.


"The meeting is expected in the evening," they said. They said that the issue of Jadhav is likely to be the focus of the meeting as India has been seeking consular access to its convicted citizen. Pakistan has denied India's request for consular access to Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year.


Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities.


It would be Bambawale's second meeting in less than week with the foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav.


He told media after his previous meeting on April 14 that he had asked for list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch appeal against his conviction.


He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds. FO in statement issued after the meeting said that the Foreign Secretary told Bambawale that during the period of trial of Jadhav, due judicial process was followed and he was provided a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan.


Jadhav, 46, was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial last week, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the "pre-meditated murder" was carried out.


Pakistan claims its security forces had arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. It also claimed that he was "a serving officer in the Indian Navy."


The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government.

"Many of the players in IPL are the sons of men and women who are in ordinary jobs and not well off.
''These players are the first in their family ever to move into another social class.
''I think it is a very fine thing that young men from ordinary backgrounds get exposed to fame and money, and playing with legends from abroad and India," says Aakar Patel. Read the column here.

At least 10 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists were arrested for allegedly creating ruckus in a Zara showroom at Lower Parel to oppose the sale of 'Pakistani brands' of clothes.

Yeah, you read that right. The MNS thinks Zara given its Asian sounding name, is Pakistani. In fact, the brand is Spanish.

Those arrested included an MNS corporator Datta Narvankar and three women, who were later released on bail.

The activists barged into the showroom inside Phoenix mall yesterday after coming to know of the outlet selling the apparel and accessories of 'Pakistani brands,' said the official. 

French diplomat Pascal Mazurier has been acquitted by a magisterial court on Wednesday, in the child molestation case filed against him.


Mazurier, accused of sexually assaulting his 3-year-old daughter, was not found guilty in the probe, compelling the court to drop all charges against him.


The high-profile child molestation case dates back to 2012. Mazurier, an official at the French Consulate, was accused by his wife of sexually assaulting their 3-year-old child.


Based upon preliminary probe and the nature of charge levelled against him, Mazurier was arrested by the Bengaluru police, after booking him under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. He was granted bail by the High Court after nearly four months after he was put under arrest.


Speaking out after the verdict, Mazurier's wife said: "Pascal's acquittal means my daughter did not get justice. I will still not allow him access to meet my daughter. I am Very unhappy and so is my daughter. We will challenge the acquittal in the High Court. I did not not expect so much evil to come into our lives."

British Prime Minister Theresa May today appealed to the public to trust her decision to call for an early general election on June 8, saying the move will strengthen her hand in the complex Brexit negotiations.


Her plea came as MPs prepare to vote on the motion in the House of Commons. The move is expected to receive the two-thirds majority it requires for May to overturn the UK's Fixed Term Parliaments Act, which would have seen an election being held only in 2020.


"I trust the British public. I am asking them to put their trust in me and if they do that, if they give me a mandate for these negotiations for the plan for Brexit that the Government has, the plan for a stronger Britain beyond Brexit that we have, then I think that will strengthen our hand," 61-year-old May said.


"I genuinely came to this decision reluctantly having looked at the circumstances and having looked ahead at the process of negotiation. I want this country to be able to play the strongest hand possible in those negotiations and be in a position to get the best possible deal. That is in our long- term interest. That is what this is about," she said.


The Prime Minister had stunned the UK when she called for a snap poll in an announcement yesterday.

Just in: Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale to meet Pakistan Foreign Secretary over consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav.

BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav who had complained about food dismissed from service.

Yadav, who had posted video clips on social networking sites showing the poor quality of food served to security forces personnel posted in frontier areas adjoining Pakistan, was dismissed today from service by the Summary Security Force Court at Samba.

He has been found guilty of committing an act prejudicial to good order and discipline of the force in which he made false allegations on social media regarding quality of food and did not adhere to formal grievance redressal mechanism of the force.

Apart from this, he was also found guilty of neglect to obey general orders of the force in which he carried two mobile phones while on operational duty against the SOP (standard operating procedure) and also posted photographs in uniform on social media in contravention of instructions, he added.

As per the BSF Act and Rules, he can now submit a petition/appeal against the punishment to the higher HQ within three months, the spokesperson said. The SSFC commenced from April 13-19 and during the proceedings, all opportunities were given to Constable Yadav to defend himself, he added.

1996 FERA case: TTV Dinakaran, appeared before Economic Offences Court in Chennai in case registered against him by ED. Next hearing is May 10.

Congress leaders including ex-Councillor SK Puri Goswami and other State Cong office bearers joining BJP today.

Union minister Uma Bharti reacts to the Supreme Court decision to reopen the Babri Masjid demolition case against her, LK Advani, MM Joshi and 20 others. 

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) deputy chief T T V Dinakaran cancelled a meeting of party MLAs and district secretaries he had convened earlier in the day.

Sonu Nigam gets his head shaved after a Fatwa was issued announcing 10 Lakhs for anyone who shaves Nigam's head. Photograph: ANI

Red beacon will be removed from cars of the prime minister and all ministers from May 1, transport minister Nitin Gadkari has said after a cabinet meeting.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today stressed the need for an alliance of "all good people" to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party after a meeting in the national capital with his Kerala counterpart, Pinarayi Vijayan. 

Just In: Forty-four persons feared killed as bus falls into the Tons river in the remote Nerwa area of Shimla district. Details soon.

High Court reserves order on plea to direct MEA to move International Court of Justice for release of Kulbhushan Jadhav, on death row in Pakistan.

Cabinet clears EC's proposal of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. The government has agreed to release Rs 3,000 crore to buy new electronic voting machines that print a paper receipt for each vote cast. The decision comes as opposition parties have attacked the machines currently in use as being vulnerable to rigging and is expected to be announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later today.

Suspected militants today looted a bank branch in Shopian district of Kashmir, police said. "Two to three gunmen, believed to be militants, entered into the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch at Harmain in Shopian at 11 am and looted some cash," a police official said. He said the gunmen managed to escape after committing the robbery. The bank officials are in the process of ascertaining the amount of cash looted from the branch, the official said.

 O Panneerselvam reacts to the news of  Dinakaran stepping aside: This is our faction's first victory that Sasikala and her family have been ousted from the party. Both factions will talk to fulfill the aspirations of lakhs of party workers.

I have no regrets because I don't have any expectations, says TTV Dinakaran. It's not like he has any choice in the matter. 

Dear reader, 

Update: SC also made it clear that till Kalyan Singh holds post of Governor of Rajasthan, no case would be registered against him. Supreme Court also said that the case shall be transferred within four weeks from Rai Bareilly to Lucknow. SC directs the Lucknow trial court to commence proceedings in four weeks and makes it clear that there will be no de novo or new trial.

Update on the Babri masjid demolition conspiracy case: The Supreme Court sets a two-year deadline for the verdict. The CBI will ensure the presence of at least one prosecution witness every day. The court also says the judge at Lucknow will not be transferred. There are two trials being held -- one at the Lucknow court and one at Rae Bareli.

Advani, 89, along with party colleagues like Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi, are charged with making inflammatory speeches that motivated lakhs of right-wing volunteers or karsevaks to pull down the mosque in 1992. This trial is being held in Rae Bareli.

However, 20 people in connection with the actual demolition of mosque are also being tried in a court in Lucknow.

The Supreme Court says the Babri case against LK Advani and senior BJP leaders will be reopened. The BJP's top leaders will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of the 16th-Century Babri Masjid, as requested by the Central Bureau of Investigation.


Advani, 89, along with party colleagues like Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi are charged with making inflammatory speeches that motivated lakhs of right-wing volunteers or karsevaks to pull down the mosque in 1992. That trial is being held in Rae Bareli.

It will be a day-to-day trial with no adjournments.

A man arrested for a shooting spree in the central California city of Fresno in which three white men were killed saw himself as part of an ongoing race war, according to family and police. The suspect, a 39-year-old African-American named Kori Ali Muhammad, shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- "God is great" in Arabic -- as he was being taken into custody. But Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer said indications were it was not a "terrorist-related crime" and a probe was under way to determine if the murders qualified as a hate crime.


He said Muhammad, who used the alias "Black Jesus" and was wanted in the killing last week of an unarmed security guard outside a motel in the city, had indicated in postings on his Facebook page that he hated white people and the government.


"This was a random act of violence," Dyer said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today." He said all the victims were white males and there was every reason to believe Muhammad had acted alone.

Buoyed by forecast of a normal monsoon and shrugging off weak trend in global markets, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 54 points in opening trade today after investors took to select stock-picking. The 30-share barometer was trading higher by 54.45 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 29,373.55 with IT, power, technology, healthcare and FMCG sector stocks leading the recovery.

The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict today on a plea seeking restoration of conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders, including LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman is scheduled to pronounce the judgement. There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992.

The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the VVIPs in a Rae Bareli court.

On April 6, the bench had indicated that they may order holding of joint trial of the two sets of cases by transferring the trial from Rae Bareli to the Lucknow court.

The bench had also said since 25 years have already passed, in the interest of justice, it would consider ordering time-bound trial on day-to-day basis, to be completed preferably within two years.

"Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but the officer was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed. I am not supporting him, but I am also not criticising him. He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police," points out Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd), who was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir. Readthe Lt General's interview with Archana Masih/Rediff.com.

China announces "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Hindustan Times reports: China has unilaterally renamed six places in Arunachal Pradesh in standard Chinese in what appears to be the first sign of retaliation against the 14th Dalai Lamas visit to the northeastern state earlier this month.

Calling the remote Indian state as part of the border dispute with India, Beijing says Arunachal Pradesh is part of south Tibet with close Buddhist links with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in the Mainland. Official Chinese maps show the state as part of south Tibet.

The names were changed to show to India the sovereignty of the region, Chinese state media said.

China has standardised the names of 6 places in south Tibet, a region that is part of Chinas territory but in which some areas are currently controlled by India, a state media report said.

The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wogyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidngarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bmo La and Namkapub Ri, the report added.

Image: Chinese premier Xi Jinping.

fter ouster from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), T.T.V. Dinakaran on Wednesday called for a meeting of MLAs and District Secretaries at party headquarter in Royapettah this afternoon at 3 p.m.

AIADMK leader and state Finance Minister D. Jayakumar yesterday announced that V.K. Sasikala and her nephew Dinakaran were decided to be 'delinked' from the party.

Earlier, Jayakumar announced that a new committee was formed to administer the affairs of the AIADMK.

Demanding the ouster of Sasikala and her nephew from the AIADMK, former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam said the party should not be controlled by one family, adding it was nothing short of treason to allow the former to control the party's affairs.


He said that he had sent a petition to the Election Commission to declare Sasikala's appointment as AIADMK general secretary 'illegal'.

"When the Pakistani army let loose a reign of terror in Bangladesh in 1971, nearly ten million Bangladeshis crossed over to India. The number of refugees is directly proportional to the degree of victimisation. If the atrocities perpetrated by the Indian army on the Kashmiri Muslims are so widespread and gruesome as Pankaj Mishra claims, then why are Muslims not fleeing the valley? Why are refugees not pouring into Pakistan?"

Indian soldiers in Kashmir are not on a joy ride scouting for people to kill, says Vivek Gumaste in this column on Rediff.com. Do read

Sketch: Dominic Xavier

The crime branch of Delhi Police has issued a lookout notice against All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran.

Dinakaran was on Monday booked for allegedly trying to bribe an Election Commission official in a failed bid to obtain the coveted 'two-leaves' party symbol for his faction.

Concerned that he may try to escape, the cops have alerted all sea and air ports with his details, a Times of India report said.

On Monday, police had lodged a first information report against Dinakaran soon after arresting an alleged middleman who, according to police, was purportedly helping the AIADMK leader reach out to an unidentified official in the Election Commission in return for an astounding Rs 50 crore.

No arrest warrant has been issued against Dinakaran. But the police have in their custody Sukesh Chandrasekhar, the alleged middleman who was picked from a 5-star hotel in New Delhi on Sunday, a senior police official said. -- Agencies

The police in southern France's Marseille city arrested two people and seized guns and bomb-making materials for planning an 'imminent and violent attack' ahead of the first round of France's Presidential election.

French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said the Mahiedine Merabet and Clement Baur, aged 24 and 30, were French nationals and were detained at different addresses in the southern port city.

"These two radicalised men . intended to commit in the very short-term -- by that I mean in the coming days -- an attack on French soil," The Guardian quoted Fekl as saying.

Franois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, has said that an Islamic State (IS) flag and jihadist propaganda were recovered from one of the suspect while the second suspect had links to a Belgian cell.

Molins said the two men met in 2015, who were sharing a prison cell for petty crime.According to local media sources the tip-off had come from the United Kingdom which had 'intercepted data on two individuals known to the intelligence services'.

The suspects have been detained under arrest warrants for terrorist criminal association.French President, Franois Hollande, hailed the 'remarkable' arrests.

On Sunday April 23, the French people will vote in the first round of their presidential elections. If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the votes, the top two candidates will go to a second round on May 7. -- ANI

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran has called a meeting of MLAs and district secretaries at party headquarters in Royapettah at 3 pm.

Dinakaran's move comes after senior cabinet ministers, led by Chief Minister E Palaniswami, decided on Tuesday night to 'de-link' him and party general secretary V K Sasikala from the 'government and the party'.

Hours after Tamil Nadu Finance Minister D Jayakumar announced that Sasikala and Dinakaran will be 'de-linked' from the party, several MLAs and Dinakaran supporters rallied behind him and denounced the former's statement.

"Former chief minister O Panneerselvam, while going to Madurai, had said that he was ready for the merger without any conditions, which was acceptable to us. But when he imposed the condition today, we decided not to consider this. We will never accept this condition. Because it was T T V Dinakaran, who gave a new direction to the AIADMK," party leader Nanzhil Sampath said.

On Tuesday, Panneerselvam had put forth a condition that merger between the two factions would take place only if Sasikala and Dinakaran were ousted from the party.

Hinting that more leaders would join the Dinakaran camp, Sampath said, "In the coming two days, the AIADMK will emerge strongly under the leadership of Dinakaran. All party cadres, members and support Dinakaran. All the splitters would join Dinakaran."

Sampath also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party, stating that the AIADMK would not get bogged down by the pressure imposed by the saffron party.

Jayakumar's statement was also criticised by MLA P Vetrivel, who said they would 'never accept the decision'. -- ANI