As a choking blanket of smog enveloped the national capital today, a number of schools in Delhi suspended outdoor activities and advised parents to ensure their children wear masks.


Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also asked his deputy Manish Sisodia to consider shutting schools for a few days after the air quality dropped to the "severe" category on the air quality index in Delhi.


"Dear parents, please note that due to high pollution levels/unfavourable weather conditions in Delhi, morning sports practice has been suspended for a few days," read a message by Sanskriti School.


Shri Ram School also issued a notice to parents along those lines. Tagore International School has truncated outdoor activities to once a week since Diwali considering high pollution levels.


Mount Carmel School in an advisory said: "Dear parent, due to increased pollution levels and poor air quality, students are advised to wear masks to school from tomorrow."


However, doctors said long-term measures are needed in addition to masks. AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said there is not enough data on the efficacy of masks and stressed on the need for initiating a movement to protect the environment.


"Masks are not very helpful as a lot of air can get inside from the sides. Also, they are tightly sealed and children and eldery find them very uncomfortable to use. He suggested implementing long-term measures and said the use of nasal filters or air purifiers can provide short-term relief only. Education institutions in the National Capital Region have also issued advisories in view of high pollution levels.  -- PTI

Ali Raza, who claimed to be the last nawab of the royal house of Oudh, was found dead at his Malcha Mahal near the forest area in Delhi's Chanakyapuri.

"There is no electricity or water here. He fell ill after his dogs died. His mother and sisters died several years ago," a forest official told ANI.

The Mahal is hidden under the thick flora deep inside the central ridge along the Sardar Patel Marg.

According to reports in 1985, Raza had shifted into the Mahal with his mother, Begum Wilayat Mahal, the child of the Nawab of Awadh or Oudh, his sibling princess Sakina, 11 labrador dogs, and a few servants.

The family had huge palaces. They lost their luck, but not their sense of power. Hence, somewhere in the 1970s, the Begum decided to take an action.

She sheltered herself in the first class waiting room of the Delhi Railway Station together with her young son and daughter, seven servants, and a collection of huge and attractive Persian carpets.

After a few years, the government offered her a home at the Malcha Mahal. The place had no electricity or running water, no doors or windows. Yet the Begum decided to stay in the Mahal.

She hung a metal sign outside: "Entry restricted. Cautious of hound dogs. Proclamation: Intruders shall be gundown."

The Begum allegedly committed suicide in 1993 at the age of 62 by drinking a mixture laced with crushed diamonds. -- ANI

1982: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Governor Reserve Bank of India in a meeting. Picture courtesy: @IndiaHistorypic

The vision and resilience of Dr Singh when he assumed office as finance minister in 1991 ushered in liberalisation.

The former PM who is in Surat today, on the anniversary of the Narendra Modi government's disastrous demonetisation drive, said it was nothing but organised loot.

Subsonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay' test fired from Chandipur integrated Test Range, final test to take place on 9th November.

Union minister Arun Jaitley address the media on the first anniversary of the note ban saying demonetisation was a watershed moment for the Indian economy. Excerpts from his speech in which he also addressed what former PM Dr Manmohan Singh said. Dr Singh called demonetisation 'organised loot and legalized plunder'.

Arun Jaitley's speech:

-- An anti-black money drive is a moral step, loot toh vo hoti hai jo 2G, CWG mein huyi, coal block allocation mein huyi.

-- All that Dr Singh has to do is to compare global credibility of Indian economy pre-2014 and post-2014.

-- Congress's primary object is to serve the family and our primary object is to serve the nation.

-- Terror funding was squeezed because of demonetisation, shell companies were also easily identified.

-- Demonetisation one-off solution hai aur isse saari samasyaien khatam ho jayengi aisa nahi hai, lekin isse agenda badla hai.

-- More money came in mutual funds, capital market after demonetisation; It was a structural reform under the leadership of PM Modi.

-- Anti-blackmoney drive is a moral step. The Congress never took
any big step against black money.

-- BJP believes that the status quo in economy needed to be shaken
up.

The gunman who killed 26 people at a church in Texas could buy weapons because the US Air Force did not submit his criminal history to the FBI as required by military rules, authorities have said.


The gunman, identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, wearing black tactical-style gear walked into the church and started firing from an assault rifle just after the Sunday morning service began at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.


Kelley was previously a member of the US Air Force and served at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 until his discharge. He was court-martialled in 2012 for assault on his spouse and their child.  -- PTI

Dense smog hampered visibility at the Delhi airport this morning, affecting flight operations and leading to delays by up to two hours as only one of the three runways could be used.


Sources at the Indira Gandhi International Airport said that due to low visibility on the shorter runway 9/27, they could only use runway 10/28 in the morning.


The third runway 11/29 is shut from today for three days for maintenance. The official added that the second runway was opened after visibility improved.


According to officials of the India Meteorological Department, runway visibility between 7am and 8am was less than 200 metres and improved around 11am.


"Due to air traffic congestion in Delhi, departure delays up to 90 minutes are expected at Delhi airport till 1500 hrs," Jet Airways said in a tweet. "Flights to and from Delhi may get delayed by up to 2 hrs due (to) runway closure for maintenance," Vistara tweeted.


The smog has added to the woes of people flying in and out of Delhi as the airport is operating at 70 per cent of its capacity because of maintenance work on one of its runways.


The airport will be handling 800 flights per hour instead of 1,100 as airlines were told to curtail operations for three days. This means passengers will have fewer flight options to book as well as an increase in demand from travellers. -- PTI

Representational image

Private sector ICICI Bank today said its board has approved a proposal to sell part-stake in fully-owned broking business subsidiary ICICI Securities through an initial public offer.  It, however, did not mention the size of the stake it wants to divest.

On the occasion of his birthday today, actor Kamal Haasan said that he will be going on a tour across Tamil Nadu before officially launching his political party. "My dream is create a good Tamil Nadu," the actor said and added that it was important to strengthen the base, before launching the party.

He also launched a mobile app which he said would be more of a platform for the public. " My aim is to reach out to people. This app will be sort of a whistleblower platform and will be used wherever wrong happens. I will strive to achieve justice," he said.  

He said that while many were speculating that today he would announce his political party, he admitted that before he made the annoucement he would have to do a lot of groundwork. "We have been sitting and analysing the way ahead. Dreams create inventions, and inventions become a way of life. At this point the question of going back doesn't arise. That is why I said groundwork is being done," Kamal Haasan said.

When asked about his identity, the actor said, "I cannot deny that I do not belong to the Brahmin community. It is nothing to be proud of. I have friends and families from all communities." He added that he had no intention and would "definitely not want to hurt Hindu sentiments, as he belonged to a Hindu family, but had taken a different path.  "I did not use the word terror, the word I used was 'extreme', like some of my fans who love me," the actor said.

He said he was looking at the larger goal over a longer time, and so would have to make the party ready for it. "The reason why they (people of Tamil Nadu) want a change is probably the reason why they will follow me," he said.

MC Mary Kom enters finals of light-flyweight category in Asian boxing championship after defeating Japan's Tsubasa Komura. 

AT the height of their popularity two of South Asia's greatest politicians -- and bitter rivals -- were struggling with an identical personal trauma, their Parsi sons-in-law. One a Kashmiri Brahmin, the other a Khoja Muslim, Nehru and Jinnah were household names in the 1930-40s. They had a daughter each to dote on but their sons-in-law were to give them grief. Both the leaders were secular but, on hindsight, betrayed a lurking conservatism that showed up when it came to their daughters' cross-cultural suitors.

The son-in-laws of Nehru and Jinnah... Read the column here.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused the Congress Party for unnecessarily castigating the Centre for its economic policies. "The Congress is trying to defame the Central Government on economic front. The demonetisation and the GST are strong economic measures. Had India's economy not been strong no foreign investor would've come here. Fact is foreign investments is rising," Singh said.


The Union Home Minister also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party will attain two-third majority in the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.The polling in the hills is slated to be held in single-phase on November 9. The results will be declared on December 18.  -- ANI

In the past week, two women have publicly come forward and accused Dustin Hoffman of sexual harassment. It seems like Hoffman's past has come to haunt him again, as an interview with a leading US publication was unearthed in which the Meryl Streep, three-time Oscar winner, recounted a time when her former 'Kramer vs. Kramer' co-star Dustin Hoffman touched her breast on their first meeting, according to E! Online.


According to the representative of Streep, the 38-year-old article is not an "accurate rendering of that meeting."Streep's representative added, "There was an offense and it is something for which Dustin apologized. And Meryl accepted that.


"The interview that was unearthed by an online publication saw the 20-time Oscar nominated describing an audition for a play that Hoffman had directed.She recalled the encounter in the piece, "He came up to me and said, 'I'm Dustin Hoffman,' and he put his hand on my breast. 'What an obnoxious pig,' I thought."


Hoffman doesn't appear to have responded publicly to this claim from Streep in the years since the interview.


The resurrection of the Streep's old claim comes on the heels of a woman coming forward last week to accuse Hoffman of sexually harassing her when she was 17 and the actor was 47. -- ANI

Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde at the Taj Mahal.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh speaking on the demonetisation in Surat, Gujarat. The Narendra Modi government announced demonetisation on November 8, last year. Excerpts from Dr Singh's speech:

-- Tomorrow we mark one year since the disastrous policy was thrust on the people of our country.

-- 8th November was a black day for our economy and indeed our democracy.

-- I repeat what I said in the parliament, this was organised loot and legalized plunder.

-- This twin (#Demonetisation & GST) blow is complete disaster for our economy, it has broken the back of our small businesses.

-- When undertaking endeavour of 1 nation 1 tax if PM had taken inspiration from resolve of great Sardar Patel, outcome would've been different. 

-- No where in the world has any nation taken such a drastic step that swept off 86% of the currency.

--  Bravado and drama are poor substitutes for courage and conviction.

-- Bullet train, launched with much fan fare, is an exercise in vanity.

-- Did PM consider alternative of the high speed train by upgrading broad gauge railway?

-- By questioning bullet trains does one become anti-development? Does questioning GST and demonetisation make one a tax evader?

-- The fear of tax terrorism has eroded the confidence of Indian business to invest.

-- I can proudly say that we lifted 140 million people out of poverty.

Just in: The UP Shia Central Waqf Board says draft proposal for peaceful settlement of Ayodhya dispute will be ready by December 6.

The gunman who killed 26 people at a church in the US state of Texas had a history of domestic violence and sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law, according to authorities which said the shooting was not racially or religiously motivated.


The gunman, identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, wearing black tactical-style gear walked into the church and started firing from an assault rifle just after the Sunday morning service began at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.


Texas law enforcement officials said that the shooting was not racially or religiously motivated, rather it was connected to a "domestic situation going on within [his extended] family, which wouldn't be a first for him".


"We know that he expressed anger towards his mother-in- law, who attends this church," Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety said, adding that the court- martialled former US Air Force airman had a history of sending her threatening texts. But his mother-in-law was not inside the church when Kelley sprayed bullets on worshippers.


However, the gunman's grandmother-in-law was present at the church when Kelley stormed in from the backdoor, firing all the way to the front and firing on his way back out of the church, authorities said.


He reloaded several times. He killed his grandmother-in- law during the attack, friends of the woman told the media. Authorities, however, also believe that the shooting was not a case in which suspect went to the church looking for his relatives but ended up killing many others.


"He was there to kill everybody. He is a mass killer of children and people ... he is a horrible monster," a source familiar with the matter told ABC News. The ages of the deceased range from 18 months to 77 years, authorities said.  -- PTI

Delhi woke up to 'severe' air quality today under a blanket of thick haze, as pollution levels breached the permissible standards by multiple times. The rapid fall in air quality and visibility began last evening itself as moisture combined with pollutants shrouded the city in a thick cover of haze. By 10 am today, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded 'severe' air quality, meaning the intensity of pollution was extreme.


In light of the sudden dip, measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) such as a four times hike in parking fees may be rolled out by the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority. If the situation deteriorates further and persists for at least 48 hours, the task force under the GRAP will mull shutting schools and enforcing the odd-even car rationing scheme.  -- PTI

Pallavi Ghosh @_pallavighosh So am told kamal Hassan sets condition he will meet only editor s and not correspondents .. such arrogance doesn't suit a wannabe neta

After a day's respite, rains lashed parts of the city and its neighbourhood today even as schools reopened after a week-long holiday. Showers were reported in parts of the city such as Mylapore, Royapettah and Mandaiveli and Tambaram and Chengalpattu in neighbouring Kancheepuram district. Rains also lashed parts of Tiruvallur district.


The weather office has forecast more showers with heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in southern Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal in neighbouring Puducherry today. Light to moderate rain was likely in the city and its neighbourhood, it said.


Schools in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts which remained closed since October 31 in the wake of torrential rains reopened today. -- PTI


File pic.

The man who shot dead 26 people at a Texas church carried out the attack after a "domestic situation" with his mother-in-law, it has been revealed.

According to the officials, 26-year-old Devin Kelley opened fire on the church attended by his mother-in-law after he sent "threatening" text messages to her, the Independent reported.

Freeman Martin, the regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said, "This was not racially motivated, it wasn't over religious beliefs. There was a domestic situation going on with the family and in-laws."

"We know that he expressed anger towards his mother-in-law, who attends this church," Martin added.

The US officials said that he was not legally permitted to own the weapons.

According to the reports, Kelly possessed three guns.

At least 26 people were killed and several others were injured in a mass shooting incident at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The youngest victim of Sunday's shooting was an 18-month-old baby and the oldest one being 77-year-old.

After a brief chase, the law enforcement found the suspect dead of a gunshot wound inside his vehicle. Freeman Martin, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that the authorities were not sure if the wound was self-inflicted or the result of the resident who fired on the suspect.

Kelley, a former member of the U.S. Air Force, was court-martialled in 2012 on charges of assaulting his wife and child, the reports said. -- ANI


Image: Devin Kelley, 26, is shown in this undated Texas Department of Safety driver license photo. Texas Department of Safety/Handout via REUTERS.

The three letters are: a letter by Tehelka directors and a letter by Tehelka Financiers; First Global Directors addressed to Gandhi and the third letter from Gandhi to Chidambaram on behalf of Tehelka and its financiers.


The book further hints that Sonia tried to convince Chidambaram to shield the Tehelka financiers."I positioned the letter in such a way to show that a letter was written to someone who is even above the prime minister, who then wrote to the finance minister relating their problem, and immediately the problem was solved. This is the reality unlike the allegations against me which are fake," Jaitly said, and added, "to save a person, who paid Tehelka to conduct a sting operation, there must be some connection.


"The letter was written merely months after the UPA formed the government, and Sonia Gandhi declined the post of the prime minister, which was passed on to Dr Manmohan Singh.

Former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly has entailed her reasons for enclosing a letter, written by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to former finance minister P Chidambaram, in her memoir due to be released on Tuesday, and hinted that the UPA-led government in 2004, and particularly Gandhi was involved in facilitating the framing of corruption charges against her.


The author has made these claims in her memoir, 'Life Among the Scorpions: Memoirs of an Indian Woman in Public Life'. The book hints at the links between Gandhi and the Tehelka news portal, particularly in the Tehelka sting 'Operation Westend.'


"I included the letter in my book to show the truth behind accusations against me that I met with wrong people and assured them of my help in exchange for money. The wrong people were fake. Neither did I give them any assurances, nor asked and received any money. I have been going to court for nine years for the wrong allegations," Jaitly told ANI.


Jaitly referred to the ongoing nine-year-long corruption case against her, wherein the CBI filed a chargesheet alleging that she had accepted a bribe of Rs 2 lakh in 2001.


She was alleged to have accepted the money in exchange for persuading former defence minister George Fernandes to award the contract of hand-held thermal imagers to a company named West End International.


The case was registered on the basis of a sting, 'Operation Westend,' conducted by news portal Tehelka in 2000, purportedly exposing alleged corruption in defence deals.There are, in total, three letters enclosed in the book.  -- ANI

The recent decision by China to block a bid at the United Nations to list Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, as a global terrorist, is doing "material harm" to its ties with India, top American experts said today.


Last week, China had blocked a bid at the United Nations by the US, France, and Britain to list Azhar as a global terrorist, citing a lack of consensus among the members of the UN Security Council.


A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked India's move to designate Azhar a terrorist under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.


"I think it's an unfortunate move on China's part and I question the logic of continuing to block sanctions on known Pakistan-based terrorists at the United Nations," Jeff Smith from the Heritage Foundation told PTI. 

BSE Sensex rises by 122 pts to hit all-time high of 33,853.63, Nifty gains 33.95 pts to trade at 10,485.75 in early session.

Actor Kamal Haasan cancelled his birthday bash today and later tweeted the reason for his decision.   He also visited a medical camp in Chennai.

'To those who love me and dislike the idea of my cancelling my birthday celeberations,' he tweeted, with the message, 'Tomorrow is just another day if you just celebrate and fail to seize it. If we can make it better in pursuit of a cause then we become the change we seek.'

He later visited to a medical camp, which he said had 'no connection with politics, but we could use this for that'.

"People have been commenting that I am dreaming big. I want to tell them that it is dream which ultimately gets materialised," he said.  -- ANI

Photograph: ANI

After an Assam-based Army veteran was asked by a foreigners tribunal to prove his Indian citizenship and that he was not an 'illegal Bangladeshi immigrant' last month, another retired armyman in Guwahati has been served a similar notice to prove his citizenship.

Mahiruddin Ahmed, who retired as a havildar from the Indian Army in 2004, along with his wife, was served notices by a foreigners tribunal in Barpeta district on September 16.

The notices claimed that both of them had entered India from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971, without any valid papers.

The tribunal had asked him to appear before it today with the proof of his citizenship, Ahmed told reporters.

"It is very painful and shocking that we are subjected to such humiliation after serving in the Army," he said.

Stating that he was born in 1964 in Barpeta, Ahmed wondered how could he have joined the Army if he was not an Indian citizen.

Last month, Mohammad Azmal Hoque, who had been a junior commissioned officer in the Army, was asked to prove his Indian citizenship and that he was not an 'illegal Bangladeshi immigrant' by a foreigners tribunal, which had charged him with entering the country in 1971 without proper documents.

Hoque, who had retired from the Army on September 30 last year, after serving in the force for 30 years, was living in Guwahati post-retirement.

He had received a notice from the tribunal, which placed him in the 'doubtful voter' category and asked him to appear before a local tribunal on October 13 with relevant documents to prove his citizenship.

"Why do I have to be humiliated so many times? I request the prime minister, President and home minister to put an end to this harassment of a citizen," said Hoque, adding that he was not the first person from his family to be served such anotice as in 2012, his wife Mamtaj Begum was also summoned by the tribunal to prove her citizenship.

The Assam Police, however, later apologised to him as it was a case of mistaken identity.  -- PTI

Image only for representation.

One of the three terrorists who were gunned down in South Kashmir's Pulwama district in an encounter on Monday was Talha Rasheed, the nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

The other two were 'Divisional Commander' Muhammad Bhai, a non-local and Waseem, a resident of Drubgam, Pulwama, said spokesperson of JeM on Tuesday.

Three terrorists were killed in Pulwama on Monday in an encounter in which an Army jawan was also martyred.

A civilian suffered injuries in the crossfire, army officials said.Security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Kandi belt following information about the presence of some terrorists.

The search operation led to a gunbattle after the terrorists fired at the security forces, they said.  -- ANI

A special court is expected to declare the date of pronouncement of judgement in three cases in the 2G spectrum scam, one of the most high-profile scams involving politicians and renowned industrialists.

The special court hearing the cases had fixed November 7 as the next date of hearing when it will likely announce the date of the verdict.

Special Judge O P Saini has been exclusively dealing with cases arising out of the 2G spectrum scam. Two cases have been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and another one by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

In its charge sheet filed against former telecom minister A Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and others in 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore in the allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum.

In April 2014, the ED filed a charge sheet against 19 people, including Raja and Kanimozhi in connection with a money laundering case relating to the scam.  -- ANI

United States ambassador to Pakistan David Hale today said his country has told Islamabad to take decisive action against terrorists operating from its soil.

He was addressing the fourth round of US-Pakistan Bilateral Dialogue held in Islamabad titled 'Convergence amid Divergence: Identifying Pathways to Cooperation in a Challenging Environment'.

Hale said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had told Pakistani leaders that time had come for action against all terrorists under the new US policy.

"Our South Asia strategy also looks toward Pakistan for a decisive action against all terrorist groups operation from its soil," said Hale.

He said it was time for Pakistan to join US efforts to deny any opportunity to militants to launch cross border attacks in Afghanistan so that they could not see an alternative to a negotiated settlement.

"The secretary conveyed to civilian and military leadership here that American and Pakistani relations are at a critical juncture. If Pakistan's leaders choose not to take advantage of this opportunity for cooperation, we will act accordingly," said the ambassador.

"We ask for equal diligence in decimating all the groups operating in Pakistan which threaten the region's stability, including the Haqqani network," he said.

He asked Pakistan to live up to its commitment that its soil would not be used against its neighbours.

"We seek a sustained and irreversible effort to achieve an aspiration and commitment that was made public by Pakistani officials themselves and end the use of Pakistani soil for attacks on its neighbours," he said.

He said the US is committed to deny the Taliban military success and Pakistan would gain much from a negotiated settlement between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

He said Pakistani leaders have made it clear that they share the US goal for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

"Together we have much to gain through cooperation," he said.

He also said that Tillerson during his visit last month encouraged India to do more economically for Afghanistan.  -- PTI

IMAGE: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, right, with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif at the State Department in Washington last month. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters