The United Nations children's fund said today that 14 million children are paying the price for warfare in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, with violence and hardship shaping their future. 

Aid agencies said on Thursday that 2014 was the worst year of the Syrian conflict so far and that three UnitedNations Security Council resolutions aimed at alleviating the suffering had failed.

Congress today grilled the BJP-led Gujarat government over cattle deaths in Vadodara-based animal shelters recently, alleging gross negligence by the administration. 

With a confrontation looming large between ruling UDF and LDF Opposition in Kerala on budget day tomorrow over the bar bribery issue, Finance Minister K M Mani today stayed back in the Assembly complex to thwart opposition's attempt to prevent him from presenting it. 

More heavy fog, rain and rough surf complicated today's efforts to collect the remains of seven US Marines and four soldiers whose Black Hawk helicopter crashed offshore while they trained in Florida. 

A British military healthcare worker who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone was flown to a London hospital for treatment along with two colleagues involved in her care, raising concerns among the authorities about the fate of the country's aid effort in West Africa. 

Two more police officials were transferred in what appears to be fallout of the fracas which took place outside a city club, an incident for which Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had apologised. Assistant Commissioner of Police N Sherkhane and senior Inspector Baburao Mukhedkar -- both from Traffic Department -- have been transferred to Special Branch.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a series of tweets that he would be addressing farmers in the next Mann Ki Baat episode. The radio programme will be aired on Thursday, March 22.

Fantasy author Terry Pratchett has died aged 66 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. "The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds," said Transworld Publishers' Larry Finlay.

Rush-hour commuters were left screaming and in tears when a passenger fell under a London Underground train -- apparently after her coat became stuck in the doors.

Around 14 million children are suffering hardship and trauma from the war in Syria and Iraq, the United Nations children's agency said on Thursday, highlighting the needs of children struggling to cope with severe violence, and the danger to the rest of the world of failing to help a generation preyed on by extremist groups.

These rare photos reveal Osama bin Laden's Afghan hideout before he planned out the 9/11 attacks. 

The Insurance Bill was passed in Parliament after the Rajya Sabha gave its assent to the bill. The legislation aims to increase the foreign investment limit in local insurers to 49 per cent from 26 per cent. The Congress party swung behind the bill, which cleared the Lok Sabha last week. 

Rajesh Garg alleged that he received a threatening call from someone who claimed to be a 'friend' of the Aam Aadmi Party. 

At least five people were killed, 39 injured and scores of others were feared trapped under tonnes of debris after an under-construction cement factory collapsed today in southwestern Bangladesh. 

Afghanistan CEO Abdullah Abdullah will be in Delhi this month and will address a press meet on the 14th. Has the tide turned for India-Afghanistan relations?

A prominent member of the censor board took to social media on Thursday to rail against its chairman, exposing rifts within a censorship panel that has thwarted the theatrical release of films such as Hollywood hit "Fifty Shades of Grey'.

Ashoke Pandit, a Bollywood film-maker, accused censor chief Pahlaj Nihalani of treating India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) like his personal fiefdom.

"Films after films are becoming innocent victims of his mindless tyranny,' Pandit wrote on his Facebook page.

"His ridiculous diktats and autocratic functioning has made CBFC a laughing stock."

In his post, Pandit cited "NH10', a Bollywood thriller about a young couple attacked by a gang while travelling on a highway.

The film, originally blocked by censors, opens in cinemas on Friday after its makers were asked to make nine cuts.

"The cuts have been levied in spite of the film-maker agreeing to an adult certificate,' Pandit said, blaming Nihalani for taking the decision despite objections from panel members. -- Reuters

"People say Aamir Khan cries on Satyamev Jayate and it's fake. But that is not true. Whenever I have narrated a script to him, he has cried often. If I narrated the same script five times, he cried five times at the same point." Patcy N/Rediff.com speaks to director Rajkumar Hirani for Rediff.com's Aamir, 50, series. Read

Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar is likely to be questioned in connection with the murder of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

"Tarar is a relevant person in the case... If necessary, she will be examined," said Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi.

Tarar's  association with Dr Tharoor had reportedly led to a row between him and Sunanda Pushkar. Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor was found dead in a luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014 under mysterious circumstances.

Delhi Police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) after registering a murder case against unknown people on January 1, 2015.

The SIT probing the case has so far questioned at least 15 people, including Dr Tharoor, his staff members, close friends of the couple and the staff of Leela Palace hotel where Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor was found dead.

The swine flu virus in India which has killed more than 1,500 people in the last three months may have acquired mutations that make it more severe and infectious than previously circulating H1N1 strains, a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study has warned. Read

Feminism is always worth talking about, but it's hard to grab people's attention. Elon, a woman in Karsruhe, Germany, solved this problem by using a controversial medium '" period pads  -- to drive home her message about gender equality and the elimination of rape culture. She chose International Women's Day (March 8th) as the perfect day to reveal her message. Read

BJP announces its list of national executive members. A smaller -- 111 member -- body is being promulgated. But the big news is that HRD minister Smriti Irani has been dropped from the body.  

Also Union Ministers Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Najma Heptullah missing from the list.

Sensex climbs 271.24 points to end at 28,930.41; Nifty gains 76.05 points to close at 8,776.

Congress Party vice-president and possibly the next party president Rahul Gandhi has extended his sabbatical -- again. He will now return only by the end of March, reports NDTV.

Rahul was to have returned to Delhi by Tuesday, March 10, but Congress sources said then that he had extended his "leave of absence" till the end of this week.   

Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi made it clear that irrespective of wherever he is, Rahul is deeply involved in the decision making in the party including in some recent changes.

Everything is going on under his lens, under his supervision... Rahul is discharging his responsibilities, he said rejecting contentions expressed in a news report that Rahul is not willing to come back to take up party assignments till senior leaders like Ahmed Patel and Janardan Dwivedi are shunted out.

Rahul went on leave on the first day of the budget session of Parliament with the Congress saying he was introspecting about the way ahead for the party.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas on Thursday alleged that people conspire against his party whenever its convener Arvind Kejriwal is unwell or protesting for a noble cause.

"These people conspire against AAP to make the party look bad. And whenever Arvind Kejriwal is unwell, in jail or protesting for a good cause, such attacks are made," he said.

Vishwas alleged that Rajesh Garg is an opportunist." He had sent an e-mail to the party and asked for a ticket, AAP had told him that he can do whatever he wants and give it to whosoever he wants," said Vishwas.

"Rajesh Garg sending the tape to journalists proves that we have been dealing with such people since a long time and we have always come out of such episodes," he added.

Meanwhile Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia avoided commenting on the issue, saying his focus right now was on governance."I have to work on the governance in the absence on Kejriwal and the party has been keeping its views on this issue," he said.

And yes, another picture of Kejriwal at the naturopathy clinic in Bengaluru (which seems to be getting a lot of free publicity). The Delhi CM is expected to leave in another three days. He has already spent a week at the clinic. 

That's a picture of the man who allegedly threw two country bombs at the office of the Tamil television news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai in Chennai at about 3 am. No damage has been reported. CCTV footage shows four men on two motorcycles throwing the crude bombs at the entrance to the office. Police are investigating the attack.

Against the backdrop of uproar over the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, the Jammu and Kashmir government has told the Centre that his activities are under watch and legal action will be taken if anything adverse comes to notice.

Giving this information to Parliament today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre has issued an advisory to the state asking it to pursue "vigorously" all the 27 criminal cases against him and take steps to challenge orders granting him bail.

Singh made identical suo motu statements in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on an issue that recently had snowballed into a major controversy and created strains between BJP and its ruling coalition partner PDP in the state.

"The state government has .. informed that a proper system is in place to have an effective surveillance of Masarat Alam Bhat's activities. As and when anything adverse surfaces, appropriate action as envisaged by law will be taken.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's insulin dosage has been reduced, and his sugar level and cough has come down, a senior doctor treating him at the naturopathy institute in Bengaluru said on Monday.

"He is responding well, insulin dosage has been reduced and his sugar level and cough has reduced now compared to what it was before," Dr Babina Nandakumar, Chief Medical Officer at Jindal Nature Cure Institute on city outskirts.

She said, "He is being treated with all prescribed therapies and massages; his diet consists of juices, kashayas, chapatis, soups, cooked vegetables.

"Kejriwal's parents are also responding well to our treatment," she added.

The 46-year-old Aam Aadmi Party leader was admitted to the Institute for a 10-day nature cure treatment for his persistent chronic cough problem and uncontrolled sugar level on Thursday last.

And another picture of Kejriwal doing the jala neti at the naturopathy centre in Bengaluru where he has been holed up over the last one week. 

As AAP unravels, this is what its chief Arvind Kejriwal has been doing at the naturopathy centre in Bengaluru.

Kejriwal was admitted to the Jindal Nature Cure Institute a week ago, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, for a 10-day treatment of his persistent chronic cough problem and other ailments.

Kejriwal has begun a naturopathy regimen that includes detoxification therapy for his cough and different types of "drainage treatments", a senior doctor said.

Home minister Rajnath Singh's statement to Parliament today on the release of J-K hardliner Masarat Alam. Read

More trouble for AAP.

The head of the Bihar unit of the Aam Aadmi Party, Basant Kumar Chowdhary, has accused the current AAP national leadership of promoting a culture of individualism and selfishness, which violates the original tenets on which the AAP was conceived.

Chowdhary, who is the convener of the AAP Campaign Committee in Bihar, said, "Today, there is lot of individualism in the party. Selfish people have taken the place of internal democracy. There is a felony being committed in the name of discussion. Baseless and false allegations are being made. Without examining the truth, a plot is being made to remove Prashant (Bhushan) and Yogendra (Yadav) from the party. The party is moving towards its end with great speed."

He further went on to say that the present AAP leadership led by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia had sold dozens of tickets to corrupt people.

"Tickets were given to traitors and liquor mafias. Arvind Kejriwal and his camp stopped talking about Swaraj. Now, the talks are focused on strong leadership. Internal democracy and staying away from corrupt wealth has been rendered meaningless. These were the basic reasons behind the differences with Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav," Chowdhary said.

Media trials tend to influence judges by subconsciously creating a pressure, the Delhi High Court today observed on the airing of the controversial documentary on December 16 gang-rape case.

A bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said although it is prima facie not opposed to airing of the documentary, it should be released after the Supreme Court decides the appeals of the convicts in the matter.

"Media trials do tend to influence judges. Subconsciously a pressure is created and it does have an effect on the sentencing of the accused/ convict," it said in support of its observation. The bench was of the view that the documentary could "interfere with the justice system" but refused to pass any interim orders saying it has to be decided by an appropriate bench- of Chief Justice.

"We are prima facie not opposed to airing of the documentary, but only after the Supreme Court decides the appeals. "Had it been originally placed before us, we would have asked you to place material before us on why ban be lifted. But it has come here from the roster bench of Chief Justice, so we will not pass any interim orders. Let the roster bench decide it," the court said and listed the matter for hearing on March 18. Observing that airing of the video could make or ruin the case of one of the rape convicts, Mukesh, it said, "Whether he has shown remorse or not would be considered at the time of his sentencing. Why not wait till the Supreme Court decision?"

Sonia Gandhi to meet Congress Working Committee members and MPs of both Houses shortly.

In the backdrop of the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and called for a better coordination between the alliance partners.

Madhav, who was the party's key negotiator for forging alliance with PDP, met Mufti last night at his residence here and batted strongly for better coordination between BJP and PDP, BJP chief spokesman Sunil Sethi said. 

While on India's Daughter, the film's producer Leslee Udwin has said the banned documentary is "a real reflection" of what society thinks.

"It's a real reflection of what society thinks. And, you know, in a sense, there's nothing surprising about those comments. This is a society that treats girls as unequal from the day they are born. It treats them as unwelcome when they are born," Udwin said in an interview to the PBS news channel.

"Sweets are distributed in celebration at the birth of a boy only, and a girl is a disappointment. And from that moment in her life onward, she continues to be discriminated against. Her value is far, far less than that of a boy. Of course, you will end up with a society in which men think they can do what they like with women because they have no worth," she said.

The film, banned in India, was premiered in New York this week, and Udwin, who has been accused of violating law and not abiding by the agreement with the Indian agencies which gave her necessary permission for the interview, has been appearing on mainstream Indian media for the past several days.

Prominent among these allegations include that she signed that she would not use the movie for commercial purposes. 

BJP National Executive meet on April 3 and 4 in Bengaluru to decide the strategy for the Bihar and Bengal polls. The party's office bearers strategy meet will be held a day ahead on April 2.

Keeping the BJP's electoral interests in mind, Arun Jaitley has given special sops to eastern states, especially Bihar and West Bengal. With both states having a significant Dalit and minority population, the Budget has announced schemes to generate jobs for them.

In vibrant democracies like India, with multiple veto centres, it is "unreasonable" to expect "big bang reforms", country's top economist has said.

In his maiden public appearance in Washington after being appointed as India's Chief Economic Advisor last year, Arvind Subramanian, also told a top American think-tank this week that India is "still very much a recovering economy, not a surging economy".

He said though it was unreasonable to expect big bang reforms announcement in annual budget, the new "government is moving ahead" slowly but steadily with a series of key policy and fiscal reforms that "would change" the face of India in the years to come. "This budget maintains and accelerates the reform momentum," he said.

"Big bang reforms in robust -- what I say frustratingly vibrant democracies such as India -- are the exception, rather than the rule. In countries like India power is so dispersed, there's so many veto centres -- the Centre, the states, different institutions."

"You know, the power to do, undo, block, is so extensive, that, you know, it's a bit unreasonable," Subramanian said in his address to the prestigious Peterson Institute for International Economics.

A bill that seeks to raise foreign investment in the insurance sector will be taken up in the Rajya Sabha today and is expected to sail through following the government's pact with the opposition on key legislation.

The government, which is in a minority in the upper house of Parliament, has agreed to the opposition's demand to send the mining and coal bills for review to select committees that will submit their reports by March 18, in time for the bills to be taken up for passing.

For a century, the East India Company conquered, subjugated and plundered vast tracts of south Asia. The lessons of its brutal reign have never been more relevant, writes Indophile and writer William Dalrymple. Read

Two officers were reportedly hit by gunfire during protests near the Ferguson police station in Missouri, early Thursday, just hours after Chief Tom Jackson resigned over a report that found widespread racially bias practices at the department.

Gunfire broke out while police were attempting to contain demonstrators outside the police station, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports.

Ferguson Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff said he did not think either officer struck were from his department and did not know the extent of their injuries.

Witnesses reported hearing two to four shots. A heavy police presence on the scene included officers with high-powered rifles. 

Protests against summons to Dr Singh. Cong's UP state chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi stops the Howrah-Amritsar Express at Charbagh railway station in Lucknow.

Dr Manmohan Singh reacts to the court summons in the coal allocation scam. The former PM said, "We will fight the case to the best of our abilities. We are grateful that top leaders came to meet us."

Congress leaders led by Sonia Gandhi marched from the party headquarters in New Delhi to Dr Singh's residence to express solidarity with the former prime minister, who has been summoned as an accused by a court in a coal scam case.

Gandhi, Congress Working Committee members, party lawmakers and other office bearers met at 24 Akbar Road ahead of the rally. 

Sonia was accompanied by top party leaders Digvijaya Singh, Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad to Dr Singh's residence on 3 Motilal Nehru Marg where they meet him along with his wife Gursharan Kaur.

The Aam Aadmi Party's Ashish Khetan has said that a phone conversation purportedly between its chief Arvind Kejriwal and a former legislator on how to get the support of six Congress MLAs is about "political realignment" and not "horse-trading."

Kejriwal's AAP, born out of an anti-corruption movement, is known to conduct sting operations to back its allegations against political rivals and others and the party chief has often, publicly, encouraged people to use it as a tool to expose wrongdoing.

Read

Pic: The cartoon in the Hindu today on the unraveling of Arvind Kejriwal.

The Centre issues an advisory to the J&K government on the release of hardliner Masarat Alam. Home minister Rajnath Singh has asked the Mufti government to "pursue all 27 criminal cases against Alam.

Two days ago, the BJP central leadership conveyed to the PDP top brass that remaining in power in the state is not a priority for the party and that it will not allow any further deviation from the common minimum programme set by the two parties after days of mutual discussions.

The Delhi high court today pronounced its verdict on a plea filed by Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai challenging her offloading on January 11 from a flight to London at the IGI airport in New Delhi.

The court has set aside the 'look out' circular and has asked that her name be removed from the no-fly list. It has also ordered the expunge entry made on her passport. 

Justice Rajiv Shakdher pronounced the verdict after the court had reserved the order in the case on February 19.

Pillai had challenged the Centre's move to disallow her to travel to London where she was to brief British parliamentarians on the violation of rights of forest-dwelling communities affected by coal mining in Madhya Pradesh's Mahan area. The government had also issued a look out circular in Pillai's name.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other top party leaders arrive at Dr Singh's residence. He will meet the party top brass along with wife Gursharan Kaur.

"We are here to offer our support and solidarity. We are fully behind him," says Sonia. "Manmohan Singhji is a former PM. He is known not only in our country but the world. He's a man of integrity."   

She announced that the party will fight the matter legally and "we are sure he will be vindicated".

Anand Sharma says, "The Congress party will not bend and we are sure Manmohan Singh will be proven innocent."

Sonia leads Congress march to former PM Manmohan Singh's house this morning along with senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma. Photograph: ANI/Twitter

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is leading a march to Dr Manmohan Singh's house strongly backing the former PM who was summoned yesterday in the coal scam.

Top Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge have joined the rally which started from the party headquarters in Delhi.

Calling for a whole set of structural reforms, the International Monetary Fund has said there is no reason why India could not resume an eight or nine per cent or even higher growth rate in the coming years.

The IMF has at least at this stage pegged a kind of medium-term growth for India at around "7 3/4 per cent if, a lot of the structural reforms can be introduced."


However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of achieving 8.5 per cent GDP growth in the 2015-16 fiscal year starting April 1 may not be feasible.

"There's certainly no reason why India could not resume 8, 9, even higher growth path going forward, but it will take some time to introduce these measures," Assistant Director and Mission Chief for India in the IMF's Asian and Pacific Department, Paul Cashin told reporters yesterday.

Joining the conference call from India, Fund's Senior Resident Representative, Tom Richardson, said, "We have for a couple of years and continue to urge a whole set of structural reforms that are going to be business-friendly, going to be growth enhancing. Including, particularly in the power sector."

"In addition, land acquisition, land rights going to be very important to clarify that and to move forward in a way that allows projects to kind of be initiated clearly and implemented."

Congress will hold a working committee meeting shortly, a day after former PM Manmohan Singh was summoned as an accused in the col-gate scam. However, Dr Singh is not expected to be present.

Sonia Gandhi and other top Congress leaders to march to former PM's residence to express solidarity, reports NDTV. 

The Congress chief has asked the party to go all out and defend Dr Singh.      

Sonia Gandhi will be meeting the Congress Working Committe members and her party MPs at the AICC headquarters at 24, Akbar Road.

According to reports, the meeting is likely to begin at 9:30 a.m.

The meeting assumes significance as it takes place a day after former prime minister Manmohan Singh was summoned in the coal blocks allocation scam. Dr Singh, however, yesterday said that he is open to legal scrutiny and truth will prevail in the matter.

Sonia Gandhi to meet Congress Working Committee members and MPs of both Houses shortly. 

Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund will visit India next week, during which she is likely to meet the country's top leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"She will be in Delhi on March 16, and then be moving down to Mumbai on March 17. She'll have a couple of speeches and remarks and presentations at those events," Assistant Director and Mission Chief for India in the IMF's Asian and Pacific Department, Paul Cashin told reporters yesterday.

In addition to meeting the PM, Lagarde is also expected to meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. No further details of her India trip were publicly available.

Manmohan Singh is caught in the coal-gate heat. Here is all you need to know about the multi-crore scam.   

Two crude bombs were throw at office of Tamil channel Puthiya Thalaimurai in Chennai. No one has been injured in the incident and there has been no damage to property. 

The bombs were kept in tiffin boxes. The incident occurred at around 3.15 a.m. today.  

A Hindu group earlier protested a show on the channel.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh is expected to appeal soon against summons issued to him in the coal scam, Congress sources tell CNN-IBN. Dr Singh is taking legal advice on the issue.

He was summoned as an accused in the coal scam case by a special court which observed that Singh was roped into the criminal conspiracy to "accommodate" M/s HINDALCO in Talabira-II coal block allocation in 2005 along with industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh.

"...prima facie it is clear that the impugned criminal conspiracy which was initially conceived by Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya and Kumar Mangalam Birla and M/s HINDALCO was carried out further by roping in P C Parakh, who was Secretary (Coal), and thereafter the then Minister of Coal, Dr Manmohan Singh," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said in his 73-page order.

"However, from the nature of action of the aforesaid persons, it is also prima facie clear that though Secretary Coal (Parakh) and Minister of Coal (Singh) were playing different roles, there was a concerted joint effort to somehow accommodate M/s HINDALCO in Talabira-II, coal block."

 

The United Nations' top investigator on the use of torture accused Washington of dragging its feet on his requested visits to prisons and refusing to give him access to inmates at Guantanamo. 

The United States and Cuba have re-established a direct telephone link, the Cuban state telecommunications company said today, in the latest step toward normalizing ties between the one-time Cold War foes. 

Iraqi forces entered Tikrit today, dodging bombs and sniper fire in search of their biggest victory yet against embattled jihadists who tried to light new fires elsewhere in Iraq and Syria. 

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut today boarded a Soyuz space capsule in preparation for their return to Earth after spending six months at the International Space Station. 

A man and a boy featured in a chilling Islamic State propaganda video showing the killing of a Palestinian have been identified as French citizens, and investigators are looking into whether the man is related to an extremist who attacked a Jewish school in southern France in 2012, an official said. 

Seven Marines and four soldiers aboard a US Army helicopter that crashed over waters off Florida during a routine night training mission were presumed dead today, and crews found human remains despite heavy fog hampering search efforts, military officials said. 

The US is not negotiating a legally binding plan with Iran on its nuclear weapons plan, Secretary of State John Kerry said today, refuting reports that several of American allies are dissatisfied with the deal under talks with the Iranian regime.

Political realignments isn't poaching: AAP on horse-trading charges
Delhi CM Kejriwal stung by ex-AAP MLA
3 killed, 23 injured in Manipur bomb blast
Bhushan, Yadav issue joint statement; reject allegations
Coal Scam: Manmohan summoned as accused
Of course, I am upset; truth will prevail: Manmohan on court summons
'Naga society must reflect and ask where we are going'
All that bull about the beef ban

As the whistle blower in the coal scam, Union Minister of State Hansraj Ahir has expressed satisfaction in the ongoing coal scam investigation.