Accidental firing near PM's residence in 7 Race Course road, New Delhi, no injuries reported, police probe on

PM Narendra Modi meets Jrgen Stock, Secretary General of Interpol.

President Pranab Mukherjee appoints Justice TS Thakur as the new Chief Justice of India. He will replace HL Dattu.

So, #SanskariJamesBond rules the trends on Twitter with the news that the Indian Censor Board has cleared the new James Bond movie, Spectre, with cuts. Four cuts to be precise -- two verbal and two visual.


The visual cuts are passionate kisses. While kisses between Daniel Craig and his co-star Monica Belucci are OK, it's the duration of the kisses that have got the axe. The length of the kisses were found to be excessive. And Mr Bond is also not allowed to abuse, which explains the verbal cuts. The CBFC probably thinks profanity does not suit gentlemen on his majesty's secret service.


Here's what Twitter come with on #SanskariJamesBond.

Roflindian 2.0 ‏@Roflindian 
"Why cut kissing scenes in Spectre?"
Nihalani: "Pahle laaj"


(Pahlaj Nihalani is the Censor Board chief)


Stereotypewriter ‏@babumoshoy  tweets:
M: James, can you hear me?
JB: Sorry, the line is not clear.
M: Zor se bolo...
JB: Jai Mata Di!


@TejasKinger  #SanskariJamesBond likes his Lassi Shaken and Not Stirred.


@PratiikRege  #SanskariJamesBond goes round and round the Hanuman temple before his missions.


‏@MasalaBai  tweets: #SanskariJamesBond takes M's aashirwad before every mission. Because M stands for Maa.


‏@s_manjari 
Villan- Come in Mr. James Bond, I've been expecting you.
Bond- Ji joote kahan uttaru?


@huh_watnow  tweets: #SanskariJamesBond gets married before kissing...


@Aniket51082
Heroine - "Let's make love, honey."
#SanskariJamesBond - "Babuji kya sochenge?"
 

Pic: @Trendulkar posted this picture of #SanskariJamesBond 's new car.


Also read: James Bond's no kissing clause

Danish police evacuated one of two terminals at Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport today because of a suspicious bag though no threats have been received, police said.


"Terminal 3 has been evacuated after a suspicious suitcase was found at around 12 noon. We had received no direct threats," police spokesman Steen Hansen told AFP.


"A bomb-sniffing dog is at the scene, and all train traffic to the airport has been halted," said Hansen. The incident came just hours after Danish police raised the country's threat level by one notch to the second-highest level, citing the elevated risk of a terrorist attack after last week's Paris attacks.

French President Francois Hollande addressing an assembly of mayors in Paris says the purpose of the raid on Saint Denis was "to neutralise terrorists who had links to the perpetrators of Friday's hideous crimes".


He said police endured "terrifying conditions" to carry out the raid. The president repeated his earlier message that France was at war against Islamic State militants.


President Hollande also praised the residents of Saint Denis for their courage and calmness during the police operation.


It is is still not clear whether Islamic State militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud has been arrested or killed in the Saint Denis operation.


"It is impossible to tell you who was arrested. We are in the process of verifying that. Everything will be done to determine who is who," Paris prosecutor Francois Molins says.


Hollande quashed suggestions of a link between the refugee crisis and Fridays attacks, announcing that France will accept 30,000 refugees in the next two years.

Meanwhile, all 129 fatalities in last week's Paris attacks have now been identified but dozens of other casualties remain in critical condition, a statement from the French cabinet said today.


"To date, of the dead victims have all been identified, that is 129," said the statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting. A total of 221 people remain in hospital, dozens of them seriously hurt.

So, the French opposition is no different from our own.


French opposition leader Nicolas Sarkozy took aim at President Francois Hollande today, claiming he had failed to take adequate security measures after the jihadist attacks in January.


The latest attack on Friday night which left 129 people dead has increased political tensions just weeks ahead of regional elections, and the brief semblance of national unity has quickly frayed.


"How many victims must there be before we use the word (failings)? Were all the implications considered after the January attacks? The answer is no," Sarkozy asked in an interview with Le Monde newspaper.


"Too much time was wasted," said the man hoping to take another run at the presidency in 2017 polls. "Nor did the government draw all the right conclusions about the impact of our military intervention in Syria on internal security," said Sarkozy, who himself led a French intervention in Libya in 2011.


He said anti-terrorist measures should have been boosted immediately. The January attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine, police and a Jewish supermarket killed 17 people, and there have been several foiled attacks since.

A police dog trained to search for explosives was killed when security forces raid several apartments in Paris on Wednesday in search of the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks that left more than 129 dead.


French officials identified the dog as Diesel, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois, and said the animal was "killed by terrorists".


At least three people were killed, one of them a woman who blew herself up and seven more arrested during the raids in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis by heavily armed police and soldiers early on Wednesday.


The security forces were looking for the suspected mastermind of Friday's attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. At least five security personnel were injured in the operation.The official Twitter handle of the National Police posted: "Diesel, a seven-year-old Malinois, a police dog for #RAID, was killed by terrorists in the ongoing operation at #SaintDenis.


RAID is France's anti-terrorism police unit. Another tweet from the National Police said the dogs trained for assault and searching for explosives are indispensable for the operations of RAID.


Pic: A representative photo of a dog used by France's RAID anti-terror unit tweeted by France's National Police.

Kovan, the folk-artiste, who was arrested on charges of sedition for singing songs criticizing Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa was given conditional bail by the Principal Sessions Judge on Monday and was released from jail on Tuesday.


The Madras Court had given an interim stay on the two-day police custody of Kovan, which was earlier allowed by a lower court.Kovan was arrested from Tiruchy on October 30 by Chennai police.


Before addressing the media, he sang a song on the state of affairs in Tamil Nadu outside the Puzhal jail.In his song, he says that sewage water is inside homes due to the rains, TN has become a dead body and the government is not able to do anything about it, there is no one to blame.


Later speaking to the media, Kovan said that his arrest was illegal. "I am not disappointed that I was arrested, but that the government had proved yet again that they will not stop the alcoholism in the state," he said, adding that they will continue their protest.

Reuters reports that the raid at St Denis in suburban Paris has ended. If you've just joined us, here's what happened in the last five hours.


Gunfire and explosions shook the Paris suburb of St Denis early on Wednesday as French police surrounded an apartment where the Belgian Islamist militant suspected of masterminding last week's attacks in the French capital was believed to be holed up.


A woman died after detonating a bomb at the scene, the French prosecutors' office said, adding that two other suspects had been killed in the siege with seven people detained.


French media say the anti-terror and SWAT teams in the streets around the apartment are already giving way to detectives and forensic scientists who will begin identifying and analysing the evidence inside.


There is as yet no information about what has happened to the final person thought still to be in the apartment.

Just in: Reports of a minor fire at Gaiety Galaxy Cinema at Bandra in suburban Mumbai. Details awaited.

Update on the St Denis raid in suburban Paris.


The Guardian reports that police have now arrested seven people in St-Denis where the operation has been continuing this morning, according to Associated Press. There has been a lull in the last one hour.


A senior police official and the Paris prosecutor's office say that the seven were arrested in the building, though we only know of three who were actually in the apartment. They did not identify those detained.Journalists on the scene reported a loud bang from the street minutes before the most recent arrests.

Just in: The TADA Court allows the Mumbai Police's plea to make Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Headley an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case.


The Mumbai court issues summons to Headley and directs that he be produced via video-conferencing on December 10. The court wants Headley to be tried alongside Abu Jundal, a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative who was deported to India from Saudi Arabia in 2012


The Mumbai Police had made an application to the court to allow it to write to the US Department of Justice in this matter.


To establish the direct role of Pakistani state actors in the 26/11 terror attack, the Mumbai police want Headley, who is serving 35 years in jail in the United States, as a witness in the case. They want him in a video face-off with one of the attack handlers in Indian custody.


In 2010, Headley pleaded guilty to his role in 26/11, admitting he had carried out a reconnaissance of the targets for the Lashkar. Headley was questioned by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team that flew to the United States. Under the plea bargain, Headley cannot face the death penalty and will not be extradited to India, Pakistan or Denmark. Which means he remains out of reach for Indian authorities.

The five-day visit by Pakistani army chief General Raheel Sharif to the United States is becoming curioser and curioser. According to the Voice of America, Sharif's visit is not at the invitation of the American side. The Indian media went to town, mocking at the general for having for having "invited himself". But the truth lies somewhere in the middle -- Sharif left Pakistan fully confident that the Americans were eagerly awaiting him, and, in fact, en route he had a stopover at No. 10 Downing Street to meet Prime Minister David Cameron.  Read MK Bhadrakumar's blog here.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak lane bungalow to personally invite the Congress vice-president to his daughter Sonali's wedding. 


Though there was an instantaneous buzz in Delhi media circles about the exact nature of the visit, insiders confirm that the meeting was in fact just a courtesy visit on Jaitley's part.


Reports says that the Jaitley family has been debating whether they should invite santoor maestro Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma or rapper Mika to perform at the wedding. The family is still undecided.


Meanwhile, as the winter session of Parliament is set to open on November 26, both the BJP and the Congress-led opposition have taken their positions on the bill.


Sources tell us that a compromise formula has been found with Jaitley likely to meet Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the presence of Dr Manmohan Singh and Anand Sharma before Parliament actually begins.

The BJP Government is confident that the GST bill will be passed in the winter session, and the confidence apparently stems from Jaitley reaching out to the Opposition with a wedding card diplomacy.


Pic: Arun Jaitley's daughter Sonali.

AIB's take on Baba Ramdev's just launched atta noodles. 

And while on good looking men (and there aren't too many of those) the new James Bond movie, Spectre, has been cleared by the Censor Board Of Film Certification with a 'UA' certification... but only after four cuts, two verbal and two visual.


The visual cuts are the scenes that have long kisses; James Bond is also not allowed to abuse.


"Daniel Craig's kisses with his co-stars have been reduced by 50 percent," says a source. "The Censor Board had nothing against James Bond kissing but the length of the kisses were found to be excessive. We heard that Ranbir Kapoor's kissing in Tamashahas also been reduced by half. We wonder how the Censor Board decides how much kissing is enough."


The CBFC probably thinks profanity does not suit gentlemen on his majesty's secret service.

-- Subhash K Jha

People magazine has named former England soccer player David Beckham as its Sexiest Man Alive for 2015.


Beckham, now 40, ascended to soccer stardom after he began playing for Manchester United at 18. After 15 years across the pond '" he also played for Real Madrid in Spain -- he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007.


He retired from professional soccer six years later, though he returned to the pitch for a charity match on Nov. 14.


The East Londoner is married to Victoria Beckham, a former Spice Girl and current fashion designer and model; they have four children together.


"[My son] Brooklyn was the one who was like, 'Are you sure it's not me that's meant to be there today?'' he told People."I never feel that I'm an attractive, sexy person,' he said. "I mean I like to wear nice clothes and nice suits and look and feel good, but I don't ever think of myself that way."

St Denis siege: One gunman still holed up inside apartment. Three suspected terrorists were killed, including a woman who blew herself up early this morning, (Paris time) in the suburb of Saint Denis. Five people have been arrested. The raid, which started at 4:25 am (Paris time) is still ongoing.

President Barack Obama has slammed US "hysteria" about the security risks posed by Syrian refugees as Republicans took steps aimed at freezing White House programs to resettle them in the wake of the Paris attacks. In an unusually fierce rebuke, Obama struck out at his political foes yesterday, accusing them of demonizing "widows and orphans."


The discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one assailant in the Paris attacks that killed 129 people last Friday has stirred fears among US lawmakers and governors that jihadists are seeking to blend in with refugee masses in order to strike later.


"We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic," Obama said. "We don't make good decisions if it's based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks," he added, speaking from Manila. "They are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America."


His comments came as House Speaker Paul Ryan called for a "pause" in the Syrian resettlement scheme, joining more than half of state governors urging Obama to suspend the program and fully review the vetting process to ensure that would-be attackers do not slip into the country as refugees.


"Our nation has always been welcoming but we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion," Ryan told reporters. "This is a moment where it's better to be safe than to be sorry."


Some Democrats shared similar views, including senior Senator Chuck Schumer who acknowledged it might be "necessary" to pause the program amid a review.

The raid in St Denis to flush out terrorists is not over, says French media. So far, three terrorists have been killed (one blew herself up) and five suspects have been arrested. It is still unclear whether Paris attacks' mastermind Abdel Hamid Abooud is one of the three killed or whether he was in St Denis at all.

Yesterday, Russia carried out "one of the biggest and most complex heavy bomber missions in modern history" against Isis targets in Syria on Tuesday, after determining that the downing of a Russian jet in the Sinai peninsular earlier this month was a "terrorist act".

In July 1938 fewer than 5% of Americans surveyed believed the United States should raise its immigration quotas. Read more

And in the Nigerian city of Yola, at least 32 people were killed and more than 80 injured after a blast struck a market on Tuesday evening.


Although, no one claimed responsibility for the blasts but the incident carried hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed thousands over the last six years in its attempt to create a state adhering to strict Sharia law in the northeast.

BJP senior leader Subramanian Swamy pays homage before the body of VHP leader Ashok Singhal. 

Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday dubbed the comments made by senior Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid as 'disgusting and anti national', saying it was not apt on the part of the grand old party that claims to have 120 figures of seniority and history.


"The comments they made to a Pakistani television and their subsequent justification after initially denying the same shows that they have no shame. The party which is supposed to be claiming that they have 120 figures of seniority and history allow such comments to be made by such senior leaders," he said.

Police stake out an apartment at St Denis, a north Paris suburb where several suspected attackers and potential accomplices remain holed up in an apartment. Three suspects are dead and three cops injured. Pic: Reuters

The targets of the raid are the mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud; as well as Salah Abdeslam and another suspect thought to be a ninth attacker. At least three cops have been injured. Eyewitnesses say seven explosions have been heard at the scene.

St-Denis where the raid is being carried out by the French police and the is where the Stade de France, one of the targets of Friday's attacks, is located, although the current operation is in the centre of the suburb, close to the basilica.The targets of the raid are the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud; as well as Salah Abdeslam and another suspect thought to be a ninth attacker.

French military has been deployed to north Paris amid shootout. Agence France-Presse reports two people have been arrested in the St-Denis raid. Three people have been killed including the woman who blew herself up.

The Delhi High court on Friday held that the Congress and the BJP had "prima facie' violated the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by accepting donations from companies like Vedanta and Sesa Goa and directed the Central government and the Election Commission to probe their funding receipts within six months.


However, the Congress in its defence said there had been no violation of the law. The head of the Congress Legal Cell, KC Mittal said: "there is no violation of the law. Under section 591(2) of the Companies Act, if a company is incorporated abroad but has Indian share holding above 50 per cent then it is deemed to be an Indian company."


He added that the same issue came up in 2009 when Vedanta had made a donation earlier.

The instant noodles brand launched by yoga teacher Ramdev has not obtained mandatory product approvals from the Food Safety and Regulatory Authority of India, officials said, even though Patanjali Atta Noodles packets display an "FSSAI licence number".


"Patanjali Atta Noodles has not got product approvals from us. The matter has been brought to our notice. We are pursuing it," Ashish Bahuguna, FSSAI chairperson who also holds additional charge as its CEO, told The Indian Express. 

Three heavy trucks carrying around 100 French troops have arrived in St-Denis to secure the perimeter of the operation, as they did outside the Bataclan concert hall on Friday night, reports Guardian.

Five or six explosions have been heard in the past few minutes (around 7:30 am in Paris) as police besiege suspected terrorists holed up in a flat in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis.


Two suspected terrorists are reported to have been killed and a bystander injured in exchanges of fire. Two police officers have reportedly been injured, The Telegraph's David Chazan reports. A woman is believed to have detonated her suicide belt.


It is unclear if other suspects are still in a flat in the area of the Rue de la Republique or the Rue Gabriel Pri in the commercial centre of the suburb where there are many shops and businesses. All are closed this morning and the centre of Saint Denis remains cordoned off.

French President Francois Hollande has said that he will soon meet his Russian and American counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, respectively, in an effort to settle on a united campaign to defeat the so-called Islamic State. It is unfortunate that it took a series of terror attacks on Paris that killed at least 129 people for world leaders to consider coordination among themselves in the fight against ISIS. Read more

How does a small city in a small country nestled between Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg become the jihadist capital of Europe?

Read more

The Guardian's Angelique Chrisafis reports from Saint Denis, the northern suburb of Paris where police laid siege to flush out the terrroists responsible for Friday's attack that killed 129 people.


Chrisafis reports that a local politician told the Guardian that neighbours who heard shots ring out thought there was another terrorist attack underway.


He said that during the police assault on the apartment which is still taking place not far from Saint-Deniss famous basilica shots had been fired over a period of over an hour.


The metro is closed and buses in the area are shut down. Locals are being advised not to leave their homes.

AFP reports that police have raided suspected Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud (pictured).


Reports say that three suspects have been held, while three people have been killed. Gunshots rang out around the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis as police launched the pre-dawn operation to hunt down the remaining gunmen.


Roads were closed and helicopters buzzed overhead as two or three gunmen were believed to have barricaded themselves into a flat.


As gunfire died down, police sources said three people had been arrested and two officers wounded - but warned residents to stay inside as the operation was not over.

In the wake of Friday's attacks in Paris, governors of at least 27 US states have said they will not accept Syrian refugees.


A Syrian passport which appears to be fake was found near the body of one of the Paris attackers, whose fingerprints matched someone who passed through Greece and the Balkans. But all the attackers identified so far are European nationals.


The Obama administration has said it still plans to accept Syrian refugees, noting they are intensely vetted.

The nation on Wednesday paid tribute to Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who was martyred yesterday in a fierce gun battle with terrorists who had infiltrated from across the border and were hiding in the Manigah forests of Kupwara District in North Kashmir.


In the wreath laying ceremony for the slain Colonel Santosh Mahadik in Srinagar, all the officers and the jawans of the 41 RR paid their tributes to him.


Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who was the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 41 Rashtriya Rifles, breathed his last on Tuesday at the base hospital after being critically injured in the encounter.


The officer had made the supreme sacrifice while leading his troops in the operation from the front. Even as their CO breathed his last the troops, as an ode to his bravery and commitment, continued with the operation to hunt down while reinforcements were rushed in.


The Colonel was an officer of the elite 21 Para Special Forces and had volunteered to command a Rashtriya Rifles battalion in operations. He had already been decorated with a Sena Medal for gallantry exhibited in counter terrorist operations in the North east as part of Operation Rhino.


A tough and fearless soldier, he was known to be relentless in pursuit of terrorists and had many successful operations to his credit.

The other big news is that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced he is suspending his presidential campaign yesterday and released the following statement:


"I cannot tell you what an honor it has been to run for President of the United States of America. My parents came to this country 45 years ago searching for freedom and a chance.


"When I was born, we lived in student housing at LSU, and never in their wildest dreams did they think their son would have the opportunity to serve as Governor of Louisiana or to run for President.


"They raised me to believe Americans can do anything, and they were right, we can. But this is not my time, so I am suspending my campaign for President.


"Going forward, I believe we have to be the party of growth and we can never stop being the party that believes in opportunity. We cannot settle for The Left's view of envy and division. We have to be the party that says everyone in this country - no matter the circumstances of their birth or who their parents are -- can succeed in America.


"One of the things I will do is go back to work at the think tank I started a few years ago - where I will be outlining a blueprint for making this the American century.


"We must show the way forward on growing our economy and winning the war against terror, and especially defeating radical Islam.


"I realize that our country is off on the wrong track right now. Everyone knows that, but don't forget, this is still the greatest country in the history of the world -- and every single one of us should start every day by thanking God that we are fortunate enough to be US citizens.


"Now is the time for all those Americans who still believe in freedom and American exceptionalism to stand up and defend it.  The idea of America -- the idea that my parents came here for almost a half a century ago - that idea is slipping away from us.  Freedom is under assault from both outside our borders and from within.  We must act now, we do not have a moment to spare."

St Denis attack: What we have so far is that the French police have launched a security operation in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis in connection with the two fugitives still missing after Fridays attacks. AFP reports that the deputy mayor said the operation was centred on the Rue de la Republique, which had been sealed off.


Suspects of Friday's attack in Paris are believed to be holed up in the raided apartment in northern Paris. This was confirmed by a local journalist, who says 2-3 suspects have barricaded themselves inside.


Bursts of gunfire were heard in Saint Denis where counter-terrorist police are trying to arrest a suspect in Fridays attacks. Several officers have been wounded, French media reported. Police advised local residents to remain at home as the operation is ongoing.

JUST IN: Minutes after two Paris-bound Air France flights were after a bomb threat, heavy gunfire was heard in the Saint Denis area in Paris. 

The French media is now reporting that the raid was part of an ongoing operation to catch the 9th suspect involved in Friday night's terror attacks in the French capital, who is believed to be on the run.

Heavy exchange of gunfire was heard during the operation according to a source, but would not confirm who was being targetted.

Meanwhile, the Belgian police have begun another raid in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek in connection with the investigation into the Paris attacks, reports RT.

JUST IN: Air France Flight 65, headed from Los Angeles to Paris, was diverted to Salt Lake City because of a security incident, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

A total of 298 passengers and crew are reportedly being guided off the plane in Halifax.

Another Air France flight headed from Washington, DC to Paris was diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A football friendly between Germany and Holland in the city of Hanover was cancelled 91 minutes before kick-off after police received "concrete information' of a terror attack in the stadium.

In a display of startup resourcefulness, India's leading cab-hailing app startup and Uber rival, Ola, launched a ferry rescue service in the rain-hit and water-logged coastal city of Chennai in southern India where neighborhoods have been partially submerged after multiple days of heavy rains. 

With the Obama Administration contemplating selling F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, the top Republican leadership has expressed concern over it and said the US should not sell nuclear armed fighter jets to Pakistan.

Actress Denise Richards says ex-husband Charlie Sheen was a "very different person" when they married in 2002. Sheen, 50, has had a troubled history with drug addiction, pornography and prostitutes. Richards spoke about the former "Two and a Half Men" star during a chat with Allegedly With Theo Von and Matthew Cole Weiss last week, reported Us magazine. 

On November 18, 1928, Mickey Mouse made his first appearance in a cartoon short called Plane Crazy. So the Mouse is 87 years old today.

The funeral of former Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Ashok Singhal, who died this afternoon, will take place on Wednesday evening.

Devotees in Bihar and across North India thronged river banks to worship the Sun God by offering prayers, standing waist-deep in water for the longevity and well-being of their family members on the occasion of two-day Chhath festival.

French security sources say that surveillance video shows a possible ninth assailant during Friday's attacks in which 129 people died.

A second venue in Hanover -- a music arena -- has now been evacuated by police. 

Colonel killed in gunfight with LeT militants in Kashmir