After months of speculation, Joe Biden stood alongside President Barack Obamato clarify his presidential intentions.

President Pranab Mukherjee here today said people should convey tolerance, which is the binding force of Indian civilisation, in their daily actions.  

In a significant verdict, Kerala high court today held that madrassas are not places of worship but places of education and that polling stations can be established there.

Sporadic clashes were witnessed between locals and security forces in south Kashmir on the fourth consecutive day today while restrictions were imposed in Anantnag town which is at the centre of the row surrounding the death of a trucker after being attacked in Udhampur.

Nine persons including a woman were killed and two others injured today when a blast ripped through an explosives factory in China's eastern Shandong Province, the latest industrial accident to hit the country.

The Election Commission has given a go-ahead to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest episode of 'Mann ki baat' to be aired on Sunday with a rider that it will not carry anything which could be construed as influencing the voters of Bihar.

Congress in Maharastra today said it will not allow anybody to celebrate the death anniversary of Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi's assassin, on November 15.

A Hizbul Mujahideen militant was today killed while three soldiers were injured in an encounter in Tangmarg area of Baramulla district.

A micro-light aircraft of the Indian Army crash landed today on a hillock close to the Shillong Advance Landing Ground here leaving two jawans injured.

Thousands of Chinese workers are expected to arrive at Sadhu Bet in Narmada district end of this year to begin work on the Statue of Unity, a memorial to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel -- a project launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat chief minister.


Even as Congress criticised the project as defeating the "Make in India' initiative launched by Modi, after reports that the statue's bronze parts will be made in a foundry in China, the Gujarat government said it has no control over where the contractor company gets the material from.
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Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar recommends CBI probe into Dalit burning incident in Faridabad: official spokesman.

After day-long protests, visits by netas, and many news bytes, the family of the two Dalit children who were burnt alive at Sanped village in Faridabad in Haryana, has agreed to cremate them. The gauze-bandaged bodies of the two children had been placed on an ice block on the middle of the road with angry villagers demanding justice. A Faridabad MP has now claimed that a CBI enquiry has been ordered into the murders.


Police said the protesters agreed to remove the barricades after they managed to convince the family to go ahead with the cremation.


As the the bodies of two-and-a-half-years-old Vaibhav and 11-month-old Divya, wrapped in white shrouds, arrived, the village, about 35 km from the national capital, the village plunged into grief.

Wailing soon gave way to anger and scores of villagers, walking hand in hand and shouting slogans, carried the bodies and placed them on the Delhi-Agra highway, blocking traffic.

As tempers ran high, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visited the village where he accused the prime minister, Harayana chief minister, the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of practicising "politics of crushing" those who are weak which results in such incidents.


While Vaibhav and his sister Divya had perished in the blaze allegedly set off by some upper caste people of the village who had a running feud with their family, their mother Rekha, 28, suffered serious burns and is battling for life in a Delhi hospital. Their father Jitender, 31, also received injuries while trying to save them.

The killers were alleged to have poured petrol into their house from an open window and set it alight after locking the doors from outside.


Pic: Vaibhav and his sister Divya who were burnt alive when their house was torched.

Exhorting the SAD-BJP alliance to work zealously towards thwarting any attempts to disturb harmony in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said some forces, both from within and outside the country, were trying to disrupt its hard-earned peace.


The Chief Minister said there were some active forces which were wary of the state's peace and progress and their sole motive was to destabilize the state government by disturbing peace and communal harmony as part of a conspiracy.


He was addressing a gathering after the bhog (culmination) of Akhand Path Sahib (recitation of hymns) at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib as repentance over the acts of desecration of a Sikh holy book in the state.


Badal said it was time for all leaders of the alliance to come forward and make people aware of the nefarious designs of such forces in order to foil their attempts.

Just in: The Election Commission clears PM Narendra Modi's Mann ki Baat on October 25.  

Ballabhgarh Dalit killings: Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar's visit to the village postponed.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat on Wednesday lashed out at the M.L. Khattar-led BJP Government in Haryana over the caste violence in Ballabhgarh, in which two children were burnt alive, and said there could be a conspiracy behind the unfortunate incident.


"The entire nation is saddened by this incident. This shows total failure of the administration, where was the police that night? Jitender (children's father) told me that the police personnel had gone to watch jagran when the incident took place. How did it take place exactly at the time when no policeman was there, there is a possibility of a conspiracy," Karat asked.


"What kind of callousness is this that, the Haryana Chief Minister did not even visit this family after the two children were killed in the violence," she added.


Two children of a Dalit family died and their parents suffered burn injuries yesterday after their home was set on fire, allegedly by upper-caste Rajputs in Sunpedh village near Faridabad.


Tension gripped the locality yesterday after the incident. The mother of the children is battling for life at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday condemned the death of two Dalit children in Ballabhgarh in Faridabad after their house was set on fire allegedly by members of the Rajput community, and at the same time, appealed to other political parties not to give the tragedy a political twist or seek mileage from it.


"The Faridabad incident occurred due to internal rivalry. It is very unfortunate and the accused have also been arrested. I want to appeal to the political parties to visit Ballabhgarh, but not give it a political colour. Law and order is very strict there and the accused will not be spared," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

Indonesia will begin chemically castrating convicted paedophiles in an effort to combat child sex abuse, an official said, after a string of high-profile attacks.


"(It) will make people think a thousand times before committing such crimes," Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said yesterday after the move was agreed at a cabinet meeting led by President Joko Widodo.


"This crime is extraordinary and there have been so many victims." He said the punishment would be authorised soon through a presidential directive, which means it will automatically become law without parliament having to vote on it. It would be carried out by injecting paedophiles with female hormones, he said.


Indonesia joins a small group of places that use chemical castration against child sex offenders, including Poland and some states in the US.


In 2011, South Korea became the first Asian country to legalise the punishment. Indonesia has been shocked by a series of high-profile child sex attacks. The most recent case was the kidnap, rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl. Her body was discovered stuffed in a cardboard box in the capital Jakarta earlier this month, and an autopsy revealed that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted. Under current laws, child sex abuse is punishable by 15 years in jail but in many cases paedophiles have been handed short sentences.

The Vatican today dismissed an Italian media report that Pope Francis has a treatable brain tumour as "unfounded and seriously irresponsible." Quotidiano Nazionale (QN), the newspaper which made the claim, said it stood by its story that a "small dark spot" had been detected on the 78-year-old pontiff's brain earlier this year.


The paper said it was discovered by Japanese physician Takanori Fukushima during an examination at the San Rossore di Barbaricina clinic near Pisa in central Italy.


The professor reportedly concluded that the tumour was treatable and that no surgery was required. "The publication of completely unfounded reports on the health of the holy father by an Italian newspaper is seriously irresponsible and not worthy of attention," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.


"As everyone can see, the pope continues to engage in his intense activity without any interruption and in absolutely normal fashion."

An Indian Air Force MI-17 chopper makes emergency landing at BKC, Mumbai. Bandra-Kurla Complex largely has offices, and open spaces. Sources from the IAF said the crew of the helicopter is safe and there were no injuries on ground either.

Early reports say it was a "precautionary landing due to technical reasons".

Remember the Hungarian camerawoman who was filmed kicking and tripping a Syrian refugee carrying his young son?


The shocking footage caused outrage around the world and journalist, Petra Laszlo, was summarily fired from her job at the Hungarian channel N1. She also faces criminal charges over kicking refugees as they ran from police.


Now, here's what's new and well, bizarre. The journalist has said that once the trial is over she plans on suing one of the refugees she kicked, as well as Facebook, for damages.


The Independent quoting a Russian language newspaper Izvestia, said Laszlo wants to sue the Syrian man for changing his testimony blaming her, though he initially blamed the police.


The journalist can be clearly seen kicking Mohsen in several different videos that were uploaded to social media. She later apologised for her behaviour.


Lazlo will be suing Facebook for allegedly refusing to shut down hate groups set up targeting her.


In the interview, the journalist added that she wants to relocate her family to Russia, where she thinks she would feel safer.


Mohsen and two of his sons are now living in Spain, where Mohsen has been able to resume work as a professional football coach.

So, former England skipper Kevin Pietersen announces his Dream Cricket XI  team, which has two Indians, one Sri Lankan and one Pakistani. Take a look.

The total number of followers of the official Twitter account of Rashtrapati Bhavan (@RashtrapatiBhvn) crossed the one million mark today (October 21, 2015). The Twitter account @RashtrapatiBhvn was launched on July 01, 2014.

A Bajrang Dal activist who actively participated in a campaign that led to the closure of a slaughter house in the Moodabidri region of Dakshina Kannada was hacked to death on October 9, reports the Indian Express.


Police have so far arrested eight Muslim men -- four on Tuesday and four last Sunday -- calling it a "revenge killing', the result of "communal rivalry'.


Police said 29-year-old Prashant Poojary, a flower-seller, was hacked to death outside his shop, some 40 km from Mangalore. The attack was carried out by a group of six men who came on motorcycles wearing masks and wielding knives.


File pic of Bajrang Dal activists protesting against the Aamir Khan-starrer PK demanding a ban on the movie.

A British NGO activist has been found dead in a bathroom in an airport in Turkey, while she was on her way to Iraq.

Jacqueline Sutton, 50, was found hanged on Saturday in a restroom at the airport's international transit terminal, Turkey's state-sponsored Anadolu news agency reported, citing Istanbul police.


Sutton, who once worked for the United Nations and the BBC, flew from London to Istanbul to take a connecting flight to her base in Irbil in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.


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As the Hindu Mahasabha shockingly threatens to celebrate the death anniversary of the man who murdered the Mahatma, we need to remember Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the ideals he stood for. In this exclusive excerpt from Shobha Warrier's new book, His Days With Bapu: Mahatma Gandhi's Personal Secretary Recalls, V Kalyanam, the Mahatma's personal secretary from 1944 until January 30, 1948, recalls his murder in cold blood.  Read

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on an unannounced visit to Moscow.Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Assad "came on a working visit to Moscow" on Tuesday evening and held talks with Mr Putin.


The BBC reports that Russia began air strikes in Syria at the end of last month.Moscow says it is targeting Islamic State and other militant groups fighting Assad's government.


Peskov told reporters that the two leaders had discussed the fight against what he called terrorist groups, the continuation of Russian air strikes and Syria's plans for its troops.It was the first overseas visit made by Assad since the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Syrian state TV reports.


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President Xi Jinping and his wife Madame Peng Liyuan have joined more than 170 guests for a sit down meal in Buckingham Palace's ballroom last evening.


While the English queen and her family (Prince Charles and Camilla) were absent laid out the silverware and the requisite pomp and splendour, this part in the Telegraph's detailed report on the Xi's visit, caught our eye.


Commons Speaker John Bercow appeared to indirectly criticise China on the same day its president addressed both Houses of Parliament.
Intervening during a question in the Commons comparing the UK's relationships with China and India ahead of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK next month, Mr Bercow said: "And of course the Indian prime minister is the representative of a great democracy."


Read the report on the Telegraph here.

Home minister Rajnath Singh terms as "very unfortunate" and "condemnable" the attack on Dalits in Haryana and the desecration of a holy book in Punjab.

Rahul Gandhi hits out at reporters on his visit to the Dalit family whose children were burnt alive. When reporters ask him if the visit was a photo -op, an angry Rahul says, "Why is it a photo op? People are dying in this country. What do you mean by photo op? It's an insult not to me, but to these people! I will visit again and again and again. What do you mean by calling it a photo-op!. The PM, CM (ML Khattar) believe the poor can be crushed. It's their attitude that is responsible for this."


Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday visited the Sunped village in Haryana and met the kin of the Dalit family, which was set on fire on Tuesday.


The Congress leader arrived at the house of Jitender in Sun Perh village near Ballabgarh around noon and pacified the shattered family whose house was set on fire by unidentified people after dousing it with petrol.

Jitender, his wife Rekha, four-year-old son Vaibhav and eight-month-old daughter Divya were rushed to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. Police said that the two children succumbed to burn injuries. The parents were left seriously injured.

Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi reached Sonped village in Faridabad, UP, around noon today to meet the father whose two children were burnt alive by upper caste people. Later in the day, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is also likely to visit them. Haryana is governed by the BJP, which also leads the ruling coalition at the Centre.


Pic: Rahul Gandhi at the village where he met the children's father (lying down) who was also injured when their hut was set afire. 

Respect.


Amitabh Bachchan in a statement today, has said he and his family (Jaya and Abhishek) have "with all humility" asked that the Uttar Pradesh government use the Rs 50,000 monthly 'pension' awarded to each of them for the "poor and needy."


The Bachchans were conferred UP's highest honour in 1994, while Abhishek was given the Yash Bharti Samman in 2006.


In a statement today, Bachchan said, "Whereas I respect the UP Govt's honour of the Yash Bharti Award to members of my family, and their decision as per reports in the press, for providing pension of Rs 50, 000 per month to each recipient, I am requesting the UP Govt., with all humility, to redirect the entire amount designated for my family towards any noble charitable scheme or cause that benefits the poor and the needy."


Bachchan also said he will be writing to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in this regard.

Read the report here.

Cabinet clears ordinances on creation of commercial divisions of high courts and amendment to Arbitration Act for ensuring ease of doing business: Official sources.

Noted novelist Anita Desai has said she will return her Sahitya Award if the Akademi does not make it clear that it is not a government body but an independent one that exists to defend free speech and the right to question and dissent.


Her comments came after at least 34 writers, over the past weeks, handed over their Sahitya Akademi awards in the aftermath of the killing of Kannada writer M M Kalburgi and Dadri lynching incident, among other issues.


"If it is not able to declare and pursue such a policy, I will be obliged, in solidarity with my fellow writers, to renounce my membership of the Akademi and the award it gave me when I was a young writer in more hopeful times," Desai said in a statement distributed by PEN International in London.


The 78-year-old author who received a Sahitya Award in 1978 for her novel "Fire on the Mountain" said she was born in an India that enshrined democracy, pluralism and the freedom of speech in its constitution. "I do not recognise India of the present time where, under the banner of 'Hindutva,' intimidation and bigotry seek to silence writers, scholars and all who believe in secular and rational thought," she said.

How the British victory at Plassey created the modern Durga Pujo. Read

Well, better late than never...


Office of RG @OfficeOfRG tweets: "Congratulations @JustinTrudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada for the resounding victory in elections.Wishing you & your team the very best.


Canadian voters elected Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau as their new prime minister on Monday night, significantly ending the nine-year government of Stephen Harper. The election was said to be the closest in the country's history.


Just in the last three weeks, the centre-left Liberals led by Justin -- the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau -- surged into the lead. Trudeau has said that he will repair Canada's cool relations with United States President Barack Obama's administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State militants in favour of humanitarian aid, and tackle climate change.

Three people have been arrested today for burning alive two Dalit children in Fardiabad, UP, yesterday. The bodies of both children will reach the village today.

A nine-month-old girl and her toddler brother from a Dalit family were burnt alive in Faridabad after their house was set on fire early on Tuesday, allegedly by upper-caste Rajput men over a long-standing caste feud, triggering tensions in the area.

The shocking incident occurred at around 2.30 am on Tuesday at Sunped village on the outskirts of Delhi, the police said, adding two persons have been arrested.

Eleven persons, including a father-son duo, have been booked on murder, rioting and other charges, a police spokesman said.

Vaibhav, who was two-and-a-half years old, and his sister, 11-month-old Divya, died after the attackers allegedly poured petrol from the window and set the house ablaze while the family was sleeping inside.

A religious programme was being held nearby in the village at that time. Their mother Rekha, 28, suffered serious burns and has been referred to Delhi for treatment while their father Jitender, 31, too suffered injuries while trying to save his family.

Concerned over the attack on the Dalit family, Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Khattar over phone asking him to ensure security to everyone and prevent any recurrence of such incident, officials said in Delhi. The Union Home ministry also sought a report from the state administration.

A former Australian prime minister is among 28 prominent people on a list of alleged paedophiles, a senator has claimed in urging a public inquiry into child abuse be expanded.


Veteran Liberal senator Bill Heffernan used parliamentary privilege during a Senate hearing to claim he was in possession of the "very disturbing" police document, which allegedly focuses on legal professionals.


"We have in Australia, sadly, a compromise at the highest of levels. There is a former prime minister on this list and it is a police document," he told senators late Tuesday. "It's not so much the secret that's the problem, it's when a group of people, such as the 28 people on this page, keep each other's secrets that the institution is compromised."

Among the rarer stories this year are those in which Hindus and Muslims are coming together to celebrate Navratri, but sadly, this isn't one of them.
In a Muslim neighbourhood in the town of Mumtaznagar, the Ramlila has always been enacted by Muslims. For the last two years, Muslims have been barred from playing main characters like Ram, Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman, reports The Times of India as they eat meat.  Read more

Symbolic acts without immediate tangible consequences can sometimes hold long-term implications when appropriated as a signifier in a political struggle. By itself, the ink-and-oil attack on Engineer Rashid, an independent member of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, might appear to be little more than a copy-cat act by the Hindu Sena following last week's paint attack by the Shiv Sena in Mumbai on Sudheendra Kulkarni. Both were meant to appeal to the core Hindutva constituency that remains deeply suspicious of both India's Muslims and Pakistan. Read more

Amitabh Bachchan, his wife Jaya and his son Abhishek will each get Rs 50,000 every month for the rest of their lives from the Uttar Pradesh government whenever the Samajwadi Party is in power there.


The Times of India reports that this is because the state cabinet decided on Tuesday to give these 'pensions' to all recipients of the Yash Bharti Samman, the state's highest honour, and all three actors have won the award. This award is discontinued whenever the SP is not in power.


The monthly pension of Rs 50,000 is among the highest in the country and it may be more than even what several government officials receive.


By comparison, freedom fighters and their spouses are eligible for Rs 20,129 a month, ex-Andaman political pensioners receive Rs 23,309 a month and unmarried and unemployed daughters of freedom fighters receive Rs 4,770 a month.


The pension scheme for Yash Bharti recipients has also emerged as the most lucrative pension scheme in the country.


A Government of India pension scheme for old and poor artists, being implemented by UP's department of culture, awards a sum of Rs 2,000 per month to performing artists who have earned a living through the profession for at least 10 years.


India's cricket board pays Rs 15,000 to cricketers who've played at least 25 first class matches and Rs 50,000 to former test cricketers who've played at least 100 Test matches.


Earlier, the Yash Bharti awardees would get Rs 5 lakhs, but in its revised avatar, recipients are given a cash award of Rs 11 lakh, a shawl and a citation. There is no fixed number of recipients of the award each year. It's given to those who've achieved eminence in the fields of films, art, literature and sport.


About 150 people -- who trace their origins to the state -- have been awarded the prize that was instituted in 1994. Amitabh Bachchan's father, noted litterateur Harivansh Rai Bachchan was also conferred the honour in its inaugural year.


Earlier this year, the SP government gave the award to 56 people. Singer Rekha Bhardwaj, classical vocalists Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra, poet Bekal Utsahi, Padma Shri awardee Arunima Sinha, ace shooter Jeetu Rai, Kathak dancer Kumkum Dhar, ghazal singer Reeta Ganguly, film actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Jimmy Shergil, singer Kailash Kher, and wrestler Alka Tomar were among the winners this year. UP's chief minister Akhilesh Yadav ruled out the possibility that artists, sportspersons or litterateurs will return their awards under an SP government.


"Pension will be given to all recipients. The question of anyone being forced to return an award will not arise in Samajwadi regime," he said.

One militant was killed and two Army jawans injured in a gun battle between security forces and terrorists in the Kunzer area of Tangmarg in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla District today. The encounter is still underway and the Army has cordoned off the area. Further details are awaited

In its first ever acquisition, Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) today announced takeover of global giant Goldman Sachs' mutual fund business in India for Rs 243 crore in an all-cash deal as yet another foreign player exits the Rs 13 lakh crore Indian MF market.


The deal, under which RCAM will acquire all 12 onshore mutual fund schemes of Goldman Sachs Asset Management India with total asset under management of Rs 7132 crore, would also make Reliance MF the exclusive fund manager for the government's ambitious Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) Exchange Traded Fund.


The transaction has been approved by the boards of the two companies and is expected to be completed in the current fiscal, RCAM's parent firm Reliance Capital said in a statement. Reliance Capital is the financial services arm of Anil Ambani-led business conglomerate Reliance Group and is also present in insurance, brokerage and wealth management among other areas.


Goldman Sachs was given the mandate last year to manage CPSE ETF through which the government has so far raised Rs 4,000 crore by selling part of its stake in ten central PSUs as part of its disinvestment programme.

Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, could make an attempt to foment trouble in Punjab, Central intelligence agencies had warned at least a fortnight before the crisis over desecration of Sikh scriptures started. 

Terming the Kashmir issue as the bone of contention between India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said New Delhi's response to Islamabad's desire for better bilateral ties has been discouraging.             "New Delhi's response to the desire of bilateral ties is discouraging," Geo TV quoted Sharif as saying during his address to the Pakistani diaspora soon after arriving in the US on a four-day official visit.

Amidst their protests against Pakistan, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut has said that if Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai came to India, she would be welcomed with open arms. "If Malala comes to India, we will welcome her. She's a child who has borne the horror of Pakistan terrorism and till date she continues her fight against terrorism," said Raut. 

It seems the BJP-Shiv Sena rift is only going to get wider. After having a war of words over the recent incidents, including the ink attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni and the protests at the BCCI office, the Sena has put up a poster outside Sena Bhavan. What is surprising about the poster is that the party has chosen an image of Modi bowing down to Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray. The poster reads, "Have you forgotten these days... The days when their senior leaders bowed down before us." In the poster, the party also called itself the 'big brother of the alliance.  

The arson in Sunped village of Faridabad has created fear among people, especially the lower caste community, in the adjoining villages. Due to the continuous threat posed by upper castes, a section of people from the lower caste have expressed their desire to convert to Islam. 

A New York Police Department officer has died after he was shot in the head Tuesday night by a gunman in East Harlem, police sources said. The officer took a bullet to the forehead as he and other officers chased the man, who was riding a bicycle, around 8:45 p.m., a high-ranking police source said. Rescuers rushed the cop to Harlem Hospital, where he died.

One militants has been killed and 2 army jawans have been injured as security forces battle the militants in the Kunzer area of Tangmarg in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir. 

Lyricist and adman Prasoon Joshi has come out against writers returning their awards to protest what they call rising intolerance in the country. "That there is politics over literary recognitions is a matter of pain," Joshi said in a statement. "An artiste should be known for his work and not for returning awards," the lyricist said in a comment which comes amid a debate over whether writers are justified in returning the awards they received from Sahitya Akademi and other bodies. "It will be more dignified if a litterateur expresses herself through her creation," Joshi said. 

The mob murder of a man in Dadri was "not a spontaneous act" but involved "some planning", a member of the National Commission for Minorities, which visited the spot as part of a fact-finding mission said. The NCM member, Farida Abdullah Khan, also said that "citizenship rights of Muslims are being denied and challenged".