Mukesh Ambani remains India's richest person for the ninth consecutive year with a net worth of $18.9 billion, according to the latest Forbes India Rich List. While the combined net worth of India's 100 richest remains largely unchanged at $345 billion, as compared to $346 billion a year ago, there are 12 new faces this year. 

Is the Jolie-Pitt clan getting a new member? Hollywood's power couple are finalising plans to adopt a Syrian orphan. According to reports, Jolie reportedly met up with three Syrian brothers who were orphaned after their father was taken away by soldiers and their mother was killed when their home was bombed.Brangelina's brood includes adopted children Maddox,Pax, Zahara besides biological kids Shiloh and twinsVivienne and Knox.It seems Angelina Jolie, a UN Special Envoy for Refugees, really takes her job seriously.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn resigned, taking responsibility for the German carmaker's rigging of US emissions tests. "Volkswagen needs a fresh start - also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation," Winterkorn said in a statement.

A local court today extended by two days the police custody of Sanatan Sanstha activist Samir Gaikwad who was arrested in connection with the murder of CPI leader Govind Pansare. Gaikwad was arrested in Sangli on September 16 by SIT of Maharashtra Police probing the Pansare murder case and his custody was to end today. The prosecution told the court that police need more timeto interrogate Samir. However, although they sought was extension of Samir's police custody by seven days, Magistrate Aparna Jainapure granted only two more days.

Pope Francis enlisted the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr to help bolster his call for urgent action on climate change on Wednesday in a welcoming ceremony at the White House that Barack Obama said would "shake our conscience from slumber".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ireland on Wednesday on the first leg of his two-nation trip to Ireland and United States. After meeting with the Irish premier, Modi interacted with the Indian community in Fritzwilliam Hall, Dublin. Amidst chants of 'Modi, Modi, the PM said, "I will begin by apologising, I wish I had spent more time with you. I thank you for the warm welcome. I had a good meeting with Ireland's PM, we discussed a whole range of issues. I believe that the ties between India and Ireland should become stronger."

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti today moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from arrest in a domestic violence case in which the Delhi high court has rejected his anticipatory bail plea.


The controversial MLA has sought a direction that the Delhi Police be restrained from arresting him till his petition challenging the High Court order is decided, his counsel said.


"We have filed the application in the Supreme Court. Now that we have approached the Supreme Court, I hope that Delhi Police will hold their horses and not trouble the staff and relatives of Somnath Bharti till the outcome of the application in the apex court," Bharti's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said. Sources close to the MLA said his petition is likely to be mentioned shortly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today presented to his Irish counterpart reproductions of a selection of historic manuscripts and papers pertaining to two Raj-era Irish officials, Thomas Oldham and George Abraham Grierson, in recognition of their contributions in India.


Modi also gifted Irish premier Enda Kenny a specially handcrafted piece of silver, marble and roughly-hewn sandstone rock that imagines the Irish symbol of shamrock as a votive candle-stand or an 'aarti' lamp, with a peacock perched by the side of shamrock leaves, along with silver-tipped crystal dewdrops signifying serenity and purity.


The original manuscripts and papers which Modi presented to Kenny are preserved in the National Archives of India.


Born in Dublin, Oldham (1816-1878) was appointed as geological surveyor in 1850 to conduct a survey in India and his services were placed with the then Government of Bengal. He assumed charge in March 1851 and his joining day is celebrated as the foundation day of the Geological Survey of India. Apart from conducting the first systematic coal mapping of India -- and later initiating mapping of other minerals -- he wrote extensively on the fossils of India.


Grierson (1851-1941) was an Irish civil servant and philologist who, starting 1898, conducted the first Linguistic Survey of India. The Survey was later published over several years during 1903-28. It was Grierson's Survey that provided the first scientifically-based taxonomy of the Indo-Aryan languages within which the linguistic status of various forms of Hindi, Urdu and other Indo-Aryan speech forms is based.


The separation of Hindi into Western and Eastern dialect zones is the direct result of Grierson's classification efforts. As a student of mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin, Grierson took prizes in Sanskrit and Hindi.


Grierson went to Bengal in October 1873, where, in addition to carrying out his duties in a succession of government posts until 1898, he devoted much time to language research.


Two of his most important works are Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Sub-dialects of the Bihari Language (1883-87) and Bihar Peasant Life (1885). The latter work, in addition to offering much linguistic information, describes the life, farming methods, and beliefs of the Bihar peasantry. In 1994, India instituted an award in his honour that is given to foreign scholars who have made significant contributions to Hindi.


Pic: Irish PM Enda Kenny presenting a jersey of the Irish cricket team to PM Modi.

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti moves Supreme Court for protection from arrest in the domestic violence case

Just in: German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit India next week.

PM Narendra Modi begins his press statement in Dublin. Highlights of the speech.

-- I thank Irish PM Enda Kenny for the warm reception and gracious hospitality.


-- I hope that Ireland's visa policy will be sensitive to India's IT firms.


-- We will soon have direct air services by airlines of both countries. India and Ireland are ideally placed to form productive partnerships to take advantage of the opportunities in the digital age. 


-- Our economic partnership can have a strong technology focus IT, biotechnology and pharma, agricultural and clean energy.


-- In the 30th anniversary year of the Kanishka tragedy, we thank you once again for the memorial that honours them.


-- India was the first country with which you (Ireland) established diplomatic relations in Asia. I have now sought Irelands support for Indias membership of the NSG and other international export control regimes.

Jailed Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy has reportedly received a presidential pardon in Egypt.The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has pardoned Fahmy, the ABC reported.


Fahmy, a Canadian national, was jailed alongside Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, on allegations they aided the Muslim Brotherhood and their reporting was "damaging to national security".


He was facing a retrial on those charges.The three men were sentenced to three years in prison in a retrial last month, but Greste was tried in absentia after he was deported from Egypt in February.


Sisi has reportedly issued pardons for about 100 prisoners, including Fahmy, but Greste and Mohamed were reportedly not included.

Pic: Mohamed Fahmy (wearing the suit) in a file picture.

New York marks a milestone in the fight for equality when 1.1 million children in America's largest school district will take the day off to mark Eid al-Adha.


It is a small but hard-won victory at a time when American Muslims complain of growing Islamophobia and worsening anti-Muslim rhetoric following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.


For the first time, more than 1,800 public schools in New York will close for the Muslim feast of sacrifice, a day after also closing for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the new policy in March, announcing that New York public schools would get two days off for Eid al-Fitr, which falls during the summer, and Eid al-Adha, in addition to major Christian and Jewish holidays. Since then, city hall has added a further day off -- February 8, 2016 -- for Lunar New Year, celebrated by Asian-Americans.

Dear Devendraji,

Firstly, I wish to thank you for replying to my open letter and creating space for a public debate. This is a sign of a truly healthy democracy and is rare for a politician in this day and age. I truly appreciate that a big politician chooses to reply to a humble columnist: Doesn't happen too often in an age where the media is a soft target. However, while I do not wish this to become a "tu tu main main", I must reserve the right to reply."

--- That's Rajdeep Sardesai's reply to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, who replied to Sardesai's earlier letter to him. 

Read

Marathi film "Court" selected as India's official entry to the Oscars next year.

Court is a 2015 Indian courtroom drama film, written and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, in his directorial debut.


Featuring a cast of newcomers, the film examines the Indian legal system through the trial of an aging folk singer in a lower court in Mumbai.


Court premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2014, where it won the Best Film in the Horizons category and the Luigi De Laurentiis (Lion Of The Future) award for Tamhane.


Jay Weissberg of Variety described the film as "an impressive debut that flays alive India's judicial system thanks to an intelligent, superbly understated script."


The film went on to win 18 other awards at film festivals, including honours at the Mumbai, Vienna, Antalya, and Singapore film festivals.
In 2015, the film won the Best Feature Film award at the 62nd National Film Awards.

Pic: Vira Sathidar in Court

Also read: I won't make a typical Bollywood film.

Just in: Three-day police custody for prime accused held in rationalist Govind Pansare's murder. 

Last year in August, the Times Group asked its employees to hand over their Twitter and Facebook accounts' passwords to the company. 


It said that journalists could have a personal handle but they couldn't use it to post news related stuff. When media outlets reported on the development not-so-flatteringly, the group tried convincing journalists that it was in their "interest' to give up on the personal handle and have one integrated account.


No one obviously bought that and the process never really took off. 


And that, one thought, was that. But, not really, it seems.


Almost exactly a year later, the group has made it clear that it means business (like always) -- and journalists must adhere to its social media policy. Read more

Just in: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just landed in Dublin. Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar and other dignitaries received the PM. Varadkar (whose father is Indian) is a qualified medical doctor and the first openly gay Irish government minister. Modi will spend today in Ireland where he will hold discussions with Prime Minister Enda Kenny. He will depart for New York the same evening for the US leg of his tour.


Prime Minister Modi will fly to USA later to meet industry leaders in Silicon Valley. He will be attending at least 20 back-to-back events in two working days, including visits to headquarters of Google and Facebook, meetings with Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and a dinner with top tech CEOs. 

The five ingredients of every Narendra Modi trip. Read

The Aam Aadmi Party government has not initiated any corruption case against former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, though the party had during the Assembly election campaign alleged irregularities during her tenure as CM.


Replying to an RTI query on the complaints received by it, the Delhi government has stated that only one complaint was received from a Ludhiana-based resident against her.


The application from Lucknow-based RTI applicant Sanjay Sharma was forwarded by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office to Directorate of Vigilance to provide information on cases registered by the present government.


The vigilance department forwarded it to Anti-Corruption Branch which said no such information is available in its record. AAP had raked up the issue of alleged corruption during the tenure of Dikshit as Chief Minister in the election campaign and had swept the Assembly polls early this year.

Three Pakistani boys, who were held by BSF near the border here in Rajasthan after they crossed into the Indian territory, will be sent back to their country by tomorrow, an official said today.


"Pakistan rangers have been informed about the matter and they (boys) would be sent back today or tomorrow depending upon the meeting with them," BSF IG B R Meghwal told PTI today. The boys identified themselves as Salim, Sajan and Saaval and said they trespassed the border while while searching for their missing cattle, he said.

Just in: Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly meets West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee amid speculation that he may be president of the Bengal cricket association. The association is headless after Jagmohan Dalmiya's death. Dalmiya was head of the Cricket Association of Bengal.

The public prosecutor in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case has sought the death sentence for eight of the 12 convicts. Calling the convicts 'mechants of death', the prosecutor said they deserve the death sentence. The sentencing will be heard on September 30. The prosecution has asked for life sentence for four convicts.


A special MCOCA court is expected to pronounce the quantum of sentence to the 12 men convicted for their involvement in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai suburban train bombings.


Twelve people were convicted last week by a special court in Mumbai in the serial blasts that killed 188 people. Those convicted are Kamal Ahamed Ansari, 37, Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, 37, Mohammad Faisal Shaikh, 36, Ehtesham Siddiqui, 30, Mohammad Majid Shafi 32, Shaikh Alam Shaikh, 41, Mohammad Sajid Ansari, 34, Muzzammil Shaikh 27, Soheil Mehmood Shaikh, 43, Zamir Ahmad Shaikh, 36, Naveed Hussain Khan, 30, and Asif Khan, 38.

Designated MCOCA Judge Yatin D Shinde had on September 11 held them guilty of complicity in the crime while acquitting 34-year-old Abdul Wahid Shaikh, also an accused, in the case.


They were found guilty of planting bombs in local trains which exploded at various stations in the peak hours in the evening.


All the twelve convicts found guilty in the case, had pleaded for leniency in the court on the point of sentence citing humanitarian grounds.


The judge had called each convict before him and recorded their respective statements on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to them.


The arguments on the quantum of sentence has been going on for the last few days.

BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha are among the star campaigners enlisted by the party to woo voters ahead of the Bihar assembly elections. S


Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Pratap Rudy are also on a list of 40 star campaigners that the party submitted to the Election Commission on Tuesday.


Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Jharkhand counterpart Raghubar Das are the only BJP chief ministers on the list. BJP president Amit Shah is also among the star campaigners.

 
Since the formation of the Modi government at the Centre in May 2014, Advani and Joshi have been sidelined in the BJP and restricted to the party's Margdarshak Mandal.
 

In the past, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused the BJP of "dumping" party veterans like Advani and Joshi as they didn't figure in the election posters of the BJP in Bihar soon after the announcement of poll dates.
 

Fortis Healthcare Executive Vice-Chairman Shivinder Mohan Singh is stepping down from his position to join a philosophical and spiritual organisation Radha Soami Satsang Beas headquartered near Amritsar.


Singh (40), who is the co-founder of the healthcare chain will become the Non-Executive Vice-Chairman with effect from January 1, 2016, the company said in a statement.


Commenting on his decision to step down from active role in the firm, Singh said: "Having spent almost two decades setting up and running Fortis, our mission of saving and enriching lives is an integral part of my being. Over time this has inspired me to do more direct service and give back to society a little of what I have received in abundance." Singh said he had requested for 'Sewa' at Radha Soami Beas, headquartered near Amritsar.

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar rules out banning right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha. "Sanatan Sanstha cannot be blamed for the mistake of one individual. Let the Maharashtra government investigate the case first," Parsekar said.

This comes in the aftermath of a BJP MLA's statement yesterday seeking a ban on the organisation after a Sanatan Sanstha member was arrested in connection with the murder of Left leader Govind Pansare, for "creating terror" like Students and Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).


Sanatan Sanstha, headquartered at Ramnathi Ashram in North Goa district, is under the scanner since the arrest of Sameer Gaikwad in connection with Pansare's killing earlier this year and the alleged role of absconding member Rudra Patil in the 2009 Madgaon blast.  

Be it escaping the I-T sleuths or securing finance from a bank and not repaying it, Indian businessmen has a way of finding solutions to everything through quick fixes or 'jugaads'.


In a recent lecture, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan dished out some frank advice  -- don't get into 'jugaad', instead try for the long haul. Only that will sustain in the long-run. Read

Taking a dig at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's call for review of reservation policy, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said  that the Sangh is like a supreme court to BJP and added that such thought is dangerous for the country.

 
"The recent comments by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the issue of reservation clearly shows that he thinks that the present status of the reservation policy is not right. The RSS wants an extra-constitutional committee to decide who gets quotas and who doesn't. This is a dangerous thought," he said.

 
Kumar on Wednesday announced the list of 242 candidates on the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of assembly elections.

A "surprised" Lipika Mitra today thanked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for asking her husband and AAP MLA Somnath Bharti to "surrender" in a case of attempt to murder and domestic violence filed by her.


Police teams are looking for the Malviya Nagar MLA since yesterday after the Delhi High Court rejected his anticipatory bail in the case.


"It's good that the Chief Minister has finally spoken out albeit after taking so much time. I am grateful to him," Mitra said.


Expressing her surprise over Kejriwal's stand, she wondered why AAP made Bharti speak on a issue like 'women empowerment' during a one-day special session of the Delhi Assembly in August.


"Considering they were defending him and made him speak on such issues I am definitely surprised that the Chief Minister has taken this stand... He should act as a CM first and friend later," she said.


On being told that Bharti was avoiding arrest as he may appeal in the Supreme Court, Mitra said, "Whoever is advising him is definitely not his well-wisher. Police is doing what it can. He should come out and cooperate with police," she said.

An Army Major was killed during a military exercise in Pokhran on Tuesday night. According to the initial reports, Major Druv Yadav of 75 Armoured regiment died due to an explosion during tank firing.


The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the incident. The 32-year-old Major Yadav was from Haryana.  (Details awaited)

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra, a three-time MVP and member of 10 World Series championship teams as a player, has died. He was 90. 

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has gone to the United States to attend a conference, Congress said on Tuesday night, rejecting rumours about his whereabouts.


"Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is travelling to Aspen, US on a short visit to attend a conference. The conference is expected to be attended by global leaders from various domains, both from government and private sectors,' party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.
"We reject all rumours stating otherwise,' he added.


He, however, did not give dates about the conference or the duration of the visit.


Earlier in the day when asked about Mr. Gandhi at AICC briefing, Mr. Surjewala said, "Rahulji is travelling abroad on a short personal visit and will return shortly. We reject all rumours stating otherwise. He will continue to lead the party's Bihar campaign as also in the rest of the country."


He was asked whether Gandhi had gone to London today and whether it meant that he had gone on another sabbatical.


Early this year, Mr. Gandhi had gone abroad on a 56-day sabbatical when the budget session of Parliament had commenced and that led to much talk and speculation in political circles.


Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be in the U.S. from Thursday morning on a six-day visit.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced the list of 242 candidates of the 'Grand Alliance' at a press conference in Patna. Highlights:

-- We have tried to ensure representation all sections of the society. We took our time to decide the candidates. Everybody, even Lalu-ji agreed I should announce the list of the candidates.

-- There are no complaints within 'Maha Gathbandhan'.

-- We received word from the Congress last evening.

-- We want to make it clear that development is our biggest factor for the polls but the BJP is only interested in creating divisions.

-- The recent comments by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on the issue of reservation clearly shows that he thinks that the present status of the reservation policy is not right.

More details soon.

There's a new publishing company in town, and not everyone might know just what to make of it. It's called Juggernaut. Like the chariot and the god. It's been started by Chiki Sarkar, former publisher at Penguin Random House India and its earlier avatar, Penguin Books India.Juggernaut, where Sarkar is Publisher & Founder, has marquee investors, which is a first in book-publishing in India, where the money usually comes from multinationals or homegrown, family-owned businesses.


The three whose identities have been disclosed so far are Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and the man behind the Adhaar biometric identification project, among other things; William Bissell, Managing Director of Fab India, and Neeraj Aggarwal, MD of Boston Consulting Group, India.

Shatrughan Sinha, who has persistently courted trouble with his party recently, is included in the list of the BJP's star campaigners for the Bihar assembly elections. The star brigade is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has held four rallies in the state so far that drew huge crowds.


The BJP and its regional allies are not projecting a chief ministerial candidate and are seeking votes for PM Modi and his development agenda.


Also on the list of star campaigners, which every political party must submit to the Election Commission, are party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manihar Joshi and union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh. BJP chief Amit Shah will also campaign for his party in Bihar as will TV-actress-turned-politician Smriti Irani, who is the Union Education Minister. BJP Chief Ministers like Shivraj Singh Chauhan from Madhya Pradesh will also campaign. Read more

In the first summit of its kind in more than 10 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a power-packed special summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in US to push for a permanent seat for India on the global body's Security Council, reports NDTV.


The PM left this morning for Ireland from where he will head to US for a six-day trip that ends on September 29.


On Saturday morning, just before he leaves for the West Coast, PM Modi will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel, often described as the most powerful woman on the planet, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York at a summit of what is known as the G-4 group.


All four countries back each other's bid for permanent seats at the UN Security Council.

In a dramatic post-midnight development, the Gujarat high court has directed the state government to find Hardik Patel, spearhead of Patel quota stir, after an aide moved a habeas corpus petition alleging that Hardik had been illegally detained by police.


Police had earlier claimed that Hardik had given them a slip when they went to detain him after he organised a public meeting allegedly without prior permission in Aravali district.


In a rare move, a division comprising justices MR Shah and KJ Thaker heard the petition at 1.20am with Hardik's aide Dinesh Patel seeking court's intervention to direct authorities to produce Hardik.

Just in: Family of three jump off a moving train in Rajabhatkhawa (North Bengal) after they overheard a group of men planning to rape a woman family member. Details awaited. 

As the Prime Minister makes another U.S. trip, with hopes of attracting greater foreign investment, there are pressing domestic issues back home seeking his attention, issues like poverty, hunger and misgovernance. A 'Digital India' backed by greater FDI flows can only play a limited role in tackling these. Read more

As the Prime Minister makes another US trip, with hopes of attracting greater foreign investment, there are pressing domestic issues back home seeking his attention, issues like poverty, hunger and misgovernance. A 'Digital India' backed by greater FDI flows can only play a limited role in tackling these, says Pulapre Balakrishnan.

... we await his safe return, hopefully rewired and ready, at last, to govern.

Read the complete column here

The chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board Shaharyar Khan has said that the PCB would no longer ask India to play the bilateral series planned in the UAE in December.

"I think we have said enough about the series and we are not going to ask them anymore. The ball is in their court now and they now have to decide and inform us about the fate of the series," Khan told reporters.

The former diplomat, in his most strong statement on the coming series and relations with India, said the PCB had done enough on its part to show its keenness to play the series and revive bilateral ties.

"I don't want to say anything more on the series. But what is causing us concern is that from what we know the letter we sent to the Indian board about the series has not gone to their government as yet," he said.

The PCB chief said if the Indian board backed out of the series which Pakistan is supposed to host it would approach the ICC and other member boards. "The series is part of a proper MOU signed between the two boards and we will pursue this matter if required," he added.

Khan said that Pakistan's stance remained clear that cricket and politics shouldn't be mixed. "Relations between the two countries have been tense in the past as well but we still played cricket. But since 2007 India has not played a test against us. We will not run after them now it is their turn to decide and realise the importance of reviving bilateral cricket ties."

Food safety watchdog FSSAI's CEO Yudhvir Singh Malik, the man behind the ban of global giant Nestle's popular noodle brand Maggi, was today moved out and shifted as additional secretary in NITI Aayog.

Malik, a 1983 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, was appointed to the post of chief executive officer in Food Safety and Standards Authority of India  under the health and family welfare ministry, only in September last year.

The appointments committee of cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the appointment of Malik as the additional secretary in the NITI Aayog, an order issued by the personnel ministry said.

He has been appointed in the newly created post by cancelling the appointment of Keshni Anand Arora, his batch mate from the same cadre.

It was during Malik's tenure that samples of Maggi noodle samples were subjected to lab tests which found that it contained added Monosodium Glutamate and lead in excess of the permissible limit.

Hardik Patel, who is leading an agitation for reservation for the Patel community in Gujarat, must be produced before a court tomorrow, the state government was told in the wee hours.

The Gujarat high court issued the order at around 2:30 am after Patel's lawyers moved a petition claiming that he had been detained by the police illegally. The police, however, said the 22-year-old had run away before he could be taken into custody, reports NDTV.

According to the police, Patel fled in a vehicle after they tried to detain him for holding a meeting in a village in Aravalli district in north Gujarat without permission. "As we came to know about it, our police team went there to detain him but he ran away from there to evade detention," Inspector General of Police Hasmukh Patel told PTI.

The police have lodged a case against Patel and 13 of his associates for organizing the meeting without permission. 

A bomb has been recovered from the Falaknuma Express at the Howrah railway station in West Bengal.

The Railway Protection Force found the bomb and the Bomb Disposal Squad  has arrived at the station to deactivate the explosive. The spot has been cleared after the bomb was placed in a cylinder by the bomb squad for a controlled explosion.

According to reports, the team has taken the cylinder in which the crude bomb was found to an isolated spot to defuse it.

Further updates are awaited. 

PM Narendra Modi left this morning for his two-nation visit to Ireland and the United States.

"Working westward. PM @narendramodi departs on a 2 nation, 3 city visit to Ireland & the US, will address the @UN," tweeted External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Modi will spend today in Ireland where he will hold discussions with Prime Minister Enda Kenny. He will depart for New York the same evening for the US leg of his tour.

"He has a very substantive program in NY for 2 days that he's here. In New York, PM is going to meet a number of people connected with financial, media,technology and manufacturing sector.

"1 of primary objectives of PM's visit to US is to get more foreign direct investment &make 'Make in India' a huge success," tweeted Swarup.

"I expect PM's visit to lay new benchmarks for our engagement with the United States," he added.

He will be in the US till September 29.

Photograph: @ANI/Twitter

Just in: It looks like Aam Aadmi Party's MLA Somnath Bharti has no sympathisers.

Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tweeted this morning, "Somnath shud surrender.Why is he running away?Why is he so scared of gng to jail? Now he is becoming embarrassment for party n his family."

"He shud cooperate wid police," added the CM.

Bharti faces arrest after the Delhi high court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in connection with an attempt to murder and domestic violence case filed by his wife.

Almost 50 officers and eight police teams are on the look out for the AAP MLA, who has gone underground. The office and residence of Delhi's former law minister Somnath Bharti were raided on Tuesday after his anticipatory bail was dismissed but police said he could not be found.