LIVE! Suicide bombing at Iraqi funeral kills at least 25

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Mon, 29 February 2016

Suicide bombing at Iraqi funeral kills at least 25

Timeline Refresh

23:52 Shiv Sena man hits shop assistant for refusing 'free lunch'

An office-bearer of the youth wing of Shiv Sena was today arrested for allegedly assaulting a shop assistant for refusing to provide free 'vada-pavs'.

The incident took place in suburban Vile Parle (West) on Saturday but the FIR was registered today.

The accused, Sunil Mahadik, allegedly hit Chetan Geveriya (28), who works at Trupti Sweet and Farsan Mart on D J Road, with a bamboo stick, police said.

A day ago, Mahadik had sent another person to the shop demanding 100 vada pavs, a popular street-food here, free of cost. Chetan told him that they didn't have so much stock, so the person left.

The next day, Mahadik allegedly called Geveriya on his mobile phone and abused him, and said he must hand over 100 vada pavs immediately to a person he was sending.

Geveria said Mahadik should speak to the owner of the shop first. Irked, Mahadik himself went to the shop and hit Geveria with a bamboo stick and threatened to kill him, police said.

23:42 Israel arrests two Palestinian 'snipers'

Israel's military announced today the arrests of two Palestinian brothers accused of being "snipers" who shot and wounded two civilians and two soldiers in Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The shooting incidents took place near a flashpoint religious shrine known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs in late 2015 and early 2016.

They occurred amid a wave of Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis, but most of the assaults have been stabbings.

The two arrested were Nazar Fizel Mohamed Badie, 23 and alleged to be an operative of the Islamist movement Hamas, and his brother, Akram Fizel Mohamed Badie, 33.

A suicide bomber struck an Iraqi funeral today, killing at least 25 people, including a local Shiite militia leader, in a town north of Baghdad that saw a wave of revenge attacks after a similar bombing in January.

Another 52 people were wounded in the bombing in Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometres north of the capital, according to security and hospital officials.

The dead included a local commander in Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a powerful Shiite militia that is part of the state-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces, responsible for much of the security in the area.

The Islamic State group bombed a cafe frequented by militiamen in Muqdadiyah in January, killing at least 32 people and triggering a wave of revenge attacks on Sunni mosques and civilians.

Himachal Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri today told Vidhan Sabha that the state government was aware of problems faced by farmers and people in general due to attacks by wild animals and monkeys and was contemplating to urge the Centre to approve the proposal to declare monkeys as "vermin".

Nine natural habitats (Vanar Vatikas) will be set up around the monkey sterilisation centres and case for declaring monkeys as vermin will be moved to the Centre so that the menace can be controlled.

Replying to a question by Maheshwar Singh regarding attacks by stray dogs and wild animals, Bharmouri said the task of undertaking survey of monkeys was complete and the moment the data is compiled, the case seeking declaration of monkeys as vermin would be moved to the Centre for approval.

He said that in the meantime, the government has speeded up the task of sterilisation of monkeys and "More than one lakh monkeys have been sterilised so far and the latest census has indicated decline in number of monkeys.

At least two people were killed and 42 others injured after a speeding bus lost its control and fell into a gorge near Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district on Monday.

The private bus, which was carrying Nepali nationals as well, from Rupiyadeeh to Bahraich overturned on a culvert and plunged into a ditch.

The injured, which included women and children, were admitted to a nearby government hospital.According to one of the victims, the bus which carried around 100 passengers fell into a gorge after the driver tried to overtake a vehicle near the SSB camp.

Amid allegations of sitting over a rape complaint for 15 days filed by the German national, the Delhi Commission for Women today said that it was verifying the veracity of the complaint before forwarding it to the police as the email it received was unsigned and did not have the phone number of the victim.

The Commission, instead, has now issued a notice to Delhi Police seeking to know the reason for the delay in registering an FIR which it claimed was leading to harassment of the victim as she was having to continue her stay in Delhi to ensure the same. "The Commission had received a brief email from the victim on February 5, 2016 and the email was unsigned and did not have the phone number of the victim.

In order to verify the veracity of the complaint, the Commission with great effort was able to identify the mobile number of the victim," said the Commission Chairperson Swati Maliwal.

The Commission further said that a DCW Counsellor then spoke to the victim and made efforts to clear her apprehensions and encouraged her to report the facts to the Commission and the Delhi Police.

Unfazed by BJP's attacks, former Home Minister P Chidambaram today stood by the second affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, insisting it was "absolutely correct" and as the minister "I accept the responsibility".

Talking to reporters at the Congress headquarters, the former finance minister expressed disappointment over former Home Secretary G K Pillai distancing himself from the affidavit issue despite being "equally responsible". Pillai had said the decision to change the affidavit was taken at the "political level".

He also justified his remarks on the issue of hanging of Afzal Guru. "I was part of the government (at that time). How can I distance myself from the government?" Replying to a host of questions on the affidavit issue, Chidambaram said that the second affidavit in the case was filed as the first was "ambiguous".

He said that it was his "duty" to correct the affidavit which was drafted without his approval and was being misinterpreted.

20:05 CRPF, BSF get new chiefs

he country's two largest paramilitary forces CRPF and BSF today got new chiefs. Former SPG chief K Durga Prasad took over as the Director General of CRPF, while senior IPS officer K K Sharma took the reins of BSF at their respective headquarters here.

Prasad, a 1981-batch Telangana cadre IPS officer, took charge from his predecessor Prakash Mishra who superannuated as the chief of the about 3-lakh personnel strong force today.

He said his priorities will be to further sharpen and enhance the operational capabilities and better training of the men and women of Central Reserve Police Force.

"In the last one year, things have gone in the right direction and I will like to maintain the tempo and speed up the technical upgradation of the force. "I have told my troops that we need to work with all the zeal and enthusiasm in a professional manner to deliver the results expected from us," Prasad told PTI.

The officer is best remembered for raising CRPF's elite jungle warfare unit CoBRA taking on Naxals during his stint as an Inspector General in 2008. The task was especially given to him considering his experience with a similar and highly successful commando unit of Andhra Pradesh police called the 'Greyhounds'.

Police today arrested nine persons in connection with arson and vandalism at Uchana Police Station during the 10-day quota agitation by the Jat community.

The police station in-charge, Om Prakash, had on Februray 21 filed a complaint saying that about 125 people indulged in arson and vandalism the previous evening which resulted in a loss of government property worth over Rs 5.5 lakh.

The police had registered cases against unknown persons and today arrested nine using CCTV footage and other evidences.

SP Abhishek Jorwal said they are trying to trace the hooligans behind the violence using audio and video footage. Many have been identified. Arrests are being made and nobody involved in the violence would be spared, he said.

The agitating students of Jawaharlal Nehru University today alleged that the photocopy shops in the campus are refusing to print any posters that have not been "verified" by the administration.

The campus photocopy shop owners claim that it is due to the "fear factor" that they are refusing to to print posters of protests, but the students alleged that the varsity administration has instructed them to do so, a charge denied by JNU Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi.

"Two policemen in plain clothes came last night to my shop and asked me to identify the posters that I had printed. I told them that we do not check what is written on them and casually go ahead printing number of copies asked by the students," a photocopy kiosk owner in JNU campus told PTI on condition of anonymity.

In an unusual move, a Pakistani court today sentenced to death twice two brothers for killing their sister and her husband in 2009 to protect the family's "honour".

Ironically, the sentencing came on a day when Pakistan was celebrating its second Oscar win when filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's documentary on honour killings in the country won the prestigious award in Los Angles.

A sessions court's here sentenced to death Ahsan and Zeeshan Butt who had shot dead their sister, Saba, and her husband, Shafiq, for marrying out of their own will. Judge Naveed Iqbal also imposed a fine of Rs one million each on the convicted men.

The couple, who were residents of Yaki Gate area of Lahore's walled city, had married of their free will in 2009 and had moved away. But Ahsan and Zeeshan invited them over for a meal and shot dead the couple only a few months after their marriage.

JUST IN: Petrol prices have been slashed by Rs 3.02, while diesel prices have been raised by Rs 1.47 per litre.

A woman holding a child's severed head at a busy Moscow metro station has been arrested and charged with murdering a young child in her care. The woman, suspected of having psychological problems, was shouting "I am a terrorist" in Russian and threatened to blow herself up, according to local news reports.

In footage purportedly of the incident posted online, the woman is seen dressed in black near an entrance to Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in northwest Moscow.

According to witness reports, the unidentified woman pulled the severed head out of her bag shouting "I killed a child" and "I am a terrorist."

Russia's interior ministry confirmed that the woman had been holding a real human head of a child, thought to be four year's old.

17:57 Lament of an anti-national

Former Mumbai top cop Julio Ribeiro writes: "At the cost of being classified as anti-national, I must boldly state that I disapprove vehemently of doctored and concocted videos designed to send leftist students to jail.

To my mind, such concoction of evidence is worse than the crime the student is supposed to have committed and deserves a punishment equal to the one sought to be inflicted. It frightens people like me when Delhi's lawyers ape their counterparts in Pakistan and go on a rampage in the hallowed precincts of our temples of justice, attempting to lynch prisoners in the custody of the police.

Read more HERE

17:29 Kanhaiya Kumar to stay in jail till March 2

The Delhi high court has reserved judgment on Kanhaiya Kumar's bail plea; order will be pronounced on March 2 at 4 pm. The police had arrested Kumar on February 12, a day after a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy was registered at Vasant Kunj (North) Police Station in connection with an event in the varsity's campus in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

Activist Irom Sharmila, charged with the offence of attempt to commit suicide by fasting, has been released from judicial custody. Sharmila has been fasting since 7 pm on January 22, 2015 demanding the repeal of AFSPA in Manipur.

According to the order issued by the judge, it was mentioned that in taking the fasting, rather than for taking her own life, the accused appears to undertake it for the protection of her own life as well as those of her people who she felt are wrongly dealt with by the powers given under AFSPA.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received money from Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden to contest elections against Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party in 1990, a new book has claimed.

The book titled 'Khalid Khawaja: Shaheed-i-Aman' by Shamama Khalid, the wife of former ISI operative Khalid Khawaja, claims that Sharif's pledge of introducing an Islamic system attracted Khawaja as well as Osama.

"Chief of PML-N Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif received funding from Osama Bin Laden, founder of Al Qaeda, to contest elections against Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party after the end of Zia regime," the book states.

16:23 Yechuri in dilemma over dealing with Congress

Can the CPI-M have an alliance with the Congress in West Bengal while opposing it in Kerala?

That's the issue that's exercising CPM members of Parliament from Kerala and West Bengal who were searching for Sitaram Yechuri in Central Hall on Monday to seek clarity from him on the strategy.

Yechuri was seen taking CPM MP from Tamil Nadu T K Rangarajan to the smoking block inside Central Hall where he reportedly sought his opinion.

Yechuri better have the answer ready, as he is arriving in Kerala soon to interact with his party's state politburo and senior leaders about opposing the Congress in in the state.

Muslims were equated to "demons" and "descendants of Ravana", and warned of a "final battle", as the Sangh Parivar on Sunday held a condolence meeting at Agra for VHP worker Arun Mahaur, who was killed last week allegedly by some Muslim youths.

Among those present on the dais were Union Minister of State, HRD, and BJP Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria as well as the BJPs Fatehpur Sikri MP Babu Lal, apart from other party local leaders, who joined in the threats to Muslims.

Speaker after speaker urged Hindus to "corner Muslims and destroy the demons (rakshas)", while declaring that "all preparations" had been made to effect "badla (revenge)" before the 13th-day death rituals for Mahaur.

"Human skulls would be offered to his martyrdom," VHP district secretary Ashok Lavania, who has been jailed earlier for assaults on Muslims, said.

Talking about the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, local BJP MLA Jagan Prasad Garg told the crowd, "You will have to fire bullets, you will have to take up rifles, you will have to wield knives. Elections are approaching in 2017, begin showing your strength from now onwards."

Read more HERE

Experts have termed tax proposals in the Budget as a mixed bag without major surprises as most key measures were on expected lines.

However, they expressed doubts about government collecting the targeted higher indirect tax mop-up at Rs 20,600 crore, saying in the past too this was not achieved.

As per Khaitan & Co's Dinesh Agrawal, the government's plan to mop-up additional revenue from indirect tax may not materialise, especially from jewellery and garments sectors.

Budget 2016-17 has increased excise duty on jewellery and branded garments by 1 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.

But past efforts to levy duty on these goods did not succeed, he noted.

Excise duty on tobacco, SUVs and luxury cars above Rs 10 lakh have also gone up.

Describing the Budget as an incremental move in the backdrop of increased global uncertainty, Girish Vanvari of KPMG India said while there is nothing new on the taxation front in general, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley could have done more.

Messaging service WhatsApp will end its support by the end of this year to BlackBerry phones and those powered by Nokia's Symbian operating system.

The Facebook-owned company has over a billion users globally. A major chunk of these users are from emerging markets like India.

"When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people's use of mobile devices looked very different from today. The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70 per cent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia," WhatsApp said in a blogpost.

It further said mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft, which account for 99.5 per cent of sales today, were less than 25 per cent of mobile devices sold at the time.

"As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use. So, by the end of 2016, we will be ending support for WhatsApp Messenger on BlackBerry (including BlackBerry 10), Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1, Android 2.2 and Windows Phone 7.1," it said.

15:49

Volatile Sensex tumbles 152.30 pts to 23,002; Nifty cracks below 7,000 level, ends 42.70 pts down at 6,987.05

15:12 Rahul's Braille paper plea has a Bengaluru connection

Congress MPs were happy that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made it a point to mention Rahul Gandhi, when he announced that he had accepted the latter's suggestion to slash import duty on Braille paper as it will be included in the list of "assistive devices for the differently-abled".

Sources say Gandhi had written to the commerce ministry after a visually impaired college student approached him at Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru, where he addressed students last year.

The Congress vice president had then written to the finance minister asking for tax exemption on Braille paper.

On Monday, former Prime Minister Morarji Desai's birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior MPs garlanded his portrait in Central Hall of Parliament. Booklets about Morarji Desai, India's first non-Congress prime minister, were also distributed to MPs on the occasion.

After days of bitter war of words, a rare spectacle of bonhomie was witnessed today between the government and Opposition in Rajya Sabha, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley laid the Union Budget 2016-17.

After entering the House, Jaitley walked towards the seat of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a well-known economist.

Watching this, Dr Singh came mid-way where both greeted each other and engaged in an animated conversation for a few minutes. Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma also exchnaged pleasantries with Jaitley.

Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, who was formerly in Congress, earlier went to Dr Singh and greeted him. He also walked up to the seat of Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, where both the leaders chatted briefly.

BJP members were also seen congratulating Jaitley on the Budget. Jaitley as well as BJP spokesperson M J Akbar were seen having a hearty laugh over some issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Saudi Arabia -- home to the largest number of Indian passport holders outside India -- and attend the India-European Union Summit in Brussels as well as the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington towards the end of next month.

The PMs three-nation trip will begin on March 30 with Belgium. Modi will then travel to Washington for the summit from March 31 before his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia from April 2.

Modi was to attend the summit in Washington from March 31.

His Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif too will attend the meet that presents the possibility of the two leaders meeting in the US.

Though sources are tight-lipped about the Sharif-Modi meeting, the two sides are working on expediting the probe in the Pathankot air base attack.

This will be the first time after Modi's unannounced and brief visit to Lahore on December 25 that he and Sharif will be at the same venue.

India today termed as "unfortunate" the letter written by some US Congressmen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on religious freedom in the country, saying they have chosen to "focus on just a few incidents".

External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also asserted that aberrations, if any, were dealt with by the internal processes that include independent judiciary.

"It is unfortunate that these Members of Congress while applauding India as a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to inclusion and tolerance have chosen to focus on just a few incidents.

"India is proud of its status as the world's largest democracy. The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including minority communities. Aberrations, if any, are dealt with by our internal processes which include our independent judiciary, autonomous National Human Rights Commission, vigilant media, and vibrant civil society," he said.

Expressing serious concern over violence against religious minorities in India, 34 top American lawmakers have asked Modi to take immediate steps to protect their fundamental rights and bring the perpetrators to justice.

13:50 Rajasthan Patrika group sacks editor

In an abrupt move, Shoma Chaudhary, editor-in-chief of Catchnews.com, which was launched seven months ago, has been sacked.

In an email to her colleagues, she writes: 'In a completely unexpected development, on 27 February, I was called to Jaipur by the director of finance and told that, since Catch has now been successfully created and stabilized, Patrika no longer wants to keep me on as its editor-in-chief. I was asked to stop coming to work from Monday, 29 February.

'To say I am stunned by this arbitrary behavior would be an understatement. Catch was not a functioning institution I walked into: it is something I helped create from scratch. To be abruptly divorced from it like this seems a real injustice, to say the least.'

Catchnews.com was launched by the Rajasthan Patrika group.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's car was attacked with sticks and stones in Punjab's Ludhiana district on Monday.

The information was made public by the Aam Aadmi Party chief himself on Twitter.

In his tweet Kejriwal said, "My car attacked with sticks and stones in Ludhiana. Front glass pane broken. Badals n congress nervous? They can't break my spirits."

Meanwhile, another AAP leader Ashish Khetan accused Shiriomani Akali Dal for the attack saying, Badals attacked Kejriwal's car with stones and & rods.

Khetan accused the Punjab Police of being a mute spectator and taking no action when the goons attacked Kejriwal' car.

The AAP leader said, the attackers came within an inch of grievously injuring Kejriwal.

Notably, the Delhi Police on Friday had said that it has alerted its Punjab counterparts over a life threat to Kejriwal, who is currently visiting Punjab.

13:00 5 live bombs found along LoC in Poonch

A major tragedy was averted after security forces detected and defused five live bombs in a village along the Line of Control in Poonch district.

The live bombs were found at village Azmabad close to the LoC in Mandi area of the district on Sunday, a police officer said in Jammu today.

On Friday, two children identified as Tahir (11) and Wasim (8) were injured when they were fiddling with an object which turned out to be bomb following which security forces launched an operation to clear the area, the officer said.

After the recovery of five live bombs, the bomb disposal squad took them to a safe area and defused them.

"A major tragedy has been averted with the recovery of the bombs", the officer said.

Haryana Police on Monday filed its status report on the alleged rapes at Murthal in Sonipat district during the Jat agitation, saying no such incident took place.

The status report was filed before a division bench of justices S K Mittal and H S Sidhu.

The status report filed by police "denied the charges of molestation and gangrape during the intervening night of February 22/23 at Murthal in Sonipat district."

The division bench adjourned the case to March 14.

The High Court had taken suo motu note of the matter after a report in a local daily on the alleged rapes.

The bench had appointed senior advocate Anupam Gupta as amicus curiae to assist the court in this matter.

During the course of the hearing, ADGP Law and Order Mohd Akil and Head of the three-member women police officers probing the allegations DIG Rajshree Singh were also present.

Days after allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near Haryana's Murthal, a woman yesterday came forward and registered a case of gangrape against seven persons, including her brother-in-law, in connection with the incident.

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking action against Police Chief B S Bassi for allegedly "influencing" the probe in the JNU sedition case, saying the plea was for "publicity interest" and courts cannot be burdened with such applications.

"Why did you file this petition? We are surprised that this is not for public interest but for publicity interest," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said as soon as the hearing commenced.

The bench also asked the petitioner on what basis he was leveling such allegations.

The counsel appearing for petitioner Satish Pandey referred to newspaper reports and said that the plea was based on the statement given by Bassi which was widely published in the media.

To this, the bench said, "We will not go by the newspaper reports. The law is well settled. If you have any other material except these newspaper reports, you can tell us."

During the brief hearing, the counsel said the petition was not for publicity and again referred to newspaper reports.

To this, the bench said, "We cannot burden this court with these kinds of petition. Except newspaper reports we have not found any other material. The writ petition is dismissed".

Outgoing Delhi Police Chief BS Bassi said today that it is a "misunderstanding" that the Delhi Police works under political pressure.

"Delhi Police's functional autonomy is sacrosanct. Some also think Delhi police works under political pressure. Please remove that misunderstanding," Mr Bassi said at his farewell function.

"Those who have questions regarding Delhi police autonomy, I want to take them back to history," added the officer, who retires today after a three-year term as Delhi Police Commissioner

Alok Verma will take over from him.

The last few weeks have been particularly controversial for Mr Bassi, who has been accused of mishandling the JNU case.

The issue of privilege motion against HRD Miniter Smrit Irani created a brief uproar in the Lok Sabha before Finance Minister Arun Jaitely started presenting the Union Budget 2016-17 today.

Opposition members were on their feet seeking to know the status of their notices against Irani for "misleading" the House on the Rohith Vemula issue.

"I have received notices raising the question of privilege dated February 26 and 29 respectively against Smriti Irani. The matter is under my consideration," Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said, seeking to pacify the Opposition.

After the brief uproar and Mahajan's statement, order was restored and Jaitley began his budget speech.

Congress, Left and the JDU had announced plans of bringing a Privilege Motion against Irani, who is in the eye of a storm following her remarks in Parliament on the issue last week

The Delhi high court has dismissed cellular operators' plea challenging TRAI's tariff order making it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath passed the judgement on a bunch of petitions filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India, the association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance.

TRAI had earlier told the high court that consumers have a right to get compensated for call drops and this was different from the quality of service guidelines that cellular service providers have to follow under the licence conditions.

However, the telecom companies had argued that even if the consumers were facing a problem, a regulation without statutory backing cannot be created.

The telecom firms had claimed that everyone was prejudiced against them, while referring to some of the pleas filed by consumer groups in support of the TRAI's October 16 regulation last year which mandates cellular operators to pay consumers one rupee per call drop experienced on their networks, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day.

The operators have sought quashing of the regulation.

NDTV reports: Lawmakers will no longer have to deal with call drops, at least in Parliament. To address their complaints about poor network, a temporary mobile tower has come up in the complex.

Demands for a mobile tower only for the historic Parliament complex had earlier been denied on security grounds.

But after rising complaints from Parliamentarians, the government appears to have given in.

The mobile tower is mounted on a vehicle. Another one is on standby to provide smooth services to lawmakers.

Read more HERE

10:47

JUST IN: Supreme Court declines to hear plea for now seeking criminal contempt proceedings against Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, SAR Geelani and 4 others. Court asked petitioner to take consent of Attorney General before hearing.

10:03 India, US closer to pact to share military logistics: Officials

India and the United States are closing in on an agreement to share military logistics after 12 years of talks, officials said, a sign of strengthening defence ties between the countries as China becomes increasingly assertive.

The United States has emerged as India's top arms source after years of dominance by Russia, and holds more joint exercises with it than any other country.

It is in talks with New Delhi to help build its largest aircraft carrier in the biggest military collaboration to date, a move that will bolster the Indian navy's strength as China expands its reach in the Indian Ocean.

After years of foot-dragging by previous governments over fears that the logistics agreement would draw India into a binding commitment to support the United States in war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has signalled a desire to move ahead with the Logistics Support Agreement.

That would allow the two militaries to use each other's land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest, officials said.

Read more HERE

Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma will today take over as next commissioner of Delhi Police, succeeding incumbent B S Bassi.

A 1979-batch Union Territory cadre officer, 58-year-old Verma had been serving as DG of Tihar prison and will serve as the top police officer of the national capital for 17 months.

Verma will take charge at a time when the Delhi Police is facing severe criticism for handling the JNU row, arising out of the arrest of the university's students union president Kanhaiya Kumar for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event commemorating death of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Bassi has also received flak for allegedly going slow in taking action against those who indulged in violence in Patiala House court on Tuesday and on Monday.

Verma will head the 80,000 strong Delhi Police which is responsible for maintaining law and order in the capital that has a population of more than 1.7 crore.

The new police commissioner will also have to deal with the Arvind Kejriwal government with which there has been an uneasy relationship ever since AAP came to power a year ago.

08:53 Kanhaiya's bail plea hearing to resume today

The Delhi high court is likely to resume hearing today on a bail plea of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-India slogans in the university campus.

Justice Pratibha Rani, who had on February 24 deferred the hearing till February 29 after Delhi police informed the bench that it will seek his further custodial interrogation, will resume the hearing today.

The hearing assumes significance as the police is likely to apprise the bench about the ongoing investigation during which it had taken Kanhaiya to one day custody to confront him with two other JNU students and arrested accused -- Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

Umar and Anirban had surrendered before police late on February 23 night. Both the accused are in police custody till February 29.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Kanhaiya, had earlier contended that as per the status report filed by Delhi Police there was no evidence of any anti-India slogans being raised by his client.

Various student outfits will jointly launch a week-long campaign 'In defence of democracy' amid a raging row at JNU over an event against hanging of Afzal Guru.

"The systematic attack by RSS-BJP on JNU has escalated over the last few weeks. The Narendra Modi government has defended the ongoing crackdown on JNU on the floor of Parliament," said a joint statement by the students' organisations, including AISA, AISF, KYS and NSUI.

"HRD Minister Smriti Irani quoted an internal and 'interim' report of a 'High Level Enquiry Committee' in JNU to name eight JNU students as prima facie 'guilty'.

"In naming eight students in Parliament, she has misused her official position and power to give credence to this highly questionable report," it said.

The students' bodies announced they will undertake an 'all -India' campaign in "defence of democracy" from February 29 to March 5.

"A delegation of all students' outfits will also meet the President, home minister and MPs.

Vice-Admiral HCS Bisht will take over as head of the Eastern Naval Command today at a ceremonial parade to be held at the Naval Base in Visakhapatnam.

Bisht will assume charge as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of ENC and succeed Vice-Admiral Satish Soni, who will be retiring after 40 years of illustrious career in the Navy, an ENC release said.

He served as director general of Indian Coast Guard before being appointed FOC-in-C of the city-based command, which recently hosted the International Fleet Review-2016. IFR, held under the helm of Soni, saw participation of 50 countries and 24 foreign naval ships.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Bisht was commissioned into the Navy on July 1979. A graduate from the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, UK (in 1992), he had also attended the Naval Higher Command Course at the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai in 2001 and completed the 47th NDC course at New Delhi in 2007.

His important afloat appointments include executive officer of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) Corvette INS Ajay, Commander Work-up in the Indian Naval Work-up Team at Kochi, Fleet Gunnery Officer of the Eastern Fleet at Visakhapatnam, Commissioning Commanding Officer of the missile corvette INS Kora and command of the stealth frigate, INS Tabar.

08:33 Amarnath Yatra 2016 registration begins today

The registration for this year's pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath will start from today.

It will begin for both Baltal and Chandanwari routes through 432 designated bank branches.

The 48-day Yatra will commence simultaneously on both the routes from July 2 and conclude on Raksha Bandhan day on August 18.

P K Tripathi, chief executive officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, said the step-by-step procedure which the yatris need to follow to register has been put on the board's website.

The CEO said pilgrims would have to furnish a compulsory health certificate while seeking registration.

Only certificates issued by doctor or medical institutes and authorised by the concerned state government shall be accepted at the designated bank branches.

For Yatra 2016, only those health certificates that have been issued on or after February 10 shall be considered valid.

The CEO further said those under the age of 13 years or above the age of 75 years and women, who are over six-week pregnant would not be allowed to be registered.

08:28 CRPF, BSF to get new chiefs today

Country's two largest paramilitary forces -- CRPF and BSF -- will get their new chiefs today.

While senior IPS officer and 1981-batch Telangana cadre officer K Durga Prasad will take over as the new Director General of the about 3 lakh personnel-strong CRPF, 1982-batch Rajasthan cadre police officer K K Sharma will head the estimated 2.5 lakh troops of Border Security Force.

The government had announced the new chiefs for these two forces early this month. Prasad and Sharma were serving as the deputy chiefs of their respective paramilitaries.

While Prasad's tenure will last till February next year, Sharma will be in office till September, 2018.

While the CRPF is the lead anti-Naxal and counter-insurgency operations force, the BSF is entrusted with guarding the Indo-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.

08:27 Pakistan, US to hold strategic dialogue today

Pakistan and the US will today hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas including economy, security and counterterrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the US side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth $700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley faces a tough task of balancing the needs of farm sector as well as the industry when he presents his third and challenging Budget today as he seeks to garner resources to boost public spending for higher growth amid global headwinds.

On the income tax front, the Budget may continue with the status quo on the tax slabs while it may tinker with the exemptions.

Rising rural distress because of back-to-back droughts have put considerable pressure on the finance minister to spend more on social schemes, while at the same time he has to win back foreign investors craving for faster reforms.

His difficulties have been compounded by the huge payout of Rs 1.02 lakh crore that will become necessary on account of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for government employees. How much he does this without compromising on the previously-announced goal of lowering the fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of the GDP next year is to be seen.

Jaitley is also likely to fulfil his last year's promise of gradual reduction of corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over four years. It is expected that he may begin the exercise in the Budget tomorrow that may be accompanied by withdrawal of tax exemptions to keep the exercise revenue neutral.

08:20

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