The Bharatiya Janata Party has suspended its Kashi unit's youth wing vice president Shyam Prakash Dwivedi from its primary membership for allegedly announcing a reward of Rs 1 crore for chopping off the tongue of All India ajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi who refused to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Dwivedi was also removed from his post of Bharatiya Yuva Morcha of Kashi unit.

"On the direction of party's state leadership, Kashi region president Laxman Acharya has removed Shyam Prakash Dwivedi from the post of vice-president of Kashi unit's Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha with immediate effect and also suspended his primary membership of the party here yesterday for allegedly making a controversial remark," said Sanjay Bhardwaj, BJP's Eastern UP media-Incharge.

Dwivedi, a son of BJP's  district unit president of Allahabad, Ramraksha Dwivedi, had reportedly announced  the reward of Rs 1 crore for chopping off the tongue of Owaisi and called the AIMIM chief a 'traitor', saying he has no right to live in India.

JUST IN: Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya reach Jawaharlal Nehru University campus after being released from jail. Photograph: ANI

Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam, who was holed up in a Brussels suburb, has been arrested, French police has said.

Earlier, shots were heard in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek as police launched anti-terrorist raids there, wounding two people, Belgian media reported.

The Belgian media say one of the injured was Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in last year's Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed.

Belgian PM Charles Michel had to urgently leave an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, a BBC reporter says.

Abdeslam's fingerprints were found in a Brussels flat raided earlier this week.Abdeslam, a French national born in Brussels, had lived in Molenbeek before the 13 November attacks.

Read this story HERE

Virtually announcing Amarinder Singh as Congress's chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, Rahul Gandhi today said tackling the drug menace should be his top priority while forming government. 

European Union leaders and Turkey have finalised a deal to try to ease the migrant crisis.European Council President Donald Tusk tweetedthere was "unanimous" agreement between Turkey and the 28 EU leaders.

A Remotely Piloted Aircraft of the Indian Navy on a surveillance mission off the Kerala coast was made to crash into the sea today after it suffered engine failure. 

Taking strong exception to the removal of some officials by the Election Commission in poll-bound West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said Delhi was behaving as if emergency was imposed. 

AP is reports: Investigators found the fingerprints of a Paris attacks suspect who has been on the run since November in a Brussels apartment they raided this week, a Belgian prosecutor said Friday.

The family of the Dalit youth, who was brutally murdered in front of his wife at Udumalpet recently, has received a letter reportedly threatening them of dire consequences, police said.

"RSS should rethink its stand on homosexuality, according to me it is an immoral and unnatural act," Baba Ramdev has said. 

A day after Haryana's Irrigation Minister Om Prakash Dhankar virtually refused to supply water to Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said there should be no politics over water.

Just in: Congress releases another list of 42 candidates for upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal. Congress's Deepa Das Munshi to contest against CM Mamata Banerjee from Bhawanipore. Munshi is the wife of Cong leader Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and was Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the NDA government.


The Congress on Tuesday announced its first list of names of its candidates for 43 seats for West Bengal assembly poll and indicated it would contest around 90 of total 294 constituencies as part of its "strategic alliance" with the CPI(M)-led Left Front.


In the last Assembly polls, Congress had contested 61 seats in alliance with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress which led to ouster of the CPI(M)-led Left Front after over 33 years in power.


Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been sharply critical of the strategic alliance between the Congress and the Left.

Why isn't the home minister better informed? Rajnath Singh says he heard from the media that a team from Pakistan is coming to India to probe the Pathankot attack.


External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday said a Pakistani team, formed to probe the Pathankot airbase attack, will arrive in India on March 27 and "begin their work" the next day.


Swaraj's announcement came after she met Sartaj Aziz, the Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor, on the sidelines of the SAARC foreign ministers' meeting in Pokhara, Nepal, and they discussed progress on the Pakistani probe into the Pathankot attack.

Shaktiman, the mare whose leg was amputated after an assault by political  activists, is a symbol of our broken republic -- a permanent and searing reminder of the dark forces that now threaten to consume us and our possible futures. Read more

Shoaib Akhtar tweets this: Where else would you see this the 2fastest bowler in the history and killer batsman Viru together ..

Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today asked students to rise above caste and religion and start thinking as an Indian to uplift the poor in the country. Addressing the 11th convocation ceremony of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Jung said "if you can bring a smile on the face of the poorest man on the street that you see, your life is worth living." Jung, who is chancellor of the university, also exhorted the girl students saying they were "second to none" and advised them to be never "awed" in the male presence and stand up to their rights. 

Sanjoy Hazarika, author of Strangers of the Mist, Rites of Passage and Writing on the Wall, has been an astute observer of the Northeast in general and Assam in particular for over two decades.


Currently Director of Jamia Millia Islamia's Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research and Honorary Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, the journalist-turned-academic fields questions from Abdus Salam as campaigning for the two-phase Assembly elections in Assam gradually shifts into top gear. Excerpts from the interview. 

So the stalemate on government formation in J&K continues. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav says it is not possible to accept the new demands to form govt.


"After Mufti Saheb's death, PDP had to choose a leader for the CM's  chair, there is no change in the situation even today. We want same conditions which were agreed with late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.


"The situation in J&K is not because of us, there are no further conditions. Govt cannot be formed on conditions. The responsibility of choosing CM lies with PDP." 


PDP sources also said that talks have failed.


After her father's death, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the central government must take confidence building measures so that she can head a stable ruling coalition in the state.

The BJP's stand has been that the agenda of alliance signed by the two parties last year that brought the coalition headed by Sayeed to power should be the only binding arrangement between the two parties. 

The Indo-Pak rivalry will not just be limited to men come tomorrow in the ICC World Twenty20 as the women's teams from both the countries will also square off in a low-on-hype contest where the hosts will start firm favourites.

The in-form Indian women's team and Pakistan will clash at the Ferozshah Kotla ground in their second Group B ICC World Twenty20 match in New Delhi tomorrow, a few hours before their male counterparts lock horns in Kolkata. With a dominating 5-1 record against Pakistan in T20Is and on the back of a thumping win in their tournament opener against Bangladesh, the Mithali Raj-led women's team will definitely start favourites in the Group B fixture.

PM Narendra Modi reaches Pokhran (Rajasthan) to attend the Indian Air Force's demonstration of its combat and firepower. 

The woman in CRPF uniform in defence area of Pathankot (Punjab) arrested today is believed to be mentally unstable. "We are still investigating further," says Gurvinder Singh, SHO

Pitching for more reforms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the world no longer ridicules India of clocking 'Hindu rate of growth' and economic liberalisation has helped it grow at a faster pace. The constituency that favours reforms today, he said, is much more than those who oppose it and the country can grow at a faster rate generating more resources to effectively fund anti-poverty schemes.


"Right till about 40 years of independence, India was growing at about paltry 2-2.5 per cent. The world was ridiculing us and the Indian economy, and its growth was referred to globally as the Hindu rate of growth. So, anybody who grew slowly and was satisfied with that growth level was sarcastically referred to as Hindu rate of growth," Jaitley said at the Skoch event in New Delhi.


The moderate growth recorded till 1980s was described by economists as the Hindu rate of growth. After economic liberalisation in 1991, India has been growing at a much faster pace and in some years also crossed the 10 per cent mark.


He said as the economy grows faster, people get more jobs, wealth is generated, people are pulled out of poverty lines and then a resource-full state is able to generate a lot of anti-poverty programmes.


"If we continue to follow the (reforms) path... we will probably be able to write a new chapter in that history," he noted. Making a point that the economic literature of 1970s and 1980s "taunted" India for low growth, Jaitley said: "1991 was a defining moment for India. It was India's misfortune that what happened in 1991 should have started 20 years before.


Had it started 20 years earlier, the 1970-80s would not have been the wasted decades as far as the Indian economy is concerned." He said that in the two decades, the ultimate objective was to have a restrictive regime where the government of the day instead of focusing on increasing productivity and wealth generation concentrated on distribution of existing inadequate resources, which distributed poverty.

Jat Quota Bill: Jats give Haryana govt deadline of March 31 to bring in the bill. 

Pakistan cricket coach Waqar Younis on the big day ahead at Eden Garden in Kolkata tomorrow. "Kolkata has been good to us not only on field but off field as well. In earlier matches, there used to be more pressure on Pakistan, but this time there is more pressure on India. I am going to look at our teams strength and not on Indian teams weaknesses. Weve history. Not only the subcontinent, but the world enjoys Indo-Pak matches."


India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in the mother of all battles on Saturday in the ICC World Twenty20 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Ahead of the epic clash, there was a spirit of bonding between the cricketers of both nations as they practiced at the same venue.

An 18-year-old has been shot dead in a city street in Birmingham, UK. Police were called to St Mark's Crescent of Birmingham at around 6.45pm on Thursday and discovered the teenager with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene and detectives have launched a murder investigation.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has suspended three police inspectors and one assistant police inspector for dereliction of duty and false reporting in connection with renewal of dance bar permits.


"For pending Dance Bar license applications, Mumbai Police Commissioner had sought report from these officers regarding compliance of conditions set out by the state government with Supreme Court approval for granting licenses to dance bars," a CMO official said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today allayed fears over possible renewal of quota agitation by Jats in Haryana and expressed confidence that a solution will be found soon. Singh today called up Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and took stock of the situation.


"I have spoken to the Haryana Chief Minister. There is no need to worry about anything. I am sure a solution will be found soon," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi.


The Jats, who had issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the state government to address their demands by yesterday, said they would take a decision on the future course of action after holding meeting with Haryana Chief Secretary and Director General of Police today.

Friday was a particularly happy workday for Bihar's 243 legislators. Each of them was gifted a microwave oven by the state's education department, reports NDTV. On other days of the ongoing Budget session they have received suitcases and mobile phones.

For about two decades now, every government department hands out gifts to the state's MLAs in the Budget session to thank them for doing their job - raising questions in the house in public interest. The rationale offered for the startling tradition is that their contribution through the year helps departments decide which areas need focus when the state's budget is being prepared.

After the Budget is presented, the thanksgiving begins; each department hands out its gifts on a different day.

The microwave ovens handed out today cost Bihar's education department Rs. 11,125 each. "It's just a matter of about 30 lakh rupees. Please don't hype it up like this. It's unfair to compare this to other issues like salaries, condition of schools...we have given this so that when MLAs go to their areas they can heat food and eat," said education minister Ashok Chowdhary.

"This has been happening for ages, nothing new in this. We have subsidiaries within the department that are profitable, they are the ones that give these gifts," Chowdhury said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar offered no comment, but his deputy and Tejaswi Yadav, 25, of the RJD admonished, "Bihar is a poor state. The people who get elected here are not crorepatis but poor people. What is so wrong if they get some gifts? Please don't rake up such issues."

Sources close to senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, a former Deputy Chief Minister, said he had suggested a modification a few years ago - "all departments should club their gifts and hand out just one."

The suggestion was struck down with rare unanimity among Bihar's politicians.


Pic: Bihar MLAs with their suticases and microwaves at the secretariat

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has questioned the "secrecy" around the meeting between PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and BJP chief Amit Shah over government formation in the state. "Why the secrecy this time around? Last time she met with flowers and shawls being exchanged," Omar wrote on Twitter.


Mehbooba met Shah yesterday as intense efforts began to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under Governor's Rule since January 8 following death of incumbent Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed a day earlier.


On the announcement regarding the vacating of land under Army use, Omar suggested that Governor N N Vohra had "converted political decision into administrative one".


"Gov Vohra's decisions regarding vacation of land by army convert a political decision into an administrative one, thus denying Mehbooba/PDP credit.


"The same has happened with the flood relief which flowed after Gov Vohra took charge but was missing during late Mufti Sayeed's rule," he added.

A special NIA court in Kochi today set free 10 Iranians and a Pakistani national after the investigating agency submitted a charge-sheet giving a clean chit to the men arrested from an Iranian dhow intercepted off Kerala coast last year.    

Pronouncing the verdict in the case, the court, however, said the Captain of the ship has been charged with a "minor offence" and he may have to remain in jail for some more time.

An elderly Kenyan man was clawed by a lion that was wandering along a busy road during morning rush hour in the capital Nairobi today, wildlife officials said. It is the third time in a month that lions have caused panic as they roamed outside of Nairobi National Park, a 117 square kilometre (29,000 acre) reserve almost surrounded by a fast-growing city of over three million people.


The 63-year-old man was injured when the lion became agitated and swiped at him, said Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Paul Udoto. "People were there, hooting their horns, taking selfies and all that and the lion got agitated," Udoto said, adding that the man was taken to hospital and was in stable condition.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh opened a new lion enclosure at London Zoo today, and at least one of the big cats appeared to think lunch had arrived early. Behind the Queen's back, an Asiatic lioness licked her lips a few feet away from the royal guests as she looked at the VIP visitors.
Take a look

An IIT panel on Thursday approved a proposal for a three-fold hike in the annual fees of all institutes. If approved, the annual fee will rise to Rs. 3 lakh in comparison to the present amount of Rs. 90,000.


However, the final decision would require the nod of Education Minister Smriti Irani.


Another key recommendation the Standing Committee of IIT Council (SCIC) made was that the proposed new entrance examination designed to test the aptitude conducted by a National Authority of Test (NAT) would be held from 2017 onwards.


Final decision in this regard too rests with Irani, it is learnt. Sources told PTI that the SCIC, a body comprising IIT directors and senior officials, in a meeting adopted the report presented earlier by a sub-committee headed by IIT Bombay Director Devang Khakhar which had suggested hiking fees to Rs. 3 lakh and also recommended multiple sources of financing for the IITs.


"However, the sub-committee has been again asked to consider if this fee hike should also be applied to students studying at Post-Graduate level as they are studying on a fellowship basis," a source said.


If the recommendations of the SCIC are accepted, even the fees of foreign students would be raised from the current annual USD 4000 to USD 10,000, they added. However, the committee has also emphasised that every student should be provided educational loans at an interest- free basis and without collateral under the Vidyalakshmi scheme, sources said.

Neha Joshi, BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi's daughter says he was arrested only "because of a political reason. He is not guilty at all." Police Friday arrested Joshi, accused of assaulting police horse 'Shaktiman' during a protest march here recently which led to amputation of one of its hind legs.

It was a picture that radiated temporal Lutyens-land power: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar flanked by half a dozen Union Cabinet ministers, including the finance minister, the BJP president, the Delhi chief minister and the Lok Sabha speaker.


Arun Jaitley may have filed a criminal defamation suit against Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP leadership and the Aam Aadmi Party may be engaged in a bitter war of words, but Sri Sri's political-cultural jamboree along the Yamuna floodplains appeared to melt away the differences. The World Culture Festival had been inaugurated by the prime minister, now it was ending with a galaxy of national and world leaders in attendance. As a power statement, the Art of Living founder had confirmed his status as India's most well connected self-styled spiritual godman.

Rajdeep Sardesai on Sri Sri, politics and spiritualism. Read

In view of the JNU episode, The BJP government in Rajasthan is planning to promote 'nationalism' in educational institutes in the state.


"Have requested educational institutions to formulate syllabus in a way that helps promote nationalism,' Minister of State for Education V Devnani said.


The minister added that the decision is aimed at preventing a 'JNU like situation' in Rajasthan.On the issue of the beef controversy at Mewar University, Devnani said, "It is important to follow norms in Universities, care must be taken that religious sentiments aren't hurt, so if beef was cooked there, its wrong.


Four Kashmiri students of Mewar University were arrested following rumours that they had cooked beef in their college hostel room. They were released after questioning.

Just in: The Enforcement Directorate has issued a second notice to absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya asking him to appear before it on April 2.


Mallya on Thursday sought time till April for making a personal appearance before the ED, virtually making it clear he would not present himself before the anti-money laundering agency pursuant to summons issued by it in the IDBI bank loan default case.


Officials said yesterday that the beleaguered businessman had informed the Enforcement Directorate's investigating officer that he would not be able to keep his date with it yesterday and sought time till April.


The ED had recently registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on a CBI FIR registered last year. The agency is also investigating the overall financial structure of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and will look into any payment of kickbacks to secure loan.


The CBI had booked Mallya, the Chairman of Kingfisher Airlines, its Directors, former Chief Financial Officer of the airlines A Raghunathan and unknown officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR alleging that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits.

A Chinese toilet firm which incidentally bears the last name of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is worried that the firebrand White House hopeful may sue it in future for selling toilets in his name.

Zhong Jianwei, General Manager of Shenzhen Trump Industrial Company Limited, a Chinese toilet maker in South China's Guangdong Province, said he is confident of retaining the name as his company existed well before Trump, 69, threw his hat in the Presidential campaign ring.

Ahead of mega Indo-Pak match, Abdul Basit, Pak High Commissioner, who is in Kolkata for the WT20 says, "I'm glad to be here (Kolkata), somewhat sad that my colleagues who wanted to come could not come. We are looking forward to a great match tomorrow."


India has refused to grant permission to five Pakistani diplomats to travel to Kolkata to watch the match because they were seen as having links with "ISI and defence" organisations.

India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in the mother of all battles on Saturday in the ICC World Twenty20 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Ahead of the epic clash, there was a spirit of bonding between the cricketers of both nations as they practiced at the same venue.

When my father was a child, he and his sister would go to visit their uncle in Allahabad. Once, a young and distinguished air force pilot, who was also a relative, came to visit them there, and the children were riveted by his stories of wartime flying.


He came to dinner one evening, and told the children to go up to the terrace at dawn the next day and look out for his fighter plane, which he would be flying out from the airbase outside Allahabad. My father, aunt and their cousins were unable to sleep that night with excitement, and went up early next morning to the terrace. Then, as they watched above the treetops, there was a sudden fiery glow in the sky and a loud explosion. Later that morning, they were told that their pilot-hero's plane had crashed, and the children had actually witnessed the crash.

Read more

In water war with Haryana, Punjab defies Supreme Court directive, says 'state not to abide by any order against its interests'.  A resolution passed by the Punjab government says Punjab has no water to share with any other state and it would not be able to abide by the court's order. The resolution says there is no need for Sutlej-Yamuna canal, it cannot be constructed.


The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the maintenance of status quo on land meant for Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal after Haryana alleged that attempts have been made to alter its use by levelling it. Punjab says that the SYL share of water to Haryana was based on 1920 data and now the situation has radically changed. "Conditions have changed completely," he said.


Punjab Assembly on March 14 passed a bill (Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004) against construction of contentious Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal. "Punjab does not have a drop of water to spare and there is no question of our accepting or implementing any decision which deprives us of our fundamental right under the riparian principle," Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said.

Two unidentified militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir's Kupwara district today.


"Two terrorists have been gunned down so far by the army in an ongoing operation at Petha Wadar of Handwara area in the district," an army official said. Acting on specific information about the presence of militants in the area, security forces last night launched a search operation there, he said.


The hiding militants fired upon the security forces triggering an encounter in which the two militants were killed, the official said. He said the identity of the slain militants has not been ascertained yet. The operation is in progress and further details are awaited, the official said.


Pic: Army personnel sanitise the area after the ops. Pic courtesy: AIR

vir sanghvi @virsanghvi How bad are things when we're relieved that a man who calls gay people psychos, at least doesn't want to jail them? @DattaHosabale


Dattatreya Hosabale tweeted: Homosexuality is not a crime, but socially immoral act in our society. No need to punish, but to be treated as a psychological case.


Hosabale is joint general secretary RSS.

Just in: Woman dressed in CRPF uniform taken into custody from army area in Pathankot.

The Army will be vacating large tracts of land held by it at four places in Jammu and Kashmir, including the 212-acre Tatoo ground in Srinagar, by month-end, one of the demands by PDP for formation of government with BJP. The decision was announced last night after a meeting between Governor N N Vohra and Lt Gen D S Hooda, GOC-in-C Northern Command, during which senior officials including Chief Secretary B R Sharma were present.


It was agreed that Northern Command of Army would hand over 16.30 acres of state land held by it adjoining the Campus of Jammu University, 212 acres of land held by it at Tatoo Grounds, Srinagar and 456.60 kanals of land at High Grounds, Anantnag and land held at lower Khurba Thang in Kargil, to J&K government, an official spokesman said.


The decision is considered vital in the wake of demands by PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti that Army vacate land it has held and revocation of AFSPA from peaceful areas in Jammu and Kashmir as a confidence building measure ahead of formation of the government in J&K with BJP.

Allegations against ex-DU lecturer SAR Gilani are grievous and against the country: Delhi Police tells court. A Delhi court today will hear the arguments on the bail application moved by former Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani, arrested under sedition charges in connection with a Press Club event.

Geelani, who is in judicial custody, had on Wednesday moved a fresh bail application before the Patiala House Courts registry and was listed for yesterday before Additional Sessions Judge Deepak Garg, who was absent.

The bail plea is being heard now.

Police arrested two people in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone district for allegedly posting a morphed image of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on social media to ridicule the Sangh's recent decision to change its uniform. 

Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, the home ministry issued orders to remove the US-based Ford Foundation from the 'prior permission' category. The ministry, on the basis of a report sent by the Gujarat government last year, had put the international non-governmental organisation on the 'watch list', citing concern to 'national security'.

Surat is the cleanest railway station in the country, followed by Rajkot and Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), according to an Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation survey released. 

Airlines and hotels are riding high on the high demand for tickets and rooms in cities hosting India matches. Data from travel companies showed airfares to Kolkata, Bangalore and Chandigarh -- the three cities hosting India matches -- has almost doubled, courtesy a healthy two digit percentage rise in flight bookings to these destinations.

THE Jaish-e-Muhammad journal al-Qalam has resumed online publication, eight weeks after Pakistani regulators cracked down on the proscribed terrorist group's Internet operations in the wake of its attack on the airbase in Pathankot. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Uttarakhand MLA Ganesh Joshi has been arrested for allegedly attacking police horse Shaktimaan during a protest rally. On Thursday, the injured leg of the horse was amputated and the equine was fitted with a prosthetic limb. 

As Haryana's influential Jat community threatens to renew its agitation for reservations in government jobs and seats in state-run colleges, the state and Central governments are getting ready to avoid a repeat of the violence that shook the state three weeks ago. In widespread violence, 30 people were killed three weeks ago as the Jats clashed with the police and other communities, and resorted to arson in parts of the state disrupting rail and road traffic.

Two terrorists have been killed in an encounter with security forces in the Handwara area of Jammu and Kashmir. According to information, two-four terrorists are hiding in the area. 

Brazil's lower house of Congress launched a committee on Thursday to consider impeaching President Dilma Rousseff over accusations she manipulated the government's accounts to boost public spending during her 2014 re-election campaign.

In the latest bad news for the leftist leader -- who earlier saw her appointment of embattled predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as her chief of staff blocked by a court ruling -- lawmakers created a 65-member committee tasked with recommending whether to impeach Rousseff in the full513-member chamber.

The final decision would then fall to the Senate.AFP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi of speaking the language of terrorist Hafiz Saeed and said he has started 'insulting' the motherland for 'cheap popularity'.

The BJP said in their 'hate politics' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leaders like Owaisi have begun opposing 'Mother India'.

"Owaisi and some other leaders are speaking the language of Hafiz Saeed. They should not do it for cheap popularity. He should not insult the motherland. While opposing Modi, he hasnow started opposing Mother India," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

He said it was 'height of vote bank politics' that on theone hand, Owaisi is making such statements, while on the other, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Left leadersare supporting those who raise slogans in support of breaking up India.

A suicide bomber who blew himself up in the Paris attacks was buried on Thursday in Brussels, as police pursued two suspected Islamic extremists who escaped a deadly raid this week.

Brahim Abdeslam, 31, was the brother of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the November 13 carnage in the French capital which left 130 dead.

Salah fled Paris immediately afterwards, slipping back to their home city of Brussels and then disappearing.

An AFP report said another brother, Mohamed, along with five other men carried Brahim's coffin to the grave, followed by a cortege of some 20 people, friends or relatives and watched by several journalists.

Mohamed told the reporters: "You can watch and write your stories but please, out of respect, no photographs."

Another of the Paris attackers, Bilal Hadfi, was buried quietly in the same cemetery last week. With Belgium on continued high terror alert, police shot dead an Algerian national with suspected ties to the Islamic State group during a raid on Tuesday linked to the Paris attacks claimed by IS.

Switzerland has opened a criminal investigation targeting Fdration Internationale de Football Association's ex-secretary general Jerome Valcke, who was Sepp Blatter's right-hand man before he was fired from the organisation over corruption, Swiss prosecutors said today.

'As part of the ongoing series of cases relating to FIFA, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is conducting criminal proceedings against the former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke on suspicion of various acts of criminal mismanagement,' the Swiss attorney general's office said in a statement sent.

The OAG 'began investigations' including 'searches and interviews' in connection with the Valcke case on March 17, the statement said.

The National Commission for Minorities has issued a notice to Jawaharlal Nehru University authorities over a professor's alleged remarks calling Dalits and Muslim teachers 'anti-national', days after the National Commission for Scheduled Caste issued a similar notice.

Amita Singh, who is the chairperson of the varsity's school of governance has made the alleged comments in an interview to a web portal.

'A complaint has been received by the National Commission for Minorities regarding derogatory remarks by professor Amita Singh. You are hereby requested to submit the facts and information and the action taken on allegations/matter within five days of this notice,' the letter sent to the JNU vice chancellor said.

The varsity administration has already asked Singh to clarify her remarks after the VC had received a letter from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes on March 8.

Surgery of injured police horse Shaktiman has concluded and it has been fitted with a prosthetic limb in Dehradun. Doctors said the amputation surgery was successful.

"Shaktiman is standing, so I think the operation has been successful. Long term success is yet to be seen," Dr Khambata of the team which carried out the operation said.

The horse's amputation surgery took place two days after its fractures were fixed by external fixation by a group of 10 doctors -- six from Pantnagar and four district veterinary officers.

Earlier in the day, the Dehradun Police informed that the condition of Shaktiman had deteriorated. 

A 19-year-old youth has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency for his alleged links with the Islamic State and facilitating recruitment and radicalisation of some people in West Bengal.

Ashik Ahammed alias Raja, a resident of Hooghly district, was arrested on Wednesday in a case related to terrorist conspiracy.

'His role has emerged in the case as a facilitator to some of the key members of the IS-affiliated terror module, who wanted to recruit and radicalise youths in West Bengal,' a statement issued by the NIA said.

Ahammed was today produced before the NIA special court here and remanded in police custody for five days.

The accused was pursuing a diploma course in Mechanical Engineering in Durgapur in West Bengal.