In a rare development, the Budget session of Parliament was tonight prorogued bang in the middle of it to enable the government to issue an Ordinance for authorising expenditure beyond April one in the centrally- ruled Uttarakhand in view of the political crisis in the state.

The Mumbai police today lodged an FIR against the religious leader Radhe Maa for carrying a `trishul' (trident) on a flight from Aurangabad to Mumbai last year.

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is set to return to power in West Bengal by winning 178 seats and getting an increased vote share compared to 2011 assembly elections, says an opinion poll conducted by a news channel. 

Twenty-five students and two faculty members of Hyderabad Central University (HCU), who were granted bail in connection with the March 22 violence on the campus during which the Vice Chancellor's official residence was ransacked, were tonight released from the Cherlapally Central Prison here. "Bail order copies were submitted to prison authorities...all of them have been released," Cherlapally Prison Superintendent K Venkateshwar Reddy told PTI.

Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis has offered to resign after his team were knocked out of the World Twenty20 at the Super 10 stage, the BBC reported on Tuesday.


Pakistan exited the tournament after winning just one of their four games in Group Two.


The team, captained by Shahid Afridi, beat Bangladesh, but lost to New Zealand, Australia and arch-rivals India.


"I place my hands together and beg forgiveness from the nation. If my leaving makes things better, then I would do it without delay," Younis told a news conference.


The 44-year-old former pace bowler is in his second spell as Pakistan coach, having first held the job between March 2010 and August 2011.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's application for return of his passport was today allowed by special TADA court in Mumbai. Dutt was released from prison last month after serving his sentence in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.


"The court has allowed his application," said his lawyer Subash Jadhav. The 56-year-old actor had last week moved the court of special TADA judge G A Sanap in this regard. CBI, the prosecuting agency, told the court it has no objection to his plea.


The Bollywood star was arrested on April 19, 1993, for possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle, which was part of cache of arms and explosives which landed in India prior to the serial blasts of March 1993. Dutt was sentenced to six years' prison term by the TADA court, which the Supreme Court later reduced to five years.

Pathankot attack: Will seek access to Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, National Investigation Agency chief tells NDTV

EgyptAir hijacker 'unstable': Cyprus foreign ministry, says AFP.

Just in: Fifty files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose released by govt.  The second tranche of 50 declassified files related to Bose available online, consist of 10 files each from the Prime Minister's Office and ministry of home affairs  and 30 files from ministry of external affairs pertaining to the period 1956 to 2009. 

The government on Tuesday permitted 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the marketplace model of e-commerce retailing with a view to attract more foreign investments.


As per the guidelines issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on FDI in e-commerce, foreign direct investment (FDI) has not been allowed in inventory-based model of e-commerce. At present, global e-online retail giants like Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. are operating online marketplaces in India while homegrown players like Flipkart Ltd and Snapdeal.com have foreign investments, even as there were no clear FDI guidelines on various online retail models.


To bring clarity, the DIPP has also come out with the definition of "e-commerce', "inventory-based model' and "market place model'. The marketplace model of e-commerce means providing of an IT platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller.


The inventory-based model of e-commerce means an e-commerce activity where inventory of goods and services is owned by e-commerce entity and is sold to consumers directly, according to the guidelines.


A marketplace entity will be permitted to enter into transactions with sellers registered on its platform on business-to-business basis, DIPP said. It said that an e-commerce firm, however, will not be permitted to sell more than 25% of the sales affected through its market place from one vendor or their group companies.


"In order to provide clarity to the extant policy, guidelines for FDI on e-commerce sector have been formulated,' DIPP said. The government has already allowed 100% FDI in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce.

The hijack drama of EgyptAir flight MS 181 ends without bloodshed. Moments after all seven hostages leave the hijacked plane, Cyprus broadcasting reports that the hijacker emerged from the aircraft with hands held up. He has been arrested, says the Cyprus foreign ministry.


EgyptAir Flight MS181 was taken over after a passenger claimed to be wearing a suicide explosive belt.

Cypriot officials have named him as Seif Eldin Mustafa. Reports say he wants to talk to his estranged wife in Cyprus, and the Cypriot president says the hijack is not a terrorist incident.

But others say he is demanding the release of female prisoners in Egypt.

Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy told a news conference that seven people remained on board the jet.

Reacting sharply to BJP chief Amit Shah's comment that the sound of Rabindra Sangeet was getting drowned out by bomb blasts in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today said there will be no "bigger enemy" than her for anybody who insulted the state.


"If anyone insults Bengal, there will be no bigger enemy than myself," she said at a poll rally here in Purulia district. "Today you (BJP) are in power in Delhi, but you will lose tomorrow," the Chief Minister said.


Referring to the remarks by the BJP President, she said, "I have heard (Shah) has said something about Rabindranath. "People of Bengal do not forgive anyone who insults great poets like Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam," she said at the rally ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.


During a press meet in Kolkata earlier in the day, Shah said the only industry to have come up in Bengal under Trinamool Congress rule was the bomb-making industry. "Only the bomb-making industry has come up in West Bengal in the last five years. And the sound of Rabindra Sangeet is getting suppressed because of those bomb blasts," he said.


Banerjee also claimed that the CPI-M, which her party had ousted from power in 2011, had suffered for disrespecting Tagore. "The CPI-M had claimed it had made Tagore famous while taking 'Sahaj Path' (a beginners' book in Bengali for kids) off the syllabus for nursery students," she said, claiming that the people of Bengal had taught a lesson to the party for such acts.

A four-year-old girl was beheaded in Taiwan in what appears to have been a random knife attack, state media said.

On Monday morning, a 33-year-old man attacked the girl with a cleaver in full view of her mother as they were on their way to a metro station in Taipei, the island's capital, the official Central News Agency said.

The mother of the slain child said her daughter had been riding her bike about a meter away from her when it became stuck.

Read HERE

Shortly after a single-judge bench of the Uttarakhand high court ordered a floor test in the assembly on March 31, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have prepared to challenged different parts of the decision.

While the Congress will challenge voting rights given to the rebel MLAs, who have already been suspended by the speaker, the Centre will challenge the decision of conducting a floor test altogether.

Both the parties will challenge the decision before a two-judge bench of the high court.

The Supreme Court asks SEBI to sell Sahara property to realise the amount payable by Subrata Roy for his release from jail. For the interim bail of Roy the court had put conditions like depositing Rs 5,000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of equal amount and tough terms including payment of the entire Rs 36,000 crore, which includes interest, in 18 months to a SEBI-Sahara account. The money will be paid back to the investors of Sahara. Roy is in jail since March 4, 2014 with two other directors of Sahara companies -- Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary. 

Last month, Sahara's counsel and senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the Group was in negotiation to sell its Mumbai hotel Sahara Star, company's 42 per cent share in Formula 1 and four aircraft.

Further, the Group said negotiations were underway to sell three overseas hotels, Grosvenor House Hotel in London, the New York Plaza and Dream New York hotels.

Fast bowling legend Wasim Akram had a nasty experience here when he was confronted by a drunkard while on a live shoot for a local television channel.


The former Pakistan captain was speaking at a post-match show on news channel Aaj Tak after India's thrilling victory over Australia in a World Twenty20 Group 2 match on Sunday night.According to espncricinfo.com, the show, in an outdoor setting in the central Mumbai neighbourhood of Lower Parel, was suddenly invaded by the drunk local who tried to stop the broadcast. Read more

Pakistan's Federal Information head Pervez Rashid and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) head Lt Gen Asim Bajwa will address a joint press conference at 4:45pm (around 5:15 pm IST) today. The announcement comes just a day after the military launched a crackdown against militant elements in the country's most populous province, Punjab, in response to the suicide attack at a Lahore park that killed 72 people including women and children.

The body of Raghavendran Ganesan who died in the Brussels attack arrives at Chennai airport

Infosys employee, Ganeshan, who went missing in last Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels, has been confirmed dead, Manjeev Singh Puri, India's Ambassador to Belgium and the EU, told the press.


The 30-year-old, who has lived in Belgium for four years, went missing on March 22, after suicide bombers set off three bombs at Zaventem airport and on a train at Maalbeek metro station in the heart of Brussels.


Ganeshan's last phone call was tracked to the metro. His brother, who is a student in Germany, arrived shortly after his brother went missing and was joined by their uncle and parents.


The Belgian authorities, who worked through the Easter holiday weekend, confirmed that Ganeshan was among the dead, using finger print analysis and DNA tests from a cheek swab taken from his brother. The total number of dead has crept up since last week, and currently stands at 38, including four who died of injuries in hospital.

Congress leader Harish Rawat today said he will hold a 24-hour fast if any attempt is made by the Centre to annul the appropriation Bill "passed" by the state Assembly on its annual budget for 2016-17 after reports suggested that such a move may be afoot.


Claiming that the legislation was tabled and passed by the elected House in accordance with parliamentary norms, Rawat said, "I have learnt from newspaper reports that there is an effort by the Centre to cancel the appropriation Bill. "We want to warn the Centre that the people of the state will not tolerate any such move as it is a document reflecting their aspirations. I will observe a 24-hour fast if any such attempt is made by the BJP-led Union government."

Sorabh Pant @hankypanty The suspect did this to get back with his estranged wife. Is that you, Arbaaz?

In other news, BJP president Amit Shah today dared West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to throw out from the party, Trinamool Congress leaders who are seen purportedly accepting bribes in lieu of undue favours in the Narada clips. Shah also refuted allegations of match fixing between BJP and TMC in the Saradha scam, saying CBI investigation is taking time as the West Bengal government-created SIT has made a mess of the entire thing.

Egyptian civil aviation minister says seven people, including three passengers, still on board hijacked EgyptAir plane.

With the Centre under attack over allowing a Pakistani probe team access to Pathankot air base, BJP chief Amit Shah today said Pakistan has for the first time made "serious efforts" towards investigating a terror case.


"First let me make clear one thing, that the Pakistan team which has come related to the probe, has a limited access to periphery. They will not enter the air base nor will they interact with the officials of the Army. They will investigate other things," Shah said.


"I agree that for the first time Pakistan has made serious efforts towards investigation. The results will be known after the investigation gets over," Shah said during a media interaction at Press Club. A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigation Team, including an ISI official, today visited the IAF base at Pathankot in connection with the January 2 attack amid intensified protests by opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.

In other news , former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has lambasted all those who troll Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma by linking her to Virat Kohli's on-field performance after every India match, terming them "frustros" with no love in their lives. His comments come close on the heels of Kohli himself hitting out against social media trolls for targetting Sharma by saying that those who blame her for anything negative in his cricket career should be ashamed of themselves.


"All I can say is that they are frustros. I don't have an idea of the status of their relationship. But she is a lovely girl and they looked absolutely terrific together. And she brought a lot of stability in him at a time when he was just emerging as a lynchpin of India's batting. He himself has said that she has brought a lot of positivity in his life and career," Gavaskar told 'NDTV'. The former captain felt Anushka has helped Kohli grow both as a human being and as a cricketer.

Just in: The Nainital High Court orders floor test in the Uttarakhand assembly on March 31, rebel/suspended MLAs also allowed to take part.
The Uttarakhand assembly floor test will be held at 11 am on March 31. Registrar General of Nainital HC to be present as an observer.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades says Egypt plane hijacking not related to "terrorism.", says AP.

Witnesses say hijacker threw a letter, written in Arabic, outside the parked EgyptAir plane in Larnaca airport. Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for FlightRadar24, tells news agency The Associated Press that EgyptAir flight MS181 flew in a typical fashion on the Cyprus, without the pilots signaling any trouble via their transponder. @airlivenet
tweets this picture, saying, "Possible hijacker standing at front of the #Egyptair A320 flight #MS181."


@airlivenet  says that the hijacker is a professor of veterinary medicine at Alexandria university.

Sunil Khilnani is standing in front of the new arrivals at Mumbai's Crossword book store in Kemps Corner, surrounded by a clutch of young book store staffers.


"This book is about 50 Indians. You can read one every night before you go to bed," says the historian about Incarnations, an extremely readable book about the people who have shaped 2,500 years of Indian history. The stories look at these individuals -- some famously known like Buddha, Ashoka, Gandhi, Raj Kapoor; and others forgotten like Malik Ambar, William Jones, Nainsukh -- as human beings, and not as some distant figures from the past. Director of the India Institute at King's College, London, Professor Khilnani spent nearly two-and-a-half years researching the book and tries neither to debunk nor mythologise, but looks at these figures as real people.


In a conversation with Archana Masih/Rediff.com, he speaks about why history is the lifeblood of democracy, how the Idea of India is about allowing many Ideas of India and who among the 50 he would invite to dinner. Read

Cyprus state media says hijacker has ex-wife in Cyprus and wants to send a message to her.

Egyptian media identifies one hijacker of EgyptAir plane as Ibrahim Samaha.

Just in: The hijacker of EgyptAir flight MS 181 demands a translator and political asylum. Earlier reports said that the hijacker is believed to be from Libya. Meanwhile, Cyprus closes Larnaca airport after hijacking, flights diverted to Paphos

@EGYPTAIR  Negotiations with the kidnapped result in the release of all the passengers, except the crew and four foreigners.

BREAKING: Everyone on board has been released by hijackers except for the flight crew and 5 'foreigners', says EgyptAir. Passengers on hijacked EgyptAir plane included eight Britons, 10 Americans. Cyprus TV reported that the hijacker has freed 20 Egyptians onboard and said the airplane was parked at an apron at Larnaka airport. The hijacker asked police to back away from the aircraft, it said.

Hijacker is reportedly a Libyan citizen, and security officials in Egypt say they don't believe he is carrying any explosives.

Israel scrambled warplanes in its airspace as a precaution in response to the plane hijacking, according to an Israeli military source.

Egyptian aviation authorities say, aboard MS181 are 5 crew members and 55 passengers. 

First image of hijacked EgyptAir Airbus A320 flight MS 181 at the Larnaca airport in Cyprus. Courtesy: @airlivenet.

Reports say that a few women and children have been let off.
 

Former European Commissioner for Education, Androulla Vassiliou, tweeted that hijackers have demanded that authorities leave runway in order to release women and children passengers. One armed hijacker took control of the Airbus A320 at 8.30am (6.30am GMT), police spokesman Andreas Angelides said. The hijacking occurred in Cyprus's flight information region and the airliner was diverted to Larnaca, where the plane currently sits on the runway.

Unidentified men hijacked an EgyptAir flight MS 181 which was on its way from Alexandria to Cairo and diverted it to Cyprus, where it landed at Larnaca airport on the south coast, local police said.


The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation reported that 55 people were on board, with a crew of 7. There were earlier reports of about 80 to 81 people on board. The hijackers contacted the control tower at 8:30 am (0530 GMT) and the plane was given permission to land at 8:50 am, the police said. EgyptAir confirmed the hijacking on Twitter.


The hijackers made no immediate demands and a crisis team has been deployed to the airport. At least one man  on board was thought to be armed, said Reuters. An unnamed official said a bomb is suspected on board, according to news agency Associated Press.


Cyprus media says a hijacker may be strapped with explosives.

Wading into the political controversy around the slogan 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' (glory to Mother India), veteran historian Irfan Habib said on Monday that the idea of Bharat Mata was an import from Europe and there was no evidence of any such imagination in either ancient or medieval India. Read

BREAKING NEWS: Egypt Air flight from Alexandria to Cairo has been hijacked and lands at Larnaka airport in Cyprus, BBC says. Around 80-81 people on board airliner, one man thought to be armed, says Cyprus state radio. A bomb suspected on board the plane. Details awaited

More details on the Mumbai 2002-2003 blasts cases: 10 convicted under various sections of POTA, Arms Act, Explosive substances Act, Railways Act. The 3 acquitted by Court are Nadeem Paloba, Harun Lohar and Adnan Mulla.

Just in: A Mumbai 2002-2003 blasts cases: 10 convicted and 3 acquitted by Court. This is the verdict in the blasts at Mulund, Mumbai Central and Vile Parle between December 2002 and March 2003.


In 2014, the special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court framed charges against 16 accused. Saquib Nachan, an alleged member of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), is one of the main accused.


In a combined chargesheet filed in the Mulund, Vile Parle and Mumbai Central blast cases, police have charged the accused with offences under POTA, Explosive Substances Act and offences of `preparation to wage war against the nation and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.


The Mulund blast occurred on March 13, 2003, killing 12 and injuring 71. Earlier, on December 6, 2002, several persons were injured in the blast at McDonalds at Mumbai Central station, while a person died when a bomb attached to a cycle exploded in a market area in suburban Vile Parle on January 27, 2003.

The Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan reaches Pathankot and visits sanitised areas of the IAF base.

The JIT arrived in Pathankot today to continue their probe into the January 2 attack, where seven Indian military personnel were killed by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.

The JIT will be taken to different locations associated with the Pathankot attack case on March 29. The exercise is aimed at providing evidence to the Pakistan JIT so that all those guilty of the Pathankot attack can be prosecuted effectively in Pakistan, a statement from the National Investigation Team (NIA) said.


Pic: Indian security personnel fan out on the streets in Pathankot in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

The FBI has managed to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino gunman without Apple's help, ending a court case, the US justice department says.

Apple had been resisting a court order issued last month requiring the firm to write new software to allow officials to access Syed Rizwan Farook's phone.

But officials on Monday said that it had been accessed independently and asked for the order to be withdrawn.

Farook and his wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino in December.

They were later shot dead by police. US officials said Farook's wife, Tashfeen Malik, pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State on social media on the day of the shooting.

Supreme Court dismisses petition challenging Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act passed by Goa Assembly.

Ahead of the Pakistan JITs visit to probe the attack at the Pathankot air base, two of the three men who saw the terrorists from close quarters could not be located.


Jeweller Rajesh Verma, SP Salwinder Singhs friend, was not at home and his family members were tightlipped about his whereabouts. His shop was closed, too. Meanwhile, Madan Gopal, SP Singhs cook, had left home last week. The family had no clue about his whereabouts.


SP Singh, Gopal and Verma were reportedly kidnapped by the terrorists when they were returning from a shrine. The terrorists took the trio hostage before dumping the SP and his cook and driving away with Verma. The terrorists, according to Verma, slit his throat and left him for dead but he managed to survive. Ahead of the JITs visit, the NIA had reportedly summoned the trio for clarification on some issues.


Five-six days ago my father received a call from the police control room that the NIA had summoned him. The line officer handed over a letter from the NIA summoning my father, who took a train to Delhi. He said he would be allowed entry into the NIA office on the basis of the letter, so he took it with him, Gopals son said when The Indian Express visited their home in Rori Mohalla, a not-so-well-off area of Gurdaspur, on Monday.

The suicide attack in Lahore on Sunday marks a further escalation by extremist groups in Pakistan. At least 72 people were killed, including a large number of children, and over 300 injured in the attack at a popular park where many were out on Easter day.


The attack shook one of Pakistan's most tolerant and cosmopolitan cities. Photographs showed blood-soaked human remains, families of the dead weeping as they held each other, the injured being carried away, and children, bloodied and clearly in shock, lying on hospital beds. Read more

The Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) accompanied by Indian officials today headed for Pathankot in connection with the probe into the January 2 terror attack at IAF base.


The five-member Pakistani team led by Punjab's Additional Inspector General of Police, Counter Terrorism Department, Muhammad Tahir Rai landed at Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport in Amritsar and left for Pathankot by road amid tight security. JIT and National Investigation Agency (NIA) will take stock of the probe into the Pathankot terror attack today, officials said.


The Punjab police was escorting the convoy of the Pakistani team which also has ISI's Lt Col rank officer Tanvir Ahmed, Lahore's Deputy Director General Intelligence Bureau Mohammad Azim Arshad, Military Intelligence Lt Col Irfan Mirza and Gujaranwala CTD Investigating Officer Shahid Tanveer. Police officials said they have diligently barricaded areas around the IAF facility .

Congress workers protest against the Pakistani team that will shortly arrive in Pathankot. The Congress yesterday took a strong stand against the joint investigation team from the neighbouring country visiting the airbase, saying the "unfettered access" given to Pakistan's JIT by according an almost "red carpet welcome" raised serious questions on procedural propriety in relation to compromise on national security and likened it to an accused investigating himself.

Tuesday will prove to be a day of windfall for the legislators of Telangana as they will be 'gifted' expensive gadgets like iPods and iPhones by the state government. As per a report in the Deccan Chronicle, the gadgets will be given to both members of the Legislative Assembly as well as the Legislative Council.

Influential US lawmakers, religious leaders and Indian Americans today strongly condemned the ghastly terrorist attack in Lahore that killed 72 Pakistanis. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over a memorial service for Infosys techie Raghavendra Ganesh, the only Indian victim of the Brussels terror attack, as well as other victims during his stay in Brussels on Wednesday. 

The Pakistan Joint Investigation Team team arrived at Amritsar airport on Tuesday. They will be taken to Pathankot attack site in bullet-proof SUVs, where seven Indian military personnel were killed in a terror attack in January. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has unlocked the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, officials said, ending a heated legal standoff with Apple that had pitted US authorities against Silicon Valley. 

Belgian police believe two gloves found on a bus that left the Brussels Airport shortly after twin bomb blasts last week were worn by the suicide bombers. 

The second tranche of 50 declassified files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will be released today. The files, which will be available online, consist of 10 files each from the Prime Minister's Office and ministry of home affairs  and 30 files from ministry of external affairs pertaining to the period 1956 to 2009. 

A man known as Faycal C, the only person arrested and charged with involvement in the Brussels attacks, has been released for lack of evidence.

Strongly condemning the terror attack in Lahore, the US today called for global unity against fighting extremism and offered assistance to Pakistan in investigation.

Following reports of a shooting at Capitol Hill, the White House and related areas have been placed on lockdown. According to reports, one police officer was shot and not seriously injured. 

The visiting five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from Pakistan will not have access to the Pathankot airbase to carry out investigation into the terror attack.Interacting with reporters on Monday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said he had especially denied permission to the foreign investigative team to go anywhere near the airbase.

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