External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj hailed Ian Grillot, the American, who intervened in the shooting that killed an Indian and injured another in an apparent hate crime in the United States. 

After being slammed for trolling Gurmehar Kaur, the daughter of a Kargil martyr, for her social media campaign against the ABVP, the actor has clarified his remarks. 

A DU student and member of RSS- backed ABVP has approached the police alleging that she was molested by two activists of the Left-backed AISA during Ramjas College clashes.

New catering policy introduced by the Indian Railways

Gopal Baglay took charge as the new spokesperson of ministry of external affairs, replacing Vikas Swarup, who has been appointed as the India high commissioner to Canada. 

Sunshine moments at this year's Oscars.Take a look

A day before his retirement, Rajendra Prasad- the longest serving principal of the Ramjas College- termed the recent violence on campus "unfortunate" and appealed the students to "confront ideas and not people".


"Tomorrow I retire, I wish for nothing in return except that Ramjas remains peaceful, and committed to the glorious future it is destined to set for itself," the principal said in an open letter to students. He said, "My heart bleeds when Ramjas bleeds, because I have put in 32 years of blood, sweat and tears to bring Ramjas to its present stature."


The appeal from the principal comes after the widespread violence on the Ramjas campus last week. The clashses between RSS-backed ABVP and Left-affiliated AISA members ocurred over the cancellation of a seminar invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid who were slated to speak on "Culture of Protests".

Rahul Gandhi tweets in favour of DU student Gurmehar Kaur: "Against the tyranny of fear we stand with our students. For every voice raised in anger, intolerance &ignorance there will be a Gurmehar Kaur."

The La La Land - Moonlight mix-up for Best Picture is the first in the 88-year history of the Oscars.

But it wasn't the only goof-up this year.


Australian film producer Jan Chapman's photograph was mistakenly used in the Oscars' In Memoriam montage, which celebrates film industry luminaries who have died in the past year.

Chapmans photo was used to accompany the name and dates of Janet Patterson, a four-time Oscar nominee for costume design, who died in October 2016.

Chapman told Variety magazine, "I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson. I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered. Janet was a great beauty and four-time Oscar nominee and it is very disappointing that the error was not picked up. I am alive and well and an active producer."

Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Gene Wilder and Prince were among those mourned in the montage. Bill Paxtons death, which was announced on Sunday, came too late for this years sequence, but Jennifer Aniston did mention him in her introduction.


Image: Jan Chapman's picture was used in place of Janet Patterson.

DCW writes to Delhi Police Commissioner on Gurmehar Kaur's complaint asking the police to act.

Days after she took a stand against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, an RSS-affiliated student union after violence in Ramjas college, Delhi University student Gurmeher Kaur on Monday afternoon filed a complaint with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) over rape threats on Twitter.

Kaur, a Kargil martyr's daughter, has handed over a list of Twitter handles from which she received the threats.

The letter to the Delhi police commissioner reads: "The Commission is deeply shocked at the impunity with which Ms Gurmeher Kaur , a young student of Delhi University and the daughter of a Kargil martyr has been attacked online. The Commission is of the view that urgent criminal action needs to be taken against the abusers...

... "It is highly unfortunate that a strong and independent young girl is being threatened and abused for taking a stand against hooligans. It is deeply perturbing that the threats appear to have silent support of some celebrities and leaders as well."

DCW chairperson Swati Mahilwal said she has personally spoken to the Delhi Police Commissioner to take action against these trolls. She has written a letter to the Police Commissioner on the issue.

Kaur, along with other DU students, started an online protest against the Ramjas college violence. She held a placard with the message: "I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me #StudentsAgainstABVP (sic)."

It would have been better if the BJP gave tickets to Muslims for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said. He, however, said the BJP believes in taking along all the sections of the society and the community will be adequately compensated after the party forms government in the state. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Uma Bharti had reportedly made similar comments earlier.


"As far as tickets are concerned, it would have been better (if tickets were given to Muslims). "We will address their concern by compensating them when we form government in the state," Naqvi said, without elaborating in what ways the party will deal with the issue.


The minister said the NDA government's performance should not be assessed in the light of the BJP not offering tickets to Muslims. "The BJP believes in taking along all the sections of the society. We formed government at the Centre with cooperation of all. Similarly, we will form government in the state...," he said. Home Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh had on Thursday reportedly said that Muslims should have been given tickets. Water Resources Minister Bharti had echoed his views yesterday. The BJP has not fielded even a single Muslim candidate in the state, which has sizeable Muslim population and is considered crucial in the country's electoral politics.


The fifth round of polling is underway for 51 assembly constituencies spread across 11 districts of the state.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami is in New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister today where he is expected to raise issues like Cauvery water sharing and exemption of the state from NEET. This is Palaniswami's maiden visit to Delhi after taking charge as Chief Minister. He is expected to raise before Prime Minister Narendra Modi a range of issues including exempting Tamil Nadu from NEET, Cauvery water sharing, besides seeking central funds for damage caused by cyclone 'Vardah' in the meeting this evening.

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and other MPs belonging to V K Sasikala camp made visits to the Tamil Nadu House to meet Palaniswami . Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan too visited Palaniswami who is on a two-day visit to Delhi. The Chief Minister arrived last night.

After Kansas shootings, Indians are wary of coming to US. Read

After what can be considered as the Academy Awards' biggest mistake, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the official accountant firm of the event, issued a statement on the embarrassing mix-up, in which Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway read 'La La Land' as the 'Best Picture,' instead of the actual winner, 'Moonlight.'

Their statement read, "We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred."

Adding, "We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation."

On that note, halfway through the 'La La Land' acceptance speech, the error was clarified and the correct card was shown on camera.

"There's a mistake. Moonlight, you won best picture," Fred Berger, the La La Land producer, announced to the gasps of a shocked crowd.

Reasoning to the mistake done, Beatty said that he had been given the wrong envelope to open.

"I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land," he said, adding that he had not done it "to try to be funny".

However, according to 'La La Land' lead actress Emma Stone, who even won an Oscar for the same, her 'Best Actress in a Leading Role' card was in her hand the whole time.

"I also was holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card the whole time. I'm not sure what happened" Stone told reporters in the press room.

Even Leonardo DiCaprio, who presented Stone her trophy, confirmed that he gave her the card that declared her the winner.

"He gave the card directly to Emma and said 'You are going to want to keep this,' according to DiCaprio's representative.

Whatever it be, whose ever fault it be, this flub will be remembered for many years to come!

Former SIMI chief Safdar Hussain Nagori and 10 others have been convicted and awarded life imprisonment by Indore court in sedition case. The convicts had got life term for possession of weapons, explosives and ammunition and also for plotting anti-national activities, says Zee News. The 11 men were arrested by the STF in March 2008.

THE WHITE Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer at Washington DC's Dulles airport was politely trying to ask a Muslim family if they were all going to California, and failing to convey his question. He called in a brown colleague for help. The brown ICE officer drew a circle in the air in front of the family, and asked the patriarch: "Togaather?"

The man - probably of Indian origin - beamed and nodded."Califournia ?" More smiles and nods, and they were through.  Read more

A Briton said to resemble Saif Ali Khan is accused of using a photograph of the actor on a mobile dating application to lure vulnerable women into sexual relationships.Anna Rowe, a 44-year-old teaching assistant, says the man, who calls himself "Antony Ray", conned her into believing he would marry her by addressing her as "Mrs Ray" and "my wife, my love, my soul".


Anna, matched with the man on a site called Tinder in August 2015, says she was completely taken in during their whirlwind romance. He told her he was divorced with three sons, had a sick mother who needed his attention, and had to go abroad frequently since he worked in aviation."Ray", who is probably of Indian origin, used Saif's picture, reversed and in black and white, as his Tinder profile.  Read more

Supreme court grants bail to journalist Santosh Yadav. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves appeared for him before the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sikri along with Advocate Ali, Kishore Narayan and Kanwal Singh Baghel. The freelance reporter working out of Bastar district was arrested on charges of rioting, conspiracy and 'associating with a terrorist organisation' in 2015.

Also read: The fires have been lit, and the mobs are standing ready

This is MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup with his entire team

Vikas Swarup moves on. The MEA spokesperson will be taking up a new posting as the High Commissioner of lndia to Canada. Swarup is an officer of the Indian Foreign Service batch of 1986 and is famous for penning down the novel Q & A, adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire. In April 2015, he replaced Syed Akbaruddin as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India to head its Public Diplomacy divisions in New Delhi.

Swarup tweeted this picture this morning, saying, "Thank you and good bye to my superb team. At the official farewell organised by the MEA's External Publicity & Public Diplomacy Division."

And this marvelous response to the La La Land goof-up. 

No better time to read this: "What Would Happen If A Presenter Announced The Wrong Winner At The Oscars",but clearly all the checks and balances didn't work this time. 

MoS Home Kiren Rijiju tweets: Who's polluting this young girl's mind? A strong Arm Force prevents a war. India never attacked anyone but a weak India was always invaded."

Lady Sri Ram Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur, whose social media campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) student organisation ABVP went viral recently, has said that she would also not hesitate in taking a bullet for the country like her father Kargil martyr Captain Mandeep Singh.

Gurmehar asserted that her campaign is aimed at raising voice against organisations, which challenge the law of the land and try to curb the fundamental right of 'freedom of speech'.

"I will not be scared or be cowed down, my father took a bullet for the country and I am also ready to take bullet for the country, I also have the courage to take a bullet for the nation. I want all students to raise their voices against the violence and say that they will not tolerate this," she said.

Gurmehar further said that she has received threats on various platforms.

"But I will not get scared because I know that I am standing for the right. And it does not matter to me that you are an organisation which is in power, no one can tell me that I should be scared," she added.

Gurmehar also justified the reasons for initiating her campaign.


Image: This was one of Gurmehar Kaur's tweets. She said she has been receiving rape threats since this tweet.

Congress on Monday trained its gun on Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as the Delhi Univeristy Students Union started a 'Tiranga March' in the university's North Campus. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Congress leader Manish Tiwari said that ABVP is "backed by the Sangh Pariwar", and "violence runs in their DNA".


However, Ramjas college Principal Rajendra Prasad told CNN-News18 that he had no idea about any protest march and urged students to "sit and talk". "I would say these are the challenges we have to face... It is going to affect each and every party," he said, adding that the students should talk and "restore normalcy".


Ramjas College which witnessed widespread violence over the last week has also ordered an enquiry to look into its students' involvement in clashes over a seminar. However, the college resolved to stand by its teachers and students who organised the event.

A BJP MP has now compared a Kargil martyr's daughter to 1993 bomb blasts' mastermind and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

It all began after protests at Ramjas College turned violent when students protested against the ABVP. Two days after the violence, Gurmehar Kaur, the daughter of Kargil martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, began an online campaign against the ABVP.

Kaur, a student of the Lady Sri Ram College of the Delhi University, took to social media, posting her image with a placard reading, "I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP". She also posted another image with a placard, "Pakistan did not kill my father, war did."

BJP MP Pratap Simha posted a picture of Kaur and Dawood saying, "At least Dawood did not use the crutches of his father's name to justify his anti-national stand." See the image alongside.

Cricketer Virender Sehwag aslo took a dig at Kaur. Sehwag took to Twitter and posted a picture of himself with a placard reading, "I didn't score two triple centuries, my bat did."
Sehwag's tweet was backed by actor Randeep Hooda. Following their tweets against Kaur, many on Twitter flayed the two celebrities while many also tweeted in favour of the two.

Noted journalist Shekhar Gupta expressed diappointment over the tweets by Sehwag and Hooda and tweeted, "Sad, from you, Viru & Randeep, big-hearted stars. Nobody's patriotism needs certificates & hers has stamp of her father's supreme sacrifice."
However,

Kaur has also said that she has been receiving rape threats on social media since she spoke against the ABVP on Facebook

Suburban services between Kurla and CST in the Harbour corridor have resumed after five hours. The services were 'derailed' after three wagons of a goods train derailed today, inconveniencing daily office commuters in the morning rush hours, Central Railway officials said. Harbour line services were affected due to goods train derailment between Wadala and GTB Nagar stations at 4:15 am, said Central Railway PRO A K Singh.

The New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein will be drawing tonight's eighty-ninth Academy Awards as they unfold. Take a look

Chaos at Panvel station on the Harbour line where trains are running hours late after the goods train derailed early this morning. Pic: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Suburban services between Kurla and CST in the Harbour corridor were stopped after three wagons of a goods train derailed today, inconveniencing daily office commuters in the morning rush hours, Central Railway officials said. Harbour line services were affected due to goods train derailment between Wadala and GTB Nagar stations at 4:15 an, said Central Railway PRO A K Singh.

"A Mandoli-bound goods train had crossed Wadala station when three rear wagons of the trains derailed, said Singh adding the efforts of re-railing were on at war-footing. The remaining 37 wagons of the derailed train have been dispatched to the destination," he said. "Our team of engineers along with the senior officers are at the spot and doing every bit to restore the services as soon as possible," Singh said.


Meanwhile, another senior officer said Main line and Trans Harbour trains were running on schedule and Harbour passengers have been permitted to travel on these routes. Also, trains from Panvel (towards CST) are being terminated at Kurla. CR is running additional local trains between Vashi to Thane for enabling passengers to reach CST via Thane, as Kurla harbour line services have been affected, said the official. To ease peak hour travel, we have spoken to BEST undertaking too to run additional services between Kurla to CST, he added.


However, office-goers and students faced a harrowing time with huge rush at Kurla station due to delay of local trains. Trains are running more than half an hour behind schedule, due to bunching en-route to Kurla, a commuter, Shikha Singh claimed.


Another commuter Kripa complained, "I was waiting for a CST-bound train since 6.30 am at Kharghar but there were none which led to chaos and confusion at the station. I could only see overcrowded trains towards Thane which were difficult to board."


Image: The goods train had crossed Wadala station when three rear wagons of the trains derailed. Pic: Sahil Salvi

An estimated 12 to 13 per cent of voters turned out to exercise their franchise till 10 am during the fifth phase of polling Uttar Pradesh today. Polling is on for 51 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts of the state. "12-13 per cent polling was witnessed till 10 am," poll officials said. Prominent contestants in this phase include controversial minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati from the ruling Samajwadi Party, who will be facing Amita Singh from Congress and BJP's Garima Singh in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi.

Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati on Monday expressed confidence and said that he will again siphon a win from his constituency.

Prajapati who is pitted against Ameeta Singh of the Congress Party and Garima Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (B JP) poked fun at his rivals and said that the "queens" in Amethi constituency will not get support of as akin last time people of his area will vote for him.

"Last time it was one queen (Ameeta Singh) who contested against me and the public was with Praja-pati. Even now it seems, many queens are competing against me. Public is still with Prajapati and not with any of the queens or the king," he said.

Prajapati who earlier in the day casted his vote in Amethi, said that the Samajwadi Party would again form the government in Uttar Pradesh helmed by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.


File pic of Ameeta Singh

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Harbour line services were halted on the Central Railways line after three wagons and brake van of a goods train derailed between Ravli and Kurla here, on down harbour line early on Monday Morning.

However, suburban trains services are running between Kurla and Panvel without any disruption. Railway authorities are clearing the tracks to resume services on the suburban line. No causalities have been reported till now.

La La Land's Damien Chazelle, at 32, is the youngest Best Director in Oscars history. 

Earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale strikes Nepal.

Host Jimmy Kimmel lifts up young actor Sunny Pawar (Lion), as they try to enact "The Lion King" at Oscars.

If you've been following our Oscar coverage, an FYI: Mahershala Ali, who won the Supporting Actror Oscar for Moonlight is the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.

Hundreds of people in Kansas City joined a peace march and prayer vigil, celebrating the life of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla cut short in a senseless triple shooting incident at a pub in an apparent hate crime.


Marchers held pictures, banners and shouted, "We want peace"; "We love peace"; "Let us not leave our children"; "Unity is part of community, together we stand, divided we fall". Many of them carried candles and signs reading, "We don't support politics of hate."


The march for peace and the prayer meeting was attended by friends of Srinivas. Alok Madasani, another Indian who was wounded in the shooting on Wednesday, was on his crutches. The sisters of the third man, an American identified as Ian Grillot, injured that night when he intervened during the argument with the shooter US Navy veteran Adam Purinton, Lt Governor Jeff Colyer, US Congressman Kevin Yoder, Olathe Mayor Mike Copeland, Olathe Police Chief Steven Menke, and other state officials also joined the march and the prayer meeting.

At a news conference two days ago, Srinivas's wife Sunayana Dumala asked the US government what it would do to stop hate crimes against minorities. She said reports of bias against minorities make them afraid and wonder whether "do we belong here".

Although Sunayana did not mention Trump by name, she did say, "Not everyone will be harmful to this country."

A turnout of 10.77 per cent was recorded in Uttar Pradesh assembly election's fifth phase till 9 am.

The districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur.

Controversial Samajwadi Party candidate from Amethi Gayatri Prajapati said, "I am winning with a huge margin and Samajwadi Party Govt under Akhilesh ji will be in power again."

Meanwhile in Ayodhya, Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Katiyar said that 'development is waste without a Ram Temple'.

"Yahan vikas, rozgaar, shiksha sab di gayi hai, lekin Ram Mandir ke bina sab bekar hai, Ram Mandir ban ke rahega (Development, employment, education everything has been provided here but everything is waste without a Ram Temple. The temple will be built)," Katiyar was quoted as saying by ANI.

A major train accident was averted in Jharkhand's Sahebganj (eastern railway), as 44 peddles were found open near Balbanna village.

The administration was shocked with the scenario.

An Intelligence Bureau team along with superintendent of Railway Police visited the spot and are currently probing the case.

The bureau has termed it as extremely serious.

A first information report has been registered and probe is going on in this regard. -- ANI

Amid tight security, polling began on Monday morning in 51 assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh spread across 11 districts that figure in the fifth phase, with all eyes on the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough Amethi.

Prominent contestants in this phase include controversial minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati (Samajwadi Party), who will be facing Amita Singh (Congress) and Garima Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party) in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi.

Amita is the wife of Congress leader Sanjay Singh, while Garima is his estranged spouse, making the contest a 'rani versus rani' affair.

The districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur.

Due to death of Samajwadi Party candidate Chandrashekhar Kanaujia in Alapur (Ambedkar Nagar), the Election Commission has announced fresh date of voting in this constituency on March 9.

The ruling Samajwadi Party had won 37 seats out of 52 (total seats in this phase including Alapur) in 2012. While the BJP and the Congress won five seats each, the BSP had won three and the Peace Party two.

In all, 607 candidates are in the fray in this phase with maximum of 24 candidates in Amethi and minimum of six each in Kapilvastu and Etwa seats in Siddharth Nagar district.

Over 1.81 crore voters, including over about 84 lakh women, will decide the fate of ministers Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh from Tarabganj (Gonda), Tej Narain Pandey alias Pawan Pandey from Ayodhya and BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar from Akbarpur, among others, in this phase. -- PTI

IMAGE: A seer at a polling booth in Ayodhya. Photograph: ANI