The BSF has enhanced patrolling along 22 sensitive and vulnerable spots in West Bengal and is using local language skills as well as intel to check the influx of Rohingyas into the country.

In most cases, the Rohingyas try to pass themselves off as Bangladeshis if they are apprehended by the BSF, officials said.

To counter this, jawans adept in Bengali language are used for questioning.

"If a person crossing the border illegally is apprehended, he is questioned by the jawans. And although Rohingyas try to identify themselves as Bangladeshis, in most of the cases their accent of Bengali betrays them. The accent of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas are a bit different," said a senior BSF official.

A detailed questioning reveals their identity.

The 22 spots are spread across North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, and Krishnanagar districts.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, who has quit the Congress, is scheduled to meet BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi tomorrow.

Rane quit the Congress earlier this week amid speculations that he was keen on joining the BJP.

"The venue and time of the meeting are not known yet, but Rane will be meeting Shah in Delhi tomorrow," a source close to the Maratha leader said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel cast her ballot in Berlin on Sunday in a general election widely predicted to land her a fourth term, but a possible strong showing by hard-right nationalists could cloud her victory.

Wearing black trousers and a red blazer, Merkel smiled for photographers as she dropped her voting paper into a ballot box at a polling station near her flat in central Berlin.

Merkels conservative CDU party, along with its Bavarian sister party the CSU, holds a double-digit lead in the polls over their nearest rivals, the Social Democrats led by Martin Schulz.

Surveys suggest the anti-Islam, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party could win its first seats in the national parliament and emerge as the third-strongest party, in what would cause a political earthquake in Germany. 

Another term in office for Merkel, who came to power in 2005, could see her match the 16-year reign of her former mentor Helmut Kohl.

The Congress said today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' was a "one-sided" communication in which he did not speak on important issues such as the police action on BHU students, unemployment and high fuel prices.

The Congress's criticism came hours after Modi, in the 36th episode of his monthly address, said he has used the programme to reflect the views and aspirations of the people rather than expressing his own opinions.

"Over the last three years, we have continuously seen that 'Mann Ki Baat' is (a) one-sided communication exercise of the prime minister...He only does one-sided communication," Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said. 

A Singaporean member of the Islamic State group in Syria has appeared in a video challenging Britain's Prince Harry to fight the jihadists, a monitoring group and authorities said Sunday.

It is believed to be the first time that a member from the affluent city-state has featured prominently in one of IS's videos.

In the English-language video released Saturday, a man identified as "Abu 'Uqayl" from Singapore took issue with Prince Harry talking about a terror attack in London while on a visit to Singapore in June.

"Why don't you come here and fight us if you're man enough, so that we can send you and your Apaches to hellfire, biidhnillah (Allah permitting)?" he said in the video which was circulated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Prince Harry formerly served in the British army and flew Apache attack helicopters in Afghanistan.

Congress leader Raj Babbar was detained on Sunday evening to stop him from going to the Banaras Hindu University as the clashes at the campus turned into a political slugfest. The police has also detained 14 protesting students to quell the unrest, officials said.

The protests that started on Saturday night at the BHU campus have also reached Delhi as the Congress youth wing, National Students Union of India, launched a protest in solidarity with the students of BHU. 

A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in lathicharge by the police on Saturday night. Violence had erupted after some students, protesting against an alleged harassment incident of Thursday, wanted to meet the Vice Chancellor at his residence last night, according to police and university sources.

The proposal by Delhi University's English department to include author Chetan Bhagat's novels in the literature curriculum has hit a roadblock following opposition from teachers of various colleges.

The university has decided to put the proposal on hold and formed a review committee to recommend if it can be taken up in the next academic session.

"It was felt that there is arbitrariness in framing and modification of the syllabus. It has also come to light that the department has been in practice of favouring some authors and publishers, even by going out of the way of normal practice and justification," read the minutes of meeting in which the panel was formed.

"It seems through the reactions which came after the proposal that all of a sudden one big change has been made in the undergraduate English course -introduction of Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone in the popular fiction paper of the syllabus. National dailies did considerable reporting on the issue, Twitter was 'shocked' with the news and Facebook and WhatsApp were no behind with comments and counter comments on the story," the minutes added.

Shane Warne has been accused of hitting porn star Valerie Fox in a row that escalated to the point of alleged violence from the former Australia cricketer. Witnesses at the spot reportedly saw Fox, 30, fall to the floor clutching her face in a London club on Friday night. She shared images of the bruises she received and has also filed a police complaint.

Proud of yourself? Hitting a woman? Vile creature, she wrote on Twitter allegedly referring to Warne.

The police are understood to be investigating the incident and checking CCTV footage whether it was picked up at the Loulous Mayfair, Central London. 

In tweets she wrote, And no, Im not lying. Just because youre famous doesnt mean you can hit women and get away with it. She further shared a police card while adding, The crime we will investigate is assault. The police note showed her complaint had been passed to Westminster borough.

Warne was pictured at the night club and could face serious action if allegations are proven correct with the former leggie enjoying multiple commentary contracts.

A student of Delhi Public School, Kalyanpur in Kanpur attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills and phenyl on Saturday, alleging harassment by his teachers.

In his suicide note, Arsh, resident of Swaroop Nagar in Kanpur, made some serious allegations against four teachers, including school principal.

Meanwhile, the Kalyanpur student is admitted in Madhuraj Nursing Home and is in critical condition.

The matter has been informed to the police.

Contrary to his earlier claims, Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar has admitted before Thane police interrogators that Dawood has called him four times in the past few years. These calls were made mainly during the year 2011, when an attack was attempted on Kaskar by a rival gang. Dawood then had allegedly told him to take care and not drink too much.

Earlier, Kaskar had claimed that he hasn't been in touch with his fugitive, underworld don brother Dawood Ibrahim since 2003. But he has now revealed that his family did meet Dawood's wife Mehjabeen Shaikh in Dubai sometime in 2016. Kaskar, who was arrested by the Thane police in an extortion case, said the families spent the day together in Dubai.

The police are checking if Kaskar is hiding anything else. Investigators are also trying to ascertain if during these four calls, Dawood spoke about any operation or criminal conspiracy in India.

Father of Pradhyumn Thakur, who was found brutally murdered inside the premises of Ryan International School Gurgaon, today said that he would approach the government and request it to declare September 8 as 'Students' Safety Day'.

Pradhyumn's murder at a reputed school on September 8 sent shockwaves across the nation with parents flagging concerns over safety of their children.

Earlier in the day, a prayer gathering was organised by Pradyuman's father Varun Thakur. The gathering was attended by family members and friends of the Thakur family.

Those gathered at the prayer meet asked Pradhyumn's father to approach the government requesting to announce September 8 as Student Safety Day.

Pradhyumn's father said that he would soon write to the government to request the same. He said that they would also launch a signature campaign for the request.

"Today we gathered to pay our respects to Pradhyumn. We have full faith in the legal system and are closely monitoring the developments," said Varun Thakur.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday praised External External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's speech slamming Pakistan during the United Nations General Assembly session and said she was justified in giving a befitting reply to Islamabad.

The Congress leader said, "It was a good speech. I think that Sushma ji was quite justified in turning the tables and giving Pakistan a fitting and strong response. If they are going to devote their speech by attacking us, we are not going to take it lying down. I thought that was a very effective point."

Reacting to EAM Swaraj's IIT remark, Tharoor thanked her for acknowledging achievements of the Congress regime.

"As a Congressman, of course, I particularly appreciate hearing a member of this government acknowledging the great accomplishments of the last 60-70 years, because we know that the prime minister of this country has said abroad that until he came to power everyone was ashamed to be an Indian and nothing has happened in this country in the first 60 years of Congress rule. It seems to me that Sushma ji has set the record straight by saying look we have created IITs, IIMs. These were all established by former prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may seek to dispel concerns over the state of economy and lay down his government's economic and political agenda at a two-day BJP national executive meeting which began in New Delhi today.

Party president Amit Shah held a meeting with office-bearers, state chiefs and key organisational leaders to finalise agenda items, including resolutions, which the national executive is expected to discuss on September 25, the birth anniversary of Hindutva icon Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

A key highlight of the meeting will be the presence of the party's all elected lawmakers -- close to 1,400 MLAs, 337 MPs and all MLCs, besides its core group leaders from states among others on Monday.

A day after police allegedly lathicharged protesters at Banaras Hindu University, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to attack the ruling BJP over the incident. "BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU," Rahul Gandhi said. 

A group of students had staged a sit-in at the main gate of the university after a female student of the Arts Faculty was allegedly harassed by three motorcycle-borne men on the campus. The protesting students were allegedly lathicharged by the police on Saturday night. 

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sought a report on the incident from the Varanasi commissioner.

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's Representative to the UN, dramatically raised aloft a picture of a woman at the General Assembly. Her face, riddled with wounds, was the face of India, Lodhi said.

It was a resounding lie.  

The woman was not a Kashmiri. She was not a victim of pellet fire. She was 17-year-old Rawya abu Jom'a, a Palestinian woman who was injured in air strikes in Gaza, according to a report in the Guardian.

That happened in 2014 -  two years before unrest broke out in Kashmir after Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter by security forces.  

Home Minister Rajnath Singh will this week visit a Sino-Indian border area in Uttarakhand which has witnessed transgression by China's People's Liberation Army in the recent past, officials said.

During the tour to Barahoti, the home minister will interact with the personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police which guards the border outpost located at an altitude of 14,311 feet.

This is the first visit by a senior minister in the Narendra Modi government to China border after the resolution of the stand-off in Dokalam.

Singh will also visit ITBP border outposts at Rimkhim (altitude 12,500 feet), Mana (10,500 feet) and Auli (10,200 feet) during the four-day trip beginning September 28, a home ministry official said.

A preliminary investigation has found that faulty ammunition was the reason behind the explosion on the army's new long-range ultra-light howitzer M-777 during a field trial in Pokhran earlier this month, official sources said.

The barrel of the US-manufactured gun had exploded when it was firing Indian ammunition on September 2.

A preliminary inquiry has found that the explosion took place due to faulty ammunition supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board and further probe into the matter was on, the sources said.

Asked about the findings of the probe, OFB spokesperson Uddipan Mukherjee said, "Any such failure is attributable to a complex phenomena pertaining to internal ballistics as the shell moves at a very high speed inside the barrel."

He said these kind of failures can have multiple causes and "the quality of the shell is not the only reason".

Senior JD-U leader Sharad Yadav today denounced the alleged police action against Banaras Hindu University students protesting the increasing incidents of eve-teasing on the campus, and said the issue will be raised in Parliament.

A group of students had staged a sit-in at the main gate of the university after a woman student of the Arts faculty was allegedly harassed by three motorcycle-borne men on the campus.

The protesting students were reportedly baton-charged by the police last night.

"It has never happened before at BHU. It is a sheer violation of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution," Yadav said in a statement.

"We will raise the issue in Parliament... It is intolerable in a democracy and the government should apologise," he said, adding people will take to the streets to protest it.

Fighter jets, drone deals and shared concerns over Afghanistan's security look set to dominate the agenda when US Defense Secretary James Mattis visits India this week.

Mattis is scheduled to arrive late Monday and is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the first visit by a top US official since Donald Trump became president in January.

The United States views India as a valued and influential partner, with broad mutual interests extending well beyond South Asia," a Pentagon statement said.

Trump and Modi met in June in Washington and the visit by Mattis is a sign "the political leadership in both countries place defence cooperation as a top priority", said Mukesh Aghi, president of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum.

Trump has praised India for contributing to regional peace and stability and for buying US military equipment.

Mattis is likely to seek to persuade India to buy Lockheed Martin's F-16 Block 70 aircraft in a deal potentially worth $15 billion.

A drone deal for the Indian Navy will also likely be up for discussion, a source familiar with the negotiations said. 

He was congratulated for having the courage of his convictions by another speaker, Ram Madhav, national general secretary of the BJP. I didnt feel qualified to argue about the impact of demonetisation on the economy but I did stress the suffering it had inflicted on the small sector.

Two days after the Padmavati first posters featuring Deepika Padukone released, there arrives another threat from Shri Rajput Karni Sena, an outfit of the Rajput community, who object to the nature of reference to historical ruler Alauddin Khilji in Padmavati. 

The Karni Sena, who has also previously objected to the portrayal of certain historical facts in the movie, burnt posters of the film outside Rajmandir Cinema Hall in Jaipur on Saturday in protest.

The Karni Sena is protesting the claim that director Sanjay Leela Bhansali had promised to the have the movie cleared by the outfit first, before releasing it in theatres but has not followed up. Members of the Karni Sena gathered outside the aforementioned theatre to shout slogans against Bhansali, who was also previously physically assaulted by the Rajput group in Jaipur's Nahargarh Fort.

A monogrammed pair of boxer shorts that belonged to German dictator Adolf Hitler has been sold for $5,500 (Rs 3.5 lakh) at an auction in the US.

The white striped linen under shorts are "surprisingly large", 19 inches long, with a waist of about 39 inches and bear Hitler's monogram: "A.H." just to the right of the top of the fly, according to Alexander Historical Auctions in the US. 

The boxers were left behind by him, in the Parkhotel Graz Hotel in Austria, where he stayed in 1938.

A notarised letter by the consignor explains that he is the grandson of the previous owners of the Parkhotel Graz where Hitler stayed April 3-4, 1938 while travelling through the country, and that these items were left behind in his suite, the auction house said.

An assistant professor of a Delhi University college has been booked for allegedly insulting Hindu goddess Durga in a post on Facebook.

BJP-affiliated National Democratic Teachers Front had yesterday filed the police complaint against Kedar Kumar Mandal, an assistant professor at Dayal Singh College.

The controversial Facebook update was made at 07:43 pm on Friday but deleted later.

The police said Mandal was booked late last night under sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code. These sections are hate speech laws which can attract imprisonment between three to five years or a fine or both.

Mandal did not respond to messages and could not be reached for comments.

RSS-affiliated ABVP too condemned the post and demanded immediate suspension of the professor.

"We demand his suspension and we request the student community to boycott his classes. Mandal has provoked sentiments during a festival time of Hindu - Navratri," ABVP's Dayal Singh College unit alleged in a statement.

"If allowed to continue as a teacher he will only spread hatred among students," it alleged.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for finally recognising Congress governments vision in her speech to the United Nations General Assembly a day earlier.

Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs (sic).

Sushma Swaraj had in her speech at the world body, cited IIMs and IITs among Indias achievements after Independence, whereas Pakistan had only succeeded on creating terror.

"I would like today to tell Pakistan's politicians just this much, that perhaps the wisest thing they could do is to look within. India and Pakistan became free within hours of each other. Why is it that today India is a recognised IT superpower in the world, and Pakistan is recognised only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?" Swaraj asked.

Swaraj had also referred to previous governments contribution to Indias development. "There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for Indias development," she said, highlighting India's achievements in the fields of education, health, space etc.

Her speech was praised by PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Polls opened in Germany today in a general election expected to hand Chancellor Angela Merkel a fourth term, while the hard-right Alternative for Germany (party is predicted to win its first seats in the national parliament.

Surveys suggest Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU alliance has a double digit lead over their nearest rivals, the Social Democrats. Four smaller parties, including the AfD, are battling it out for third place.

Polling stations will close at 1600 GMT.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the nation through his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat', which completes three years today. 

Here are some highlights:-

- Three year journey of Mann ki Baat is a journey of our countrymen, their emotions and their feelings

- This programme provided unique opportunity to connect with feelings and positive energy

- Result of Mann ki Baat is government started realising powerful ideas of people of far off places, which they send during full month

- I've remembered one sentence of Acharya Vinoba Bhave. He used to say 'A-sarkari, Asarkari' meaning non-government is effective

- We must be conscious of consuming only as much as we need and see to it that there is no wastage of food

- Every citizen wants to do something for benefit of others, for social good and country's progress; this I learnt during three years of this radio programme

- We should follow the spirit of helping the poor to be able to light a Diwali lamp

Activist Harsh Mander has alleged that an income tax department notice to his institute Centre for Equity Studies is an attempt by the government to gag him.

The I-T department had issued a notice to the Centre for Equity Studies on September 19 as part of complete scrutiny of the returns for financial year 2016-17 and asked for a reply by September 25.

The notice asks the institute to furnish any evidence/information necessary in support of the I-T return. It does not specify any violation in the return filed by them.

Terrorists hurled a grenade towards security forces at Main Chowk Sopore at around 9.35 am, resulting in minor injuries to two policemen, a police official said. 

He said the injured policemen were taken to local hospital.

In a widely shared letter to the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi recently pitched for the passage of the Womens Reservation Bill in the Lower House (it has already been passed in the Upper House). She described this as significant step forward in the empowerment of women and that the Congress Party has always supported and will continue to support this legislation. The Bill which mandates reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies has caught the attention of others in the opposition (CPM, TRS) and it is reported that the BJP government is actively considering passing it in the Winter Session in the Parliament.

Unsurprisingly, the demand has generated some enormously good coverage and many commentators have urged the Prime Minister to heed and follow Sonia Gandhis advice. Why would anyone, they argue, not be in support of a Bill that encourages womens participation in politics? After all, the percentage of women in the Lok Sabha has gone up by only a small margin from 4.4% in 1951 to 11% in 2014 and at this pace, it will take another 180 years to reach the gender balance that the Bill seeks to create.

One terrorist was killed by security forces after an encounter broke out in Uri area of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, news agency ANI reported. 

Operation is still currently underway in the region, the report says. 

As per initial reports, at least 3-4 terrorists were believed to be stuck in the region.

The encounter broke out after security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Uri near the Line of Control.

Speaking to news agency PTI, an army official said, Security personnel laid a cordon and started a search operation in the Kalgai area of Uri this morning following information about the presence of militants there.

United States bombers flew off the east coast of North Korea in a show of strength carried out to demonstrate American military prowess amid escalated tensions between the two countries due to Pyongyang's weapons programs.

"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the President (Donald Trump) has many military options to defeat any threat," Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W White said in a statement on Saturday.

The US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam, along with the force's F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over the waters east of North Korea on Saturday, she said.

The flight came after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's regime, as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

"This is the farthest north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) any US fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea's coast in the 21st century, underscoring the seriousness with which we take DPRK's reckless behaviour," White said.

She said that North Korea's weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community.

"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies," the Pentagon official said. 

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and praised India's contribution in the world body's efforts towards sustainable development, peace operations and tackling climate change.

The meeting took place yesterday after Swaraj delivered her second annual consecutive address to the UN General Assembly sessions in New York.

She was accompanied by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin during the meeting.

"The secretary-general expressed appreciation for India's contributions to the United Nations on climate action, peace operations and sustainable development," a readout of the meeting issued by Guterres' office said.

During the meeting, the UN chief welcomed India's efforts to implement the '2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals', it said.

"They also discussed the importance of UN reforms," the readout said. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation in the 36th edition of his monthly radio broadcast programme Mann ki Baat on Sunday at 11 am. 

As Mann ki Baat completes its three years on Sunday, the prime minister is expected to speak on the Sardar Sarovar Dam and bullet train project, which was recently inaugurated.

In his 35th radio Mann Ki Baat last month, Modi pointed out that India has a rich cultural heritage, spanning thousands of years, and in this context, talked about the festivals which reflect the countrys diversity. 

Modi, in a tweet on Saturday, had invited people to connect with him by sharing their ideas and inputs for the programme on the NM Mobile App and MyGov Open Forum.