Midnight tolling of bells, decked up Christmas trees, long row of candles and carols sung in unison marked Christmas celebration across the country, as the faithful thronged churches to offer prayers and exchange gifts.
The former general physician, who is the son of an Irish nurse and a doctor from India, won the Fine Gael party leadership earlier this month.
'Women all over India want a safer atmosphere at the place where they go to pray or meditate.'
On this joyous occasion, rediff.com wishes all its readers 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,' as we a take a look at pictures of Christmas festivities from across the globe.
'BJP leaders might ponder the all-consuming arrogance that grips the Modi-Shah combine a year ahead of the next general election,' says Sunil Sethi.
Beau Biden -- the eldest son of US Vice President Joe Biden and a rising star of a political dynasty -- has died after battling brain cancer. He was 46.
Australian High Commission in New Delhi said that whether the attack was 'racially-based' or not will be investigated.
Experts said the direction is meant to maintain party unity.
In a rare gesture accorded to few foreign dignitaries, United States President Barack Obama and his family received the Pope at the Andrews Air Force base outside Washington
Authorities also released photographs of six suspects, including three women, wanted for their involvement in the attacks and sought information regarding them from the public.
Rediff.com takes a look at some personalities who are likely to win the prize this year.
Will voters in Ernakulam take to the Communist MP who asked 447 more questions and took part in 162 more debates than your average MP? Will Arun Jaitley's wish come true? Krishna Prasad, the renowned journalist and Outlook magazine's former editor-in-chief, reports from Kochi.
It has been a year since Islamic militant group Boko Haram abducted 276 teenage girls from their school dormitories in northeastern Nigeria.
The Chinese President dethroned Russian President Vladimir Putin as the most influential person on the planet.
Commercial banks have not yet reduced their lending rates.
What is strange, for someone who spent a lifetime in seva, is that St Teresa's own personal journals and communication with the Church hierarchy reveal someone in "spiritual desolation", says Sankrant Sanu. Could the Indian sacred traditions have helped her?
Did you know that samosas, idlis and coffee are not originally from India?
Did you know that Clark Gable nearly didn't say 'Frankly, my dear I don't give a damn' in Gone With The Wind? Or the film's India connections?
Five-day festival of Carnival began on Saturday in Goa.
Pope Francis on Tuesday called for respect of human rights and healing of racial and religious hatred as he arrived on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, days after a new government assumed power in the country.
'While India's 'secularism' is a matter of cultural values rooted in Hinduism, the Western concept became one of rights rooted in legal rights. India would be secular with or without Article 25 of the Constitution,' says T V R Shenoy.
Awful religious practices need to be abolished. But through social and political reformers, not by courts, argues Shekhar Gupta.
'A class antagonism of rich versus poor took the colouring of a communal confrontation,' says Sunil Sethi.
'This business of monopoly of one family must end.' 'Here, they picked up a few leaders for him as he needed support which was okay, but later, they became his cronies.'
'Gujarat is a high turnout state and the BJP, even if it leads opinion polls, must ensure that its base comes out and votes.' 'The Congress can be confident that, even though its base is smaller, their voters will turn out because they are angry.'
In what could prove to be one of the biggest ironies of history, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, infamous for the genocide of Jews, may have unwittingly married a Jewish woman, new British research has found.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday dismissed as "premature" the plea challenging a trial court order recommending extradition to the USA of Indian Catholic priest Rev Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in that country during his stay in 2004.
We Indians simply cherry-pick those aspects of other cultures we like and reject what we consider unsuitable. Most of us recognise it as globalisation, says Kanika Datta.
Pravin M Varughese, 19, a student of Southern Illinois University, who had been missing for a week, was found dead on February 18.
Amol Shahane remembers the first time he was introduced to St Valentine.
'The airline business is very dynamic. If you are unable to keep up and lead, you end up last.' 'This is what has happened to Jet.'
'As he has no executive track record, so far, he is all talk and hence essentially a braggart and a bigot.' 'That he is described as the 'Trump of the tropics' should give a shorthand summary to what he stands for on issues in general,' points out Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former envoy to Brazil.
Dressed as a mermaid with shells covering his nipples, Brazilian Murilo Sousa voiced hope that the record number of openly gay athletes at the Rio Games would boost acceptance in his South American nation, amid a backlash over same-sex marriage.
Abbas seeks India's role in peace process as PM Modi visits Palestine.
Ranbir's daku aspirations, Alia's magical transformation, Aishwarya's mommy love and more in Sukanya Verma's Super Filmi Week.
Six persons allegedly involved in vandalising a cathedral premises and a Catholic school, where people had gathered for a religious convention, were arrested in the wee hours on Monday.
Ellen Pompeo aka Meredith Grey takes on the pay gap problem in entertainment like a badass.
A key White House staffer who was fired after it came to light that he was behind a Twitter account that dished out gossip and pointed barbs at the Obama Administration is an Indian-American.
'The control of the Church over Christian people regarding politics has become weak...' 'People have started to think independently and it is not for sure that they will obey whatever the Church asks them to do.'
Here's a collection of some of the best photos from around the world shot in the last 24 hours.
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