He said there is a fundamental distinction between religious practices, rituals and civil rights.
Iran signed a $3 billion deal with Boeing, backed Qatar against the Saudis, scored a big victory in Syria and reached out to Hamas. Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar examines how the Qatar versus Saudi Arabia standoff is quickly changing alignments in the Middle East.
Two worthies were overheard mulling recent political developments
Who were they? What led them to mass murder?
'He totally gets the Gandhis...' 'If anything, he pays too much attention to the Gandhis.' 'I feel that in places like UP, where the Congress doesn't matter, he often spends time blasting the Gandhis.'
Besides advancing the presentation of the Budget to perhaps the first week of January, , there are four new initiatives that could be rolled out from the next Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
Here's your weekly digest of odd photos from around the world.
'For people who are fed on nothing else but the media, what were prejudices become facts of life.' 'What my neighbour may see as just news, for me is a source of fear, living as I do, surrounded by non-Muslims.' 'So I would say it is important to talk to a Muslim, be it your neighbour or your colleague.' 'Have that conversation about what's happening to Muslims.'
Retail inflation rose 4.38 per cent year-on-year in November, the slowest pace in data going back to January 2012.
Saroj Kumar Rath, author of the newly-published book Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks, speaks to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Use of chemical compounds to artificially ripen, colour and increase the shelf life of fruit is rampant in India.
Intense cold conditions continued unabated in the northern region disrupting transport services on Wednesday as mercury dropped by several notches and fog enveloped most parts, causing poor visibility and resulting in death of 10 people in road accidents.
Girls in the Kashmir valley hurling defiance at the security forces will detract from the legitimacy of India's response and its standing in the world, says Ajai Shukla.
'Violence is the only answer to violence.'
Last week's heavy snowfall seems to have affected electioneering in Kashmir. South Kashmir's Anantnag and the prestigious Srinagar constituencies go to polls on April 24 and April 30 in the five phased Lok Sabha polls in the state.
The rankings were prepared after examining the volume of terrorist and rebel alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number of killed and injured in a country over the past 30 days.
'The news that the once dashing, absolutely handsome, utterly charming Shashi Kapoor is no more makes me feel terribly sad.' Aseem Chhabra, author of Shashi Kapoor: The Householder, the Star, pays rich tribute to the iconic actor.
Shashi Kapoor, the star who made us laugh, romance and cry, passed into the ages on December 4. We look back at the often underrated actor, who reinvested all his earnings as an actor into making films and keeping the theatre he established, Prithvi Theatre, alive.
"We can confirm that there are no fatalities among our passengers and crew. All passengers and crew are accounted for and safe," the airlines said in statement.
A police constable of Tamil Nadu police was killed and a sub-inspector was seriously injured in an encounter between suspected terrorists and a police team in Puttur town, located near the Tamil Nadu border, in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
Jaitley also said the government will soon unveil reforms for other natural resources sectors along the lines of coal block auctions.
'The Indian middle class ignores the conflicts areas in Jammu and Kashmir, in Central India and in the North East.' 'The violence does not touch us at all and so we are able to easily look away from the underlying reasons and grievances.'
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