The world celebrates Christmas with great vigour and joy!
The Pakistani mother of 15-year-old Ramzan on Monday declined India's offer of assistance to her in travelling to the country to identify her son.
A case of assault and threatening to murder has been registered against the parents of the 22-year-old girl who was at the centre of the 'love jihad' controversy and has gone back on her statement that she was gang-raped and forcibly converted.
"We are appalled to notice the recent trend in this state to sensationalise every case of inter-religious marriage as either 'love jihad' or 'ghar wapsi' even if there was platonic love between the spouses before," the court said.
"I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war," the 19-year-old Pakistani education activist, who survived a near-fatal attack by the Taliban, said in a Facebook post.
Pak foreign office said that it was a scuffle between 2 Muslim groups and attempts to paint this incident as a communal issue are 'patently motivated'. It also said that claims of acts of 'desecration and destruction' are not only false but mischievous.
Welcoming the Allahabad high court ruling declaring that conversion for the sole purpose of marriage is not valid, the chief minister also said posters would be put up of those involved in 'love jihad', a derogatory coinage referring to the alleged campaign of Muslims forcing Hindu girls to convert in the guise of love.
Catch up on all the big news of the week gone by, in images.
MEA said such comments cannot absolve Pak of the blatant persecution of the religious minorities and said the Pak PM needs to look inwards.
Taking strong exceptions of the reports that are appearing in the media about the Taliban's ban on female education in Pakistan, the Muslim clerics and intellectuals in India vehemently denounce their purported actions.
Prof Pradip Narayan Ghosh, former Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Kolkata tells us how the quota system has been unable to make higher education accessible to a large section of society.
Belying all expectations, the Trinamool Congress registreted a landslide victory in West Bengal assembly elections, overcoming the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party after a bitter campaign that had turned into a virtual duel between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'If India adopts a punitive and unforgiving stance against the Rohingyas, it will be courting disgrace,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The hacker group, which identified itself as 'Pakistan Haxors Crew (PHC)', said, 'nothing deleted or stolen. Just here to deliver my message to Indians'.
Rediff.com brings you glimpses of how Muslims across the globe are observing the month of fasting and the holiest period for the Islamic faith.
'Muslim actors like Dilip Kumar thought they had to give themselves Hindu names to be acceptable. Was their caution justified?' 'My view is that Indians, of all faiths, are tolerant. Secular is a complicated word and I do not know if I can use it in this instance. Tolerance is something that is inherently Subcontinental.'
Their music, available online, sung in Hindi, English, Urdu and Marathi, displays a new grammar and vocabulary which expresses the language of the disempowered,
'Modi's interview style is distinct, and alas one that is increasingly being followed by others as well, notably by the man who is out to challenge him, Rahul Gandhi.' 'This may appear aggressive and combative to readers and viewers, but the fact is that sometimes it becomes unclear as to who is interviewing who,' discovers Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Congress says it is not principally against cow protection but is against targeting Dalits and Muslims in the name of gau raksha.
A school in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur city has made wearing of veils and scarves mandatory, other than banning mobile phones by students, leaving the National Commission on Women fuming over this diktat.
Over 18,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Nobel Foundation to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousufzai for her work in promoting education for girls
Pati Patni Aur Woh cannot decide whether it wants to be the climax of a Priyadarshan comedy or give the cad a dose of his own medicine brand of cheeky payback, writes Sukanya Verma.
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
Md Jamil Khan, a member of the Anjuman Committee, said it has welcomed the court verdict.
It is critical to think seriously about how to provide opportunities for children to not only learn but also imagine, dream, ponder and create, notes Chintan Girish Modi.
'They didn't speak Hindi or English, but love is a universal language.'
'We feel thrust into a motion picture that has all the makings of a carnival but no real fireworks,' Sreehari Nair notes after watching Malik.
'Whatever comes in the minds of the Pakistani generals and Pakistan military, they just go for it.' 'They do not care about the consequences for their country or the consequences to the people of Pakistan.'
From the Congress party, I demand justice for the Hathras victim. India is a country for all and everyone has the right to live with dignity, Sonia said.
Nothing can salvage the Marjaavaan mess, declares Sukanya Verma.
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
Elegant in a hijab, this Muslim beauty blogger is winning hearts with her Instagram pics and videos.
Political and communal divide in Jammu and Kashmir has assumed such proportions that even the horrifying rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl is not bringing society together, writes Athar Parvaiz.
'I have learnt from Guru Nanakji that we all must live in harmony and brotherhood and have concern for others.'
If the challenge of the government is to regain the confidence of the minorities, it has to first overpower its own unruly gangs and their heroic masters, says Sunil Varghese.
The United States has deployed surveillance aircraft over a remote area of Nigeria as part of a mounting international effort to find over 200 school girls abducted by the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist militants nearly a month ago.
He said the BAJ had told the media repeatedly that Wednesday's bandh was not on the Kathua rape-and-murder issue as the case is in court now.
If you want Ranbir to get the girl, this film isn't for you.
The university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also used force, following protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Saudi Arabia will allow its women athletes to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time ever in London this summer, the Islamic kingdom's London embassy said.
