India's permanent membership in the reformed UNSC is unacceptable to Pakistan
Eight members of an Al Qaeda suicide squad, including their local handler, have been arrested by Pakistani security agencies in past week, officials said.
'Earlier, a lot of fear was in the minds of people that the BJP is anti-Christian and anti-minority, but over the years people have learnt to accept that the BJP is just another national party.'
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
Ekal Vidyalaya, a charitable trust engaged in one of the largest non-formal, basic education projects for underprivileged children in rural India, raised close to half a million dollars last month during five charity shows in the mid-Atlantic region including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the United States Congress, delivered on Thursday.
'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he will not allow Pakistan to become a "sanctuary of terrorists" and asserted that the military operation against the Taliban in North Waziristan tribal region would continue until militants are eliminated.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
The party also rejigged its Central Election Committee and included former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Om Mathur and its women wing chief Vanathi Srinivasan.
The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday named Khan Syed Mehsud alias Sajna as its new chief, a day after a US drone strike killed its former leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.
'The central government forces are supporting one group and the state government forces are supporting another group and this is resulting in non-stop cross-firing, which has resulted in the killing of many innocent people.'
With some variations, all regional political formations, whether in power presently or out of it, share some common features: Tight family control of the political apparatus, key members in elected or appointed positions, obvious wealth but not quite known sources of income, and family factionalism, sometimes open and bitter, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Amid slogan shouting by MPs from the Trinamool Congress, the Congress and other opposition parties from the Well of the House, Modi began replying to the debate on the motion thanking the President for her address to the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the start of the Budget Session, and accused the Congress of adopting only 'tokenism' to solving problems the country faced.
China feels "awkward" about the 2008 Mumbai terror attack carried out by Pakistani militants and wants to address India's concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan in a more "constructive way", a Chinese official said in a rare criticism of the all-weather ally.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was among six militants killed in a US drone strike on Friday in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
The ministry-making exercise took so long because many factors needed to be balanced. But now that it is in place, not everyone is happy with the resultant equation.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
At least 53 people have been killed and nearly 140 injured in Pakistan in separate attacks, including a deadly suicide bombing in restive Quetta city.
Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which the security personnel were travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), police sources said.
'I welcome Droupadi Murmu as the first Adivasi woman President of India, but her track record has not been good as a politician and governor of Jharkhand when it came to helping Adivasis,' points out activist Gladson Dungdung.
'Is it not deplorable that even after 75 years of independence, there are people in our society who have been denied freedom?'
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party managed to notch up a morale-boosting win on its 'Mission Northeast' on Thursday by retaining Tripura emphatically, despite anti-incumbency and newcomer Tipra Motha playing spoilers to its party, while also piggy-backing to power in Nagaland on Neiphiu Rio-led NDPP's shoulder.
'It is also being done in violation of our Forest Tribal Act because it will involve the eviction of the tribals living in these forests.'
The festering dispute over the accession of Jammu and Kashmir stands out as one of the world's most volatile fault lines that divides regions, countries, societies, communities and ethnic groups, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs, on Sheikh Abdullah's 39th death anniversary.
Jadhav, 46, filed a mercy petition before Gen Bajwa last month, according to an Inter-Services Public Relations statement issued on June 22. The statement said that the former Indian Navy officer had filed the petition after the Military Appellate Court rejected his appeal.
Hemant Shivsaran lists the number of projects the Modi government has announced since August to woo Gujarat voters.
AFSPA can be safely lifted from almost 90 per cent of Nagaland, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Rediff.com's Uttam Ghosh picks images of India from his travels.
Away from the distraction of its new high-profile politics, Wayanad's worries seemed very down to earth, discovers Shyam G Menon.
The Taliban on Wednesday said that the negotiations with the leaders of the Panjshir province have gone in vain as it is the only province that is still out of the Taliban's reach in the country.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hailed the Union Budget as an "all-inclusive" document while the Opposition dismissed it as "anti-people" and mere rhetoric lacking the vision for creating jobs and taming inflation.
Over 16,000 families in Pakistan refused to vaccinate their children against polio during the first two days of the latest round of polio campaign in the country, as community opposition and Taliban threats block efforts to eradicate the crippling disease from the country.
The relative ranking of castes can vary across regions and localities and depends on a number of factors including control over land, wealth, and political power. Castes have often tried to 'upgrade' themselves (a process sociologists refer to as Sanskritization), and sometimes get 'downgraded'. A revealing excerpt from Upinder Singh's Ancient India: Culture Of Contradictions.
These are the 25 seats to watch out for as Gujarat goes to the polls over two phases on December 1 and 5.
The development comes nearly a month after Chief Minister Baghel said that his government was ready to hold talks with the rebels if they expressed faith in the Constitution.
A tripartite agreement among five insurgent groups of Assam, the Centre and the state government was signed on Saturday to end years of violence in the Karbi Anglong region.
Jalaluddin Haqqani was closely tied to Al Qaeda leaders and had played a key role in supporting the terror group in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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