West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today threatened “strong action” against any forcible conversion in the state saying law will take its own course against those who try to divide people along religious lines.
Without naming any group or person, she said, “Forcible conversion by doling out money is highly objectionable, unconstitutional and against law in our country. We shall take strong action. Law will take its own course.
India were today knocked out of the tri-series cricket tournament after yet another spineless display as England recovered from a top-order collapse to record a three-wicket victory and secure a place in the final here.
In a do-or-die game, India’s batsmen let the team down badly as they frittered away a good start to be bundled out for 200 in 48.1 overs, losing as many as nine wickets for 97 runs from a relatively comfortable 103 for one.
The US has said that the tactics adopted by the Taliban are akin to terrorism but those terror tactics have principally been focused on Afghanistan unlike al-Qaeda or ISIS which have worldwide network.
Justifying its stance of dubbing the Afghan Taliban as “an armed insurgency” and fighting the group, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said American service members have given their lives fighting the Taliban because they do pose a threat to American interests inside Afghanistan.
Four people were arrested following a total of 22 police raids in Belgium Friday as part of ongoing investigations into terrorist activity in the country.
The police action was directed against a gang that was recruiting people to fight Islamic militants in Syria, Xinhua news agency reported citing Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
The raids took place at several locations across Belgium.
There were 22 raids in all. Half of them took place in the city of Maaseik in north-eastern Belgium, in the Limburg Province, close to the border with the Netherlands.
Days after the US President made a strong pitch for religious tolerance during an address here, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma today downplayed that it was a subtle message to India, saying Barack Obama’s message was “universal” and he was speaking as much for American people as for Indians.
“This was a message that was for all people and not just people in India. It was universal. President likes to talk about these universal rights,” Verma said during an interview with Karan Thapar in his programme “To the point”.
Armed with fodder provided by Jayanthi Natarajan, BJP today accused the Congress of practising “crony capitalism” and running UPA government through “remote control”, saying its assertions during Lok Sabha poll campaign stand vindicated.
The party also sought a relook at environmental clearances made during the previous regime in the wake of the former Environment Minister accusing Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi of interference in clearances for projects.
A woman has claimed that she has experienced around hundreds of near death experiences in her lifetime.
Beverley Gilmour claimed to be the only British person to be receiving medical treatment for chronic near-death experiences, the Daily Express reported.
A graphic designer by profession said that she had been going through near death experiences (NDE) three times in a month since 1987.
Ms Gilmour explained she suffers from severe headaches and was on medication, with her two sons who looks after her.
Continuing its attack on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP Friday released its second set of five questions for the party leader.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nirmala Sitharaman asked Kejriwal to explain why were volunteers from foreign countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Dubai asking Delhiites to vote for the party?
The second question was why the AAP had not given the details of its accounts for the Lok Sabha polls to the Election Commission.
A girl mysteriously went missing from Habeeb Nagar. It is said that following her arguments with her husband on phone, 19-year-old Sameera Begum took this step. According to Habeeb Nagar police girl’s father Mohammed Shaukat, R/O Subhan Pura lodged a complaint that his girl allegedly went missing all of a sudden. Police told that according to the information of girl’s father the girl ran off with her jewellery. She has left a statement stating that she was going some far off place for which no one was to be blamed and that she wanted to die.
Trinamool Congress General Secretary Mukul Roy was questioned by CBI on Friday in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam even as he said that he wanted the “actual truth” to come out. He gave an assurance that he would cooperate with the probe agency.
Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who was expelled from the Samajwadi Party, today said that talks were on with senior leaders of the BJP on her joining the party, and that she wanted to do so to “serve” it and not to contest any elections.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to China on a four-day visit on Saturday during which she will hold talks on “issues of concern” with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and attend Russia-India-China (RIC) meeting.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will Saturday embark on a three-day visit to China, where she will attend a Russia-India-China meeting, an official statement said Friday.
During the visit, India and China would discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of their concern.
Sushma Swaraj is visiting China on the invitation of her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
She will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and other senior ministry officials. This will be Jaishankar’s first foreign trip after he assumed charge as the foreign secretary Thursday.
The most anticipated movie ‘ Terminator: Genisys’ new trailer will be officially unveiled during Super Bowl on February 1st, 2015.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring film also includes Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke , J.K. Simmons and Matt Smith. It is set to be released on July 1, 2015, E! Online reported.
The action-packed clip teases a new villain, a new threat and a new mission! (ANI)
Two children were killed in clashes between the Egyptian army and Islamist militants in northern Sinai peninsula Friday, security sources told Xinhua news agency.
According to the sources, a five-year-old child was hit by a mortar shell and an eight-month-old baby was killed by bullets during the exchange of fire in two villages in northern Sinai. The violence also injured some people.
The two children died just one day after deadly attacks targeting security forces in Sinai claimed at least 26 lives.
Slamming former party leader Jayanthi Natrajan, a miffed Congress on Saturday termed her press conference and letter to party President Sonia Gandhi as an ‘image bachao abhiyaan’.
“Saddening that someone who got four terms in government chose to release a diatribe which is factually untrue. Unfortunately, her press conference and her letter seems like it is an ‘ image bachao abhiyaan’,” party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference here.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday continued its exercise of posing five questions to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a part of its ongoing election campaign for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls.
Speaking at a press conference, BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman said, “We are raising these questions. Some people may say they are old ones, they have been heard very often… it does not matter. The people of Delhi, before they vote, want to know the answer from the Aam Aadmi Party about these questions.”
“We will bring many more as and when there are issues coming up,” she added.
A newborn baby in China died after being dragged for nearly a dozen metres by its attached umbilical cord while the mother was being pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse, the hospital confirmed Friday.
The baby girl was born in the hallway of the hospital Jan 2 while the mother, surnamed Shang, was being moved to receive a caesarean at the doctor’s insistence, hospital managers with the Women and Children Medical Care Centre of Luoyang city in central China’s Henan province, told Xinhua news agency.
Bollywood’s blockbuster director Rohit Shetty prefers to keep silent on rumours that he has managed a casting coup of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in his new film. He says he will reveal the details only next month.
“At this time, I guess everyone else apart from me is busy casting for my film and they are telling their own versions. I am just waiting for now and enjoying the process,” Rohit said here when IANS asked the “Chennai Express” director to comment on the rumours.
By now, he’s used to the “process”.
Two pilots have surpassed world distance record after crossing the Pacific Ocean in a flight in helium balloon.
According to Alistair Leithead reports, no one has crossed the Pacific Ocean since 1981 in a gas balloon, reported BBC.
American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev left Japan in their “Two Eagles” balloon on Sunday and aimed to land in the U.S. or Canada.
However, due to weather conditions, they are forced to changes course towards Mexico where they are due to land sometime on Saturday.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Friday said that the twin principles of socialism and secularism formed the underlying spirit of the Indian Constitution and any deviation from these two basic tenets would be against the interest of the country.
“India being a land of diversities is endowed with people hailing from various religions, castes, creeds and linguistic backgrounds. Our forefathers had laid special thrust on the concepts of socialism and secularism in our Constitution,” Badal said, talking to reporters after an event in Kapurthala district, around 160 km from here.
A new research has revealed about a new flexible generator that converts muscle movements into enough power for small electronics, using human skin as one of its charge-collectors.
The postage-stamp-sized device takes advantage of static electricity to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Such friction-powered generators could usher new types of wearable sensors that don’t require batteries but instead are powered by the wearer’s daily activities like walking, talking or holding an object.
Hilary Swank, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Biel will provide their voices in the 3D animated film ‘Spark.’
The movie, directed by Aaron Woodley for Toonbox Entertainment, Redrover and Gulfstream, is a big space-age battle between good and evil, Deadline.com reported.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been elected the new chairperson of the African Union (AU).
Mugabe took the rotating chairmanship of the pan-African bloc Friday at the opening of the 24th AU summit at the AU Headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, Xinhua news agency reported.
Mugabe took over from Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who was elected AU chairman at the 22nd AU summit in January 2014.
A new research has revealed the reason behind dolphins not being a cat, or the reason of rich diversity in mammals.
The research led by European Molecular Biology Laboratory found out the reason behind the divergence of mammals instead of having same genes, and examined genome sequences in around 29 mammals and compared gene regulation in liver cells from 20 key species.