Convened by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who is aiming to project herself as the face of the opposition, the anti-BJP rally is being attended by the who's who of Indian politics — a former PM, several current and former CMs and stalwarts from various political outfits from across the country. TMC is organising the rally to gather support for a pan-India anti-BJP front.

US President Donald Trump will hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late February on Pyongyang dismantling its nuclear and missile programmes, the White House has announced. The two leaders had met on June 12 last year in Singapore for the first summit. The White House, however, did not identify a location for the second setting between the two leaders.

The decision to scale down the deal for Rafale fighter jets from France to 36 aircraft instead of the originally proposed 126 effectively pushed up the total cost of the acquisition per craft, making it about 14% more costly, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The number of central staff, as per actuals declared in the Union Budget for 2018-19, came down by 75,231 as compared to the strength on March 1, 2014. A major reason for the depletion could be the preference to hire employees through contractors, particularly support staff like peons and drivers. Posts have not been filled up for several years to replace retiring employees.

Several constituent parties of the North East Democratic Alliance (Neda), the umbrella organisation of the region's parties floated by BJP in 2016, on Friday asked Union home minister Rajnath Singh not to go ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. A Neda delegation met Singh in New Delhi and conveyed to him that the Bill was not acceptable to majority of the people in the region.

Ten persons are feared dead after a snow avalanche buried the two trucks they were travelling in at Khardung La of Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, officials said.

The ruling parties of Odisha and Telangana, BJD and TRS respectively, are the only big non-NDA parties that will not be part of the rally. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will not attend the rally but has sent Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Singhvi for the event. BJP rebels Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Arun Shourie will also be seen at the event.

The Congress in Karnataka sifted all its MLAs to a resort on Friday evening. The party took the decision immediately after the CLP meeting, which was skipped by 4 'rebel' MLAs. Congress will issue notices to four MLAs seeking explanation from them for their absence

Dhoni faced criticism for slow batting in the ODI series-opener in Sydney before redeeming his pride and reputation with match-winning contributions in the Adelaide and Melbourne ODIs. Acknowledging Dhoni's contribution, Kohli defended the former captain saying he should be allowed breathing space.

Four dissidents skipped the Congress Legislature Party meeting here on Friday that was called as a show of strength in a counter to an alleged bid by the BJP to topple the coalition government in Karnataka.

Jio and Reliance Retail will launch a commerce platform to empower its 12 lakh small retailers in Gujarat. The retail arm operates nearly 10,000 outlets across 6,500 Indian cities which will come aboard through Jio’s apps. Last month, India tightened rules that will disallow foreign-owned online retailers and will benefit local enterprises such as Reliance.

Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored his third successive half century to guide India to a seven-wicket victory in the series-deciding third one-day international against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The Men in Blue had never won a bilateral ODI contest on Australian soil, and their only two series' wins in this format have come in 1985 (Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket) and 2008 (Commonwealth Bank Series). For India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni top-scored with an unbeaten 87 off 114 balls, his third successive half-century in the series.

Team India signed off their long and gruelling Australia tour on a victorious note as Virat Kohli's men thumped Australia in the third and final one-day international (ODI) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and clinched their maiden bilateral series victory on Australian soil.

Isro is going to launch a ‘young scientist’ programme wherein three students from every 29 states and seven union territories will be selected based on their science projects. These students, mostly from Class VIII to IX classes, will be taken to selected Isro centres and enrolled for a one-month programme.

Seventh seeded Saina, who had a 8-4 head-to-head record against Okuhara before Friday, fought back from 9-15 and 14-18 down in the two games to extend her dominance over the second-seeded Japanese with a 21-18 23-21 win in a 48-minute quarterfinals at the Axiata Arena. Saina entered the women's singles semifinals of the USD 350,000 Malaysia Masters on Friday.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government may consider bringing in an ordinance to ensure dance bars don't open in the state again. Minister for finance and planning and forests Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the government would study the Supreme Court verdict and if necessary, it would bring in an ordinance to ensure these bars do not start business again. He said that the BJP government was committed to save the cultural and social fabric of the society.

Yuzvendra Chahal registered the best bowling figures by an Indian at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to bowl out Australia for 230 runs in the series-deciding third ODI on Friday.

Yuzvendra Chahal on Friday bamboozled Australia with his leg-spin, taking 6/42 as India dismissed the hosts for 230 in 48.4 overs in the third and deciding ODI of the three-match series in Melbourne.

Poor tribal couples in Jharkhand have lived-in for years as they can't afford a wedding feast. But mass weddings by NGOs now bring hope.

Sources suggest Yeddyurappa and the central leadership struck a deal few weeks ago and went along with his plan to try and form the govt but the several futile attempts are unlikely to have gone down well. The leadership could dump him on the sidelines before the Lok Sabha polls since his gambles have kept the spotlight on the party for all the wrong reasons.

The Congress legislature party meeting, convened to put an end to ongoing talk of a few Congress MLAs joining hands with the BJP to topple the HD Kumaraswamy government, will be held at the Vidhana Soudha. If about 10 MLAs fail to turn up, it can be assumed that BJP's operation is still on.

Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bowl against Australia in the series-deciding third ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. India made three changes to their Playing XI.

State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday said that lenders are considering a restructuring plan — an acknowledgement that the loan is not viable in the present form. RBI norms require lenders to make at least 15% provisions on their exposure once a loan is restructured.

In a setback for hundreds of bankers facing corruption-related charges, the government has advised state-run lenders to withdraw any legal or financial support to fight cases, especially when the bank itself is a complainant. The finance ministry has said that in cases where support was provided, the amount should be recovered.

The Kerala high court set aside on Thursday the 2016 election of Karat Razack from Koduvally assembly constituency in Kozhikode for elecetion malpractice.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday gave a strong indication that the February 1 interim Budget may not necessarily be a vote-on-account, emphasising that the government could deviate from an election-year convention to meet challenges confronting the economy, like the one facing the farm sector.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday gave a strong indication that the February 1 interim Budget may not necessarily be a vote-on-account, emphasising that the government could deviate from an election-year convention to meet challenges confronting the economy, like the one facing the farm sector.

This restriction has been imposed for safety reason as there must be an airport within one hour of flying time during entire journey of A320 Neo with PW engines so that the plane can safely land at the nearest alternate on a single engine when one engine develops a snag. Twin engine planes can land on one engine at suitable nearest airport when an engine has a snag.

In yet another shake up in the CBI, the government on Thursday curtailed the tenure of Rakesh Asthana and three other officers with immediate effect.