The parliament in Japan has voted to allow the nation's military to fight overseas for the first time since the end of Second World War 70 years ago.

The president of the Upper House of the Japanese Parliament, Masaaki Yamazaki, said the bills were passed by a 148-90 vote. A vote on the new law was delayed for several hours as the opposition tried to stop the measure coming into force.

The Japanese Government has said that changes in the nation's defence policy are vital to meet new military challenges. The governing coalition has a majority in both chambers of the Japanese Diet, meaning that ultimately the opposition camp was powerless to stop the measure becoming law. 

Japanese militaryFile Photo

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) is recalling around 2.24 lakh units of its premium sports utility vehicles -- CR-V, sedans Civic, City and hatchback Jazz, manufactured between 2003 and 2012 -- to replace faulty airbag inflators in the largest such exercise in the country.

Under the recall, which is a part of its parent Honda's global initiative to replace the faulty airbags, HCIL will voluntarily replace airbag inflators of 2,23,578 vehicles of previous generations of CR-V, Civic, City and Jazz, the company said in a statement.

The exercise will cover 13,073 units of CR-V manufactured between 2004-11; 54,290 units of Civic sedan produced between 2003-2012; 1,40,508 units of its popular sedan City made between 2007 and 2012 and 15,707 units of premium hatchback Jazz manufactured between 2009 and 2011, it added.

"The replacement would be carried out free of cost at HCIL dealerships across India in a phased manner, starting October 12, 2015 and the company will communicate with customers directly," HCIL said.

Globally, Honda had announced recall of over two million units to replace faulty airbags provided by its supplier Takata Corp.

Automobile manufacturers have been recalling vehicles on safety issues since industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) initiated a voluntary policy in July 2012.

A total of 10,85,064 vehicles have been recalled so far in India by various companies ever since it started. As per SIAM data, the previous biggest recalls in India were by Ford of about 1.66 lakh units of its Figo and Fiesta classic models in September 2013 and General Motors' recall of 1.55 lakh units of Beat, Spark and Enjoy models in July this year.

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Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan remembered his freedom fighter father Meer Taj Mohammed Khan on his 35th death anniversary.

The 49-year-old actor, who has always been vocal about his parents, took to Twitter to share his feelings about his father.

"Years accumulate and our wounds turn into water, and reflect the unlikely glimmer of happiness in moments of remembrance. 35 years since I saw my dad," he tweeted.

Yrs accumulate & our wounds turn into water, & reflect the unlikely glimmer of happiness in moments of remembrance.35 yrs since I saw my Dad

— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) September 18, 2015

Shah Rukh is currently in Hyderabad shooting for his upcoming film Dilwale, which will see him reuniting with one of his favourite co-stars Kajol after a gap of five years.

Directed by Rohit Shetty, the movie also stars Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Johnny Lever, Boman Irani, Kabir Bedi among others.

Dilwale will hit theatres on December 18.

Related read:  Shah Rukh Khan reveals the secret of beating Saina Nehwal

Shah Rukh Khan

With the increasing number of vehicles on the road, the drives to work and other places have just gotten unbearably longer and tiresome. But what if you had an option? What if you could carpool instead?

Today, there are numerous carpooling options, with cashless transactions, available for those who commute to work thanks to start-ups. Started in 2013, 'RidingO' operates in Bengaluru and allows car owners to connect with commuters. Both the rider and car driver are issued prepaid cards making it a hassle-free and cashless transaction. 

Another app, 'Carpooladda' is also a free app and works on a prepaid model. Depending on whether you need a ride or are offering a ride, 'Carpooladda' sets you up with the best matches. Of course, the user gets to choose his or her co-riders.

'Tripda' aims to make trips more fun by getting people together on a drive. So if you are headed out of town and are driving alone, just get onto to 'Tripda' to find more people to share costs and make the journey more engaging. 

Safety is a key concern for 'Poolcircle' and they focus on ensuring that those carpooling are verified and vetted. They even offer women-only car pools and you can even form your own carpool circle.

'SRide' and 'CarEgiri' carpooling apps now operate in Pune. SRide, for instance, verifies a person through the employer records and ensures that they are all authentic. 'CarEgiri' is specific to the SEZs in Pune and helps connect those working in the same IT parks. Since there many professionals who work in the same area, these apps are perfect for them.

More people are opting for carpooling today not only because it’s more efficient and better than autos and cabs, but also because it’s more environment-friendly. Safety issues have been taken into account by carpooling start-ups but there are still some challenges like finding a carpool to suit your time. 

Ennu Ninte Moideen is not a regular love story. It’s the story of a woman who was placed under house arrest for nearly 25 years. Her lover dies in the meantime. Moideen and Kanchanamala are the real life couple whose story touched the heart of director R S Vimal. 

Vimal has now brought this love story to the big screen and roped in Prithviraj and Parvathy to play the couple. The director has apparently tried to keep the story as close to reality as possible. 

Moideen was from a renowned Muslim family in Mukkom while Kanchanamala was the daughter of a Hindu landlord. When people got to know about their love, Kanchanamala was placed under house arrest by her family and Moideen was banished from his. Their love story is filled with romance, tragedy and death. The director has tried to capture all these elements in this film.

The story takes place in the 60s in Kerala and Vimal worked for three years on the screenplay he has stated in media interviews. The music for the film is by Gopi Sunder, M Jayachandran and Ramesh Narayan. Gopi Sunder’s background score has been praised by many already. 

Director Vimal has apparently spent seven years on research and working on this film. In fact, he even went and stayed in a rented house in Mukkom for his research.

He added that he was impressed by Prithviraj’s and Parvathy’s dedication and performance in Ennu Ninte Moideen. The movie was slated to release this week. 

Ennu Ninte Moideen

India's Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna will take on Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek of Czech Republic in the doubles match of the Best of Five Tie of Davis Cup Tennis World Group Play-off in New Delhi today.

Two reverse singles will be played on Sunday.

India and Czech Republic are level one all at present. India's Yuki Bhambri lost the opening singles, against world number 85 Lukas Rosol in straight sets 2-6, 1-6, 5-7.

Somdev Devvarman brought the hosts back into the match with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over world number 40 Jiri Vesley in the second singles.

Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna

Family conflicts, tempestuous romances and power struggles made hip hop show Empire the highest-rated new hit for Fox this year, and viewers can expect a lot more salacious drama in season two.

"If season one was built on the premise of 'who will inherit the throne?', season two is 'warring kingdoms,'" executive producer and writer Ilene Chaiken teased for reporters on Friday.

Empire returns to Twenty-First Century Fox's broadcast network on Wednesday after drawing an average of 17.3 million viewers per episode in season one earlier this year. The debut season followed the Lyon family as they attempted to cement their power in the world of hip hop.

Empire centres on drug runner-turned music mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), who pits his three sons against each other with the promise that one will inherit his record company, Empire Entertainment.

But it's the show's intensely ambitious, prison-hardened, aggressive matriarch Cookie Lyon who has stood out, with actress Taraji P. Henson earning one of the show's three Emmy nominations in the best drama actress category for this weekend.

"In a matter of moments, (Henson) can go from the most raucous and flamboyant to the most heartwarming and touching," Chaiken said. "This character hasn't been on television before."

The show failed to pick up a best drama series Emmys nod but was nominated twice in the costume category.

The second season of Empire picks up three months after season one left off. Lyon is in prison on a murder charge, while his son Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is running his company.
Chaiken said the changing power dynamics in the family will bring out new sides of the characters as relationships evolve.

"They're people that love and hate one another all at once. You'll see as many moments where they have each other's backs as they are stabbing each other in the back," Chaiken said.

The show's music has also garnered the spotlight and the "Empire" soundtrack, featuring cast members Smollett and Howard alongside artists such as Timbaland, Jennifer Hudson and Mary J Blige, and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

For the second season's soundtrack, Chaiken said more new songwriters are involved behind-the-scenes creating music.

The show's trend of featuring celebrity cameos will continue with a lineup that includes Oscar-winning Marisa Tomei, comedian Chris Rock and Grammy-winning R&B artist Alicia Keys.

Empire (Image credit - Empire Facebook page)

A significant number of Apple Inc customers are reporting their mobile devices have crashed after attempting to upload the new iOS 9 operating system, the latest in a line of launch glitches for the tech giant. Twitter and other social media were awash with disgruntled customers reporting two distinct faults, with one appearing to be linked specifically to older models of Apple iPhones and iPads.

"It is beyond inconvenient to not be able to use your phone for a day," said student Pip Cordi as staff in the Apple store in central Sydney looked at her phone on Friday. "I have a lot of apps that I use for school - things like language apps and dictionaries and that's all really important for my studies." Another iPhone user, Zorry Coates, said she had spent three hours in the Apple store and had been left with the option of either returning her phone to factory settings - losing any non-backed-up data - or waiting until Apple technicians announced an update.

Apple's headquarters in San Francisco did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday. An Apple spokesman in Sydney said the company had no comment. Despite any troubles, significant numbers of iOS users had upgraded; more than 16 percent, according to Mixpanel, a San Francisco, California-based analytics company.

By Spaceship, you may either recall several actual spaceships or science-fiction films involving spaceships. Can you ever imagine a man named Spaceship? Well, you could have and you can, now.

In Andhra Pradesh, on the Guntur-Secunderabad section, 43 years old Spaceship works as the catering attendant with the local railway canteen at Nadikude railway station . He is the eldest son of late Communist leader Krosuri Veera Raghava Chary of Dachepalli area, Guntur. In order to fight against the caste system, Chary refused to name their children as per the set tradition and gave them an identity that couldn't be relatable to any caste, creed or religion. 

Spaceship has four siblings; Viking-II (sister), Fusion, Space Shuttle and Shuttle Challenger. And no, these are not just nick names. These are legal names with valid ID cards.

"As a Communist leader, my father wanted that our names should not disclose our caste either in the school or in the society," Spaceship was quoted in an English daily. Spaceship was born in 1967, a year after the first unmanned spacecraft Soyuz was launched by USSR. 

According to a media report, Chary, who was brought into politics by CPI leader and MLA Mandapati Nagireddy, had managed to impress former Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu by refusing to sing a Telugu patriotic song. In a party meeting held in Khammam district in 1960s, he had said that communist leaders should not be led by love for any place, region or country. 

The report also suggests he frequently visited the then chief minister Kasu Bramhananda Reddy at CM residence. It sounds unbelievable, but despite his political affiliations, all his children are spending their lives in hardship, and yet proud of their father.

A true idealist, Chary married a dalit woman named Mariyamma and made sure that her surname - Bandla - is adopted by all their children. 

Spaceship was born in 1967, a year after the first unmanned spacecraft Soyuz was launched by USSR. File PhotoImage Courtesy: Wikipedia

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came under fire on Friday from Republican and Democratic rivals and the White House for not correcting a man who called President Barack Obama a Muslim at a Trump campaign event.

Trump, who in the past has expressed doubts about whether Obama was born in the United States, was told by a man at a town hall event on Thursday in Rochester, New Hampshire, that, "We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims."

"We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American," the man said. Trump did not interrupt the man or challenge his contention in any way. The billionaire developer's rise to the top of the Republican field in the race for a November 2016 presidential nominee has been impervious to the various controversies that erupt around him almost daily.

Whether this latest episode would prove to be an important turning point for Trump was yet to be seen. At least one Republican rival, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Trump had crossed a line, creating a "defining moment" for his candidacy.

"If I were Donald Trump, I would go on national television and say 'I handled it poorly and if I had to do it all over again, I would challenge his question,'" Graham said on MSNBC. "It's OK to apologise." Trump in 2011 triggered a controversy by demanding that Obama show evidence that he was born in the United States. The Democratic president produced a longer form of his birth certificate that made clear he was born in Hawaii, not Kenya, as some of his critics have contended.

Obama is a Christian who as president has attended church occasionally. "Is anybody really surprised that this happened at a Donald Trump rally?" White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters when asked about the latest Trump controversy.

He said "the people who hold these offensive views are part of Mr. Trump's base" and that Trump had shown "a willingness to countenance the offensive views of one member of his audience." Trump canceled a campaign event scheduled for Friday in South Carolina, saying he had an important business transaction to attend to.

Trump's reaction contrasted with how 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain dealt with a woman who called Obama an Arab at a McCain campaign event. McCain immediately stopped the woman and called Obama a decent family man with whom he has policy differences.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both sharply criticised Trump on Friday. "He knew or he should have known that what that man was asking was not only way out of bounds, it was untrue, and he should have, from the beginning, repudiated that kind of rhetoric, that level of hatefulness of a questioner in an audience that he was appearing before," Clinton told reporters in Durham, New Hampshire. For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, "Tales from the Trail". 

Donald TrumpFile Photo

Days after justifying meat ban and even proposing to extend it during Navaratri and saying APJ Abdul Kalam was a  nationalist despite being a Muslim, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma has reportedly made another controversial statement. 

Speaking to CNN IBN, Mahesh Sharma said that, "Girls wanting a night out may be all right elsewhere but it is not part of  Indian culture". He said that he has nothing against Western culture but Indians shouldn't follow it blindly. 

According to him, Westernisation for the sake of modernisation shouldn't be the goal and Indians should be mindful of the social structure prevalent in the country. 

Now, Mahesh Sharma has issued a clarification saying his comments were distorted. He tweeted saying:

There is nothing controversial in the @ibnlive interview. My statements are being distorted and presented. (1/2)

— Dr. Mahesh Sharma (@dr_maheshsharma) September 19, 2015

My statements are being taken otherwise. Our culture is our identity and we should stride to preserve the same. (2/2) @ibnlive

— Dr. Mahesh Sharma (@dr_maheshsharma) September 19, 2015

Earlier, In an interview to India Today TV, Sharma spoke about multiple issues and gave his candid views on them. About the ongoing raging controversy regarding meat ban in some states during the Jain festival of Paryushan, Sharma said he welcomed such restrictions. 

Also Read: Modi government, RSS plan to 'cleanse' India of western culture, roadmap to be prepared

He said that, "If the sacrifices of a few help maintain the religious sentiments of a section of society, there is no harm in doing this". Sharma also said that the Centre will decide on extending meat ban to nine days of Navratri festival. He said, "It will be a political decision. We would want that".

The minister said that he is working with the HRD Ministry to incorporate the Ramayana and Mahabharata in schools. But in a controversial statement, Sharma claimed that religious texts like the Bible and the Quran were not central to India's soul. 

Making a strong pitch for learning Hindi and Sanskrit, Sharma said that Hindi should be made compulsory in all schools. According to him, putting parents in old age home and having narcotics were examples of western culture. The minister also made a fervent bid to remove the ill-effects of western culture from Indian society. 

Also Read: Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma wants meat ban during Navratri

Mahesh Sharma

After two massive successive falls when they cumulatively lost $6.322 billion, the foreign exchange reserves rose by a healthy $2.359 billion in the week to September 11, according to RBI data.

With this rise, the reserves have once again crossed the $350-billion mark to stand at $351.390 billion.

Foreign currency assets (FCAs), which account for 93% of reserves, grew by $2.3111 billion to $327.968 billion in the reporting week, RBI said in a statement.

FCAs reflect the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen, held in the reserves.

It can be recalled that dollar selling by the central bank had wiped out $6.3 billion in the two weeks before the current reporting week as it tried to prevent sharp fall of the rupee following the crisis in global financial markets arising from the troubles in the Chinese economy.

Today, the rupee rallied to 65.67 per US dollar, gaining 79 paise after the US Fed deferred the plan to end its near zero interest rates of the past eight years.

In the week to September 4, the foreign exchange reserves had declined by $2.889 billion to $349.037 billion due to the continuing fall in FCAs.

In the previous reporting week, the reserves fell sharply by $3.433 billion to $351.920 billion.

The reserves had touched an all-time high of $355.46 billion in the week to June 19.

Representational image

He gave up his career, sold his flat and told his shocked parents in Thrissur that he was now going to ride around the world on his Royal Enfield. Atul Warrier, who was working in Bangalore, realised that life was too short to not take risks when his brother got into a major accident.  He made his decision finally after he saw the video of 60-year-old Gunther Holtrof travelling around the world,. 

On June 6, 2015 Warrier started his journey in Kanyakumari in India and is currently in Indonesia. Speaking to dna from Indonesia, Atul said, “I have covered 9800 kms till date.” So far he has been to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. He’s now riding to Bali and by October 10 will be in Darwin, Australia. And some of the most exhilarating parts of the journey he says are the experiences and different people he meets.

A week back when he was in Penang, Malaysia, Atul met other overlanders (people who were travelling across the world by land) from various parts of the world. “I met Magdalena, a South African lady in her 40s. Now this is the fun part - she has been cycling for the last eight years across the world. She has covered 130,000 kms. She is now heading to Rishikesh in India to take part in a photography exhibition. She has taken part in several endurance races, has crossed the desserts of Sudan and Kenya and drove through West Africa. She has crossed countries and continents vertically and horizontally," Atul said.

Before he set off on his bike ride, Atul networked with overland groups on the Internet and understood the various challenges of riding on land through countries. Many people offered to host him and he made friends abroad even before he stepped out of India.

His family and friends in Thrissur constantly monitor his whereabouts as they are worried about his safety. However, so far, Atul has managed to have the ride of his life – literally! 

When asked about what his plans are after coming back to India next year, he said he has no clue. For now, Atul is looking forward to just making friends, enjoying this life experience and learning more about himself and the adventures life has to offer. 

Atul Warrier with the people of Parapat, Indonesia

Bullet-riddled body of a Hizbul Mujahideen militant was found in a jungle on Saturday in north Kashmir, with police suspecting the hand of break-away Hizb faction Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI).

"A body was recovered in a jungle in Devbug Tangmarg in Baramulla district. The body has been identified as that of HM militant Fayaz Ahmad Bhat," police said. They said Bhat, a 'commander' of the outfit, was a resident of Wailo Pattan. "The body is in army fatigues and has gunshot wounds," the police said.

Police suspect that the act has been carried out by LeI an outfit floated by Abdul Qayoom Najar, the longest surviving militant in north Kashmir. Najar broke ranks with the Hizbul Mujahideen to form his own outfit. Police say the group carried out several attacks on mobile towers and other telecommunication installations in May and June this year.

The group is also believed to be behind killing of some separatist activists this year in Sopore area of the district. On Monday, bullet-riddled bodies of three militants, believed to be belonging to LeI, were found in Dangerpora in Pattan area. Hizbul supreme Syed Salahuddin said the three belonged to his outfit. 

India's limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be back in the thick of things after a three month break as Indian selectors will be picking the squad for the upcoming T20 International and ODI series against South Africa, starting October 2.

There is a possibility that selectors may name squads for T20s and first three ODIs. While there are three T20 internationals slated at the start of the series, the focus for both Dhoni and selectors will be on World T20 which will be held in India in five months time.

While it was nothing more than an extended practice session, Dhoni again wielded the willow in a charity game two days back at the Oval in London and scored 38 runs in a winning cause.

India's last limited overs series was against Zimbabwe where a second string side was selected to play under Ajinkya Rahane with as many as seven first team players being rested.

Now with Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin all fit and available, some of the fringe players may have to make way for senior stars.

The only injury concern right now is Shikhar Dhawan who is recuperating from fractured hand and will get his fitness test done.

Opening batsman Murali Vijay, who has become a Test specialist, had a decent Zimbabwe tour and he would like to show his utility in shorter formats. Ambati Rayudu of late has been Dhoni's preferred choice in place of Ajinkya Rahane for being a better rotator of strike. Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey, two players with decent T20 record, might also get a look in.

The two new faces that can come in contention are Gurkeerat Singh Mann of Punjab and Mayank Agarwal of Karnataka with both doing well for India A.

While Ashwin is a certainty, it will be interesting to see if selectors prefer Harbhajan Singh as second spinner due to his IPL exploits and his ability to restrict batsmen in shorter format. Ravindra Jadeja has been ignored for Zimbabwe and selectors would like to see him too.

Among the pacers, Ishant Sharma, banned for a Test match, might also want to get into the thick of things if selectors give him a chance. Mohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been two of Dhoni's trusted seamers in shorter format with Dhawal Kulkarni being the back-up man.

Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav are known to be erratic but both might be tried out during the long series as India will be fretting on perfect combination with a mega event round the corner.

 Expressing discontent over the Election Commission's decision to not ban Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann ki Baat', Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Saturday said the EC should not have given permit to the programme.

"The programme should not have been permitted. This is an unfair practice to say something through a government medium,"Dikshit told ANI. "You will get time to say what you want and influence people. It can have good as well as bad influence. It is wrong to influence the people through this medium. Nothing wrong will happen if you don't do 'Mann ki Baat' for two months," he added.

The EC had on Friday rejected the Congress Party and its alliances' demand of banning Prime Minister Modi's radio programme, alleging that it could be used to influence the outcome of the Bihar Assembly elections. 

The Indian Institute of Science is reeling under the attack on a student on its premises on September 16. The incident has been narrated at length on the Students’ Council IISc Facebook page. 

The post states that around 9:20 PM on Wednesday night, two students (Sushil and a woman) were going for dinner. Suddenly a high speeding car nearly brushed them and when they retaliated by waving their hand to slow down, the driver, identified as Raghavendra, stopped and started arguing. When they replied back, the driver reportedly got out from the car and took a stone to hit them. He then abused them verbally and told them that his father was an IISc employee and no action could be taken against him. The car driver then came back with his friends and when the couple was returning from dinner allegedly attacked them. Sushil was physically assaulted. 

Sushil and his friend managed to escape and call security and their friends for help. However, the chief security office of IISc reportedly refused to take action against Raghavendra. The students have filed a police complaint against the culprits.  Raghavendra's father is a non-teaching staff at IISc.

The students have now updated the Students’ Council IISc Facebook page with a post stating that they met with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Sandeep Patil, who has promised to take action against the culprits. The IISc Students Council says it is firm in their demand and that loopholes in IISc security must be fixed.
 

IISc Students Council members with Sandeep PatilImage Courtesy: Facebook

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has tried to reassure a skeptical American public that when crowds in Tehran chant "Death to America!" they don't mean it personally.

In an interview with the CBS show 60 Minutes to be broadcast Sunday in the United States, the Iranian president said the famous Friday ritual is a reaction to previous Washington policy decisions that hurt Iran.

In April, US President Barack Obama's administration signed a deal with Rouhani's government to release Iran from many of the economic sanctions harming its economy in return for tight controls on its nuclear program.

But many in the United States are still convinced that Iran, which is ultimately led not by Rouhani but by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remains bent on their country's destruction. In the fierce domestic American debate over the deal, opponents have often cited the regular appearance of chanting anti-American crowds as evidence of Tehran's true intentions.

But Rouhani, seen as a moderate reformer by the standards of the Islamic republic, attempted to reassure his CBS interviewer Steve Kroft and the wider audience. "This slogan that is chanted is not a slogan against the American people. Our people respect the American people," he insisted, in an extract from the interview released Friday.

"The Iranian people are not looking for war with any country," he said. "But at the same time the policies of the United States have been against the national interests of Iranian people, it's understandable that people will demonstrate sensitivity to this issue.

"When the people rose up against the Shah, the United States aggressively supported the Shah until the last moments. In the eight-year war with Iraq, the Americans supported Saddam. "People will not forget these things. We cannot forget the past, but at the same time our gaze must be towards the future."

Iran rose up against its pro-Western monarch Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979. After the revolt, Iranian radical students took 52 US embassy workers hostage and held them for more than a year.
During the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988, the United States remained close to the aggressor, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, despite the deaths of up to a million Iranians, many through chemical weapon attacks. 

Hassan RouhaniFile Photo

One man carrying an air gun was detained on Saturday at one of the entrances of Rahul Gandhi's rally here in Bihar.

The Police are investigating the matter as to find out why he was carrying the gun. The Congress Party plans to make the rally at Ram Nagar in West Champaran district a mega affair. The top leaders of the grand alliance are expected to attend the mega event.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had earlier shared the dais with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the Swabhiman rally in Patna, where she dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government as 'anti-farmer' and lashed out at him for his 'DNA jibe' against Nitish.

PTI

AAP leader and senior advocate H S Phoolka on Saturday announced his resignation from all party posts, saying he wants to devote "undivided attention" to the anti-Sikh riots cases which are at a "crucial juncture".

In a bid to scotch murmurs of a rift with the party leadership over his decision, Phoolka said that he would remain an "inherent" part of AAP, which he said is standing on the cusp of winning the next assembly polls in Punjab.
"After detailed discussions with (Arvind) Kejriwalji and with his approval, it has been decided collectively that I quit active politics and resign from party posts, to enable myself to entirely devote myself for getting justice for the victims..." 

Even this Modi Govt is giving clean chit to accused which is shocking,I am shattered.Need to focus totally on 1984 cases-HS Phoolka

— ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2015

AAP doing very well in Punjab&will win next polls,so I will devote full time to 1984 case,party is with me-HS Phoolka pic.twitter.com/cvzf7TGujL

— ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2015

Image courtesy: ANI