09:24 Raj Thackeray to lead 'rasta roko'at Vashi toll: MNS chief Raj Thackeray has said that he will lead the day-long agitation at the Vashi toll plaza. He has also said that his party workers will shut all the toll plazas across the state, starting at 9 am.
Around 50 MNS workers from Navi mumbai, 33 from Vashi have been taken into preventive custody ahead of the 'rasta roko'.
Reports are coming in that the Vashi-Panvel stretch is teeming with with hundreds of MNS workers and media persons present at the scene. The police is patrolling the area in full riot gear.We'll keep you posted as the events unfold.
08:37 US defends its decision of Powell meeting Modi: The United States has defended its decision for ambassador to India Nancy Powell to meet the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, arguing that this is part of its effort of increased engagement with Indian leaders.
A day after the US state department confirmed that Powell would meet Modi in Gandhinagar later this week, its spokesperson told media persons on Tuesday that all relevant people required to take a decision were involved in the process, which basically overturned the nine-year-old US policy of non-engagement with Modi.
However, the official did not confirm if US Secretary of State John Kerry or US President Barack Obama were involved in it.
"These decisions don't always rise up to every highest level. But certainly, all relevant individuals who needed to weigh in weighed in, and agreed that it was certainly an appropriate meeting to have," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told media persons at her daily news conference.
"We are often engaged in concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders. We began doing that months ago, if not years ago -- in different scales, of course -- to highlight and continue our US-India relationship. There has been no changes in our policy per se. This is an effort in that engagement," Psaki said.
02:40 Salil Shetty: 'Speaking truth to power':
The secretary general of Amnesty International says rights groups need to adapt to changing realities on the ground.
Read the exclusive interview on AlJazeera
02:38 Obama and Hollande say trust restored after NSA spying:
US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande have reaffirmed their nations' alliance after revelations of US snooping. On day two of his trip to the US, the French leader said at the White House that mutual trust had been restored.
Mr Hollande, who was greeted by a military honour guard and a 21-gun salute, attends a state dinner later. Relations broke down in 2003 between the countries when France opposed US President George W Bush's war in Iraq. At Tuesday's press conference, Mr Obama said they had forged bilateral ties "unimaginable even a decade ago".
Read more on BBC
00:44 Obama says little wiggle room for Iran in nuke talks:
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that little wiggle room exists for Iran in the global talks on its nuclear ambitions, stating that the Iranians must guarantee their intentions are for peaceful use of nuclear power. "If they meet what technically gives us those assurances, then there is a deal to be made. If they don't, there isn't," Obama said during a joint appearance with French President Francois Hollande, who is in Washington on a formal state visit this week. The two addressed the easing of sanctions on Iran as part of a temporary global agreement to curb its nuclear program while negotiators attempt to forge a longer-term deal. Obama has stressed that the United States would enforce those sanctions that remain, pending a permanent accord.
Obama said any businesses violating U.S. or U.N sanctions on Iran would "do so at their own peril now, because we will come down on them like a ton of bricks," adding that the United States expected allies such France to fully comply with existing sanctions.
Hollande said it was critical that "Iran renounces" nuclear weapons in a "comprehensive manner" in talks going forward. The parties will start negotiating February 18 in Vienna. Iranian and International Atomic Energy Agency officials jointly said Sunday that Iran has agreed to take additional steps by May to ease international concern over Tehran's nuclear program.
It will give more accounting for the mining and refinement of uranium, and will provide more transparency around issues related to a heavy-water reactor at Arak, which is of concern because it can be used to produce plutonium.
Read more on CNN
00:27 Top headlines at this hour:
Boundary talks with India yielded 'initial results': China
'Move to pulp my book foretells worsening free speech in India'
Military plane crashes in Algeria; only 1 survives out of 103 on board
'AAP workers' embroiled in student visa scam in UK
Rahul, Modi sweat it out to become aam aadmi's messiah
Modi not example that should be seen as an Indian: Khurshid
Now Manipuri youth stabbed, robbed in Delhi
Govt orders CBI probe into Nido Tania's death
Sentencing of Indian national: MEA official to go to Singapore
IPL was on Indian Mujahideen radar, says ATS
Fire breaks out in Rajdhani Express generator car
All highways in Maharashtra will be blocked on Wednesday: Raj
Security alert at IG Airport following anonymous phone call
Shokeen withdraws support to AAP government officially
Cong speaks of political vendetta after Kejriwal's probe order
10 killed by blasts in cinema hall in NW Pakistan
Penguin to destroy Doniger's controversial book on Hindus
Murder charge slapped on four men for death of Nido
Singapore riots: Bus driver cleared of fatal accident in Little India
Around 50 MNS workers from Navi mumbai, 33 from Vashi have been taken into preventive custody ahead of the 'rasta roko'.
Reports are coming in that the Vashi-Panvel stretch is teeming with with hundreds of MNS workers and media persons present at the scene. The police is patrolling the area in full riot gear.We'll keep you posted as the events unfold.
08:37 US defends its decision of Powell meeting Modi: The United States has defended its decision for ambassador to India Nancy Powell to meet the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, arguing that this is part of its effort of increased engagement with Indian leaders.
A day after the US state department confirmed that Powell would meet Modi in Gandhinagar later this week, its spokesperson told media persons on Tuesday that all relevant people required to take a decision were involved in the process, which basically overturned the nine-year-old US policy of non-engagement with Modi.
However, the official did not confirm if US Secretary of State John Kerry or US President Barack Obama were involved in it.
"These decisions don't always rise up to every highest level. But certainly, all relevant individuals who needed to weigh in weighed in, and agreed that it was certainly an appropriate meeting to have," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told media persons at her daily news conference.
"We are often engaged in concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders. We began doing that months ago, if not years ago -- in different scales, of course -- to highlight and continue our US-India relationship. There has been no changes in our policy per se. This is an effort in that engagement," Psaki said.
02:40 Salil Shetty: 'Speaking truth to power':
The secretary general of Amnesty International says rights groups need to adapt to changing realities on the ground.
Read the exclusive interview on AlJazeera
02:38 Obama and Hollande say trust restored after NSA spying:
US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande have reaffirmed their nations' alliance after revelations of US snooping. On day two of his trip to the US, the French leader said at the White House that mutual trust had been restored.
Mr Hollande, who was greeted by a military honour guard and a 21-gun salute, attends a state dinner later. Relations broke down in 2003 between the countries when France opposed US President George W Bush's war in Iraq. At Tuesday's press conference, Mr Obama said they had forged bilateral ties "unimaginable even a decade ago".
Read more on BBC
00:44 Obama says little wiggle room for Iran in nuke talks:
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that little wiggle room exists for Iran in the global talks on its nuclear ambitions, stating that the Iranians must guarantee their intentions are for peaceful use of nuclear power. "If they meet what technically gives us those assurances, then there is a deal to be made. If they don't, there isn't," Obama said during a joint appearance with French President Francois Hollande, who is in Washington on a formal state visit this week. The two addressed the easing of sanctions on Iran as part of a temporary global agreement to curb its nuclear program while negotiators attempt to forge a longer-term deal. Obama has stressed that the United States would enforce those sanctions that remain, pending a permanent accord.
Obama said any businesses violating U.S. or U.N sanctions on Iran would "do so at their own peril now, because we will come down on them like a ton of bricks," adding that the United States expected allies such France to fully comply with existing sanctions.
Hollande said it was critical that "Iran renounces" nuclear weapons in a "comprehensive manner" in talks going forward. The parties will start negotiating February 18 in Vienna. Iranian and International Atomic Energy Agency officials jointly said Sunday that Iran has agreed to take additional steps by May to ease international concern over Tehran's nuclear program.
It will give more accounting for the mining and refinement of uranium, and will provide more transparency around issues related to a heavy-water reactor at Arak, which is of concern because it can be used to produce plutonium.
Read more on CNN
00:27 Top headlines at this hour:
Boundary talks with India yielded 'initial results': China
'Move to pulp my book foretells worsening free speech in India'
Military plane crashes in Algeria; only 1 survives out of 103 on board
'AAP workers' embroiled in student visa scam in UK
Rahul, Modi sweat it out to become aam aadmi's messiah
Modi not example that should be seen as an Indian: Khurshid
Now Manipuri youth stabbed, robbed in Delhi
Govt orders CBI probe into Nido Tania's death
Sentencing of Indian national: MEA official to go to Singapore
IPL was on Indian Mujahideen radar, says ATS
Fire breaks out in Rajdhani Express generator car
All highways in Maharashtra will be blocked on Wednesday: Raj
Security alert at IG Airport following anonymous phone call
Shokeen withdraws support to AAP government officially
Cong speaks of political vendetta after Kejriwal's probe order
10 killed by blasts in cinema hall in NW Pakistan
Penguin to destroy Doniger's controversial book on Hindus
Murder charge slapped on four men for death of Nido
Singapore riots: Bus driver cleared of fatal accident in Little India
