The inimitable sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar was admitted to the Scrips Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, with breathing difficulties. He passed away on Tuesday 11 December at the age of 92.

The musical fraternity that included Pandit Birju Maharaj the king of Kathak recalled his days when Shankar encouraged him for his hard work and commitment, as did the vocalists Rajan and Sajan Mishra who called it a sad day for the music industry.

Tanusree Shankarji a dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance in India, who is also Shankar's brother's daughter-in-law, called Shankar's demise a personal loss and a huge loss for all the artists in the classical musicians coterie.

All over the world musicians remembered the great man, including the Beetles' contemporaries who remembered his influence on the then young boy band that changed the course of music mixes with cultures and instruments from East and West.

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US NRI Doctor Dilip Joseph of Colorado was abducted along with two Afghan colleagues as they left a rural medical clinic in Sorobi district, Kabul by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In a daring rescue operation elite American commandos rescued Joseph after intelligence showed that the doctor was in imminent danger of injury or possible death.

A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan called it a combined operation of US and Afghan forces and the commander of US forces in Afghanistan said the joint force planned, rehearsed and successfully conducted the rescue operation.

Tragically one Navy SEAL commando was killed.

President Barack Obama and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta lauded the special forces for the successful rescue operation that was characteristic of the extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism of the American troops who rescued the American citizen captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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The Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary, has issued a fatwa against dyeing hair black saying sharia does not permit it. A colour like henna on the hair may however be used.

They say the use of such dyes including ammonia-free dyes leaves a layer on the hair that prevents water from reaching the roots of hair during ablution and makes it invalid.

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The Office of National statistics revealed in the latest census, that for the first time in history white Britons are now a minority in London, with just 3.7 million Londoners describing their ethnicity as 'White British' in 2011, which is 44.9% of the population of the city. They have been overtaken by the immigrant population. Foreign born residents number 7.5 million, making up one eighth of the population.

Another major change was the decreasing number of Christians as 4 million fewer people claimed to belong to Christianity and a quarter said they had no religion.

Britain's increasing diversity was emphasised in the data, as it emerged that the proportion of the nation that is white has fallen below 90% for the first time. 7.5% of the population is Asian and 3.4% described themselves as black.

The leading countries of origin for British immigrants are Poland, India, Pakistan, Ireland and Germany.

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According to data from the 2011 census, Indian origin Britons are the largest ethnic minority group in the UK and the mixed-race population is among the fastest growing in Britain.

The data which is to be released soon, suggests there are now over a million people born to parents in interracial relationships, but academics believe the true figure is more than double this. It also identifies Islam as the fastest growing faith, with over 2 million Muslims.

The 2011 census is expected to show that 1 million Britons are mixed race, which equates to 1.6 per cent of the population.

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