AFP reports: Four bombings and a shooting killed 10 people and wounded 36 others in Iraq today, security and medical officials said. In the deadliest attack, a car bomb exploded at about 7:45 pm in a market in Al-Muqdadiyah, 90 kilometres northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, and a roadside bomb detonated soon afterwards, killing a total of seven people and wounding 25 others, a police colonel and a doctor said.

AP reports: A German data protection official has called for Facebook to delete biometric profiles of people stored without their explicit consent.

Reuters reports: A Syrian air raid killed at least 30 people in a rebel-held northern border town on Wednesday, opposition activists said, and a bomb went off near UN and military sites in the capital Damascus, wounding three.

AP reports: Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama is running a campaign driven by 'division and attack and hatred' and called on him on Wednesday to lift the tone of political discourse.

It was an 'At Home' with a difference this time with President Pranab Mukherjee mixing with the crowd and receiving wishes outside the security barricade.     

The Goa police on Wednesday admitted to have falsely implicated Israeli national David Driham alias 'Dudu' in a 2010 drugs case and are now feeling "ashamed" of the frame-up.

Terming prime minister's Independence Day speech as disappointing, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday questioned his silence on the Mumbai violence and asked him to clarify his government's policy on the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Opposition parties on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech,saying it was 'uninspiring' and that he had nothing new tooffer on how to tackle inflation.

Thousands of grieving supporters and family today bade a tearful adieu to Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh whose mortal remains were consigned to flames at his native Babhalgaon village from where he began his political journey as an obscure sarpanch four decades ago.

A 20-year-old college student was kidnapped and murdered by his friend in Naigoan on the outskirts of Mumbai on Sunday, police said today, reports NDTV. The accused has confessed to the crime and has been arrested.

Ganesh Sriram, a second year student of Thakur College in Kandivali, stayed in a rented accommodation at Mira Road.

According to the police, his neighbourhood friend Kalpesh Soraj, 25, moved into his flat 10 days ago. On August 12, Kalpesh reportedly took Ganesh to Naigoan on the pretext of meeting a friend and then kidnapped him with the help of his accomplice Ravindra Kumar.

The duo murdered him on the same day and then made ransom calls to Ganesh's father Ramchandra Sriram, police said. They reportedly demanded Rs. 8 lakhs but later settled for Rs. 3 lakh and asked him to come to Kandivali railway station on Tuesday.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has courted trouble over corruption in judiciary remark. A Kolkata-based lawyer has said that he will file a contempt plea against her in the Calcutta high court on Thursday, reports CNN-IBN.

The lawyer is expected to ask court to take suo moto cognizance of the comments and ask her to clarify her statement. Earlier, Mamata had said that sometimes court verdicts are purchased.

"At times favourable verdicts are given in return for money. These days, judgments are purchased. There is corruption among a section of the judiciary. I know there can be a defamation suit against me for saying this. But this must be said and I am ready to go to jail for saying so," she had said in the West Bengal Assembly.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today visited Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's native Babhalgaon village in Latur and paid their last respects to the departed leader. Both Dr Singh and Gandhi laid a wreath on the wooden casket, in which Deshmukh's body rested.

Gandhi went up to Deshmukh's wife Vaishali and consoled and hugged her. Singh spoke to Deshmukh's son Amit and consoled him. Both the PM and the UPA chairperson sat with the family for a few minutes before leaving.

Governor K Sankarayananan, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, his deputy Ajit Pawar, AICC in-charge of the State Mohan Prakash, State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre, Union Minister Mukul Wasnik and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Shukla accompanied the PM and Gandhi.

Twenty five people were injured as Congress workers and police clashed in Hoogly, West Bengal today. The Congress workers pelted stones and set a police van on fire.  

The police restored to lathicharge to bring mob in control.  

More details are awaited.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today asked the Maoists to return to the mainstream and assured the rebels that the state government would make all arrangements for their rehabilitation.

"Maoists should return to the mainstream of life and our government will make all arrangements for their rehabilitation, including jobs," Mamata said in her Independence Day address.

Dwelling on the overall success her government has achieved in the last one year and three months of coming to power, the CM said she is committed to restore the lost glory of Bengal for which they have already adapted several schemes to ensure economic prosperity and industrial development.

Claiming that law and order was well under control in her regime, Banerjee, who also looks after the Home department, warned the administration would not tolerate any bid to ferment riots and urged all to cooperate with the administration in this regard.

Thousands of people lined up on the road to pay their last respects to Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh whose body arrived in Latur this morning.              

The body of Deshmukh, who passed away at the Global Hospital in Chennai yesterday, was flown in an Air Force plane to Latur early today.              

On way to his native village Babhalgaon, the procession of the vehicle carrying Deshmukh's body was impeded by thousands of mourners who blocked traffic on the main road in a bid to have a last glimpse of the leader.              

Shops and commercial establishments in Latur have downed shutters since yesterday soon after the news of Deshmukh's passing away reached them.              

Police sources said seven lakh people are expected to attend Deshmukh's last rites.

Four blasts rocked Manipur today as the country celebrated Independence Day. Three blasts took place in Imphal, 2 km away from the parade ground. No injuries were reported here.  

Two were injured in another blast in the Thoubal district if Manipur.     

More details are awaited

India will send a spaceship to Mars to collect important scientific information about the Red Planet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced today.  

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 66th Independence Day, Dr Singh said the mission to Mars would mark a huge step for the country in the area of scienceand technology.   

"Recently, the Cabinet has approved the Mars Orbiter Mission. Under this Mission, our spaceship will go near Mars and collect important scientific information," he said.   

"This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology," Singh said.

Against the backdrop of a lack of political consensus on the final shape of the proposed Lokpal Bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today hoped that political parties will help its passage in the Rajya Sabha.

"Our commitment to make the work of the government and administration transparent and accountable stands," he said in his Independence Day address.With the Lokpal Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha, Singh hoped that "all political parties" will help the UPA government pass the legislation in the Upper House.

"The Lok Sabha has cleared the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill. We hope that all political parties will help us in passing this Bill in the Rajya Sabha," he said.

The Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha last year, is being scrutinised by a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha and the government hopes to bring it in the Upper House for passage in the ongoing Monsoon Session.

Cautioning that lack of political consensus on many issues was impeding rapid economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said time has come to view development processes as matters of national security.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of 66th Independence Day, he hoped that all political parties will help the government in passing the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill in Parliament. "We will continue our efforts to bring more transparency and accountability in the work of public servants and to reduce corruption," Singh said.

While doing so, steps will be taken to see that the morale of public functionaries taking decisions in public interest is not affected because of baseless allegations and unnecessary litigation, he said. On economic growth, the prime minister said that lack of political consensus was coming in its way.

"As far as creating an environment within the country for rapid economic growth is concerned, I believe that we are not being able to achieve this because of a lack of political consensus on many issues," Singh said.

The United States today called on China to use its influence to press Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end more than a year of bloodshed as senior US and Syrian envoys visited Beijing. 

The United States today lifted sanctions against former Syrian prime minister Riad Hijab, who defected earlier this month, as it urged more top officials to abandon the regime. 

Andhra Pradesh Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao resigned late tonight, a day after CBI named him as an accused in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy.