At least eight people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack at the police academy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, medics and security officials say.

Police sources said the bomber blew himself up among a large crowd of cadets as they left the academy after classes finished for the day.

Read the full story on BBC!

A Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army crashed in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region today, killing all five persons on board who were returning from a sortie to Gyari sector of Siachen, the army said. 

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, S Jaipal Reddy is likely to be the Leader of Lok Sabha and the decision to this effect is likely to be taken on Friday in the core committee meeting. 

Indian Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh was today conferred with the Honorary General of the Nepali Army by President Ram Baran Yadav. Singh was also presented with a sword, a certificate and the insignia of the Nepal Army during a function at Rastrapati Bhawan in the capital. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattrai and Chief of Army Staff of Nepal Army Chhatra Man Singh Gurung were present on the occasion.

Also read: Gorkha cloud on Bikram trip

This morning, Pakistan made it to the Doonesbury comic strip, but not in a funny-haha sort of way. Read

From how Cruise and Holmes met to how much money Katie will receive, six questions that remain unanswered in the wake of the former power couple's swift and secretive divorce settlement.

Part of the daily staple from Hollywood. Read

In a see-saw trade, the rupee today pared most of its early gains to close down by 24 paise at 55.63 on emergence of dollar buying at fag-end of trade by importers and banks.

Weak trends in local stocks with Sensex dropping by 129 points also weighed on rupee but some capital inflows limited its decline to some extent, forex dealers said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the domestic unit commenced sharply lower at 55.72 a dollar from yesterday's close of 55.39. Soon after it touched an intra-day low of 55.73 as worries over monsoon aggravated.

Watch: Inside Iran's underground billion-dollar art gallery

Also on the NYT's India blogs -- At first glance, the concept of 'hiking yoga' seems like an odd entry in the growing list of hybrid yoga classes, which mix downward dog and tree pose with everything from kickboxing to Pilates and ballet,' Susan Stellin wrote in The New York Times. Read

At the base of cloud-kissed hills, the tea gardens around Naxalbari, in West Bengal state, are home to the famous Darjeeling brew. Women pick the summer flush of leaves, which will be processed in local factories before traveling around the world. But this serene, picturesque setting hides the history of a violent revolution, at the incubator of India's epic class war that still kills more than 1,000 people every year.

Read the report on the India blogs of the New York Times.

Underworld don Abu Salem need not be extradited back to Portugal despite its Constitutional Court rejecting India's plea challenging the order of its Supreme Court cancelling his extradition.

Portugal's top court -- the Constitutional Court -- has observed that India was not obliged to extradite the gangster back to the European country after it was held there was violation of deportation rules by Indian authorities.

Official sources here today explained the position on the extradition status of Salem against the backdrop of the top court rejecting India's plea challenging a Supreme Court verdict upholding a lower court order cancelling his extradition to this country.

A father accused of murdering his daughter because he believed she had brought shame on his family broke down in court today as he denied the charge. Read

An Australian magazine has published photographs of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge strolling on a beach during their honeymoon in the Seychelles. Read.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to consider 10 per cent disinvestment of SAIL tomorrow. 

Syed Mohammad Kazmi, a journalist who is an accused in the February 13 terror attack on an Israeli diplomat, today moved the Delhi high Court seeking a direction to resume hearing before a sessions judge on his plea against extension of probe period in the case.

Kazmi, in judicial custody in the case, had moved the sessions court against an order of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) allowing Delhi police the extension of period of investigation from 90 days to 180 days. Justice Manmohan has fixed further hearing on the fresh plea of Kazmi on July 13.

Kazmi was arrested on March 6 for his alleged role in the embassy car bombing. Four people were injured when an Israeli embassy car was struck by a bomb near the Prime Minister's official residence here on February 13 this year.

In 1793, hours before she was beheaded, Marie Antoinette wrote a letter to her sister-in-law and children. Here's the letter.

Yuvraj Singh @YUVSTRONG12"Just been training & running. My shoes have become my superpower. Glad I have them for my comfort.


Yuvraj Singh will be writing about his battle with cancer in a book titled, 'In Different Form'. The book will be published in December 2012.

The JD(U) today took a dig at Home Minister P Chidambaram over his controversial ice-cream remark on price rise issue, saying the truth had "accidentally" come out from the mouth of a "supporter" of market forces.

"It is right. What wrong did he say? But Chidambaram is also a supporter of market forces and that is why he used the icecream imagery. How many poor eat icecream?.

"In fact a small truth has accidentally come out from the mouth of a supporter of market forces while he was actually trying to defend them," was the refrain of Sharad Yadav to Chidambaram's comment made yesterday.

The Home Minster had said in Bangalore yesterday that people are prepared to pay Rs 15 for a bottle of water and Rs 20 for a cone ice-cream, but protest against rise in wheat and rice price.

Fearing damage from monsoon rains, the government today said it has already moved almost half of 6.6 million tonnes of wheat kept in open, in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to safe places.

The government is grappling with the problem of plenty as its godowns are overflowing with over 82 MT of foodgrains against the storing capacity of 64 MT. "We have already moved three million tonnes of wheat on a priority basis to safe places. The remaining will be transported next month," Food Minister K V Thomas told

The starlet and her family - mother Shelina, elder sister Hazmina, twin siblings Zara and Imran and another relative - went missing from Mumbai in February 2011. A case of kidnapping was registered in a Mumbai police station last week on a complaint lodged by her father Nadir Patel.According to the complaint, Tak and his alleged accomplice Asif Shaikh kidnapped Laila and others

Prime suspect Pervez Tak had told Jammu and KashmirPolice, which arrested him last month in a forgery case, that he shot dead Laila and others in Maharashtra last year after kidnapping them.

The human remains were recovered from the place shown by Tak, the sources said. "Tak showed us some places where we dug and found these remains," police said.

Roy said that mattresses and pillows, soaked in blood  had been placed over the bodies. Two knives and jewellery have also been recovered from the crime scene. There were lots of stones on the bodies as well.

Joint Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy addressing a press conference in Mumbai on the murder of wannabe starlet Laila Khan says six skeletons have been found of which three skeletons have skull injuries. The skeletons were found in a pit in a farmhouse in Igatpuri. A blood stained iron rod has also been found. The injuries were inflicted prior to death, said doctors.

The police say DNA tests have still to be carried out to confirm if the skeletons belong to Laila and her family.

Police on Tuesday found human remains, including three skulls, near a farm house of the starlet, raising suspicion that they could belong to her and her family members who had been missing since early last year.

The remains were dug out after a day-long search by a team of Mumbai crime branch near the farm house in Igatpuri, 100 km from Mumbai, in Nashik district, police sources said.

China told Japan today it should respect Beijing's "indisputable sovereignty" over islands claimed by both countries in the East China Sea which are again the cause of fresh tension.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Liechi met with Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba in Phnom Penh where he "reaffirmed China's principled position" on the islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

"He stressed that Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets have always been China's territory since ancient times, over which China has indisputable sovereignty," said a statement from the Chinese delegation.

And this is what Pranab's opponent has to say.

PA Sangma today said that presidential election were not held on party lines and everybody has a right to vote according to their conscience.

"Today I have come to appeal to all MPs and MLAs. Presidential election are not held on the basis of political parties, it is above political party," Sangma said. He said that in presidential election a candidate is not of a political party.

"Pranab Mukherjee is not a Congress candidate. He has resigned from the party and is contesting as an independent. I am also an independent candidate," he said. As per the constitution, presidential election are held through secret ballot and whip is not issued by any political party, Sangma said.

"If a whip is issued by any party it is not valid," he added. "Everybody has a right to vote according to his conscience. In 1969, conscience voting took place in which V V Giri won. I appeal to everyone again," he said. 

A day after the Election Commission rejected the petition filed by the P A Sangma camp objecting to the nomination of Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA Presidential candidate today said it was now a closed chapter.

"Since all the disputes about my nomination have been resolved by the returning officer, there was nothing left for me to say about them," Mukherjee said during an interaction with the media.

Citing Constitutional and legal provisions, the Election Commission yesterday rejected the petition of opposition- backed P A Sangma camp saying it was not maintainable before it. On the many charges levelled against him, Mukherjee said, "I do not indulge in mud-slinging."


Mr Mukherjee can certainly afford to sit pretty by taking the high moral ground.

Interesting read: Researchers have provided evolutionary reasons on why body language is still a rich and vital part of our communication.

Sweaty palms clasping mouths in disbelief, muscled arms folded in disagreement, two fists hoisted aloft showing victory '" all these are some of the body languages that human uses to communicate their feelings.

"That position -- the arms raised high -- evokes triumph and it's very ancient,' said Margaret J. King, director of the Center for Cultural Studies and Analysis in Philadelphia. That traditional victory stance, rooted in the older, limbic portion of our brains where base emotions are fuelled, may have been flashed when the earliest humans celebrated their first conquests, King suggests.

"I'm a cultural analyst but I use anthropology and I would bet that comes from a good hunt, from having successfully hunted and killed prey,' msnbc.com quoted King as saying.

The recent Pinki Pramanik case making the headlines, brought home to me not only how poorly equipped we are to deal with questions of gender, but also how rape cases in India invariably tend to get focused on facts other than those relating to the crime itself.

Read the blog

Even as the government announced that the monsoon had reached all across India, the government today said it is worried about poor rains in Karnataka and central Maharashtra which could affect the production of coarse cereals and supply of drinking water.

Briefing about the progress of monsoon and the sowing of kharif crops, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the rainfall situation has improved across the country in last 10 days, barring these two states.

"As of today, the country as a whole, the rainfall situation is definitely improving vis-a-vis 10 days back. But the worrisome areas are Karnataka and central Maharashtra," Pawar said after meeting with IMD officials.

It doesn't make it any easier for Anuj Bidve's parents, but here's the story...

The man standing trial for the killing of Anuj Bidve had an anti-social personality disorder with psychopathic and sadistic features and acted impulsively when he killed the Indian student, a psychologist who assessed him has said.

Kiaran Stapleton, 21, who previously called himself 'Psycho' Stapleton at a court hearing, was put through several personality assessments by defence psychologist Sanya Krljes, who gave evidence at the ongoing trial in the Manchester Crown Court.

Stapleton has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Bidve's parents are attending the trial. Bidve, 23, a postgraduate student at Lancaster University, was shot dead on December 26 last year.

The psychologist said that Stapleton's break-up with his girlfriend, and separation from his daughter would have made him very angry. He was holding on to his anger and rage over his girlfriend and acted impulsively in the worst imaginable way when he killed Bidve, Krljes said.

The Supreme Court today stayed the trial court proceedings against senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case. A bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan directed the lower court not to proceed with the case till July 27 when the Delhi High Court is likely to take up Kumar's plea for allowing him to cross examine the witnesses whose statements before various commissions are being used by the CBI against him.

The court passed the order on former MP Kumar's appeal challenging the high court's order which had refused to stay the trial against him. The CBI vehemently opposed Kumar's appeal and alleged that it was a delaying tactics on his part.

Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats#AgniveshMovies Main Morarji Desai Banna Chahta Hoon.


Scroll down to the 11.25 am post for the context.

Risque tabloid news to stave off the slumber.

 
Lady Gaga must have had waiters falling over themselves when she went out for dinner last night. The pop eccentric donned a strappy 'outfit' that flashed most of her body, including the contents of her see-through bra. Read

British police have questioned a man for posting racist comments as communications regulator Ofcom launched a probe after more than 1,000 complaints about racist insults hurled at Miss India UK Deana Uppal on reality show Big Brother.

Conor McIntyre, a contestant on the show, has been warned about his aggressive behaviour, particularly towards Uppal. He used a string of expletives during the June 25 episode, sparking a wave of complaints from viewers.

Uppal is the current Miss India UK and has done modelling assignments in the UK and India. She has apparently infuriated housemates with her alleged inability to wash up or cook, because she is used to her mother doing everything for her and because she employs servants in India.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said opposition-backed Presidential candidate P A Sangma should maintain decorum as he was contesting elections for the highest office of the country.

"Note to Mr Sangma - you are contesting elections to the highest office in the land, would it hurt you to maintain a measure of decorum?" Omar wrote on the micro-blogging site twitter.com.

Although Omar did not elaborate any further on the issue, the comment was apparently in response to Sangma's reported remarks in Mumbai that Rashtrapati Bhawan was being used as a dumping ground for 'failed' former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

"The Raisina Hill is being used as a dumping ground for the failed Finance Minister," Sangma told reporters yesterday at Mumbai while mobilising support for his Presidential bid. Omar's National Conference, which is part of the UPA at Centre and leads the coalition government with Congress in the state, has pledged support for Mukherjee's candidature. The Presidential elections will be held on July 19.

The Delhi High Court ruled that the letters and the communication between former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and President KR Narayananan is strictly confidential and cannot be released.

A certain C Ramesh submitted an appeal on 30.1.06 before the Central Information Commission seeking a direction from the Commission to direct the CPIO to disclose the contents of the correspondence exchanged between the former President Late Shri K.R. Narayanan and the former Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee between the period from 28.2.02 and15.3.02. The appeal was received on 6.2.06.

Here is what the RTI says.

Just in: The Delhi High Court sets asides a Central Information Commission order asking the Centre to reveal the communication between the then Prime Minister and the President over 2002 Gujarat riots.

KR Narayanan was the President then, with Atal Behari Vajpayee, the prime minister and refers to the period from 28.2.02 and15.3.02. 

Irish actor whose role in Lawrence of Arabia 50 years ago assured his status as a screen legend has retired. Read

Don't die before you watch this film.

Case of Joe Gordon drew international condemnation after he was jailed in Thailand for blogposts made online from US. Read

The appalling incident of a 10-year-old girl being forced to drink her own urine as a punishment for bed-wetting has evoked widespread criticism regarding the role of Visva-Bharati authorities.

It has put the spotlight on the administrative failure of the West Bengal's only central university, which was founded by Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore.According to insiders, the fall of academic standards had started right after Tagore's demise.

Read more on the Daily Mail.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh claimed yesterday that this was a "traditional cure" for such a condition.

Logging in to Facebook has turbocharged the Delhi Traffic Police. They hopped aboard the social networking bandwagon just two years ago and have already booked more than 22,000 traffic offenders via the site.

The road rule violators netted on the Net include 725 policemen and several VIPs. The fact that the force's FB page has attracted over 1.23 lakh members is also ample evidence that this unique experiment to open a real-time, two-way communication channel with civic-minded residents of the Capital is a runaway hit. It has enabled road-users to interface smoothly with the traffic police by bypassing bureaucratic bottlenecks.


Read more on the Daily Mail

Here's what NDTV has on the tragic school bus accident.

One student and a staff member of the Iqra Educational Institute in Kupwara district have been killed, and 25 children hurt during a school excursion after their bus had an accident near Gulmarg.

Three buses were on the excursion when one of the buses fell into a gorge while negotiating a turn, according to early reports. The students were being taken to visit a Sufi shrine. They have been rushed to local hospitals.

Two dead, 51 students injured as bus rolls down hill near Gulmarg tourist resort in Kashmir, says police. Details awaited.  

News from North Korea's enemy number -- the United States. President Barack Obama intends to nominate Ambassador Richard Olsen to be the next U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, three sources with direct knowledge of the pending appointment told The Cable. Read

The mystery woman pictured accompanying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to a string of official engagements is a previously married pop star, who his father banned him from seeing 10 years ago, it has been revealed.

Read the story on the Daily Mail. 

Home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that he was disgusted on deliberate distortion of statement on middle-class. I did not mock or chide anyone but made a matter of fact statement," he was quoted as saying.

Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the middle class is  ready to pay for mineral water and ice-cream but can't bear an increase of Re 1 in price of wheat and rice. BJP on Tuesday had lashed out at Chidambaram for his remarks saying he has shown insensitivity towards them and ridiculed them.

"It seems that Mr Chidambaram has inappropriately made a scandalous remark against the middle class and is ridiculing them. BJP would treat this remark as a complete hate statement reflecting the inner contradictions of the government itself," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

The London Olympics is all set to go down in history as the most dope tested Games with more than 6,000 samples expected to be analysed, the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has said.

"These will be the most tested Games in Olympic history and doping athletes must know that they will be under severe scrutiny of anti-doping officials from the moment they set foot in the Olympic Village," WADA president John Fahey said in a media statement from Montreal.

"The IOC and LOCOG (Games organising committee) have prepared an extensive anti-doping programme that will analyse up to 6,250 samples while the anti-doping authorities are already sharing intelligence to assist with target testing of athletes under suspicion," he added.

Fahey said that WADA's intention is to make the upcoming Games, starting on July 27, as clean as possible. "I should also add that UK Anti-Doping is mandated to test athletes in training camps ahead of the Games and has also compiled much intelligence with the co-operation of anti-doping organisations worldwide.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines cameo as "a small theatrical role usually performed by a well-known actor and often limited to a single scene; broadly : a brief appearance or role.'Can Rahul Gandhi's role in Indian politics really be reduced to that of cameo?

More on the WSJ. Point of reference is Salman Khurshid's interview to the Indian Express where he says: "We have only seen cameos of his (Rahul Gandhi's) thought and ideas."

Former President A P J Abdul Kalam has become the latest personality to make foray into social networking site, Facebook, where he will share his thoughts on issues concerning the country's development and his interaction with various sections of people.

Kalam (81), who is already on video sharing website YouTube, will be a regular on Facebook and make his observations about making India a developed nation before 2020. Called the 'Billion Beats', Kalam's Facebook page is an extension of his e-paper initiative which he started immediately after he demitted office of President of India in July 2007.


Also read MJ Akbar's interview with Kalam

Monsoon has covered the entire country as on today, but is still deficient by 23 per cent, says IMD chief. 

DV Sadananda Gowda resigns as Karnataka Chief Minister. The outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda submitted his resignation to Governor HR Bhardwaj today. He had already submitted his resignation to party chief Nitin Gadkari on Sunday who said Gowda had quit in the interest of the party.

This comes after the BS Yeddyurappa's camp pressed for months to have Gowda removed, demanding that a Lingayat leader, specifically Jagadish Shettar, be made chief minister instead.

The BJP on Tuesday lashed out at home minister P Chidambaram for his remarks that the middle class is ready to pay for mineral water and ice cream, but can't bear an increase of Re 1 in price of wheat and rice, saying he has shown insensitivity towards them and ridiculed them.

"It seems that Mr Chidambaram has inappropriately made a scandalous remark against the middle class and is ridiculing them. BJP would treat this remark as a complete hate statement reflecting the inner contradictions of the government itself," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Update on the Presidential elections.

A day before UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee's Jharkhand visit, the Congress today said chances of JMM President Shibu Soren supporting him are positive, though he has chosen to defer the date of announcement of his choice for the July 19 election.

"I met Shibu Soren and Deputy Chief Minister Hemant Soren last night and their responses were very positive. The JMM is also supporting the UPA at the Centre," AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.

The JMM has authorised Soren to decide the party's stand on the Presidential poll. The party has 18 MLAs in the Jharkhand Assembly and three MPs. While Mukherjee is scheduled to visit Ranchi tomorrow, his opponent P A Sangma will be here this evening. The BJP with 18 MLAs is having a coalition government with allies JMM, AJSU and JD-U.

Chennai-based Staccato is elated over being selected to perform at the Olympics in London, but the band is struggling to arrange sponsors to fund their trip to the sporting extravaganza.

The fusion band comprising teenagers is one of the two bands of Asia selected by "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle from among 10,000 entries world over. The band's Olympic composition being guided by music maestro A R Rehman whose nephew Kashif is part of the band.

The band has been allotted two slots of 80 minutes each to be performed at the Olympic Park the venue of performances all through the Olympic fortnight. While practice sessions are on in full swing the 10 member ensemble is struggling to get sponsors for funding their trip to Olympics.

"The news of being selected along with a band from China from more than 10,000 entries came as a great surprise for us. But arranging sponsors is proving to be a bit tougher than expected," Vikram Saarathy, the keyboardist of the band said.

Our sources in Delhi tell us that Union Minister for  Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh's, three-day visit to Sri Lanka today is a hot topic amongst ADMK
and DMK politicians. Both the parties consider Jairam as a bridge between Dravida parties and 10 Janpath.

Jairam's visit to Colombo is primarily to exchange the salient features of Nrega and to deliver a lecture at Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute in Colombo.

Jairam has been intentionally low on publicity as he got support for this visit from the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee MPs and not from ADMK or DMK.

He will be received at the Colombo airport by Nirupama Rajapakshe, the  Sri Lankan deputy Minister for Water Resources.

A nationwide outrage over a Visva-Bharati warden asking a class 5 student to drink her urine for bed-wetting notwithstanding, social activist Swami Agnivesh claimed yesterday that this was a "traditional cure" for such a condition.

"Why is there so much fuss made about the suggestion given to Visva-Bharati' Patha Bhavan school girl who was suggested to consume her own urine by her hostel warden, Uma Poddar, as cure for bed wetting. It is a simple piece of advice by the hostel warden, which has created so much ruckus by the girl's parents and then by the media," Agnivesh said in a statement.

Read more of this unbelievable story.

Every high-school physics student is familiar with Einstein's famous equation linking energy and mass with a mathematical constant, the speed of light: E=mc2.

Einstein used the equation to prove that even inert objects carry mass-equivalent energy and that no particle can exceed the velocity of light (roughly 3,00,000 km/sec).

As particles approach the speed of light, their mass increases and time measured on them slows down. The European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) recently confirmed the century-old argument in Einstein's favour: nothing indeed can travel faster than light.

Read more of that on the Economic Times. 

A massive fire completely gutted two buildings at Woodbridge, New Jersey apartment complex on Tuesday afternoon. The blaze started just after 3 pm, and quickly spread through buildings 36 and 37 at 305 Village Drive, authorities say. It's not clear how it started, but it appears it began in one unit in building 36.

A common roof enabled the blaze to spread quickly and prolonged the burn time, fire officials said. It quickly reached nine alarms, bringing 200 firefighters to the scene. Fifty units were destroyed in the blaze, leaving at least 100 people homeless, many of whom were Indians.
Read more

After Union law minister Salman Khursheed's controversial comments on UPA2 and AICC internal issues, another salvo has apparently been fired at 24 Akbar Road, the headquarters of the AICC.
A six-page confidential communication from Pratap Singh Bajwa, a Congress MP from Punjab has been delivered to the AICC. What it contains is anybody's guess. 

Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahaguna wins the Sitarganj by-election by a margin of 39,954 votes over his nearest BJP rival Prakash Pant.

Our sources in New Delhi tell us that matters have further soured between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. We say further, because the crack in the relationship appeared after Mamata, a UPA ally, refused to support Pranab Mukherjee's candidature.

What has happened now is that a Bengali TV channel has been reporting that CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechury is a frequent visitor to 10 Janpath  for political  interactions. The channel showed four visits by Yechury in April and May.

This has discomfited Mamta Banerjee.
Yechury, meanwhile, holds quiet meetings at the chambers of the chairman of joint parliamentary committee along with Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi. The meetings are held inside the Parliament House annexe. The  message is then conveyed to 10 Janpath.

Athlete Pinki Pramanik walks out of jail after 26 days. Arrested on rape charge the Aisad gold medalist was granted bail by a court in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Tuesday.  

"I have been framed," Pramanik told the media after she was released from Dum Dum Central Correctional Home, where she was lodged on June 14. "I will consult my lawyer and decide the next course of action." 

The District and Sessions Judge of Barasat Court ruled that she be released on bail on a bond of Rs. 5,000, as necessary investigations and medical tests to ascertain her gender were over.  

The Trinamool Congress is likely to abstain from voting in the presidential and vice-presidential poll, say sources. The party is not keep on Pranab Mukherjee or PA Sangma for President.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee is also against a second term for Hamid Ansari as the vice president. The party is opposing Ansari for his stand during the Lokapal debate in the Rajya Sabha, say sources. 

It is likely to back Gopal Gandhi and Krishna Bose for the post of the vice-president.  

United States President Barack Obama intends to nominate Richard Olsen to be the next US ambassador to Pakistan, reports The Cable.  

Olsen, a senior member of the foreign service, has been serving as the coordinating director for development and economic affairs at the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, since June 2011.  

If confirmed, he will replace Ambassador Cameron Munter, who announced in May that he would step down from his post after only 18 months on the job. Munter, who presided over the Islamabad embassy during perhaps the worst period in US-Pakistan relations in over a decade, resigned of his own accord and will retire from the foreign service and join the private sector, three sources with direct knowledge of the pending appointment told The Cable.  

Read full story here

A man apparently brandishing a fake gun has freed the final hostage he had been holding at a French school outside Paris and has himself been captured.

The last hostage was a parent who had come to drop off a child at the school in Vitry-sur-Seine, which is being used as a leisure centre during the holidays, police said.

Earlier, the man released a group of children he had been holding.

Read the full story on BBC!

The highest court in Egypt has overturned a decree by President Mohammed Mursi to recall parliament.

Mursi had issued the decree in defiance of a military council ruling that dissolved parliament.

Members of parliament gathered for a brief session earlier in the day before the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court was announced.

Hundreds have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest against the court's latest decision.

Read the full story on BBC!

Human remains found near Laila's farm house

Politics behind him, Pranab set for a new innings

Adarsh land doesn't belong to army: Ex-army officer

EC rejects Sangma camp's petition against Pranab

The lotus in Karnataka is withering: Chidambaram

Shettar to be sworn in as new Karnataka CM on July 12

I feel handicapped with guilt and debt: 13/7 survivor

Exclusive: 'Sarabjit a victim of mistaken identity'

Click here for yesterday's news updates!