A security constable on duty in Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's official residence on Saturday night allegedly shot himself dead, police sources said. 

Yesteryear superstar Rajesh Khanna was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati hospital on Saturday evening due to weakness, a week after being released from there, sources close to him said. 

China's official news agency Xinhua has slammed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for 'meddling' in the dispute over South China Sea. 

 Over 40 Kingfisher flights were cancelled today due to a strike by its pilots to protestnon-payment of salaries. 

The BJP is determined not to make the going any easier for the Congress and the UPA. 

Sports Minister Ajay Maken today declined to comment on Suresh Kalmadi's accusation that he was carrying out a vilification campaign against him, saying he would not like to respond to a person who has been chargesheeted by the CBI. 

Top police officers of six Naxal affected states -- Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odissa, Jharkhand and Kerala -- met today to consider the threat posed by explosives to security personnel and to suggest amending of the Explosives Act. 

PM has talked to JD-U chief Sharad Yadav but has not received any commitment on the party's support to Hamid Ansari. 

Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has welcomed the candidature of Hamid Ansari. 

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have already expressed support for Ansari's candidature, informed Home Minister P Chidambaram.   

At the UPA meeting to finalise the alliance's candidate for the VP's post, Trinamool Congress leader and Railway Minister Mukul Roy is believed to have suggested the name of former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and former MP Krishna Bose. 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier called up BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and L K Advani to seek their support for Hamid Ansari's candidature for the Vice President's post.   

The UPA has named Vice President Hamid Ansari as its choice for the post for a second term.

"I have the right to attend the London Olympics. No charge has been proven against me in the Commonwealth Games," said sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi. "The sports ministry is vilifying me."   

Kalmadi was given permission to attend the London Olympics by the Delhi high court on Friday.

India is all set to give the go-ahead for an ambitious mission to Mars, expected in November next year, a top space department official said today.

"A lot of studies have been done on the possible mission to Mars," Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan told the media.

"We have come to the last phase of approvals," he said. "And I am sure that, maybe soon, we will be hearing an announcement on the Mars mission".

CBI to file chargesheet against for former health minister Anbumani Ramadoss n a corruption case, involving grant of allegedly illegal permission by him to a medical college in Indore to admit students.

The former minister faces prosecution for allegedly granting permission to the college, which had no sufficient faculty members or clinical infrastructure to run the course.

A bill aimed at making the Inter-Services Intelligence more accountable to Parliament and government has been withdrawn from the Senate by the Presidential Spokesman, who had submitted it in his private capacity,     Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman of President Asif Ali Zardari, had submitted the bill to the upper house of Parliament last week.   

It is believed that the move had the backing of the presidency.   

The bill was reportedly withdrawn because Babar did not get it approved by a special committee of the ruling Pakistan People's Party headed by Law Minister Farook H Naek.

Terming the National Rural Employment Grantee Act as a "story worth telling", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the issue of delayed payment to workers under the programme should be addressed at the earliest and sought concurrent audit of rural development schemes "I am surprised to hear from (Rural Development Minister) Jairam Ramesh that concurrent evaluation processes are not in good shape. When I was in the Planning Commission long ago, I think we have started the programme of concurrent evaluation for number of programmes of rural development.

"I don't know why they are languishing, if they are at all languishing. But I would request (Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to apply his mind to making good this deficiency as well," he said.

Both Ramesh and Ahluwalia were present at the programme. Singh was addressing a programme here to mark the release of 'MGNREGA Sameeksha', an anthology of research study on UPA's flagship scheme.

Jind Mahapanchayat said today that female foeticide is a crime. It equals murder and should be a punishable offence.    

A Mahapanchayat or meeting of village councils on female foeticide and related issues, was g held today in Jind district of Haryana. The district is notorious for its skewed sex ratio where males far outnumber females.

Over a 100 women attended the session aimed at controlling female foeticide.

Several khaps or caste councils from Haryana and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Delhi will take part in the panchayat.

District Collector of Kheda has ordered an inquiry in the case where a piece of land belonging to India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was allegedly sold-off using forged documents.

The land concerned is located in Gadwa village of Mehamadabad taluka in Kheda.

"Land belonging to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was sold off by forging documents. An FIR has been filed in Mehamadabad town of the district in the case," District Collector M V Parghi told PTI.

Deputy collector Munir Vohra has been directed to conduct an inquiry, Parghi added.

Complaining about "woefully inadequate," allotment of Haj quota to the state, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enhance the number.  

In a letter to Dr Singh, she said the state Haj Committe had received 12,000 applications this year, but the central Haj Committee had allotted only 2,863 seats which was" woefully inadequate."  

As per guidelines for Haj 2012, of these 2,863 seats, 1,146will be apportioned for various reserved categories and about1,717 dispensed for selection under the general category,leaving the rest of over 9,000 "disappointed," she said.  

During Haj 2011, the Committee had initially allotted 3,049seats against the receipt of over 10,000 applications from the state and after release of additional quota and government discretionary quota, 4,084 persons were able to perform the pilgrimage. But this year's allocation of 2,863 was an "all time low," she said.

After a video of a young girl being molested in Guwahati went viral only four men out of the mob of 50 have been arrested. 11 people have been identified so far.

A cameraperson and reporter instead of having focused on helping the victim rather recorded the crime.  But another journalist of vernacular daily Ajir Asom, who happened to pass by, stopped. He was also the one who called the police.

Recalling the incident, he said, "The girl shouted for help on seeing me. I asked cameramen to stop filming. I think there were close to 50 people.. The girl was harassed inside the police van.'    The victim was molested on Monday night for around 40 minutes on a busy street outside a pub in Guwahati's Christian Basti area.

A Mahapanchayat or meeting of village councils on female foeticide and related issues, is being held today in Jind district of Haryana. The district is notorious for its skewed sex ratio where males far outnumber females, reports NDTV.

The village bodies are meeting this morning, in what they say is an attempt to empower women. Over a 100 women will attend the session aimed at controlling female foeticide.

Other issues pertaining to women will also be discussed Several khaps or caste councils from Haryana and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Delhi will take part in this, Bibipur village Sarpanch said. Earlier this week, the Khap in Baghpat; also the home constituency of Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh ruled that women must cover their heads when they step out of their homes.

They also ordered that women younger than 40 must not leave their homes at all after sunset.

Several flights of Kingfisher were cancelled today due to a strike by pilots to protest non-payment of wages for almost five months.

Three flights from Mumbai and several across the airline's entire network were cancelled. 25 flight cancellations were reported from Delhi alone -- 11 arrivals and 14 departures.

An airlines spokesperson said, "A certain section of employees have decided to stay away from duties due to salary payments not being credited to the bank accounts of all employees by Friday.

Kingfisher wishes to state that more than 75 per cent of employees have actually received their promised salaries on Friday"."We have further promised that the balance of our employees will receive their salaries by Monday", the spokesman said.

The passengers booked on these flights have either been re-booked or given refunds, he said.

Actor Sylvester Stallone's son has been found dead in his Hollywood home. Sage Moonblood Stallone, 36, was found dead on Friday afternoon at an apartment, his attorney confirmed to The New York Post.

And sources tell Page Six that Sage Stallone is believed to have died following an overdose of pills. The source said pills were found at his home, but it was unclear if his death was a suicide or accidental.

The Los Angeles Police Department said the case has been referred to the coroner.

Read full story here

As many as 220 people may have been killed in Thursday's massacre, which would be the largest of the Syrian revolt so far.

Hillary Clinton has expressed outrage over reports of Syrian government troops killing more than 200 people in a village near the city of Hama and demanded an immediate ceasefire.

Read the full story on The Guardian

Russian MPs adopt a controversial bill to force foreign-funded political NGOs to register as "foreign agents".

Read the full story on BBC!

Assam molestation: 'I was thinking of killing myself'

Enforcement Directorate records Jagan's statements

My candidature reflects broad consensus: Pranab

Ajit Singh silent on bizarre bans imposed on women in UP

A new Parliament in Delhi?

Mamata Banerjee not to attend UPA dinner

13/7: 'It was a tragedy for us, but we have to move on'

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