One person was killed and two people suffered bullet injury today when suspected terrorists opened fire at a market in East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has finally cleared outstanding dues of the national team players and also assured them of no delays in future payments of match fees, bonuses or monthly retainers.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Saturday said the Congress high command will take a final call on the party's candidate for Tehri Lok Sabha seat, which will fall vacant after his resignation.

Despite UPA ally NCP targetting him, Congress today ruled out removal of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. 

AP reports: A South African official says a bus crash in the country's southeast has killed 18 people.Three of them were elementary school children headed to a sports event.

Yoga guru Ramdev on Saturday met his aide Balkrishna, who was arrested by the CBI in a fake document case, in a jail in Dehradun, police sources said.

Violence-hit Maruti Suzuki today declared an indefinite lockout at its Manesar plant but firmly ruled out the possibility of shifting operations to Gujarat. The company said it was completely overtaken by the 'Tsunami-like' violence that it had not anticipated and announced they would not employ casual labour from next year. 

Senior BJP Leader Uma Bharti on Saturday said that she had decided to stay away from politics till December, and devote her time to 'Save Ganga' campaign.   Bharti, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, is on two-day Saurashtra visit. 

Three wagons of a goods train derailed at Jaipur junction here today but no one was injured. The derailment, which occurred early in the morning, disrupted movement of trains, an NWR spokesperson said. 

A court here today remanded Gaurav Jyoti Neog, the TV channel reporter arrested on the charge of instigating an attack on a teenaged girl who was molested here, to three days of police custody.

The magisterial committee formed to investigate the molestation of a teenage girl on July 13 allegedly by Army jawans at Demow in Sibsagar district began public hearings on Saturday.

LeT operative Sayed Zabiuddin Ansarialias Abu Jundal, alleged prime conspirator of the 26/11Mumbai terror attacks, was today arrested and produced before a local court which remanded him to police custody till July 31.

Authorities went into a tizzy after the Karnataka Public Service Commission building near Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat,here received a bomb threat call today, which later turned out to be a hoax.

Reuters reports: South Sudan on Saturday accused Sudan of launching an aerial bombardment on its side of their disputed border, but the Sudanese army denied the charge.

Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin feels current skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has never minced words in giving opinions on his teammates, should be 'careful with his comments' if he wants a happy dressing room in the times to come.

Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, a noted revolutionist and a close aide of freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose, who was admitted to a city-based hospital after she suffered a cardiac arrest today continued to remain critical, family members said.

Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday differed with former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor's deposition before the Adarsh Commission that the high rise was not a security threat.

Maruti Suzuki chief R C Bhargava addressed a press conference in connection with Wednesday's violence at the company's Manesar plant that left a senior human resources manager, Awanish Kumar Dev, dead in a fire.

Over 90 employees were injured, and four are still in intensive care unit. There is a lockout at Manesar plant; cannot start production due to danger to life and safety, said Bhargava.

"Workers have right to arrears, that's what negotiations were about. But not at stage that could have led to this kind of incident. What has happened is an absolute shocker to us. We cannot risk any further risk to our employees, including workers, we cannot endanger our people any further," he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, under attack from ally NCP, today cancelled his visit to Delhi.   

Chavan, who had gone to Nagpur to inaugurate the NationalInstitute of Intellectual Property Management, was scheduled to leave for Delhi from there in the afternoon. However, instead of going to Delhi, he flew back toMumbai, sources said.   

When contacted, a spokesperson for the chief minister told PTI that Chavan had cancelled his Delhi visit but declined to disclose the reason.

A CBI court today rejected the bail application of yoga guru Ramdev's close aide Balkrishna and remanded him in nine-day judicial custody in a fake document case.

Hearing the application of Balkrishna, who was arrested by a CBI team yesterday from Haridwar, special CBI judge Yogendra Sagar rejected his plea and sent him in judicial remand.

The next date of hearing in the case has been fixed on Jul 30. Balkrishna was later sent to Suddhowala Jail here amid protests by his supporters outside the court premises.

"I am being framed in the case," said Balkrishna as he was escorted to the jail. Earlier, Balkrishna was taken to the court in tight security even as Ramdev staged a dharna in front of the CBI office here to protest against the arrest of his aide.

West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today warned the Center and pledges to fight without the Congress in state.

"Our alliance in Delhi (with UPA) is there and will be there till we get respect. But in Bengal, Trinamool will go it alone," she said.

"I am a rough and tough administrator," she added. She went on to say that the TMC was making strong presence in Manipur, Arunachal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.   

NCP senior leader Praful Patel has hit out at the Congress government saying all ministers have complained about lack of coordination in the state government.

"There was a coordination committee earlier, but meetings don't take place anymore," he said.

Patel also added that they want a progressive secular government at the centre and things are not happening satisfactorily there. "Our views are hardly taken into consideration. We are not happy with the direction the UPA is taking," he said. 

Patel and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar are in Mumbai over the weekend. The party's top leaders are expected to meet on Monday to decide its next step.

India's national flag will be unfurled at the Olympic Games Athletes Village tomorrow in the presence of a small group of sportspersons and contingent officials after their request for deferring the flag-raising ceremony was turned down by the organisers.

India had sought a postponement of date for its flag-raising ceremony, which is also called the 'Welcoming Ceremony', so that a larger contingent could be present at the function. But the London Olympic Games organisers refused to sanction any change in the schedule and stuck to the original roster.

The Indian contingent's Deputy Chef-de-Mission Brigadier P K Muralidharan Raja said the flag-raising ceremony would take place as originally scheduled and a good number of athletes would be present on the occasion.

The buzz in New Delhi:

A day ahead of the counting for the Presidential polls, chambers of Union ministers was abuzz with energy. Eager to put up the portrait of Pranab Mukherjee, a few Union ministers quietly told their staff to remove the portrait of Pratibha Patil.  A senior minister put up a size photograph of his with Mukherjee in the chambers.

The Group of Ministers on media have not been meeting recently.  One reason is that Praful Patel has taken over the monopoly of TV channels. Moreover, the GoM is miffed between the 'secret' meet between Salman Khurshid and Anna Hazare on Lokpal. The media will field questions. It's best to cancel the GoM on media briefings temporarily is the common sentiment.     

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna stood in a long queue to fill his plate at the luncheon held by Sonia Gandhi in Hotel Ashok, a day before the Presidential poll. Senior Union ministers noticed Krishna but did not ask him to take seat at PM's table or next to Sonia Gandhi. One Union minister commented, "Why is Krishna keeping fit at the age of 80. Robust health, but he picks up the wrong menu and delivers a wrong draft speech in UN assembly."   

Union Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth has revived the issuance of xirculars to Union Ministers. The latest one is to remind Union ministers about wealth returns to be submitted by July 31.

The Delhi air space will be closed between 1 pm to 3 pm today. The airport will be shut for defence radar calibration.

The airlines have been informed at the last minute and many flights are likely to be delayed.

More details awaited.   

A Mumbai court today remanded 26/11 handler Abu Jundal in police custody till July 31 in 2008 terror attack case. Jundal was produced in court amid high security.  Nobody was allowed near the courtroom where Jundal appeared.

The court premises was heavily guarded -- security personnel from the Quick Reaction Team, the Riot Control Police, the State Reserve Police Force and also the Crime Branch and the Mumbai Police's Anti-Terrorism Squad were present in large numbers.

Jundal was flown in to Mumbai from Delhi in the wee hours of Saturday. 

'The Dark Knight Rises' director Christopher Nolan says he is devastated by the killing of 12 moviegoers by a masked gunman in a Colorado theatre during the midnight screening of the Batman film.

The 41-year-old director called the shooting, which injured 59 people, "savage" and said that he didn't know what to say to express his devastation, reported Ace Showbiz.

"Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of 'The Dark Knight Rises', I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community," Nolan said in a statement. "I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime," he said.

Delhi police files another FIR against 26/11 plotter Abu Jundal. The FIR has been filed in connection with future attacks, said sources. The FIR has been filed on the basis of disclosures made by Jundal. 

Jundal was flown in to Mumbai from Delhi late on Friday night and is currently being produced in a city court. A Delhi court gave the Mumbai Police's ATS the custody of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative on Friday.

Jundal has been in custody of the Delhi police's special cell since June 21.  He was deported from Saudi Arabia to India last month.

Days after a hostel warden allegedly forced a schoolgirl in West Bengal to drink her own urine, a similar incident took place in Tamil Nadu. A  Std IX student was made to drink urine at a hostel in Perambalur.  

The boy was made to drink urine after he desired to go to the toilet. He has been admitted to the Kumbakonam Hospital in Perambalur.  

Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant will remain closed for the third day today after the violence on Wednesday in which one senior company official was killed, while the police has said most of the workers who instigated the incident have been identified.

"The plant will remain closed today," a company spokesperson said. The production loss has so far mounted to about Rs 210 crore. The plant rolls out about 1,600 units per day. In terms of value, the per day loss is about Rs 70 crore.

Meanwhile, the police said it has identified most of the workers who instigated the violence. "No further arrests have been made so far but we have identified majority of the workers who instigated other workers and committed the crime," DCP Gurgaon Maheshwar Dayal told PTI.

26/11 handler Abu Jundal is produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Esplanade Court in south Mumbai.

Jundal was brought to Mumbai in the wee hours on Saturday after a Delhi court handed over his custody to Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad, which wanted him in connection with a series of terror attacks in Maharashtra.

Delhi's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav on Friday directed that Jundal be handed over to Mumbai ATS after the Delhi police said he was no longer required to be interrogated by it in the Jama Masjid attack case.

Jundal is wanted by the Mumbai police in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, the 26/11 Mumbai mayhem, the 2010 German Bakery blast and attack on Nashik Academy, a state-level training institution for Maharashtra Police personnel.

A leading Pakistani television channel has decided to cancel a special show prepared for the holy month of Ramadan featuring controversial actor and model Veena Malik following a public outcry.

Promos for Malik's new TV show, which featured her trying to look her religious best, had gone viral on the Internet. The trailers of the show, in which Malik was seen repenting for her sins, sparked an outcry across the country. The show was to be aired on 'Hero' channel, a part of the Express media group.

The decision to drop the show was taken in the face of a mounting public criticism. "Hero TV is for the awaam. If the awaam does not want to see Veena Malik on this Ramadan show, then we will cancel it," said a member of the production team, adding that they respect the wishes of the populace.

The people expressed their annoyances over the blogs, news reports, comments and social networking websites. They were of the opinion that the controversial queen was completely misfit for such a religious programme.

DMK chief M Karunanidhi was admitted to Chennai's Apollo Hospital after he complained of stomach paining and vomiting this morning. He has now been discharged from the hospital.   

The suspect in the mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater screening of the new Batman film -- The Dark Knight Rises -- on early Friday had coloured his hair red and told police he was "the Joker," according to a federal law enforcement source with detailed knowledge of the investigation.

At least 12 people were killed in the rampage and 58 were injured, one fewer than earlier reported. Of those injured "nearly everyone was shot," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said Friday night, adding that a handful of people were hurt in the resulting chaos. Ten of the victims were killed inside the theater while two others died at hospitals, reports CNN. 

As of Friday evening, the 10 bodies had been removed from the complex and authorities were preparing to begin "the agonizing process" of notifying families, Oates said.

Read full story here

Top American Senators have asked Pentagon to develop a closer defence relationship with India, while emphasising that it is in the interest of both the US and India to continue building a strategic and military culture of cooperation between the two countries. 

A Muslim-American man today pleaded guilty to his role in a plot to use remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives to blow up the Pentagon and US Capitol. 

A Muslim-American man today pleaded guilty to his role in a plot to use remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives to blow up the Pentagon and US Capitol. 

At least 128 people were killed across Syria today, as fighting raged in parts of Damascus and troops fired on protests in the country's second city of Aleppo, a Britain-based watchdog said. 

Thousands of Syrian refugees are pouring into neighbouring countries as fighting between government forces and rebels intensifies.