Fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden told Poland in an asylum request that he risks the death penalty at home, after he disclosed Washington's alleged violations of the US constitution and global treaties. 

The CBI will file a charge sheet in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case and is likely to name only those policemen who were at the scene of crime besides seeking more time in a bid to probe the conspiracy angle behind the incident.

While Special Director Intelligence Bureau Rajinder Kumar may not be named as accused in the charge sheet as of now, his name may be mentioned in the final report with CBI claiming that Intelligence Bureau had interrogated Ishrat and three other before they were killed allegedly by Gujarat Crime Branch.

In its charge sheet which will be filed before the designated CBI court in Ahmedabad, the CBI is likely to seek more time under 173 CrPC to continue probe the conspiracy angle behind the fake encounter.

Besides 19-year old Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in the encounter near Ahmedabad allegedly by a team of crime branch officials on June 15, 2004.

Suraj Pancholi, son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab left the Arthur Road jail today after the Bombay High Court granted bail yesterday.
The court had observed that he cannot be held solely responsible for the "impulsive" act of suicide committed by actress Jiah Khan."No doubt that it was an unfortunate incident that a young girl has committed suicide. She (Jiah) must have been impulsive and he (Suraj) cannot be held solely responsible for it," Justice Sadhna Jadhav said.Suraj was arrested on June 10, has been granted bail on a surety of Rs 50,000. The court has directed him to surrender his passport and appear before the Juhu police every alternate day.

Pic: Suraj Pancholi leaving Arthur Road jail. To his left is his mother, Zarina Wahab/ Sahil Salvi

The CBI has filed its chargesheet against all the 10 arrested accused in the cash-for-jobs scam, including former Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew, Vijay Singla. The CBI has already prepared a draft chargesheet, which does not name Bansal as an accused, as the agency was not able to find any evidence against him. The last day for the CBI to to file the chargesheet is today. Bansal has not been named in this chargesheet as well.

The number of casualties in the Naxal attack in Jharkhand is now, five. Earlier reports had put the toll at eight.

A Superintendent of Police along with his driver and three security guards was killed in a Maoist attack in Jharkhand's Pakur district today. Pakur SP Amarjit Balihar, a 2003 batch IPS officer, his driver and the guards were ambushed by the Naxals when they were returning to Pakur, after attending a meeting in Dumka, a senior official said.

Against the backdrop of objections by some MPs, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh today strongly defended the Rs 2,058 crore Jet-Etihad deal, saying those opposing it were "long on politics and short on facts".

"It is such an important deal..., the first big deal in Civil Aviation Ministry. In terms of FDI, it is bigger than any other deal this year. There are so many dimensions to it. Those opposing the deal are long on politics and short on facts," Singh said.

The objections to the deal were first raised by a Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury, which was followed up by senior MPs, Jaswant Singh and Dinesh Trivedi, and Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, who shot off letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Prime Minister had then referred these concerns in a communication to the various Ministries, including Civil Aviation, Commerce and Finance.

Replying to a volley of questions on the objections raised by the MPs and the parliamentary panel, he said, "It is good that the Prime Minister wants the Cabinet to discuss it." Asked whether his Ministry could oppose the deal, he said, "There is no question in that."

The Prime Minister's Office has responded to reports about the government's concern on the Jet-Etihad deal. The PMO says the Prime Minister is neither washing his hands off the Bilateral Air Services Agreement nor is the PMO trying to do a U-turn on the issue. It said there was absolutely no disagreement within the government or between the Ministers and Prime Minister on the matter of India-UAE agreement.

Here is the full statement

"It frightened me. I started going into a shell,' she says. Then one day she decided enough was enough. "I was raped. I was brutally raped. But I am alive and I want to fight,' says Jordan. "I need to fight as I am, not behind a mask, not behind a screen, not behind a blurred image."
The Park Street rape victim on her decision to come out of anonymity. Read

The Gujarat government had carried out fake encounters only to raise Chief Minister Narendra Modi's profile so that he becomes a "hero" in the eyes of people who believe acts of terror are done by Muslims, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh alleged today.

Responding to media queries after a general body meeting of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in Bangalore, he alleged that "there is not only one, but six fake encounters done by Gujarat government."

The unfortunate part was that the fake encounters had taken place because of wrong information fed by the the then joint director of Intelligence Bureau in collusion with Gujarat police, he claimed.

In this context, Singh referred to a case of Sadik Jamal -- which has not come into the notice of media -- when IB on record handed him over to Gujarat police, which allegedly killed him a few days later and showed it as an encounter and "made out a story" that Jamal had planned to kill Modi.

Seventeen days after the Uttarakhand disaster, the mammoth multi-agency rescue operations to evacuate all stranded pilgrims and tourists concluded today with a group of 150 people being taken to safety from Badrinath.

In all, around 1.1 lakh people stranded by flash floods and landslides after monsoon rains pounded the hill state on June 15, were evacuated by thousands of personnel of the Army, IAF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), who braved all odds.

Though the rescue mission has concluded, authorities faced a daunting task of cremation of badly decomposed bodies in Kedarnath area with bad weather hampering this process for the fourth day.

Another challenge is removing tonnes of debris from the shrine premises in Kedarnath as there are no roads to transport heavy equipment like JCBs there for the purpose, Uttarakhand DGP Satyavrat Bansal said. Bansal said the process of cremating bodies in Kedarnath could not resume even today.

"A team of health experts and trained police personnel has been despatched to the shrine but the exercise could not begin due to bad weather," he added.

Bansal admitted that disposal of bodies is an uphill task due to a variety of factors including bad weather and breached roads.

A total of 36 bodies have so far been disposed of in Kedarnath with 60-65 more lying visibly on the ground yet to be consigned to flames. Though not specifying a time frame for the exercise, Bansal said there is every indication the process will take long. Bodies in Kedarnath and adjoining areas like Rambada are stated to be already in an advanced stage of decomposition on the 17th day of the tragedy.

A California judge refused on Monday to block the teaching of yoga as part of a public school's physical fitness program, rejecting parents' claims that the classes were an unconstitutional promotion of Eastern religions. Read

A Pakistani terrorist group involved in the notorious Mumbai, India, terrorist attack in 2008 is becoming a new threat to the U.S. homeland. The name of the group? None other than the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Read

Update on the Ishrat Jahan case: The CBI will file a charge sheet tomorrow in special court in Ahmedabad in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, a status report in the Gujarat High Court on July 4.

ICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh today alleged that BJP would instigate communal riots in Congress-ruled states ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as the opposition party feels that it cannot win without "communalising" the polls.

Addressing the general body meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee here, the senior Congress leader claimed that BJP now feels that it cannot win the polls without communalising it.

"They (the BJP) would be instigating communal riots in Congress-ruled states," Singh, in-charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka, alleged. He added that BJP would also "communalise" the "body politic" in states not governed by it.

Whenever BJP feels that it is losing people's support, it foments communal violence so that it can level allegations against the Congress and party-ruled governments, he alleged. "We have to be very, very careful and keep an eye on these people," he said. Singh advised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to keep Sangh pariwar outfits on a tight leash.

The Jharkhand police association reacting to the attack on its men says such attacks are aimed at demoralising the police. 

Times Now reports that Pakur SP Amarjit Balihar, seriously injured in the Naxal attack on his motorcade, has succumbed to his injuries. Seven policemen have also been killed in the attack. The gun battle is still on. PTI, however, says the SP's driver is one among the seven killed. 

India is not an "open house' for asylum seekers because the country has a "very careful and restrictive policy' on the issue, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Tuesday. Khurshid was responding to a question on news reports that US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden had requested asylum in 20 countries, including India. Read

The SP, Amarjit Balihar, has been seriously injured in the gun battle. As of now, additional forces are being rushed in. 

Indian expatriates, particularly those from Kerala heaved a big sigh of relief on Tuesday as the King of Saudi Arabia ordered extension of the Nitaqat (naturalisation) deadline by four months. The deadline for expatriates without valid work permits to leave the country, which was to expire on Wednesday (June 3), would now be November 4. Read

Just in: There's been a Naxal attack on a motorcade in Jharkhand. Seven policemen are feared dead in the ongoing gun battle, which occurred when the SP Amarjit Balihar's motorcade in Pakur in Dhumka district was attacked. Details awaited.

MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweets: Indian Embassy in Moscow did receive a request for asylum in a communication dated 30 June from Mr Edward Snowden. Following careful examination we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the Snowden request. 

India has turned down the Edward Snowden's asylum request. American whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently sheltered in the transit zone of Moscow airport, has sought asylum in 19 countries, including India. He withdrew his asylum request to Russia today.

These asylum requests have been filed by Sarah Harrison, legal advisor of Wikileaks in the matter of Snowden, the whistleblower website said on Tuesday, adding that the first two requests were made to Ecuador, followed by Iceland. "On 30th June 2013 WikiLeaks' legal advisor in the Edward Snowden matter, Sarah Harrison, submitted by hand a number of requests for asylum and asylum assistance on behalf of Edward J Snowden," Wikileaks said in a statement.

Also read: India has no interest in Snowden, will not offer him asylum

Wood worth lakhs of rupees, allegedly picked up by locals when it came flowing in the Ganga from flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, was today recovered by police in Ferozpur village.

"A team led by sub-divisional magistrate Arvind Tripathi yesterday raided Firozpur village and recovered wood worth lakhs of rupees, which were allegedly taken by villagers," SSP Manzil Saini said.

District authorities had received complaints that villagers in Firozabad, Shukertal, Bahupura, Bhokaheri, Hajuipura, Sikri, Biharighar, Maharaj Nagar and Sitabpuri,were lifting wood floating in Ganga river, Saini said. More raids will be conducted, he added.

Narendra Modi to name campaign committee on July 4 after the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting. 

The Supreme Court has refused to reschedule the West Bengal panchayat elections to be held in five phases from July 11.

 Fugitive Edward Snowden has withdrawn his request for Russian political asylum, a presidential spokesman said Tuesday, apparently because he was unwilling to go along with President Vladimir Putin's requirement that he stop any activity damaging to the United States."He has abandoned this idea and his request for permission to stay in Russia,' Dmitri Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told Interfax and other reporters Tuesday. Read

Here's a tongue-in-cheek, strictly imaginary look at what might happen to an asylum seeker at the Indian Embassy in Moscow. Read

NSA leaker Edward Snowden found an unlikely admirer: German lingerie company Blush Berlin. Read

What kind of future does the NSA leaker face if he gets asylum in Russia or another country? If the experience of past defectors -- alcoholism, suicide attempts, mental illness -- is any guide, it looks grim. Read

A new national law introduced in China this week requires the offspring of parents older than 60 to visit their parents "frequently" and make sure their financial and spiritual needs are met. Read

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has again sent an offer and a cheque for Rs. 3 crore, besides the Rs. 2 crore his state already donated for rain disaster relief. Read

A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's northwestern province of Aceh today, causing buildings to collapse and injuring at least 50 people.

The quake hit inland at 0737 GMT at a depth of just 10 kilometres, 55 kilometres south of Bireun and 72 kilometres southeast of Reuleuet, the US Geological Survey said.

"We have received around 50 people with injuries suffered when the walls of their houses collapsed," Ema Suryani, a doctor at a health clinic in Lampahan city, Bener Meriah district, told AFP.

"The injuries vary from open wounds to broken bones." Injured people had been transported from several affected villages in two trucks, she said. People also ran out of buildings in panic in the provincial capital Banda Aceh as the quake shook houses for around one minute, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

A massive quake struck off Aceh in 2004, sparking a tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province on Sumatra and tens of thousands more in countries around the Indian Ocean. Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

The death of a husband means stigma, destitution and abuse for many of the world's poorest widows. Bim Adewunmi visits a pioneering project in Cameroon trying to turn around 500-year-old traditions. Read

The CRPF today handed over a cheque of more than Rs 18 crore to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde for relief of Uttarakhand flash flood victims. Personnel of the paramilitary force had contributed a day's earning totalling Rs 18,01,46,637 and the cheque was presented by their chief Pranay Sahay along with senior officers to Shinde at his North Block office. CRPF has also sent two trucks of relief material for the victims.

As a comparative, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, contributed Rs 2 crore.

The BJP prepares to bet everything on Narendra Modi. Read

The Congress may forge an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) if the Congress agrees to Hemant Soren as chief minister. Jharkhand has been under President's rule since the BJP broke away from the JMM. The final decision will be taken at the Congress Core Group meeting, reports CNN IBN. 

Why does the RSS resent cricket? Read

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has sent asylum requests to 21 countries, according to a statement published by Wikileaks. But Russia said he later withdrew the application as the Kremlin had set conditions. Read

Former Telecom Minister A Raja opposes in Delhi court CBI's plea for placing on record CD of 62 conversations of Niira Radia pertaining to 2G case. 

Democratic President Barack Obama and former President George W Bush are proving that it's a small world after all, with an extraordinary chance encounter a long way from home.

Obama and his Republican predecessor plan to appear together briefly today, when by coincidence both will be in the same city on Africa's east coast promoting development on the continent. Obama is on the final day of a weeklong tour of the continent, while the George W Bush Institute is hosting a two-day summit on African women.

Initially the two men had no plans to meet, but the White House announced yesterday that they would gather at a memorial for Americans killed in the US Embassy bombing here nearly 15 years ago. They plan to lay a wreath in honor of the 11 Americans who died in the attack masterminded by Osama bin Laden, along with a near-simultaneous bombing at the US Embassy in neighboring Kenya.

Just in: A 6.1 quake strikes Sumatra in Indonesia. Details awaited. 

Hours after Ed Husic became Australia's first ever Muslim minister, he was flooded with online racial abuse for taking oath of office on the Quran. 43-year-old Husic, was appointed as parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and parliamentary secretary for broadband yesterday.

Husic, son of Bosnian migrants, was the first MP to be sworn in to federal parliament with his hand on the Quran. Husic told media today that he had made a "straightforward decision as someone of the Muslim faith" to take the oath on the Quran.

"I couldn't take my oath on a Bible and I didn't want to affirm. I am who I am and I just made a straightforward decision," he said. At the official oath-taking ceremony yesterday, Australia's Governor-General Quentin Bryce said, "it was a great day for multiculturalism and everything it stands for."

However, Husic's Facebook page was soon flooded with comments saying it was "disgusting" and "un-Australian" for him to use the Quran.

Rescue of pilgrims stranded in Badrinath came to an end today with about 150 of them being safely evacuated even as the administration struggled with the task of supplying relief to remote parts of Uttarakhand where food shortage has been reported in 170 villages.

On the 17th day of the calamity, the task of extricating bodies from the debris and their disposal in Kedarnath also remained a major headache for the administration with no cremation having taken place there over the past two days.

The number of bodies cremated there so far is still pegged at 36. Chamoli District Magistrate S A Murugesan said,  "All the pilgrims stranded in Badrinath dham have been evacuated. Now some locals and Nepali labourers remain there who will be evacuated by this evening if the weather permits."

However, supply of relief to affected villages continues to pose a challenge to the administration with a vast network of roads and bridges still damaged in the area, he told PTI over phone.

The bridge over Alaknanda at Lambagar is badly damaged which will take at least 2-3 months to be repaired, he said, adding that the BRO is working on it. Officials said taking relief material to remote villages due to poor connectivity is a major problem.

Though choppers are being used for the purpose the exercise is confined to just a few areas, they said. With Gaurikund-Kedar Highway still closed, there is foodgrain shortage in at least 170 villages in Kedarghati area in Rudraprayag district, officials said.

But relief material has been despatched to Kalimath, Chandrapuri and Sauri areas in the district. Gangotri Highway in Uttarkashi district is blocked at eight points while Yamunotri Highway is closed from Hanumanchatti to Yamunotri making it difficult to take relief material to affected villages.

The Union cabinet has been summoned on Wednesday at 5 pm  to approve the ordinance on the Food security Bill. But the agenda paper does not have other pet subjects of Sonia Gandhi like the land reforms bill.

A group of five men raped a Dutch journalist in Cairos central Tahrir Square as millions of protestors took to streets demanding the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.

The journalist is believed to have undergone surgery for horrific injuries sustained in the attack, as a volunteer vigilante group formed to protect women in Tahrir Square said it recorded the highest number of rape attempts on Sunday.

Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment said it had recorded 44 cases of sexual assaults and harassment against women on Sunday night, the highest number it had encountered since the group was formed in November 2012.

In a scathing attack on the Obama administration, American whistle-blower Edward Snowden has alleged that he has been left as a "stateless" person by the US because of no fault of his.

The 30-year-old former US spy agency contractor, who has been on the run since releasing secretive NSA documents, is currently stranded in the transit zone of the Moscow airport after leaving Hong Kong.

"The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person," Snowden wrote in a letter which was posted on the Wikileaks website.

"Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum," he wrote in the letter. Edward wrote that one week ago he left Hong Kong after it became clear that his freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth.

Chetan Bhagat has come to see the 'real' India but he clearly cannot   get enough of the India  he has left behind. Between shots,  in the jeep,  even between conversations with the locals, he twiddles briskly on his blackberry. Read

India's capital, Delhi, has seen many a great war. But the latest one is being fought in the most unlikely of places -- the residential colonies in the city. Roadside parking spots have become the battlefield as the number of cars in Delhi has surged over the years. Read

A bitter feud has erupted within Nelson Mandela's family over his final resting place. The ailing anti-apartheid hero's grandson is lamenting that the dispute has been taken to court.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Mandla Mandela said regrettably and reluctantly he was forced to go to court and respond to 16 relatives demanding that Mandela's remains be buried in the village of Qunu.

In Qunu, an elder in the Mandela family said he hoped the dispute over the family gravesite would be resolved soon.

According to the report, Napilisi Mandela, who was present at last week's hostile Mandela clan family meeting, said the court battle dividing the Mandela family was a painful matter. Mandela, who is critically ill, has expressed his wish to be buried in Qunu.

A small batch of 1,785 devotees today left Jammu base camp for the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas. A convoy of 70 vehicles carrying 1,785 devotees left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu at around 5.05 am towards Amarnath to pay obeisance at the holy cave shrine, police said here today.

The sixth batch, including 1,395 male, 326 women and 14 children, apart from 50 sadhus, was on its way to twin base camps of Pahalagam and Baltal in Kashmir Valley.

With today's batch, a total of 13,825 pilgrims have left Jammu base camp for Amarnath so far. Over 50,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir till last evening.

"At the very outset, let us make it clear that we are not fans of your regressive fiction. Therefore, we write to you not as crazy fans but as Indian Muslim youth, who felt utterly patronized, insulted and hurt after reading your article,'Letter from an Indian Muslim Youth'. You might have not realized this, but in pretending to render "a strong modern Indian Muslim voice'' to the youth and the Muslim community at large, you have ripped them of their agency. You have reaffirmed stereotypes that many in the community have been fighting against. "

Read the response to Chetan Bhagat's article here.

As prime minister Manmohan Singh enters his final year in office, he is likely to be hoping to go down in history as the man who made India a miracle economy, growing at 8.5 per cent a year.

However, after a series of scandals, critics say he stands to be remembered for presiding over New Delhi's most corrupt regime ever. Nobody doubts his personal integrity. He has long been seen as an honest man struggling against the tide in dishonest times. But the Teflon is finally wearing off. Read more

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that he is not in the race to become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and has ruled out contesting the upcoming assembly polls there.

"I have no plans to contest the assembly elections from Madhya Pradesh and would remain as Member of Parliament. However, Congress will come back to power in the State. I am a worker of the Congress and I do not think that I am in the race," Scindia said.

With Madhya Pradesh slated to go for assembly elections later this year, Congress General Secretary and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh have recently said that Scindia is the front-runner for the post of Chief Minister, if Congress emerges victorious.

A rail link in the Indus Plains in Ladakh, similar to the Kashmir Railway, will have spin-offs for environment conservation, military logistics, tourism and the local economy. Read

Malaysian low-cost airlines AirAsia is planning to add 10 Airbus planes each year to its India operations, in a move that is going to affect local rivals IndiGo and SpiceJet, who will have to look at new ways to beat the competition. According to the Wall Street Journal, India is one of the most important growth markets for AirAsia, and the airlines will offer the ''lowest possible fares'' to take on the competition

Ratan Tata and Air Asia chief Tony Fernandes meet Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to brief him on new appointments and developments in Air Asia-India. AirAsia CEO, Tony Fernandes, today said that the low-cost airline is eyeing several bases including Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi.

He said that even at 70,000 rupees/kilolitre, the airline will offer nano fares. But he refused to speculate on the fares or when the airline will start its operations.

Earlier, Tony Fernandes, along with Ratan Tata, advisor to the AirAsia India board, and other senior Tata officials met Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Aingh.

Ratan Tata and Tony drove in a Jaguar, while a second black Jaguar carried Mittu Chandilya, CEO of AirAsia India operations, and others. In his tweet this morning, Fernandes said: My new pilot Sir Ratan Tata flying me to Delhi. Another way AirAsia cuts costs.

He added that he will be meeting five ministers during his stay in the Capital. He will be meeting Commerce Minister Anand Sharma after meeting Ajit Singh.

Fernandes tweeted: Excellent meeting with Minister of Aviation Mr Ajit Singh. He is very very keen to increase connectivity. Aviation is for the common man.

Read more

Theories suggesting a political conspiracy in the Darbha Ghati massacre, where Naxals killed 29 people from a Congress cavalcade have not yet been ruled out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is investigating the attack. The agency has even put a 'padayatra' that  former Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi embarked upon some three years ago in Bastar under scanner.  Read

Why do women make better primary school teachers?
If that question stumped many candidates who wrote the University Grants Commission's National Eligibility Test on Sunday, one of the multiple-choice answers listed for the question has outraged many. Read

More on the Uttarakhand tragedy: Over a fortnight after the flash-floods, while many villages remain inaccessible by road, tragic stories are emerging from areas where dirt tracks have been opened up. About seven kilometres from Guptkashi, the six-odd hamlets that comprise the Deoli-Bramhagram panchayat have reported 57 men missing, and the area is fast getting the tag of the "village of widows". Read

The UGC's decision to close its centres for research on social integration is not in keeping with the Constitutional vision for nation-building. Read

The Kerala government has not learnt anything from the Attappady tragedy. Nutrition levels of women and children, most of them tribals, continue to remain dismal in the area. Read

That predators continue to enjoy impunity for crimes committed against women is now common knowledge. But less known is the fact that the worst perpetrators are often those most intimately known to women, or that the latter are vulnerable in consequence to life-long health-related risks. Read

The June 16 cloudburst has been hardest for eight-month-old Kanu. Inconsolable and starving without milk, Bhupinder Singh's youngest daughter had to wait 48 hours before her dad trekked 15km to fetch a tin of powdered milk. Read

Another furious spell of rains is expected to hit the hills of Uttarakhand later this week. According to a Met office warning, conditions very similar to the one that caused the June 16-17 deluge in the state are expected to develop from Thursday onwards. Read

Four guards and two civilians have been killed in a bomb attack on a NATO compound in Kabul. Militants blew up a suicide car bomb at the gate.  

American whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently sheltered in the transit zone of Moscow airport, has sought asylum in 20 countries, including India.  

These asylum requests have been filed by Sarah Harrison, legal advisor of Wikileaks in the matter of Snowden, the whistleblower website said today, adding that the first two requests were made to Ecuador, followed by Iceland.  

"On 30th June 2013 WikiLeaks' legal advisor in the Edward Snowden matter, Sarah Harrison, submitted by hand a number of requests for asylum and asylum assistance on behalf of EdwardJ Snowden," Wikileaks said in a statement.

Sujata Singh, India's ambassador to Germany, will be the next foreign secretary. Her name has been cleared by the Prime Minister's Office. She will succeed Ranjan Mathai. 

PTI reports: A total of 1,350 people have been evacuated from Badrinath while over 3,500 remain untraced in flood-hit Uttarakhand even as a United Nations  agency estimated that the number of missing could be over 11,000.

However, the National Disaster Management Authority has put the number of missing to 3,700.

"According to the quantum of FIRs filed, the number of missing stands at 3,500-3,700 but a report prepared by a UN agency along with some NGO pegs the figure in excess of 11 thousand," said National Disaster Management Authority Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy.  

United States intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has accused President Barack Obama of denying him his right to asylum, in a statement, a first since flying to Russia on June 23, published by Wikileaks.

"On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions," he said.

"This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me," he added.

Snowden has applied for Aslyum in Russia. The former Central Investigation Agency analyst, who is holed up in a Moscow airport hotel, is wanted by the US on charges of espionage.

Read Snowden's full statement here

Defending its role in the rescue operations in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, ISRO today said the agency had played its role in the largest rescue operations in the country, saving thousands of lives. 

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, whose government has mulled an asylum request from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, said today the fugitive's bid for sanctuary in Russia could resolve the standoff. 

A Pakistani schoolgirl injured in the Taliban attack against Malala Yousafzai last year has been granted a British student visa after receiving death threats in her home country, it emerged today. 

President Barack Obama today courted African business leaders and announced new trade initiatives to open up East Africa's markets to American businesses, as he sought to counter the rise of Chinese economic influence in the growing continent. 

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that relations with China would not be upset by allegations that it had facilitated the flight of Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive former national security contractor. 

Lawyers for Nelson Mandela's relatives met today to try to resolve a bitter family feud over the eventual burial site of the critically ill anti-apartheid hero. 

Prince William's wife Catherine is not officially due to give birth for two weeks but the world's media began gathering today outside the London hospital where she will have the baby, determined not to miss the photograph of the year. 

US leaker Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia and President Vladimir Putin said today he was welcome to stay as long as he stopped leaking US intelligence reports. 

In a landmark late night journey into a new era of space application, India today successfully launched its first dedicated navigation satellite using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here. 

Months after Superstorm Sandy swamped her little island, the Statue of Liberty will finally welcome visitors again. Sandy made landfall one day after the statue's 126th birthday. 

Appearing to throw its enormous weight behind protesters demanding the ouster of President Mohamed Morsy, the Egyptian military told the country's leaders Monday that they have 48 hours to "meet the demands of the people" or it will step in to restore order after days of chaos.