Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei was chosen as Egypt's interim prime minister, according to sources close to the presidency.A military source confirmed that the former UN nuclear watchdog chief was to be sworn in later on Saturday, three days after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi.

 

Interim leader Adly Mansour summoned ElBaradei to the presidential palace, the state news agency reported, without giving more details.The Tamarod (rebellion) campaign had nominated ElBaradei to represent the movement in transition negotiations with the military.

 

The news came as thousands of Morsi supporters massed in Nasr City and other place across Egypt to reinforce their demand for the reinstatement of the ousted leader.

 

Read the full report on AlJazeera

A train carrying petrochemicals has exploded in a Canadian town, forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people. The blast sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, destroying dozens of buildings in Lac-Megantic, some 155 miles (250 km) east of Montreal.

 

The train derailed early on Saturday; police who worked through the night said several people were missing, but no casualties had yet been confirmed. Firefighters from across the border in the US are helping tackle the blaze. "When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.

 

Read the full report on BBC

At least 28 students and one teacher have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a boarding school in Nigeria's northeast. Survivors being treated for burn and gunshots wounds said some students were burned alive in the attack on the Government Secondary School in Mamudo town in Yobe state early on Saturday.

 

As he wept over the bodies of his two boys, farmer Malam Abdullahi swore he would withdraw three remaining sons from a nearby school. He complained there was no protection for students despite the deployment of thousands of troops since the government declared a state of emergency mid-May in three northeastern states.

 

Read the full report on Al Jazeera

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today described the food security ordinance by the Centre as impractical and pre-Lok Sabha election bluff.        

 

"Unable to safeguard the country's security, (UPA government) is claiming to give food security to the people. There is no money available for it. Such things happen before election. It is a lie, it is a bluff," Banerjee said.        

 

"We are not against food security. But we want that food should properly reach to the people", she said while addressing a panchayat election meeting of her party at Jayanagar in South 24 Parganas district.        

 

Stating that UPA government would not return to power for another term, Banerjee accused the Central government of non-cooperation over financial aid to the cash-strapped state.  

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi while addressing 1,500 BJP workers in Bihar from Gujarat has slammed his counterpart Nitish Kumar, saying BJP would never forgive the JD-U leader for breaking the alliance.

 

After Modi's elevation to the post of BJP's campaign committee chief, Nitish Kumar-led JD-U snapped its ties 17-year-old ties with BJP.

A special CBI court hearing the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case today trashed the petition of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar seeking to defer the proceedings of the case till July 20.        

 

The Talwar couple had yesterday moved a fresh petition seeking to defer the ongoing case proceedings till July 20. The couple had sought time till July 20 saying that the Allahabad High Court has reserved its verdict for July 16 on their plea, seeking reports of brain mapping, sound simulation test, narco-analysis and lie detector test be put on court record.        

 

However, Additional Sessions Judge Shyam Lal rejected their plea and fixed July 8 as the next date of hearing.

Former India player and member of the 1983 World Cup winning squad Kirti Azad was today allegedly detained at the Heathrow Airport in London for two hours before being allowed to board a Delhi-bound flight.     

 

According to one of his office assistants, Azad was allegedly detained as the security officials at the airport found his surname to be suspicious. "He (Azad) informed us about being detained for two hours at the Heathrow after which he was allowed to board the flight back to India. He said that the authorities were suspicious about his last name 'Azad'," his office assistant said.     

 

There were also reports that the authorities found him carrying a bottle of liquid which Azad seemingly claimed to be contaminated water. However this fact could not be verified.

Central forces for the first phase of panchayat polls in West Bengal, slated for July 11, would reach the state tomorrow and on Monday, sources in the state home department said today.      

 

The central forces would comprise CRPF, BSF, CISF, besides police personnel from Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, the sources said.Orissa was unable to provide any force in view of the impending Rathyatra.         Coordination of the central forces would be done by IG(BSF) A K Sharma, the sources said. In the first phase, the Junglemahal districts of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore would go to the polls.        

 

As per the order of the Supreme Court, 130 of the 150 central force companies would come initially and would later be reinforced by another 20 companies to be pulled out from Junglemahal in the state.    

Ishrat Jahan's family has alleged that she was not a terrorist and the authorities are trying to meander the case. While addressing a press conference, Ishrat's sister reiterated that her sister was innocent, adding that she will continue her 9-year-old fight for justice.

A PIL was today filed in the Supreme Court seeking quashing of controversial Food Security Ordinance on the ground that the constitutional provision has been misused for pre-election propaganda and political gains.   

President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday signed the ordinanceon Food Security to give the nation's two-third population the right to get 5 kg of food grains every month at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.   

The petition, filed by advocate M L Sharma, said the Article 123 of the Constitution that deals with the power of the President to promulgate ordinances during the recess of Parliament has been misused as there was no "emergency"situation.

Reports our correspondent from New Delhi: Former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi is likely join the Bharatiya Janata Party and contest from Gujarat. A close friend of Narendra Modi, Trivedi hails from Kutch.

Indications are that Trivedi will convey his decision to Mamta Banerjee and resign from the Trinamool Congress after the monsoon session. Trivedi is discussing his future plans and may meet Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. He would like to maintain a cordial relationship with the Congress.  

In another instance of Congress reaching out to Nitish Kumar, the Union rural development ministry has approved Rs 4,130 crore for the construction of 5,700 km of rural roads, highest allotment for the state in the past 12 years.    

"The decision to allot the amount under Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna in the current financial year wast taken by the ministry in July," Union minister Jairam Rameshtold reporters here.   

This is the highest allocation under the scheme to Bihar in the last 12 years (when UPA is in power at the Centre).   

Out of the fund allocated in all 38 districts, 2,400 rural roads and 190 bridges would be constructed, he said.

Reports our Delhi correspondent: Union ministers have received a dinner invitation over a phone call from Rashtrapathi Bhavan for July 25 to celebrate Pranab Mukherjee's first year as president. However, the ministers are yet to receive a printed invite, which is making them curious. 

A senior Union mnister spoke to the invitation section of the president secretariat. He was told that the President has invited the council of ministers -- 32 cabinet ministers, 12 Union ministers of state with independent charge and 37 Union ministers of state. But this dinner is strictly for the ministers and not for thier spouses.

Our Delhi correspondent reports: The seventy-third birthday celebration of Ram Vilas Paswan went unnoticed on Friday. Every year Sonia Gandhi personalty wishes the Lok Janshakti Party chief by walking across to her neighbour's bungalow, but this year she sent flowers.  RJD Leader Lalu Prasad spoke to Paswan over the phone.

Reports our Delhi correspondent: Congress strategists are worried over BJP reviving the Ram Mandir issue with the visit of Amit Shah to Ayodhya today . Buzz from the war room is that Congress has plans to organise visits of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to many temples in the next one or two weeks.

The BJP is in an upbeat mood as they are confident of win the Rajasthan and Delhi elections. The announcement of Nitin Gadkari as the observer had doubled up the enthusiasm of the BJP cadre, reports our Delhi correspondent.

Reports our correspondent from New Delhi: Congress cadres are taken by surprise by the visits of CBI director Ranjit Sinha to various leaders of their party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Indian National Lok Dal.

These leaders are aware that the wedding of Sinha's kin in mid-July. But they  feel he is a changed person, as he does "parikrama" of BJP leaders.

The CBI director, according to the Congress leaders, is eying a Parliament seat. He has political ambitions like some his predecessors, they say.

Terming the ordinance promulgated by the Union cabinet to implement the Food Security Bill as a "cruel joke" on democracy, BJP president Rajnath Singh today said his party would not oppose the passage of the bill in Parliament but seek amendments to it.   

"We will not oppose it (the bill) in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament but want certain amendments in it," Rajnath told reporters after meeting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the Sangh headquarters.   

However, he did not elaborate what amendments BJP was proposing.  

Questioning the delay in bringing the bill, Rajnath said, "Why the UPA-led Congress government took so long in passing the bill and that too through the ordinance route event hough it had promised to bring the Bill within 100 days of coming to power after 2004 elections".

Rajnath Singh, who held a two-hour meeting with RSS leaders in Nagpur today will share the RSS dictum with parliamentary board on Monday at 1030 am, reports our correspondent from New Delhi. 

There is a buzz in New Delhi as to why Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are making a beeline at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur.

Dr Murli Manohar Johshi visited on Thursday, LK Advani on Friday and party chief Rajnath Singh today. The meeting of the three party seniors with RSS leaders has caused immense speculation amongst the other senior leaders of BJP. Is it signal for seniors to keep off Narendra Modi baiting? Ahead of the 2014 elections, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi is likely opt out of Lok Sabha polls. Will LK Advani also quietly retire?

National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon is scheduled to visit Colombo next week to hold talks on a tri-lateral maritime security treaty among India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, officials said in Colombo today.

Menon's visit to Lanka comes close on the heels of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger bother Basil Rajapaksa's visit to India.

The death of a Dalit boy, Ilavarasan, has triggered protests and violence in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.

The post-mortem report of the the 20-year-old is out and it states that he died due to a head injury. The report also says that there are no other big marks on his body. The report also says that Ilavarasan died 12 to 24 hours prior to the autopsy.

NDTV reports: A state treasury officer from Uttarakhand was caught on camera keeping relief material in his private car. After complaints against him, the officer was raided and the relief material confiscated. He has now been suspended.

Watch the video on NDTV

CNN-IBN reports: The Uttar Pradesh in charge and Bharatiya Janata Party's general secretary Amit Shah said that the BJP will soon build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Shah, who is in Ayodhya to attend a party meeting, said, "Before the meet, I came to seek Lord Ram's blessings. I've prayed for the country to be free of Congress. We will build the Ram temple and restore Lord Ram to his rightful place."

Calling for closer military ties between India and China, Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday said that it would be easy to maintain peace along the borders if both the forces have trust, mutual respect and confidence.

"If the military leadership on both sides from the top to the ground formations can maintain both trust and mutual respect, and confidence, then it is easy to maintain peace an tranquility at the border areas," Antony told Political Commissar of National Defence University General Liu Yazhou.

Antony visited the academy of People's Liberation Army in Beijing on Saturday, the second day of his official visit.

Central Bureau of Investigation director Ranjit Sinha told CNN-IBN, "The probe in the Ishrat Jahan encounter was conducted as per the Gujarat high court's instructions. We have clear directions to find the genesis of intelligence on which Ishrat was killed. The law doesn't say if involved in terror the intelligence agency can kill them."  

"The role of the then IB station head is coming into picture and we have proof. The IB can seek immunity from the court if they want," he added.           

NDTV reports: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will take the battle for the 2014 polls to Bihar today.

Modi, who heads the party's election campaign committee, will address about 1,500 party leaders and workers in Bihar in a teleconference this evening.

Read the full story here

The purchase of 45,000-ton INS Vikramaditya  has been one of the most fraught international military procurement programs in recent years, plagued by delays and hardships including the ship breaking down at sea, ballooning costs and even a sex scandal.

On Wednesday, it finally set sail for its last sea trails from the Russian port and there is a lot riding on it., writes Robert Bechhusen.

Read the full story here

The presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offered on Friday to grant asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela made their offers during separate speeches in their home countries yesterday. Snowden, who has been charged by the United States for espionage, has asked 21 countries for asylum, most of whom have turned down his request.

He is believed to be holed up in a transit area of Moscow airport.

A four-storey building has collapsed in the Jafrabad area of north-east Delhi on Friday night. One person has been killed in the incident.

NSA leaker Edward Snowden has sent out appeals for asylum to six more countries, WikiLeaks reported Friday, in a sign of the marooned fugitive's mounting desperation in the face of international indifference to his plight.

Syrian state forces backed by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah hammered the central city of Homs on Friday, activists said, sparking concern from United Nations officials over thousands of civilians trapped in the city.

Prosecutors wrapped their case against George Zimmerman on Friday afternoon after the mother and brother of teenager Trayvon Martin testified Friday that they believed the screams on a 911 call seconds before his death were his, not those of Zimmerman.

Britain's Prince Harry has qualified as an Apache helicopter commander, the Ministry of Defence announced today, putting him in charge of the aircraft he co-piloted in Afghanistan. 

A suicide attacker and a car bombing killed at least 19 people and wounded 38 in separate attacks today targeting Shiites north of Baghdad. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, the latest in an increasing wave of violence across the country. 

At least 10 people were killed and more than 210 injured Friday as gunfire and running battles erupted at several locations in Cairo during a day of protests called by Islamists angered by the military ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.

Chinese authorities imposed tight control in the capital of Xinjiang today, the fourth anniversary of ethnic rioting which killed around 200 people, said state media, exile groups and ordinary citizens. 

Egyptian troops have opened fire on protesters marching in support of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, killing three and wounding dozens.

Pope Francis cleared Pope John Paul II for sainthood Friday, a little more than eight years after his death and faster than any other person in the modern era.

Nelson Mandela's doctors have rejected the idea of turning off the ailing icon's life support unless he suffers massive organ failure, a close family friend said today. 

Advocate for one of the victims of Ishrat Jahan encounter case has claimed a retired Gujarat police officer had heard his suspended senior D G Vanzara, main accused in the case, telling another officer that he had the clearance of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the encounter.

Mukul Sinha, lawyer for encounter victim Javed Sheikh, has posted on his facebook the purported statement of retired DySP D H Goswami, which he claims is a part of charge sheet filed by CBI in Ishrat case, saying Vanzara, now in custody, had told another officer G L Singhal that they have got approval from the chief minister for the encounter.