The All India Institute of Medical Sciences has constituted a three-member board to examine the viscera samples and conduct histopathological examination of tissues of TV journalist Akshay Singh who died under mysterious circumstances while covering Vyapam scam. 

Bill Cosby has admitted to getting prescription Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with, newly released documents show.

India's rural employment guarantee programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act has been ranked as the world's largest public works programme, providing social security net to almost 15 per cent of the country's population, World Bank has said.

India is among the five middle-income countries running the world's largest social safety net programmes, said a World Bank Group's report 'The State of Social Safety Nets 2015'.

"The world's five largest social safety net programmes are all in middle-income countries (China, India, South Africa and Ethiopia) and reach over 526 million people," it added.

The combined spending on social safety nets in 120 developing countries amounted to about US $329 billion between 2010 and 2014, it said. India's mid-day meal scheme has been classified as biggest school feeding programme benefiting 105 million beneficiaries.

The top honours for public works programme went to MNREGA with 182 million beneficiaries or 15 per cent of India's population.

The World Bank ranked the Janani Suraksha Yojna with 78 million beneficiaries as the top-most social security programme with conditional cash transfers. Also, it ranked the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme as the second-largest unconditional cash transfer social security progamme in the world.

Is an upset on the cards?

Victoria Azarenka takes the first set against Serena Williams in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.  

The viscera samples of Jabalpur Medical College Dean Arun Sharma, who was involved in the Vyapam scam probe, are likely to be sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad as the body had signs of "choking". Though the post-mortem on Sharma's body was conducted by a three-member expert panel at Safdarjung Hospital yesterday, its final report is yet to come.   

"We are mulling sending the viscera samples to the CFSL,Hyderabad for further examination, to determine the exact cause of his death," Safdarjung Hospital sources said.   

Earlier, a CFSL team had visited the hotel room where Sharma's body was found. As per initial investigations, foul play was ruled out in Sharma's death but Delhi Police was "minutely" studying the circumstantial evidence and awaiting the final post-mortem report.   

"Although we are yet to come across any clue that point towards any foul play or unnatural death, we will conclude only when we get all the lab reports," a senior police officer said.

Twenty-four-year-old Bavalan Pathmanathan,a British Tamil batsman, died after being hit in the chest while batting in a local league match in Surrey.

An air ambulance was called but the club cricketer died of of his injuries on Sunday. He had turned up for Manipay Parish Sports Club in the British Tamil League at Long Ditton recreation ground.

The unfortunate incident has taken place after Australia batsman Phillip Hughes died two days after receiving a blow on the neck during a domestic game in Sydney in November.

Pathmanathan's teammate, who was batting at the other end, said he initially looked alright after being hit before collapsing on the field.

Social activist Teesta Setalvad today filed a petition before the Gujarat high court seeking setting aside of a complaint against her for uploading allegedly objectionable picture of Hindu deities on Twitter.

A first information report, based on the complaint of VHP activist Raju Patel, was filed against Setalvad at Ghatlodia police station here last August. The petition would be heard by Justice Mohinder Pal on July 9.

Setalvad had tweeted a photo-shopped picture of ISIS terrorists with the slain American journalist James Foley with a religious image in the backdrop. Later she removed it. The FIR charges her with Indian Penal Code sections 153(a) (promoting enmity between religious groups) and 205(a) (outraging religious feelings) with sections of Information Technology Act.

Setalvad, known for championing the cause of 2002 post-Godhra riot victims in Gujarat, had recently sought more time from a local court to re-deposit her passport because she wanted to visit Brazil to attend a conference. But the plea was rejected. She has moved the HC over this issue too. Her passport was deposited with the court when she obtained pre-arrest bail in the present case.

Just in: Greece's Alexis Tsipras and United States President Barack Obama discussed bailout talks on phone today, the state news agency reported.

Greece is due to make a formal request for a new bailout programme imminently, Eurogroup chief and Netherlands Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying. He was speaking after eurozone finance ministers met to discuss the next moves after the Greek referendum.

The Enforcement Directorate's money laundering probe into the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh is "on track", the agency's chief said today.

"The probe in this case is on track. We have made some attachments earlier (against the accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act)," ED Director Rajan Katoch told reporters in Kolkata.

He was asked about the progress in this case in Madhya Pradesh after he came out of the ED office in Salt Lake. He was on a day's visit to the East zone regional office of the agency based in the West Bengal capital.

The central probe agency had registered a criminal FIR in March last year to probe alleged financial irregularities and laundering instances in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, also called 'Vyapam' in Hindi, pertaining to admission of candidates and students in professional courses and state services in alleged connivance with officials and politicians.

The agency had named former state Higher Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma and 27 others in its FIR. ED investigators, based in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, have also attached assets worth over Rs 3 crore of an alleged mastermind of the scam, Jagdish Sagar, in connection with their probe in April.

Three Indians were arrested today in Nepal for allegedly collecting money from people with fake promises of providing up to Rs 2,00,000 to the earthquake survivors in the country.

Sujit Kumar, Sudip Kumar Kusuhawa and Ranjit Kumar Kusuhawa from Bihar's Champaran region, who posed themselves as representative of Indian government, have been booked in fraud charges by the police.

"They were collecting nominal fees to fill out a form, saying the Indian government would provide up to Rs 200,000 for the survivors of earthquakes that rocked Nepal on April 25 and May 12," Santu Prasad Jaiswar, Inspector at Garuda Police Station was quoted as saying.

Acting on a tip-off, a Nepal police team arrested the trio from Rautahat district. They were caught while collecting Rs 100 to Rs 300 for filling the forms. "We filled up the forms trusting them that Indian government would provide Rs 100,000 - 200,000 to the earthquake victims," said Suraj Kumar Sah.

Police have confiscated forms, laptop, rubber stamp, mobile phones, cards of income tax department of India, master card and visa card of various Indian banks and a motorcycle from them.

With funds allocated for development work in the state drying up, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said his government was bringing out a white paper comparing and detailing funds allocated to the state by the Centre during the previous United Progressive Alliance government and the incumbent National Democratic Alliance government, reports K Anurag.

The white paper will be tabled in the state assembly and shall be made part of official record. He said the white paper would serve to negate the oft repeated claims of visiting Union ministers about the substantial allocation of funds to the state under the present regime.

Gogoi also charged the Centre of not releasing money in time for developmental works in the state and that he would continue to knock at the doors in New Delhi with his 'just demand' for greater allocation of funds to the backward state."We (the North Eastern states) are not beggars, we are elected chief ministers. We will continue demanding what is justified,' Gogoi said maintaining that even those NE states which have the Bharatiya Janata Party's allies in power have also been deprived of funds from the Centre.

"The NDA government has made changes in the old system of funding the NE states. If the change could bring about better fund flow from the Centre, it would have been alright. But there has been no positive change, the NDA has just messed up the system,' Gogoi said.

BBC reports: Greece has submitted "no concrete proposals" for a new bailout, at a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers, Malta's PM says.

Joseph Muscat tweeted that this "doesn't help this evening's Eurozone leaders' meeting" in Brussels.

The Eurozone had urged Greece to submit fresh plans after its people rejected a new draft bailout in a referendum.Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is to address the European Parliament on Wednesday, a Greek government source said.

Reports say that the Greek side gave a presentation at the finance ministers' meeting on Tuesday. However, sources said there was no new written plan.

An anticipatory bail plea by Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti, accused of domestic violence by his wife, was today dismissed by a Delhi court which said there was no apprehension of his arrest as no FIR has yet been lodged. 

In a shocking incident of insensitivity, a day-old baby born prematurely with respiratory complications died in his parents' arms after two leading government-run hospitals refused treatment while a third made them wait. 

Iran and six major powers will keep negotiating past Tuesday's deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement as they tackle the most contentious issues, including the continuation of a UN arms embargo on Iran, the big powers said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here tomorrow on a three-day visit to attend the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summits, on the sidelines of which he is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

What is the difference between Kitty Kelly's muckraking volumes on famous leaders and "scrupulous' biographies by the late William Manchester, described as "one of the greatest popular historians of the 20th century'? 

HSBC bank has sacked some of its employees over an "abhorrent" video in which they pretended to be Islamic State (ISIS) militants carrying out a beheading. 

Lalit Modi's lawyer has returned the summons issued to the former Indian Premier League boss by the Enforcement Directorate, saying he was not authorised to receive them, the central agency said. Advocate Mehmood M Abdi, who represents Modi, in a statement said, "I have not recieved any such summons". "ED has Modi's address in the UK. They are required toserve him as per the procedure prescribed in law," Abdi said.

Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh said that the term adhinayak in the national anthem should be replaced with mangal as it praises 'Angreji Shashak'' of pre-Independence period. "Jan-Gan-Man adhinayak jai ho... 'adhinayak' for whom. It praises 'angreji shashak'. British time. It should be amended and replaced by word 'jan-gan-man mangal gaye'," he said

Seventh seeds Leander Paes and Martina Hingis entered the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, beating Artem Sitak and Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 6-2.

Law Minister Sadananda Gowda now says that he had said that the Lalit Modi's case was "simple and silly", not the Vyapam case.


It was widely reported today that Gowda at a press conference said that the Prime Minister need not speak on all "silly issues". Gowda made the remark while answering questions about the PM's silence on the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh.


Responding to a query about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over Vyapam scam, he said: "The state has initiated probe. The deaths are a matter of concern, but law and order is state subject. See, the Prime Minister need not answer on silly issues," Gowda said.

"The concerned ministers and party president have answered. For each silly issue asking the Prime Minister to answer is not fair," he added.

As New Delhi prepares to host the India-Africa summit in October this year, South Block is looking to hire about 300 luxury cars for the visiting African leaders and officials.


South Block officials have devised a unique formula to ensure quality services by the car companies -- based on penalties for every problem or violation.

Sample these:
* Rs 200 fine to be imposed if the car smells and the seat covers are not clean. The fine will be increased to Rs 500 if the car smells for the second day and is found to be unclean.

* Rs 2,000 penalty if the car arrives more than 15 minutes late, Rs 800 if late by 10-15 minutes, Rs 500 if late by up to 10 minutes.

* Rs 500-1,000 penalty if the driver is not dressed "appropriately'.

* Rs 1,000-2,000 penalty if the driver misbehaves.

* Rs 1,000-2,000 penalty in case of tampering of meter.

* Rs 1,000-2,000 penalty in case of irregularities such as overwriting, forged entries in the log book.


These conditions are part of the tender document released by the Ministry of External Affairs last week. South Block is looking at hiring Mercedes Benz E250 or E350 (black or dark colour), BMW 5 series, Audi or Toyota Camry (white) and Toyota Corolla (white) cars for the Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of the 54 African countries.

Read the full story here.

India and Pakistan will become members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) next year and a formal announcement in this regard is expected to be made at the six-nation grouping's summit which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here this week.


"India and Pakistan are not joining the SCO tomorrow. The process of engaging them is beginning," Yuri Ushakov, Russian Presidential aide, said today in a TV interview.


He said the membership of the two countries in the SCO will be finalised by the next summit to be held in 2016 in India. India at present has observer status in the grouping that comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has slammed the Maharashtra government's decision on madrasas, saying that no subject can be imposed on the Muslim religious seminaries.


"No subject can be imposed on madrasas," Owaisi yesterday said at an iftar party organised by party workers in Meerut.


He was asked about the Maharashtra government's recent decision to de-recognise madrasas that do not provide formal education like teaching English, Maths and Science subjects.


The Maharashtra government triggered a controversy when it decided to not recognise madrasas, which are not offering mainstream subjects, in a July 4 survey planned to assess the number of children between the ages of 6 and 14 not attending formal school.


The controversial leader said the Muslim population in the country will be equal to that of Hindus in the next 250 years, but did not elaborate further on it. He also said the RSS' claim that the "gullible" nature of Mahatma Gandhi was responsible for the partition of India, was "wrong and misleading".

Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput got married at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi today. The wedding was attended by close relatives and friends. The 34-year-old Haider star, who got engaged to Mira, 21, earlier this year, kept his wedding a private affair. 

Kazakhistan PM Karim Massimov and PM Narendra Modi exchange views on bilateral relations. The picture was tweeted by MEA spokespeson Vikas Swarup.

Amul's topical take on the Vyapam deaths. 

No explosives found on Turkish airlines plane that had to make an emergency landing at Delhi after a bomb scare.


Intel sources tell TV channels that every angle including a hijack attempt is being probed. The Home minister, IB chief are in a meeting to assess the situation.


Joint investigative teams of IB and RAW are questioning the 134 passengers and 14 crew. The home minister has also spoken to the DG CISF over the issue. The plane was flying from Bangkok to Istanbul. The Nagpur ATC guided the plane to Mumbai, where it made an emergency landing.

A search for the lipstick used to write the warning 'Bomb in Cargo' on the mirror in the washroom of the aircraft, is on. The threat was first spotted by the aircraft crew.

The MeT department has predicted heavy rains at isolated places in hilly areas of Garhwal and Kumaon regions over the next couple of days and issued an advisory for Chardham yatris asking them to avoid visiting areas vulnerable to landslides during the period.


A weather forecast from the MeT office last evening said moderate rain will occur at most places while isolated places especially in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Bageshwar Pithoragarh and Almora districts may receive heavy rainfall during the next 60 hours.


Sounding a note of caution for Chardham yatris, it said in view of the possibility of heavy rain and moderate landslides in these districts they should take utmost care and avoid going to areas prone to landslips.


Though the heavy rain forecast is for today and tomorrow only overcast sky with rain in varying degrees at places will continue till July 10. There may be a decrease in rainfall only from the morning of July 11, it said.

JUST IN: Congress rejects Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister's move to request HC for CBI probe in Vyapam scam, insists on SC-monitored CBI probe. Both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party on Monday demanded a SC-monitored probe in to the case following the spate of deaths. Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition seeking the removal of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav over his alleged involvement in the scam.

PM Modi is now Kazakhstan. He was received at the Astana International Airport by Karim Massimov, the PM of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 

Just in: NDTV reports that a Turkish airlines flight to Bangkok made an emergency landing at IGI international airport, New Delhi due to a bomb threat. The flight has been taken to an isolated bay.

A warning of 'Bomb in Cargo' was written on the mirror in the washroom of the aircraft, but preliminary reports says no bomb has been found. All the 148 passengers were evacuated to safety. Developing story.

"Advani went by the book, by files, by advice given by his babus. He may be well read and articulate and a pleasant conversationalist, but none of that makes for the kind of creative politician that Vajpayee was."


'This is the kind of observation about the Vajpayee premiership that, more than the promise of espionage or Kashmir gossip, made writing A S Dulat's book a satisfying experience," says Aditya Sinha, who co-wrote Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years with the former R&AW chief.

Read

As MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan finally asks for a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam, the BJP government at the centre seems unfazed by allegations that the 47 deaths were linked to the scam.


Union Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda today said there was no need for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the Vyapam scam and brushed it aside as a "silly issue".


"There is no need for PM Modi to answer to silly issues. State has initiated probe, deaths are matter of concern but law and order is a state subject," Gowda said when he was asked whether the PM would reply to the Vyapam deaths.

... Seconds later, at 8:50 am, he detonated the bomb he was carrying in a backpack, killing himself and seven other rush-hour passengers.


"All I remember is a white light in front of my eyes, and it wasn't just a flash," Wright remembers. "I felt like it was there for a long time, and I remember looking at this white light and having this feeling of being shook from side to side."


Read: Londoners remember 7/7 bombings

Just in: The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh has asked for a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam. The MP CM gives into pressure and has asked the high court for a CBI probe, he announced at a press conference on the issue now.  At least 47 people connected with the scam have been found dead.


The announcement comes even as the Supreme Court today agreed to hear petitions filed by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and others for a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam.


A bench headed by chief justice H L Dattu agreed to give an urgent hearing and posted all petitions on the scam for July 9.


Various people including activists, lawyers, politicians belonging to opposition parties, and whistleblower of the scam had approached the apex court for a CBI probe.

Pakistan's largest city and financial hub has given China a green light to build two nuclear power stations on a beach about 15 miles from downtown, raising public alarm over both the location -- the coastline is vulnerable to tsunamis -- and the fact that the nuclear reactors are new and untested.


Karachi approved the plan in late June when the city's environmental agency deemed, "after careful review,' that the project was safe. Yet the impact assessment on the reactor site, at a popular beach known as Paradise Point, remains secret.  Read more

"I worked in Jolly LLB for free. It was just a night's work. We laughed till we died during the shooting. It was such a cute character!" Bollywood's busiest actor Sanjay Mishra speaks to Ronjita Kulkarni. Read

In a move that could intensify the confrontation between the Modi government and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Sen has now gone public with what he calls his "ouster" from the Chancellor-ship of Nalanda University.


In a 4000 word candid essay about to be published in the August issue of the New York Review of Books, Sen has written about his exit from Nalanda University and said that Nalanda is by no means an isolated incident but part of a wide ranging attempt by the Modi government to seize direct control over academic institutions.  Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official engagements abroad are generally personified by the flavour of India. The decor (flower arrangements feature the tricolour), cultural programmes have Indian dance and music and of course the banquets are marked by Indian cuisine and generally are vegetarian, a nod to the PM's choice.


So, at the banquet hosted in honour of the Prime Minister at Tashkent in Uzbekistan, last evening, there were vegetarian dishes on the menu had to the accompaniment of Indian music.


The menu, which was tweeted by MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup featured biryani pilaf, broccoli cream soup, steamed rice with vegetables. For dessert, there were fruits and berry cuts.


During the PM's previous trips to China, France and Germany, menu was largely vegetarian with a distinct Indian presence.


Ahead of the banquet, Modi said that his visit to the five central Asian countries was the 'start of a new journey of an ancient relationship. The PM spoke about Tashkent's special connection to India. It was in Tashkent that former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, passed away nearly 50 years ago, after signing a peace pact with Pakistan.


At the start of the visit, the PM gifted Uzbek President Islam Karimov a specially-commissioned reproduction of Khamsa-i-Khusrau, by Amir Khusrau.


Pic: The menu at the banquet tweeted by MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup. Click on the picture for a larger image.

Nestle India has paid Rs 20 crore to Ambuja Cements for destroying Maggi instant noodles, which were found to be harmful for human consumption by the food regulators in the country.


Ambuja Cements, formerly known as Gujarat Ambuja Cements, is believed to have been paid the amount for burning the recalled packets of Maggi noodles at its cement plant in Chandrapur in Maharashtra.


When contacted, a Nestle India spokesperson told PTI: "Gujarat Ambuja Cements is... helping us to destroy the Maggi noodles being withdrawn by us from the market."


While the spokesperson did not confirm the cost involved in burning Maggi at Ambuja Cements plant, he said: "In addition to the value of stocks being destroyed there will be additional costs to take into account, for example bringing back stock from the market, transporting the stock to the destruction points and destruction cost etc."


Nestle India said that these costs and other unforeseen costs associated with the withdrawal will be dealt with in line with the applicable accounting standards at the time of announcing the financial results on the due dates.


Last month, Nestle India said it is in the process of destroying Maggi instant noodles worth Rs 320 crore after it was banned by the central food safety regulator FSSAI due to presence of lead and taste enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) beyond permissible limits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to five Central Asian republics, will visit two 'Stans' -- as the former Soviet republics in Central Asia are known -- visiting two countries before his visit to Ufa, Russia, for the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summits and the three others thereafter.


The prime minister's visit began in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Monday, July 6, from where he will fly to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, July 7. He will travel to Russia on July 8, before flying to Turkmenistan on July 10, Kyrgyzstan on July 11 and Tajikistan on July 12. Central Asia has a reputation for volatility since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. From a man intent on promoting his personality cult to a ruthless authoritarian who violently strikes down dissenters, the 'Stans' has seen the endurance of several dictatorships. Read

Technology writer Krish Raghav reviews the Narendra Modi mobile app, unveiled by the Indian prime minister in June.There is a lot of swiping in the new app, also called Narendra Modi (Google Play Store, free). Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tributes at the National Monument of Independence and Humanism in Tashkent following which he will leave for Astana (Kazakhstan) shortly.

If Maharashtra is trying to identify children who are not getting educated, as per RTE, it has to include those children who are not studying the core subjects, be they in a madrasa, Vedic pathshala or any other religious or community school. Read

Despite remarkable improvements in child nutrition over the last decade in India, some States, such as Gujarat, have struggled to reduce the numbers of underweight and stunted children, new data show. Read

The Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, most commonly known by its Hindi acronym as the 'Vyapam scam' has been in the headlines on and off throughout the year.The scam dates back to 2007, with investigations in the case starting after some details came to light in 2013.


So, that's basically, all that you wanted to know about the Vyapam scam. Read

In Tashkent (Uzbekistan), PM Modi interacts with children at site of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's bust. 


What is the connection between Tashkent and Shastri? In 1966, the Soviets had moderated peace talks between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the 1965 war. The Indian delegation was led by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The PM passed away immediately after the peace pact was signed, ostensibly of a heart attack.

The recently held Zilla Parishad polls in Bhandara and Gondia districts of Maharashtra indicates that the BJP is losing ground among voters in the state, while the performance of Congress and NCP, which were decimated in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, has improved.


The Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar has emerged as the strongest party in the Gondia ZP poll after it won 20 seats, followed by the Congress, that won 16. In Gondia, NCP has gained 7 and the Congress has gained 6 seats this time. In 2010, NCP had won 13 seats out of total 53 whereas the Congress had 10 members.

Parag Sawant, who was injured in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts and comatose since the past nine years, has passed away in the city's Hinduja Hospital. As per reports, Parag was in a Virar bound train when a bomb went off, leaving him with extensive brain trauma. He was rushed to a local hospital for treatment but slipped into a vegetative state afterwards.

Read our 2009 interview with Parag Sawant's wife.

Govt prepared to tackle impact of possible poor monsoon on kharif crops; asks farmers not to panic: Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid tribute to former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent. The Prime Minister laid floral wreaths at a bust of Shastri in the Uzbek capital.


Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister released the first Uzbek-Hindi dictionary along with his Uzbek counterpart and indologist Rakhmatov. Prime Minister Modi, who arrived in Tashkent yesterday on the first leg of his eight-day tour to five central Asian countries and Russia, had said that India is looking forward to combating the menace along with Uzbekistan.


He also added that India was looking forward to expanding bilateral ties with Uzbekistan in matters related to economic cooperation, advancing stability and promoting regional integration

A 74-year-old prisoner at the Gwalior jail has just returned from Delhi where he was taken for treatment for prostate cancer.


Yogendra Chand Upreti could soon have a double role as both an accused and a star witness in a scam that is embedded in Madhya Pradesh but forged ahead this weekend into a national shocker with the death of a journalist who was reporting on it and started frothing at the mouth during an interview.  Read more

Coalition operations against the Islamic State have scored successes in Iraq and Syria, but the battle against the extremist group promises to be a "generational' one, President Obama said after military leaders briefed him on the campaign.

The BRICS-backed New Development Bank will play a major role in multilateral development of financial institutions, but there are still many unanswered questions at this stage, the bank's newly- appointed vice president Leslie Maasdorp has said.

DRDO Director General, S Christopher, today stressed on the need for having network centric airspace surveillance saying conventional military systems in isolation were likely to be less effective.

An airstrike hit a popular livestock market in Yemen on Monday, killing at least 42 people, witnesses and medical officials said, as a Saudi Arabian-led coalition continued aerial attacks against Houthi rebels for a fourth month.

Thousands of followers gathered in and around the Tibetan temple outside Dalai Lama's house in Dharamshala this morning to celebrate his 80th birthday. 

Union Minister Uma Bharti tonight said she is "scared" by the number of deaths associated with the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh and said there is "panic" in the state due to these deaths.