Russia has pulled the US-funded Voice of America radio station from the air, a senior state media official said today, calling it "spam on our airwaves." Dmitry Kiselyov, the head of the Rossiya Segodnya state media conglomerate, said a contract to broadcast Voice of America on AM radio would not be renewed.

A intrepid hawk has been taken on by the Vatican to protect the pope's doves after two were killed in front of horrified crowds by a crow and seagull, according to a Catholic weekly. 

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered ministers to limit contact with their Palestinian counterparts as the Arab League blamed his government today for the "dangerous stalemate" in US-brokered peace talks. 

Iran described as "unacceptable" today a decision by the United States to deny a visa to Tehran's newly appointed UN ambassador over his alleged links to the 1979 US hostage crisis. 

House Democrats today demanded an end to a Republican-led investigation into the deadly attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, calling the probe a partisan "witch hunt." 

Oscar Pistorius was the target of relentless and combative questioning Wednesday as the prosecutor in his murder trial tried to rattle the runner about the night he shot dead his model girlfriend.

Jammu and Kashmir National Highway will reopen for two-way traffic from tomorrow. According to the Inspector General of Police (Traffic), all types of vehicles will be allowed to ply both ways on the highway connecting Jammu with Srinagar every day from tomorrow in view of improved weather conditions and better road. 

Car bombs hit several mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and a town south of the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the latest bout of violence ahead of the country's first parliament elections since the 2011 US troop withdrawal. 

A herd of 30'"40 wild elephants today disrupted the movement of sector officers in at least two polling booths in Meghalaya's South West Garo Hills district. "The movement of sector officers in at least two polling booths was disrupted for a few minutes when the road they were travelling were blocked by a herd of 30-40 wild elephants crossing the same road," South West Garo Hills district Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh told PTI.

A powerful bomb ripped through a bustling fruit and vegetable market here today, killing at least 23 people and injuring over 100 others, in one of the deadliest attacks in the Pakistani capital. 

The Supreme Court today held that credibility of a dying declaration comes under "suspicion" if it is not in the "actual words" of the victim and has been dictated by somebody else. "Sanctity is attached to a dying declaration because it comes from the mouth of a dying person.

Poll officials in Gujarat will check the video footage to determine whether Narendra Modi entered Vadodara District Collector's office, where he filed his nomination today, with more supporters than stipulated though prima facie there appears to be no violation of norms. 

The nationalist Hindu party likely to come to power in India wants to reconsider the nation's nuclear doctrine. What might that mean? We don't know, but it's an interesting question.

As many as 20 students were hurt when a classmate went on a stabbing rampage through the classrooms and halls of a high school outside Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The student suspect was in custody and being questioned by police, Dan Stevens, a Westmoreland County emergency management spokesman, told WPXI, the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh. He said that the motive was unclear and that the injuries did not appear life-threatening.

Victims, as young as 15, were taken to four Pittsburgh-area hospitals. Two were in the operating room and a third was on the way, Dr. Chris Kaufmann, a hospital trauma director, told CNN. One hospital reported that it had patients as old as 60. -- NBC.

BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi today raked up the 'murder' of local Youth Congress leader Kalpana Giri, allegedly by a senior office-bearer, to criticise Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Central government over their "insensitivity" towards security of women.

"Several years ago a Congress leader killed his wife and burnt her body in a tandoor. From tandoor to Latur, the character of the party has remained the same and parents of Kalpana Giri have to run around seeking justice for their daughter," Modi said, campaigning for BJP candidate Sunil Gaikwad on the home turf of former chief minister and Congress leader (late) Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Recalling how the Delhi gang rape case had left the country shaken, Modi said ,"Soniaji...you are a woman, Delhi chief minister was a woman and the Union home minister is from Maharashtra... the UPA made provision of Rs 1,000 crore as 'Nirbhaya' fund and not a rupee was spent. In the interim budget, a provision for another Rs 1,000 crore was made. This government is so thick-skinned that it is an expert in misleading the people."

Nearly 80 per cent polling stations in Naxal-hit Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh have been designated as "highly sensitive", leading to the deployment of more than 25,000 security personnel to ensure peaceful polling tomorrow.

Security forces are keeping strict vigil over Bastar constituency as Maoists have planted hundreds of landmines to disturb the election process, a Home Ministry official said.

About 71 per cent votes were cast for the lone Nagaland parliamentary seat today. Election Commission sources said voting figures of the far flung districts were yet to be known.

The Hindu on the attack on Arvind Kejriwal yesterday. The AAP chief has refused security despite repeated requests by the police.

About 55 per cent votes were cast today for the two Lok Sabha seats and 49 out of the 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh, where the simultaneous polling was held peacefully.

The vote percentage will go up as reports from interior districts are yet to be received, Election Commission sources said.

Long queues of voters were seen waiting outside the booths after the polling hour ended at 5 pm.

Arif Raza, a BJP candidate from Srinagar quits the party: As a Kashmiri I won't tolerate this (mention of abrogation of Article 370 in BJP manifesto), therefore quit.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Emergency crews sent to high school in Murraysville, Penn., after reports of 'multiple stabbings'.  

Post-mortem into death of Peaches Geldof has proved inconclusive pending result of toxicology tests, police say. The death of Geldof has refocused attention on the tragic events -- a bitter divorce and her mother's overdose -- that have haunted her loving family. Read

A day after she climbed down from her belligerence against the Election Commission by agreeing to transfer seven top officials as directed, Mamata Banerjee today urged voters to give a "fitting reply" to the "conspiracy by Delhi" by electing TMC candidates in all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.

"Remember, by transferring the officers the government cannot be transferred. I was there in West Bengal, I am there and I will remain there," she said, addressing a poll rally in Burdwan district.

The West Bengal Chief Minister said people would not take the "insult" lying down and would take the revenge democratically.

"When the ballot boxes will be opened you will find. Earlier we thought that we will win 35 to 36 seats. Now people will get us elected in all 42 seats," she said.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Another defection to the BJP. In a jolt to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, the party MLA from Maihar seat in Satna district has joined BJP.

Narayan Tripathi, who joined the party in the presence of state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a function yesterday in Satna, is the third MLA from Congress to join the saffron party after Sanjay Pathak and Dinesh Ahirwar.

The Maihar MLA said he left Congress as he was being neglected by the party. Tripathi was earlier with the Samajwadi Party and later joined the Congress and contested the 2013 Assembly polls from Maihar.

Former Union minister Arun Shourie talks about the tasks for the new government, the Gujarat CM's style of working, the "understanding' that Modi could reach with the RSS and the fall in stature of the PMO. Read

The Election Commission has issued a notice against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for assembling with a crowd in Rajghat. Kejriwal did not have permission to take more than five people with him.

The AAP leader sat in silent prayer at Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi Rajghat, where his supporters equated the repeated attacks on him with the killing of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse.

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has dismissed reports that her marriage with Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik is in trouble.

The news of differences and separation of Shoaib and Sania had been making rounds on the media for many months, but the Indian tennis player, who was on a private visit to Sialkot, the hometown of her in-laws, clarified that reports about her marriage being on the rocks were incorrect.

"Our marriage has not been easy because we are professional athletes and come from different countries and we knew there would be stress on us with time but we have so far managed it well. There are no problems between us at all," said Sania.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Repolling will be held tomorrow in six polling booths of three of the five Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls on April 7. Repolling was ordered in four booths of the Jorhat seat, and in one booth each in Dibrugarh and Tezpur constituencies because of EVMs malfunctioning during the first phase of polling.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

India's foreign exchange reserves have jumped up in recent months to end last fiscal year at one of their highest levels ever, giving the country a substantial cushion to protect it from the end of the United States' easy money policy and other shocks. Read

A signpost by the Indian army celebrating nationhood over religion. For kind consideration of SP leader Azam Khan who said on Monday that India won the Kargil War solely because of Muslim soldiers and no Hindu soldier was behind the victory.

Sonia Gandhi who is campaigning at Kolar in Karnataka, trained her guns on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and said he was being projected with his "true face" hidden behind a mask and as a "magician" who could cure all ills of the country.

Without naming Modi, Gandhi also made a stinging attack on the Gujarat model of development being touted by him, saying some people had the habit of projecting "small things in a big" way as if no good work is happening in other states. 

First came the Economist editorial, then this signature campaign by 'intellectuals' asking Indians not to vote the BJP. Read

Subramanian Swamy on Capt Amarinder that will quite certainly get him dragged to court. Swamy says that the Cong candidate Capt Amarinder Singh's wife has a foreign bank account in Jersey, and he has not declared it during nomination and says it's perjury. 

After the bluster, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is digging into humble pie. The West Bengal government executes the Election Commission order and removes seven officials and appoints new ones replacing them.

If her attack on the EC on Monday was unprecedented, her climbdown barely 24 hours later was surprisingly uncharacteristic and came after the panel rejected the state government's plea to revisit its decision on the transfer and gave a deadline of 1am for Wednesday to comply with its orders.

A detailed analysis of Gujarat's economy under the leadership of Narendra Modi.  Read

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Faced with the threat of the fascist predator, the liberal ostrich burying its head in the sand of India's democratic institutions is not a pretty sight. Read

Beginning of a war of words between Amritsar candidates? Senior Congress leader and party candidate from Amritsar Captain Amarinder Singh says he would "not even engage him (Arun Jaitley) to fight my case in a district court, that is what I think about him as a lawyer."

The former Punjab chief minister who will take on Arun Jaitley from the constituency challenged the BJP on Monday and said it has betrayed its real communal and sectarian instincts in the manifesto itself, and added that the fake facade of development the BJP is trying to project over communalism and Hindutva has already started wearing off.

He hoped that Jaitely, "who is fond of discussing and debating the national issues as he has been regularly boasting about his expertise on national affairs," would spell out his stand vis-a-vis these three important issues which have a crucial bearing on Punjab as well.

Oscar Pistorius is testifying for a third day at his murder trial, returning to the witness stand after breaking down in sobs and wailing a day earlier while describing the moments he said he realised he had fatally shot his girlfriend by mistake.

Pistorius was still being led in questioning today by chief defence lawyer Barry Roux, but could also be cross-examined by prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who maintains the double-amputee runner killed Reeva Steenkamp after an argument.

Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder. Pistorius broke down yesterday as he recalled bashing open the toilet door through which he shot Steenkamp last year. Pistorius said he noticed "she wasn't breathing" and then sobbed and howled in court, causing the trial to be adjourned.

In 2009, the Congress won all seven Lok Sabha seats in New Delhi. This election, the party may not even win one, reports Anita Katyal on Rediff.com. Read

More on the bahu, beta, behens of Indian politics: Chief Minister Harish Rawat's wife Renuka Rawat and former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna's son Saket Bahuguna figure in the list of Lok Sabha candidates from Uttarakhand announced by Congress today.

While Rawat's wife has been fielded from the Haridwar seat represented by him in the past, Saket will contest from Tehri Garwhal, a constituency from where his father had won in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Myanmar's course is leading in the wrong direction. Read

Archie Comics publisher confirms plans to kill off Archie: 'It's the biggest story we've ever done, and we're supremely proud of it. Read

By engaging with a section of people not defined by caste or religion, but by income and aspiration, Rahul Gandhi is trying to build a new constituency for the Congress. Read

Meanwhile, at least 13 people have been killed as several car bombs hit Baghdad neighborhoods, officials say.

AAP candidate Jaaved Jaffrey files his nomination papers from Lucknow and says of the attacks on Arvind Kejriwal that they were attacks on truth, and the people and party have to ensure that the path of truth is walked on. 

Dessert after lunch? Kartik Chandra makes symbols of different Indian political parties on sweets (sandesh) at a shop ahead of the general election in Kolkata. Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri.

The Supreme Court has declined Sahara's plea to keep Subrata Roy under house arrest instead of in Tihar Jail.

Sahara had told the SC that it was difficult to raise money while Sahara Subrata Roy is in jail. "No international buyer would like to visit the jail to negotiate a deal," Sahara counsel Ram Jethmalani told the apex court.

The Sahara Group recently expressed its inability to the court to immediately pay Rs 10,000 crore for securing bail of its chief Subrata Roy and its two directors. The three have been in jail since March 4.

"You don't have to do anything; you just have to smile."

The male gaze on Gulkirat Kaur Panag is as politically incorrect in gender-sensitive times as the puritanism her Aam Aadmi Party aspires for.

Gul Panag, the star, smiles easily, in all fairness. The corners of the smile stretch almost from ear to ear, separated from the lobes by a pair of long and deep dimples.

Read the Telegraph on Gul Panag campaigning in Chandigarh.

Update on the Naxal attack at Chhattisgarh.

PTI puts the figure of fatalities to two, not three.

Naxals today killed two commandos of CRPF's CoBRA battalion and injured five other troopers in ambush attacks in two districts of the state.

In the first incident that occurred in Sukma district of the state, Naxals opened heavy fire on a patrol of the specialised anti-Naxal operations force CoBRA that was coming back after escorting a polling party which has reached the Maoist stronghold as part of the polls scheduled tomorrow.

Officials said a strong squad of about 100 Naxals surrounded the party from three sides, leading to the killing of two commandos while three others were injured.

"The troops were hit on the back. They were killed as they received bullet injuries while on their way back," a senior official said.

The incident comes at a time when the forces are at their maximum alert. A joint column of CRPF, state police and commandos on a helicopter have been launched in the area, the official said, adding a "cordon and search" operation has been launched.

"We are alive to every possibility and we will conduct the polls peacefully," a senior security official monitoring the security forces deployment in Delhi said.

Shubhanginiraje Gaekwad, from the erstwhile royal family of Baroda says her family fully supports Narendra Modi and that the country needs his governance.

Naxals have killed three jawans of the Cobra Force of the CRPF in an encounter in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. Sukma goes to the polls tomorrow. The jawans were escorting polling officers.

Just two days ago, a CRPF personnel was severely injured in an attack by Maoists, also in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

The injured, Sub-Inspector Mahendra Singh, was admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur city in Chhattisgarh. A doctor treating Singh, Pradeep Pandey, said the sub inspector would be operated once he is stable.

Six constituencies speared across four north-eastern are currently casting their ballot in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections today. Voting is being held in one seat each in Nagaland and Manipur and two seats each in Arunchal Pradesh and Meghalaya. In Arunachal Pradesh, simultaneous elections are being held for 49 of the 60 assembly seats. Take a look at these fantastic pictures on Rediff.com.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Lali, the auto driver who had slapped Arvind Kejriwal, while he was campaigning in Sultanpuri, Delhi.

Kejriwal said he wanted to meet the man to find out if he had genuine grievances against the party or whether he had political affiliations.

Lali, the auto driver said he was sorry about the incident and had apologised to Kejriwal, but was upset that the AAP chief had quit his responsibilities as a CM after being elected to power in Delhi.

He said he had tried to meet Kejriwal when he was CM, but could not do so and denied any affiliation with political parties.

AAP's Ashutosh had said yesterday, that the incident smacked of a political conspiracy.

Pic: Arvind Kejriwal with Lali, the auto driver and AAP leader Manish Sisodia. Picture tweeted by ANI. 

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

'If they come to power, they will try to change the Constitution. They are destroying Babasaheb's name. They are fundamentalist people,' says Surai Sasai, the Buddhist monk who has issued an edict that Nagpur's Buddhists not vote for the BJP or its candidate Nitin Gadkari. Read the report on Rediff.com.

Two paramilitary personnel killed in encounter with Naxals in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. 

Showing a strong global interest in India's general elections, over a dozen global financial giants, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Citigroup, are keeping a close tab on these polls and are analysing the likely economic impact of different possible outcomes.

The unprecedented interest shown by these international financial services firms in the ongoing elections, which is the biggest ever electoral exercise in the world, largely stems from India's emergence in the last few decades as a major centre -- both politically as well as economically -- on the global landscape.

These firms also include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Nomura, Barclays, UBS, CLSA, BNP Paribas, RBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.

Madhusudan Mistry, AICC general secretary and close aide of vice president of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting against Modi from this Lok Sabha seat, had filed his nomination papers on April 5, of course, without the roadshow.

Update on the attack on Arvind Kejriwal yesterday. The AAP chief today, will meet the man who slapped him during a roadshow in Delhi yesterday. Lali, an auto-rickshaw driver, attacked Kejriwal when he was campaigning in Sultanpuri in northwest Delhi for the national election. The auto driver was hauled off by the police but told the press that Kejriwal had betrayed auto drivers in Delhi and even the BJP and the Congress was better than them.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Narendra Modi speaking after he files his nomination papers. He says Vadodara has been his karmabhoomi. He talks about the Gaekwad royal family of Vadodara, of how he studied in a school set up by the royals. He says the Gaekwads were the best example of good governance and thanks the city for its love and support and warm welcome. He urges people to vote in large numbers for the party. Vadodara goes to the polls on April 30. 

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

Narendra  Modi has finally reached the Vadodara district collector's office. Modi has just signed his nomination papers. Whether you agree with Modi's politics or otherwise, by getting a chai-wallah to be one of his proposer's this has been a casting coup for him. In effect, he has tried to establish a connect with the aam admi.

Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections

"We'll ensure that Modi does not suffer Draupadi's fate. His honour will be intact.'

A group of villagers in Muzaffarnagar sat around a board playing chausar, supposedly the game of dice mentioned in the Mahabharat.

As they animatedly discussed the upcoming election, plots and subplots from the epic kept cropping up in their conversation.

They seemed to be linking their fortunes at dice to those of Narendra Modi in politics. "We'll ensure that Modi does not suffer Draupadi's fate. His honour will be intact,' said Raj Kumar, a grocer. 

Read the report on the Telegraph.

In other news: Sahara lawyers tell the Supreme Court that Sahara is looking for international buyers to raise money to pay SEBI, but with Subrato Roy behind bars it is difficult to engage in talks with these buyers. Sahara requests the SC to put him under house arrest, office arrest or put stringent conditions/restrictions on him, but release him from jail. 

Narendra Modi still winding his way to the Vadodara collectorate office to file his nomination. Senior state minister Anandiben Patel is also accompanying him.

That's Shubhanginiraje Gaekwad of the Gaekwad royal family, one of the four proposers for Narendra Modi's nomination in Vadodara. Pic tweeted by Shiv Aroor. 

As we wait for Naredra Modi to file his nomination from Vadodara, here's a good read from the Indian Express: In the decade that followed LK Advani's countrywide yatra, the BJP's Ayodhya movement helped it make inroads into the Hindi heartland. Read

Campaign rhetoric that is patently incendiary is being read as the discourse of moderation. Actions that are menacingly communal are being interpreted as harmlessly secular. Silence is being taken as proof of innocence. Read

Shri Shivshankar Menon, NSA to deliver the keynote address tomorrow at the International Seminar on Kautilya. See

Vadodara is considered to be a safe seat, as compared to Varanasi, which is also from where Modi is contesting. Six of the seven assembly segments in Vadodara are held by the BJP while the remaining seat is held by an independent. 

Senior BJP leader Pushottam Rupala is also accompanying Modi as the road goes on. This is the first time that Modi is fighting a Lok Sabha election. A member of the Vadodara royal family will also be with the BJP's PM candidate as he files his nomination.

A tea vendor will be one of Narendra Modi's proposers, when he files his nomination at Vadodara shortly. Dressed in a kurta and an orange waistcoat with the lotus symbol emblazoned on his waistcoat, Modi waved to crowds -- mammoth numbers -- from an open jeep.  as he traveled through the city. The roadshow is being called the Vijay Vishwas rally.

Compare this to the Sonia Gandhi's nomination from Rae Bareilly last week, which apart from a shower of rose petals, was largely muted.

  BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will soon reach Vadodara in Gujarat to file his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.   A tea vendor and a member of Vadidara's royal family will accompany Modi while he files his nomination.  

 

Modi is contesting from Vadodara and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

Teams searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have reacquired signals that could be consistent with "black box" flight recorders. Australian vessel Ocean Shield heard the signals again on Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Australian official leading the search said.

 

Work was continuing to refine the search area before a submersible could be sent down, he said. Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March, carrying 239 people. It was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers.

 

Malaysian officials say that based on satellite date, they believe it ended its flight in the southern Indian Ocean, thousands of kilometres from its intended flight path.

 

The Ocean Shield has been towing a pinger locator to listen for signals from the plane's flight recorders in waters west of the Australian city of Perth. It twice acquired signals over the weekend.

 

On Tuesday, it located the signals again, the first time for five minutes and 32 seconds, and the second time for around seven minutes, Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston said.

 

Read more on BBC

The US Secretary of State John Kerry has lashed out at Russia for creating unrest in Ukraine by sending agents for this purpose, saying such moves are "absolutely unacceptable".      

 

"Everything that we've seen in the last 48 hours from Russian provocateurs and agents operating in eastern Ukraine tells us that they've been sent there determined to create chaos. And that is absolutely unacceptable," Kerry told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday.  

 

"These efforts are as ham-handed as they are transparent, frankly. And quite simply what we see from Russia is an illegal and illegitimate effort to destabilise a sovereign state and create a contrived crisis with paid operatives across an international boundary engaged in this initiative," he said.       

 

Alleging that Russia's clear and unmistakable involvement in destabilising and engaging in separatist activities in the east of Ukraine is more than deeply disturbing, Kerry said no one should be fooled by what "could potentially be a contrived pretext for military intervention" just as the world saw in Crimea, which was previously a province of Ukraine.       

 

"It is clear that Russian Special Forces and agents have been the catalysts behind the chaos of the last 24 hours. Some have even been arrested and exposed.       

 

And equally as clear must be the reality that the United States and our allies will not hesitate to use 21st century tools to hold Russia accountable for 19th century behaviour," he said.

Nato has warned Russia that further intervention in Ukraine would be a "historic mistake" with grave consequences.Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Moscow must pull back troops it has massed on the Ukrainian border.

Prisoners in the jails of Uruguay will be able to use marijuana if a doctor says it will benefit their health. Uruguay's drug czar Julio Calzada told The Associated Press yesterday that any inmates with doctors' orders will be prescribed marijuana to their improve physical or mental health.

A subdued Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday described dinner at home, chatting and looking at cell phone photos with Reeva Steenkamp on the last night of her life.

The United States today asked North Korea to look at Iran's example, saying it was willing to negotiate with a hostile nation when it is "serious" about its promises. 

Former ISRO chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan tonight stressed on the need to have cost-effective transportation system for space travel missions of the country in the future. 

The family of an Al-Jazeera journalist detained in Egypt for nearly eight months called for his immediate release today, saying his health has deteriorated during a hunger strike. 

Twitter today began revamping profile pages to let users display more of their online personalities, giving the popular service a Facebook-like feel. 

Atrocities by the Syrian government "far outweigh" crimes by the opposition fighters and Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is "mostly responsible" for the human rights offenses in the three-year war, the UN human rights chief said today. 

Iran and world powers held a new round of nuclear talks today hoping to move to the next level and start drafting a historic and highly ambitious final deal next month. 

A man who spent almost a quarter-century behind bars for murder was freed today and cleared of a killing that happened when he was 1,100 miles away on a Disney World vacation. 

The United States accused Russia today of sending its agents to stoke a flaring secession crisis in eastern Ukraine that Moscow itself conceded could spill over into civil war. 

Eleven hand grenade attacks today took place in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi and other parts of the southern Sindh province. 

The United States said today it had told Iran the selection of a UN ambassador who is allegedly linked to the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis was "not viable." The disclosure from the White House came a day after the US Senate passed a resolution that would deny the diplomat, Hamid Aboutalebi, a US visa.

America's top diplomat says talks in the Mideast peace process faltered after Israel last month refused to release prisoners as Palestinian leaders demanded, and then moved forward with new construction in a settlement.