US Secretary of State John Kerry today flew back home from Geneva with his orthopaedic surgeon on board, after breaking his right leg in a cycling accident in the French Alps. 

Senior most Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma is tipped to be new Chief Information Commissioner, while former CBDT chief K V Chowdary is understood to be in the running for the Central Vigilance Commissioner's post. 

Continuing his campaign of reaching out to less privileged sections, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Mhow tomorrow, the birthplace of Dr B R Ambedkar around whose work and ideology struggles of the suppressed classes are centred.             

Under fire over Maggi issue, Nestle India today said it has got tested samples of the noodle brand in an external laboratory as well as in-house and the product has been found "safe to eat" with lead levels within the permissible levels for consumption.

The company was, however, silent on presence of the taste enhancer monosodium glutamate in the famous 'two-minute' noodle brand. Nestle India further said it is "fully cooperating with the authorities who are conducting further tests and we are awaiting their results".

"We have also submitted samples of Maggi Noodles from almost 600 product batches to an external laboratory for independent analysis and we tested samples from almost 1,000 batches at our accredited laboratory," the company said in a statement.

These samples represent around 32 crore packets, as one batch comprises of about two lakh packs. All the results of these internal and external tests show that lead levels are well within the limits specified by food regulations and that Maggi noodles are safe to eat, it added. "We are sharing these results with the authorities," the company said.

Salman Khan's trial under Arms Act in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Jodhpur has been put off till July 20 in the wake of the actor challenging the lower court's verdict in the high court.

Khan was supposed to present his side in the court today but his counsel H M Saraswat moved an application seeking deferment in the wake of stay on the trial granted by the high court until the petition was decided. "We had moved a criminal miscellaneous petition in the high court seeking permission to call 5 prosecution witnesses for re-examination. The court allowed the same on May 28 and stayed the hearing in the trial court," said Saraswat.

The hearing will now take place in the court of the chief judicial magistrate (Jodhpur district) on July 20 subject to decision of the petition in the high court, where the matter has been listed for July 8.

Salman had appeared in the trial court for recording of his statements on April 29, where he had pleaded innocence. The court had then given him a chance to produce evidence on May 4. But before this could happen, the session court had stayed the trial after Khan's petition seeking permission to call 5 prosecution witnesses. Following this petition, the trial was held up, with the court giving the fresh date of June 1.

Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will arrive tomorrow, on a two-day visit to the country, during which he will visit the Eastern Naval Command besides holding talks with top leadership in New Delhi on joint development of defence technology.

India and US will also sign new 10-year defence framework, which was decided during the visit of American President Barack Obama in January.

Carter will arrive at Vishakapatnam first and hold talks with senior navy officials there, before flying in to the national capital, officials said. American officials have said this indicates the significance Pentagon attaches to India's modernisation of its navy.

In Vishakapatnam, the US defence secretary will visit the indigenous Shivalik class stealth multi-role frigate, INS Sahyadri.

In New Delhi, in addition to holding talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar, Carter would also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Carter had last week said the US is looking for new ways to complement India's 'Act East' policy and find meaningful areas of cooperation in the Asia Pacific.

Uber is in trouble once again.

A woman passenger in Delhi has accused an Uber driver of sexually assaulting her while driving her to Gurgaon. The woman's brother lambasted Uber, an app-based taxi service, in a Facebook post that has been shared several hundred times, NDTV reports.

"My sister availed your cab service, last night for Gurgaon & your driver Vinod tried to kiss her forcibly & even after registering complaint with you morons there has been no action, no update form your end," said the woman's brother in his Facebook post, that drew comments of outrage against Uber, which was banned for a short while in Delhi last year after one of its drivers allegedly raped a woman passenger.

Uber said in a statement posted as a comment to the Facebook post that "immediate action has already been taken" against the driver, even as it investigates the complaint.

In December last year, a 27-year-old finance executive of a Gurgaon-based company alleged that the driver of an Uber cab drove her to a deserted place after she fell asleep in the vehicle and raped her. Uber's service was suspended for some time.

Read the full story here

Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, a Kargil war veteran, today took over as the vice chief of the Indian Air Force.

He succeeds Air Marshal Ravi Kant Sharma demitted the office yesterday, after 40 years of service in the IAF.

Dhanoa was commissioned in the IAF in June 1978 as a fighter pilot. He is an alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College, the National Defence Academy and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.

Dhanoa is a qualified flying instructor and has flown various types of fighter aircraft in his career. During the Kargil operations, he commanded a fighter squadron and himself flew numerous night-strike missions in the mountainous terrain, an IAF statement said.

He has the distinction of having held a number of the important operational appointments including Station Commander of a fighter base and leader of an Indian Military Training Team abroad.

EAM Sushma Swaraj says, "All governments until now said that Pakistan and India won't go to the International Court of Justice because we both are Commonwealth nations. We will ask SC if India can go to the International Court of Justice when such a provision is in place. There is a provision in International Court of Justice where India, Pakistan can't go there against each other regarding any war related matter.

Just in: So, the government has blinked. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj says the Saurabh Kalia is exceptional and the government will go to the international court if the Supreme Court allows it. The government will change the affidavit if the Supreme Court allows it, she said today.


In a huge blow to the families of the martyrs, the Central government has refused to move the International Court of Justice against the treatment meted out to the war heroes.


The Narendra Modi government has said that moving the ICJ against Pakistan in the matter is not 'practical'. The Centre's reaction comes after Captain Kalia's family had demanded for an international probe in the Supreme Court.

Captain Kalia, along with five other soldiers, was taken prisoner by Pakistani troops during the Kargil war in 1999. They were held captive and allegedly tortured before their bodies were handed back to India June 9, 1999.


This incident had caused an uproar across the nation, as the torturing of prisoners of war is against the Geneva Convention.


Meanwhile, Pakistan has consistently denied the charges of torture, stating that the soldiers may have died because of poor weather conditions.  

Rainfall hits Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh providing relief from the intense persistent heat wave. But these are just pre-monsoon showers. Monsoon is not expected to reach Kerala before June 3. 

West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra and three MPs from the state will accompany Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her maiden visit to London in July.

"Three MPs Derek O' Brien, Sugata Bose and actor Dev will be travelling with me along with Finance Minister Amit Mitra, chief secretary Sanjay Mitra and Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee," the CM told reporters in Kolkata today.

The number of industrialists who would be travelling to London would be a non-official delegation, she said.

The chief minister during her UK trip will try to attract investment from the country to West Bengal.

She had made a similar visit to Singapore in August, last year seeking investment from the city state. Banerjee said she had also received an invitation from Bhutan to visit the country.

Former Goa Minister Fransisco Miccky Pacheco who was on the run since April 9 over an assault case, today surrendered before a local court in Margao. Pacheco, representing Nuvem constituency on Goa Vikas Party ticket, went missing after his conviction in an assault case was upheld by the Supreme Court. The legislator was convicted for six months for slapping Electricity Department's Junior Engineer Kapil Natekar, way back in 2006.

1 civilian is dead as per reports but it is not yet verified, Garib Das (DIG, North Kashmir) on Tangdhar encounter.

Nurses at KEM hospital in Mumbai, today remembered their colleague Aruna Shanbaug, who passed away three weeks ago, on her birth anniversary with the hospital administration deciding to name Room No 4, where she stayed for 42 years, after her.


"We have decided to name Room No 4 after Aruna," KEM hospital dean Dr Avinash Supe told PTI. "The room will also be used for the public and staff," he added.


Shanbaug, a nurse at the hospital, existed comatose in the room after being subjected to a brutal sexual assault in 1973 by a ward boy, who tried to throttle her with a dog chain, leaving her in a permanently vegetative state. The hospital nurses fondly remembered Shanbaug and visited her room in the morning to offer tributes. They put flowers and cut a cake. Had she lived three weeks more, she would be celebrating her 68th birthday. A commemorative programme was also organised in the hospital auditorium by the nursing staff.

Even after 11 days of the firing incident in film city in Mumbai, police is still struggling to reach out to the shooters.


"Yes, this is true that we have not been able to nab the shooters, but we are very much hopeful that we will reach upto them very soon," said Vilas Chavan, senior police inspector of Arey Colony police, which is investigating the case.

He further said that they have got specific information about shooters-- Suresh Gaikwad, Sandip Khairnar and Ramesh Kamble and have circulated their pictures to the police team members. However, police had arrested three alleged plotters of this case over a week ago.

Defending French Open champion Maria Sharapova crashed out of the French Open. The #2 seed lost against Serbia's Lucie Safarova (pictured) 6-7, 4-6. Safarova has booked her own place in the quarter-finals for the first time

The government today said Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is testing more Maggi samples collected from different states in the wake of UP FSDA finding monosodium glutamate and lead in excess of the prescribed limit in the instant noodles.


While complete report of the tests are expected in the next two to three days, the government said Maggi brand ambassadors will also be liable for action if advertisements are found to be misleading.

As the BJP celebrates its first year in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today told news agency UNI that the government had managed to usher in 'acche din' (good days) in the country.


The PM also asserted that "discrimination against any community won't be tolerated".


Quick takes of the PM's interview to UNI.

-- Discrimination against any community will not be tolerated.

-- Hate speeches will not be tolerated.

-- On the Land Bill, the PM said that the bill will benefit the farmers and termed the criticism of the land bill as 'politically motivated'.

Bangladesh factory owner and 41 others to face murder charges over 2013 collapse that killed more than 1,100 people. The eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building near Dhaka collapsed on 24 April.


The building had housed at least five garment factories. A number of people were arrested and charged with causing deaths by negligence. Protesters had also taken to the streets calling for the death penalty for the Rana Plaza's owner, Mohammad Sohel Rana.

Just a day before the collapse, the building was briefly evacuated when cracks appeared in the walls. However, workers were later allowed back in or told to return by the factory owners.

Thirteen people, including the owners of a garment manufacturing unit, were charged with culpable homicide for the deaths in Bangladesh's deadliest factory fire.

We are going to press murder charges against 41 people including the owners of the building, Sohel Rana and his parents, later today, Bijoy Krishna Kar, the lead investigator for the Bangladeshi police, said. It was a mass killing. All 41 of those charged have a collective responsibility for the tragedy.

If convicted, the accused could face the death penalty, he added.

The issue of implementing the One Rank One Pension (OROP) principle for the veterans of the defence services continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons, with a final announcement nowhere in sight.


With the Narendra Modi government in its second year, its major poll promise of OROP remains unfulfilled. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Ministers have reiterated the government's commitment to the scheme, that by itself does little to contain the growing unhappiness in the community of ex-servicemen that has been waiting for years for a fair deal. Read

Delhi Industries Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday bemoaned Shakuntala Gamlin for writing a complaint letter to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung over the conversion of industrial plots in the city from leasehold to freehold, saying that the senior IAS officer should have addressed the letter to him.

After weeks of speculation, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman have agreed to be on BCCI's advisory committee, according to Board secretary Anurag Thakur.

Another grenade attack on a mobile tower in Habbakadal, Srinagar, J&K, today, reports Mukhtar Ahmad/Rediff.com in Srinagar.


One person was injured when militants attacked two mobile towers in the heart of the Srinagar this afternoon.


A senior police officer said militants tossed a grenade inside the compound of a house in Gadoodbagh Habbakadal locality of the city where two mobile towers are located.


This is the first attack on the cellular facilities in the capital city after a string of attacks in north Kashmir Sopore, Pattan and Handwara towns that left two persons dead and three others wounded.


The officer said the injured person identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad Ahangar was taken to hospital. An unknown militant outfit has been threatening various telecom companies to wind up their operations in Kashmir.



A little known militant group Lashkar-e-Islam issued threat posters in Sopore and other parts of Baramulla on Friday and asked telecommunication companies to wind up their operations if their equipment was not returned.


The militant group has warned telecomm operators, tower land owners and mobile franchisees that if they don't stop their work, they will be targeted.

Capt Kalia from the 4 Jat Regiment was the first Indian Army officer to observe and report the large-scale intrusion by the Pakistani Army into the Indian side of the Line of Control in the Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir in 1999. 


When their bodies were handed over to India, the autopsy reports revealed extreme torture including cigarette burns, ear drums pierced with hot iron rods and amputated limbs.


The then interior minister of Pakistan, Rehman Malik had claimed that Kalia may have been killed by extreme weather. Captain Saurabh Kalia's father NK Kalia wants the Indian government to raise the matter with the International Court of Justice.

PM Narendra Modi reacts to the Saurabh Kalia issue. "There is no question of insulting our martyrs who give everything to the nation. I would rather quit politics than insult our martyrs."


In a big blow to the family of Indian Army Captain Saurabh Kalia, who was tortured by the Pakistan Army in 1999 during the Kargil conflict, the Narendra Modi government has refused to move the International Court of Justice against Pakistan.


The National Democratic Alliance government has told Parliament that it has no plans to pursue the matter in the international court of law.


The government now says that moving the ICJ against Pakistan, as demanded by Kalia's family, will not be feasible.


The Centre's decision is surely to invite wrath, as the Bharatiya Janata Party had criticised the United Progressive Alliance for not acting out.


The UPA government had in 2013 told the Supreme Court that it is bound by Simla Agreement of 1972, so it can't treat Saurabh Kalia's case as a war crime.

Bangladesh is set to honour former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his outstanding support for the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971, when he was a Lok Sabha member. 

Just In: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to join BCCI in a newly-constituted advisory committee.

Just In: The Karnataka government has decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case.

Farhan Akhtar @FarOutAkhtar Happy times at Milkha-ji's home. Came first in the paratha eating competition! Thank you Nimmi Aunty & @SoniaMilkha.


Farhan Akhtar, who portrayed former Olympian Milkha Singh in "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" took the cast of "Dil Dhadakne Do", to Chandigarh to meet the legend and his family.

The Congress vice president 'suit boot ki sarkar' jibe has not gone down well with Shiv Sena, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre.


In an editorial in its mouthpiece, the Saamna, the Sena lashed out against Rahul Gandhi saying, "If the Congress thinks India's industrialists and corporate bosses should wear langots and kafani instead of their suits and boots, then Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel (senior Congress leader and Sonia loyalist) and Manmohan Singh should first show up at Delhi's India Gate in their langots to create an ideal example.'

Read

Nurses of KEM Hospital in Parel, Mumbai, remembered their colleague Aruna Shanbaug, who remained in coma for 42 years after sexual assault when she was 25 and died in the hospital on May 18.


Since the morning, scores of nurses visited the tiny room No 4 in the hospital which was Shanbaug's home as she lay there for over four decades - deserted by her family and relatives, but cared lovingly by the nurses of the hospital. They put flowers, symbolically cut cake, and greeted one another.


Read: After being raped, in coma for 42 years, Mumbai nurse Aruna finds peace

Senior IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin, whose appointment as the acting chief secretary had triggered a turf war between Delhi Lieutenant Governor and the AAP Government, has complained to Najeeb Jung accusing Industries Minister Satyendra Jain of putting pressure on her over conversion of industrial plots from leasehold to freehold. Read

Narendra Modi has caught seniors in his government off guard with three of his foreign policy moves: e-visas for Chinese tourists, the purchase of 36 Rafale combat jets from France and the joint statement with President Barack Obama on a common strategic vision for the Asia Pacific. Read

Air Marshal BS Dhanoa takes over as the new Vice Chief of Air Staff of Indian Air Force.

TDP Telangana MLA Revanth Reddy, who was caught while allegedly trying to give a bribe to a nominated MLA to vote for his party's nominee in today's Telangana Legislative Council polls, was arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody.


The court allowed Reddy to vote in the polls. ACB Director General A K Khan said that Reddy and two others were sent to 14-days judicial custody.


Election to the Telangana Legislative Council under MLAs' quota from the Assembly constituency is underway today to fill up six vacant seats. Earlier, Reddy, Sebastian Harry and Uday Simha were taken into custody by the ACB.


After interrogation, they were officially arrested and produced before the residence of a magistrate this morning after which they were remanded to judicial custody.


Based on a complaint by nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson, ACB officials took Reddy and two others into custody last night after they were caught allegedly handing over Rs 50 lakh as bribe to the nominated MLA.

Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Rajya Sabha MP on the NDA govt towing the UPA line on the Saurabh Kalia case.


Chandrashekar says, "It's a case where a crime has been committed against a brave soldier. His family is struggling for justice. I filed a petition in the International Court, which is pending because the UPA government did not seek it appropriate to intervene. 

"I urge the current govt to recognize the fact. It's the obligation of every government to ensure crimes against citizens are not left unpunished."

Scattered rains were witnessed in the early hours as the city woke up to partly cloudy skies today with the minimum temperature being recorded at 25.9 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average.


Weather stations at Safdarjung, Lodhi road and Palam recorded traces of rainfall in the last 24 hours. Ridge and Ayanagar recorded 0.4 and 0.2 mm rainfall respectively, said MeT department officials.


The weatherman has predicted partly cloudy skies, along with the possibility of dust storms and thunderstorms accompanied by squall in some parts of the city.


"The skies will be partly cloudy. Dust storms and thunderstorms accompanied by squall may occur in some parts of the city," said the weatherman. The maximum temperature is expected to touch 39 degrees. The humidity at 8.30 am was recorded at 45 per cent.

Less than a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Bangladesh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has ruled out signing the Teesta water-sharing agreement with Dhaka during the trip.


Responding to queries at a press conference Sunday on completion of a year in office, Swaraj said they have "not reached an understanding' on the agreement, and the signing will not happen during the Prime Minister's visit to Dhaka on June 6-7.


"I said it is not going to happen during this visit (of the PM) because I know the facts. Whatever decision on Teesta needs to be taken, it has to take into account the state government's views. The decision will be taken by consulting them. The state government will have to be taken on board," she said.


She said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be travelling to Dhaka and will be present during the signing of instruments of operationalisation of the Land Boundary Agreement. She said there is "no possibility' of Banerjee cancelling the visit. Read the full story here.