Antony leaves for China on his first official visit

NEW DELHI: Defence minister AK Antony on Thursday left for China on a four-day official visit during which he is slated to have talks on Sino-Indian border and discuss regional and global security.

During the visit, Antony will have delegation-level talks with his counterpart, State Councillor and minister of National Defence Chang Wanquan.

Both ministers are expected to discuss a number of issues, including those related to maintenance of peace and tranquility on the border, interactions between the armed forces of both sides, and matters relating to regional and global security.

Guilty should be punished, facts are facts: Shinde on Ishrat Jahan case

NEW DELHI: A day after CBI told a court in Ahmedabad that it is probing the role of IB officers in Ishrat Jahan case, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday said those guilty of carrying out the alleged fake encounter should be punished.

"Facts are facts. Guilty should be punished," Shinde told when asked to comment on CBI's submission to the court.

Shinde's statement bears significance as home ministry officials have been maintaining that there was not enough evidence against Intelligence Bureau special director Rajendra Kumar and three others in the alleged fake encounter case.

Najeeb Jung to be new Delhi LG; K K Paul is Meghalaya governor

NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung was on Monday appointed Delhi lieutenant-governor replacing Tejendra Khanna while former Delhi Police commissioner K K Paul was appointed Meghalaya governor replacing Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary.

President Pranab Mukherjee also appointed former Punjab Congress chief Virendra Kataria as LG of Puducherry succeeding Iqbal Singh while Lt Gen (retired) A K Singh replaced Lt Gen (retired) Bhopinder Singh as LG of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said. A K Singh retired earlier this year as the chief of Southern Army Command in Pune and is from the Armoured Corps.

Manmohan Singh condemns 'cowardly attack' on armymen in Srinagar

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday condemned the militant attack in Srinagar in which five army personnel were killed, and said the "cowardly attack" would not deter the security forces engaged in bringing peace and order to the Kashmir Valley.

Six people were injured in the attack which took place when militants opened fire on an army convoy on the outskirts of the city ahead of the prime minister's visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

Kerry arrives in India on three-day visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in New Delhi on Sunday to participate in the fourth round of Indo-US strategic dialogue, even as the US announced to invest $100 million in India's burgeoning clean energy sector.

Kerry, 69, accompanied by a high-level delegation arrived here on a three-day visit, the first one after assuming the charge of the state department earlier this year.

LK Advani meets RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

New Delhi: After repeated postponements, Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch LK Advani finally met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday here.

On Wednesday, the meet between the duo was deferred after the BJP leader conveyed that he was "unwell".
Bhagwat and Advani couldn't meet on Tuesday either, as was expected.

Heavy rain in north India triggers landslides, floods; toll 22

NEW DELHI: Heavy monsoon rain on Monday wreaked havoc in the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and flooded parts of Haryana where the water level in the Yamuna rose alarmingly, leaving 22 people dead and 1000 stranded.

Did India agree to demolish bunkers for Chinese troop withdrawal?

New Delhi: The Indian government may have denied any deal behind the Chinese troops' withdrawal from the Depsang Valley in Ladakh, but reports said New Delhi has agreed to remove bunkers set up by the Indian Army in Chumar near the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The concession of demolishing bunkers at Chumar only facilitated the deal that led to the Chinese troops pulling back to their pre-April 15 position, highly placed sources said.

Anti-Sikh riots: Court acquits Sajjan Kumar

New Delhi: In a big relief to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, a special CBI court in Karkardooma on Tuesday acquitted him in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

The case pertains to violence in the Delhi Cantonment area. The Congress leader had been charged with murder, robbery, rioting, inciting violence, and damaging public property in that case.

The verdict triggered sharp protests outside the Karkardooma court by various Sikh organizations.

Anti-Sikh riots : High Court defers verdict on Sajjan Kumar's plea

New Delhi:  The Delhi High Court today deferred its verdict on a plea of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar against a trial court order framing charges against him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in connection with the killings of six persons in Delhi's Sultanpuri area.The court had reserved the order against him in December last year. It has now posted the matter for hearing on May 15.

Three held in Tamil Nadu in Bangalore blast case

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu police arrested three people in the early hours on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in bomb blast that rocked Bangalore on April 17.

National Investigation Agency which is probing the blast on Monday found that improvised explosive devices (IED) and Nitrate compounds were used to carry out the blast and these had the hallmark of the Indian Mujahideen.

'Very upset' about CBI raids on MK Stalin's residence: Prime Minister

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that his government is "very upset" about the CBI raids on DMK leader MK Stalin's house in Chennai today. Dr Singh said, "The timing of the raid is unfortunate. The government didn't do it. We will find out who is responsible."

The raids have further strained equations between the government and the DMK, which quit the UPA two days ago in protest against the Union government's stand on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.