NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi shied away from the debate on communal violence that he forced by leading a protest in Lok Sabha, defying enormous pressure from within that he speak on the party's top concern and raising eyebrows in friendly quarters.

NEW DELHI: Major Mukund Varadarajan, who killed two terrorists before succumbing to his injuries in J&K in April, has been awarded the Ashoka Chakra, the nation's highest peacetime gallantry medal, in the Independence Day honours' list.

NEW DELHI: Developers and any tolling agency would be allowed to collect user fee only after 100% completion of road projects and toll collection would be stopped on stretches where the cost has been recovered, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari told Lok Sabha on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Delivering his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to global investors on Friday, asking them to come and manufacture goods in India, while calling for zero-defect products with with zero-effect on environment.

GUWAHATI: Braving incessant rains and a boycott call by militants, tens of thousands celebrated Independence Day and in other parts of Assam on Friday.

 BAGHDAD: Facing enormous pressure at home and abroad to step aside, Nuri al-Maliki dropped his bid for a third term as prime minister of Iraq on Thursday and pledged support for his replacement, moderate Shia Haider al-Abadi.

 TOKYO: Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited a controversial war shrine in Tokyo today in a move likely to anger China and South Korea, which see it as a symbol of Japan's militarist past.

 DONETSK UKRAINE: Artillery shells hit close to the centre of Ukraine's separatist-held city of Donetsk for the first time on Thursday, killing at least one person, as a large Russian aid convoy rumbled towards the border.

London: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has once again reiterated that he will not deviate from his strategy of playing five bowlers ahead of the fifth and final cricket Test against England starting from Friday

Kota. Four engineering colleges in the state of Rajasthan Technical University has barred entry to the additional seats.