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Officials say at least 40 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been evacuated as floods hit vast swathes of central and eastern India. Disaster management officials said Monday that days of heavy rain have caused the Ganges River and its tributaries to rise above the danger mark during the last 48 hours in some 20 districts of the states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Flooded houses are pictured at a residential area in Allahabad. Flooding in India has killed at least 40 people, officials say. They said…

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Hardening its stance on resuming dialogue with Pakistan, India Thursday announced it had set a five-point agenda for talks on terrorism in a letter submitted a day earlier by Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry. New Delhi asked Islamabad to end incitement to violence and terrorism from Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, stop cross-border terrorism, detain and prosecute terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed, deny a safe haven to fugitives like Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and close terror camps where terrorists like Bahadur Ali have…

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Amnesty International India has temporarily closed its offices and postponed events aimed at raising awareness of rights abuses over safety concerns for its staff after the charity was accused of sedition by protesters, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The prominent rights group held an event on Saturday that focused on human rights abuses carried out by Indian security forces in Kashmir, one the most sensitive national issues in India. Police in the southern city of Bangalore, the city where the event was held, said they are investigating if “anti-India” slogans…

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Centuries-old evils will have to be tackled more sternly: PM Against the backdrop of recent attacks on Dalits and Muslims, Prime Minister Modi said social evils will have to be dealt with “sternly” and with “sensitivity” as survival of the society is impossible if there is no social unity. Economic progress is no guarantee to a strong society whose foundation is social justice, he said in his Independence Day address and asked the countrymen to work for social equality and justice. He made it clear that social harmony is key…

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi was discharged from Delhi’s Ganga Ram Hospital on Sunday morning after 11 days, ANI reported. “Mrs Sonia Gandhi has shown progressive improvement+ in her condition and has no fever,” said DS Rana, chairman of Ganga Ram, on Saturday. Sonia was admitted to the hospital on August 3 with fever, dehydration and a shoulder injury, following a massive roadshow in Varanasi on August 2. She had to leave the road show midway after she began to feel ill. The 69-year-old underwent surgery on her left shoulder August 3….

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Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. “A morning for neighbourly engagement. Chinese FM Wang Yi calls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup posted on Twitter. Mr. Wang is visiting India for holding talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on various issues of mutual interest Xinhua commentary hints at NSG-SCS quid pro quo As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi began his three-day visit India visit from Goa, a commentary in the state-run Xinhua news agency…

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India’s sports minister, Vijay Goel, has been a conspicuous presence at Rio’s Olympic Games, frequently spotted in the stands cheering on Indian athletes and taking selfies after their events. But he and his large entourage have apparently raised the ire of Olympic officials with unruly behavior, repeatedly trying to push their way into competition zones without the proper credentials and responding rudely when checked, the Press Trust of India reported. On Wednesday, Olympic organizers threatened to withdraw Goel’s accreditation if the behavior did not improve, sending a warning letter after…

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Security near the Red Fort has been beefed up in preparation for the Independence Day celebrations. Everything that moves, or does not – from trees and windows, to residents and beggars – will be under the radar of security agencies who will take no chance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the national flag and deliver his speech, reports Mail Today. For better security, police has also got over 3,000 trees pruned in and around the venue. These trees will be thoroughly checked and will be guarded by security…

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Defence Minister Defends the Army saying “Army has to fire, can’t use lathi” Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said that the army should be allowed to resort to firing to control insurgency. Earlier this month, Supreme Court had ruled that armed forces cannot use excessive force even in areas that come under AFSPA. PUNE: If the civil administration decides to use the army “for protection and killing an insurgency network”, the army should be allowed to control it by “firing straight”, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Saturday. “I don’t…

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is boasting about how his group’s release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails is affecting the US presidential election — and says it has unreleased information about Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “We have more material related to the Hillary Clinton campaign,” Assange told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “Anderson 360” Friday night. “That is correct to say that.” Assange has been coy about how WikiLeaks came into possession of internal Democratic party cyber information. The FBI and Justice Department are investigating a computer hack of Democratic nominee Clinton’s…

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