• US Stocks Down on Fed Outlook, Oil Prices 

Iraqi Oil Could Help Ease Pressure
on Global Economy: India  
If Iraqi crude oil begins to flow into the market it can have a positive impact on the global economy that is already showing signs of retardation, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Wednesday. He cautioned that oil prices are threatening to touch $150 per barrel and according to some experts could even reach $200 per barrel. Read On

Nepal's Last King Bows Out of Palace
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Amidst jubilation from hundreds of people who lined up before the Narayanhity royal palace to witness the final exit of deposed monarch Gyanendra, the last king of Nepal bowed out of the palace, handing it over to the state alongwith his crown and throne. Read On

• Pakistan Summons US Envoy
  Over Coalition Bombing  
• Manmohan, Bush to Meet on G-8 Sidelines in July
• Bush's Era is Over: Ahmadinejad
• 20 Pakistanis Killed in Attack Near Afghan Border

In a First, Pakistan's Parliament to Debate Defence Budget by Muhammad Najeeb
For the first time, Pakistan's parliament will debate the defence budget. In the past, this was passed without its details being revealed. Read On

Obama or McCain, How will Nuclear Deal Fare?
by Manish Chand 
With Barack Obama winning the Democratic presidential nomination, there are anxieties among the government and strategic circles here that if the nuclear deal is not concluded this year, it will have a tougher time in the event of a Democratic dispensation in Washington. Read On
► India-US Nuclear Deal 'Nearly Dead',
    Obama 'Highly Ambivalent'

US has Vital Stake in India's Rise
to Global Power: Rice by Arun Kumar
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice considers India's rise to global power and prosperity as "vital" as Washington seeks to get right its relationships with the existing and emerging global players. Read On 

• Fears that Peshawar may Slip
  into Militant Hands 
• Pakistan's Economic Scenario Grim: Survey
• Nepal's Monument of Massacres Awaits Makeover
• Nepal's Last King Bids Adieu to Aides

Obama, McCain Trade Charges on Economy 
By Arun Kumar
A war of words has started between rival US presidential candidates with Barack Obama and John McCain trading charges on the economy which is emerging as the No. 1 election issue. If Democrat Obama has dubbed McCain's economic plan as amounting "to a full-throated endorsement of George Bush's policies," the Republican is attempting to paint Obama as a typical Democrat who wants to raise taxes and regulate government. Read On

• Canadian Citizenship Awaits Punjabis
  with Money to Spare!
• Yahoo may Face Early Shareholder Trial 
• Bomb-laden Trucks Planned in Toronto Terror Plot
• Over 100 Killed in Sudan Plane Crash

Building Peace is Harder
than Fighting in Afghan Town
Two shots ring out in the darkness as the Danish army jeeps crawl through an unlit, heavily rutted alley - a perfect site for an enemy ambush or a strike by suicide bombers known to be at large in the town. Read On

Yeddyurappa Meets PM over Fertilizer Shortage
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here Wednesday evening to seek an immediate supply of fertilizers for his state, which is grappling with farmers' agitations over fertilizer shortage. Read On
► Yeddyurappa asks Police Not to Open Fire
    at Farmers

Noida Murders: Compounder Under Scanner,
CBI Too Faces Flak 
Probing the twin murders in Noida last month, the CBI has focused on the role of Krishna, who worked as compounder with victim Aarushi's dentist father Rajesh Talwar -- but his family questioned the agency for his illegal detention. Read On

• 62 Child Workers Rescued from Slavery in Delhi 
• Equity Markets End Losing Streak
• Japan's Daiichi to Buy Majority Stake
  in India's Ranbaxy for $4.6 bn

Missing, a Strong Legal Framework
to Combat Child Labor by Azera Rahman
The numbers tell the sorry story - an estimated 60 million child laborers in India but only 670,000 violations of the law detected in eight years and just 22,588 convictions! Behind the bland government numbers are the millions of young children working in roadside eateries, slaving away in glass factories, hunched up over carpet looms or sweeping and cooking in homes in blatant violation of the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. Read On  

India Must End 'Nuclear Apartheid',
Will Not Sign CTBT: PM 
India will have to move forward with its nuclear deal with the US to break its "nuclear apartheid", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday while declaring that the country will not sign the CTBT that bars further tests.  Addressing new recruits of the Indian Foreign Service at a function, the prime minister also stressed that the nuclear deal India had signed with the US protected its "national interests". Read On

English Replaces Telugu as Teaching Medium
in Andhra State Schools
With IT and knowledge-based industries spreading their base in the state, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided that English will replace Telugu as the medium of instruction in 6,500 state-run schools from the new academic year beginning this month. Read On

Rebellion in BJP Units may Cost Dear
in General Elections
It is the enemy within that may be more worrisome for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its march to victory in the next Lok Sabha poll, with several state units of the party openly declaring rebellion. Bihar is the latest case where the BJP MLAs and MLCs voiced their dissent against the party's state leadership. Read On

CBI takes Talwar's Compounder to Bangalore
for Narco Test
The Central Bureau of Investigation Wednesday took Krishna, the compounder at the Noida clinic of dentist Rajesh Talwar, to Bangalore for a narco test. Rajesh is the father of Aarushi, who was found murdered along with the family's servant Hemraj last month. Read On

Giving Back to India - the Indian American Experience by Ashok Easwaran 
Students, academics, executives and physicians came together in Darien, a Chicago suburb, to consider action to uplift the millions in India who have been bypassed by the country's economic reforms. The speakers recounted their experiences in tackling the problems of India's rural poor from water purification and primary education to healthcare ... Read On

• Deepika Padukone to be Grand Marshal
  at India Day Parade in New York