Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told leaders of the world’s 20 most economically powerful nations here that India condemns the use of chemical weapons in Syria and elsewhere, but stressed the need restraint in initiating punitive action again the Syrian regime till the United Nations inspectors submit the results of their investigations.

“I didn’t choose Kashmir, Kashmir chose me.” This is how renowned international music conductor Zubin Mehta reacted brushing aside controversies over his concert on the banks of the Dal lake in Srinagar on Saturday.

Former India opener Ravi Shastri has vehemently defended the Board of Control for Cricket in India which is facing widespread flak after the fallout of the spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) came down heavily on the environment ministry for non-utilisation of Compensatory Afforest-ation (Campa) Fund, which grew from `1,200 to `23,608 crore between 2006-12.

With the time running out, as Lok Sabha was to be declared adjourned sine a die on Friday only, the House rushed through a range of legislations including Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill and Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill either after a brief or without discussion.

India and South Africa cricket chiefs are to meet in Dubai this month to defuse a row over the scheduling of an upcoming tour between the two countries, Cricket South Africa said on Friday.

Vidarbha will see a flurry of activity in September as two national leaders will be visiting the region to take stock of the situation there. While Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will visit the region in the latter half of the month, his visit will be preceded by that of NCP chief and Union agricultural minister Sharad Pawar’s.

In a move that could speed up the bullet train dream, the railways will ink an agreement with Japan Internal Cooperation Agency (JAICA) for comprehensive study of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail corridor.

Trinamul Congress MPs on Friday created uproar in both Houses of Parliament against home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s meeting with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders without informing West Bengal government, forcing brief adjournments of both Houses.

Syrian anti-regime activists say government shelling has killed 16 people, mostly rebels, near Damascus. The attack near the Syrian capital comes as Secretary of State John Kerry lobbies European allies to back Washington’s proposed military action against the Syrian regime.