Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who slayed 26 people, including 20 children, and his mother both spent time at a gun range in Connecticut, US media reports said today.

US President Barack Obama is likely to nominate Senator John Kerry as his next secretary of state, according to the media reports.

The shooting spree in a Connecticut school that left 20 small children and six adults dead capped a tragic year for the US, which saw similar massacres in a Colorado theatre and Wisconsin gurdwara, putting pressure on the Obama administration to take action on the country's gun laws.

World leaders expressed shock and horror after a gunman massacred 20 small children and six teachers on Friday in the US state of Connecticut, one of the worst school shootings in history.

Retail giant Walmart has said it will provide “relevant information” to the Indian authorities for the judicial probe announced due to pressure from Opposition parties on the issue of the company’s lobbying efforts in the US regarding India’s multi-brand retail sector.

Walmart chief executive officer Mike Duke has said he will be “patient” and is confident that things will get worked out in India for the company, amid the political uproar in India over opening of the multi-brand retail sector as well as lobbying efforts by the retail giant.

Legendary sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, who spearheaded the worldwide spread of Indian music and had a major influence on Western musicians like The Beatles, died today in San Diego at the age of 92.

US President Barack Obama and his defence secretary Leon Panetta have praised special forces for conducting a successful rescue operation in Afghanistan that left one American soldier and seven militants dead.

US President Barack Obama today urged the Congress to extend the middle class tax cut that is set to end this month. He also said Republicans must ask the wealthiest Americans to pay higher tax rates.

In a public appeal to the Obama administration, a group of powerful US lawmakers has asked it not to change the “good policy” of denying visa to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi under any circumstances in view of serious allegations of “crime against Humanity” against him.