1 MAY 2015: Abhay Chudasma gets bail

Ø  Russia said on Wednesday that it had lost control of an unmanned spacecraft taking supplies to the International Space Station and it is plunging back to Earth but is likely to burn up in the atmosphere.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building in Kabul after he was extended an invitation by visiting Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani. The Rs.710-crore project, initiated in 2009 and initially scheduled for a December 2012 completion, is part of India’s $2-billion aid.

Ø  A forthcoming book has raised questions whether former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh was a conduit for powerful interests in India pushing for approval of the Indo-US nuclear deal because of the donations made by him and some organisations to the Clinton Foundation in 2008. Tabloid New York Post referred to the book ‘Clinton Cash’ and said that the Clinton Foundation received between US$ 1 million and US $ 5 million in 2008 from Mr. Singh. In its report, the Post said the 2008 donation by Mr. Singh was made as the US Congress debated the approval of the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal. Hillary Clinton, who was then Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus and an eminent Senator, supported the bill, which was passed by Congress with an overwhelming majority. Both the Clinton Foundation and her campaign have strongly refuted the suggestions of any wrongdoings.

Ø  A special CBI court here on Wednesday discharged Gujarat police officer Abhay Chudasama in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases for absence of sufficient evidence. Mr. Chudasama, a 1999--batch IPS officer, was arrested by the CBI in April 2010 for his alleged involvement in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. His aide Tulsiram Prajapati was murdered on December 28, 2006.

Ø  The United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, has said India and other countries should “not rush” into doing business with Iran as Washington is yet to work out its nuclear deal with Tehran.