German chancellor Angela Merkel has been named as the most powerful woman in the world by business magazine Forbes for the third year running.

A second suspect has been arrested over the rape of a five-year-old girl who New Delhi police say was left for dead in a locked room, a case which has brought a new wave of protests against how Indian authorities handle sex crimes.

A bone test is being conducted to confirm the age of a juvenile suspect in custody for the fatal assault and gang-rape of a young woman in India, while prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the other five men arrested with him, police said yesterday.

A bone test is being carried out to confirm the age of a young suspect in custody over the fatal assault and gang rape of a woman on a bus in India’s capital.

India remained in mourning today over the death of the New Delhi gang rape victim, with many New Year celebrations cancelled in respect.

Society should be shouting from the rooftops and insisting more be done to stop the escalation of rape attacks, according to the head of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

Indian police have charged six men with murder, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped a woman on a New Delhi bus two weeks ago in a case that shocked the country.

Indian police charged six men with murder today, hours after a woman who was gang-raped and beaten on a bus in New Delhi nearly two weeks ago died in a Singapore hospital.

An Indian student who was savagely gang-raped has begun to recount her ordeal to police, as authorities reacted to violent protests by banning demonstrations in the capital.

Police in India’s capital have used water cannons and batons for a second day to break up protests by hundreds of people demonstrating against the gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus.

The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country as Indians demanded action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been ranked the most powerful woman in the world for the second year in a row by Forbes magazine in the annual list dominated by politicians, businesswomen, and media figures.

Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other websites are facing prosecution in Indian courts for refusing to censor themselves and remove contents considered insulting to Indian leaders and major religious figures.

Whether they have a strong political pedigree or none, women are climbing to the top of Asian politics, writes Vishakha Desai

FORBES magazine has named German Chancellor Angela Merkel the world’s most powerful woman, calling her the “undisputed” leader of the EU and head of its only “real global economy”.

Lady Gaga has been named the most powerful female celebrity in the world by Forbes.

Thousands of tearful devotees, including top politicians, gathered today for the funeral of Sathya Sai Baba, one of India’s best-known Hindu ascetics revered as a divine incarnation with miraculous healing powers.

POLITICAL leaders paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the 140th anniversary of his birth yesterday, which is also World Non-Violence Day.

Indian president Pratibha Patil today appointed Manmohan Singh as prime minister for a second consecutive term.

The ruling Congress party swept to a resounding victory today in India’s mammoth national elections, defying expectations as it brushed aside the Hindu nationalist opposition and a legion of ambitious smaller parties.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared victory in India’s national elections, saying voters have given the Congress party-led coalition a “massive mandate”.

The governing Congress party will win India’s month-long elections and form the next government, media reports said today.

Indian political parties were today focusing their attentions on their post-election strategies ahead of the results being announced over the weekend.

Sporadic violence marred the fourth phase of parliamentary elections in India today.

Terrorism is at the top of the agenda as the people of Mumbai vote in India’s month-long elections under the shadow of a deadly attack that rocked the country’s financial capital

The great-grandson of India’s first prime minister was in custody today over his “Muslim hate speech”, it was reported.

An alleged hate speech at an election rally has fuelled a feud in India's oldest political dynasty, it was reported today.

A previously unknown Islamic militant group claimed today to have carried out deadly bombings in the historic Indian city of Jaipur by planting bicycles packed with explosives on the city’s crowded streets, police said.

A prominent human rights activist accused Indian police of a cover-up in their investigation into the rape and killing of a British teenager on a Goa beach last month.

Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s ruling Congress party, is being treated in a New Delhi hospital for a chest infection, a hospital official said today.

India's Hindu nationalists scored a resounding victory today in a closely watched state election that was widely seen as a crucial test amid persistent talk of early national elections.

India was set to name its first female president today in a symbolic victory for Indian women.

India is expected to elect its first female president today in a poll marred by controversy and mudslinging.

Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, a long-time stalwart of the governing Congress Party, was seriously injured when a lorry slammed into his car, it was reported today.

British Chancellor Gordon Brown today said institutions like the Group of Eight leading nations, the UN and the International Monetary Fund must reform to reflect a “new world order” in the global economy.

The death toll from the devastating blaze at a trade fair in northern India rose today to 52, officials said, while people struggled to find their relatives among the charred bodies.

Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Indian governing coalition, today stepped down as a parliament member amid a growing controversy about whether she also held another job.

AUTHORITIES yesterday airdropped burial shrouds and food to remote villages hit by the weekend’s devastating earthquake, as the death toll climbed to 804 in Indian Kashmir.

THE death toll in India passed 600 last night after rescue workers and soldiers pulled out 90 more bodies in the frontier Tangdar region, 65 miles north of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, eager to bolster Europe’s business ties with India, will argue today that the West should embrace the booming nation’s emergence as an economic powerhouse, rather than fearing it as a job-stealing threat.

Indian Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi was set to meet with President Vladimir Putin today for talks on bilateral trade and co-operation.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to focus on his proposals to reform the United Nations and better protect human rights when he meets Indian leaders tomorrow.

RESCUE workers pulled corpses from canals and water-logged fields in India yesterday as the government warned the death toll of almost 9,400 from a tsunami that lashed the country’s south would rise further.

INDIAN political leader Sonia Gandhi yesterday visited the site of a school fire that killed around 90 children and pledged €177,000 in aid.