NASA's Mars rover 'Curiosity' has fired its laser for the first time on the red planet, using the beam from a science instrument to interrogate a fist-size rock.

Here's the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to the nation of the occasion of India's 66th Independence Day.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 's rover 'Curiosity' has spend its first weekend on Mars getting a 'brain transplant' enabling it to enhance its performance by avoiding hazards while driving and using its strong robotic arm.

Giving new insight into the Mars landscape, NASA's Curiosity has sent first set of colour images from the 'Red planet', the United States space agency said.

NASA's newly landed Mars science rover Curiosity snapped the first colour image of its surroundings while an orbiting sister probe photographed litter left behind during the rover's daring do-or-die descent to the surface, scientists said Tuesday, Reuters reported.

NASA's car-size geochemistry laboratory, Curiosity, on Monday successfully landed on the Martian surface.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Friday announced new agreements with three American commercial companies, including Boeing, to design and develop the next generation of United States human spaceflight capabilities, enabling a launch of astronauts from the US soil in the next five years.

The landing will mark the beginning of a two-year prime mission to investigate one of the most intriguing places on Mars.

General Bikram Singh enjoys an excellent reputation as a professional soldier and will no doubt lead by personal example to arrest and correct the downslide in the moral standards of the Army's higher ranks, says Gurmeet Kanwal

The document, prepared by an eminent 8-member group, has attracted both criticism and praise. The latter is mainly for drawing attention to India's innumerable foreign policy challenges and for generating debate thereon. On the negative side, a major shortcoming in the document is the failure to clearly spell out a vision for what India should aspire to be and how precisely should these aspirations be realised, says Satish Chandra.

The broader market ended mixed. The market breadth was weak with 1,416 declines and 1,184 losers on the BSE.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to New Delhi last week was to prepare ground for the next US-India Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington, says Alok Bansal

The key to fighting Maoists lies in isolating them in urban areas and containing them in forested areas, says Sonali Ranade

Three former government employees, including retired defence estates officer, R C Thakur and Brigadier (retd) M M Wanchoo, arrested on Tuesday in the Adarsh Housing Society scam, were on Wednesday remanded to the Central Bureau of Investigation custody till March 31.

The flame for this year's London Olympics, scheduled to arrive in Britain on May 18, will land at a military base in Cornwall before starting the torch relay that will end with the Games' opening ceremony on July 27, documents revealed on Wednesday.

China would next month launch its much-awaited Mars probe mission, entering further deep into space exploration following two lunar projects, as the country braces itself for a deep space competition with the United States.

A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition.

The state now has a new policy, under a new government.

Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a Communist Party of India-Marxist member of Legislative Assembly Ajit Sarkars, 44- year-old Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, is keeping himself busy penning his autobiography in Central Beur jail in Patna, said police sources.

As part of an ongoing series, we bring you stories of young Indian Americans who came looking for the Real India and found their real selves instead. Punal Bhavsar recounts his trip to India.

Over 20,000 Congressmen coming together to celebrate the grand old party, the Indian National Congress completing 125 years of an eventful existence. But the mood at the 83rd Congress plenary, held with all the pomp and show in a grand tent, did not reflect the grandness of the occasion.

Over 20,000 congressmen came together to celebrate the Indian National Congress completing 125 years of existence. But the mood at the 83rd plenary, held with all the pomp and show in a grand tent, did not reflect the grandness of the occasion. The mood was somber to start with, the party delegates sat quietly neither cheering nor shouting slogans as they normally do, asking Rahul Gandhi to speak.

Manav Jaini's nerves got the better of him and he missed out on what could have been his biggest professional triumph as Swedish golfer Rikard Karlberg lifted the Hero Honda Indian Open title after a dramatic final round in New Delhi.

Zulqarnain Haider fleeing to England after deserting his team midway through a series has left the ICC "disturbed" as the governing body feels the Pakistan wicketkeeper has been targetted by "criminals behind betting operations", media reports said in London on Tuesday.

With an interesting twist on the concept of super heroes, and using strong high-tech, Megamind is expected not to lure millions of comic book fans but also those who love a adventure with interesting twists and a few moral lessons.

In an exclusive interview with rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, RSS's executive council member Ram Madhav emphasised on using the judgement for strengthening national integrity but avoided agreeing to building a mosque and a temple at the same site.

After a text book launch of the probe 'Chang'e II' around 4.30 pm IST on the country's 61st National Day, the rocket successfully placed the lunar orbiter in its intended orbit in 20 minutes, prompting the scientists at the launch centre to break into loud cheers.

New Zealand Federation of Athletes chief Rob Nichol said that 'hand on heart' he cannot say whether his country would send a team to the Commonwealth Games.

Controversies, protests and violence have marred land acquisition for projects in India.

Scrapping NASA's"Back to Moon" project, US President Barack Obama gave a new mission to the country's civilian space programme agency-a manned mission to Mars in a decade and sending astronauts to explore asteroids beyond the moon by 2025.

Controversies and flouting of rules marred the just-concluded All India Police Boxing Tournament, prompting some of India's top pugilists to call for the scrapping of the departmental event.

The government's ambitious rural employment project MGNREGA has come under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court which today said money was not reaching real beneficiaries and in many cases going to wrong hands.

Here's Raja Sen's take on the Mars/Venus choice wars.

As a part of its expansion plan, Infosys, the biggest software exporter from Orissa, had given a commitment to resume construction work on its second campus at the Infocity-II region by April.

Nothing can be more dangerous than programming the mindset of the young generation of India through an education system that has nothing to do with the great culture.

Time and cost overruns have delayed 850 infrastructure projects out of a 1,035 during the period between 1992 and 2009, says a study.

After the euphoria, "affordable" realty developers are faced with the reality of excesses.

Kant's projection of the Tata Group as an integral part of the British industrial landscape comes at a time when Tata Motors' owned Jaguar Land Rover had faced some challenges in convincing the UK government to lend support in raising money.

'Operation Green Hunt is nothing but an operation to get the tribals out of their villages. The paramilitary forces and Salwa Judum are attacking innocent old men, women and children,' says Gandhian Himanshu Kumar.

High on confidence after upstaging Sri Lanka, England are bracing up for another tough encounter, against hosts South Africa, in the Champions Trophy in Centurion on Sunday.