Amol Rajan is editor of The Independent 
London, June 17
A 29-year-old Indian-origin journalist was today named the editor of The Independent, becoming the first non-white editorial head of a UK national paper. Amol Rajan will replace Chris Blackhurst, becoming Fleet Street's first non-white newspaper editor. He was previously the paper's comment editor.

China seeks explanation of US Internet surveillance
Beijing, June 17
China today joined the growing international chorus in demanding an explanation from the US over its controversial surveillance programmes which had collected troves of information by tracking millions of telephone records and Internet activity globally.

12 killed in Iraq blasts
Baghdad, June 17
Three bomb attacks in Iraq, including a blast inside a roadside restaurant, killed 12 persons today, officials said, the latest in a surge of violence that has left nearly 2,000 dead since the beginning of April.

Enniskillen, June 17
US President Barack Obama faces what could be a frosty G8 meeting with Vladimir Putin on Monday after the Russian leader clashed with the West over plans to arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

At their first face-to-face meeting in a year, Obama will try to convince Putin to bring Assad to the negotiating table but the Kremlin chief has warned the West it risks sowing turmoil across the Middle East by stoking the conflict.

British Prime Minister Cameron, who chairs the G8 summit, acknowledged there was "a big difference" between the positions of Russia and the West on Syria, but stressed there was also common ground between the world's richest powers. But as G8 leaders gathered at a resort in Northern Ireland, Russia said it would not permit no-fly zones to be imposed over Syria.

"I think, we fundamentally would not allow this scenario," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in Moscow. On Sunday, Putin had described Assad's foes as cannibals who ate their enemies' intestines in front of media cameras. "Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?" Putin said in London.

Canadian PM Stephen Harper was equally blunt, saying that Putin was supporting thugs. "We are not, unless there is a big shift in position on his part, going to get a common position with him at the G8." — Reuters

Washington, June 17
The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who revealed the government's top-secret phone and Internet surveillance programmes said in an online forum on Monday that he did not expect to get a fair trial in the United States.

In a question-and-answer session with readers on the website of Britain's Guardian newspaper, Snowden said his disappointment with President Barack Obama helped spur his decision to reveal the monitoring of Americans' phone and Internet data kept by big companies such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc.

Snowden, who had been working at an NSA facility as an employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, travelled to Hong Kong before the surveillance programmes became public and has vowed to stay there and fight any effort to bring him back to the United States.

"The US government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That's not justice," he told the online forum.

The revelations by Snowden have led to a criminal investigation, and US officials promised last week to hold Snowden accountable for leaking details of the surveillance to the Guardian and the Washington Post. — Reuters

Ankara/Istanbul, June 17
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister said on Monday the armed forces could be called up if needed to help quell popular protests that have swept Turkish cities in the past two weeks, the first time the possibility of a military role has been raised.

Bulent Arinc made the remarks in Ankara, where 1,000 striking trade union workers faced off briefly against the police backed by several water cannon, before the police retreated and the crowd left.

In Istanbul, the cradle of protests that have presented Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan with the greatest public challenge to his 10-year leadership, several hundred union members also marched in sympathy with anti-government demonstrations.

They were prevented from entering the Taksim Square, the focal point of the unrest, but after workers had moved off, between 200 and 300 mainly young protesters, some of them throwing stones from slingshots, fought with the police.

"Our police, our security forces are doing their jobs. If it's not enough, then the gendarmes will do their jobs. If that's not enough ... we could even use elements of the Turkish Armed Forces," Arinc told Turkey's state-run TRT television. — Reuters 

Amol Rajan

London, June 17
A 29-year-old Indian-origin journalist was today named the editor of The Independent, becoming the first non-white editorial head of a UK national paper. Amol Rajan will replace Chris Blackhurst, becoming Fleet Street's first non-white newspaper editor. He was previously the paper's comment editor.

Rajan was born in Kolkata before moving to London as a three-year-old. He grew up in Tooting, south London, and went on to read English literature at Cambridge University, the Guardian reported.

After graduating, Rajan worked briefly for the Evening Standard and Channel 5, before moving to The Independent where he rose through the ranks from news reporter. It was also announced that Oly Duff, the executive editor of the Independent, has been made editor of sister title, i. — PTI

Beijing, June 17
China today joined the growing international chorus in demanding an explanation from the US over its controversial surveillance programmes which had collected troves of information by tracking millions of telephone records and Internet activity globally.

"We believe that the US side should pay attention to concerns and demands of the international community and public over this issue and give a necessary explanation," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters here.

She made the remarks when asked whether China has sought explanation from the US as some countries like Germany and Japan have demanded details on its National Security Agency's PRISM surveillance programmes.

India has also taken up with the US the reports that it was the fifth-most tracked country by the American intelligence using a secret data-mining programme to monitor worldwide Internet data and sought further details in this regard.

China also refuted the allegations as "groundless" that former US intelligence contractor and CIA employee Edward Snowden spied for it before defecting to Hong Kong, as state media called for his asylum saying that his extradition would result in "loss of face" for Beijing.

"I think it is completely groundless," Hua said, dismissing allegations by former US Vice- President Dick Cheney that Snowden could be spying for Beijing.— PTI 

Baghdad, June 17
Three bomb attacks in Iraq, including a blast inside a roadside restaurant, killed 12 persons today, officials said, the latest in a surge of violence that has left nearly 2,000 dead since the beginning of April.

The bomb left inside the restaurant in Taji, which serves travellers on the highway linking Baghdad to several northern Sunni-majority cities, killed seven persons, including two women and a 12-year-old child, two police officers said. Twenty-five others were wounded.

Also in Taji, a bomb placed inside a minibus killed two commuters and wounding 11 others, the police added. Taji is a former insurgent stronghold, located about 20 km north of the Iraqi capital.

In the western town of Fallujah, a suicide bomber set off his explosives-laden belt among a group of policemen, killing three and wounding 21, another police officer said. The policemen were for waiting buses to be transferred them to a polling station to cast their ballots for Iraq's provincial elections.

Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. — AP