A Jodhpur court pressed fresh charges against actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre in a case of hunting black bucks, a protected animal, in Rajasthan 14 year ago.

Salman was charged under the Wildlife Protection Act. Charges against him under the Arms Act have been dropped. The others were charged under the Act with hunting and inciting Salman to hunt, as well as unlawful assembly.

Salman who is in the US sought exemption from appearing in court on medical grounds. The actors are not required to appear in court unless required for identification by witnesses when the case is to be heard again on April 27.

The case of poaching was filed against the actors in 1998.

If convicted the actors face up to six years in jail.

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The external affairs ministry announced that the Italian marines facing trial in India for the alleged murder of two Kerala fishermen are back in the country.

PM Manmohan Singh welcomed Italy's decision to send back its two marines saying the move would be in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court and consistent with the dignity of India's judicial process.

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An Odisha court has sentenced to death 22-year-old Minaketan Seth of Jharsuguda district, for murdering a minor girl and then having sex with her corpse.

Police say Seth intercepted the girl when she was returning home after delivering a lunch box to her father in a nearby crop field. He took her to a secluded place where he strangled her and violated her corpse.

The man was later arrested and charge-sheeted on the basis of information provided by eyewitnesses.

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On a visit to Delhi for the first "Google Big Tent" event to be held in India, Google chairman Eric Schmidt warned that India lags badly behind because of its failure to invest in high-speed telecom networks that the rest of the world is adopting.

When asked to explain why only 150 million out of 1.2 billion Indians had access to the internet, Schmidt said the Indian government had grown complacent due to the country's success in producing large software and IT companies, making the same mistake that companies do, they rested on their laurels.

India has seen a telecom revolution that has brought cheap mobile phones to the majority of the country, but fast internet connections remain limited to a small minority in cities. Internet entrepreneurs also complain that an uncertain regulatory environment has hampered the development of Internet businesses.

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Ramchandra Karanjule the founder and operator of an orphanage in Panvel, near Mumbai, was given the death sentence for murder of a teenage girl with disabilities who died after she was gang-raped, and for the sexual abuse of five other inmates. Five employees of the institution were also handed jail terms.

A teacher at the orphanage Prakash Khadke, and Khandu Kasbe who runs a similar home in Shirdi were sentenced to life in prison. Sonali Badade, superintendent of the orphanage, and Parvati Mavle, the care taker were given 10-year jail terms. Nanabhau Karanjule was convicted for molestation and will serve two years in jail.

The horrors were discovered in 2011 during an inspection of homes for children with disabilities under the instructions of the Bombay High Court. A medical report revealed the girls had been repeatedly raped.

The judge said the orphanage was run just to satisfy lust and make money and said Karanjule is a menace to society and life imprisonment is inadequate in this case.

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