News brief: Big stories of the day

Three civilians, including a teenage girl, were killed and several others injured in an alleged firing by security forces on stone-pelting protesters in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

A soccer team of 12 Thai schoolboys and their coach trapped in a flooded cave for the past fortnight established contact with their parents for the first time through heartfelt letters as rescuers strove on Saturday to find a way to save them.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the party is now being called a bail gaadi (bullock cart) as several of its leaders are out on bail.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister on Saturday stated that he will move the Islamabad High Court to challenge the Accountability Court's verdict against him and his family in the Avenfield reference case.

At least 50 people were missing and four in critical condition as torrential rain that has killed 38 people pounds western and central Japan, public broadcaster NHK said on Saturday, with more than 1.6 million evacuated from their homes.