
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of slowing economy and perception of policy paralysis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday sought to give a push to mega projects of over Rs 1,000 crore by putting in place a mechanism to track their progress and address hurdles. Waking up to delays caused to large projects on account of clearances, Singh announced that the Investment Tracking System would submit quarterly reports so that...

02:39 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Chandigarh: The Haryana government on Friday said it will not reduce tax on petrol as the price of fuel is already less in the state in comparison to rates prevailing in neighbouring states. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said price of petrol in Haryana was already less as compared to neighbouring states. Hooda was replying to questions after presiding over a meeting of the state cabinet here today....

02:26 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Beirut: Peace envoy Kofi Annan said on Friday he was "frustrated and impatient" a week after a massacre in Syria of 108 people shocked the world, and there were signs Russia might be moving closer to the West's position on tackling the crisis. President Vladimir Putin denied that Russia, which has a base in Syria and supplies it with weapons, was providing the government with the means to crush rebels,...

01:45 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Kochi: With the rupee continuing with its free fall, RBI on Friday said it was doing everything it can to stabilise the exchange rate to reduce volatility of the currency. "... That has been our approach from the time this (depreciation) started and we will continue it," RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn told reporters here on the sidelines of a function. He, however, declined to make any projections, saying "there...

01:30 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Lucknow: The previous Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh had spent over Rs 121 crore on decorative advertisements during the last five years to showcase its programmes and achievements, the UP Legislative Council was informed on Friday. In a written reply, the state government said in 2007-08 over Rs 13 crore was spent on advertisements while in 2008-09 over Rs 20 crore were spent. Likewise, in 2009-10 over Rs 17 crore...

01:13 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Hyderabad: The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics on Friday received the blood samples of ND Tiwari, the youth who claims to be his biological son and also the youth's mother for the DNA test over the paternity suit involving the veteran Congress leader. The blood samples of the youth Rohit Sekhar and his mother Ujjwala Sharma were collected in the Delhi High Court on May 26 while Tiwari gave...

12:53 AM, Jun 02, 2012

New Delhi: Five global financial services majors, including Morgan Stanley, Stanchart and Citi, have lowered India's growth prospects to 5.7-6.4 per cent for the current fiscal, a day after markets received a "shock" from nine-year low GDP growth of 6.5 per cent for 2011-12. In their reports to clients worldwide, most of them blamed policy inaction by the government as a major roadblock to the Indian economy, which had expanded...

12:39 AM, Jun 02, 2012

London: A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group says the company could face 500 lawsuits from victims of tabloid phone hacking -- far more than have so far been filed. Michael Silverleaf told a court hearing on Friday that "we are dealing with 500 claims, potentially" from people who say their voicemail messages were intercepted by the now-defunct News of the World. Murdoch's News Group Newspapers has paid millions...

12:21 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday increased the defence allocation in its fiscal 2012-13 budget to Rs 545 billion (about $5.82 billion), marking an increase of 10 per cent over the outlay for the current fiscal. The allocation for the defence services amounted to 18.4 per cent of the federal budget of Rs 2,960 billion for fiscal 2012-13. Further details, including allocations for the three services and weapons acquisition programmes, were not...

12:05 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Paris: Even though he was again far from his best, Roger Federer still managed to win at the French Open. The 2009 champion at Roland Garros was pushed to four sets Friday for the second straight match, this time beating Nicolas Mahut of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the third round. Federer, who is trying to become the first man over 30 years old to win a major title...

12:04 AM, Jun 02, 2012

Mumbai: Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily on Friday said he is hopeful about the New Companies Bill getting passed in the Monsoon Session. "Since the Standing Committee of Parliament has concluded its deliberations on the New Companies Bill, I expect it to submit it to the ministry soon and table it in the Monsoon Session," Moily told reporters in Mumbai on the sidelines of a function on Friday. Claiming that...

11:52 PM, Jun 01, 2012

The CBI on Friday began a preliminary probe into coal block allocation from 2006 to 2009. ...

11:43 PM, Jun 01, 2012

Catch the day's top stories on India at 9 with Veeraraghav. ...

11:43 PM, Jun 01, 2012

Cast: Director: Drew Goddard When a horror film opens with five college kids climbing into a caravan and heading off to spend the weekend at an isolated cottage in the woods, you pretty much know how things are going to pan out. After all theyve made dozens of horror movies around this premise! But 'The Cabin in the Woods', co-written by Joss Whedon and Cloverfield scribe Drew Goddard (who also...

11:41 PM, Jun 01, 2012