New Delhi: After days of sustained pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was finally forced to act against his ministers charged with corruption and interference. Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal were both forced to quit on Friday. Both of them called on the Prime Minister on Friday evening and submitted their resignations. While Ashwani Kumar was sacked for interfering in CBI's coalgate probe report, Pawan Bansal...
07:55 AM, May 11, 2013
New Delhi: The Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments in a law for disqualifying MPs for holding an office of profit to exempt the chairpersons of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from its purview, said official sources. The government will introduce a bill in Parliament to bring about the changes, said the sources. According to sources, Section 3 of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, as...
03:46 AM, May 10, 2013
Pune: Keeping alive the slightest of hopes in reaching the IPL 6 play-offs, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders registered their fifth victory of the season by beating Pune Warriors by 46 runs on Thursday. Pune might have thought they had done well to keep KKR to 152 but even that target proved too much to chase. The hosts never looked comfortable and kept losing wickets at regular intervals to fall...
11:24 PM, May 09, 2013
Madrid : Rafael Nadal cruised into the Madrid Open quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory Thursday over Mikhail Youzhny that featured an array of creative shots. Top-ranked Serena Williams and No. 2 Maria Sharapova also reached the quarterfinals in straight sets. Having already established control by winning Youzhny's second service game, Nadal kept a point going with a deft no-look backhand flick before nailing a winner down the line to...
07:01 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal skipped a Cabinet meet at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence on Thursday even as Law Minister Ashwani Kumar attended it. Both Bansal and Ashwani are under fire over the Railway Board bribery case and the coal scam probe respectively. Sources had earlier said that the Congress wanted the PM to decide on Ashwani's fate. Sources said the PM was seriously considering the possibility...
06:12 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: A total of 13 short films, based on of litterateur, composer and artist Rabindranath Tagore's poems, were released here Thursday to commemorate his 152nd birth anniversary. The film series have been directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation. These films have been produced with the financial support of Ministry of Culture. The films were released by Union Minister of Culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch....
04:53 PM, May 09, 2013
Moscow: Russia and the United States agreed to seek new peace talks with both sides to end Syria's civil war, but opposition leaders were sceptical on Wednesday of an initiative they fear might let President Bashar al-Assad hang on to power. Mindful the conflict may be far from over, Britain has urged fellow European Union states to lift an arms embargo, arguing it would strengthen those rebel groups favoured by...
07:27 AM, May 09, 2013
London: Alex Ferguson was a keen promoter of home-grown talent but his incredible collection of silverware would not have been possible without some stunning transfer coups for Manchester United. Beginning with Eric Cantona and ending with Robin van Persie, Ferguson has usually spent money wisely at Old Trafford, although there have been some flops. Here are some of the best and worst Ferguson signings. BEST Eric Cantona Signed from bitter...
10:25 PM, May 08, 2013
Moscow/Beirut: Russia and the United States have agreed to bury their differences over Syria and hold urgent international talks to find a settlement that can end the carnage of a civil war that is inflaming the entire Middle East. Visiting Moscow after Israel bombed targets near Damascus and as President Barack Obama faces new calls to arm the rebels, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia had agreed to...
05:58 AM, May 08, 2013
Boston: The body of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev remained in limbo on Monday as his family searched for a cemetery that would accept the remains. Several Massachusetts cemeteries have refused to bury Tsarnaev, and protesters have staked out the Worcester funeral home holding the body. Despite a plea from the funeral home director, Governor Deval Patrick said on Monday he would not get involved. The controversy marked a...
06:38 AM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: World football governing body's vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein on Monday backed India's bid to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, saying that the country was crucial for the overall development of the game in the continent. "I support India's bid to host the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. India is an important country in Asia and a crucial one for growth of the game," Al Hussein,...
05:56 PM, May 06, 2013
Jaipur: He might have been the star of Rajasthan Royals' win over Pune Warriors in a high-scoring IPL thriller but Ajinkya Rahane was modest about his role, opting to praise his team's bowlers for keeping it tight in the death overs. Chasing 179, Rajasthan romped home with five wickets and a ball to spare on Sunday. Rahane was the star for them bagging the man of the match honour for...
01:16 PM, May 06, 2013
Worcester: The uncle of a Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a gun battle with police arrived at a funeral home on Sunday to prepare his body for burial. Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md, and three other men met with Worcester funeral home director Peter Stefan. The men who accompanied Tsarni plan to wash and shroud the body of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev according to Muslim tradition, the uncle said....
01:32 AM, May 06, 2013
Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals are in a habit of achieving difficult tasks with relative ease. They did the same against Pune Warriors on Sunday, chasing an imposing total of 179 with one ball to spare and moving to the fourth spot in the points table. Considering the amount of runs to be scored, it was expected that Shane Watson would open the batting for Rajasthan with Ajinkya Rahane (67 off 48),...
11:26 PM, May 05, 2013
Boston: Lawyers for one of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's friends, who was arrested and charged with aiding the Boston bombings suspect, have sought his release describing him as a "frightened and confused" teenager who did not deliberately lie to investigators. Robel Phillipos, a resident of Cambridge, is among Tsarnaev's three friends arrested last week who have been accused of covering up for the alleged bomber. "This case is about a frightened and...
04:45 PM, May 05, 2013
London: New sponsorship deals in Europe and Asia helped English soccer champions Manchester United to report a 23 per cent increase in underlying profit in the three months to March. United, who have just recaptured the English Premier League title, said they were on course to hit revenue and profit targets for their financial year, which runs to the end of June. The club claims to have more than 650...
05:26 PM, May 02, 2013
London: Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Gareth Bale was named England's Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association on Thursday. The Wales international, 23, topped the poll of journalists with a narrow victory over Manchester United's Dutch international forward Robin van Persie, who won it last year when he was at Arsenal. Chelsea's Spanish midfielder Juan Mata came third. Bale is the first Spurs player to win the world's oldest...
04:57 PM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: A youth, who had murdered a man for failing to give him a cigarette, has been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a Delhi court which said he has no value of a human being. Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau awarded the jail term to 25-year-old Rakesh for stabbing victim Suraj with a knife leading to his death, saying he did not hesitate to take law in his...
02:23 PM, May 02, 2013
Kuala Lumpur: Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa will run Asian soccer for the next two years after the Bahraini won a three-way election for the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday. Sheikh Salman secured 33 votes of the 46 available from the AFC's member associations in Malaysia to beat Yousuf Al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates (six votes) and Thailand's Worawi Makudi (seven votes). Outsider...
10:44 AM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Jet fuel prices were on Wednesday cut by 5.3 per cent, the second steep reduction in rates in one month. Aviation Turbine Fuel, or ATF, price at Delhi was cut by Rs 3,545.94 per kilolitre (kl), or 5.35 per cent, to Rs 62,649.95 per kl, according to Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer. The reduction in rate, made possible due to declining international oil prices, came...
09:17 PM, May 01, 2013
