
New Delhi: It had been another brutal day for the rupee on the foreign exchanges as India's economic crisis escalated and, travelling home from a visit to Myanmar last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned journalists on his plane for a briefing. The one statement he had prepared for the media that night, however, concerned allegations of corruption levelled against him and his cabinet ministers - not the economy. Quizzed...

09:02 AM, Jun 04, 2012

Islamabad: Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, has refused to eat meals provided by the jail authorities in Peshawar fearing he may be poisoned. Sources told Geo News, Afridi has refused to eat prison food, and that on his demand, prison authorities have provided him with essential items and cooking utensils so that he could prepare his own food. Afridi...

12:38 PM, Jun 03, 2012

The Prime Minister's Chief Economic Advisor Dr C Rangarajan has admitted that a hike in diesel and LPG prices is imminent despite a steep hike in petrol prices last week. While speaking to Karan Thapar on 'Devil's Advocate', Dr Rangarajan said the government can soften the blow but fuel price hike is the need of the hour to contain the fiscal deficit. Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to the Devil's...

12:01 PM, Jun 03, 2012

New Delhi: Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal's 'One Country One Test' dream seems to be running into legal hurdles. Less than a week after he announced a Joint Entrance Exam for all centrally-funded engineering colleges including the IITs, the IIT Alumni Association is up in arms and says it will drag the ministry to the court. "If senate have given their dissent, no ministry can't go ahead legally....

10:06 PM, Jun 02, 2012

New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Saturday demanded an immediate apology from actor Aamir Khan accusing him of having defamed the medical profession in the May 27 episode of his TV show 'Satyamev Jayate' and warned him of legal action if he did not do so. "Aamir Khan should apologise for having defamed and given one side of the story on medical profession. If he does not we...

09:14 PM, Jun 02, 2012

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee once again batted for Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan when she requested Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for reconsideration of the Maharashtra Cricket Association imposing five-year ban on the entry of IPL franchisee Kolkata Knight Riders owner to the Wankhede Stadium. Deshmukh is the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA). Mamata took up the matter with Deshhmukh, the Union Science and Technology Minister...

09:05 PM, Jun 02, 2012

Kolkata: Expressing concern over growing intolerance among people of dissent, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday favoured a rational discourse because narrow mindedness might affect creative instincts. The Prime Minister noted that people are losing the ability to engage in rational discourse where different points of views are expressed. "Public debate was often hostage to sensationalism. I sometimes fear that a growing culture of narrow mindedness may affect the creative,...

02:54 PM, Jun 02, 2012

Los Angeles: Facebook's website suffered sporadic outages on Thursday (Friday in some time zones), anywhere from half an hour to two hours according to various blogs, tweets and affected users, but the company said the problem has been fixed. "Earlier today, some users briefly experienced issues loading the site. The issues have since been resolved and everyone should now have access to Facebook," company spokesman Michael Kirkland told Reuters. The...

02:43 PM, Jun 01, 2012

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Chief Justice has suspended Special CBI Judge Pattabhi Rama Rao for alleged irregularities. Pattabhi Rama Rao was hearing the Obulapuram mining scam case. He had granted bail to prime accused Gali Janardhana Reddy on May 11 in the case. Reddy, however, is still in jail in another case. Judge Rao was also hearing the EMAAR case and heard the petition for defreezing YSR Congress chief Jagan...

09:34 AM, Jun 01, 2012

For the year, growth dropped to a three year low - 6.5 per cent against a robust 7.8 per cent last year. ...

11:57 PM, May 31, 2012

Washington: US President Barack Obama was personally making all decisions about a top-secret and expanding "kill list" of terrorists belonging to al Qaeda and its affiliates hiding in Pakistan and Yemen to be eliminated in stepped-up drone attacks, according to a media report. "He (Obama) is determined that he will make these decisions about how far and wide these operations will go," said Thomas E Donilon, his national security adviser....

09:04 AM, May 30, 2012

The brother of the Pakistani doctor who has been jailed for helping the US trace Osama Bin Laden, claims he is being made a scapegoat and now wants Pakistan's apex court to intervene. ...

06:58 PM, May 29, 2012

Islamabad: The Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden faced accusations of corruption and other wrongdoing long before he was captured by Pakistani intelligence agents and then jailed for 33 years for treason. In interviews over the weekend, several current and former Pakistani officials described the doctor, Shakil Afridi, as a hard-drinking womaniser who had faced accusations of sexual assault, harassment and stealing. They said his main...

12:30 PM, May 29, 2012

Baghdad: Microsoft Corp. says it has appointed a local company to distribute its products in Iraq in what it says is a sign of growth for the war-plagued country. Manager of Business Development for Emerging Markets Rajai S. El-Khadem said Monday that the software giant had chosen the Baghdad-based Legend Lands Co. as its Iraqi partner. El-Khadem called on Iraq's government to approve laws protecting intellectual property and usage of...

10:12 AM, May 29, 2012

New Delhi: A special court on Tuesday is expected to pronounce its order on the bail applications of 7 accused in the Adarsh housing scam. They are former defence officials, AR Kumar, MM Wanchu, RC Thakur and TK Kaul, former senior IAS officers PV Deshmukh and Pradeep Vyas and former Congress MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani. All the accused have sought bail on the ground that CBI had not filed a chargesheet...

06:50 AM, May 29, 2012