Panel probing Walmart lobbying submits report to govt New Delhi: A committee looking into US giant Walmart's lobbying activities to enter India today submitted its report to Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot. Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal who headed the panel set up to look into lobbying activities by Walmart, submitted the report to Pilot at his residence. No details of the report were immediately available. ...  
07:35 PM, May 18, 2013

India losing sheen as an agricultural nation: Modi Bharuch: India would not have lost its sheen as a country of farmers if Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had been the first Prime Minister, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, ruing the "poor" national agricultural growth. "The nation is falling behind in agriculture. If 'Khedut Putra' (son of farmer), Sardar Patel had become the first Prime Minister, this would not have happened to our farmers... Somehow, we took the...  
05:31 PM, May 18, 2013

Former Argentine dictator Videla dies in prison at 87 Buenos Aires: Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87. Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years behind bars for human rights...  
11:57 AM, May 18, 2013

Hits and misses in Facebook's history California: Facebook made its debut on the stock market a year ago on May 18 in one of the largest IPOs in history and the biggest for any Internet company. The social network's market value was more than $100 billion. Now, Facebook's stock is trading roughly 30 per cent lower and has not hit its IPO price of $38 per share. Today, Facebook is valued at around $63 billion. In...  
11:06 AM, May 18, 2013

Nadal beats Ferrer to set up Rome semis with Berdych Rome: Czech Tomas Berdych snapped a run of 11 consecutive defeats by world number one Novak Djokovic to reach the semi-finals of the Rome Masters before Rafa Nadal was stretched to the limit against David Ferrer on Friday. Berdych clawed his way back from a 6-2 5-2 deficit to stun the Serbian top seed 2-6 7-5 6-4 and set up a semi-final meeting with Nadal, who for the second week...  
07:52 AM, May 18, 2013

Former Argentine dictator Videla dies in prison at age 87 Buenos Aires: Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87. Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years behind bars for human rights...  
06:51 AM, May 18, 2013

US: Indian sentenced to three years for human trafficking Washington: An Indian has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment on charges of trafficking immigrants from India into the United States, the Department of Justice said. Kaushik Jayantibhai Thakkar, 33, along with Brazilian national Fabiano Augusto Amorim were sentenced on Friday to serve 36 months in prison for their roles in smuggling undocumented migrants to the US for private financial gain, the Acting Assistant US Attorney General Mythili Raman...  
06:27 AM, May 18, 2013

Man gets eight years jail for repeatedly raping daughter
by IANS
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday sentenced a man to jail for eight years for repeatedly raping his 17-year-old daughter and threatening her not to disclose the incident to anyone. Pronouncing the sentence, Additional Sessions Judge TR Naval said the one who was supposed to protect his daughter, had repeatedly committed the crime when her mother, who later died, was admitted in a hospital. The court in the order...  
05:21 AM, May 18, 2013

WB opposition demands central forces for Panchayat polls
by IANS
Kolkata: Opposition parties in West Bengal on Friday demanded deployment of central paramilitary forces in an all-party meeting convened by the State Election Commission to ensure proper, free and fair panchayat elections. "We need adequate protection for candidates and the voters though every state of the polls - filing of nomination, campaigning, polling day as also counting. The ground situation is not conducive for that. In various local elections across...  
04:47 AM, May 18, 2013

Farmers threaten mass suicides if power tariff increased Coimbatore: Farmers in Coimbatore region on Friday threatened that they would resort to mass suicides if government went ahead with its plan to increase power tariff. Representatives of various farmers associations told a public hearing on tariff revision here that the agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu is already in the doldrums due to failure of monsoon and resultant drought. "Any upward revision of tariff will be strongly resisted by all...  
03:15 AM, May 18, 2013

Rahul meets Congress leaders from Union Territories New Delhi: A meeting of Congress leaders from Union Territories convened by Rahul Gandhi on Friday saw strong pleas to make the Union Home Ministry pro-active to resolve the problems faced by the areas ahead of Lok Sabha polls. The leaders from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Lakshdweep, Daman and Diu as also Chandigarh impressed upon the Congress Vice President that since the Home Ministry is administering...  
01:18 AM, May 18, 2013

Djokovic, Rafa, Federer in contention for French title: Becker Bangalore: Former World No. 1 Boris Becker on Friday said Rafael Nadal has good chances of winning the French Open this year but added the Spaniard will face competition from Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. "Rafa's chances are looking good. But then you have others like Djocovic, who is world No. 1. You also have Federer, who is still very good. There is question mark about Andy Murrey though, who...  
11:43 PM, May 17, 2013

Play-offs in sight for Hyderabad after win over Rajasthan Hyderabad: James Faulkner's effort of 5 for 16 went in vain as Rajasthan Royals failed to chase a moderate total of 137 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal on Friday. The 23-run victory, meanwhile, boosted Hyderabad's chances of reaching the play-offs as, with 18 points from 15 matches, they are now two points ahead of nearest rival, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and have one more game...  
11:22 PM, May 17, 2013

Case against Kataria politically motivated: Amit Shah Jammu: The BJP on Friday accused the ruling Congress of "misusing" CBI against its rival parties and said that the case filed against Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case was "politically motivated". "If people will leave the public life considering the CBI charge sheet is true, then nobody apart from Congress will survive. Neither DMK nor SP (Samajwadi Party) or BSP...  
07:52 PM, May 17, 2013

Monsoon makes debut over Andaman Sea New Delhi: South-west monsoon on Friday made a debut in the Andaman Sea and parts of Bay of Bengal, setting the stage for the four-month rainfall season crucial for India's agriculture-based economy. "Southwest Monsoon has set in over some parts of south Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea," India Meteorological Department (IMD) said here. It said conditions were favourable for further advance of monsoon over some more parts of Bay...  
06:42 PM, May 17, 2013

'Epic' review: It's stunning and well intentioned
by IANS
Voices: Amanda Seyfried, Beyonce Knowles, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Steven Tyler Director: Chris Wedge Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Based on the children's book 'The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs' by William Joyce, 'Epic' is a 3D animated science fiction fantasy film with ample amount of action and adventure. 'Epic' tells the story of an ongoing battle between the forces of good, who keep...  
06:32 PM, May 17, 2013

Sabyasachi Mukherjee wanted 'purist ethnic look' for Vidya Balan
by IANS
New Delhi: Designer Sabyassachi Mukherjee, the man behind styling Vidya Balan's look at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival, says that as "India is known as a bling country" he used a "little embellishment" to bring freshness. Vidya made three appearances in traditional Indian costumes - maroon lehenga, an ivory sari paired with a brown blouse and light pink anarkali - on three different occasions on the festival inaugural day...  
11:26 AM, May 17, 2013

Madrid derby to crown Copa del Rey champions Barcelona: With a return to England looking likely, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho can go out a winner when his team plays crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid on Friday in the Copa del Rey final. Luckily for Mourinho and Madrid, Atletico have been incapable of winning a Spanish capital derby so far this millennium. Atletico's last victory over their city rivals came 14 years ago, in 1999. Since then, Madrid have...  
09:37 AM, May 17, 2013

FA approves minimum five-match ban for racial abuse London: Racist and homophobic abuse by players in England will carry a minimum five-match ban from next season. The Football Association says the sanction will be the entry-level punishment for the least serious discriminatory offenses, with longer bans possible. The FA Council agreed on Thursday to the sanctions first reported by The Associated Press on Monday. For second offenses, there will be a minimum 10-game ban, which UEFA has urged...  
08:54 AM, May 17, 2013

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr apps come to Google Glass San Francisco: Social networking services Facebook and Twitter are coming to Google Glass, the wearable computer made by the Internet search company. Google announced on Thursday a half-dozen apps specially designed to work on its Glass devices. News network CNN, fashion magazine Elle, as well as online apps Tumblr and Evernote were among the half-dozen new apps for Glass unveiled during Google's annual developer conference in San Francisco. Google Glass...  
08:01 AM, May 17, 2013