Beirut: The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose.
Sectarian bloodshed in neighbouring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on a Western newspaper by sympathisers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defiant comments by a rebel commander filmed eating a slain soldier's flesh were all reminders of how the two-year-old civil war is metastising.
But the divisions among world powers that have prevented a coordinated resolution were also again on display, just 10 days after Russia and the United States agreed to bury differences and push for an urgent international conference to end the war.
The most senior US military officer, General Martin Dempsey, described Russia's recent delivery of anti-ship missiles to Assad as "ill-timed and very unfortunate" and risked prolonging a war which has already killed more than 80,000 Syrians and which the UN said had driven 1.5 million abroad....
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07:35 AM, May 18, 2013
Geneva: A huge diamond unearthed in Botswana commanded an unearthly price of $26.7 million from Christie's auction house on Wednesday amid the spring ritual of well-heeled bidders flocking or phoning in to Geneva's luxury sales. The pear-shaped gem accounted for more than a quarter of the $102 million in sales rung up by Christie's Wednesday night, a night after Sotheby's had $78 million in sales. "A perfect diamond commands a...
09:40 AM, May 16, 2013
United Nations: India abstained from voting on the Arab-backed, US supported resolution on Syria in the UN General Assembly, which called for a political transition. India was joined by 58 other countries who abstained in General Assembly voting on the non-binding resolution, which was passed by 107 votes on Wednesday. Twelve countries, including Russia voted against it. In August 2012, a similar resolution had received 133 votes. Pakistan voted in...
07:20 AM, May 16, 2013
Washington: US lawmakers accused the Obama administration on Wednesday of trampling on free speech rights and evading questions about the Justice Department's secret seizure of Associated Press telephone records. US Attorney General Eric Holder, testifying before a House of Representatives panel, provided limited responses on the issue, noting he had been recused from the probe into a government leak that led to the records seizure. Lawmakers on the House Judiciary...
03:48 AM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: There's nothing like a feel good advertisement when you are down in the dumps. And no one needs it more right now than UPA-II. Faced with uncertainty, embarrassment and an election in the next one year, the government plans to bombard us with not-so-subtle reminders of what they did get right in the last nine years. This is the Congress's Rs 180 crore ad blitz 'Bharat Nirman', written...
09:20 PM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Generic drugmaker Ranbaxy has been fined $500 million by the US government after its subsidiary pleaded guilty to sale of adulterated drugs manufactured in India. It is the largest settlement by a generic medicine maker till date. It includes $150 million in payments for a criminal fine and forfeiture and $350 million in payments for civil claims. The adulterated drugs were made in Ranbaxy's plants in India and...
08:30 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: CAG report commands respect and cannot be brushed aside but it cannot be the final word on an issue, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while noting that the auditor's findings cannot be gospel truth as it is subject to scrutiny by Parliament. A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said that CAG's report is always subject to parliamentary debates and it is possible that Public...
10:40 PM, May 09, 2013
Mumbai: The Chevrolet Enjoy is the third model from the GM SAIC partnership and will be available in both petrol and diesel variants. We drove both the models and came back with mixed reactions. The Enjoy isn't the best looking MPV out there but is a smart design. It looks best viewed from the front, the bonnet is well defined while the angular front headlamps gives it a more car...
03:20 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: The BJP upped the ante against Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Wednesday after the Supreme Court said that the heart of CBI's coal report was changed by the government officials. The apex court, while examining the affidavit submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with coal scam, on Wednesday took a very strong stand and called the investigating agency a "caged parrot speaking in its...
04:37 PM, May 08, 2013
JD(S) leader Danish Ali said the BJP must realise that general elections won't be easy. "The third alternative will be a reality in the coming general elections," he said. ...
11:40 AM, May 08, 2013
The music launch of 'Yamla Pagla Deewana 2' was a star-studded event with Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hritik Roshan, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia D'Souza, Rakesh Roshan, Kunal Kohli, and Juhi Chawla making the occasion extra special. But what's incredible is, professional rivals Aamir and Shah Rukh, who are rarely ever seen together in public appearances were spotted dancing on stage together and posing for photographs. ...
10:01 AM, May 08, 2013
Islamabad: At least 15 people were killed and nearly 70 injured when a bomb ripped through a rally of the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in Pakistan's central Kurram tribal region, ahead of the May 11 General Elections. Assistant Political Agent of central Kurram region, Mohammad Fazal said at least 15 people had died in the incident. Reports said at least 70 people were injured. Political agent Riaz Masood said the...
06:35 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati, one Joint Secretary rank official each from the Prime Minister's Office and the Coal Ministry not only saw the draft status report on the coal scam case, but also ordered some changes in it, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court in a fresh affidavit submitted on Monday. The nine-page affidavit submitted by CBI Director Ranjit...
11:42 AM, May 06, 2013
London: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan says his party would sweep the May 11 General Elections in Pakistan as more young people, fed up with the status quo, are likely to cast their ballot this time. "This is a revolution. Look at them people. They are fed up with the status quo. This is an across-the-board desire for change and a fear the country won't survive unless we do. It's middle classes,...
07:43 PM, May 05, 2013
Koraput: Optimistic of bringing the Maoist menace under control to a great extent in Odisha soon, Director General of Police (DGP) Prakash Mishra on Thursday appealed to the president of Naxal outfit Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) Nachika Linga to surrender. "Linga is not going to achieve anything through violence. I appeal to him to surrender and to return to the mainstream society," the DGP said at Koraput after reviewing...
02:44 AM, May 03, 2013
Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on Thursday issued orders for sealing the border with Afghanistan during the General Election on May 11 in order to maintain peace during the polling. The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ordered the provincial Home Department to seal the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham to "avert the entry of unwanted persons for maintenance of peace" during the elections, officials said. Authorities also instructed the Additional Chief Secretary of the restive...
04:55 PM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Attorney General Ghoolam E Vahanvati issued a clarification on Wednesday and said he never interfered with the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) status report on coal block allocation scam. He also denied he has a copy of the report. Vahanvati has been accused by former ASG Harin Raval of having tampered with the CBI coal status report. Raval had written in his letter to Vahanvati, "Certain suggestions were...
07:28 PM, May 01, 2013
Islamabad: Pakistan will go to polls as scheduled as it is a golden opportunity to usher in an era of true democratic values in the country, army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said amid mounting attacks by the Taliban to derail the historic General Elections. Addressing an event to mark the Youm-e-Shahada (Day of Martyrs) on Tuesday, Kayani reiterated the army's commitment to holding of free and fair elections....
05:37 PM, May 01, 2013
