Washington: The US government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.
Attorney General Eric Holder named the dead US citizens in a letter to members of Congress a day before President Barack Obama is expected to promise more transparency on national security issues in a speech on counterterrorism.
A White House official said Obama would lay out in his speech why the use of drones is "necessary, legal and just."
His speech would coincide with the signing of new presidential policy guidance setting out standards for US drone strikes, the official said....
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06:48 AM, May 23, 2013
Chandigarh: The Punjab government has initiated a probe into the distribution of text books containing allegedly vulgar and irrelevant content in government schools, a minister said on Wednesday. Bathinda District Education Officer Surjit Singh Khuram was put under suspension for laxity in this connection. Punjab Education Minister SS Maluka inspected the books supplied to the schools in the state which have sparked a controversy due to the alleged vulgar content....
02:35 AM, May 23, 2013
The UPA-II government has just completed four years in power. So, what have been its achievements and failures? CNN-IBN's national affairs editor Bhupendra Chaubey joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue. Q. In urban areas, it seems like UPA-2 will definitely suffer in the forthcoming elections, whats the scene in the rural India... how is the performance seen there. Different or same like how urban India sees it...
06:37 PM, May 22, 2013
What are the key points on which the UPA-II dispensation failed to deliver? BJP's spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue. Q. Hi Sidharth, Do you think that the BJP has oversold the corruption issue and leadership issue of the UPA..At one time it probably had a impact on people but now all your leaders and spokespersons sound very repetitive, at times arrogant and...
05:56 PM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: A day after Law Minister Kapil Sibal proposed a new law to curb fixing menace in sport in the wake of IPL spot-fixing scandal, The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has backed the need of a tougher legislation to control fixing, sources said on Monday. The BCCI will write to the government asking for a new law to help curb fixing, sources added. On Sunday,...
06:33 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: BJP youth wing workers led by party's Delhi unit president Vijay Goel on Sunday courted arrest while protesting at the residence of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanding release of Delhi's share of water allegedly held back by the state. Goel and scores of activists of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), including Delhi BJYM chief Gauarav Khari, were taken to Parliament Street police station and were later...
06:53 PM, May 19, 2013
Kolkata: Bringing out an assessment report of West Bengal's Trinamool Congress government, two days before it completes two years in office, the Congress on Saturday alleged that the regime was moving in a negative direction and was clueless about the course it wanted the state's economy to take. "We do not expect that within two years, they will be able to change the face of the state but the direction...
05:20 AM, May 19, 2013
Kozhikode: Kerala and Himachal Pradesh on Saturday announced they will strengthen implementation of their rural development projects by sharing information about feasible models and best practices. Ministers and senior government officials from the two Congress-ruled states met here to discuss ongoing projects and ways to enhance cooperation. Kerala's Panchayats and Social Welfare Minister MK Muneer gave details about local self governance in the state, community farming and the Kudumbashree programme...
05:04 AM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: Delhi BJP on Friday took to streets to protest against scarcity of water in various parts of the city during summer and blamed poor water management by Congress government for the situation. BJP activists led by Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel held a demonstration near ITO with police using water cannons and lathicharge to disperse them. "The crisis is so acute and the common people are in such...
01:33 AM, May 18, 2013
Raipur: Chhattisgarh government has decided to run a monorail in Raipur to reduce traffic congestion and increase share of public transport in the urban transport network. "The state government has planned a comprehensive network of monorail at Raipur which mostly has narrow roads and requires a quick solution for its mounting traffic problems," an official in Raipur said on Thursday. "In this connection, Chief Secretary Sunil Kumar chaired a meeting...
12:50 AM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: In a bid to widen the ambit of beneficiaries getting reservation under the OBC quota, the Central government on Thursday enhanced the ceiling for applying the 'creamy layer' restriction on "socially advanced persons". While the income criteria so far was Rs 4.5 lakh per annum, the Union Cabinet today increased it to Rs 6 lakh per annum. The increase in the income limit to exclude the creamy layer...
09:36 PM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: There were differences at a meeting on Thursday between the State Election Commission (SEC) and the West Bengal government over fixing dates for the three-tier panchayat elections after the Calcutta High Court's direction that the two mutually agree on it. "We suggested certain dates and they (state government) also placed some dates for the panchayat election to be held in three phases as per the High Court order," State...
06:10 PM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court verdict that the Right to Education (RTE) Act is not applicable to nursery admission in unaided private schools has been challenged in the Supreme Court. An NGO, Social Jurist, has approached the apex court, saying that the high court erred in law in holding that the Act applied only in the matter of admission of children between the age of 6 years to 14...
04:46 PM, May 16, 2013
Srinagar: A government school teacher in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district has been suspended by authorities after he uploaded a picture of small school children massaging his legs on social networking website Facebook. Teacher Bashir Ahmad ran into trouble with the Anantnag district authorities after there was outrage on Facebook over the manner in which he made the kids massage him. The state education director has expressed horror at the...
02:36 PM, May 14, 2013
Mumbai: In a good news for people of Mumbai, retailers called off their strike against the Local Body Tax on late Saturday and said they were ready to talk to the government. The announcement came even as the city struggled with shortage of supplies due to the three-week long strike. Supporting the agitation by Maharashtra traders against the newly introduced Local Body Tax which replaces octroi, Indian Merchants' Chamber had...
11:26 PM, May 11, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea which had challenged the validity of the Cairn-Vedanta deal and said there was nothing malafide in the transaction. The court was hearing a petition challenging the validity of the $8.5 billion Cairn-Vedanta deal and had sought a CBI probe into it. "There were no extraneous considerations involved in the deal and it should not be interfered with by the court....
11:59 AM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: As many as 10,553 people were killed in road accidents due to drunken driving in 2011, parliament was told on Tuesday. Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Sarvey Sathyanarayana told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that road accidents occur due to the complex interaction of a number of factors which also include intake of alcohol and drugs. "Intake of alcohol/drugs by drivers resulted in...
10:55 PM, May 07, 2013
London: For the first time in 40 years, Queen Elizabeth II will skip the Commonwealth summit to be held in Sri Lanka in November, deciding to send her son Prince Charles instead for the biennial event. 87-year-old Queen will miss the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for the first time since 1973, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday. "I can confirm that the Queen will be represented by the Prince...
04:15 PM, May 07, 2013
Yavatmal: Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has ordered the Maharashtra Government to file an affidavit on a PIL which alleges corruption committed in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Agency (MGNREGA) scheme in the district in 2011-12. The division bench of Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Justice AB Chaudhari on Friday ordered the government to file an affidavit on the PIL by July 22, 2013. The PIL was filed...
02:05 AM, May 07, 2013
Islamabad: The Indian High Commission here on Monday granted visas for visiting India to two relatives of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq, critically injured in a scuffle with another inmate in a Jammu jail. The visa applications of Sanaullah's brother-in-law and cousin were received at the Indian High Commission at 7.30 pm (local time), official sources told reporters. The applications would be processed and the visas would be issued expeditiously, sources...
10:30 PM, May 06, 2013
