Barack Obama looking to further strengthening ties with India: White House Washington: Barack Obama is looking to further strengthen Indo-American ties in his second term as the President of US, the White House said on Thursday. "India is an incredibly important country in the world, not just the region. And the (US) President looks forward to continuing to enhance the depth of our relationship, to work together on common goals in the region and around the world," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. "I think you can expect in his second term that he will consider it a success if at the end of his second term that bilateral relationship is stronger even

New Delhi: The December 16 gang-rape incident in the national capital has awakened the senses of the people in India. The incident has led to a mass movement. Naturally, the reaction to the development was palpable.    The incident has been widely covered by both - national and international - media.   Bill gates, co-founder of Microsoft and Chairman of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, also shared his views on the development.    In his interview to NDTV, the 57-year-old philanthropist expressed hope in the movement, saying that was a start to a new India.   "Certainly, the incident is an evolution for the country that something horrific l

Indore: A record breaking number of students of the Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I) have been selected by prominent institutions of the world under its student exchange programme for the session 2012-13. 71 students of IIM-I went to different corners of the globe to study under the student exchange programme organised entirely by the in-house students' committee StepCom. StepCom secretary Kala Piravi said, "This is the highest number of students to have participated in the programme. Over 94 students had applied for the programme but only 71were selected." Students attended the management programme in different countries like Germany, France, USA, Austria,

New Delhi: The Indian Army on Wednesday denied reports of Indian soldiers torturing and decapitating the Pakistani troops.      According to media reports, terming the media reports as 'erroneous and speculative', the Indian Army said that it was a highly professional force and does not indulge in unsoldierly acts as alleged.   The statement issued by the army pointed out that the very fact that Pakistan has not raised any such issue in bilateral interactions since 1998 bears testimony to the allegations being misleading.   The army's clarification came after a front-page story in a newspaper on Wednesday reported classified Pakistani protests

Obama issues call for immigration overhaul Las Vegas: Seizing an opening to rewrite the nation's immigration laws, President Barack Obama challenged Congress on Tuesday to act swiftly to put 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States on a clear path to citizenship.

But his push for speedy action and his silence on proposals to defer the opportunity for legal residency until the country's borders are deemed secure provoked criticism from a Republican leader on the issue. The response suggests that reaching consensus on immigration law changes remained difficult despite a new bipartisan push since the November elections.

Speaking at a

Key changes in Lokpal bill may get Cabinet approval today The Union Cabinet is meeting today to discuss and approve amendments to the Lokpal bill, the proposed anti-corruption legislation that has seen much debate and sparring between the government and the opposition.

Key changes to the bill were proposed by a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha. Most of them have been accepted by the government.

One of the amendments to the bill could be that states will now have to set up lokayuktas, or anti-corruption regulators, within a year of the Lokpal bill being passed. Political parties will also be brought under the Lokpal, but religious and charitable institutions

The rupee on Wednesday strengthened by 28 paise to 53.49 against the US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange after the Reserve Bank cut lending rate and cash reserve ratio(CRR) by 0.25 per cent each on Tuesday to perk up economic growth.

Forex dealers said increased selling of the American currency by exporters and a higher opening in the equity market also helped the rupee sentiment.

The rupee had gained 14 paise to close at Rs 53.77 against the US currency in Tuesday's trade.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark index Sensex recovered by 72.48 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 20,063.38 in early trade on Wednesday.

New Delhi: India on Wednesday successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal.   "At 9.30am, the missile blasted off in a pre-designated war scenario taking a 'double-manoeuvre in S-form' hitting the designated target ship just one meter above water line. The sheer velocity and power of hit made the missile rip through the ship's hull," BrahMos Aerospace CEO A Sivathanu Pillai said on Wednesday.   This is the 34th launch of BrahMos after the successful October launch from INS Teg in the Arabian Sea.   The BrahMos mi

New Delhi: The operation by Pakistani soldiers to capture strategic heights in Kargil sector in 1999 was a "four-man show" orchestrated by former army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf though then premier Nawaz Sharif was "not" kept totally in the dark, a retired general has said. Lt Gen (retired) Shahid Aziz, who recently created ripples by acknowledging in an article that regular troops were involved in the Kargil operation, said the "misadventure" was a "four-man show" and details were initially hidden from the rest of the military commanders. When the operation began in the spring of 1999, it was known only to Musharraf, Chief of General Staff Lt Gen

New Delhi: In a brazen display of duplicity, Pakistan has awarded LeT terrorist Anwar Khan, who decapitated the body of Indian soldier Hemraj in Mendhar sector on January 8. According to intelligence reports of RAW and IB, Pakistan’s Army and ISI felicitated the terrorist for the inhuman act that resulted in rapid rise of tension between the two estranged nations. The reports have been submitted to the home ministry which is minutely studying them. “So many reports are emerging. We are studying them. As of now, I am not in a position to make any comments on the matter,” Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told Bhaskar. Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed had a major ro

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was Tuesday at the centre of the latest round of sparring between two often uneasy neighbours with Pakistan's minister Rehman Malik's comment that India should provide the actor security prompting a sharp rebuke from New Delhi that Islamabad should mind its own 'minorities'.

Malik said in Islamabad that the Indian government should provide security to Shah Rukh, in the thick of a controversy over his remarks on being a Muslim that led to Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed saying the star could move to Pakistan.

Addressing reporters in Islamabad at a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner, Malik added that peo

ED probing cash deals worth Rs 760 cr involving Mayawati's brother: report New Delhi, Jan 28: Seven companies controlled by former UP chief minister Mayawati's younger brother Anand Kumar  carried out cash transactions worth some Rs 760 crore, and the sourceS of such large sums of money are pesently under the scanner of Enforcement Directorate, reports the Economic Times.   The report says, documents filed by Anand Kumar's companies with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show that only one of the seven companies has a tangible business, and the rest were all set up after Mayawati became UP chief minister in 2007.

According to the ET report, the de

India's image on tackling corruption has not improved with Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) placing it at 94th rank out of 176 nations this year. Though India was ranked at 95th position last year, the international watchdog said it has started evaluating the positions through a different formula beginning this year and hence this cannot be compared to last year's ranking. However, the last year's rank of 95 would be 96 if it is calculated using the new methodology which implies there was a "slight improvement" in the index. This year, India has a score of 36 out of 100 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) which

AGRA: Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma launched an eBiz portal at the CII Partnership Summit in Agra.

The portal is India's Government-to-Business (G2B) portal developed by Infosys in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model.

"This mission mode project will mark a paradigm shift in the Government's approach to providing Government-to-Business (G2B) services for India's investor and business communities," said Sharma while launching the portal.

In order to enable businesses and investors to save time and costs and in order to improve the business environment in the country, an online single window was conceptualised

Mumbai: The vegetables that go into your stomach might not be healthy enough. Infact, the veggies that you buy could end you up in hospital. According to reports carried in a daily, the vegetables that are sold to us are grown and washed in gutter. The report carried by MiD DAY that the leafy vegetables contain bacteria and even parasites. The tabloid based its report on the findings that it took near farming spots in Thakurli and Kalwa. Samples of radish and spinach taken from the plots reveal indicated the presence of bacteria and even parasites. Don’t be too sure of the conventional wisdom of forcing green vegetables down your children’s throats in the hope that they wil

NEW DELHI: The juvenile justice board on Monday ruled that one of the six accused in the December 16 gang rape and murder case of a 23-year-old girl was a juvenile at the time of the attack.

The 'minor' rape accused will not face trial before the special court, the board said.

A lawyer present in the court said a magistrate announced the decision after going over documents presented to the court by officials of the suspect's elementary school that indicated that he was a juvenile at the time of the attack.

According to the police report, the attack on the medical student had lasted at least 45 minutes. There were six attackers. Each of

Ananya Bhattacharya

In a country where music is nothing short of a religion and musicians are worshipped, Zee TV’s ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ has always been instrumental in providing the country with many demigods of music. Jasraj Joshi, Shenaz Akhtar, Mohd. Aman and Vishwajeet Borwankar, the names that had carved a niche for every heart that loves music, saw their dreams taking a different turn with the Grand Finale of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’.
    Pune-based Jasraj Joshi took away the much-coveted winner’s trophy, and Shehnaz Akhtar was crowned the runner-up. Vishwajeet Borwankar was voted third by the audi

Madras High Court may pronounce verdict on Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam today.. It's a significant day for southern superstar Kamal Haasan as the Madras High Court is likely to announce its decision on his controversial film Vishwaroopam on Monday.

The court, on January 24, had stayed the release of the Rs.90 crore budget film.

On Saturday, Justice K. Venkatraman watched Vishwaroopam along with the leaders of the fringe radical outfits to check whether or not the film shows Muslims in poor light.

Meanwhile, Kamal Haasan, who has also directed the film, returned from Los Angeles early on Monday morning for the crucial day. Haasan, who was

SAO PAULO: In a horrific tragedy that would raise serious questions about public safety in Brazil, some 200 people — mostly teenagers — were killed in an inferno that swept through a nightclub, Kiss, in Santa Maria, a small city in Rio Grande do Sul, the prosperous southern state which shares its border with Argentina and Uruguay.

The inferno started during the fireworks show when a band was playing in the club on Saturday night. As fireworks hit the ceiling of the club, packed with 2,000 teenagers enjoying a Saturday night party, the soundproofing material made of foam caught fire and within minutes the club was engulfed in huge flames and thick smoke, with most y

NEW DELHI: Underlying the recommendations made by the Verma Committee is a new charter of rights for sexual offence victims. The extent to which these legal rights are actually conferred on women, through statutory amendments, will determine the degree to which India is a liberal society combating patriarchy and gender violence.

While the "Bill of Rights" appended to the report declares abstract principles concerning women, the unstated charter, which has been gleaned by TOI from the amendments proposed by the committee, can make the difference more directly, as these rights are inherently backed by criminal sanctions.

Consider the 10 new rights envisa