India

New Delhi, Jul 17: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to reduce the age of juvenile from 18 to 16 years and dismissed a plea that minors involved in heinous crimes should not be protected under the law. A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said that interference in Juvenile Justice Act is not necessary and dismissed a batch of PILs which were filed in the aftermath of the December 16

Mumbai, Jul 17: An oil-chemical tanker with an all Indian crew of 24 has been hijacked off the coast of the West African nation Gabon, officials said on Tuesday. MV Cotton, the Malta-flagged vessel, was taken over by suspected pirates 15 miles off the Gentil Port between 1 AM and 2 AM on Tuesday, a statement from V Ships, the crew manager for the vessel owned by a Turkish company said. The 2007

New Delhi, Jul 17: Bypassing security concerns, the government on Tuesday decided to throw open country’s telecom sector fully to foreign investors. In defence production, it retained the right to approve proposals beyond 26 per cent on condition that it involves state-of-the-art technology. The move will allow companies such as Vodafone, Telenor, Sistema and others to operate on Indian soil

Chapra (Bihar), Jul 16: As many as 11 students died and 48 others fell ill today after consuming mid-day meal served to them at a government primary school in Bihar's Saran district, police said. The tragedy took place at the government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block, about 25 km from here, they said. The children fell ill soon after eating the meal, which

Gaya, Jul 16: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the serial bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya recently, on Tuesday released two sketches of a suspect on the basis of eyewitness accounts and CCTV footage. NIA released two sketches, one in which the suspect is wearing a mask and another bare face, on its website. Sources in NIA said that the sketches have been released on the basis of details

New Delhi, Jul 16: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s plea against a trial court order framing charges against him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case relating to the killings of six persons. The court also dismissed a plea by riot victim Sheela Kaur to frame conspiracy charge against the Congress leader and four others in the case. Besides Mr. Kumar, co-accused

New Delhi, Jul 16: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of bar dancers to pursue their profession subject to dancing bars taking licence from the state authorities. The apex court bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice S S Nijjar upheld the right of bar dancers as it rejected the Maharashtra government's plea against the Bombay High Court verdict striking down the police orders

Mumbai, Jul 16: The rupee on Tuesday gained a hefty 64 paise to 59.25 in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on fresh dollar selling by exporters after the RBI announced a slew of measures to stem the local currency’s volatility. Forex dealers said measures announced by the RBI on Monday night, including hiking the lending rates for banks and sucking up of Rs. 12,000 crore to stem

Mumbai, Jul 16: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday came out in support of Narendra Modi for describing himself as a patriotic Hindu. "Modi has said nothing wrong. Is it a crime to call yourself a Hindu in this country?" Uddhav asked. He was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the party's renovated headquarters at Nariman Point. Uddhav said that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar

New Delhi, Jul 15: The RBI on Monday imposed fines totalling Rs 49.5 crore on 22 private and public sector banks including SBI, PNB and Yes Bank for violating know your customer/anti-money laundering norms. It also gave cautionary letters to seven including Citibank and Stanchart following an expose made by an online portal. "After considering the facts of each case...Reserve Bank came to