India

Mumbai, November 17: Bal Thackeray, a maverick politician who roused emotions on Marathi pride and catapulted Shiv Sena to power in Maharashtra in the 1990s, died today after having been critically ill for the past few days. The 86-year-old cartoonist turned politician, known for his strong views and speaking his mind, sometimes bordering on the offensive, breathed his last at 3.30 PM at his

New Delhi, November 17: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh was today summoned by a Delhi court to face trial in a criminal defamation case lodged against him by BJP President Nitin Gadkari. "Accused Digvijaya Singh has been summoned for the offence under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code to face trial for criminal defamation. Let he be summoned for December 21," Metropolitan

New Delhi, November 17: The Election Commission has asked the returning officer of Amethi Lok Sabha constituency to probe allegations by Subramanian Swamy that Rahul Gandhi gave "wrong information" regarding his assets while filing nomination papers in the 2009 polls. In a letter to chief electoral officer on November 15, the commission said Swamy has alleged that Gandhi had given "wrong

New Delhi, November 17: A day after the Congress asked Rahul Gandhi to lead the election campaign, its UPA ally Samajwadi Party on Friday declared names of 55 candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, adding to wide-spread speculation that the polling may take place much before 2014. Officially, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies are desisting from making a statement on early

New Delhi, November 17: Retail giant Walmart has disclosed that it is investigating alleged violations of the US anti-bribery law in India, China and Brazil. The development could trigger fresh opposition to the opening up of the domestic retail market to global companies. The disclosure is likely to provide ammunition to political parties that are planning to corner the government on its decision

Islamabad, November 17: A Pakistani lawmaker surprised his colleagues on Friday by suggesting that the country's railways should be handed over to former Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, if the government was unable to tackle the state-run entity's numerous problems. Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Sajid Ahmed made the suggestion in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament

New Delhi, November 16: Attributing ‘sensationalism’ over the CAG’s presumptive loss figure of Rs.1.76 lakh-crore for the “killing” of the telecom sector, the Central Government, on Friday, said it planned to auction by March-end the circles that were not taken in the flopped sale of mobile phone spectrum this week. It also rejected Opposition allegations that the government was celebrating the

New Delhi, November 16: Yet another textbook in a CBSE school has sparked a controversy by allegedly insinuating that non-vegetarians lie, cheat and commit crimes, with the government terming it as "unfortunate" and asking state bodies to remain alert about such content and monitor them. "Sensitivities of communities have to be kept in mind. I think its unfortunate, an occasional aberration

New Delhi, November 16: Voicing concern and angst over the death of an Indian woman who was denied an abortion by doctors in Ireland, India Friday summoned Irish Ambassador Feilim McLaughlin and hoped that the inquiry into the incident would be independent. The Irish envoy was summoned by M. Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry. During his meeting with the Irish ambassador

Hyderabad, November 16: Police lobbed tear gas cannisters after the repeated lathicharges proved ineffective to quell unruly mobs near Charminar on Friday afternoon.A tense situation prevailed in the Old City as the huge crowd began thorwing stones on the police. Trouble broke out immediately after the noon prayers in the historic Mecca Masjid. Anticipating trouble following the controversy over