India

New Delhi, July 31: In a startling revelation, a former MLA of the Samajwadi Party has told the Supreme Court that his party leadership had egged him to file a PIL in the Allahabad high court in 2010 against Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi accusing him of abduction and rape of an Amethi girl. The HC, while dismissing the PIL, on March 7, 2011, had imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on petitioner

New Delhi, July 30: In what was one of the worst power breakdowns in the country, the Northern Grid crashed early Monday morning plunging eight states into complete darkness, disrupting inter-state train services, adversely hitting health services and impacting millions of lives. The tripping of the 400 KV Bina-Gwalior line, which flows into Agra-Bareilly at 2.35 a.m. wreaked havoc on the power

New Delhi, July 30: A day after the Samajwadi Party disowned him for his interview of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Shahid Siddiqui, Editor of Urdu weekly Nai Duniya, hit back on Sunday, saying the party had shot the messenger. Defending his decision to interview Mr. Modi, Mr. Siddiqui said he asked the Chief Minister tough questions on his role in the 2002 riots, which none had done so

New Delhi, July 30: Power supply in the northern states, that faced blackout since around 2am on Sunday night, has been partially restored. At least six states, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, UP, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, were affected after a failure in the northern grid. Power supply for public services like hospitals and transport is being restored on a priority

Chennai/Hyderabad, July 30: At least 35 passengers were killed and 25 injured when a coach of the Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express caught fire near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh early Monday, officials said. The fire broke out around 5.30 a.m. in the S-11 compartment, minutes after the Chennai-bound train left Nellore railway station in south coastal Andhra Pradesh, about 450 km from Hyderabad. The

Mumbai, July 29: A fire broke out on Sunday at Singapore Airlines’ cargo office pantry at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, and was quickly put out by fire fighters, airport spokesperson said. The incident took place around 5 p.m., the spokesperson said. “There was a fire at the cargo office pantry of the Singapore Airlines at the international airport. However, it was put

New Delhi, July 29: Former MP and expelled Samajwadi Party leader Shahid Siddiqui on Sunday cried foul over his removal from the party. Reacting over his dismissal for conducting an Urdu interview with controversial Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Siddiqui said that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav owed a lot of his popularity to him, as Siddiqui had written in his support at a time

Barasat, July 29: An 18-year-old girl was surrounded by a group of 10 youths, abused and molested near Barasat station on Friday night in a chilling parallel with the stripping of a girl by a mob in Guwahati earlier this month. The rogues also slapped and shoved the girl's father, who had answered her SOS and rushed to her help, before being chased away by angry local residents, unlike in Guwahati

New Delhi, July 29: Anna Hazare Sunday began his indefinite fast against corruption at Jantar Mantar, joining other Team Anna members who have been agitating here since July 25. "He has been fasting since morning," a Team Anna member told IANS. The members, led by Arvind Kejriwal, began their indefinite fast Wednesday to press for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill and demanding an inquiry into allegations

London, July 29: An earthquake of moderate intensity shook Meghalaya, Assam and some other northeastern states on Sunday but there was no report of any casualty or damage to property. The quake, which had a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale, hit the region at around 7:51 a.m. and the epicentre was located 70 km underneath the earth’s crust in Myanmar, officials at the Seismological Survey of