India

Mumbai, June 15: Petrol car owners may soon heave a sigh of relief as oil marketing firms are expected to cut petrol prices by up to Rs 2 per litre on Friday due to falling international crude prices. Crude prices, which fell to $96.5 per barrel on Wednesday, the lowest level in the last one year, have provided enough legroom for the oil firms to reduce petrol prices. State-owned oil marketing

Hyderabad, June 15: Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party is all set to sweep the crucial AP by-polls, held in one Lok Sabha and 18 assembly constituencies. Counting of votes began at 8 am on Friday. As per trends available at 10.15 am, out of the 18 assembly seats, YSR Congress is ahead in 15, the ruling Congress is expected to win only one seat. TRS and TDP are also ahead in one seat each. YSR

New Delhi, June 14: The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Thursday appeared headed for an internal confrontation over the next month’s presidential election as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee declared that former president A P J Abdul Kalam would be her candidate for the top post. Mamata announced that she will field Kalam if the Congress went ahead with the nomination of either

New Delhi, Jun 14: Switzerland today said the quantum of money held by Indians in Swiss banks stood at 2.18 billion Swiss francs (about Rs 12,740 crore) at the end of 2011 -- rising for the first time in the past five years. The total funds held by Indian individuals and entities include 2.025 billion Swiss francs held directly by them and 158 million held through 'fiduciaries' or wealth managers

New Delhi, Jun 14: In a rebuff to SP and TMC, Congress today ruled out sparing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the Presidential race as it rejected the three names proposed by the two allies, sending signals that it was not in a mood to bow before them. "We cannot afford to spare Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. The other two names (A P J Abdul Kalam and Somnath Chatterjee) are not

New Delhi, June 14: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the presidential elections, officials said. Mukherjee reached Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence a little after 10 a.m. The meeting comes after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav virtually rejected Gandhi’s presidential choices

Ahmedabad, June 14: The three-member Central Group of Ministers' on Wednesday took Chief Minister Narendra Modi head-on on his claim of rapid development in Gujarat and its being “ahead of all other States in the country.” Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who was leading the GoM, not only refuted the State government's charges of discrimination and injustices against the Centre, he also saw

Mumbai, June 14: A special "star labelling" indicating fuel efficiency will be compulsory for all passenger cars from April 1, 2013, a top official from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) said. "All passenger cars will have to be labelled for their fuel efficiency from April 1, 2013," BEE Director General Ajay Mathur told reporters. In November last, BEE, under the Ministry of Power released a

New Delhi, June 14: No Prime Minister has ever gone on to beco­me the President of the Indian Republic. But the record may have to be rewritten, and the country may also have a new Prime Minister, if the Congress’ two powerful partners in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) have their way. Dropping a bombshell, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party patriarch

Baghdad, June 13: Coordinated car bombs in four Iraqi cities targeting Shiite pilgrims killed at least 56 people and wounded dozens more early on Wednesday in Iraq's latest wave of sectarian-fuelled violence, officials said. The death toll was expected to rise in the attacks, which included car bombs that tore into Shiite religious processions at four different locations across Baghdad. It was the