Despite the US’ official stand favoring an expansion of the UN Security Council, new diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks show how it was doing everything it could to delay or mould the reform process to its ends. According to them, the US delegation to the United Nations worked out a clear strategy to delay or […]
The lobbying by Anna Hazare and Co. seem to have produced some results, with the Bhartiya Janata Party officially supporting the major demands of the anti-corruption campaign. Clarifying the party’s stand, spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said there should be no confusion about BJP’s stand on major issues related to the formulation of the Lokpal bill. […]
IBM, the World’s largest IT company has expanded its IT services contract for Bharti Airtel’s telecom services in Africa, expanding it to provide “comprehensive end user services to Airtel employees.” The American firm already had, late last year, inked a deal to manage the “computing technology and services” for the operators’ network in 16 African […]
The Americans saw India as the biggest stumbling block in their attempts to achieve a compromise over the expansion of the UN Security Council to include new members. In diplomatic cables dating from 2007 — when the negotiations started gathering pace — to 2010, the US delegation to the UN variously characterised India as an […]
The family of the murdered Lucknow deputy chief medical officer (CMO) YS Sachan will move the Supreme Court tomorrow, requesting for a CBI inquiry into his mysterious death. Sachan was tortured and killed in a hospital in a jail in UP a few days ago, on the eve of being produced in Court. The doctor […]
Google has launched its “bus finder” service (Google Transit) in seven cities in India — Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Users have to simply enter the name of the building or street that they want to reach on their Google Maps application on the mobile phone to get detailed instructions on how […]
UN negotiations are often dull, drab and devoid of drama. However, occasionally, like on September 15, 2008, they become the stage for high drama that can give any Hollywood potboiler a run for its money. The following incident, which may aptly be characterized as an all out diplomatic war, happened between two opposing groups of […]
Idea has won an interim stay on the Rs 250 crore fine imposed by the Department of Telecom for allegedly violating the terms of its mobile operator license. “The interim order has been granted on Idea’s plea against DoT’s demand notice issued to Idea in June ’11,” Idea said in a statement. The issue of […]
The draft note on India’s new ‘National Manufacturing Policy’ is expected to be ready soon as the current committee is likely to finish its deliberations in 10 days, India’s trade minister Anand Sharma said. The National Manufacturing policy is India’s belated attempt to catch up with China in manufacturing and stem the tide of imports […]
Two years before Japan, India, Brazil and Germany forced a showdown over admitting the four of them to the permanent member club of the UN Security Council, the Japanese had secretly approached the US with a proposal to admit just two new members. Going by the clues in the subsequent US diplomatic cables leaked by […]
The Supreme Court judgement on Justice Dinakaran’s objection to a Rajya Sabha inquiry committee clearly exposes the motive of the former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. Indeed, Dinakaran, who filed an objection to the inclusion of a particular lawyer a year after he came to know of the lawyer’s presence on the committee, […]
On the sidelines of an event on event on ‘Ethics, Governance and Technology’, India’s young and tech-savvy junior IT minister Sachin Pilot said the government had asked websites like Google, Facebook and Twitter to install “real time” monitoring system for national security. While on the face of it, the request looks like just another of […]
Many who have never been to China wonder how it would be like, how it would feel to live in a reportedly ‘authoritarian’ monolithic society where strict control is exercised on all forms of expression and, apparently, fear rules. Whether the above image of China is the correct one or simply the result of Western […]
The BJP has come out with an unusually strong response to what it calls reports of attempts of compromise on the issue of Kashmir in the ongoing foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan. BJP’s seniormost leader LK Advani said there were reports that India plans to compromise on its stand on Kashmir and […]
Gandhian anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare will meet with Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi tomorrow as part of his efforts to lobby support for tough anti-corruption organization. “We want all the parties to support us.. We will meet her and ask her, how can we make sure that corruption can be eliminated (through the bill,)” he […]
The Supreme Court has slammed the Central Government for failing to take effective steps against black money and appointed its own special investigation team headed by two retired judges. The team will be comprised of Justices Jeevan Reddy and MB Shah and will direct the investigation independently. The Supreme Court is has been hearing a […]
UP chief secretary Shashank Shekar has confirmed that Dr YS Sachan, who was found hanging in a jail hospital in Lucknow today morning, was tortured with sharp instruments before being killed. “According to the post mortem (autopsy), there were 9 injuries on his body. Eight of them were made with sharp weapons.. Injuries were found […]
Nokia has finally released the X7 smart phone — its latest device aimed at the large-screen multimedia market — in India, pricing it at just under Rs 23,000. The device, however, is likely to get substantially cheaper in the coming weeks and months as its specifications are not up to those of other phones in […]
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha has criticized the Army for shooting down a 13 year old boy. She rejected the Army’s contention that they mistook the boy for a possible terrorist, with the CM saying that the Army should have been able to distinguish between a boy and a terrorist. “”The Army jawan (soldier) […]
The Madras High Court has issued notice to the Government of India on taking out the Central Bureau of Investigation from the ambit of the Right to Information Act or RTI. The Cabinet had removed the CBI from within the scope of the RTI a week ago claiming that the RTI petitions seeking information on […]
