Press Trust of India Myanmar’s economic growth is expected to pick up to an annual rate of 7.8 percent in the next two fiscals (2014-15 and 2015-16), according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The country’s economic growth for the 2013-14 fiscal which ended in March is estimated at 7.5 percent, Xinhua reported citing an ADB press release made available Monday on the bank’s latest Asian Development Outlook.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday termed the BJP as a “party of Kumbhkarnas” and said its election manifesto is a hastily prepared document which promises programmes already underway over the past 10 years.
“There are two or three other features of the manifesto which invite comment. Reading the party’s manifesto it seems they are a party of ‘Kumbakarnas’ as they have promised schemes which are already underway over the last 10 years,” Ramesh told media persons here.
Two CRPF troopers were killed in Bihar’s Aurangabad district Monday when an IED exploded while they were defusing it, police said. The state goes to polls April 10.
A police official said two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and five CRPF troopers and four Bihar policemen were injured when the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off.
According to police officials, Maoists have called for a boycott of the Lok Sabha election and had placed the IED to create panic.
The Supreme Court Monday extended its interim order putting on hold the execution of death sentence of Mukesh and Pawan Gupta – two of the four convicts in the Dec 16, 2012, Delhi gangrape case – as it sought material they were relying on to contest high court verdict upholding their conviction and death sentence.
A bench of Justice B.S.Chauhan and Justice J. Chelameswar adjourned the hearing till Monday (April 14) as it asked the counsel M.L.Sharma to place before them the postmortem report of the Singapore hospital where the victim was treated and succumbed to her injuries.
Actress Kangana Ranaut says her next movie “Revolver Rani” has the flavour of a pulp fiction novel by Hindi writer Ved Prakash Sharma.
Talking about the movie, Kangana said: “This is actually a character of a neurotic and the woman who we are going to see and the film that we are going to see is very exciting just like Ved Prakash Sharma’s novels that you find on railway stations. That’s the kind of treatment the film is carrying.”
“It’s very exciting. Its total pulp. The woman is negative, brutal and very exciting,” added the star of latest hit “Queen”.
Thousands of people Monday voted in parts of Assam and Tripura, marking the start of India’s staggered parliamentary elections. Chief Ministers Tarun Gogoi and Manik Sarkar asserted there was no “Modi wave” in their states.
Officials reported brisk polling in five of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Congress-ruled Assam and one of the two in Marxist-ruled Tripura where the election was held. Voting for only these six Lok Sabha seats, out of a total 543 in the country, was held Monday.
Actor Suneel Sinha will soon be seen essaying a pivotal role in popular primetime show “Beintehaa”.
His entry on the show will be telecast Monday.
The show will feature a sequence where character Zain’s parents Osman and Suraiyya will be seen on a mission solving the mystery surrounding the disappearance of their daughter, Barkat.
Suneel will portray Osman’s estranged friend Mir Khan, who holds the key to Barkat’s secret and is the only one who can help Osman and Suraiyya to trace their daughter, said a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his country Monday to ratchet up a fight against terrorism and extremism, saying radicals still had the chance of endangering civilians.
“The situation remains complicated, with the terrorist underworld still retaining, despite serious losses, the possibility of committing terror attacks against civilians,” Putin told an expanded Federal Security Service (FSB) meeting.
He recalled the terror bombings in the southern city of Volgograd late last year, which claimed at least 34 lives and injured over 70 other, Xinhua reported.
As polling for India’s general election started Monday, a fashion institute here organised a show to urge youths to participate in the voting.
Fashionista, The School of Fashion Technology, held a fashion show on the theme of Vote India in the premises of the institute at Ansal Plaza Monday.
The theme of the event was chosen to encourage youth to vote, especially the first-time voters.
At a time when Nepal is all set to start drafting a constitution in right earnest, settlement of criminal cases of the Maoist insurgency period has emerged as a challenging task for the political parties, leaders said Monday.
The political parties in principle agree to form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission on Enforced Disappearance (CED) but they are divided over the contents. TRC and CED are regarded as transitional justice mechanisms, Xinhua reported.
The BJP Monday pledged to “revise and update” India’s nuclear doctrine, observing that the strategic gains acquired by the party-led NDA regime were “frittered away” by the Congress, and unveiled a foreign policy that would stress on “mending equations” and ties with neighbours.
At least 15 people were killed Monday when their overloaded mini-bus rolled down a 400-feet deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, officials said.
Nearly two dozen people were injured in the accident that took place near Timbi in Shillai area, about 110 km from the state capital.
The bus was on its way from Milla village to Paonta Sahib.
Superintendent of Police Sumedha Dwivedi told IANS over phone that all the bodies have been recovered, most of them badly mutilated, from the wreckage of the bus.
From street plays to slogan-writing competitions to events involving celebrities, the Delhi Election Commission (DEC), keen to mobilise youth and ensure maximum voter turnout, is pulling out all stops ahead of the April 10 balloting in Delhi.
Donning its creative hat, the DEC has organized a string of unique events in the national capital, a huge canvas at Dilli Haat, and encouraging people to paint and express themselves while pledging to vote.
A top Iranian negotiator has expressed optimism that Iran and the six world powers involved in nuclear talks with the Islamic republic may start drafting their final agreement next month, Press TV reported Sunday.
“We hope that in the upcoming talks we would be able to bring the views closer and narrow the differences regarding major issues, so we could get to the details…and start writing the text,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying.
Protesters in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk have seized the building of the regional state administration, chanting slogans and waving flags of pro-Russian public organisations in their hands.
About 2,000 people gathered in Donetsk’s central Lenin Square Sunday to voice their support for the officers of the Berkut riot police who had been detained by the Ukrainian security services on suspicion of manslaughter during the confrontation in Kiev.
The authorities, according to the protesters, were trying to “play a card of repression against dissidents”.
Sergio Perez scored Force India’s second ever podium in the team’s seven-year history after the Mexican driver finished third in the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit here Sunday.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton clinched victory after he overtook teammate and pole position man Nico Rosberg at the start. The Briton maintained the lead throughout to win his consecutive Grand Prix in the first ever night race in the gulf nation.
Cricketing stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were finally relieved as they finished their Twenty20 International careers with Sri Lanka breaking the jinx by winning the ICC World T20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Sunday.
The World Twenty20 win here for Sri Lanka came after a series of losses in four ICC World Cup events. Sangakkkara and Jayawardene, both former skippers, were a part of the Sri Lankan side that lost the 2007 and the 2011 50-over World Cups and the 2009 and the 2012 Twenty20 World Cups.
DMK leader once would start speeches asking people if they wanted their children to call them “Mataji and Pitaji” in Hindi instead of “Amma and Appa” in Tamil. But now times have changed with their election posters springing up here in Hindi featuring party leader Dayanidhi Maran wearing a Rajasthani turban, in a bid to attract voters from the north.
The poster also features the pictures of DMK president M.Karunanidhi, his son M.K.Stalin and Maran’s father, the late Murasoli Maran.
However when people started to question DMK’s stand on Hindi, the posters were taken off.
West Bengal will get more than the double central paramilitary force personnel in the coming Lok Sabha elections compared to the 2009 poll, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said here Sunday.
Stating that the law and order situation in West Bengal is “satisfactory” by and large, Sampath said every polling station will have two armed personnel.
“Every polling station will have two armed personnel. Central force deployed would be slightly more than double than last time,” he told reporters here.
Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma Sunday said the poll panel will look into the alleged violation of the model code of conduct in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar where certain candidates reportedly sought support on religious grounds.
“If it is so, then it constitutes violation of model code of conduct…we will see about that…we will look into it, ” Brahma told the media here, responding to a query about reports from Muzaffarnagar that an organisation is breaking model code of conduct and using religion in their campaign.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday lambasted the BJP and the Congress, and warned people they will face unprecedented inflation if either of the parties are voted to power in the general election.
Kejriwal was addressing a public meeting in Vasundhara area of Ghaziabad in support of Aam Aadmi Party candidate Shazia Ilmi.
During his tenure as Delhi chief minister, Kejriwal said he saw certain documents that indicated that both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress support the rise in gas prices that will finally lead to an overall unprecedented rise in prices.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will campaign Monday for party candidates Nandan Nilekani, Rizwan Arshad and C. Narayanaswamy contesting from the three Lok Sabha seats in Bangalore.
“Gandhi will address a huge public meeting Monday evening in the National College grounds at Basavangudi, a part of the Bangalore South constituency, to seek votes for all our three candidates, especially Nilekani who is his choice,” a party spokesman told IANS late Sunday.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Sunday admitted that his batsmen couldn’t execute the plans well in the last four overs against Sri Lanka in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Sunday.
“In the middle overs, our batsmen tried our best to get going, but we couldn’t convert the good start,” said Dhoni, after India’s six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the final.
The Congress Sunday moved the Election Commission seeking arrest of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over her “open threat” at an election rally in the state.
In his letter to the election commission, K.C. Mittal, secretary of Congress’ legal department drew attention of the panel to Raje’s remarks at a rally at Karoli on April 5, where she allegedly said “let the elections be over, we will see who is cut into pieces”.
ICC World Twenty20 player of the tournament Virat Kohli said that India reaching the final was the most pleasing thing for him.
Sri Lanka beat India in the final to win the World T20 for the first time after reaching the finals in the 2009 and 2012 editions.
“Congratulations to the Sri Lankan team, especially Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. Darren Sammy was right, the god was really smiling on them. But they deserved this and played really well,” said Kohli, who was the top scorer of the tournament with 319 runs.