Qayam Ali Shiv Sena has expressed reservations over the outcome of the proposed cloud-seeding project by the BJP-ruled Maharashtra government, which is aimed at generating artificial rains, and asked it to explore other alternatives as well to make water available for scarcity-hit regions.
Inspired by the Gates Foundation, set up by Bill and Melinda Gates in 1997, Saudi Arabia’s billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will donate his entire USD 32 billion fortune to charity.
The 60-year-old prince, who is one of the world’s richest persons, said that the money would be used to foster ‘cultural understanding’ and ‘provide vital disaster relief,’ among other things, reported the BBC. Gates reacted to the statement, saying it was an inspiration to philanthropists around the globe.
Forbes has placed Prince Alwaleed on the 34th spot on the list of the world’s richest people.
The Delhi government has decided to appoint civic agencies as a nodal agency to collect congestion fee imposed by it on goods vehicles entering the national capital.
In his budget speech, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced that government would impose congestion fee on goods vehicles entering in Delhi, identifying them as major contributor to air pollution in the national capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the five ‘stans’ of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — next week will see energy security high on the agenda plus talks on the North-South connectivity corridor that will give India access to the resource-rich region and beyond.
A fresh controversy involving External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in connection with her links to Lalit Modi erupted on Wednesday after it emerged that the former IPL chief offered her husband a position on the board of one of his family-run firms even as Lalit Modi dragged Varun Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi into the controversy.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul and Priyanka are back to the national capital after their “short international visit”.
While Rahul Gandhi arrived today, Sonia and Priyanka, who had left before Rahul, returned on Tuesday.
On June 20, when Rahul had left for visit abroad, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said, “Sonia Gandhi is currently travelling on a short international visit for personal reasons”.
The party has declined to divulge the reasons for their foreign visit.
PTI
China recognises India’s special role in stabilising the strategic Indian Ocean region but the perception that it is India’s “backyard” may result in clashes, Chinese military officials and experts have cautioned.
“The word backyard is not very appropriate to use for an open sea and international areas of sea,” Senior Captain Zhao Yi, Associate Professor of the Institute of Strategy in China’s National Defence University, said during a rare candid interaction with the resident Indian journalists in Beijing and a visiting Indian media delegation.
The Finance Ministry has extended the deadline for declaring undisclosed foreign income or black money till September 30. However, assets declared within the ‘compliance window’ will invite a 30 per cent tax and a penalty of the same amount which can be paid by December 31.
Under the new black money law, which has been passed by Parliament and would come into force from April 1, 2016, the penalty would be much higher at 90 per cent, in addition to a 30 per cent tax on undisclosed foreign assets, while such persons would also face criminal prosecution with a jail term of up to ten years.
The Union Minister had on Wednesday held a review meeting on security provisions for the yatra.
Second batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims undertaking the Amarnath Yatra flagged off from Jammu on Thursday.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will also be heading to Amarnath today.
The Union Minister had on Wednesday held a review meeting on security provisions for the yatra.
On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had reviewed the arrangements made for the Amarnath Yatra pilgrims in state’s Baltal area.
Security forces have busted a terrorist hideout in the Keshwan area of the Kishtwar District of Jammu and Kashmir.
The joint operation by the state police and the army also resulted in the recovery of a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives.
According to reports, this hideout had been used by terrorists in the past as well.
Further details are awaited. (ANI)
Veteran actor Anupam Kher paid homage to Hollywood legend Marlon Brando on his 11th death anniversary. Kher, 60, recorded a video enacting Brando’s popular dialogue from one of his greatest films “The Godfather”.
“I am gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” he mouthed the dialogue. The “Baby” actor shared the video on twitter. “On the 11th death anniversary of Marlon Brando, here is my attempt to pay a tribute to the great actor…” he captioned it.
India’s mining giant Adani Group’s 16.5 billion dollar coal mine project in Australia’s Queensland has run into another controversy after reports that senior bureaucrats were sidelined over key decisions on the deal for the venture which was red-flagged by many officials.
Documents obtained by the ABC News under the Right to Information laws showed that the Queensland Treasury and the Department of Premier and Cabinet were frozen out of key government decisions about the controversial Carmichael mine project.
The Indian women’s hockey team suffered a humiliating 7-0 defeat at the hands of world champions Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the Hockey World League on Tuesday.
Indian eves were no match against the Olympic champions Netherlands and were simply outclassed throughout the entire game.
The Dutch onslaught began from the opening minute when Naomi van As scored with a deft scoop and from there on didn’t gave the 13th ranked opponent a chance to make a comeback into the game.
Congress on Wednesday sought to make more trouble for the government on Lalitgate issue, putting forth six demands including making public minutes of a meeting it claimed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had with UK High Commissioner James Bevan in which she had favoured grant of travel documents to Lalit Modi.
The party also wanted the Prime Minister to answer whether any Union Minister’s relative received any job offer from Lalit Modi recently.
Videocon Industries has got shareholder’s nod to raise Rs 5,000 crore from the market through issuance of shares to institutional buyers, global depository receipts (GDR) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs).
The board will raise the funds “at any appropriate time” by issuing “equity shares or any other convertible instruments for an amount not exceeding Rs 5,000 crore by way of follow-on issue, private placement basis…”, Videocon Industries said in a BSE filing.
Host-actor Rannvijay Singh has heaped praise on actress Sunny Leone, with whom he would be hosting a TV show, and feels she is an amazing person to work with.
Host-actor Rannvijay Singh has heaped praise on actress Sunny Leone, with whom he would be hosting a TV show, and feels she is an amazing person to work with.
Leone and Rannvijay will be hosting the eighth season of “Splitsvilla” from July 4 on MTV.
A record 137,000 people made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe in the first half of 2015, most of them fleeing war, conflict and persecution, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
“Europe is living through a maritime refugee crisis of historic proportions,” the UN refugee agency warned in a report, adding that the number of people making the crossing swelled 83 per cent in the first six months of 2015 compared to a year earlier.
Large Indian IT companies are likely to see a marginal 1-2% imp[act on its earnings because of the economic crisis in Greece due to their exposure to Europe, while their direct revenue exposure to Greece is “practically zero”, a research report said today.
I worked hard for this attention and I enjoy it: Arjun Kapoor New Delhi, Jul 1 Arjun Kapoor says he enjoys being in the limelight as he has worked hard to get fame and recognition as an actor. Arjun, 30, who is the son of producer-director Boney Kapoor and his former wife Mona, says enjoys the attention that comes with being a celebrity.
A 52-year-old Danish woman, who was allegedly gangraped by eight persons here last year, today appeared in a Delhi court which commenced recording of her statement.
The woman came to the court from Denmark in pursuance of summons issued earlier and her statement is being recorded before Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja in an in-camera proceeding.
The court had summoned the woman on February 24 this year for recording of her testimony after the earlier one issued on January 13 could not be served upon her.
Playing down its submarine’s docking in Pakistan’s Karachi port in May, China has said the movement of Chinese vessels was not directed against any third party and the PLA navy’s activities in the Indian Ocean were “open and transparent”.
Replying to questions about concerns in India over the docking of Chinese submarines in Colombo last year and in Karachi in May, Chinese Defence Spokesman Senior Colonel Yang Yujin said the movement of Chinese vessels was not directed against any third party.
Greece lurched deeper into crisis on Wednesday as European finance ministers prepared to consider a request for new loans in a last-ditch effort to keep the country in the eurozone after it defaulted on a key payment and a bailout keeping its economy afloat expired.
Cash-strapped Greece became the first developed country to default on the International Monetary Fund after missing a 1.5 billion euro (USD 1.7 billion) payment yesterday, as efforts to find a compromise with its EU lenders came to naught.
Scam tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi today sought to drag BJP leader Varun Gandhi in the Lalitgate controversy alleging that a deal was offered to settle matters with Sonia Gandhi, which Varun dubbed as “baseless” and “nonsense”.
In a series of tweets, Lalit Modi has alleged, “Mr @varungandhi80 came to see me at my house a few years ago and said he can settle everything in @INCIndia with his aunt. He wanted me to meet her sister from italy….”
Vehemently denying the charge, Varun told, “This is absolutely baseless and it is beneath my dignity to respond to this nonsense.”
Bollywood actress Sunny Leone says she is not bothered by the alleged “baseless comments” made by Rakhi Sawant and Celina Jaitley about her “They are useless and baseless comments. It is unprofessional.
You would never see an actor or actress speaking bad in the way they have. So it’s their problem, I don’t care about it,” Sunny told reporters here on Tuesday evening.
Google has released an update of Google Hangouts app for iOS. According to thenextweb.com, the new update includes a new design and better support for adding stickers, emoji and pictures.
In addition, the dialer got a redesign for the user wants to make a phone call via Hangouts. There’s also a new quick compose button that allows the user to quickly find contacts they chat with often. Users can also access images, stickers and emoji much easier with the new attachment buttons. Sharing multiple photos at once is also available in Hangouts 4.0.