The EU has given France a further two years until 2017 to bring its budget deficit back into line with Brussels rules, meaning the eurozone’s second biggest economy avoids a fine for now.
Paris must however present a reform plan to Brussels by April to show how it intends to get its finances back in order, added the European Commission, the executive body of the 28-nation EU.
Uber is partnering with hotel chain Starwood to give riders a bit more incentive to choose the ride-hailing service over a taxi.
Uber passengers can now earn one Starwood rewards point for each dollar they spend on a ride in a car found through the San Francisco-based company’s mobile app. Guests spending the night at one of Starwood’s 1,200 hotels will earn two to four points per dollar spent, depending on their level of status with Stamford, Connecticut-based Starwood.
A key player in Congress’ foreign policymaking posture pressed Secretary of State John Kerry today about sensitive nuclear talks with Iran, saying Tehran is stonewalling international inspectors about its past work on an atomic bomb.
California Republican Rep Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Kerry at a hearing that members of the panel have serious concerns about the direction of the talks.
IIT Kanpur professor N S Gajbhiye who was arrested by the CBI two days ago was today suspended by the engineering institute.
Indranil Manna, Director of IIT Kanpur said, “It had been 48 hours since Gajbhiye was arrested by the CBI, so the IIT administration held a meeting and suspended him today evening.”
Gajbhiye, who was the first Vice Chancellor of Hari Singh Gour Central University, was arrested for allegedly rigging faculty recruitment.
The two Pussy Riot punk rockers who served jail time for a stunt slamming President Vladimir Putin have once again struck out at the Russian leader.
The forum for their latest swipe at the Kremlin strongman is season three of the hit US television series “The House of Cards”, which premieres Friday on Netflix, the women said in an interview released today.
In the new series, Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina come face-to-face with a fictional Russian leader, Viktor Petrov, at a dinner party thrown by Kevin Spacey’s scheming anti-hero Frank Underwood.
The cousin and lover of a 19-year old girl, who was found strangulated to death in a garden at Sekkadi Kollai Naduvikottai near Orathanadu in this district, has been arrested, police said.
He was arrested after he surrendered at a police station here today, they said.
Police said investigation revealed that the girl was angry at her cousin after coming to know he planned to marry somebody else. She had left home on Feb 23, entered into a wordy duel with him at a garden where they used to meet.
The girl did not return and was found dead there.
A 46-year-old Delhi Police constable was killed after he was allegedly mowed down by an unidentified vehicle while he was returning home last night.
Constable Om Prakash was posted at the Seventh Battalion at Malviya Nagar in south Delhi.
He was returning home on his bike when he was rammed by an unidentified vehicle near Welcome Metro station in northeast Delhi at around 10 pm yesterday.
Passers-by saw the constable lying in a pool of blood and made a PCR call following which he was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
A leopard caught on camera eating a cow’s carcass at a residential area adjoining Periyar Tiger Sanctuary caused panic among residents there.
Officials said a a dog and a cow were found dead at Parunthumpurai. Marks on the body of the Cow and Pug marks led forest officials to suspect it had been attacked by a leopard.
They installed a camera near the carcass expecting the leopard to come in search of the dead animal.
The leopard did come,confirming that the wild feline was on the prowl in the area, they said.
The Madras High Court today said any action by authorities on basis of the December 10, 2014 Environmental Impact Assessment notification, exempting projects or units in government industrial parks from public consultation for expansion prior to that of September 14 2006 will be subject to the final outcome of a petition.
The first bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul stated this in an intermin order when a petition filed by advocate D A Prabakar, who is also secretary of Tirunelveli District Consumer Protection Association, came up before it
The Madras High Court today observed that it was unfortunate to note that communities, despite their socio-backwardness, are fighting among themselves rather than seek education and empowerment.
The bench made this observation while referring to the dispute between members of Scheduled Caste and Vanniyar communities over an incident at Kolliruppu village in Cuddalore district on November 26 last year, when seven huts of Dalits were set on fire, allegedly by a group of Vanniyars.
An inspector has been suspended for allegedly not investigating the identity of a woman found murdered in the house of a man at Virudhunagar, 50 km from here, on February 2.
Police said the Inspector just believed the man’s statement that he had murdered his wife and arrested him.
Subsequent investigation by another Inspector revealed that the dead woman was his lover and that his actual wife was living in her home town Dindigul after being separated from him two years back.
The man confessed to having murdered her as she was badgering him constantly for money.
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is mulling setting up a plant in North America to meet the growing global demand of its vehicles, according to Tata Group’s Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata.
“The company (JLR) is indeed looking at North America as a location for another plant,” Tata was quoted by Automotive News as saying at the South Carolina Automotive Summit.
“Where they locate that plant, in which country or which state they locate, is something they will need to decide,” he added.
UP STF team last night arrested two persons from Greater Noida under Kasna police area and recovered three leopard skins and body parts having international market value worth Rs 10 lakh, STF said today.
The arrested were identified as Mahesh Bhandari and Balam Singh.
After the IG STF had directed to launch a drive to recover animal parts, SP(STF) Babloo Kumar got tip off and arrested these two persons from Gautam Buddha Nagar.
STF had got information that rare wild animals skins and parts were being smuggled to China via Nepal.
Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh is believed to have amassed between USD 32 billion and USD 60 billion through corruption during his 33 years in power, a UN report said today.
A panel of experts reported to the UN Security Council that Saleh’s assets were stashed in at least 20 countries and the team is investigating the ex-leader’s connections with businessmen helping him to hide the funds.
The 15-member council in November imposed sanctions including an assets freeze on Saleh, who was forced out in 2012 under a Gulf-sponsored deal.
In a significant recommendation, the 14th Finance Commission has called for reforms in property tax regime by giving powers to panchyats and municipalities to levy the tax on plinth basis with a provision for periodic revision and minimising grant of exemptions.
“We suggest that the existing rules be reviewed and amplified to facilitate the levy of property tax and the granting of exemptions be minimised,” the 14th Finance Commission said in the report, which has been accepted by the central government.
Steel major ArcelorMittal today renewed its commitment to set up a steel plant in Jharkhand, a decade after it signed an MoU with the state government for a 12 million tonne greenfield project.
Company’s Chief Executive Officer (India/China) Sanjay Sharma called on Chief Minister Raghubar Das here. An official release quoted him as saying that a conducive atmosphere has been created in Jharkhand and assured of new investment opportunities.
Russia and pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine remain far from meeting the terms of a tattered ceasefire deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today.
“To date, neither Russia nor the forces it is supporting have come close to complying with their commitments,” Kerry said in a prepared statement to lawmakers on the second day of intense congressional hearings.
And he renewed warnings that “if failure continues, there will be further consequences — consequences that would place added strains on Russia’s weakened economy.”
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha that he will not contest any election in future.
“…I am not going to contest any more elections,” the 82-year old leader said during a debate on the motion of thanks to President’s address.
Virtually calling it a day in politics, the veteran Janata Dal (Secular) leader said there were always ups and downs in politics.
“Out of 15 elections that I contested, I lost only two,” he said, adding that he had spent most of his time in Karnataka and had shifted to Delhi only later.
Private sector Yes Bank Wednesday raised Rs 1,000 crore against a targeted Rs 500 crore by issuing green infrastructure bonds.
The bonds are of 10-year tenor and the money raised will be used for funding renewable energy projects in solar, wind, biomass and small hydel plants, the lender said in a statement here.
The bank, which had set out with a target to raise Rs 500 crore, saw demand from insurance companies, pension and provident funds, foreign portfolio investors and mutual funds, which resulted in the greenshoe option being utilised.
Spain’s Constitutional Court today unanimously ruled that a referendum on secession called by the wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia in November was illegal, confirming an earlier decision to temporarily suspend the vote.
The court ruled that laws passed by the regional government of Catalonia in September allowing it to call and organise such votes was unconstitutional because only the central government had the power to stage a referendum on issues of sovereignty.
An Egyptian court set May 16 for a verdict in the prison break trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, who could be sentenced to death if convicted, an official said today.
Morsi, overthrown in 2013, faces several trials along with top leaders of his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement.
He and 130 others are accused of escaping from prisons along with thousands of other inmates, and murdering police officers during the first few days of the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.
Another court is to deliver a verdict in an espionage trial of Morsi and 35 others on May 16.
ArcelorMittal today said allocation of the remaining 136 acres of land by Karnataka for its USD 6.5 billion plant is expected in the first quarter of 2015, while for Jharkhand project it will consider state Chief Minister’s suggestion of treating land givers as partners.
The world’s largest steel maker said it has completed a draft feasibility report for its proposed six mtpa steel plant in Karnataka which entails an investment of a whopping USD 6.5 billion.
Apple said today it would appeal a USD 533 million award from a federal court in Texas in a patent infringement lawsuit over flash memory technology used in its iTunes music store.
The statement emailed to AFP came a day after the jury ordered Apple pay damages to Smartflash LLC, which calls itself a technology licensing and development company.
“Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no US presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” the California tech giant said.
The Allahabad High Court today ordered that “coercive action” be taken against those sugar mill owners of Uttar Pradesh, by respective District Magistrates, who have failed to ensure payment of dues to sugarcane dues notwithstanding repeated orders.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Suneet Kumar passed the order in the course of hearing on a Public Interest Litigation filed by Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, whereby the court’s attention was drawn towards the plight of sugarcane farmers in the state.
The accused in the Vicky Tyagi murder case has pleaded in court here that he is a minor and be treated as a juvenile.
Claiming that he was under eighteen years old, the accused, who mortally shot Vicky Tyagi, an alleged gangster, multiple times in a courtroom here on February 16, urged the court to hand over his case to a juvenile court.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Narender Kumar posted the matter for hearing to tomorrow.
An application was filed in the court on behalf of the accused clamining that he is under eighteen years of age and should be declared juvinile in the case.