Indian American Vivek Ranadive buys US basketball team
IANS

Washington: Indian American software magnate Vivek Ranadive, who has become the first person of Indian descent to become the owner of a major US basketball team, plans to build the Sacramento Kings into a global brand.

"It's going to be exciting," he told the USA Today after securing an agreement to buy 65 percent of the Kings from the Maloof family for a National Basketball Association (NBA) league-record valuation of $535 million.

"We're going to build a global brand with the Kings. We're going to give the fans the product that they deserve," the minority owner of Golden State Warriors said on ... Read More

More players, IPL matches under scanner in spot-fixing probe
By PTI - NEW DELHI

17th May

The role of more players whose names cropped up during interrogation of the arrested cricketers and bookies in the IPL spot-fixing scandal could be probed, Delhi police said today, as six bookies were held in Tamil Nadu in connection with another IPL betting racket.

Police claimed that Indian pacer Sreesanth and Ankit Chavan--two of the three arrested Rajasthan Royal(RR) players--have "confessed" to the spot-fixing charge but the lawyers of the two cricketers denied their involvement.

Delhi Police is also likely to probe some more IPL matches in the current season even as Sreesanth, Chavan and ... Read More

Madurai�s Statue of Liberty
Erected last year, it has remained little noticed

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa�s announcement in the Assembly on Tuesday with regard to installing a statue for Mother Tamil at Madurai on the lines of the Statue of Liberty in New York has turned the spotlight on a little known replica of the statue at Palkalai Nagar near Nagamalai Pudukottai here.

Though perched atop a building on the main road leading to Theni and Munnar, the replica has gone largely unnoticed by the residents of Madurai except for those who commute through the locality regularly.

Approximately six feet tall, the replica is mounted on a 10-foot ... Read More

Sanjay Dutt aka 'Munnabhai' goes to jail
New Delhi: Sanjay Dutt begins the final phase of the 20-year-long saga that saw him charged with illegal arms possession in the 1993 Bombay blasts. The actor has surrendered in a TADA court in Mumbai, from where he will be taken to the Arthur Road jail. From there, he will be moved to Pune's Yerawada Jail to begin the 42 months left of the five-year jail term he was handed by the Supreme Court.

On March 21, the Supreme Court delivered a final verdict on the Bollywood actor's part in the bomb blasts that ripped Mumbai apart in 1993. ... Read More

Nervous US woos Kayani as most vital ally in Pak
K.P. NAYAR

Washington, May 11: Even before the votes were counted in Pakistan�s historic election, the US has put in place a coalition in its most strategic client state with those whom the Obama administration reckons will be their most vital ally notwithstanding who forms the next government.

In the run-up to what most Pakistan-watchers predict will be a coalition in charge in Islamabad, headed by Nawaz Sharif and supported by at least one conservative religious party, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, has already held two meetings with Pakistan�s army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

Kerry invited Kayani to meet him ... Read More

Man gets 10 yrs in jail for putting chastity lock on wife
Indore: A man, who put a ‘chastity lock’ on his wife in a cruel, self-devised way, was awarded 10 years' rigorous sentence by the court here today though the victim had retracted her statement during the trial.

Additional Sessions Judge Avnindra Kumar Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on the accused Sohanlal (38), a mechanic by profession, under sections 326 (causing grievous hurt) and section 498 (subjecting wife to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the prosecution, Sohanlal, over four years, 'locked' his wife's private parts everytime he left the home. He had carried out a crude surgery ... Read More

Congress top brass discusses way ahead on Food Security
Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, today deliberated on the way ahead on the issue of Food Security Bill. Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, today deliberated on the way ahead on the issue of Food Security Bill.
NEW DELHI: Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, today deliberated on the way ahead on the issue of Food Security Bill.

All options were considered, was the response of party sources who said no decision has been taken about the future course of ... Read More

Rapper Honey Singh booked by Punjab cops for lewd songs
IP Singh, TNN

NAWANSHAHR: Rapper Honey Singh has been booked by the Nawanshahr police under section 294 of IPC for singing lewd songs. The FIR has been registered after Punjab and Haryana high court pulled up Punjab government for not taking action against the singer even as petitioner Parvinder Singh Kitna had filed a complaint with Nawanshahr police in January this year.

While his song "Mein Hoon Balatkari" with its opening lines has been mentioned in the FIR, about rest of the songs a Time of India story of January 3 last on his songs has also been referred in the ... Read More

Singh Fires Ministers After Alleged Graft, Censure, Express Says
By Andrew MacAskill

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fired his rail minister after allegations a member of his family accepted money in exchange for a top post in the department, the Indian Express reported, without saying where it got the information.

Pawan Kumar Bansal was asked to resign after a meeting between Singh and the head of the ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi yesterday, the newspaper said. Ashwani Kumar, the law minister, was also asked to quit after the Supreme Court censured the nation’s top investigation agency for allowing government officials to vet one of its corruption probe reports. Muthu ... Read More

India's economic confidence drops, ranks 6th globally: Survey
India's economic confidence dropped last month due to plethora of corruption allegations against the Union government ministers and the country is now the sixth most economically confident country in the world after Saudi Arabia, Sweden, China, Canada and Germany.

According to a survey by global research firm Ipsos, India's economic confidence dropped by 2 points to 63 per cent in the month of April, 2013 compared to the month of March, 2013.

The drop in economic confidence of the country was despite the fact the there has been a continuous decline in inflation rate and upbeat investor confidence, Ipsos said.

"Frequent allegations of ... Read More

AirAsia's Tony Fernandes appoints India-born Mittu Chandilya as CEO
PTI

consultant Mittu Chandilya as its CEO, with the AirAsia Group Board formally approving his appointment.

"I am pleased to announce the Board of Air Asia India has appointed Mittu Chandilya as CEO AirAsia India," AirAsia group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes tweeted today.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has for the past few weeks been seeking names of AirAsia India's top officials, including the CEO and other Directors, for mandatory security clearances before it approves the proposal to launch flight operations in

the country.

Post-approval, the airline has to move aviation regulator DGCA to get its flying permit or the Scheduled Operator Permit (SOP).

Civil Aviation ... Read More

India seeks US collaboration in education sector
Washington: India has sought academic collaboration with various US institutions to leverage the full potential of the education sector to meet the increasing needs of both the countries, particularly in the fields of information and technology.

"Our academic institutions have been slow to leverage the potential of technology for education. Knowledge networks that link research in the grand challenges of the world have also been slow to develop," Minister of India for human resources development, M Pallam Raju said yesterday.

Raju is leading a delegation of academicians and officials for the annual India-US Education Dialogue.

The US delegation include Under Secretary for Public ... Read More

India, Pakistan trade surges 21% to $2.4 billion
Bilateral trade between India and Pakistan grew 21% to $2.4 billion last year, as Islamabad reaped the benefits of trade normalisation more than the gains made by New Delhi, says the Indian High Commission.
According to latest figures of the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Ministry of Commerce and Industry India, which were released here on Monday, the volume of bilateral trade recorded a net increase of $410 million from April last year to March this year.
Pakistan’s exports to India grew 28% while Indian exports to Pakistan increased 19%.
Bilateral trade has increased to $2.4 billion, which may soar to ... Read More

Manmohan Singh to visit Japan later this month
By PTI - TOKYO

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Tokyo later this month to expand India's strategic partnership with Japan and discuss a bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

Singh will visit Japan from May 27-30 for talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

The two leaders plan to hold a summit on May 29, Kyodo news agency quoted a Japanese government source as saying.

They are expected to discuss the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries and Japan's possible export of nuclear power technologies to India, it said.

Negotiations for the accord have stalled since ... Read More

Challenges in Pakistan for Sharif
“Pakistan has huge challenges,” says Nawaz Sharif, who has twice been prime minister and whose Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party is forecast to win the most seats in parliament. “The first of course is the economic crisis that we are facing and the cause of which is a massive power shortage.”

Power cuts of up to 20 hours a day in some cities are costing Pakistan 3-4 per cent of gross domestic product a year, economists say, and contributing to a sharp fall in investment to less than 11 per cent of GDP, one of the lowest levels in Asia.

“Clearly, the steady ... Read More

Congress will amend BJP's misrule in Karnataka : Moily to NRIs
New York: Karnataka will be re-emerge as an IT superpower and will make India proud, Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has said as he accused the previous BJP govt of damaging the state's image as an investment destination.

Moily, who had served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka between 1992 and 1994, was addressing Indian-Americans here through an audio link from New Delhi yesterday.

This audio conference, organised by Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC), comes only a day after the Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi addressed NRIs across 18 cities in the United States through a video conference.

The senior ... Read More

Air India to resume Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights from tomorrow: Ajit Singh
Reuters:State-run Air India Ltd will resume flying its Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner passenger jets from Wednesday, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Tuesday, almost four months after the planes were grounded due to safety concerns.

Air India has six Dreamliners and has ordered 21 more. The planes have been grounded worldwide since January following incidents of overheating in the batteries providing auxiliary power. Boeing has since worked to develop new battery housings to prevent a repeat of the incidents.

Air India will start a Dreamliner domestic flight on Wednesday and will start international flights on May 22, Singh told reporters, adding ... Read More