In the face of objections from China, President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama Friday, saying the US supports his ‘Middle Way’ approach of neither assimilation nor independence for Tibetans in China. Obama’s meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader and fellow Nobel laureate, who is in the US on a speaking tour, was closed to […]
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Monday reduced excise duty on many segments of the automobile industry which has seen a recent downturn due to high fuel and interest costs and low economic growth. The finance minister reduced the central excise on small cars, scooters/two-wheelers from 12 to 8 percent. He also reduced the central excise […]
American Ted Ligety won the men’s giant slalom gold at the Sochi Winter Games here Wednesday. The 29-year-old world champion clocked 2 minutes 45.29 seconds in two runs, beating Frenchmen into second and third place. Steve Missillier was 0.48s behind for the silver and Alexis Pinturault took bronze with a further 0.16s behind. For Ligety, […]
The co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet en route to Rome from Ethiopia seized control of the Boeing 767-300 early on Monday and flew it to Geneva, where he asked for asylum, a spokesman for the Geneva police said. The plane landed safely, and none of the 202 passengers and crew members on Flight […]
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Wednesday said the main objectives of Kerala’s water policy were to ‘adopt integrated multi-sectoral approach for planning, development and management of water resources’ and to integrate problems and prospects of water resource systems by considering river basin as the basic unit. Growing demand for adequate supply of fresh water requires management […]
The Supreme Court Thursday ordered status quo and suspended the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to release seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam said it will examine the procedural lapse in the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to grant remission and release within three days […]
Facebook said Wednesday that it would acquire WhatsApp, a messaging startup, for $19 billion in cash and stock. The eye-popping price is Facebook’s largest acquisition by far and represents a new height in the frenzy to acquire popular technology startups. Facebook will pay $4 billion in cash and $12 billion worth of Facebook shares for […]
Trustees of retirement fund body EPFO Thursday approved a proposal to provide a monthly pension of minimum Rs 1,000, a decision that will immediately benefit about its 28 lakh pensioners. The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision making body of EPFO also decided to raise the monthly wage ceiling to Rs 15,000 from […]
Include omega-3 fatty acids in your daily diet if you want a better developed brain. In a study conducted on monkeys with highly connected and well organised neural networks similar to humans, researchers found that monkeys that ate a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids had more developed brains than those who had a diet […]
The United Nations on Wednesday accused the Vatican of systematically turning a blind eye to decades of sexual abuse of children by priests, and demanded it immediately turn over known or suspected offenders to civil justice. In a scathingly blunt report, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said Church officials had imposed […]