Yahoo! News India

Sushma takes on Sonia, Meira Kumar: BJP to boycott Speaker's meetings

Manmohan is neither leader of party nor country: BJP

As the UPA got down to celebrating its fourth anniversary, the BJP Wednesday trained its guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Sing…

  • Hawkish general makes comeback as North Korea's military chief Reuters

    By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has reappointed a hardline and loyal general as military chief in a move experts said was part of young leader Kim Jong-un's attempt to tighten his grip on the armed forces. Kim Kyok-sik, widely believed to have been behind the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010 that killed four people, was named "chief of the KPA (Korean People's Army) General Staff" by state news agency KCNA in a report on Wednesday. The four-star general, in his 70s, held that position for two years until 2009. ...

  • Entertaining change: Sony to look at activist's spin-off idea Reuters
    Entertaining change: Sony to look at activist's spin-off idea

    By Tim Kelly TOKYO (Reuters) - Few foreign activist investors have made much headway in forcing change in Japan, where a conservative corporate culture favours long-standing ties with banks, business partners and workers rather than shareholders seeking value. Struggling electronics giant Sony Corp , though, with more foreign and fewer bank shareholders, may prove something of an exception. That's the hope, at least, of Californian billionaire Daniel Loeb, whose Third Point hedge fund has built up a more than 6 percent stake in Sony, making it the group's biggest stockholder. ...

  • Sweden's capital hit by worst riots in years Reuters
    Sweden's capital hit by worst riots in years

    By Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hundreds of youths have set fire to cars and attacked police and rescue services in poor immigrant suburbs in three nights of rioting in Stockholm, Sweden's worst disorder in years. On Tuesday night, a police station in the Jakobsberg area in the northwest of the city was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts centre was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. ...

  • Court to continue hearing on Sterlite case on Thursday Reuters

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A court will continue hearing into complaints of emissions from the country's largest copper smelter, shut since March 30, on a daily basis from Thursday, a judge said. "We will continue hearing on a day-to-day basis," Justice Swatanter Kumar of the National Green Tribunal, a fast-track environmental court, said on Wednesday. The Sterlite Industries plant has been shut since nearly eight weeks after residents complained of emissions that led to breathing problems. The case was transferred to Delhi from a southern India branch of the court on April 29. ...

  • Malaga have European ban lifted by UEFA Reuters

    REUTERS - Malaga will be free to compete in the Europa League next season after UEFA announced on Wednesday that the European ban imposed on the Spanish club had been lifted. The Costa del Sol club, who reached the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League, had been given a one-year ban by UEFA due to financial irregularities but had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). UEFA's decision came after a meeting of the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) in Nyon to discuss sanctions handed out to eight clubs because of overdue payments. ...

  • BSE Sensex falls; L&T profit disappoints Reuters
    BSE Sensex falls; L&T profit disappoints

    Reuters Market Eye - The Sensex falls 0.05 percent, while the broader NSE index is down 0.1 percent. Larsen and Toubro Ltd falls 5 percent after reporting a worse-than-expected 6.9 percent drop in quarterly profit to 17.88 billion rupees. Zee Entertainment Ltd is also down 1.1 percent after its January-March profit rose 12.5 percent to 1.80 billion rupees. Lenders such as HDFC Bank Ltd fall on caution ahead of Wednesday's release of minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting and Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony in Congress the same day. HDFC Bank Ltd is down 0. ...

  • BPCL, IOC seek gasoline after long absence Reuters

    SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) are looking to buy up to 41,000 tonnes of gasoline, after a long absence, to plug a supply gap caused by a plant outage and maintenance that coincides with summer demand, traders said. IOC is seeking 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes of gasoline for June 12 to 14 arrival at Kochi and similar volumes for June 14 to 16 arrival at Kandla through a tender which closes on May 28, with offers to stay valid until May 29. BPCL is seeking 25,000 tonnes of 91-octane gasoline for delivery into Kochi over the first-half of June. ...

  • L&T sees FY14 sales growth at 15-17 pct Reuters
    L&T sees FY14 sales growth at 15-17 pct

    MUMBAI (Reuters) - Larsen & Toubro Ltd expects sales to rise 15-17 percent for the fiscal year to March 2014, Executive Chairman A.M. Naik said on Wednesday. Larsen, India's biggest engineering company, expects order inflows to be up about 20 percent this fiscal year, Naik said at a news conference. The company reported a worse-than-expected 6.9 percent fall in quarterly profit. (Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)

  • Bayern defender Badstuber out for 10 months after surgery Reuters

    BERLIN (Reuters) - Bayern Munich defender Holger Badstuber faces up to 10 months on the sidelines but should play again after undergoing surgery on a serious knee injury for the second time in six months, the Champions League finalists said on Wednesday. The Germany international tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee last week as he was rehabilitating from an identical injury he suffered in early December. The latest setback means the 24-year-old faces a race against time to be fit for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with Germany well on course to qualify. ...

  • China's Li offers to help end Pakistan energy crisis Reuters
    China's Li offers to help end Pakistan energy crisis

    By Nick Macfie ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - China and Pakistan should make cooperation on power generation a priority, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said, as Islamabad seeks to end an energy crisis that triggers power cuts of up to 20 hours a day, bringing the economy to a near standstill. Li arrived in the Pakistan capital under extra-tight security on Wednesday on the second leg of his first official trip since taking office in March after a visit to Pakistan's and China's arch rival, India. Li's plane was escorted by six air force fighter jets as it entered Pakistan air space. ...

  • Garcia apologises for 'fried chicken' jibe at Woods Reuters
    Garcia apologises for 'fried chicken' jibe at Woods

    LONDON (Reuters) - Spaniard Sergio Garcia has apologised after a "fried chicken" jibe aimed at world number one Tiger Woods during a European Tour awards dinner on Tuesday. Garcia, who has a frosty relationship with Woods, was on stage with his Ryder Cup team mates when he was asked in jest whether he would be inviting Woods for dinner during next month's U.S. Open in Merion. "We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken." Garcia was heard to say. ...

  • L&T net profit lags forecast as interest costs jump Reuters
    L&T net profit lags forecast as interest costs jump

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) posted a worse-than-expected 6.9 percent fall in quarterly profit as interest costs jumped for India's biggest engineering and construction company. Net profit fell to 17.88 billion rupees for its fiscal fourth quarter ending March, from 19.2 billion rupees it reported a year earlier, said the company, whose interests span shipbuilding to railways to real estate. Analysts expected the company to report a net profit of 18.56 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ...

  • Puravankara sets price band for $33 mln share issue Reuters

    REUTERS - Real estate developer Puravankara Projects has set a price band of 80 rupees to 85 rupees for its up to 1.84 billion rupees share sale, it said in a statement late on Tuesday. The company aims to sell 21.57 million shares to qualified institutional investors on Thursday. Axis Capital, JP Morgan and Kotak Mahindra Capital Co are the book-running lead managers to the issue. Shares of Puravankara, valued by the market at about $371 million, ended at 95.65 rupees on Tuesday. ...

  • Senate panel passes U.S. immigration bill; Obama praises move Reuters
    Senate panel passes U.S. immigration bill; Obama praises move

    By Rachelle Younglai and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday approved legislation to give millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, setting up a spirited debate next month in the full Senate over the biggest changes in immigration policy in a generation. President Barack Obama, who has made enactment of an immigration bill one of his top priorities for this year, praised the Senate Judiciary Committee's action, saying the bill was consistent with the goals he has expressed. ...

  • Nikkei hits fresh 5-1/2-year high on BOJ optimism, Sony soars Reuters
    Nikkei hits fresh 5-1/2-year high on BOJ optimism, Sony soars

    By Ayai Tomisawa TOKYO (Reuters) - The Nikkei average climbed 1.6 percent to a fresh 5-1/2-year high on Wednesday, spurred on by the Bank of Japan's optimism about the economic outlook, while Sony Corp surged on reports it may consider a proposal to spin off its entertainment assets. As widely expected, the Bank of Japan kept policy steady earlier in the day, and maintained its pledge to increase base money, or cash and deposits at the central bank, at an annual pace of 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen. ...

  • Chandy bags UN award for mass contact programme IANS

    Thiruvananthapuram, May 22 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has won the prestigious United Nations Public Service Award for his mass contact programme initiative, an official release said Wednesday.

  • Grapefruit nanoparticles can deliver anti-cancer drug: Study IANS

    Washington, May 22 (IANS) Scientists have engineered nanoparticles derived from grapefruit lipids that could be used to deliver anti-cancer and other drugs to tumour cells, says a study.

  • Not concerned about what BJP says: Congress IANS

    New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) The Congress Wednesday hit out at the BJP for its comments on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said it was "not concerned" with what the opposition party was saying.

  • Oliver tops 110m hurdles at World Challenge Beijing IANS

    Beijing, May 22 (IANS) With the absence of Chinese star Liu Xiang, American David Oliver topped the men's 110-metre hurdles at the 2013 IAAF World Challenge Beijing here, while China's Li Jinzhe continued his good form and grabbed a second win in the men's long jump.

  • Chinese premier arrives in Pakistan IANS

    Islamabad, May 22 (IANS) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Wednesday for an official visit to Pakistan, aiming to deepen friendship between the two neighbouring countries.

  • Manmohan to visit Thailand IANS

    Bangkok, May 22 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will pay an official visit to Thailand from May 30 to 31, the Thai foreign ministry announced here Wednesday.

  • Lily Cole to recieve honorary doctorate IANS

    Los Angeles, May 22 (IANS) Model-turned actress Lily Cole will be honoured with a doctorate by a Scottish University for outstanding contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes.

  • British band Blue faces money issues IANS

    Band members Antony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe had split in 2005, but reunited in 2011, and are now facing issues.

  • Neymar to join Barcelona in July: Reports IANS

    Rio de Janeiro, May 22 (IANS) Brazilian striker Neymar has agreed in principle to join Barcelona, July 1.

  • FBI asked to track hate crimes against Sikhs IANS

    Washington, May 22 (IANS) A bipartisan group of 23 lawmakers have asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to begin tracking hate crimes against Sikhs, the way it does for other communities.

  • Andhra local body elections likely in a month IANS

    Hyderabad, May 22 (IANS) Local body elections in Andhra Pradesh are likely to be held within a month, state Panchayati Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy said Wednesday.

  • Rihanna, Cara Delevingne cuddle up IANS

    New York, May 22 (IANS) Pop star Rihanna and actress Cara Delevingne spent a fun night together getting some tattoos done and drinking champagne in a hotel room here.

  • No high heels for Karishma Tanna on 'Grand Masti' set IANS

    New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) Thanks to actress Karishma Tanna's towering look, she was banned from wearing high heels while shooting for upcoming movie "Grand Masti" as she looked taller than her co-star Vivek Oberoi.

  • Angelina Jolie makes Jennifer Aniston cry IANS

    Los Angeles, May 22 (IANS) Actress Jennifer Aniston reportedly cried after reading about her former husband Brad Pitt's current partner Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy.

  • Search on for Indo-Canadian man missing in Australia IANS

    Sydney, May 22 (IANS) A frantic search is on for a 25-year-old Indo-Canadian man who went missing in a national park in Australia.