U.S. considers re-merger of India, Pakistan desks

Seven years after the State Department was restructured to ‘de-hyphenate’ U.S. relations with India and with Pakistan, it is considering a reversal of the move. De-hyphenating refers to a policy started by the U.S. government under President Bush, but sealed by the Obama administration, of dealing with India and Pakistan in different silos, without referring to their bilateral relations. It enabled the U.S. to build closer military and strategic...

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AAP brooms sweep Delhi garbage

Delhi Ministers and Aam Aadmi Party MLAs along with party men armed with brooms cleaned the streets on Sunday even as the Municipal Corporation sanitation workers’ strike entered day five. A sanitation drive was launched in all the AAP constituencies and garbage was removed. The sanitation workers on their part continued with their strike and the vociferous protestors has warned the AAP government that if their demands, which includes clearing...

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British broadcaster Terry Wogan dies of cancer: BBC

British television and radio personality Terry Wogan died of cancer aged 77 on Sunday, his family said. Irish-born Wogan, one of the BBC's most recognizable faces and voices, was granted a British knighthood in 2005. “Sir Terry Wogan died today after a short but brave battle with cancer. He passed away surrounded by his family,” a statement on behalf of his family said. Wogan began his broadcasting career with Irish state broadcaster RTE...

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More than 2,100 Colombian women infected with Zika virus

More than 2,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the country’s national health institute said on Saturday, as the disease continues its spread across the Americas. The virus has been linked to the devastating birth defect microcephaly, which prevents foetus’ brains from developing properly. There is no vaccine. There are 20,297 confirmed cases of the disease in Colombia, the national health institute...

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2.8 million cancer deaths in China in 2015: study

Some 2.8 million Chinese may have died of cancer in 2015 or over 7,500 deaths daily, according to a new study. “With increasing incidence and mortality, cancer is the leading cause in China and is a major public health problem,” the study in the world’s most populous nation says. It also estimated that nearly 4.3 million were diagnosed in 2015, with 12,000 new cases daily. The figures marked a sharp rise in new diagnoses. Figures released...

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Trump leads; Clinton, Sanders neck-and-neck in Iowa

The final poll ahead of the first nominating contests in the U.S. presidential race on Monday gave Donald Trump a five-point lead over Ted Cruz while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were neck-and-neck. Mr. Trump, the Republican real estate mogul, had the support of 28 per cent of likely caucus-goers in Iowa, with Texas Senator Ted Cruz at 23 per cent and Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 15 per cent, according to The Des Moines Register and...

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Manipur cut off again

Brushing aside appeals from several civil society organisations, the Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) and the All Naga Students' Association Manipur (ANSAM) went ahead with the indefinite blockade of the three national highways — the lifelines of Manipur — from Monday midnight. Seiboi Haokip, the general secretary of the KSO and James Inka, the assistant general secretary of the ANSAM told reporters on Sunday night that the blockade would...

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Deepening the French connection

President François Hollande’s visit is the fifth such by a French leader to have been honored as the chief guest at the Republic Day, more so than any other country. Equally significant, this was his second state visit (the first was in 2013), a trend that was started by his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was chief guest at the 2008 Republic Day and returned for another state visit in 2010. With corresponding visits by Indian Prime Ministers,...

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The gale called Bernie Sanders

When a breath of fresh air shows signs of acquiring gale-force proportions, a nation sits up and pays attention. Thus it is with the U.S.’s only Democratic Socialist contender in this year’s race to the Oval Office, Bernard ‘Bernie’ Sanders. Mr. Sanders, who has risen sharply in the pre-primary polling to pull up alongside arch-rival Hillary Clinton in Iowa and outstrip her in New Hampshire, has always been something of an enigma, both for...

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Writing the Roger Federer story

What all does the Age of Roger Federer encompass? Is it about him alone? In a career that has gone past his incredible rivalry with Rafael Nadal and, as we saw this week in the Australian Open, that now adds a distinct shine to Novak Djokovic’s current dominance, Federer has lifted the profile of his sport in ways we are yet to fully articulate. He is the greatest, and a significant measure of his greatness lies in pulling into a higher orbit...

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Masculinity is in a crisis. Here’s ‘Y’

Manhood may have received its nastiest blow yet. Biology textbooks have long informed us that the ‘Y ‘chromosome, present only in males, is critical for reproduction. But a study by researchers at the University of Hawaii (UoH) has shown that healthy mice can be made, using assisted reproduction techniques, without any of the all-important ‘Y’ chromosome genes. Normally a person gets 23 chromosomes —the repository of our DNA — from each parent;...

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Wi-Fi deployment gains momentum

free high-speed public Wi-Fi service was unveiled at Mumbai Central Station by RailTel in partnership with Google in January. In Karnataka, BSNL set up a high-speed Wi-Fi service at 20 popular spots last week. In November last year, Facebook said it was partnering with BSNL to create 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in rural India. Not surprising, considering the increasing number of connected devices and clogging of airwaves. In September 2014, 3G data...

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Government may ask central bank to consider roads as a priority sector

He government will soon approach the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan with a proposal to include road projects under the priority sector list for lending purposes and review the non-performing assets norms to revive Rs. 40,000-crore worth of highway projects that have not taken off due to bureaucratic delays and cost overruns. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has decided to take up the priority sector route with the...

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‘Not paying bribes in India is a competitive disadvantage’

India’s investment climate has worsened compared with last year and corruption is one of the main deterrents for doing business, a survey of 141 Swedish companies based in the country revealed. “One out of three companies state that ‘not paying bribes’ is a competitive disadvantage,” according to the 8th annual Business Climate Survey conducted by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in India. A slow roll out of reforms including the Goods and...

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IISc’s invention powers up nanoelectronics industry

An invention by Bengaluru-based scientists at IISc is all set to make inroads into the billion-dollar nano electronics industry. This is disruptive because the technology can drastically reduce the cost of the existing state-of-the-art e-beam lithography and optical lithography. This invention is a new way to etch thin lines on a substrate using electrodes, termed electrolithography. This will come in very useful in inscribing, for instance,...

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Yuvraj, Ishant among 8 marquee players for IPL auction

Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma and Kevin Pietersen will be among the eight marquee players up for grabs at the IPL 2016 Player Auction schduled to take place in Bengaluru on February 6. As many as 351 cricketers will go under the hammer, out of which 230 will be Indians and 131 foreigners. Interestingly, there are 29 Australians amongst 130 capped players in the auction list, three more than the number of capped Indians. The capped players from...

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'Airlift' spreads misinformation

I saw the film Airlift on Thursday evening, but despite the entertaining narrative, the film left me slightly bewildered because the director says in the beginning that Ranjit Katyal [played by Akshay Kumar] is a fictional character but the movie is based on a real event. The problem is that the only two real events referred to in the film are the invasion of Iraq and the airlifting of Indians from Kuwait and Iraq. What intrigued me is that...

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We will soon complete Pathankot probe: Sharif

“Pakistan will soon complete its investigation into the Pathankot terror attack which had a negative impact on talks with India,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday. Talks with India were “going in the right direction” after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he said but regretted that the attack disturbed the negotiation process. Mr. Sharif vowed that Pakistan would go to any length...

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Five sent to jail in 33-year-old Robin Mayne case

More than three decades after the infamous ‘Robin Mayne’ scam was exposed, a special court for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases here on Friday convicted and sentenced five persons to various terms of imprisonment and slapped a total fine of Rs. 1.65 crore. The case relates to Robin Mayne, who claimed to be a close associate of former AIADMK Agriculture Minister Kalimuthu, and his accomplices conspiring to cheat nationalised banks...

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A case that rattled MGR and fuelled dissent

The Robin Mayne case will be remembered not just for the number of decades the accused managed to escape being punished, but also the political dissent it fuelled within the AIADMK, rattling the then Chief Minister and party founder M G Ramachandran (MGR). In October 1985, soon after the CBI arrested Robin Mayne, who was an associate of then Agriculture Minister K Kalimuthu, some senior leaders in the AIADMK who did not take kindly to MGR re-appointing...

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Of Bollywood dreams in technicolour

Within the first 10 seconds of Coldplay’s latest video, ‘Hymn for the Weekend’, there are several stereotypes of India: majestic ruins overgrown with weeds, peacocks spreading their tail-feathers and sadhus in saffron robes with ash-smeared foreheads. No wonder the band was trending on social media, and not necessarily for the right reasons. Since the release of the video on January 29 — which also features Beyoncé as a Bollywood star — they...

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Rajan warns against straying from fiscal consolidation path

Ahead of the Budget, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday cautioned against deviation from the fiscal consolidation path, which, he said, could hurt macroeconomic stability. During the global turmoil, macroeconomic stability should not be risked, and both the government and the central bank should continue to bring down inflation, Dr. Rajan said. The growth multipliers on government spending at this juncture are likely to...

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Three get death for Kamduni gangrape and murder

Three convicts of the sensational Kamduni gangrape and murder of a 21—year—old college student over two years back were today sentenced to death by a city court while three others got life imprisonment. Additional Sessions Judge Sanchita Sarkar handed out capital sentence to Aminul Ali, Saiful Ali and Ansar Ali, while Imanul Islam, Aminul Islam and Bhola Naskar were sentenced to life imprisonment for the gangrape and brutal murder of the woman...

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Angelique Kerber stuns Serena Williams to win Australian Open

Angelique Kerber became the first German to win a Grand Slam title since her childhood idol Steffi Graf in 1999 when she upset world number one Serena Williams 6-4 3-6 6-4 to clinch the Australian Open on Saturday. The 34-year-old American had been seeking her seventh Melbourne Park title and 22nd overall, which would have moved her into a tie with Graf for the most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era. The seventh-seeded Kerber, however,...

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More than a numbers game: moving beyond the floor test

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar believed that Article 356 of the Constitution, which provides for imposition of President’s rule in the States and dissolution of State Assemblies, would, in reality, be only a ‘dead letter’. However, by the time a Constitution Bench ruled in the S.R. Bommai v. Union of India case (1994) that a presidential proclamation under Article 356 is subject to judicial review, that it is not an absolute but a conditional power, and...

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