News

Barely two-and-a-half months after the Delhi Assembly elections, which brought the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal to power, Central rule was imposed in the State.

‘Island was not ceded to Sri Lanka’ In a decision which is likely to further strain the ties between the UPA and the DMK, the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that Kachatheevu could not be retrieved from Sri Lanka as demanded by the party president, M. Karunanidhi.

A historic bill to carve out Telangana State out of Andhra Pradesh was on Tuesday passed by the Lok Sabha amid din and strong protests by members from Seemandhra region, including ministers.

Envoys from Iran and six world powers noted the positive negotiating atmosphere but kept expectations low as they started talks on Tuesday in Vienna on a comprehensive deal to end the stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear programme. “We had a promising start this morning and we hope to continue this trend in the next three days,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. Building on an interim deal that was reached in November in Geneva, Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany are aiming to agree on further limits to Iran’s nuclear programme to rule out that it could build a nuclear weapon, in return for the permanent lifting of all sanctions against Tehran. However, officials stressed this week’s round had the modest goal of agreeing on the timing and political level for the diplomatic process ahead.

The Coal Ministry, acting on the advice of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), has issued letters of cancellation for 16 blocks. While ten blocks stand immediately de-allocated, orders pertaining to six other coal blocks have been put on hold due to court proceeding, a senior Coal Ministry official said here on Tuesday.

Italy on Tuesday recalled its Ambassador to India for consultations, asserting it will decide to deal with the situation of “ambiguous and unreliable” behaviour by Indian authorities.

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted relief to the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan — by commuting their death sentence into life term on the grounds of inordinate delay in disposal of their mercy petitions by the President.