India is planning a 15-fold increase in its civilian nuclear power programme in the next two decades, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. In its latest report titled 'Year in Review 2008', the International Atomic Energy Agency said while no new reactors came online anywhere last year.
Germany captain Michael Ballack will play in Sunday's Euro 2008 final against Spain despite a calf muscle injury, Bild newspaper said on its website.
Turkey striker Nihat Kahveci will miss the rest of Euro 2008 because of a thigh injury, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said on Sunday.
Stephan Schmidling has made a sculpture bearing the footprints of the German football players at Euro 2008.
The world will welcome the lofty ideas that have figured in Obama's Arab Spring speech, but the credibility deficit will remain till the US conduct on the ground matches the President's golden vocabulary, says TP Sreenivasan.
In a step forward in the implementation of the India-United States civil nuclear agreement, officials from both the countries will be meeting in Vienna next week to discuss the 'arrangements and procedures' under which US spent nuclear fuel will be reprocessed in India. The negotiation, which under the 123 Agreement has to be completed within a year after it begins, is slated to be launched in Vienna next week, authoritative sources revealed.
Five-year time frame for 'slow process of integration'. Bajaj Auto, through its 100 per cent Dutch subsidiary, Bajaj Auto International Holding BV, will buy the additional stakes in the Vienna Stock Exchange-listed KTM on-behalf of the company.
'That the Indian nationals have been sighted, they are unharmed, they are in captivity, and we know their captors. This is the sort of information I think everybody has the right to know and we would share it. Information beyond that we feel would be detrimental to the safety of those who are in captivity and it is not at all in the interest of our countrymen to share that information,' says MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
If only the Italians had accepted that it was a wrong judgement on the part of the crew of the ship, apologised and offered adequate compensation, the matter could have been resolved. But their whole approach has been defiant, says T P S Sreenivasan.
Amrit Singh, a 26-year-old security company staffer, fired at Wega and Cobra special forces officers who searched nine flats and houses during a coordinated raid on Monday, Vienna police spokesman Michael Takacs said.
'Evacuating' Devyani's maid's family from India on T visas -- associated with severe sex or labour trafficking... The maximum number of persons thus evacuated by the US from foreign countries last year was from India... A thorough investigation of this is required at India's end,' says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, 'with the US warned that such interference in India's judicial system will not be tolerated.'
Amid a spate of racial attacks on students that have dented its image, Australia on Monday named an Indian-Australian as its new envoy to New Delhi in an apparent bid to assuage feelings over a spate of unabated attacks on Indian students that have not done any good to its image.
The situation remained by and large peaceful in trouble-hit Punjab on Wednesday with authorities relaxing the curfew in Jalandhar, Phagwara and Hoshiarpur, which witnessed violent protests in the wake of the killing of a sect leader in Vienna. Curfew was relaxed in Jalandhar for three hours. "The curfew will be relaxed for three hours, from 7 am to 10 am, during which people can buy essential goods", said a police officer.
Approximately 15,000 passengers, mostly Vaishnodevi pilgrims, are stranded at the Jammu railway station due to disruption in rail services in the wake of violent protests in some parts of Punjab, over the attack on a Dera sect leader in Vienna.Railways cancelled 19 trains passing through Jammu after violence broke out in Jalandhar and other neighbouring districts of Punjab on Monday. Most of the passengers include Vaishnodevi pilgrims who were on their way back.
Punjab and Haryana have been rocked by violence in the wake of the death of Sant Rama Nand, a leader of the Ravidassi sect, at the Guru Ravidass Gurudwara in Vienna. The protests have virtually brought life to a complete halt in Jalandhar, Amritsar and Jagadhri.According to reports, some members of the Sikh community objected to the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib during the preaching by Sant Niranjan Das at the gurudwara.
Violence over the killing of a sect leader in Vienna spilled over to more parts of Haryana on Tuesday with protestors going on a rampage, damaging vehicles and clashing with police which fired in the air to quell the mob.
The underlying resentment between followers of a Sikh sect, a majority of them Dalits, and upper caste Sikhs appeared to have sparked the large scale violence in Punjab in the wake of the killing of a sect leader in Vienna.
The 66-year-old preacher was recovering fast, sect in-charge Sant Surinder Dass Bawa said. Bawa appealed to protesters to shun the path of agitation and pray for speedy recovery of the injured Dera head after a clash between rival Sikh communities in a Vienna Gurudwara leading to the death of one of their gurus, Sant Rama Nand, triggered large scale violence and arson in Punjab.
Jalandhar is a stronghold of Dera Sach Khand, a Sikh sect comprised of mainly Dalits who took to the streets in protest against the death of one of their gurus Sant Raman Nand during a clash between rival Sikh communities in a Vienna Gurudwara.
Wal-Mart defers launch of its first Indian store
Two persons were killed and several injured as violence triggered by the killing of a Dera leader engulfed Punjab and parts of Haryana, where protestors set afire train coaches, buses and clashed with the police, prompting authorities to impose curfew in four cities and calling out the Army in Jalandhar.
Bharti Wal-Mart's plan to open its first cash-and-carry store in the country at Amritsar on Tuesday has been postponed because of law and order problem in Punjab following violence sparked by killing of a Dera leader in Austria. "Due to the situation in Punjab, Bharti Wal-Mart is postponing the launch of its cash-and-carry wholesale store 'Best Price Modern Wholesale'," the company said on Monday.
Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday appeared before the Supreme Court to face a contempt notice for not reopening graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari, saying he was unable to act as the president enjoyed complete immunity under the Constitution.
The fear of being affected by radiation has prevented authorities from collecting around 1,000 bodies of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami victims from within the 20-kilometer-radius evacuation zone near the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant.
The UN atomic watchdog sought more information from India about mishandling of radioactive material by Delhi University on Friday, as the country's nuclear regulator conducted inspections at the varsity campus.
The Centre has asked all Indian universities and higher education institutions to cancel admissions of foreign diplomats pursuing higher studies.
Spain go into the quarter-final against Italy on a roll, looking to extend their unbeaten run to 20 games after winning all three group matches.
Manisha Singh, an erstwhile senior staffer of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former political appointee during the George Bush Administration, has landed a top job as the executive director of the Barer Institute based at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle.
India will next Monday sign a key safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency to allow supply of atomic fuel and technology to the country moving a step closer to operationalising its international civil nuclear cooperation after the 34-year-old nuke trade embargo was lifted.
The war of words began after Osama bin Laden's 18-year-old daughter Eman recently sought refuge in the Saudi embassy in Teheran.
The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is in deep waters on account of the inept handling of the flood situation. Her political obituary is being written even as she is struggling to keep the Bangkok flood under control, says TP Sreenivasan
International crude prices, which rose to a historic high of over $147 a barrel in July last year, have slumped to four-year low of around $37 per barrel, prompting fears that companies may not invest in new fields. Several oil companies have put on hold investments in small and marginal fields and in difficult and frontier areas following the sharp dip in prices as current rates give a negative rate of return on the huge investments required.
An additional protocol to the nuclear safeguards agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US, giving the agency better access to nuclear sites has entered into force, making America the last of the five atomic-weapon states party to the global non-proliferation pact.
Defending champion Marin Cilic thrashed Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-3 on Saturday to move into the final of the Chennai Open.
The Indo-Czech duo beat Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri of America in the quarter-finals of the BA-CA Tennis Tournament in Vienna, Austria.
While Wikileaks did not say in its message what the third instalment of their release would cover. However, a Reuters despatch from Washington DC said that classified US diplomatic cables reporting corruption allegations against foreign governments and leaders are expected to feature in the official documents that Wikileaks plans to release.
By speaking for all nations without going into details, India expressed its confidence that it cannot be excluded if the Council is expanded. This was more effective than the usual assertion of the Indian claim on every occasion, says T P Sreenivasan.
Roger Federer will take on David Nalbandian in the Swiss Indoors final after the Basel-born, world number two's bid for a third straight hometown title continued with an easy semi-final win on Saturday.
The Obama Administration has sought an "assurance" from India on nuclear non-proliferation to take forward the Indo-US civilian nuclear trade between them.