BCCI issues one more notice to Modi

The Indian Cricket Board on Thursday slapped suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi with one more show-cause notice for activities "detrimental to Indian Cricket, English Cricket and World cricket at large".

In a rather cryptic statement which did not reveal details, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said the board acted on an e-mail from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke.

Clarke wrote a mail to BCCI President Shashank Manohar and informed him about the activities of Modi that he found detrimental to the game of cricket.

Praveen Kumar out of India's T20 world Cup squad

India's World Twenty20 campaign has been dealt a huge blow after pacer Praveen Kumar was ruled out of the championship with an abdominal injury on Thursday.

Vidarbha pacer Umesh Yadav will be flying to the Caribbean as his replacement.

Praveen had sustained the injury during a practice session at the 3Ws Oval and the Indian team management sent him for an MRI which revealed a tear in abdomen muscle.

His injury happened just a day before India play their first Super Eight match with Australia.

Yadav also plays for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. The 22-year old bowler has so far played 11 first-class matches and has picked 42 wickets

Petrol & Diesel to cost more in 13 cities

Petrol and diesel prices will go up by up to 50 paise a litre from Wednesday midnight in 13 big cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, where cleaner Euro-IV grade fuel will be supplied from Wednesday, government official said.

Petrol price in Delhi will go up by Rs 0.50 per litre to Rs 47.93 a litre and diesel by Rs 0.26 to Rs 38.10 a litre on account of supply of cleaner Euro-IV fuel, the official said but did not wish to be identified.

Thirteen big cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Surat, Ahmedabad, Pune and Sholapur will move from Euro-III grade fuel to Euro-IV from April 1. Rates will vary from city to city depending upon local taxes.

44 Deemed Varsities allowed to admit students this year

The Supreme Court Thursday declined a plea by the Human Resource Development ministry to restrain 44 deemed universities - facing the prospect of being derecognised - from admitting students for academic session 2010-11 commencing July.

A bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra also declined a plea by the Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam that the admission for the coming academic year to these deemed universities should be subject to the final outcome of the hearing of the matter.

Japan to help India build 'SMART' city

Having provided funds and expertise for the metro rail, Japan will now help India build futuristic smart city with minimal pollution, maximum recycling and consumption-efficient public transport system.

The project, which will also include 11 investment regions and 13 industrial areas, is being touted as the next big thing in the country's urban infrastructure space.

After roads, ports and airports, now cities will be built via public private partnership.

Vodafone's cheapest Phone to cost Rs.849 in India

After months of waiting, Vodafone as launched the much awaited Rs.700 phone in India starting May 5.

The phone, the cheaper one amongst the two low-cost handsets goes by the name Vodafone 150. The interesting thing about this launch is that the phone is not network locked - in spite of being sold by Vodafone. Vodafone, however, offers free connections and low calling rates for users who purchase the phone and use a Vodafone SIM.

25 Yr arrested on charges of raping his Friend's Mom

A 40-year-old woman was allegedly raped by her son's friend in Pune.

The 24-year-old accused was arrested following a complaint filed by the woman at Chinchwad police station.

According to the complaint, the accused called on the woman at her residence saying her son was lying in an inebriated condition on the nearby Ravet road. He then took the anxious woman in his car to get the boy and raped her by parking the vehicle at a remote spot.

Woman alleges Gangrape at her husband's behest on Dowry issue

A woman in her early 20s, today alleged she was gangraped by her husband's friends at his behest as she had not been able to meet his dowry demands.

The woman narrated her tale of woes to Director General (Administration) Swaranjit Singh, a police department spokesman said.

The woman, who belongs to an affluent Dalit family from Ahar village in Panipat district, alleged that her husband, a Jat from Naru-Kheri village in Karnal, had been harassing her to bring more dowry ever since the two got married in April 2009, the spokesman said.

2 Judgements on Ambanis case

The Supreme Court’s verdict on the Mukesh Vs Anil Ambani case is due on Friday, and   it’s likely that there will be two judgements. 

The Ambani dispute was heard by a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, KG Balakrishnan.

 The Supreme Court’s list of cases for Friday shows that Justice P Sathasivam and Justice B Sudershan Reddy  will deliver separate judgements.   If the two judgments don’t concur, the majority opinion will prevail.

Karnataka Minister alleged on rape charges gone missing

Haratalu Halappa, who quit as Karnataka minister on Sunday following rape charges, seems to have gone into hiding prompting police to stick notices at his residences for appearance before them by May 10, an official said here Thursday.

Police did not find Halappa at his residences in Bangalore, his assembly constituency Sorab in Shimoga district, about 270 km from Karnataka's capital , and the room at the Legislators' Home in Bangalore.

Faisal shahzad still under investigation; arrested on Times Square failed car bombing case

U.S. officials say a Pakistani-American charged with an attempted car bombing in New York City is cooperating with investigators as they try to determine a motive for the planned attack. Faisal Shahzad was arrested late Monday and charged with trying to blow up a sports utility vehicle in crowded Times Square on Saturday.  Meanwhile, authorities in Pakistan say they have made arrests in connection with the failed car bombing.

The man charged with numerous counts of terrorism was born in this tiny northwestern village known as Mohib Banda.  Faisal Shahzad's father is a retired air vice marshal in the Pakistani military. He comes from an upper-middle class family.  Neighbors in this town of 5,000 are saddened by the news.

Muivah postpones his visit in Manipur

Manipur is simmering after the state government banned T Muivah, a Naga separatist leader, from visiting his ancestral village in Manipur's Ukrul district.

Although the Nagas in Manipur were eager to receive him, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh stopped Muivah's homecoming, leading to a big standoff at the border.

Two women were killed in clashes with the police, and 50 people were injured, all of them Naga protestors, most of them women.

Kasab sentenced to death by spl court

Ajmal Amir Kasab was convicted for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, India’s worst terror attack, on the basis of evidence gathered against him and not on the basis of his confession, Home Minister P.Chidmbaram said on Thursday.

“Kasab was convicted not on the basis of his confession but on the basis of the evidence gathered against him,” he said while replying to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the functioning of the Home Ministry.

Plot to omb MNC in Hyderabad disrupted

Police have disrupted a Lashkar-e-Taiba plot to bomb the Hyderabad offices of multinational Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu — one of the four largest auditors in the world.

Hyderabad resident Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, held over the weekend in the course of a National Investigation Agency-led operation, was planning to attack Deloitte's Hi-Tech City offices using grenades supplied by the Lashkar, police sources said.

30 physically challenged persons among 875 candidates passed in Civil services exam

Of the 875 candidates who cleared the Civil Services Exam, 30 are physically challenged, it was announced on Thursday.

Among the 30, 14 are orthopaedically challenged, five are visually-impaired and 11 are hearing-impaired, the Union Public Service Commission said.

A total of 680 male and 195 female candidates have been recommended for appointment to the prestigious Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and other central services.

Shah Faesal, a doctor from Kashmir, has topped the civil services examination. Prakash Rajpurohit, a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, has bagged the second position while Iva Sahay from the Jawaharlal Nehru University has secured the third position. Ms. Sahay is the topper among women candidates.