Politics

Vladimir Putin signs treaty to incorporate Crimea into Russia

Moscow, March 18 (ANI): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a treaty to incorporate Crimea into Russia, shortly after delivering a speech before the parliament in which he said that Crimea was and is an integral part of Russia. The signing in the Kremlin came two days after Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum condemned by the Ukrainian government, the United States and the European Union as illegitimate. Putin drew applause and a standing ovation as he began addressing a joint session of parliament at the Kremlin.

Mar 18, 2014

Missing plane to hurt Malaysia tourism from China

Mumbai, March 18 (ANI): Malaysia Tourism said on Tuesday that the missing jetliner would hit the lucrative tourism trade from China although normalcy resumed from other sectors. China accounts for 12 percent of tourists to Malaysia, excluding those from neighbouring Singapore. The airline and the Malaysian government have faced demands to speed up their hunt for the plane from China, home to two-thirds of those on the aircraft. The Director General, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, Dato Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, who was speaking at a news conference in Mumbai, said that the travellers will overcome the sense of fear. No trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found since it vanished on March 08 with 239 people aboard. Investigators are increasingly convinced it was diverted perhaps thousands of miles off course by someone with deep knowledge of the Boeing 777-200ER and commercial navigation.

Mar 18, 2014

Look-alike of Modi starts campaign for BJP

Varanasi, March 18 (ANI): BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s look-alike, Abhinandan Pathak, started election campaign for the party on Tuesday in the temple town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Pathak said he will campaign and back Modi for the post of prime minister. People surrounded Pathak and also garlanded him during the campaign.

Mar 18, 2014

Iranians prepare for Persian New Year

Iranians are shopping for traditional items for Noruz, or Persian New Year. The ancient Zoroastrian tradition is celebrated by Iranians and Kurds and marks the arrival of spring.

Mar 18, 2014

China is searching for Malaysian jet inside its territory

China says it is searching for the missing MH370 jet inside its own territory. Meanwhile, desperate relatives of Chinese passengers threaten to go on hunger strike as they demand answers about the missing aircraft. Duration: 01:11

Mar 18, 2014

Peaceful protests in Venezuela after crackdown

People demonstrated peacefully in Altamira Square - an opposition stronghold in Caracas - on Monday after Venezuela's authorities deployed hundreds of security forces to stamp out protests against the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Mar 18, 2014

Space rock craze hits South Korea after meteor shower

A corner of South Korea is in the grip of a frenzied hunt for valuable space souvenirs, following a rare meteor shower there last week. Duration: 00:35

Mar 18, 2014

Lok Sabha Elections 2014: BJP May Field Modi from Ahmedabad as Well

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from a seat in Gujarat also, said the party's Gujarat unit on 18 March. The party had already declared that Modi will contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

Mar 18, 2014

Urs of Mastan Shah Baba, perfect example of communal harmony

Haldawani, Mar 18 (ANI): The culture of harmony and amity among different communities has been kept alive over centuries in the country. This week we travel to Haldawani, located in northern state of Uttarakhand where devotees belonging to different communities celebrated Urs of Mastan Shah Baba. And during the Urs or the death anniversary there is a huge increase in the number of devotees, who celebrate the occasion in perfect harmony.

Mar 18, 2014

Jalandhar a hub of sports equipment industry

Jalandhar, Mar 18 (ANI): Jalandhar, located in the northern state of Punjab is not only famous for its rich culture and vibrant heritage, but also for its sports equipment industry. The state is home to people of different religions who have been living together in harmony for centuries. A sports equipment-manufacturing unit here perfectly exemplifies this ethos.

Mar 18, 2014

Politicians pitch for development as election fever grips India

Chandigarh/Amritsar/ Nagpur, Mar 18 (ANI): Politicians assured development in their respective constituencies, as Congress leader, Pawan Kumar Bansal, filed nomination papers while opposition leaders Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari campaigned to garner support ahead of the 2014 general elections. Scandal-hit Former Railway Minister, Bansal, who was re-nominated by Congress from Chandigarh, filed nomination papers on Tuesday. Bansal promised that he would work for the progress and development of Chandigarh.

Mar 18, 2014

Lok Sabha Elections 2014: Anti-Congress Alliance Taking Shape in AP, Pawan Kalyan May Join

A tri-party anti-Congress alliance of Telugu Desam Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Jana Sena is apparently taking shape in Andhra Pradesh, particularly in Seemandhra region.

Mar 18, 2014

Kirron Kher arrives in Chandigarh, says will win over angry BJP workers

Chandigarh, March 18 (ANI): A day after BJP picked actor Kirron Kher as its candidate to fight from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency, a section of party activists on Tuesday staged a protest demanding that she be replaced with a local leader as the party's nominee. A group of party workers, reportedly owing allegiance to the local BJP unit, held protest and demanded the party's central leadership to review its decision to field Ms Kher. They said the party should field any of the three local party leaders - Sanjay Tandon, Harmohan Dhawan and Satyapal Jain - who were top contenders for the seat.

Mar 18, 2014

Toyota stops India production on workers pay issue

Bangalore, March 18 (ANI): Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) Indian unit has temporarily closed its two plants where some workers had stopped production lines to protest a delay in salary hike after 10 months of negotiations. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the world's biggest car maker's Indian unit, had stated that some workers over the past 25 days had disrupted business as the management, labour union and local government negotiated wages. The subsidiary closed the factories on Sunday (March 16) - a non-production day - and did not state when it will reopen them. The factories near Bangalore are Toyota Motor's only vehicle plants in the world's sixth-biggest auto market, where the Japanese manufacturer generates just a sliver of global sales.

Mar 18, 2014

Lowering our guard against China led to 1962 defeat: BJP

New Delhi, March 18 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday termed the report published online by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell on the Indo-China War in 1962, as yet another proof of clear lapses in defence preparedness by the then Congress Government of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. A section of the confidential Henderson Brooks report that critically reviewed India's defence preparedness and strategies during the 1962 war with China has been released online by Maxwell. While the report may not contain significantly new revelations about the poor state of India's forces during the war, it discusses "how the army was ordered to challenge the Chinese military to a conflict it could only lose," according to Maxwell, a retired foreign correspondent, who was based in Delhi at the time of the war.

Mar 18, 2014