KANPUR: BSP chief Mayawati on Friday slammed hit out at the BJP for taking money via illegal electoral bonds, and said both the saffron party and the Congress were responsible for politicising the central agencies. The Bahujan Samaj Party chief asserted that her party did not take a single penny through electoral bonds, which she said was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. BJP has become a party of the wealthy but has done nothing for the poor, Dalits and backward classes, Mayawati said. BJP

CHENNAI: When India's five T20I match tour of Bangladesh was announced, the bugle for preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup was officially blown. After three white-ball series losses on home soil since taking over as head coach, albeit against better-ranked teams, Amol Muzumdar had to let bygones be bygones and start fresh after another successful season of the Women's Premier League (WPL) in March. One of the lessons from the WPL was even seen in a way the squad was selected for the tour. Mu

CHENNAI: One of the primary themes of the current Indian Premier League (IPL) season has been MS Dhoni's farewell tour (at least that's the buzz). Wherever CSK has gone, fans, most of whom have no connection with Chennai, have draped themselves in the franchise's canary yellow, brought their whistles and belted out various renditions pertaining to the five-time champions. CeeEssKay. Dhoniiiiii, Dhoni etc. etc. It was no different at the cavernous stadium in Ahmedabad when they faced Gujarat Tita

KUPWARA: National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Friday said he hoped leaders of India and Pakistan would create an atmosphere for dialogue and resolve mutual concerns and issues. Abdullah, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from north Kashmir's Baramulla constituency, was responding to a question on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan. I do not want to get into what Aiyar has said. We do not talk to our neighbours because of their nuclear weapons, we

CHENNAI: Nisha Dahiya on Friday became the fifth Indian woman wrestler to earn a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 25-year-old wrestler from Haryana entered the final of the 68kg weight category in the World Olympic Games Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey thus securing the quota. She defeated Alexandra N Anghel of Romania 8-4 in the semifinal. Nisha began her campaign with a 3-0 win over Alina Shauchuk (Individual Neutral Athletes) in the pre-quarterfinals. In the quarterfinal, she defeated Ade

JAIPUR: Three Rajasthan Police personnel were suspended on Friday after a purported video of a man being forced to pluck his own facial hair during questioning surfaced on social media, officials said. Superintendent of Police, Bhilwara, Rajan Dushyant said the action of suspension was taken for harassing the man during questioning. The police action came after Mandal MLA Uday Lal Bhadana met with Dushyant over the video clip. No police personnel were, however, seen in the video. The SP said Pra

BENGALURU: Construction work at Bengaluru Metro projects throughout the city is progressing slowly as the migrant workers involved in the projects have not yet returned after voting in the Lok Sabha elections. The specialised workers required for Carpentry and Reinforcement shuttering (support to concrete before it becomes solid) primarily belong toJharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Managing Director M Maheswar Rao, who inspected th

MUMBAI: Digital-only non-life insurance player Go Digit General Insurance which is backed by celebrity couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma on Friday fixed the price bank for its Rs 2,615 crore IPO at Rs 258-272. The issue opens on May 15 and closes on May 17. The Bengaluru-based Go Digit which is promoted by the Canada based NRI investor Prem Watsa said the IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,125 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 54,766,392 shares, according to the draft prospe

BENGALURU: In a major push towards securing finance for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP), the largest multilateral financial institution in the world, the European Investment Bank (investment bank of the European Union), has given its nod for a loan of Rs 2693 crore (300 million Euros) for the project. In another significant development, the first step has been taken towards building the longest corridor of the suburban rail - the Heelalige-Rajanakunte line. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Directo

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to various state governments on the amended plea filed by Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin seeking to club the FIRs registered against him for his alleged remarks on Sanatana Dharma. A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice sanjiv khanna and also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta allowed Udhayanidhi Stalin's amended application and issued notices to Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar amd Karnataka

LUCKNOW: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed he could see the INDI alliance storming to victory in UP in this Lok Sabha election and stopping PM Narendra Modi from returning to power. Rahul made the pronouncement while addressing a joint rally in Kannauj and Kanpur with Opposition bloc leaders including SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Friday. Akhilesh is the candidate from Kannauj where Rahul Gandhi made a fervent appeal to voters to support the SP chief. Kannau

LUCKNOW: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his party too has made mistakes and will have to change its politics in future. The remark came at an event in Lucknow where he accused the Narendra of being a monarch and not a prime minister, calling him a front for two three financiers. Answering a question from a member of the audience at the event on the Constitution, the former Congress president said he was 100 per cent prepared to take on Narendra Modi in a debate, but he knew that the

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday said he will participate in a roadshow in South Delhi on May 11 along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor was granted interim bail till June 1 by the Supreme Court earlier in the day in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. This will be Kejriwal's first roadshow after walking out of Tihar Jail on Friday. The chief minister reached his residence in the Civil

WASHINGTON: Experts have long warned about the threat posed by artificial intelligence going rogue -- but a new research paper suggests it's already happening. Current AI systems, designed to be honest, have developed a troubling skill for deception, from tricking human players in online games of world conquest to hiring humans to solve prove-you're-not-a-robot tests, a team of scientists argue in the journal Patterns on Friday. And while such examples might appear trivial, the underlying issues

BARCELONA, Spain: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will give Thibaut Courtois another chance to impress before deciding which of his goalkeepers will start the Champions League final. While, Courtois is considered one of the worlds top goalkeepers, he has just recently returned from a long-term injury. In his absence, backup Andriy Lunin helped take the team to the June 1 final against Borussia Dortmund. Ancelotti said Friday he plans to give Courtois more playing time in the league to assess h

MUMBAI: State-run banks continue to get weighed down by the wage and pension related provisions with yet another lender Bank of India Friday reporting a muted 7 percent on-year growth in net income at Rs 1,439 crore for the three months ending March. On Thursday, the largest peer State Bank of India said it had to make an additional provision to the tune of Rs 7,100 crore towards pension settlements even though the bank still managed to report the highest ever earnings of Rs 20,698 crore, which

LONDON: Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem plans to retire at the end of the year after struggling to return to his top form following a wrist injury. I am going to finish my career with the end of this season, Thiem said Friday in a video posted on Instagram, calling it a very sad but also very beautiful message. The 30-year-old Austrian player won his only Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 2020. His five-set victory over Alexander Zverev made Thiem the first man to overcome a two-set

NEW DELHI: Star grapplers Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia on Friday welcomed Delhi court's decision to frame sexual harassment charges against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, calling it a big victory for country's women wrestlers. A Delhi court on Friday ordered the framing of sexual harassment and other charges against Singh, a multiple-term Lok Sabha MP, under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), and 506 (cri

LONDON: Two more low-ranking tennis players linked to a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium have been banned from the sport, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Friday. Alejandro Crespo, a 34-year-old Bolivian, was banned for life and fined $250,000 for his continuous pattern of corruption. Jorge Panta Herreros, a 28-year-old Peruvian, was suspended for three years and fined $10,000 after he was involved in fixing the result of two matches. Crespo reached a ranking of 741 in 2016, while

NEW DELHI: Manika Batra could not be more thrilled about bossing the World No.2 from China earlier this week but to beat the top-10 players more often, the Indian table tennis trailblazer knows she needs to do more on the tactical and fitness front. After becoming the first Indian female to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Smash (top tier events organised by World Table Tennis), the 28-year-old doesn't want to sit on her laurels and her focus is firmly fixed on the Paris Olympics in July-Augus

A cooperative body election that saw a close aide of Union Home Minister Amit Shah being bested by a BJP MLA who went rogue has brought a few of the simmering concerns in the ruling party to the fore. It all began with BJP leader Bipin Patel (Gota), close aide of Shah, losing the fight for the post of the Director of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) to BJP MLA Jayesh Radadiya. Subsequently, Naranbhai Kachhadia, a BJP leader and three-time MP from Amerli, raised concerns

After not getting any relief so far, six former Congress MLAs on Friday withdrew their pleas to the Supreme Court against the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker's decision to disqualify them from the House. Senior lawyer Abhinav Mukherjee, appearing for the former MLAs, told the apex court judges that they wanted to withdraw their petitions. A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, noted and recorded the submissions made by Mukhe

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that the Congress is anti-Hindu and that its track record is of loot, appeasement and dynasty first. Modi, who addressed election rallies in Hyderabad and Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana, expressed confidence that hose who opposed CAA, UCC and those who talk of 'vote jihad' will be defeated on June 4 when the results of the Lok Sabha polls are declared. Today, India is a digital power, fintech power and the world's fif

MUMBAI: Becoming a mother is a natural phenomenon, and an employer has to be considerate and sympathetic towards women staffers, the Bombay High Court said on Friday, while quashing a communication issued by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) denying maternity leave to an employee on the ground that she already had two children. A division bench of Justices A S Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain said women who constitute almost half of the segment of our society have to be honoured and treated with

MUMBAI: An additional Rs 550 crore provision for the bankrupt Goair along with another Rs 800 crore for pensions have scuppered the overall numbers of Bank of Baroda, which Friday reported a muted 2.3 percent growth in net income at Rs 4,886 crore for the March quarter. For the full financial year the bank's net profit increased 26 percent to Rs 17,789 crore from Rs 14,110 crore in the preceding fiscal. Its total income increased to Rs 1,27,101 crore for the full year from Rs 99,614 crore in the

AMETHI: Why is Pakistan being discussed when elections are taking place in India and the unemployment rate here is at a 45-year high, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked on Friday as she hit back at the BJP on the row over Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks. She also asked the ruling party to fight the polls on real issues. In an exclusive interview with PTI, Priyanka Gandhi accused the BJP of raising the Hindu-Muslim rhetoric to win the elections and asserted that the people don't want the po

NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Friday lauded the Supreme Court order granting interim bail to Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kerjiwal, who was in jail in connection with a money-laundering case related to the alleged irregularities in Delhis excise policy, which has already been withdrawn. Their leaders said that with the AAP chief out on bail, the electorate will punish the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and party led Government at the Centre. The chief minister of

A fresh rape case has been registered against JD (S) MP and Lok Sabha candidate for Hassan constituency Prajwal Revanna. Prajwal, who has meanwhile fled to Germany, has been booked under IPC 376(2)(N), 376(2)(K), 354(A), 354(B), 354(C) and 506 of the IPC. The charges pertain to repeated rape, voyeurism, filming, demand for sexual favours, dragging by clothes, molestation and threatening. This is the third FIR filed against the Hassan MP. The details of the victim was not shared by the Special In

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday, hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail till June 1. Addressing a rally, Kejriwal said that the country is being ruled by dictatorial forces and must be saved from these forces to ensure democrarcy. I will fight with all my might but need the support of 140 crore people, Kejriwal said. Workers and leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had gathered outside the prison complex to welcome him. The Delhi

TOKYO: Loaves of bread have been taken off store shelves in Japan after the remains of a small animal believed to be a rat were found. Production of the bread was halted at a Tokyo factory, with 104,000 packages being recalled, according to Pasco Shikishima Corp. The company apologized and promised compensation. We will do our utmost to strengthen our quality controls so that this will never happen again. We ask for your understanding and your cooperation, it said in a statement this week. Japan

NEW DELHI: Clad in yellow T-shirts, AAP supporters danced to dhol beats and fed each other sweets at the party office here on Friday as they celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to grant Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal interim bail in a money laundering case. Slogans like Jail ke taale toot gaye, Kejriwal ji choot gaye, Modi ji ja rahe hain, Kejriwal ji aa rahe hain, and Dekho dekho kon aaya, sher aaya sher aaya rent the air at the AAP office. Many supporters carried posters with slogans

KANNUR: The Thalassery Additional District Sessions Court found the accused Shyamjith guilty in the case of murdering a girl named Vishnupriya from Panur in 2022. The sentence will be pronounced on the 13th May. The accused murdered Vishnu Priya when she decided to end their friendship. Vishnu Priya was on a video call with her male friend when the accused came home armed. visuals of Shyamjith entering Vishnupriya was recorded in the video call. This 13 seconds video call visual became crucial e

MUMBAI: After four weeks of continuous decline losing cumulatively around $10 billion, the forex reserves gained by $3.68 billion to $641.59 billion for the week to May 3, show the latest weekly data from the Reserve Bank Friday. In the immediate past week ending April 26, the overall kitty had dropped by $2.412 billion to $637.922 billion. Typically, the reserves gain when the RBI buys dollars/foreign exchange from the market primarily to stabilize the rupee, which for many weeks has been a bit

NEW DELHI: Granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would not amount to grant of privilege or special status to politicians, the Supreme Court on Friday said, while observing that the AAP leader has no criminal antecedents and is not a threat to the society. A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, while granting interim bail till June 1 to Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, rejected the submission of the Enforcement Di

PUDUCHERRY: Students of the Puducherry and Karaikalregions of the UT registered a pass percentage of89.14 % in the SSLC examination, bettering the previous year's pass percentage of 89.12 by 0.02 per cent. Out of the total of 14952 students who appeared for the board examinations,13328 have passed the examination, of which 6527 are Boys and 6801 are Girls. While private schools registered 96.6%, the government schools secured 78.08% only . Puducherry region students fared better with a pass perc

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday ordered framing of charges against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case lodged by six female wrestlers. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot also discharged Singh in a complaint filed by one of the six women wrestlers. The court ordered the framing of charge for criminal intimidation against Singh. It will formally frame the charges on May 21. It also ordered fram

Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh have always been under the spotlight in every election regardless of the candidates who have been fielded. This time around, after intense speculation till the last day of filing of nominations, Rahul Gandhi decided or was he persuaded? to contest from Rae Bareli, while old party loyalist KL Sharma was fielded against Smriti Irani in Amethi. The question now on everyones minds is: what will work in both seats - loyalty towards family, cast

BEIJING: China is ready to work with India to accommodate each other's concerns and find a mutually acceptable solution to specific issues through dialogue at an early date, Beijing's new envoy to New Delhi Xu Feihong has said in remarks that came against the backdrop of the prolonged military standoff in eastern Ladakh. An Assistant Minister ranked official, Xu, 60, appointed by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the sensitive job, said he regards his posting in New Delhi as an honourable mission

MUMBAI: The exclusion of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the list of centrally-contracted players was a decision that was solely taken by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed, asserting that obody is indispensable. Kishan and Iyer were left out after failing to show up for domestic engagements despite a directive from the BCCI. While Kishan went on a long break after the end of the ODI World Cup last year and remained unavailable until the IPL, Iyer eventu

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cannot visit his office or the Delhi Secretariat during the tenure of his interim bai l, the Supreme said on Friday as it imposed a slew of restrictions on him as part of the bail conditions. It asked Kejriwal to not sign any official file unless absolutely necessary to obtain the Lieutenant Governor's sanction during the 21-day interim bail period. Imposing a raft of bail conditions on the embattled AAP leader, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna an

MALAPPURAM (Kerala): A 41-year-old man died in Kerala's Malappuram district on Friday due to viral hepatitis, marking the sixth such confirmed case in the district in the last three months. This incident has prompted the health department to urge people to be vigilant against the disease. District Medical Officer R Renuka said that the man, hailing from Chaliyar panchayat, passed away from viral hepatitis on Friday morning while under treatment at a private hospital in Kozhikode. Malappuram dist

NGO moves SC, seeks release of voter turnout data for LS polls in absolute numbers within 48 hrs of polling

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday it was temporarily shuttering its east Jerusalem headquarters after Israeli extremists set fire to the perimeter following weeks of repeated attacks. The attack came after two months of Israeli extremists staging protests outside the UNRWA compound, he said. One protest this week became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound. This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of th

NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented action, the Election Commission on Friday castigated Congress President Kharge for obstructing the ongoing Lok Sabha election. The commission said the Congress President had made caseless allegations regarding the release of voter turnout data in the middle of ongoing polls which are designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediments in the conduct of free and fair polls. The commission further said that such utterances can have a negative impact on voters'

Indian IT companies become more conservative in FY25 growth projections

BENGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged multiple instances of sexual abuse by Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna has initiated an inquiry to identify those who allegedly called a woman and forced her to register a fake complaint against the JD(S) leader, sources said on Friday. The move comes after the National Commission for Women (NCW) said that one woman complainant who reached out to it claimed she was forced to register a fake complaint against the 33-year-old, who is the

PARIS: French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi and struggling US rival Novavax announced Friday an alliance to sell a Covid vaccine and develop another that combines with a flu shot. Under a licensing deal worth up to $1.2 billion, the companies will co-commercialise Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, except in some countries including India, Japan and South Korea, where the US firm already has partnership agreements. Novavax will receive an upfront payment of $500 million and up to $700 million i

GENEVA: After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak. A ninth and final round of talks involving governments, advocacy groups and others to finalize a pandemic treaty is scheduled to end Friday. The accords a

NEW DELHI: By allowing political space to Khalistani separatist elements, the Canadian government is sending a message that its vote bank is more powerful than its rule of law, External Affairs Minister S.Jaishankar said. In an exclusive interview to PTI late Thursday, Jaishankar said India respects and practices freedom of speech, but that does not equate with freedom to threaten foreign diplomats, extend support to separatism or allow political space to elements advocating violence. The extern

DUMA, West Bank: Charred homes and cars dotting this hilltop village surrounded by olive groves are a searing reminder of Palestinians vulnerability to rising violence from Israeli settlers. The trail of wreckage along Dumas main road is the aftermath of a three-hour attack in mid-April that left 15 homes damaged by arson and six residents injured by bullets, the head of its village council said. It was one of nearly 800 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Hamas