Describing India as a country that is not “emerging” but one that has already “emerged”, as well as a “rising global power”, US President Barack Obama on Monday gave his country’s endorsement to India

Mr Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the world’s most powerful democracy, may have somewhat lost his “connect” with the American people ever since he took control of the White Hous

For all the sense of urgency surrounding the need to deal with red terror, the implementation of the Centre’s much-hyped Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 Naxal-infested districts in the country is going to be delayed further. In fact, going by the latest indications, the `13,742 crores worth IAP is unlikely to see the light of day until early 2011.

In an unusual scene at Rail Bhavan on Tuesday, railway minister Mamata Banerjee was seen pleading with Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai in an overflowing conference hall to give Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning wrestler Sushil Kumar, a railway employee, a promotion for his feat. “Double ho jayega (It will be like a double promotion),” Mr Sahai responded, explaining why this was not possible.

In what may be seen as a major snub to the separatist leadership of Jammu and Kashmir, a gathering of Muslim clerics and scholars called by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JuH) on Sunday has said that while

The once beautiful Dal Lake with the shikaras gliding on it now seems like a distant memory.

There was dissonance within the ranks of the all-party delegation visiting troubled Jammu and Kashmir even before it had completed its mission to reach out to the people of the state. The sour note was struck by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, a team member, who said on Tuesday that it was not the delegation’s collective decision to meet the separatist leaders on Monday, nor had it mandated its members to meet them.

Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani plans to press ahead with the protest calendar unless the Indian government accedes to the five conditions he had spelt out in late August, the primary one being that Kashmir be accepted as an international dispute.

The separatist Hurriyat leaders may have wanted to have nothing to do with the visiting all-party delegation led by Union home minister P. Chidambaram, having announced their decision to not meet it.

The all-party delegation came visiting the Kashmir Valley on Monday but that did not serve as a balm for the festering wounds of the ordinary Kashmiris.