West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that very soon every village in Howrah district will have electricity. “Rural electrification has been a big success story. In Howrah, power has been taken to 99.94 per cent villages. We are confident that very soon we will achieve the 100 per cent figure,” she added.

Pakistan expects normalisation of ties with India in the coming days with the “almost certain” meeting of Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit.

Left-arm fast bowler Brian Vitori took his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket on Thursday, as Zimbabwe secured a 64-run first innings lead over Pakistan on the third day of the second Test at Harare Sports Club.

With calm prevailing in riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar, the administration today eased curfew for 12 hours in the district.

In keeping with its two-decade old tradition, the Samajwadi Party, on Thursday, continued to blow hot and cold on the Mohd Azam Khan issue.

The government on Thursday approved a proposal to invest $4.3 billion in World Bank bonds, which will help the country in securing additional funding from the multilateral agency for infrastructure and development projects. With this, India will have a leeway to borrow $ 21.8 billion from the World Bank’s lending arm, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

Sachin Tendulkar is all set to give smartphones a new look. Well, almost. Collectabillia.com on Thursday announced the launch of Tendulkar smartphone cases.

Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and three other players have been found guilty of spot fixing during the Indian Premier League (IPL) by an internal probe conducted by the national cricket board, a report said on Friday.

Samajawadi Party is keen to have a “crucial role” for party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2014 but ruled out formation of any “third force” before the next Lok Sabha elections.

The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) Ranjan Daimary faction has been asked to deposit their arms and list of cadres to the police to sign a formal suspension of operations agreement with security forces in Assam.