New Delhi , April 5: April 5: With the top Yadav leaders remaining adamant on their demand for a “quota within quota”, consensus proved elusive at the all-party meeting called here on Monday to break the deadlock over the Women’s Reservation Bill. As the impasse continued, the government remained tightlipped on its next step: whether it would table the legislation in the Lok Sabha in the second half of the Budget Session beginning April 15 as it has been promising for some time. The bill, which is a constitutional amendment, has already secured the Rajya Sabha’s approval with the requisite two-thirds majority.

Hyderabad , April 5: Tennis star Sania Mirza was irritable during an interaction with the media here on Monday afternoon along with her would-be husband Shoaib Malik, who was seen sweating profusely. And it was not due to the weather.

At one point, irked by questions that reporters asked on the alleged Shoaib-Ayesha Siddiqui wedding, Sania threatened to call off the interaction.

New Delhi , April 5: India is making it mandatory for all persons travelling to this country from Pakistan to disclose whether they have changed their name and surname, and whether their grandfather or grandmother (paternal/maternal) are Pakistani nationals or belong to a Pakistan-held area. They would also be required to disclose their current/previous nationality, besides the country of birth.

Kolkata , April 5: Stung by Union home minister P. Chidamb-aram’s plain-speaking (“the buck stops at the chief minister’s table”), West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee retaliated on Monday, saying: “Please mind your language.”

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Mallik address the media in Hyderabad on Monday. PHOTO: PTI

Lucknow , April 5: The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh has begun tapping the thakur community in order to compensate for losses that the party might suffer with brahmins across the state alienated from it.

BSP minister Badshah Singh, one of three party leaders tasked with bringing thakurs within the BSP fold, hosted a dinner at his residence here Sunday night where eminent and powerful members of the community were invited.

New Delhi , April 5: A Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota is working in his home diocese in India and has no plans to return to the United States to face the courts, he and his bishop told AP on Monday. Church documents obtained by AP show that the Vatican was alerted to the accusations against Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul over three years ago, but did not respond.

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik addresses the media outside Sania Mirza’s home at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad on Sunday. PHOTO: PTI

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful during his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) message at the end of mass on Easter Sunday at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

In an unusual address at the mass, a leading cardinal defended the Pope and said the Catholic Church would not be intimidated by “petty gossip” about sexual abuse of children by priests. But in his own address, the Pope did not mention the scandal that has engulfed the Church.  PHOTO: AP

April 4: Calling the Maoists “cowards,” Union home minister P. Chidambaram launched a direct attack on the ultra-left rebels and their front organisations during his first visit to their bastion at Lalgarh, in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district, on Sunday.