Patna, Feb. 2: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a tough stand on the rising tirade of the Shiv Sena against Biharis and north Indians in Maharashtra and ignored the Sena’s demand that he apologise for his comments a day before glorifying the contributions of Bihari members of the NSG during the 26/11 attack.

Jammu, Feb. 2: Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said that a final decision on commercial Bt brinjal will be taken on February 10.

Panaji, Feb. 2: After negative media coverage nationwide, Goa’s tourism managers have moved to tighten security, introduce a new tourism security force of ex-servicemen and inch towards eventually changing tourist profiles to more upmarket visitors.

Lucknow/New Delhi, Feb. 2: The Indian Mujahideen (IM) had IITs and IIMs in north India as its next targets. This was revealed after the initial interrogation of Shahzad Ahmad Farouqui, the suspected IM terrorist arrested by the UP police’s anti-terrorist squad and Rajasthan police.

Tia Carrere presents A.R. Rahman with the best song written for motion picture, television or other visual media award for Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. Rahman also won in the category of best compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media. n Report in Newsmakers PHOTO: AFP

Actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol at the Nasdaq building at Times Square in New York on Monday to promote their latest movie, My Name is Khan. They became the first Indian movie stars to ring the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock exchange.   PHOTO: PTI

New Delhi, Feb. 1: In a bid to prevent any kind of coercion by families, caste groups or communities against couples planning to tie the knot, the law and justice ministry has written to the Union home ministry seeking an amendment of the Registration of Marriages Act by doing away with the mandatory 30-day notice period before a marriage can be registered.

New Delhi, Feb. 1: The governmnet will decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices after the Kirit Parikh Committee submits its report, petroleum minister Murli Deora said Monday. Mr Deora acknowledged that the government was conscious of the effect any increase would have on citizens. "The cascading effect of a Rs 2/litre hike in diesel prices will be felt on food prices. But there is an urgent need to find a permanent solution to this recurring problem of under-recoveries."

New Delhi, Feb. 1: Highlighting the major problems confronting the nation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said terrorism and insurgency need to be tackled with a "firm and yet sensitive manner" as this was a pre-requisite to rapid economic growth.

Mumbai/New Delhi, Feb. 1: The rift between the saffron camp and the Shiv Sena deepened in the conflict over the Sena’s tirades against north Indians in Maharashtra with Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray asking the RSS to mind its own business.