Washington, Jan 10 (IANS) India and China are ranked 119th and 136th respectively and both termed "unfree" according to the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom published annually by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation.
Washington, Jan 10 (IANS) The US has asked India and Pakistan to cool down tensions over the killing of two Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in (LoC) Jammu and Kashmir and talk to each other to improve relations. "We're urging both sides to take steps to end the violence. We continue to strongly support any efforts to improve relations between the two countries," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Wednesday.
Tbilisi, Jan 10 (IANS/RIA Novosti) More than one million Georgians, about one quarter of the country's population, have signed a demand for President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign. Under the constitution which sets the presidential term at five years, Saakashvili's presidency is due to expire Jan 20, 2013, five years after his inauguration. However, the country's next presidential elections are slated for October 2013.
Washington, Jan 10 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The US will continue its cooperation with Russia despite differences on a number of issues, such as the Russian adoption ban, Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the US Department of State, has said. "Our overall approach remains to try to cooperate with Russia as much as we can on as many issues as we can that we share, whether they are bilateral issues, whether they are regional issues like Nagorno-Karabakh, or whether they are global issues like Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, et cetera," Nuland said Wednesday. The Russian law, which was fast-tracked through parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin late last year, is part of a wider response by Moscow to the Magnitsky Act, a US law that imposes travel bans and other sanctions on Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses
Kolkata, Jan 9 (IANS) West Bengal Governor M.K.
Damascus, Jan 9 (IANS) Syrian rebels Wednesday freed 48 Iranians in exchange for over 2,000 regime detainees in deal with Damascus brokered by some regional countries, Xinhua reported. As many as 2,130 prisoners, including two Turkish nationals, held by the Syrian government were involved in the swap deal
Kolkata, Jan 9 (IANS) Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Wednesday took part in a protest march by opposition Left Front here against the attack on veteran CPI-M leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah. Clad in a 'dhoti' and 'kurta', Bhattacharjee was the star attraction when the march began from the base of a statue of Lenin in city hub Esplanade.
Kolkata, Jan 9 (IANS) Mamata Banerjee's government in West Bengal is likely to announce its new industrial policy Jan 15, a Trinamool Congress minister said here Wednesday.
New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) The Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) can boost the government's flagship programme "Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)", union Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken said here Wednesday.
Mumbai, Jan 9 (IANS) Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan Wednesday said that to combat the drought situation, the state government will empower district collectors to sanction expenditures of up to Rs.2 crore for drought-relief work. Chavan said that the decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet here and that several other measures will also be put in place for water supply in scarcity-hit regions of the state. Initiating early preparations for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Wednesday convened a meeting of all its delegates and discussed the changing political situation
