New Delhi/Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today called on the Union Minister for Environment and Forest (MoEF) Mr. Parkash Javadekar for seeking upward revision in the rate of water cess to strengthen the financial position of the Pollution Control Boards in the respective states. The Chief Minister,Read More

JERUSALEM: Terming the efforts of world powers to strike a nuclear deal with Iran as “dangerous”, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu today said it was “astonishing” that talks were on even after IAEA found that Tehran was hiding military components of its atomic programme. A confidential document by the IAEA, distributedRead More

DHAKA: At least 48 people, including many women and children, were killed today when an overcrowded ferry with over 150 passengers sank in a river in northwestern Bangladesh after colliding with a trawler, the latest maritime tragedy to hit the country. The ferry, heading to Paturia from Daulatdia in Rajbari,Read More

STOCKHOLM: A Swedish journalist has been freed from captivity in Syria after a week-long detention by Syrian government forces, local media reported today. Joakim Medin, a 30-year-old freelance reporter, told the Expressen newspaper that he was seized at a road block along with his Kurdish interpreter Sabri Omar while workingRead More

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry says two more people have died after contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS, pushing the total number of deaths from the virus in the kingdom to 385. The ministry’s statement yesterday says that 902 cases of MERS have been discovered in Saudi Arabia sinceRead More

COLOMBO: Close on the heels of the signing of an Indo-Lankan nuclear cooperation agreement on February 16, a Pakistan-Sri Lanka agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy is to be signed during the visit of Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to Islamabad which is expected to take placeRead More

MALE: Maldives police have arrested former President and current opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed under anti-terrorism laws. A document signed by the prosecutor general seen by The Associated Press said that Nasheed was arrested Sunday to stand trial for his 2012 order as president to arrest a senior judge. It saidRead More

DHAKA: A river ferry carrying about 100 passengers capsized in central Bangladesh on Sunday after being hit by a cargo vessel, killing at least 15 people, officials said. A rescue operation was underway, but it was not clear how many people were missing. The ferry was struck by the cargoRead More

DHAKA: A river ferry carrying about 100 passengers capsized and sank in central Bangladesh on Sunday and a rescue operation was underway, an official said. The ferry was reportedly hit by a cargo vessel at the Daulatdia-Paturia crossing on the Padma River on Sunday afternoon, said fire department official ShahzadiRead More

New Delhi, Swine flu claimed 38 more lives in the country taking the death toll beyond 800 even as the total number of people affected by the disease today breached the 13,000 mark. According to Health Ministry figures, the total number of deaths due to the disease has now reachedRead More