Mumbai: British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived here this morning on a three-day India visit during which he will meet captains of industry and hold talks with top leaders who are likely to seek more information on the VVIP helicopters scam involving an Anglo-Italian firm.

LONDON: India's flagship cultural centre in London - the Nehru Centre, is facing a severe cash crunch.

Budgetary allocation to the centre - the cultural arm of the Indian High Commission, with the responsibility of portraying India's cultural heritage has been steadily dipping over the past three years. In 2011, allocation by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) was nearly Rs 5 crores which dipped to Rs 3.6 crores the following year.

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama vetoed the idea of a Seal 6 team tasked with killing Osama bin Laden surrendering if surrounded by Pakistani troops. Instead, he planned to "rain hell" on the Pakistani military in such an eventuality, stirring new insights into the Abbottabad invasion that nailed the world's No.1 terrorist has revealed.

UNITED NATIONS: North Korea ignored a "strong warning" from China against staging its suspected nuclear weapon test, a UN Security Council diplomat said late on Monday.

LOS ANGELES: Sitar legend Ravi Shankar was on Sunday posthumously awarded the best world music album trophy at the 55th Grammys for 'The Living Room Sessions Part 1', pipping his daughter Anoushka, a day after being given Lifetime Achievement award.

JUBA: More than 100 people have been killed in South Sudan in an attack by rebels and ethnic allies on a convoy of families from a rival tribe and their cattle, an official said on Sunday.


Since breaking from Sudan in 2011, oil-producing South Sudan has struggled to assert control over remote territories awash with weapons after a 1983-2005 war with the north and torn by ethnic rivalries.

WASHINGTON: Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao considers it fortunate that India-US partnership enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress, just as it does across the political spectrum in India.

Rao expressed the sentiment in a letter to the outgoing chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, thanking him for his leadership of the Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans, the largest such caucus for a single country.

Boston: A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the northeast with a vengeance on Friday, with up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow forecast along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond.
Halfway through what was looking like a merciful winter, people stocked up on food and other storm supplies, and road crews along the East Coast readied salt and sand ahead of what forecasters warned could be one for the record books.

London, Dec 18:  Ireland today announced it will legalise abortions when the mother’s life is at risk, weeks after the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died after being refused an abortion in the European country. 
The decision comes after a huge public outcry over the death of 31-year-old Savita, who died on October 28 at Galway University Hospital. She had been 17-week pregnant and was found to be miscarrying.

Beijing,Dec 18: Reforms in China have entered a “crucial period” and the words and deeds of the new leadership reflect their determination to carry on with reforms, said a state-run Chinese daily Tuesday.
“No stop in reform, and no stop in opening up” is the message from China’s new leader Xi Jinping during his visit to Shenzhen, “showing the new central collective leadership’s determination and confidence in promoting the reform and opening up”, said an article in the People’s Daily.