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Youth slaps Sharad Pawar over corruption and price rise

New Delhi: Breaking into a group of officials and journalists, a youth today attacked Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar after a public event here shouting slogans against corruption and price rise, an action that was roundly condemned by political parties.

71-year-old Pawar, who went to a literary function at a public auditorium on Parliament Street, was caught unawares when he was slapped by Harvinder Singh, a local transporter in his thirties who had assaulted former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram outside a court on Saturday after he was sentenced in a corruption case.

The NCP veteran, who has very little security, lost his balance for a moment but regained composure after the assault, moved towards the exit of the auditorium and got into his waiting car.

Private security guards immediately overpowered the youth who was shouting "he is corrupt" and an official landed some blows on Singh.

"I came planned to the event to slap the minister," Singh told reporters who had gone to cover the literary function.

"All of them are corrupt," he shouted when he was removed from security and policemen.

Wielding a small kirpan, the youth said things could have been worse but for the observance of martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur today.

Pawar himself sought to play down the incident saying he was not sure of what the intentions of the attacker could be and left it to police to handle the issue.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Pawar after the incident and condemned the attack. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said that the attack on Pawar was "totally condemnable". — PTI

Largest partial solar eclipse tomorrow, no show in India 

New Delhi: Astro enthusiasts in the country will miss an opportunity to watch the largest partial solar eclipse of the year as it will be visible only from the deep Southern Hemisphere.

A partial solar eclipse will take place tomorrow which will only be seen from southern South Africa, Antarctica, Tasmania and most of New Zealand, except for the far north of the North Island.

At the instant of greatest eclipse, the eclipse magnitude will be 0.905, making it the largest partial eclipse of the year. At that time, the lunar shadow axis will pass just 330 km above Earth's surface near the coast of Antarctica. — PTI

James Murdoch quits as director of UK titles

London: James Murdoch,son of Rupert Murdoch, resigned as the director of UK-based companies that run prestigious titles like The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Times.