L A T E S T      N E W S

Mulayam supports Ramdev on black money

New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is having no trouble meeting the leaders of most political parties. Except for the Congress, that is.  He has sought time with Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister; so far, they have not acquiesced. The Baba has said that if he meets Sonia Gandhi, he would like to discuss everything from Bofors to Coal-gate, corruption scandals that dog the Congress-past and Congress-present.

The Congress' main allies, though, have been clearing their schedules to meet with Baba Ramdev and express their support for his campaign against corruption and black money. 

Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party met him this morning. Mr Yadav provides external support to the UPA.  Last week,  Baba Ramdev had met Sharad Pawar and Ajit Singh, who participate in the UPA government led by the Congress. Mr Yadav said he supports Baba Ramdev and then walked out of the joint press conference after reporters pointed out that he has been accused of corruption by Team Anna, the activists who Baba Ramdev is pairing with.

Memogate: Ex-Pak envoy found guilty

New Delhi: In a major development, Pakistan’s Memo Commission on Tuesday found the country’s former Ambassador to the US, Hssain Haqqani, guilty in the Memogate scandal that strained Islamabad’s ties with Washington.

In its submissions to the Pakistan Supreme Court, the Commission described Haqqani as the mastermind of the Memogate scandal and claimed that he authored the memo in which Pakistan allegedly sought official help from the United States in the event of a military coup in the country.

After the submissions were made, the Pakistan Supreme Court ordered Haqqani to depose before it in two weeks.

The Memo Commission's proceedings came to an end last month and it sent its report to the Supreme Court after compilation.

US exempts India from Iran sanctions

Washington: The US Tuesday said it would exempt India and six other countries from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil.

"Today I have made the determination that seven economies-India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan--have all significantly reduced their volume of crude oil purchases from Iran," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.

Clinton said exemptions would also be granted to South Korea, Turkey, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Taiwan, which join Japan and a number of European countries already on the list of those exempted from Iran sanctions act that kicks into force later this month.

Clinton issued the statement in this regard hours before External Affairs Minister S M Krishna was to arrive in Washington to co-chair the third India-US Strategic Dialogue along with his American counterpart.

In her statement, Clinton said as a result of her determination, she will report to the Congress that relevant sanctions will not apply to financial institutions of these countries.