In a subtle message to the Opposition ranks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his New Year greetings on Friday, sought a “new beginning” in the year ahead. He also asked people to believe in the resilience of democracy and its capacity to deal with infirmities through course correction.

Senior BJP leader and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday said he will take a decision on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer to appear before the committee in the 2G spectrum case after consulting legal experts. Dr Joshi, who met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday, apparently discussed this issue and took her views on it.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s attempt to break the logjam over the Opposition demand for a joint parliamentary probe (JPC) on the 2G spectrum allocation scam did not yield any result, with both the government and the Opposition sticking to their guns. The Speaker, on conclusion of the meeting, expressed the hope that the Budget Session would be hassle-free.

There was no relief for the Bar Council of India (BCI) member Rajendra Singh Rana, who was arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking bribe of `1 lakh to grant affiliation to a law college in Ghaziabad, as Justice Mukta Gupta of the Delhi high court dismissed his bail plea saying that saying it cannot be granted at this stage.

Delhiites were greeted by a clear morning on the New Year’s eve after having braced a number of foggy days altogether. However, the weatherman has warned that the city would get colder in the days to come.

A mentally-challenged youth was beaten to death by a vendor and his wife in Nihal Vihar area on Thursday evening over a trivial issue.
The deceased has been identified as Prakash, 32, a resident of Chandra Vihar area of outer Delhi, the police said. The incident took place in Chandra Vihar when the accused, identified as Jasvir Singh, 55, a junk-food vendor, was returning home with his push cart.

Relieved at seeing the challenging year 2010 go past, the Delhi government is likely to make all-out efforts to provide basic amenities to more than 1,600 unauthorised colonies in a clear move to keep voters happy for the MCD elections in 2012.

A two-year-old boy was charred to death when around 125 hutments in a slum cluster caught fire in Tughlaqabad Extension area of southeast Delhi on Friday afternoon.
The police said a two-year-old child was charred to death in the fire which started at around 1.30 am. “Ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot and it took them around one and a half hour to douse the flames,” a senior fire official said.

Most people who have been introduced to Thai cuisine late in their life and have subsequently fallen in love with it, have started their romance with Thai with the ubiquitous Pad Thai and of course the Thai red curry and green curry dishes.

The Centre has decided to lift the decades-old curbs on foreigners visiting Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram that made it mandatory for them to seek government permission.