The ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) have cancelled the environmental clearance (EC) to the Vedanta-owned Sesa Goa Ltd for an iron ore mine located in Pirna in North Goa on grounds of suppression of vital information.

As the Prime Minister’s Office continues to get embroiled in the 2G note controversy, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to talk to core committee members and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to find a way to defuse the crisis. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who returned from

Eminent lawyer Abhishek Singhvi on Wednesday had a 45-minute meeting with home minister P. Chidambaram, who is in the eye of storm on the finance ministry’s note on the 2G spectrum allocation.

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has made it clear to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi that his ministry “did not have any role” in preparing the 2G note, sources indicated on Wednesday.

The CBI, after resisting the demand to probe Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s alleged role in 2G spectrum allocation, sprang a surprise in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, stating that its investigators have decided to register an FIR against former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran in connection with the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Despite the CBI and Centre’s strong resistance to any order from the Supreme Court for probing the alleged role of home minister P. Chidambaram in the 2G scam case, his problems seem to be not entirely over as the top court took note of its two crucial orders for investigating Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his deputy Amit Shah despite filing of the chargesheets.

Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan share a laugh during the first Hridaynath Award at Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai on Wednesday, Lata Mangeshkar’s 82nd birthday. — Satej Shinde

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s guest for lunch at his 7 Race Course Road residence.

Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, V.K. Malhotra, on Wednesday said incidents of terrorist attack, house collapse, inundation of the city due to heavy rains have proved that there is clear lack of quick response team for disaster management, which is causing utmost inconvenient to the people.

Rubbishing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks that the Opposition is trying to destabilise the government, the BJP on Wednesday said the government will collapse under its own contradictions. Accusing the PM