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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan is at at again. For the umpteenth time, the CPI(M) stalwart has thumbed his nose at the state CPI(M) leadership, igniting in the process a fresh controversy.

As the Aam Admi Party (AAP) continues to apply street-level tactics of activism to governance in both word and deed – calling Delhi’s Lt.Gov a Congress agent and threatening to go to “any extent” to enact its version of the Lokpal law – the Congress must be watching with bated breath to see how long the fledgling party’s roller-coaster ride will last.

New Delhi: While the BCCI chief Narayanaswami Srinvasan is facing the burnt of the allegation of his son-in-law involved in betting on games, his brother and the newly elected President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) N.Ramachandran has assured that he would take up the case on priority basis about India's return to the Olympic fold after a 14-month suspension.

BHOPAL: Factional infighting and lack of coordination may adversely impact the Congress' preparations for the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh. The party is divided vertically from the top to the bottom. There are factions even at the grassroots level and lack of coordination among the top leaders of the party is very visible.

Both the Supreme Court and Delhi’s Aam Aadmi party government may or may not be fully aware of how a combined impact of the power sector deregulation and nexus between electricity whole-sellers and retailers (discoms) led to the worst ever power crisis in North America, involving the State of California, in 2000 and 2001. The big black-out threat posed by Reliance discoms in Delhi, following cash-strapped NTPC’s warning that it would cut off power supply to the private retail distributors belonging to the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group if it did not settle large payment dues against the bulk purchase of electricity from the public sector power producer, is somewhat reminiscent of the artificially manipulated power crisis by the supplier-distributor nexus in California, just 14 years ago.

New Delhi: Indian defence industry reaped benefits out of the ongoing four-day DefExpo-20014 which came to a close, here on Sunday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is there a ‘deal’ between the Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDFD) Government and the State CPI(M) in the TP Chandrashekharan murder case? That is the question resonating not only the corridors of power but also across the State.

Howsoever the non-Congress, non-BJP leader may strive, chances of the formation of the Third Front appear remote before the general elections and that too in a situation where both the Congress and the BJP find it difficult to form the government. Even if the Third Front takes places, it would be plagued by inherent contradictions. Depending on the results, many of the parties now talking of a Third Front, might actually decide to back either the Congress or the BJP, as they have done in the past. The Congress and the BJP would have to do very badly if the nebulous third front is to lead the next government at the Centre.

China’s economy grew by 7.7 percent in 2013 - plummeted from a double digit growth of 10.4 percent three years ago. Its export plunged to 7.9 percent growth in 2012 from 20.3 percent in 2011. In 2013, export is unlikely to meet the target of 6 percent growth. In tandem, China lost its allure to MNCs. Foreign investment increased marginally by 1.4 percent over the three year period - from US$ 116.0 billion in 2011 to US$117.6 billion in 2013. Many MNCs are considering to pull out from China. Best Buy, an American electronics retailer and Media Market, a German company, put their shutters down. Revlon will pull out in near future and L’Oreal will stop selling Garner brand in China. Tesco, a British retail giant, joined hand with local firm, turning down its intention to go alone.

Is Palaniappan Chidambaram, once regarded as Congress-led UPA’s second most powerful minister, being finally sidelined by the government for arbitrarily pinching the pockets of ministers and bureaucrats, cutting public expenditure across the board and tightening import regulation to enforce fiscal discipline and improve the country’s global rating?