New Delhi, May 24 : A Indian scholar invited to a US conference has won his battle against British Airways in the top consumer forum, which has directed the airline to compensate him Rs. 150,000 ($2,600) for his "mental agony and harassment".

Complainant Rabindra Nath Pati was prevented from boarding a flight from Philadelphia on his way home despite holding a valid ticket, forcing him to overstay in the US.

New Delhi, May 24 : Socialite Paris Hilton wore Indian designer duo Falguni and Shane Peacock's creation at the amFar (The American Foundation for AIDS Research) Cinema Against AIDS Gala in Cannes.

Paris was spotted wearing a customised baby pink coloured full-length gown with feather embellishments at the bottom.

"Paris has always loved our clothes and we have worked with her in the past. This is one of our signature styled gowns and she is looking gorgeous," the designer duo said in a joint statement.

New Delhi, May 24 - A day after Delhi recorded it's hottest day in May in the last 10 years, the mercury is expected to rise further Friday, the India Meteorological Department said.

"The heatwave conditions will prevail over the city Friday. The maximum temperature is expected to be around 46 degrees Celsius," an IMD official said.

The minimum temperature early Friday was three notches above average at 29.5 degrees Celsius, while the humidity recorded at 8.30 a. m. was 37 percent.

New Delhi, May 23 - “Saat Phere” fame Rajshree Thakur, who is making a comeback to the small screen after three years, says her motto is to do prominent characters that suit here personality.

Best known for playing dusky Saloni in “Saat Phere”, which was her debut on the small screen, she will now be seen as Jeevantha Bai (Maharana Pratap's mother) in Sony's upcoming show “Bharat Ka Veer Putra - Maharan Pratap”.

According to a new study, the industries located in the Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) has been forced to cut their production by 25 per cent due to unreliable power supply.

A study by Assocham has found that unscheduled power supply in Delhi-NCR is expected to impact small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in the area. Assocham said that power cuts will force industrial units in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad to cur production by up to 40 to 45 per cent mainly in the manufacturing units.

New Delhi, May 20 : India and China Monday stressed on maintaining peace and tranquility along their border and on boosting trade ties, including inviting Chinese firms to invest in India in infrastructure development and increasing banking and financial cooperation.

In a joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, both sides reaffirmed that they view each other as "partners for mutual benefit and not as rivals or competitors".

New Delhi, May 20 : Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Monday met United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The premier spent around 40 minutes at Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence, said a party source.

Earlier, opposition leader Sushma Swaraj called on Li. After meeting Gandhi, Li called on Vice President Hamid Ansari.(IANS)

New Delhi, May 20 : India and Britain have signed an agreement for cooperation in the health sector with specific focus on strengthening primary health care and technological development, an official said here Monday.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad and Britain's secretary for health Jeremy Richard Hunt Sunday evening at Geneva, the official said.

New Delhi, May 20 : The BCCI's anti-corruption unit head Monday met the Delhi Police chief seeking cooperation in the spot-fixing scandal and also requested the Rajasthan Royals franchise to file a First Information Report
(FIR) against the three tainted players.

Speaking to reporters after the half-hour meeting with Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) chief Ravi Sawani said the meeting was "successful" and the police chief had "assured cooperation".

New Delhi, May 20 : Text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement to the media Monday on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India:

It is an honour for me to welcome Premier Li on his first official visit to India. It has been an immense pleasure to get to know him personally. I sincerely appreciate his reaching out to me on his first day in office and his choosing India as his first foreign destination as Premier.

New Delhi, May 20 : You wear gold bangles, necklaces and earrings, but how about drinking some gold? 51 Buckingham Gate, part of The Taj Group of Hotels, and Luxor Champagne, has introduced a 24 karat gold afternoon tea, which includes edible gold.

The special tea, launched in Britain, features half a bottle of sparkling wine Luxor pure gold 24 karat Brut Champagne, which includes flakes of 24 karat gold. The offering is targeted at London's afternoon tea aficionados, according to a statement.

New Delhi, May 20 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that India and China's relationship is essential for stability and prosperity in Asia and the world, while stressing the need "for an early resolution of the boundary dispute.

"There are many areas of convergence between us. We agreed that the relationship is of growing significance and essential for peaceful development and stability and prosperity in the region and the world," Manmohan Singh said after the two countries signed many economic agreements here on the first international visit of Chinese premier Li Keqiang.

New Delhi, May 20 : India and China do have "difficult issues left over from history" but are destined to exist together, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in a published article Monday.

Writing in The Hindu newspaper, Li warned that there would be no Asian century if India and China failed to live in harmony and achieve common development.

"There is no denying that China and India still have between them some difficult issues left over from history," he said in the article titled "A handshake across the Himalayas".

New Delhi, May 19 : Justice delayed is justice denied.  Nowhere this rings truer than in India where a staggering 30 million cases are said to be pending in the country's courts today.  And to tackle this intimidating problem requires comprehensive judicial reform, more judges of quality and improvement of the judicial infrastructure, jurists say.

"We need more quality judges who should be appointed through a transparent selection process and who are accountable for their actions," noted lawyer and transparency activist Prashant Bhushan said.

New Delhi, May 19 : Women find men with styled facial hair more attractive and look for partners with body grooming habits, underlined by the belief that excessive body hair is unattractive, says a survey conducted by Philips India in collaboration with research agency Hansa.

The survey was conducted among 600 respondents between the ages of 15 and 25 in New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Chandigarh.

New Delhi, May 19 : Armed with "scientific evidence" that the African cheetah is "not an alien species" and can survive in India, the government is planning to petition the Supreme Court to allow the import of the animal that became extinct 60 years ago.

The environment ministry's proposal comes after the apex court last month quashed the Rs. 300 crore project to import and re-introduce the Namibian cheetah in India. The court had termed the environment ministery's decision as "arbitrary and illegal" and a clear violation of the Wildlife Protection Act.

New Delhi, May 18 : The recent incursion by Chinese troops cast a "pretty dark shadow" on India-China relations, but the issue was handled "maturely" by both and probably Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will "get a chance to explain why, what happened" during his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sources said Saturday.

New Delhi, 18 May 18 : Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Saturday left for Belarus leading an Indian parliamentary delegation to the east European country.

According to an official release, the delegation will call on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich and chairman of the house of representatives of the national assembly Vladimir Andreichenko.

Meira Kumar will address the faculty and students of the academy of public administration in Belarus.

New Delhi, May 18 : Arjun Kapoor-starrer “Aurangzeb” has drawn a decent response at the box office with an opening day collection of Rs. 3.75 crore.

The film, made on a budget of Rs. 25 crore has managed good business in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and East Punjab territory, said a statement.

"Aurangzeb", a film from Yash Raj Film's stable, tells the story about the land mafia.

Directed by Atul Sabharwal, it also features Jackie Shroff, Rishi Kapoor, southern actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and Amrita Singh. (IANS)

New Delhi, May 18 : Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Akhilesh Das Gupta was Saturday elected to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Executive Council by a record number of votes in the quadrennial elections at Kuala Lumpur.

Das Gupta, a former national player, received the highest number of votes among all the elected members of the council, registering 259 votes out of a maximum of 262.