New Delhi, Aug 2 : Lok Sabha Speaker Somanth Chatterjee will leave for Kuala Lumpur today to attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) meeting.

The conference will witness a direct contest for the chairmanship of the Association between NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul and a Malaysian minister.

Paul, who is a Labour member of the British House of Lords, is pitted against Mohammed Shafie Apdal, Malaysia''s Minister for Unity and Culture.

New York, Aug. 1 : India has been ranked as the second best country outside the United States for business investment, according to a "Winning Strategies in Economic Development Marketing" survey.

Top US corporate executives have ranked China as the best country outside the United States for business investment. The survey has been released here this week.

More than half of the 281 corporate executives who responded to the survey named China as the most favourable country. Over 45 percent of American executives voted in favour of India, which was followed by Mexico, the United Kingdom and Canada.

London, Aug. 1 : Representatives of Orissa’s remote Dongria Kondh tribe have been successful in denouncing a mining project undertaken by Britain’s Vedanta Group during the latter’s annual general body meeting here.

According to The Independent, Vedanta founder and chairman Anil Agarwal was cornered when he was asked to explain in detail his group’s commitment to "sustainable development" after Dongria Kondh tribals presented testimony on how the company was destroying the environment even before the mining has started.

Though Vedanta Resources told shareholders that the company had earned record revenue for a sixth successive year (revenues of 8.2 billion dollars, 26 per cent up on

New Delhi, Aug 1 : The Union Government today gave clearance for introduction of next generation (3G) mobile services as well as portability of mobile numbers which would allow users to switch operators while retaining existing numbers.

The new guidelines for 3G spectrum, released today by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), provides for a reserve price for availing of radio frequency.

The Government has also fixed the base price at Rs 160 crore for metros and category A circles, Rs 80 crore for category B, and Rs 30 crore for C circles, respectively for 3G spectrum auctions.

The Government has also decided to allow up to 10 players in the 3G space, including eligible foreign players.

Vienna - India was about to take a key step towards implementing its nuclear trade deal with the United States on Friday, as the UN nuclear watchdog's board met to decide on an inspection protocol with the Asian nation.

Diplomats said ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting they did not expect any of the 35 board members to block the inspection agreement, even though some are concerned about possible loopholes that might allow India to cease inspections.

Khar, Aug 1 : The Pakistan unit of the Taliban - Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – has described as ‘baseless’ the statement made by Adviser to the Pakistan PM on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik saying that TTP was getting funds from India.

Dismissing the statement, TTP spokesman Maulvi Umer said that it was totally unfounded as the TTP was fighting jihad against India and considered it as an enemy.