Beijing, May 27 (IANS) Major Chinese industrial firms saw their combined profits rise 9.3 percent year on year in April, slowing from the 12.1-percent rate seen during the first quarter, official data showed Monday. The profits of industrial companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan ($3.24 million) [...]

Thiruvananthapuram, May 27 (IANS) For more than a year, veteran Kerala politician and chairman of Kerala Congress (Pillai) R. Balakrishna Pillai’s only demand was the ouster of his son from the cabinet. On Monday, he did a volte-face. The father requested Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Monday to reinstate his son [...]

Thiruvananthapuram, May 27 (IANS) Teenage sensation Sanju V. Samson appears to have saved the day for Kerala after he bagged the best young cricketer award at the sixth edition of the IPL. The better known cricketer from the state, Sreesanth, meanwhile, cools his heels in jail. Eighteen-year-old Samson played 11 [...]

Mexico City, May 27 (IANS/EFE) Jose Maria Perez Gay, a Mexican writer, academic, translator and diplomat, died early Sunday, said his brother, Rafael Perez Gay. He was 70. “My brother, Jose Maria Perez Gay, died at 2:05 a.m. today, Sunday, at the age of 70,” Rafael Perez Gay said in [...]

Beijing, May 27 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived here Monday hoping to enhance cooperation between the two countries in areas of trade, investment, science and technology and defence. Rajapaksa is here on a four-day state visit on an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping, reported Xinhua. He is [...]

Chennai, May 27 (IANS) Actress Kanika Tiwari, who played Hrithik Roshan’s sister in the 2012 film “Agneepath”, has signed her second Telugu romantic-drama. The yet-untitled project features southern actor Prince Cecilb opposite her. “We are planning to launch the film in the second week of June, while the regular shooting [...]

Mumbai, May 27 (IANS) Actor Girish Taurani, who is making his acting debut with Prabhudheva’s “Ramaiya Vastavaiya”, believes keeping the audience happy will help him tread the right direction in his career. “All my energy is invested here. In future, whatever work I do, my intention will be to do [...]

Mumbai, May 27 (IANS) Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray Monday said there was need to “crush” the terror unleashed by “Maoist devils” in several states of India. In an editorial piece in the party’s mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray condemned the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh that virtually left the state Congress headless [...]

Shimla: Mild rainfall in some parts of Himachal Pradesh, including this state capital, brought relief from the scorching heat today. Weather officials said the rains would bring down temperatures across the state by three to four notches. “Most parts in the state saw mild spells of rain, bringing the temperatures down [...]

Madrid, May 27 (IANS/EFE) Those sentenced for gender-related violence in Spain, after doing their time in jail, will be set free but put under constant surveillance. This is one of the chief measures of the National Strategy against Gender Violence, whose basic elements were presented Saturday by Spain’s secretary of [...]