May 20, Colombo: Sri Lanka President's son Hambantota district parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa says that he has asked his father, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, not to grant a Deputy Minister portfolio to him.

The 60 people who BBC Radio 4 claims have had the greatest impact on Britain during the second Elizabethan period will be profiled over the next few months. Here is the list of who they selected:

LIBERALS say their alternative Budget would lower costs, boost the economy and avoid Tassie paying for a mess.

A Parliamentary panel has pulled up the Department of Space for delays in its headline missions of human spaceflight and sending satellites to moon and Mars. The panel criticised the Department of Space (DoS), which comes directly under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for 'casually fixing schedules' for important programmes like the Manned Mission Initiative scheduled to take an Indian astronaut to outer space in 2014. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, chaired by Congress leader T. Subbarami Reddy, noted with concern that a programme initiated in 2006 and having target date of 2014, is yet to get a final approval even for its Phase-I programme. It said the department was either not serious in timely completion of the project or had casually fixed a schedule for completion of the mission. Related Articles Chirus fans vow to work for TSR victory TSR homecoming turns memorable YSRC workers turn to TSR TSRs nature to help all: Mohan Related Images "It also reflects a lack of proper planning and effective monitoring, as also absence of adequate research and technological support for timely execution of the project," the Committee said. The panel hoped that the pre-project activities would be expeditiously completed and approval for Phase-I of the programme obtained, so that the project is completed as per schedule in 2014. On the Mars Orbiter mission and constant rescheduling of the Chandrayaan-II mission, the committee stressed on the will and dedication to complete the mission target within the time schedule. If a time schedule does not inspire the confidence of the team and is seen by it as an unrealistic target, it will hardly serve any purpose, the panel said and asked the DoS to fix time schedules in a more realistic way, rather drawing up timelines that were not adhered to. The committee felt that failure to adhere to programme schedule sent a wrong message to the public and lowered their confidence in taking the capability to take the space programme to new heights. "The schedule for all missions, including complex missions, should be prepared only after taking into account all ground realities, so that a realistic schedule meant to be adhered by all, rather than that being violated with impunity, is prepared," the committee said.

There are more allegations of backhanders in Esperanza Aguirre's regional government in Madrid

Taking a clue from Aamir Khan's TV show 'Satyamev Jayate', the health department in Haryana has taken certain steps to set things right.

TWO members from NATO's International Security Assistance Force died today following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan.

Allison Baden-Clay reportedly learned Gerard was seeing a woman at his work around a year before her body was found in West Brisbane.

Khurshid said leaders have different styles of leading and the PM should be judged accordingly.

From an Afghan girl looking at a US army soldier to Red shirt supporters dressed up as ghost, here are May 19's best pictures.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on said the steep fall in the rupee was a matter of great concern and the Centre was trying to resolve the situation. "It is a matter of great concern. We are watching the situation. The Centre is not (sitting) idle. We are trying to resolve (the issue)," Mukherjee told press here. "This is due to the Eurozone crisis," he said. Mukherjee added, "There is also currency crisis in emerging markets including Brazil." At the forex market, the domestic currency has been falling against the US dollar over the past few days. On Friday, in early trade, the rupee threatened to breach the 55-level as it slumped to 54.91 against the American currency -- the fresh all-time low it hit in the third straight session as copious fund outflows continued amid Eurozone worries. Related Articles Achieving 7.5 pc growth in 2012-13 tough task: Montek Depreciating rupee to push up prices of manufactured goods In India, muddled leadership leaves economy adrift Pranab Mukherjee reveals diary-writing habit BAC to decide on Lokpal Bill in RS: Pranab, BJP criticises delay Related Images Dealers said strong dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, on expectation of further strengthening of the dollar, caused the rupee's fall. However, the Reserve Bank had stepped in and stemmed the rupee's slide.

LYING in the back of an ambulance, NSW Origin stand-by Tariq Sims apologised for letting down his teammates after breaking a leg during a Cowboys victory secured by the heroics of brother Ashton.

G8 leaders said they want debt-stricken Greece to stay in the eurozone at a Camp David summit as the group papered over deep-seated divisions about how best to tackle the eurozone crisis.With the future of Europe's currency union in doubt, leaders of the world's largest economies called on Greece on Saturday to stick to the terms of a massive EU-IMF cash-for-reforms bailout, which is hanging by a thread.

HCL Infosystems today said its consolidated net profit rose by 3.44 per cent to Rs 60 crore for the quarter ended March 31. Net sales of the company declined to Rs 2,814.50 crore for the third quarter ended March 31, from Rs 2,990.63 crore in the same period last year. 

At the end of their two-day here, the leaders of the G-8 -- the exclusive group of top eight economic nations made up of the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia -- agreed that growth and jobs must be their "top priority."

Research shows that more than half of office workers are dissatisfied with the level of “speech privacy” in their offices, and managers are hearing their complaints.

After plunging to a record low in Wednesday's trade, the rupee recovered by 27 paise to trade at 54.23 against the dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market in early trade today on selling of US currency by banks.

In an attempt to bring back investor interest in port projects, the shipping ministry has released a long-term development plan for the sector envisaging investment of more than R2.78 lakh crore by year 2020.

European officials are working on contingency plans in case Greece bombs out of the euro zone, the EU's trade commissioner said yesterday, while Berlin said it was prepared for all eventualities.

Food inflation rose to 17.65 per cent for the week ended April 10 from 17.22 per cent in the previous week due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables. In the corresponding week last year, food inflation was at 8.16 per cent. Prices of fruits and vegetables rose by 3 per cent, sea fish became costlier by two per cent and pulses such as arhar and moong became dearer by one per cent each over the week. The overall inflation, led by rise in food prices, had gone up to 9.9 per cent in March, much higher than the central bank's projection of 8.5 per cent for March-end. On an annual basis, pulses became dearer by 28.77 per cent, milk by 22.21 per cent, fruits by 18.81 per cent and wheat by 11.18 per cent. On a weekly basis, the index for food articles rose by 0.7 per cent. Index for non-food articles rose by 0.5 per cent led by higher prices of groundnut and castor seeds.

SpaceX expects to be ready to launch the first private spacecraft bound for the International Space Station early Tuesday.

The lawsuit combines 21 cases filed across the US. It accuses Facebook of improperly tracking users even after they logged out of their accounts

Source:Securities Technology Monitor and SourceMedia, IncIn adapting to the possibility of using new business entity identifiers, financial firms should do a lot more work than haphazardly adding a new code to their operating systems, says financial technol...

With an expanding domestic market, increasing cost and higher attrition rate, outsourcing action is shifting to tier-III and IV cities.

SpaceX capsules launch atop an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) was aborted due to technical problems.

LJ Rich takes a look at the low-cost tablets battling Apple's dominance in India.

Highly respected researcher Jim Gray contributed to relational database development and early big data projects. More than five years ago, he and his sailboat disappeared near the Farallon Islands.

Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith offers a couple of words of advice amid today's Facebook IPO fanfare.

BANGKOK - The United States' suspension of some economic sanctions against Burma has sparked mixed reaction from analysts and rights groups. Some argue that sanctions should have been lifted long ago.  But others point out that rights violations in Burma continue, and fear Washington may be moving too fast. The economic restrictions against Burma were originally put in place as punishment for the military governments human rights abuses, which included a violent suppression of ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Motorola Mobility smartphones infringe on a Microsoft patent and will be barred from importation to the United States, a U.S. trade panel said on Friday.

TASSIE cyclist Matt Goss has pulled out of the Giro d'Italia as he prepares for the Tour de France and the Olympics.

Cowboys star taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.

LONDON (AFP) – Chelsea interim manager Roberto Di Matteo is under “serious consideration” to be appointed on a permanent basis following the Blues’ Champions League triumph, senior club officials have said. Chelsea interim manager Roberto Di Matteo is under “serious consideration” to be appointed on a permanent basis following the Blues’ Champions League triumph, senior [...]

ADELAIDE has dented Carlton's AFL top-four hopes as Patrick Dangerfield led the Crows to their first win in Melbourne in two-and-a-half years.

Melbourne Rebels win their second game on the bounce with a nail-biting one-point win over Western Force.

NSW skipper Paul Gallen appears a certain starter for Wednesday night's State of Origin opener at Etihad Stadium.

ROME: Rafael Nadal dominated David Ferrer 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 yesterday to power into a seventh Rome Masters final, beating his fellow Spaniard for the 12th consecutive time on clay.

Japan head coach Eddie Jones has urged his squad to strengthen their scrum and boost their fitness before the Asian champions defend the Pacific Nations Cup next month."We need to get far better in the scrum," the former Wallaby coach said after Japan whitewashed Hong Kong 67-0 in Tokyo on Saturday to secure a fifth straight Asian Five Nations title."We don't have the leg strength to scrimmage low. We need to develop a low effective scrum," said Jones, who assumed his post last month with a goal of leading Japan into the world's top 10 by the 2015 World Cup in England.

Interim manager Roberto Di Matteo praises Chelsea's "incredible achievement" after they beat Bayern Munich to win the Champions League, but the Italian refuses to be drawn on his long-term future at the club.

Melbourne Vixens dropped their second game in succession as the Northern Mystics became the first New Zealand team to win in Australia this season, with athletic defender Anna Harrison starring in the 49-45 upset at Hisense Arena this afternoon.

SWEDISH favourites Abba have become just the third act to sell five million copies of an album in the UK.

The Cult has just released its first new full-length album in five years, "Choice of Weapon." A long time has passed since the British hard-rock band ruled MTV with tunes like "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Wild Flower,"...

A new report suggests that Hollywood legend Marlon Brando recorded phone conversations with famous and powerful people. 

'We are still in state of shock,' Taruni's grief-stricken father says.

Karan Johar's birthday party is one of the most grand affairs of the year. Karan’s birthday bash will be held at suburban five-star hotel in Mumbai on May 25. The who’s who of the film industry and Mumbai socialites

VIENNA (AP) - All the lovely singing fails to save the Vienna State Opera's new production of Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito."No less an expert than Richard Wagner called Mozart's last opera "stiff and dry." And that's how the work came across at its latest reincarnation on Thursday.Musically, the evening ...

For a bloke who's almost 50, Andrew Weatherall sure can shake his tail feather - or, at least, inspire others to. The music the British mix master - who, among many other things, produced Primal Scream's 1991 classic Screamadelica...

The actress was spotted surprising a fan with a treat on his birthday.

Check out movie stills of Bol Bachchan starring Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan...

ALEX Perry is in a difficult situation after Sydney Fashion Week moved its dates to clash with the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

The Boston Globe examined data on more than 15,600 nursing homes across the nation for its investigation of antipsychotic overuse. The information was supplied by the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 19 months after a Freedom of Information Act request was submitted.

The days of relaxed entertaining with families and friends gathering around backyard barbecues are upon us. But outdoor cooking can have health risks if certain steps are not taken, say public health officials.

Proposed security cuts at Tauranga Hospital have staff fearing for their safety - and that of patients.The Bay of Plenty District Health Board wants to cut security staff from nine fulltime equivalent positions to eight and there...

Returning extra medicine to the pharmacy for disposal might not be worth the extra time, money or greenhouse gas emissions, according to a University of Michigan study that is the first to look at the net effects of so-called take-back programs. The new evidence suggests that discarding unused drugs in the trash is a better option to limit the risk of poisoning and at the same time curb pollution of both water and air. To arrive at this conclusion, the researchers compared the total emissions created by take-back, trash and toilet disposal methods...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Female and high school athletes may need more time to recover from a concussion than their male or college counterparts, a new study finds.

Feeling sick? Doctors may one day check your tooth to figure out whats wrong.

THE Mill on Morrison has taken a top award at the at the 2012 Tasmanian Hospitality Association Awards.

The U.K. is being drained of crucial medicines by exporters who sell them elsewhere in Europe at higher prices, putting patients' well-being at risk, U.K. lawmakers said.

Known for its potential to protect against heart disease, red wine also aids digestive health, through probiotics, studies show.

A new campaigns been launched to help eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. Its called Believe it, Do it. Its estimated nearly 400,000 children become infected with the AIDS virus every year -- mostly in low and middle income countries. In 2010, 250,000 children under age 15 died of HIV-related causes. UNAIDS officials said around 3.4 million children under the age of 15 are currently living with HIV. Whats more, about 42,000 women die annually from complications ...