India to use Facebook, Twitter to curb road accidents (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - Social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even blogs will be made use of by the Indian government to spread the message of safe driving, transport officials said Monday.

India to use Facebook, Twitter to reduce road accidents

NEW DELHI - Social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will be made use of by the Indian government to spread the message of safe driving, transport officials said Monday.

India to use Facebook, Twitter to reduce fatal accidents

NEW DELHI - The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and International Road Federation (IRF) are planning to use social networking websites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help reduce fatal accidents by 50 percent in the next three years, officials said Monday.

Chidambaram chooses change over popularity (Capital Buzz)

NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram has really shaken up North Block that houses his ministry, not just with his biometric attendance system that has even peons and clerks clocking in to beat the deadline.

Tharoor says he’d tweet, but in moderation

NEW DELHI - Unfazed by the controversy surrounding his comments on the microblogging site Tweeter, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is upbeat about using this “innovative method of communication used by the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Palin gets big bucks for speech to Hong Kong investors, helps pay off hefty legal bills

WASHINGTON — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin emerged from a two-month absence from public view with a private talk, heavy on foreign policy, to a group of investors in Hong Kong.

Analyst says Palin’s speech in Asia was less about politics and more about making money

WASHINGTON — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin emerged from a two-month absence from public view in an unlikely manner: with a closed-door speech, heavy on foreign policy, to a group of investors in Hong Kong.

Back to basics: Recession-worried renters desire practical and homey amenities over the flashy

Renters might have the upper hand in today’s apartment market, but they’re not taking all they can get.

AP source confirms that Twitter raises $100M in a deal valuing the young company at $1B

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter Inc.’s lack of revenue isn’t discouraging investors.

BJP flays Congress for pardoning Tharoor for his tweat

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday lambasted the Congress for pardoning Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for his “cattle class” travel remark instead of sacking him.

Will young Obama supporters be part of the ‘change’ they want? Or let someone else do it?

CHICAGO — Young Americans showed their collective power when they helped vote President Obama into office. Inspired by his message of “change,” they knocked on doors, spread flyers, voted for him by a 2-1 margin, and partied like rock-the-vote stars when he won.

Armed soldiers patrol Beijing, Tibet shuts to foreigners as China prepares for anniversary

BEIJING — China has closed Tibet to foreign tourists and deployed soldiers armed with machine guns in the streets of Beijing — part of a raft of stringent security measures ahead of the 60th anniversary of communist rule. Even kite-flying has been banned in the capital.

Tharoor meets Sonia, Manmohan, Pranab

NEW DELHI - Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee following his return from Africa during which a controversy erupted over his “cattle class” remarks that were criticised by his own party.

Tharoor meets Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI - Amid calls for his resignation over his “cattle class” remarks, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after returning from his trip to Africa.

GM’s Whitacre the latest exec to pitch product, but advertising world says he’s no Lee Iacocca

When it comes to businessmen as pitchmen, not everybody can be Lee Iacocca.

21st-century journalism, still searching for a business model, finds no lack of young recruits

NEW YORK — At 21, Alana Taylor has already seen her career in journalism transformed and perhaps cut short by the technology reshaping the news business.

Tharoor gets wide support from Twitterati

NEW DELHI - From tweets urging him “not to be cowed down” and apologising for “the crap he had to endure”, the twitterati - essentially the newgen - has rallied behind Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor after his “cattle class” remarks on Twitter kicked up a controversy.

Tharoor, his Twitter - and the humourless Indian political discourse (Comment)

In the realm of bogus controversies what India’s junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor is in the midst of is laughably unserious. Someone needs to flush the sanctimony that clogs India’s political discourse.

NY-bound Lufthansa flight turns back to Frankfurt after oil leak reported

FRANKFURT — A New York-bound Boeing 747 operated by German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG turned back in mid-flight Saturday after the pilot reported that one if the plane’s four engines was leaking oil.

Congress mum after PM downplays Tharoor’s ‘cattle class’ remarks

NEW DELHI - The Congress party chose to keep mum over Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s controversial “cattle class” remarks Saturday, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed it as a “joke”.

Tharoor meets Indian policewomen in Liberia

NEW DELHI - It was appropriate that when Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor visited Liberia, which elected Africa’s first female president, one of the highlights of his trip would be a meeting with India’s most famous contribution to the African state - 125 female personnel of India’s Central Reserve Police Force that was in the West African nation as part of a UN mission.

States offer instant traffic updates via Twitter, sending mixed message on texting and driving

Fiddling with your iPhone behind the wheel can get you fined across much of the nation. But many states are more than happy to tweet you with up-to-the-minute directions on how to steer clear of a traffic jam.

Cuba gears up for mega-concert by Colombian hearthrob Juanes and others

HAVANA — An international rock star is bringing a mega-concert to Cuba — a spectacle that could be the biggest visit by an outsider since Pope John Paul II’s 1998 tour — while shrugging off death threats over an event he has dedicated to peace.

PM comes to Tharoor’s rescue at ‘austere’ iftar

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday termed as a “joke” Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s taunting comments on the auterity drive and sought to defuse the controversy.

Congress MP Sudhakaran tweets in support of Tharoor

NEW DELHI - While the Congress party says it would take “appropriate action” against Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for his “cattle class” travel remark, his fellow Congress MP from Kerala K. Sudhakaran has tweeted in his support.

Tharoor apologises for ‘cattle class’ tweet, Congress not amused (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - Notwithstanding Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s apology for his “cattle class” travel remark, the Congress Friday said it would take “appropriate action” against him at a suitable time and reiterated that the party condemned his comments.

Tharoor tweets apology for ‘cattle class’ remarks

NEW DELHI - Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has apologised for his “cattle class” travel remark, saying he was “sorry” for hurting any sentiments and that his words had been misunderstood.

Tharoor apologises for his ‘Holy Cow’ tweet

NEW DELHI - Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has apologized for his recent comment that he was prepared to travel in the “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows”.

AIYF activists burn Tharoor’s effigy in Kerala criticising his latest tweet

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - In reaction to Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s remark about the government’s austerity drive on a social networking site, activists from the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), burnt his effigy in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

Tharoor travelled economy even earlier

NEW DELHI - Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who with his senior minister S.M. Krishna came under fire for staying in a luxury hotel for three months, had been travelling economy class much before the austerity measures were announced by the government.