NEW DELHI: Despite the perception of being a martinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is quite comfortable with allowing a discussion on political issues outside the official agenda at the end of cabinet meetings.

MUMBAI: A day after industries minister Narayan Rane quit the state cabinet, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Maharashtra Congress chief Manikrao Thakre urged him to reconsider his decision, without success.

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and former food minister K V Thomas is tipped to head the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament while BJP nominees are expected to chair the estimates panel and the committee on public enterprises.

NAGPUR: The Indian basketball team had a memorable outing in the recently concluded 5th Fiba Asia Cup in Wuhan (China), as they scripted a historic win over China and gave a scare to World Cup qualifiers Iran, Jordan and the Philippines.

GLASGOW: The buzz is clearly missing. There are hardly any signboards to guide you, and no mad scramble to put things together at the last minute.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations security council on Monday condemned the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in Ukraine with 298 people on board and demanded that armed groups allow "safe, secure, full and unrestricted access" to the crash site.

KABUL: Three foreign advisers and an Afghan interpreter were killed on Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack outside Kabul international airport, police said.

CAIRO: With high hopes but low expectations, the US stepped up calls Monday for an international push to end fighting in the Gaza Strip as President Barack Obama sent his top envoy to the Mideast to help broker a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants — the third since 2009.

RAMESWARAM: Thirty eight fishermen from Tamil Nadu were apprehended by the Sri Lankan navy while they were fishing in the Palk Strait on Monday night.

NEW DELHI: The government on Monday blocked in Parliament opposition's effort to move a resolution condemning the death of women and children in Gaza which would have been read as aimed against Israel, leading the Congress and others to stage a walk out.