Participants at the 79th Akhil Bharat Kannada Sahitya Sammelan will get an opportunity to partake the staple food of the people of north Karnataka. The food committee of the event has planned to serve, among other items, jowar roti, groundnut chutney, curd and mango pickle, to literature lovers. “For the people of north Karnataka, even the mention of jowar roti and groundnut chutney, makes their mouth water”, according to the district president of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat Mallikarjun Yendigeri. The parishat is spending Rs. 1 crore on food to be served to literature enthusiasts. Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies Department C. Sridhar, who is making all arrangements related to food, says that preparations are on to serve food to an estimated three lakh people, for which orders have been placed with various contractors.

Reiterating that the government was strong and stable, Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said that the government was not falling in minority after the alleged reports of the suspension of 9 MLAs by the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). He dismissed these reports as baseless, saying that the PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana’s statements in this regard were quoted out of context. “No situation has arisen to make the government fall short of majority. The media has wrongly reported this. Our party got good results in the cooperative elections. It indicates that farmers put lot of confidence in our party,” he added.

Actress Rani Mukherjee will be sharing screen space with Randeep Hooda for the first time in a Karan Johar movie titled 'Bombay Talkies'. 'Bombay Talkies' is a landmark feature film of this year releasing on the centenary date of May 3, 2013, when the industry completes 100 years of cinema. It is an ode to cinema by four prolific film makers - Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar. "Yes, I am doing a short film with Karan Johar and it features Rani Mukherjee," Randeep told without divulging any details about the project and his role.

Sri Lanka played bold cricket to come up trumps in a pressure match and eliminate India from the ICC Women’s World Cup at the Brabourne Stadium on Tuesday. After thumping the Indian attack for its ODI high total of 282, Sri Lanka took control of the last Group ‘A’ match in the first Power-Play of ten overs and sensed victory after Harmanpreet Kaur’s cut shot of off-spinner Chamani Seneviratna travelled straight to Chamari Atapattu at point. Eventually it recorded its first win against India by 138 runs. England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies entered the Super Six stage from Group ‘A’, while Australia, New Zealand and South Africa progressed from Group ‘B’. With the West Indies being shot out for 101 and losing the match by six wickets to England in the day-match at the BKC Ground, India needed 251 in 50 overs to enter the next stage. But its openers Poonam Raut and M. Thirush Kamini barely managed to hit the ball of the square.

The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 86 points in early trade on Wednesday on emergence of buying by funds and retailers amid a firming Asian trend. Snapping its four-session losing streak, the 30-share barometer gained 86.74 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 19,746.56. The index had lost almost 345 points in the previous four sessions. All sectoral indices trading in the positive zone with a gain up to 0.80 per cent. Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 34.00 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 5,990.90.

US President Barack Obama, would visit Israel along with Jordan and the West Bank, the White House said on Tuesday. "The start of the President's second term and the formation of a new Israeli Government offer the opportunity to reaffirm the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel and to discuss the way forward on a broad range of issues of mutual concern, including, of course, Iran and Syria," the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters at his daily news conference. Carney was responding to questions on a news report being flashed by Israeli television that Obama would be travelling to Israel on March 20, thus making his first trip to the country as the US President.