India

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

Today is Friday, May 25, the 146th day of 2012. There are 220 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum. (The Convention ended four months later with the delegates adopting the Constitution of the United States.) On this date: In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spanish rule with the forming of the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires.

With the school year winding down, Tufts University administrators met recently with students planning to study abroad, outlining what they should do before they leave and what to expect when they arrive. Above all, they stressed the risks - and ways to minimize them. But with an audience of young adults eager to see the world and seize adventure, it was hard to know whether the warnings truly hit home. "I think the message gets through," said Sheila Bayne, who directs the university's study-abroad program.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan says she's is happy with herself and her weight — a rare combination in the world of celebrities. The Indian actress was at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday night, where she walked the red carpet in an elegant cream-and-gold sari to attend the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS auction. Fans were eager to see if the former Miss World was back in shape after giving birth to her daughter Aaradhya last year, but she said she doesn't worry about that. There have been some cruel comments made online about her weight but Rai Bachchan says she simply tries to avoid...

Today is Friday, May 25, the 146th day of 2012. There are 220 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum. (The Convention ended four months later with the delegates adopting the Constitution of the United States.) On this date: In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spanish rule with the forming of the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires.

Madeleine Lippey is in many ways a typical teenage girl: She loves Taylor Swift, watches chick flicks with her friends, worries about exams, and has started thinking about college. In other ways she's not at all typical. She has grown up in the rarefied air of Greenwich, Conn., with international travel and private schools. But the passion of her life — what makes her blue eyes light up and her words tumble over each other — lies elsewhere, in the townships of South Africa, the slums of India, and the lives of teens in the Middle East.

Hoponius Union, made by Jack's Abby Brewing , has become my first-choice beer when I'm out at a pub. So imagine how happy the Framingham brewer made me when it recently began bottling this fine beverage. It's an innovative beer. Jack's Abby, a three-brother operation that launched last year and has carved a niche by focusing on lagers, calls Hoponius Union an "India pale lager. " Indeed, it tastes more like an India pale ale than a pale lager, which is what it is. That's because it's intensely hopped -- this beer measures 65 IBUs, bitter even by IPA standards.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A powerful earthquake triggered landslides, flattened entire villages of mud-brick homes, and toppled an apartment building yesterday, and a Pakistani official said at least 18,000 people were believed killed as it devastated a mountainous swath touching Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. The casualty toll from the 7.6-magnitude tremor rose sharply early today as rescuers struggled to dig people from the wreckage, their work made more difficult as rain and hail turned dirt and debris into sticky muck.

BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- A native of India who lost a bid for a local township committee seat by 11 votes after fliers accused him and his running mate of accepting contributions from "foreign nationals" is hoping a recount will reverse the outcome. A recount takes place Monday in the race pitting Zaheer Jan and Allen Mass against two Republican incumbents in the race for two seats on the township committee. The top two finishers will win. Jan lost his chance at a township committee seat by 11 votes out of more than 8,100 cast, and Mass, his fellow...

Is Peter Weir capable of making a bad movie? Maybe not, but in a career that has seen “Picnic at Hanging Rock,’’ “Witness,’’ “The Truman Show,’’ and “Master and Commander,’’ “The Way Back’’ is one of the few that’s good rather than great. It’s certainly big: A sort-of-true story about an epic World War II-era trek from Siberia to India, the movie’s grueling, inspiring, astonishing to look at. You come out feeling you’ve traveled half the planet.

MUMBAI — Germany's Adidas Group said Wednesday that Indian police are investigating two former executives from its Reebok India unit for an alleged fraud that could cost the company tens of millions of dollars. Adidas spokesman Jan Runau said the executives are former managing director Shubhinder Singh Prem and former chief operating officer Vishnu Bhagat. They both left Reebok India. A police report says the pair filled four warehouses with stolen merchandise, falsifying bills and siphoning off goods to fake companies for years, local media reported.

American Superconductor Corp., a supplier of wind-turbine components, rose 13 percent, the most since April 11, after winning a contract to supply 100 megawatts of electrical systems to Inox Wind Ltd. in India. Inox designed a 2-megawatt wind turbine using American Superconductor's technology in 2009 and on Wednesday ordered 50 of its electrical control systems to use in turbines this year, the Devens company said.

There's definitely an Indian vibe at Cannes this year - something Sonam Kapoor is proud of. The Indian actress, and daughter of star Anil Kapoor, has been enjoying the French film festival for several days. Speaking at the L'Oreal and Chopard rooftop party on Wednesday night, Kapoor said: "I love cinema so much and I think most of India does as well, and it's really nice that people around the world are appreciating the Indian community has been growing so much. " The Indian films at the festival include Ashim Ahluwalia's "Miss Lovely," which premiered Thursday in the Un...

Hoponius Union, made by Jack's Abby Brewing , has become my first-choice beer when I'm out at a pub. So imagine how happy the Framingham brewer made me when it recently began bottling this fine beverage. It's an innovative beer. Jack's Abby, a three-brother operation that launched last year and has carved a niche by focusing on lagers, calls Hoponius Union an "India pale lager. " Indeed, it tastes more like an India pale ale than a pale lager, which is what it is. That's because it's intensely hopped -- this beer measures 65 IBUs, bitter even by IPA standards.

A state in western India has declared war on animal poaching by allowing forest guards to shoot hunters on sight in an effort to curb rampant attacks on tigers and other wildlife. The government in Maharashtra says injuring or killing suspected poachers will no longer be considered a crime. Forest guards should not be "booked for human rights violations when they have taken action against poachers," Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said Tuesday. The state also will send more rangers and jeeps into the forest, and will offer secret payments to...

A overloaded bus carrying pilgrims to a Muslim shrine rammed into a parked truck and burst into flames overnight, killing 16 and injuring more than two dozen in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said Saturday. Some of the 78 passengers aboard the 54-seater bus had kerosene and cooking gas cylinders that helped to turn the bus "into a ball of fire," officer Iqbal Mallik said. Some passengers escaped through the back door of the bus and others through a window.

LAST FALL, while in India for a wedding, Narain Bhatia stopped for a coffee. Looking around the crowded New Delhi shop, the accountant from Wakefield was surprised to see a familiar face. It was his friend Raman Handa, the former owner of Alpha Omega, the Boston-area watch and jewelry company. The two men chatted, but Handa seemed distracted and forlorn. "He said he was in depression," says Bhatia. "We did not talk long. " It has been more than four years since Handa and his family abruptly left the United States and returned to India, and $6.6 million worth of the chain's inventory mysteriously...

"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is proof that art-house films can be as clichéd and soggily sentimental as the big-ticket items playing at the multiplex. The comedy-drama follows a group of British retirees at a ramshackle hotel in Jaipur, India, and it stars just about every aging English actor who didn't make it into a "Harry Potter" movie and a few who did. For that reason alone, "Hotel" will be a hit among upscale 50+ audiences, since no one else is making movies for or about them.

Investors who see opportunity in Asia's growth typically think of China first. That's one reason why there's no shortage of options for U.S. investors looking to buy a stock mutual fund that focuses on China. But venture southward to another Asian giant, India, and there are just 10 specialized funds to choose from — less than one-third of the number focusing on China. That's despite the fact that India is projected to overtake China as the world's most populous nation around 2030.

An Indian appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction of a U.S. teenager who had been accused of killing his mother while on vacation in western India. The Rajasthan High Court ordered Joncarlo Patton's immediate release from a juvenile detention facility, according to Press Trust of India news agency. It was not immediately clear on what grounds the court overturned his conviction. Patton was sentenced last year to three years in an Indian juvenile detention facility after he was found guilty of slitting his mother's throat at a desert...