Current Issues

Bhubaneshwar, March 21: India on Sunday became the first country to have a ‘manoeuvrable’ supersonic cruise missile when it successfully test-fired the vertical-launch version of 290-km range BrahMos from a warship in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast.

“The vertical-launch version of missile was launched at 11:30 hours today from Indian Navy ship INS Ranvir and it manoeuvred successfully hitting the target ship. It was a perfect hit and a perfect mission,” BrahMos aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai said.

Guwahati, March 03: Environmental activists today blocked railway tracks in the Kamakhya-Jogighopa section here demanding removal of tracks from elephant corridors near World Heritage wetland site of Deepor Beel.

This resulted in the delay in movement of trains including the Guwahati-Gandhidham Express for over two hours.

An adult female elephant was run over by a goods train near the Deepor Beel when she had come down the hill along with a herd to drink water on Sunday while another was hit by a train in the same area last year.

Islamabad, February 11: A suicide bombing killed at least 19 people, including 11 policemen, in Pakistan’s tribal region near the Afghan border Wednesday, an official said.

The bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a vehicle carrying the policemen in the tribal district of Khyber along a main highway leading to Afghanistan, said Sajid Khan, an official of the local administration.

According to Khan, eight security personnel from the tribal police, locally called Khasadar Force, and five civilians died on the spot in the bombing, said Khan.

Mumbai, February 01: In a move to intensify its crack down on drunk drivers, the Maharashtra government will increase penalty amount and punishment term of such offenders.

“Despite intensified anti-drunken driving drive for the last three years, police are still finding several people driving under the influence of alcohol, endangering many lives,” Home minister R R Patil said today.

“As per norms, currently the drunk motorists get maximum six months jail term. Now onwards, the punishment would be minimum six months. Required steps in this regards would be taken,” Patil said.

Tokyo, Dec 24: At least four people have been killed and several others wounded in Japan after an explosion occurred at a chemical plant.

The blast ripped through the plant operated by Morita Chemical Industries Co. in Osaka on Thursday.

One worker was killed at the scene while three others were rushed to a hospital but later confirmed dead.

The workers were conducting maintenance work at a unit which produces fluorine-containing substances, including toxic boron trifluoride.

New Delhi, December 22: Its poetic injustice of a worse kind- the old and protected haveli of the great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib was reportedly used to host a wedding reception on Sunday night, a daily reported on Tuesday.

Moscow, July 22: Russia and China on Wednesday launched massive joint military drills aimed at fighting terrorism and ethnic separatism, Russian news agencies reported.

The five-day exercises near the two nations’ common border “must show the international community that Russia and China have the necessary resources to ensure stability and security in the region,” Ria Novosti quoted the chief of Russia’s general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, as saying.