A S Kashyap

Google has announced that it is begun testing the latest prototypes of its self-driving car, which are designed to be autonomous without any sort of controls.

According to the Techcrunch.com, during this testing phase, they have safety drivers in the driver seat during this stage of the test, with removable steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals to ensure they can take control if necessary.

In self-driving mode, they top out at 25 mph, and are using the same system software that has powered the previously Lexus-made test vehicles with minimal incidents.

The solar charkha has revolutionised India’s Khadi sector in terms of improved technology, and now, according to the government, it has the potential to generate more jobs for women.

This view was expressed by Minister of State for MSME Giriraj Singh during a two-day visit to the Central KVIC office.

He interacted with Arun Kumar Jha, CEO and Commissioner, senior KVIC officials and representatives of Khadi institutions from the State of Maharashtra, and said that the objective is to employ one lakh women in each parliamentary constituency and cover them under social security schemes.

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who recently launched the song of the upcoming film ‘Baahubali’ in Mumbai, said it would be an honour for him to work with superstar Salman Khan.

Karan, who wears many hats, such as filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, costume designer and the reality show judge, asserted that working with Salman would always be an honour, pleasure and privilege for him.

The 43- year- old director has only once worked with the ‘Kick’ star in 1998, but it seems that he would love to team up with the actor again.

The water storage available in 91 important reservoirs of the country as on June 25, 2015 was 43.26 BCM which is 27 percent of total storage capacity of these reservoirs.

This storage is 111 percent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 146 percent of storage of average of last ten years.

The present storage position during current year is better than the storage position of last year and is also better than the storage of average of last ten years.

Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday met the family members of the farmer who committed suicide in the state’s Mandya district.
The farmer, identified as Linge Gowda, was upset at the non-payment of dues by sugar mills and harassment by moneylenders which pushed him to take this extreme step.

Linge succumbed to burns on the spot from where his body was sent for a post mortem by the police.

Detailed story to follow. (ANI)

Nine people in Banda Aceh, Indonesia were flogged after being caught for selling food during the holy month of Ramadan.

Banda Aceh, the province of Aceh, is the only area in the nation where sharia, or Islamic law, is rigorously applied, and the people were punished for selling food along roadsides, during the daily fasting and prayer period, reported Asia news.

Mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal confirmed the “zero tolerance” of the acts which contradict the Muslim faith during the month, which includes no sale of food and beverages from dawn to 4 pm.

On July 14, 2015, after a journey of 10 years and three billion miles, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will make the first close encounter ever with Pluto.

Griffith Observatory will host several activities to celebrate the New Horizons encounter with dwarf planet Pluto. All events are free and open to the public.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015, LIVE PLUTO FLYBY

1:00 – 5:00 p.m. PDT: Twenty-minute talks on Pluto and New Horizons, presented hourly

5:00 – 7:00 p.m. PDT: NASA-TV coverage of the New Horizons flyby with commentary by Griffith Observatory staff

IndiaOnline.in, a network of 475 inter-linked city-based websites, is planning to raise USD 10 million (about ?60 crore) through VC / Private Equity Funding.

The New Delhi-based company intends to use the funds for its expansion plans, including setting up regional offices, growing the Franchise Network and increasing the headcounts.

Yahoo has released an update of its mobile search engine.

According to thenextweb.com, the new update will now place images, videos and reviews in the focus.

Andrew Poon, Yahoo’s vice president of product management, said in a blog post that they know when users are on the move, they are often searching for a specific piece of information. So rather than delivering endless links for users to sift through on a small screen, they will beautifully assemble the most relevant information in a way that allows them to take action right away.

The Indian women’s cricket can climb to fourth spot in the ICC rankings if it manages a clean sweep of the forthcoming ODI series against New Zealand, which starts in Bangalore on Sunday.

The series includes five ODIs but only the first three matches scheduled for 28 June, 1 and 3 July will count towards the eight-team ICC Women’s Championship. The top four sides from this tournament will qualify automatically for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, while the bottom four sides will play in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

A frustrated farmer in Karnataka reportedly immolated himself in his sugarcane field because he was not able to get a good price for the crop.

Linga Gowda, who was distressed at the non-payment of dues by sugar mills and harassment by money lenders, had a loan of Rs. 1, 60,000 on his head.

The 60-year-old farmer had grown a sugarcane crop on his half-an-acre land but he was anxious about paying the wages of his labourers.

Security has been stepped up in Chennai’s Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly segment ahead of the upcoming by-polls.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who is contesting from Chennai for the first time, is the main candidate in this constituency.

The R.K. Nagar seat fell vacant following the resignation of P. Vetrivel.

The DMK, PMK and VCK have boycotted the by-election for various reasons.

The campaign for the by-poll to Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly segment came to an end yesterday. There are a total of 28 candidates in the fray in this assembly segment.

A bridge built over Mandakini river located in Sonprayag area of Uttarakhand, which falls on the way to Kedarnath, was on Friday washed away due to heavy rains.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) campus in Barhi, Jharkhand, on June 28.

The one thousand acre campus will come up at Goriya Karma village in Barhi, Haza (ANI)

The parents and children had a wonderful time at the recently concluded Children’s Theatre Festival at the Shri Ram Centre here.

The plays like ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Gadbad Jhala’, ‘Sitara’, ‘The Golden Bangle’, ‘Lazzy Grasshopper’ and ‘ Par Hame Khelna Hai’ were enacted during the four-day theatre fest.

The kids participated in large numbers and their enthusiasm was unmatched.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday appealed to the Election Commission (EC) to verify the authenticity of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s alleged audio tape.

“BJP said this audio tape is fake, I appeal the EC to verify the authenticity of this tape in any forensic lab. If it’s found to be fake, I will take full responsibility of it,” Digvijaya said at a media briefing here.

Detailed story to follow. (ANI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday demanded Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi’s explanation over her meeting with former IPL boss Lalit Modi in London.

What is the relationship between the Gandhi family and Lalit Modi. Why did Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra meet Lalit Modi in London? Priyanka Gandhi needs to clarify on the matter in public,” said BJP spokesperson Narasimha Rao.

In a new turn of events, Lalit Modi took to Twitter to claim that he met Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in London last year.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Friday refuted reports of personally calling her MLAs to seek their support and loyalty describing them as ‘baseless’.

“Once again some sections of the media are running baseless stories saying Vasundhara Raje personally called the MLAs seeking their support and loyalty. This news is totally untrue,” said a statement issued by her media advisor.

“I appeal to the media to check and verify facts before running their stories,” he added.

Taylor Swift took to Twitter to announce that her latest album ‘ 1989’ will now be available on Apple Music.

The news comes after the tech giant took the 25-year-old seven-time Grammy Award winner’s statement in consideration, and decided to pay artists for music streamed during their service’s three-month free trial period, TechCrunch reported.

Sandra Bullock starred in animated movie ‘Minion’ just for her son Louis.

The Oscar winner, who returned to the world of animation with the film after 17 years, had lent her voice to the first-ever female super-villain character, Scarlet Overkill.

Speaking to the BBC, Bullock, 50, said that she wanted to do something that her toddler, who has no clue that her mother is an actress, could see her in.

Bullock added that she had told her son that she goes and makes stories, but he’s not really interested and she likes it that way.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has committed himself to the national side for another year, thus confirming his stay until at least the 2016 T20 World Cup .

The 33-year-old swashbuckling opener, however, will sit out the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa following an intense recent workload dating back to the World Cup.

The skipper said that they have enjoyed a pretty good past 18 months, but insisted that there are some serious challenges ahead and backed his team mates to keep making progress, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Security has been stepped up in Chennai’s R.K Nagar area ahead of the upcoming by-polls to be conducted tomorrow.

Detailed story to follow. (ANI)

Following the brutal attack on a social activist in Kerala, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday said the drug mafia won’t be allowed to expand their area of operation.

“This kind of drug mafia is very active, stringent action should be taken. We will not allow the drug mafia to expand their area of operation,” said Chennithala.

Detailed story to follow. (ANI)

Pakistan pace spearhead Wahab Riaz has been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series in Sri Lanka after he suffered a hairline fracture on his left-hand on the opening day of the second Test in Colombo.

Riaz was struck on his bowling hand by a bouncer delivery from Dushmantha Chameera while batting. The 29-year-old paceman then bowled nine overs but he was seen struggling before going off.

Team manager Naveed Cheema confirmed that the bowler couldn’t play for at least two weeks after an X-ray image revealed a hairline fracture on his left-hand, the Dawn reported.

The Congress Party on Saturday filed a complaint against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with the state election commission over the audio tape row.

Earlier, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had earlier released an audio tape on his social media account, accusing Chouhan of seeking favours from BJP leader Rajesh Chaudhary in lieu of a better post following the Garoth Vidhan Sabha polls. (ANI)