A S Kashyap

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave its approval to introduction of a new Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015.

The Bill will be introduced in the Parliament.

The new Bill will provide legislative framework for following new provisions other than the provisions in the existing Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which is proposed to be repealed.

The main objectives of the proposed legislation are to establish the Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave its approval for continuation, strengthening and establishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) with an outlay of Rs. 3900 crore.

The scheme envisages continuation of 642 KVKs established till date and establishment of 109 new KVKs in the XII Plan, to carry out its wide range of activities.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi today gave its approval for signing of an agreement on the abolition of visa requirement for holders of diplomatic passports between India and Spain.

The agreement will facilitate visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic passport of one country while entering into, transiting through, exiting from or staying for up to 90 days in the territory of the other country with additional safeguards. (ANI)

Stephen Colbert has mocked Donald Trump’s presidential announcement.

In a new video, looking like his ‘Colbert Report self and speaking with a trace of Trump’s signature New York accent, the 51-year-old comedian said that Trump has announced he is running for president of the United States, E! Online reported.

Lindsay Lohan will make an unexpected appearance on the pop group Duran Duran’s upcoming album ‘Paper Gods.’

The 28-year-old actress will join futuristic-soul artist Janelle Monae, dance-pop singer Kiesza, former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and violinist Davide Rossi on Duran Duran’s 14th studio album, due out this autumn, the Guardian reported.

The album includes tracks produced by Nile Rodgers and Mark Ronson, as well as Kanye West and Jay Z collaborator Mr Hudson. Producer and audio engineer Josh Blair also co-produced several of Paper Gods’ songs.

Iggy Azalea seems to be madly in love with her basketball player boyfriend Nick Young, as she shared her wedding plans with fans on social media.

The Australian rapper took to Twitter to brush off rumors about her 30-year-old basketball player boyfriend cheating on her, and said she would definitely wear a white or ivory coloured dress for she called her pretty traditional style wedding, The Mirror has reported.

The 25-year-old rapper, however, said she has no plans to reveal anything about her wedding, but dished that she had a feeling of everything going well for her now.

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence on the controversy surrounding former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, Congress leader P.C. Chacko on Wednesday alleged that the former was single-handedly controlling the External Affairs Ministry with Sushma Swaraj acting as a ‘mute witness’.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea to grant interim relief to cab service provider Uber.

The matter would now be heard on July 8.

The Delhi Government had earlier rejected fresh applications for licenses by app based taxi services Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure.

The move came after a 21-year-old woman had accused a driver of the Uber taxi service of attempting to kiss her after she got off at her destination in Gurgaon.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has stepped in to defend the military leadership, a day after PPP co-chairperson and former president Asif Ali Zardari lashed out against the armed forces.

According to Dawn News, Sharif was quoted by the PM House as saying that criticism of the armed forces encourages destabilising factors in the country.

The statement also added that it was not an appropriate step to criticize the armed forces under the current circumstances.

The Pakistani troops have rescued an Afghan soldier, who was critically injured in an exchange of fire with the Taliban.

According to Dawn News, a military spokesman said that an Afghan soldier was severely injured in an exchange of fire with terrorists 600 metres inside Afghan territory.

The spokesman further said that the authorities in Afghanistan have sought help for evacuation of the soldier.

The injured soldier was deployed at Afghan Army’s ‘Shaheen Post’, that is some 1.5 km west of Bajaur’s Nawapass area.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday gave its approval for launch of ‘Housing for All by 2022’ aimed for urban areas with following components to States and Union Territories and cities.

Approval was given for rehabilitation of slum dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource; promotion of affordable housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy; affordable housing in partnership with public and private sectors; and subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement.

North Korea has claimed that the country is facing the worst drought in a century that has sparked fears of food scarcity.

According to BBC, more than 30 percent of rice paddies have been reported to be “parching up”.

The country’s main rice-growing provinces have also been badly affected, say reports.

In 1990s, hundreds of North Koreans were believed to have died due to a widespread famine. (ANI)

Manchester City have stepped up their pursuit of Raheem Sterling by making an increased offer of more than 35.5million pounds for the winger.

Liverpool are likely to turn down this offer as well after rejecting a bid of 25million dollars from City last week, the BBC reported.

Sterling, who has a contract until 2017, stirred up controversy by turning down a new 100,000 pound-a-week contract with the club. The issue got further highlighted when his agent Aidy Ward allegedly said the player would not sign a new deal even if he was offered “900,000 pounds a week”.

The promotions of upcoming Bollywood dance flick ‘ABCD2’ are in full swing before the release and, therefore, movie’s lead actors Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor landed in New Delhi with the same intention.

The ‘Badlapur’ star interacted with the media at the occasion and said that dance was the biggest star in ‘ABCD’ and dance is again the biggest star in the sequel of the movie as well.

Qatar Airways has been named world’s best airline for the years 2015 by Skytrax.

The airlines, which had even won the top spot in 2011 and 2012, knocked down last year’s winner Cathay Pacific to third place, and also claimed best airline in the Middle East and best business class seat awards, News.com.au reported.

18.9 million passengers in 110 countries around the world voted keeping factors such as comfort, friendliness of cabin crew and in-flight food in consideration.

Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker told CNN that the entire credit goes to their staff.

At least 16 people, including 13 children, were killed in an air raid conducted by the Syrian government in a town in southern Daraa province, a rights group said.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the strike targeted a centre for study of the Koran in the town of Eastern Ghariyah, reported News24.

While noting that the death toll from the air strikes could rise as a number of those injured were in serious condition, the rights group accused the Syrian government of conducting a ‘massacre.’

As the raging controversy surrounding former IPL boss Lalit Modi took a new turn with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s alleged involvement in the case, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that she would surely revert after taking into account all the details.

“As regards with the Rajasthan issue is concerned, the details have to be taken into account. I think Vasundhara ji has spoken slightly yesterday, surely she will revert,” the BJP leader said.

If rumours are to be believed then Damian Lewis is all set to play the next James Bond replacing Daniel Craig.

However, as the 44-year-old star showed off his new facial hair when he stepped out in a top hat for the annual Royal Ascot, he conjured up images of a villain rather than the ruthless British spy, reported the Mirror.

The English actor recently emerged as one of the frontrunners to take over from the ‘Spectre’ star as the fictional suave spy after punters placed big bets on the ‘Homeland’ actor taking on the role.

Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi on Wednesday avoided commenting on reports of twenty-one Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs having criminal cases against them and said that a thorough investigation would be done if such cases are pending.

According to reports, the Delhi Police will be wrapping up its investigations in these cases and soon file the chargesheet in the court.

The White House has recently claimed that Barack Obama picked up the tab for a private weekend party that featured Prince.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest was surrounded by question after word of the event, which also included live music by Stevie Wonder, surfaced on social media as unlike previous private White House events this one had not been listed on the president’s schedule, reported Fox News.

Confirming the occurrence of the event, Earnest said that the Obamas paid for the event but the event was of private nature so he didn’t have a lot to details to discuss.

John Oliver has recruited Helen Mirren to read US Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture during the 15-minute segment on his Last Week Tonight show.

The 38-year-old comedian had the award-winning actress read some of the more graphic sections from the report, the Independent reported.

The British comedian draws attention to the fact that 57 per cent of Americans believe that torture is an effective approach that provides information that prevents terror attacks, while only 46 percent of US believe in the Big Bang theory.

Twitter has introduced autoplaying videos on the social networking site’s timelines where users can tap the video once to turn on the audio as on other social networks like Facebook and Instagram.

According to the Verge, the users who do not wish to see autoplaying videos can also opt out in Settings.

However, if there is poor connectivity, Twitter will switch back to the old tap-to-play mode.

Twitter said that it expects most people will like autoplay video, which begins rolling out today on the web and on iOS. (ANI)

The Vigilance Branch has launched an investigation into a matter in which a constable had allegedly demanded money from a person to release his friend, who was earlier detained by the police.

The complainant approached vigilance unit of Delhi Police with the allegation that constable Naresh Kumar of Police Station Mayur Vihar demanded Rs. 20,000 from him to release his friend. The complainant had gone to the police station on May 17 to enquire about his friend, who was detained by the police.

The Vigilance Branch has launched an investigation into a matter in which a constable had allegedly demanded money from a person to release his friend, who was earlier detained by the police.

The complainant approached vigilance unit of Delhi Police with the allegation that constable Naresh Kumar of Police Station Mayur Vihar demanded Rs. 20,000 from him to release his friend. The complainant had gone to the police station on May 17 to enquire about his friend, who was detained by the police.

Woody Harrelson has been cast as President Lyndon Baines Johnson in Rob Reiner directed feature ‘LBJ.’

The film, which was penned by Joey Hartstone, a 2014 Black List winner, focuses on the political turmoil faced by Vice President Johnson when he was thrust into the presidency at the hands of an assassin’s bullet in November 1963, Deadline.com has reported.

The project is not the first film on LBJ, as there’s a HBO film being executive produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Bryan Cranston who’ll reprise his role from Robert Schennkkan’s renowned stage play ‘All the Way.’