A S Kashyap

Sri Lanka’s Industries and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen has said that the government is aiming to achieve an export target of over 20 billion dollars by 2020.

The Colombo Page quoted Bathiudeen, as saying that under the economic vision of President Maithripala Sirisena, it was import for Sri Lanka to export high quality products with accredited certification.

Bathiudeen was addressing the recently held Sri Lanka Accreditation Certificate Awarding event in Colombo. (ANI)

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after failing to prove his fitness for this season.

The veteran wicketkeeper, who won 79 Test caps, played a crucial role in England’s three victorious Ashes campaigns between 2009 and 2013.

Prior has not made an international appearance since July 2014 on account of a recurrent Achilles tendon injury.

Prior said he was expecting to be fit for the 2015 season, adding that unfortunately this has turned out to be impossible and, therefore, he has had to reach this decision, the BBC reported.

Playback singer Mika Singh was arrested by the Delhi Police on Thursday for allegedly assaulting a doctor during a live concert in the national capital.

Earlier in April, the ‘Mauja hi Mauja’ singer had been booked for his misdemeanour at the concert organised by the Ophthalmological Society.

Mika had slapped the doctor on stage in full public view and the video of his assault had been widely circulated.

His act had led to a call for the singer’s arrest by the doctors’ Association, IMA. (ANI)

The Pakistan Senate on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution strongly condemning the recent provocative statements made by Indian leaders.

A Radio Pakistan report said the resolution, which was moved by Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, said Pakistan rejects India’s hegemonic mindset.

The resolution further stated that the Senate emphasizes that Pakistan would never allow its territory to be violated by India under any pretext, and that Pakistan’s armed forces are capable of issuing a befitting response to any such incursion, reports the Dawn.

A school teacher in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat region accidentally shot dead a 12-year-old pupil on Thursday while cleaning his pistol in the staff room.

Quoting police officials in Peshawar, the Dawn said Thursday’s deadly incident happened on the outskirts of Swat’s Mingora area, around 180 kilometres northeast of Peshawar.

The teacher has been identified as Majid Khan, and he has been taken into police custody.

Four policemen were killed in Quetta’s Pashtunabad area by unidentified assailants on Thursday.

According to the Dawn, the armed motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on a patrolling police mobile in the Manan Chowk area of Pashtunabad and then sped away.

Two policemen died on the spot, while the other two succumbed to their injuries while being taken to the Civil Hospital in Quetta. (ANI)

The Islamic State (IS) has reportedly acquired enough radioactive material from government facilities in the areas captured by it in recent months that it could develop a ‘large and dirty’ bomb, Australian intelligence reports have warned.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that the NATO countries had expressed deep concern about the materials seized by the terror outfit from research centres and hospitals that were previously available to governments, reported The Independent.

The European Union (EU) on Thursday expressed its concern over increasing executions in Pakistan and demanded that Islamabad reinstate the moratorium on death penalty and fully respects all of its international obligations in this regard.

“Effective implementation of the international conventions is a requirement under the European Union’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Regulation,” a statement issued by EU delegation mission to Pakistan said.

At least four Pakistani police officials have been killed in a gun attack in Balochistan’s Quetta as the militants opened fire on a police van, a senior official said.

SSP Operations Quetta Aitzaz Goraya said that the assailants were riding motorcycles and sped off after carrying out the attack. He added that while two of the policemen died on the spot, the other two succumbed to their injuries on the way to Quetta’s Civil Hospital, reported The Express Tribune.

The attack came just a week after four cops were shot dead in Quetta by unidentified armed men.

A new study has revealed that aerobic exercise helps in curbing asthma severity and ultimately improves quality of life.

It should be routinely added to the drug treatment of moderate to severe asthma, suggest the researchers, who point out that people with asthma often avoid exercise for fear of triggering symptoms.

Exercise has been recommended in the past for asthma patients, because it improves physical fitness, overall quality of life, and reduces the need for inhalers. But it has not been clear whether the pros outweigh the cons.

People in Varanasi performed a ‘ Mahayagya’ for good monsoon rains in Uttar Pradesh.
A priest along with residents recited hymns as they performed the rituals on Wednesday.

“We are performing Vedic rituals to impress god Indra so that we receive good rainfall. We also prayed for the happiness and wellbeing of the people of our country so that the country progresses towards development,” said the priest, Acharya Dinesh Chandra.

A local resident, Rajendra Trivedi, said there was no respite from the heat wave which is sweeping Varanasi and the entire state.

A major fire broke out at a rubber factory in Thane on Thursday.

The incident took place at 9:00 a.m and the fire spread across two kilometers of the factory.

The factory Godown along with the raw material was burnt to scratch in the fire.

Twelve fire tenders arrived at the spot to control the fire.

No casualties have been reported so far. (ANI)

The Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside the ‘coercive’ orders of the city’s Transport Department rejecting the license applications for two app-based taxi companies.

According to reports, the two companies in question are Apra Cabs India and Serendipity Infolabs, which runs the TaxiForSure cab service.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has reiterated that the Delhi Government pay Rs. one lakh as relief in a case of sexual assault of a minor girl on the night of October 2, 2013.

The NHRC observed during the course of enquiry that due to violation of human rights of the minor girl, the state would be vicariously liable.

Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh arrived in Manipur on Thursday and assured that the growth of the North East region is high on the agenda of the NDA government at the Centre.

“In wake of the unfortunate incident that took place a few days ago, the government is certainly concerned because under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the entire North East region has embarked on a development course at a very fast track. Therefore, the growth of the North East region is very high on the agenda of the present government,” Dr Singh told the media.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to entertain the Kerala Government’s proposal to conduct environmental impact assessment (EIA) study for the construction of a new Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala’s Idukki district.

Jayalalithaa urged the Prime Minister to instruct the Union Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ministry and its agencies to desist from entertaining and considering the proposal of Kerala.

The Hubble Telescope has captured an astounding image of a “lonely” galaxy floating on the edge of a grim abyss.

Galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the “Local Void.”

NGC 6503 is 18 million light-years away from Earth in the northern circumpolar constellation of Draco. It spans some 30,000 light-years, about a third of the size of the Milky Way.

A 15-year-old schoolboy recently found a new planet orbiting the star 1000 light years away in Milky Way.

Tom Wagg was doing work-experience at Keele University when he spotted the planet by finding a tiny dip in the light of a star as a planet passed in front of it.

Wagg, a pupil at Newcastle-under-Lyme School, found the planet by looking at data collected by the WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) project, which surveys the night skies monitoring millions of stars to look for the tell-tale tiny dips (transits) caused by planets passing in front of their host star.

In a recently filed lawsuit against the Oops! Magazine, Bradley Cooper has claimed that his relationship with supermodel Irina Shayk is nobody’s business.

French legal eagle Vincent Toledano on behalf of the 40-year-old actor has sued the magazine over its May 28 story that declared the couple’s love out in the open, reported TMZ.com.

In the lawsuit, the ‘Serena’ star said that he has never spoken publicly about dating the 29-year-old model so the story violates his right, under French law to a private life.

Former union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma on Thursday criticized the BJP-led NDA Government for publicising the army’s operations in Myanmar and said that jingoism and boastful claims are not going to help the operations of India’s special forces.

Model Marisa Miller has been recently hit by a lawsuit by a tanning brand, Glissin for allegedly failing to complete their promotional work.

According to the company the 36-year-old former Victoria’s Secret star was paid 1.8 million dollars by the tanning brand to become their spokesperson, promote the company and develop her own line of products, reported TMZ.com.

The model, who promised to do seven print ads, a behind-the-scenes video of a photo shoot and numerous media appearances, only came up with a 30 second video and a Facebook/Twitter post.

‘Queen of Versailles’ Victoria Siegel was cyberbullied right before death, it has been reported.

The Siegel family said that the ex-girlfriend of Victoria’s boyfriend had been sending “hateful text messages” to Victoria, which probably pushed her over the edge and ultimately might have led to her death, TMZ.com has reported.

The family does not believe Victoria intended to kill herself because they were prepping for a family cruise, and Victoria rushed to get her passport in time for the trip. Instead, they’re leaning toward an accidental overdose possibly triggered by the bullying.

Jennifer Aniston has revealed that she started to sweat when she first met Justin Theroux, while visiting mutual friend Ben Stiller on the set of Tropic Thunder in Hawaii in 2007.

The 46-year-old said that the American actor made her very “nervous” in his all black attire, E! Online has reported.

The actors reconnected in 2010 on the set of their movie, ‘Wanderlust,’ and they began dating in 2011. Theroux proposed to Aniston on his 41st birthday in 2012, giving her an estimated 500,000 dollars ring. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reviewed the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission at a high-level meeting here on Thursday, directed the concerned officers to specially coordinate with the states which are lagging in toilet construction.

Prime Minister Modi was briefed on the progress towards toilet construction in all states.

Reviewing the Namaami Gange programme, the Prime Minister directed that construction of toilets in habitations on the banks of the River Ganga should receive the highest priority.

Nicki Minaj’s former boyfriend Safaree Samuels is out with his new song, where he claims that though his blood, sweat and tears made the 32-year-old singer what she is, she treated him like dirt.

The 35-year-old record producer’s song ‘Love The Most’ will be released will be released this week but it seems like he wishes to air as much dirty laundry as he can in five minutes, reported TMZ.com.