Qayam Ali

The first ever robot wedding has taken place in Japan in a glittering ceremony, complete with a wedding cake, a band and even a ‘kiss’ shared by the couple.

About 100 people gathered in Tokyo on June 27 to witness the two robots tie the knot.

The groom was Frois, a robotic creation from company Maywa Denki, and the bride was humanoid Yukirin, an android made in the likeness of a Japanese pop idol Yuki Kashiwagi, and developed by Takayuki Todo.

Frois, a boxy red and silver robot, wore a bow tie while the bride donned a traditional white wedding gown.

Legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday extended his greetings to new captain Ajinkya Rahane, hoping the youngster will do a good job during the upcoming Zimbabwe tour.

Rahane, 27, is first cricketer from Mumbai in 15 years to be handed the reins of the team since Tendulkar led the team in 2000.

The selectors announced a second-string team for the tour, resting most of the senior players such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought legal assistance from Singapore and Mauritius to take forward its probe in the alleged financial irregularities in the Indian Premier League tournament (IPL) and its former chairman Lalit Modi.

Officials said the agency has initiated the “legal procedures” to obtain from a court two Letters Rogatories (overseas judicial requests) to be sent to the two countries as part of its probe in the alleged laundering of funds in awarding media rights of the money spinning cricket tournament in 2009.

Snapping its five-day falling spree, the rupee rose 8 paise to 63.76 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid a higher opening in the domestic equity market.

Selling of the American currency by exporters and banks supported the rupee, but the dollar’s firmness against euro and other currencies overseas capped the gains, dealers said.

Besides, a higher opening in domestic equity market helped the rupee, they added.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a key member of Naga insurgent group NSCN-K for allegedly being a part of conspiracy to carry out the June 4 ambush that killed 18 army men in Manipur, in the first breakthrough in the probe into the incident.

Khumlo Abi Anal, 40, the self-styled ‘Regional Commander’ of NSCN-K, is alleged to be a part of the conspiracy that was hatched to carry out the attack on army men at Chandel area of Manipur on June four, NIA said.
The accused has been produced before Special Judge, NIA, who remanded him to the agency’s custody till July seven.

The 10 lakh-strong paramilitary forces of the country have been asked by the Centre to include Yoga in their daily physical drills.

The Union Home Ministry has asked the forces to implement these directions on a “priority” and ensure Yoga is practised even at active duty areas like border posts and those in the Left Wing Extremism affected states of the country.

Delhi University on monday announced the second cut-off list for admission to its undergraduate programmes, with a marginal drop in its percentages even as various colleges closed the enrollment to popular courses such as BCom Honours and Economics Honours for various categories.

College of Vocational Studies and Indraprastha College for Women which had kept the percentage requirement of perfect 100 for admission to BSc Computer Science (Hons) in the first list, revised it to 93-99.5 per cent and 95.5-100 per cent respectively.

The IT corridor is now a step forward in terms of women employees’ safety, thanks to ‘She Shuttles’. In a unique but creditable initiative, two all-women buses will run through the IT corridor covering all the important junctions in Madhapur, Gachibowli and surrounding areas from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

‘She Shuttles’, an exclusive bus service for women employees in the Cyberabad area was launched on Monday morning by Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao and Transport Minister Mahender Reddy.

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui will not star in Salman Khan-starrer Sultan.

Gossip mills are abuzz that Nawazuddin will be a part of YRF’s upcoming film. But the officials at Yash Raj Films denied having approached Nawazuddin.

“It is not true. He is not doing Sultan. We will make the full cast announcements soon,” a spokesperson from YRF told PTI.

There were reports that Nawazuddin will play a commentator in the film. In Sultan Salman plays a boxer.

Actor-turned Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal was on monday granted bail by a Nadia district court in connection with his alleged “shoot and rape” remarks against opposition party supporters and women last year, which had created a nationwide outrage.

Acting chief judicial magistrate Shubhajit Basu granted him bail on two surety bonds of Rs. 2500 each.

CID submitted the charge sheet in the case on May 26.

CaEgypt has cancelled celebrations marking the second anniversary of the June 30 revolution which ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, as the country mourns the killing of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat. “Celebrations will be cancelled as the country mourns Egyptian General Prosecutor Hisham Barakat, who was assassinated on Monday,” a statement by the presidency said.

“Egypt has lost a great judicial figure who has shown dedication to work and commitment to the ethics of the noble judicial profession,” the statement said on Monday.

Hollywood funnyman Robin Williams’ last film Boulevard will have its European premiere opening at the 13th Ischia Global Film and Music Festival on July 12.

In the film, Williams plays a married bank employee whose encounter with a young hustler forces him to face his repressed homosexuality, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

An RTI enquiry has revealed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s electricity bill over a two-month period exceeds Rs one lakh.

According to reports, documents procured by RTI activist Vivek Garg showed that Kejriwal had received two electricity bills worth Rs 55,999 and Rs 65, 780. (ANI)

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a man from Madhya Pradesh who played a key role in the five bomb blasts that rocked various parts of the state in the aftermath of the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Mohammad Irfan Qureshi, on the run for 13 years, was nabbed from a village in Shahdol district on receiving a tip-off about his presence there, an ATS release said.

Qureshi, in his 40s, allegedly played a key role in carrying out the multiple explosions, which killed three persons and injured many others in 2002, it said.

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped and violated with sticks by neighbours in Civil Lines area here, y. in Badaun, a part of Uttar Pradesh that has been in the spotlight since two cousins were found hanging from a tree last yearpolice said on Monday.

The youths had taken the girl to a secluded spot on some pretext, gang-raped her and fled from there, leaving her in an unconscious state, police said.

India has been successful in bringing Pakistan under the monitoring of the Asia Pacific Group to enforce UN sanctions against underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, terror mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed despite strong opposition from China.

The Sunni Barelvi Markaz of Dargah Ala Hazrat’s Mufti Mohammed Saleem Noori has passed a fatwa saying that Muslim women can run their own business with full Hijab. There is, however, a hitch that they can only run those businesses in which their interaction is limited to only women.

The fatwa came after Zaima Shaikh, from UK, on June 22, asked the body whether women from the community are allowed to run their own business.

An ITI aspirant was in for a shock when he found a photo of a dog on his admit card. Soumyadip Mahato (18) downloaded the admit card for the ITI entrance exam from the official website to find the dog’s photo on it with his address and other details yesterday.

Mahato, who passed higher secondary examination this year, soon contacted the nodal officer for conducting the examinations in the area and was assured of assistance.

In a major breakthrough, the NIA on Monday arrested top leader of NSCN(K) allegedly involved in the conspiracy behind the June 4 killing of 18 Army personnel in Manipur on the Indo-Myanmar border.

Khumlo Abi Anal, NSCN(K) regional commander, was arrested from Chandel district of Manipur.
Eighteen army personnel were killed and 15 seriously wounded on June 4 when a convoy of 6 Dogra Regiment was ambushed by NSCN-K militants in Paraolong village in Chandel district bordering Myanmar.

Around 30 people, including three policemen, were injured as Hindu and Muslim mobs clashed here in Ghaziabad over the use of loudspeakers, police said on Monday.

Several vehicles were set on fire and shops looted and gutted in the Sunday night frenzy at Farid Nagar.

According to police officials, the trouble erupted when the two communities quarrelled over the use of loudspeakers in two adjacent places of worship.

As some youths from one community forcibly tried to shut down the loudspeaker of the other community, the quarrel led to widespread clashes.

As the Modi government faces the accusation of saffronising education, an RSS-backed body has pitched for including Ayurveda, Siddha and other indigenous medical systems in an “integrated syllabus” for medicine.

Steered by a young woman, the first train of the Chennai Metro Rail chugged off from Alandur Station on Monday after being flagged off via live video from the State Secretariat by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The first train which left at 12.15 PM from Alandur to Koyambedu was driven by A Preethi, a 28 year old diploma holder in engineering from Government Dharmambal Polytechnic College in Chennai. She was trained for a year and half like others in Chennai and in Delhi for the purpose.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex plunged over 600 points in the trade today as fears intensified over Greece likely to default on its debt repayment.

This triggered concerns about foreign selling in the emerging markets.

The Sensex, which opened 450 points, was soon trading 600 points down, while the 50-share Nifty index fell below 8,200 levels.

As per reports, the Sensex was at 11 a.m. down nearly 571 points to 27,240, while the Nifty fell to 8,205.

Seems like ice-cream maker Ben and Jerry’s has its own way to support the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, as the brand has renamed its chocolate chip cookie dough flavour to ‘I Dough, I Dough.’

Honouring the court’s verdict, the company has re-designed its ice-cream tub that now depicts two loved-up cows in top hats with their tails knotted together, reported the Daily Star.

PA young Pakistani journalist was shot dead at his residence in Usta Mohammad district of Balochistan on Sunday morning.

According to the Express Tribune, 35-year-old Zafarullah Jattak was affiliated with a Quetta-based newspaper.

Jattak was sleeping when the attack occurred. The deceased was working as tehsil reporter for Daily Intikhab.

DSP Khawand Bukhsh said that armed men barged into his home and opened fire. Jattak died on the spot while his killers escaped unchallenged, he added.