Mumbai, July 07: With water levels in lakes supplying water to the city depleting fast, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has imposed a 30 per cent water cut uniformly across the metropolis beginning Tuesday.
“Because of the delay in the arrival of monsoon and with reservoirs and lakes drying up, we had to impose a 30 per cent water cut,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Anil Diggikar.
Guwahati, July 07: Over 4 lakh people have been displaced in floods triggered by heavy rainfall in Assam.
The flood situation in Assam is critical with the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries flowing above the danger mark.
Flooding in the past one week has marooned more than 500 villages in the four upper Assam districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat and Naogaon.
Central Assam’s Morigaon, lower Assam’s Barpeta, Guwahati (Kamrup district), Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Baksa have also been affected by floods.
Chandigarh, July 07: After a brief hiatus on Sunday, the counselling for centralised admissions to Class XI in government schools resumed at GMSSS-10 today. Around 628 students in the percentage bracket of 68 per cent and above were admitted on Monday, taking the total admission tally to 3,243 till date.
Humanities and vocational streams, which have received a poor response from students till now, did not show much improvement with only 30 and 36 admissions respectively.
Chandigarh, July 07: Have the Taliban come very close to the Indian border? Or is the Pakistani Army playing tricks?
Senior officers on the Indo-Pak border believe that the three rockets fired at the border, two of which landed 2km inside Indian territory at Dande and Beharwal villages in Amritsar district on Saturday night, were either the work of the Pakistani Army or the Taliban. The rockets bore the marks of a Pakistani ordnance factory, the officers said.
London, July 07: Michael Jackson’s fans are flooding the Internet with messages after allegedly spotting the singer’s ghost at his Neverland Ranch in a live TV programme last week.
A shadow resembling the King of Pop’s figure was said to have been seen on a wall in the star’s former home during CNN”s ”Inside Neverland”.
The figure was later alleged to have walked across the corridor, rushing quickly from left to right before vanishing, reports British tabloid The Sun.
Xinjiang, July 07: Ethnic Uighurs scuffled with armed police Tuesday in a fresh protest in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, where at least 156 people have been killed and more than 1,400 people arrested in the worst ethnic violence there in decades.
Most of the group of about 200 Uighurs were women protesting the arrests of their husbands in the massive crackdown on members of the Muslim minority by Chinese authorities since the violence was sparked Sunday in the Xinjiang provincial capital.
Washington, July 07: Schizophrenia, a mental disease, is thought to be caused by the interaction of both genetic and environmental factors.
Researchers have, however, identified additional genes that confirm what scientists have long suspected – that the immune system may play a role in the development of schizophrenia.
“Knowing these specific genes are involved in the pathway leading to schizophrenia provides unique clues as to which molecular mechanisms are involved,” said Roel Ophoff, professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Seoul, July 07: A North Korean ship tracked by the U.S. Navy because it was suspected of carrying illicit cargo has likely arrived back home after reversing course without delivering its load, a South Korean official said Tuesday.
A U.S. admiral said the reversal demonstrates the success of U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the communist nation for its May 25 nuclear test and curbing any of its efforts to export military technology.
Kolkata, July 07: While expressing happiness over the allocation of Rs 1,000 crore in the Union Budget for the relief and rehabilitation of those affected by Cyclone Aila, West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta rued that there were not adequate allocations in other important sectors.
Dasgupta was reacting to the Union Budget Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented on Monday in Parliament.
London, July 07: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari says targeting the Taliban rather than India does not ‘rankle’ his army because the two nuclear armed countries no longer pose threats to each other’s territories.
‘It rankles the small mind,’ he told the Daily Telegraph in an interview published Monday.
‘It does not rankle the army, because after India and Pakistan became nuclear powers, that position of being able to take over another state is nullified.’
Lahore, July 07: At least 25 explosive laden vehicles have reportedly sneaked into major cities of Pakistan, following which intelligence agencies have launched a massive search operation.
According to sources, intelligence authorities have issued a warning to all four provinces in this regard, and asked them to take every precautionary measure.
The Interior Ministry has also issued a circular stating that suicide bombers along with the vehicles have entered Peshawar, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Quetta and Karachi, The Daily Times reported.
Srinagar, July 07: Call it an irony, but Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s refusal to put up with excesses by security forces is being blamed for the unending street protests rocking the Kashmir Valley.
This is not the first time Kashmiri men and women, the young and the old, have taken to the streets denouncing killing and rape blamed mainly on the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Melbourne, July 07: Astronomer Galileo Galilei may have discovered Neptune in 1613234 years before the planet was officially found, according to a new theory. Prof David Jamieson of the University of Melbourne has claimed in his theory that the notebooks of Galileo from some 400 years ago contain concrete evidence that he had discovered a new planet in 1613, which is now known as Neptune.
Bangalore, July 07: South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd said, it was still in discussions with India’s Bharti Airtel but gave no further details about the talks, which could lead to a full merger.
MTN said in a cautionary announcement, which it is obliged to issue under JSE stock exchange rules, that talks were still in progress.
MTN, Africa’s biggest cell phone operator by subscribers, and Bharti, India’s leading cellular firm, have revived talks aimed at creating the world’s No. 3 wireless group with more than 200 million subscribers and combined revenue of $20 billion.
New Delhi, July 07: Both Maneka Gandhi and her son, Varun, have made his security an issue, citing the arrest of six sharpshooters of Chhota Shakeel gang. The men, it is claimed, were planning to kill Varun’s lawyer defending him in the hate speech case.
While Maneka shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, alleging that Home Minister P. Chidambaram was not taking the “threats” to her son’s life seriously. “The home ministry has taken these threats very casually – it is as if you want Varun Gandhi to be killed,” she said.
Mumbai, July 07: This is a pair which should be worth watching. If reports are true, then it may not be a very long wait before one sees Aamir working with Aneez Bazmee.
The writer cum director is very busy completing his script for Aamir. The film, when it is made, will be done so under Boney Kapoor’s banner and will be a crime comedy.
Los Angeles, July 07: Hundreds of millions of fans around the world were preparing to bid a poignant farewell to Michael Jackson on Monday, as Los Angeles went into lockdown ahead of a star-studded memorial service.
Nearly two weeks after the death of the tragic “King of Pop,” America is expected to grind to a standstill early on Tuesday as the tortured music superstar is finally laid to rest.
Chandigarh, July 07: The family of the driver who was recently beaten up by drunken police officers met the Panchkula SP to seek the registration of case against the erring policemen.
On July 4, Sushil (22), a taxi driver, was allegedly assaulted in the public by two cops— ASI Shiv Lal and constable Rajesh. After the residents of the area protested, they were assured of appropriate and strict action against the cops.
A DDR was lodged against the two, and the urine samples of the cops were sent to
Madhuban Forensic lab but no case has been registered by the police till date.
Chandigarh, July 07: The Union Budget presented on Monday gave the Panjab University a reason to cheer.
A grant of Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned for the university.
It is for the first time that the university has managed to find a place in the Union Budget.
The grant comes as a major relief, as the university is facing acute shortage of funds. “I am grateful to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development for the amount they have sanctioned. Also, it is an honour for our university to have its name being mentioned in the Parliament,” Vice-Chancellor Prof R C Sobti said.
Lucknow, July 07: The police claimed to have gunned down dacoit Ashok Kewat — wanted in six cases of dacoity and murder in Chitrakoot — on Monday.
Kewat had robbed a man of his motorcycle early in the morning on Sitapur Road and opened fire when the police tried to intercept him in Gudamba. The place where the alleged encounter took place is a deserted area.
Lucknow, July 07: The case of missing Mumbai-based fashion designer Aadesh Bajpai is proving tough for the Kanpur police.
Though a fresh investigation has been ordered, the Investigating Officer (IO) was transferred even before he could begin.
The new IO is AK Upadhyay, the new Station Officer of Kalyanpur. He is the sixth officer to take charge of the case in the last 11 months.
The fresh investigations were ordered after the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, failed to extract DNA from the skull and bones recovered from IIT-K premises.
Islamabad, July 07: The lawyer of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian on a death row in Pakistan, will file a fresh mercy petition before the country’s president on Wednesday.
Counsel Owais Sheikh will file the plea before President Asif Ali Zardari in the wake of the Pakistan Supreme Court dismissing his appeal against capital punishment. The petition seeking clemency will include a letter addressed to Zardari by Sarabjit.
Srinagar, July 07: At least 13 persons, including four policemen, were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants at a police party and clashes with securitymen here today, official sources said.
Three policemen were among five persons who were critically injured when suspected militants lobbed a grenade at the police party, engaged in restoring law and order at Gawkadal which witnessed violence in protest against a student going missing four days back.
New Delhi, July 07: Ration shops would soon go hi-tech, if a Delhi government project goes as per schedule.
The government is planning to intriduce automated machines as part of the Public Distribution System after a series of cases of corruption, fake ration cards, black marketing of grains supplied to public distribution outlets.
Mumbai, July 07: A local Mumbai court will hear a bail plea of Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja.
On July 3, a court had deferred the hearing of the bail plea till July 7.
Meanwhile, the judicial custody of Ahuja, who was arrested for allegedly raping his domestic maid, was extended till July 16. He is lodged at the Arthur Road jail.
The DNA test report of Ahuja confirmed that he had sexual relations with the victim. Earlier, medical reports had suggested that Ahuja’s maid was raped.