Tokyo, July 01: Japan plans to send two new warships on an anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia to replace two destroyers that have been in the Gulf of Aden since March.
The two destroyers, with a combined crew of 420, will set sail next Monday.
“I ordered to send two patrol ships on July 6 to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia so that they will start their missions at the end of July,” Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada was quoted as saying by AFP.
Gaza, July 01: In another act of piracy outside its territorial waters, the Zionist regime’s navy seized a foreign vessel carrying humanitarian assistance for Gaza and forcibly diverted it and all onboard to Israel on Tuesday.
The “Spirit of Humanity” was carrying 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
The crew was detained by the Israeli military, who said they would “be handed over to the proper authorities.”
New Delhi, July 01: A day after taking stock of the water shortage in the city, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told the Delhi Assembly today that the water crisis is not as bad as has been made out to be in the last few days.
Responding to a discussion initiated by BJP MLAs Sahib Singh Chauhan, O P Babbar and Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal, Dikshit claimed that while there is a shortage of water supply, the whole issue has been ‘politicised’ by the BJP in the Assembly.
New Delhi, July 01: A patient at Batra Hospital in Southeast Delhi allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the hospital’s second floor in the early hours of Tuesday. The deceased, Ravti Prasad, 40, was reportedly suffering from a kidney ailment and had been admitted in the hospital on June 27.
The family of the deceased, however, suspects foul play on the part of the hospital authorities and claimed that the patient was unable to walk on his own and thus could not have committed suicide.
Shimla, July 01: Spurned by the party and now looked down on by even district authorities in Himachal Pradesh, George Fernandes, a nine-time MP and former defence minister, got a raw deal from the Kangra district administration when he reached Dharamshala on June 22.
Despite knowing that he is the NDA convenor and a former Union minister, he was allotted an ordinary room – number 201 – in the circuit house. This room was usually given to servants and security staff of ministers and bureaucrats.
New Delhi, july 01: Jamia Millia Islamia will soon be the first central university to have an undergraduate dental college in Delhi.
The newly-opened four-storied, state-of-the-art Faculty of Dentistry at the southern tip of the university’s cricket ground will soon house fifty students of dental surgery. Plans are on to offer postgraduate courses as well.
Designed by architect Romi Khosla at the cost of Rs 45 crore, faculty member Dr Sabina Sachdeva says the biggest advantage for students is that the college’s facilities are not being shared with other medical students.
New Delhi, July 01: The last time Yuki Bhambri visited the DLTA Complex, he was a spectator cheering his sisters on from the sidelines as they played their matches during a women’s ITF tournament, making sure his injured ankle wasn’t put under too much strain.
On Tuesday, during his own match at the $15,000 ITF Futures tournament, a mere onlooker was what his opponent Ashwin Kumar was reduced to as the 16-year-old gave away just two games in his first-round 6-2 6-0 win.
Kolkata, July 01: State-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) has decided to offer employment to Madhu, the poverty-stricken fifth generation descendent of India’s last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Madhu, 33, is the daughter of Sultana Begum and the late Muhammad Bedar Bakht, the great grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar.
“On behalf of Coal India Ltd, I feel pleasure in offering employment to Madhu. It will be a great tribute to the last Mughal emperor who played a key role during the first war of independence in 1857,” Coal India Chairman Partha Bhattacharyya said.
London, July 01: A royal bodyguard accused of running a multimillion dollar scam opened his defence on Monday by accusing his palace colleagues of running poker and porn enterprises, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
Paul Page, who is alleged to have cheated colleagues and others out of their life savings, described his job as an “easy life”. Page denied fraudulent trading, intimidation and threatening to take revenge on a victim who spoke to police between January 1 2003 and March 30,2007.
Mumbai, July 01: A key index of the Indian equities market rose at the opening bell Wednesday, putting on 57 points within five minutes of start of trade.
The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened higher at 14,506.43 points, was ruling at 14,551.24 points, 57.4 points or 0.4 percent above Tuesday’s close.
The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too moved up from the opening bell, rising 0.42 percent to rule at 4,309.2 points around the same time.
New Delhi, July 01: Nominal passenger fare revision, incentives on freight transport, enhanced funding for security and seasonal passes for vendors at Rs 20 are likely to be the highlights of the Railway Budget to be presented on July 3.
Besides, economic meals at stations and more Janata trains are expected to find mention in the budget as also expediting work on railway coach factory in Rae Bareli and putting the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) on fast track.
Bhubaneswar, July 01: Four companies of central paramilitary forces posted in Orissa’s Kandhamal district following communal violence last year were withdrawn Wednesday, an official said. They were the last of the central forces posted there to keep the peace.
“The deployment date of the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel was up to June 30. They have now been withdrawn,” Inspector General of Police Arun Sarangi told IANS, adding that an adequate number of state police personnel have replaced them.
Los Angeles, July 01: Michael Jackson’s will gives guardianship over his children to the singer’s mother and leaves all his assets in a trust fund, a person with knowledge of the document told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The word came just a day after the family said in court documents it believed the entertainer had died without a valid will and moved to take control over his estate.
New Delhi, June 01: In a move aimed at removing the stigma attached to poor performance in examination, the proposed grading system at Class-X in CBSE will do away with the term ‘failure’ in the test.
Those students who fail to secure 33 per cent marks in more than two subjects will be awarded the last grade in the nine-point grading system. The last grade will be termed as ‘needs improvement’.
Kolkata, July 01: A 28-year-old married man committed suicide in Malda district of West Bengal after being separated from his girlfriend, police said. He had left home to search for her.
Narad Boiragi was admitted to the general hospital in Malda after consuming poison and died there early Tuesday.
Boiragi, a resident of Kolkata’s neighbouring North 24 Parganas district, left his home Friday in search of his beloved in Malda district. He went to Salaidanga under Gajol police station area, a tribal dominated region, to meet his girlfriend.
Baghda, July 01: Not a single American soldier was in sight. Gone, too, were the American helicopters whose buzz has for years defined Baghdad’s background track.
Left alone to protect the capital Tuesday were thousands of Iraqi troops and police manning checkpoints, with army tanks deployed at potential trouble spots and convoys of pickup trucks with machine guns roaming the streets.
Lalgarh, July 01: In a small village in Katapahari paralyzed by fear and deserted by its men fleeing the fallout of the government’s crackdown on Maoists, ‘hope’ came alive in the dead of night yesterday — helpless and despairing.
Jashomoni Mandi, one of the scores of tribal women forced to flee their homes, gave birth on the verandah of the Narcha village primary school building in the heart of Lalgarh’s battle zone and lay in her blood with her baby in her arms for a full seven hours before a village midwife arrived from Chotopelia to cut the umbilical cord.
Los Angeles, July 01: Michael Jackson was so distraught over persistent insomnia in recent months that he pleaded for a powerful sedative despite warnings it could be harmful, says a nutritionist who was working with the singer as he prepared his comeback bid.
Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse whose specialty includes nutritional counseling, said Tuesday that she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug, Diprivan, which is given intravenously.
Washington, July 01: Nasa is about to unveil one of its most stunning discoveries — new and crystal clear footage of the first moon landing.
The TV images of Neil Armstrong descending down a ladder onto the moon’s surface in 1969 is grainy, blurry and dark, giving rise to conspiracy theories that the entire Apollo 11 mission was an elaborate fraud.
But people have only ever seen such poor quality footage because the original tapes containing the lunar pictures were lost almost as soon as they were recorded.
New Delhi, July 01: While BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have come out in support of Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s educational reforms proposals including optional Class X board examinations and a uniform board for the entire country, the minister is isolated within his own party.
At least five Congress-ruled states — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Assam — have expressed reservations against his proposals. Many have also raised concerns about the Foreign University Bill whose passage is on Sibal’s priority list.
New Delhi, July 01: Nominal passenger fare revision, incentives on freight transport, enhanced funding for security and seasonal passes for vendors at Rs 20 are likely to be the highlights of the Railway Budget to be presented on July 03.
Besides, economic meals at stations and more janata trains are expected to find mention in the budget as also expediting work on railway coach factory in Rae Bareli and putting the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) on fast track.
Mumbai, July 01: This weekend will see the father-son jodi of Dharmendra and Sunny Deol makes an appearance for the first time on small screen on Dus Ka Dum. They are the special guest for the evening with Salman Khan as a host. It was a fun filled episode to watch all three.
As per our source, “Dharmji is very fond of Salman and he also stated that, in Sallu he finds the younger version of himself. He does everything openly just like I did in my younger days. Whether it is drinking or romancing”
Astana, July 01: India is a very important player in the two-day global conference of faiths and civilisations that opened in this Kazakh capital Wednesday, a top diplomat says.
“India is a very important country (for the meet). In fact, India is a country that is even more multi-faceted (than the event’s hosts),” Doulat Kuanyshev, ambassador-at-large in the Kazakhstan foreign ministry, said of the third Congress of World and Traditional Religions that Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev inaugurated.
Mumbai, July 01: Karan Johar’s next Mumbai based flick, ‘Wake Up Sid’ though revolves around a good looking young guy Ranbir Kapoor who falls for an older and simple woman Konkona Sen Sharma, Kashmira Shah bags a meaty role.
“I am playing a very sexy role in the film where a hero gets uncomfortable when I am around. I have played such characters before but this is very playful”, she briefs about her character.
Mumbai, July 01: Ram Gopal Varma had gone of to sleep late at night keeping his TV set on. So when he woke up the next morning the first thing he saw on TV was the banner head line ‘Michael Jackson is Dead’.
A fan of the great King of Pop like countless others, Ramu however has penned down in his unique manner why he hates Michael Jackson.
States Ramu, “I hate Michael Jackson. I hate him for dying and making me realize that he is finally only a human being. I hate that he too has to breathe to live.