Air India, which has kept three wide-body planes and crew on standby for evacuation of Indian nationals in strife-torn Iraq, is awaiting government’s instructions to launch the flights, its officials said today.
The flights, which are likely to be operated by two Boeing 747 jumbos and a Boeing 777, are ready to fly at short notice, they said, adding that cockpit and cabin crew to operate them were also on standby.
The Assam government has decided to issue warnings to people living in 377 locations in Guwahati city and ask them to move out within two days, following the death of four people in landslides.
The Kamrup (Metro) district administration would make temporary arrangements for their stay after they move out of the locations, identified as landslide-prone areas.
Nine people, including two minor girls, were killed in the city last week after incessant rain led to landslides and other disasters in many areas.
The Delhi High Court Monday reserved its order on a plea filed by five wrestlers including Asian Championship silver medallist Amit Kumar Dhankar, seeking direction on the method of choosing wrestlers for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games (CWG).
After concluding the hearing on the plea filed by the five wrestlers, alleging that the men’s wrestling squad for representing the nation in the CWG games was selected without holding any trials, a bench of Justice V. K. Rao reserved its order.
The monsoon is yet to set in but 12 cases of dengue have already been reported in the national capital and its adjoining areas, municipal data revealed Monday.
Nine cases are from the north, east and south Delhi municipal corporation areas, and the remaining three cases are from adjoining areas in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Last year, six people died due to the vector-borne disease and a total of 5,546 cases were reported from the national capital and nearby areas.
(IANS)
Parrying questions on the developments that prompted West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan to demit office, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said she would not comment now on the “constitutional post”.
“This is a constitutional post. Now I won’t say anything on it,” Banerjee told media persons while disclosing that Narayanan would officially leave July 4.
Banerjee said the state government would not accord a farewell to Narayanan. “I don’t believe in giving farewell. Rather I believe in welcoming a person,” she said.
A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday surged 313 points or 1.25 percent, as capital goods, banking and healthcare stocks gained.
All the sectors, including oil and gas, metal, information technology (IT), automobile and power made healthy gains before closing. The Sensex also reported healthy quarterly gains, it ended the first quarter, up 13.52 percent.
The benchmark index ended on Monday ended in green for second consecutive session after making losses due to negative global cues and concerns regarding monsoon.
Can’t put your iPhone away for long? Here comes an app that can help you de-addict from your smartphone, freeing up more time for you to spend with your family and friends.
Called Moment, the app can track how much you use your phone, and where you use it – and suggest when it might be time to put it away.
“I built Moment to help nudge me in the right direction by automatically tracking my daily iPhone use and giving me a warning when I’m on it for too long,” wrote app creator Kevin Holesh on his blog post.
West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan has resigned, becoming the fourth appointed by the erstwhile UPA regime to quit before the end of their term since the BJP-led government took office last month.
Confirming the development, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee told the media that the 79-year-old Narayanan’s last day of work will be Friday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wished “full and speedy recovery” to his Nepal counterpart Sushil Koirala who is suffering from first stage lung cancer and is in a New York hospital.
In a letter to Koirala, Modi has said: “I also take this opportunity to offer my best wishes and prayers for your well-being and a full and speedy recovery to good health.”
Koirala was diagnosed with first stage lung cancer and is going to take the first round of radiotherapy beginning Wednesday. Modi’s message was made public by Koirala’s private secretariat Monday.
Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) commissioner Praveen Kumar has registered a police complaint against unknown people for uploading his family photo on social networking sites without permission, police said Monday.
In the photo uploaded a few days back, Kumar, an Indian Administrative Service officer, was seen hugging his daughter.
“People shared and commented on the photo without knowing that the woman in the photo was (Praveen) Kumar’s daughter,” a senior police officer told IANS here.
Two police officers were killed and several other security personnel were wounded in two blasts near the presidential palace in Cairo’s Heliopolis district Monday, media reported.
Colonel Ahmed al-Ashmawi, a bomb disposal expert at the Cairo security directorate, was killed and four security men were injured while defusing one of two bombs planted in the vicinity of the presidential palace in eastern Cairo, Xinhua reported citing the online edition of state-run Ahram newspaper, adding one bomb was successfully defused.
Two boys drowned in a Gurgaon canal Monday, police said.
Five boys, in the age group 14-15 years, had gone for a bath in a canal in Basai-Dhankot village. Deepanshu and Vishnu, both students of class 8, drowned in the canal while bathing as they did not know how to swim.
“The two of them entered the canal and drowned within minutes,” a senior police officer told IANS.
The bodies were recovered after an hour-long effort.
(IANS)
The Supreme Court Monday once again declined Gujarat cadre IAS officer Pradeep Sharma’s plea to travel abroad to meet his family members, who are American citizens.
Declining the plea, a bench of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice N.V.Ramana directed the hearing of the petition seeking an independent probe into the CD that allegedly exposes the top political links of the woman who was later snooped on by the Gujarat administration on alleged instructions from the very top.
Four people will face trial for their involvement in a terrorist attack at a railway station in Kunming March 1, China’s top procuratorate announced Monday.
The Kunming Municipal People’s Procuratorate found that the suspects were involved in organising, leading or taking part in the terrorist attack as well as intentional homicide, Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
India’s petroleum ministry foresees very little possibility of a disruption in the country’s oil imports due to the ongoing violence in Iraq.
“There is no situation as yet for panic, and everything is under control,” a ministry official told IANS Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Crude oil supplies to India come from Iraq’s Basra oilfields, which are far from the conflict zone in the north-east of the country. Loading of tankers from the Basra oil terminal is continuing normally,” the official added.
Mumbai Metro, the city’s newest swanky means of travel, Monday said it has notched 7.5 million commuters within barely three weeks since it opened June 8.
The daily ridership crossed the half-million mark and the service recorded a 100 percent increase in commuter traffic in three weeks.
“Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd. (MMOPL) created a global record by carrying over 7.5 million commuters in less than a month of its operation,” a company statement said.
FIFA has opened an investigation into an alleged bust up between a Chile player and a Brazilian team official in the players’ tunnel during half-time in Saturday’s pre-quarterfinal match that the hosts won via penalties.
FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee will analyse a video that showed a fight in the players’ tunnel at the Minerao stadium in Belo Horizonte, reports EFE.
Media reports claimed that Chile striker Mauricio Pinilla was punched by Brazil’s communications director Rodrigo Paiva at half-time during the match.
The government Monday said it will facilitate the return of over 600 Indians from non-conflict areas of Iraq this week, as efforts continued to secure the safe release of Indians in captivity in war-torn areas of the Gulf nation.
“Departure of more than 600 Indian nationals will be facilitated during this week,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
Israeli security forces arrested six Palestinians, five of them Hamas members, in the West Bank, the Israeli military said in a statement Monday.
A total of 420 Palestinian suspects have been detained since the beginning of “Operation Brother’s Keeper” to locate three Jewish teenagers kidnapped by Hamas militants while hitchhiking in the West Bank June 12, Xinhua reported.
Searches and raids overnight Sunday saw minor confrontations between security forces and Palestinians in Beitunia and Khader, the Jerusalem Post said citing a security official.
At least 14 people were killed and over 40 wounded in a fresh mortar attack in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib Monday, media reported.
The mortars launched by “terrorists” slammed into residential areas and a market place in Idlib city, Xinhua reported citing state news agency SANA, adding that children were among those who were killed.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has placed the death toll at 15, but the number is likely to rise as a large number of people were wounded. Women and children were among those killed, it said.
The government plans to formulate a national innovation policy that would stress on innovation at the school level, according to Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.
Apprising directors and chairmen of 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) about the policy at a retreat in Goa Sunday, Irani asked them to suggest curriculum changes at the school level that would not only align with higher education institutions but also help set up innovation labs at the district level across India with a view to infusing a culture of research and innovation among students.
Denmark is synonymous with badminton – and not inappropriately the country’s official website for the sport is simply badmintondenmark.com.
Denmark’s capital Copenhagen is to be the first city ever to hold for the fourth time the BWF World Championships when it hosts its 21st edition August 25-31. Copenhagen earlier conducted the championships in 1983, 1991 and 1999.
A look at Denmark’s impressive credentials will make it clear why it is still known as badminton capital of the world, though Asia is the dominant force today.
The capital is set to host “Rakhi- The Thread of Love”, a one of its kind lifestyle exhibition where creative people from all over the world will present artifacts, jewellery and apparel.
To be organised by Purnam at The Ashok here July 10, the one-day event will see entrepreneurs from London, Karachi, Dubai as well as Indian cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Amritsar and Jaipur exhibiting exquisite home décor products, jewellery, gems, apparel in fabrics including chiffon and silk and delicate handicrafts among other things, said a statement.
The three-day box office collections indicate that movie buffs are loving “Ek Villain”. The Balaji Motion Pictures’ latest offering has set the cash registers ringing ever since it hit the screens June 27.
“Ek Villain” has so far collected Rs. 50.70 crore (Friday Rs. 16.72 crore, Saturday Rs. 16.54 cr., Sunday Rs. 17.44 cr.). Released on 2539 screens nationwide, the romantic thriller has emerged as one of the biggest openers of the year in terms of screen average, said a statement.
Nearly 190, mostly children from poor families, have died due to suspected encephalitis in Bihar in the last month with three more deaths Monday, an official said.
The maximum number of deaths took place in the state’s Muzaffarpur district. Most of these children died at the government-run Sri Krishna Memorial College Hospital and the private-run Kejriwal Charitable Hospital.
State health officials said they have identified half a dozen districts where the disease has spread. These include Bhagalpur, Motihari and Samastipur districts.