| Gujarat
Governor-designate DN Dwivedi passes away New
Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Gujarat Governor-designate Devendra Nath
Dwivedi passed away here early on Saturday morning at the age of 74. He was suffering
from liver problems for quite some time and had been recuperating at Sir Ganga
Ram Hospital in the national capital for over a week. Dwivedi had been admitted
to Intensive Care Unit of Gastroenterology department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
on July 23. He was to undergo a liver transplant, but died at 4 a.m. on Saturday.
Dwivedi had been recently appointed as successor to Nawal Kishore Sharma, whose
five-year-term got over on July 24, following his medical condition, Dwivedi could
not take charge immediately. Two days ago, Maharashtra Governor S. C. Jamir had
been given additional charge of the Gujarat State till regular arrangements could
be made. He was sworn in as Gujarat Governor at Gandhinagar on Thursday. During
his illustrious career, Dwivedi had been a lawyer by profession and Solicitor
General of India. He was the Congress Rajya Sabha member from 1974 to 1980. He
had a brief stint with Nationalist Congress Party from 1999 to 2001 when he joined
NCP on the issue of suitability of a naturalised citizen for the office of the
Prime Minister. He hailed from Varanasi. Manmohan
Singh reviews security preparedness Top New
Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday chaired a meeting of the
National Security Council (NSC) to review the country's preparedness, amidst several
intelligence inputs of possible attack by terrorists. According to sources, the
NSC meeting was held at the 7, Race Course Residence of the Prime Minister, which
went for nearly three hours. Defence Minister A.K. Antony, National Security Adviser
M.K. Narayanan, new Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, and all the three chiefs of
the Armed Forces attended the meeting, sources said. The NSC discussed the terror
threat emanating from Pakistan-based militant groups and security concerns relating
to China. The NSC also reviewed the reported Chinese incursions along the border
in Arunachal Pradesh, sources added. Sources said, the NSC also discussed the
issues of increase in the construction of bunkers along the Indo-Pak border and
Line of Control by Pakistan and maritime security. Maoists
attack CCL site in Jharkhand Top Latehar
(Jharkhand): The ultras belonging to the banned Maoists organizations on Saturday
set fire to two pay-loaders of the Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) near Tori Railway
station in Jharkhand. According to sources about twenty members of Maoist outfit,
Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC), attacked the CCL 's coal loading site and
set on fire the pay-loaders. The ultra are also reportedly abducted about 15 personnel
of the Home Guards who were on duty during the time of attack. The ultras snatched
the mobile phones and torches from the guards before setting them free. Maoists
also sent a warning to stop the loading with machines and asked to adopt manual
loading system. A case has been lodged in Chandwa Police Station based on the
statements of abducted guards, sources said. Nirupama
Rao takes charge as Foreign Secretary Top New
Delhi: Nirupama Rao took charge as India's next Foreign Secretary on Saturday.
She assumed charge from incumbent Shiv Shankar Menon. Fifty eight-year-old Nirupama
Rao, a 1973-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has served in a number of key
positions. She takes charge at a time when India and Pakistan are going through
tough times in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attacks. Prior to her posting in
Beijing as Ambassador, Rao served as India's envoy to Sri Lanka and was the country''s
first woman spokesperson. Previously, Rao had served in the Indian Missions in
Washington and Moscow besides having a stint in the Ministry of External Affairs
as Joint Secretary (East Asia) for eight years. Earlier this month, Rao had told
ANI TV during a trip to Japan that she is looking forward to her new assignment
with optimism and is ready for the challenges that comes with job. "I will look
forward to the new assignment with great deal of optimism and sense of anticipation.
I'm fully aware that there will be challenges to be met, I'll look forward to
it," Rao said. Saudi
Arabia offers asylum to beleaguered Musharraf Top Islamabad:
Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf may be heading former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's way as far as taking refuge outside the country is concerned.
Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Aziz Bin Ibrahim said that his country
would consider giving political asylum to Musharraf if he asks for it, The Daily
Times reports. Talking to media persons here, Ibrahim said both countries shared
strong historic ties and all efforts would be made to strengthen them further.
However, it is unclear whether Musharraf would settle in Saudi Arabia after the
Supreme Court's decision declaring his November 3, 2007 acts as 'unconstitutional'
and 'extra-judicial'. While it is almost certain that Musharraf would not return
home in a hurry, it is not clear whether the former general would stay in London,
where he has been staying over the past few months or settle in Saudi Arabia.
Space
shuttle Endeavour successfully returns to Earth Top Washington:
Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven astronauts ended a 16-day journey
of more than 6.5 million miles on July 31, landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
in Florida. During the flight, Endeavour delivered the final piece of the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and a new crew member to the International
Space Station (ISS). Endeavour's mission included five spacewalks and installation
of two platforms outside the Japanese module. One platform remained on the station
and serves as a type of porch for experiments that require direct exposure to
space. The other was an experiment storage pallet that returned aboard the shuttle.
During the mission, Kibo's robotic arm transferred three experiments from the
palette to the platform. The station now is 83 percent complete and has a mass
of more than 685,000 pounds. Mark Polansky commanded the flight and was joined
by Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn,
Dave Wolf, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette and Tim Kopra. Kopra
remained aboard the station, replacing Flight Engineer and Japanese astronaut
Koichi Wakata, who returned to Earth on Endeavour after more than four months
on the station. When Endeavour's seven astronauts joined the six resident Expedition
20 crew members aboard the space station, a record number of 13 people were aboard
the orbiting laboratory. With Endeavor and its crew safely home, the stage is
set for the launch of STS-128, which is targeted for August 23. Discovery's 13-day
flight will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the station.
The equipment includes science and storage racks, a freezer to store research
samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. White
House `Beer Summit' falls flat Top Washington:
For all practical purposes, the so-called "Beer Summit" held at the White
House on Thursday between President Barack Obama, black Harvard professor Henry
Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Massachusetts police sergeant James Crowley, has
fallen flat in the public and the media's imagination. Initially, news outlets
were tipsy with coverage of the "Beer Summit." MSNBC went with a countdown clock
to the big event showing three mugs, while CNN opted for two clinking mugs on
its own countdown clock. The network had five cameras broadcasting live from the
White House, used Google Earth maps to show the placement of the picnic table
in the Rose Garden, and provided polling on beer drinkers' views of Obama. News
stories crossed the wires with headlines such as "OBAMA-BUDLIGHT-UPDATE3." But
the big moment turned flat: The three had no agenda and no comment as they sat
in the Rose Garden, inviting the cameras to shoot the scene for a few seconds
from 50 feet. The result: shaky images showing the trio, joined by Vice President
Biden, around a table with a mug in front of each. The formally attired White
House waiter crossing the lawn with a mug of beer on a platter ruined any hope
of projecting a casual image of some guys downing a few cold ones. The only words
audible were those of White House aides shooing cameras away with "keep moving."
In the end, the sudsy summit produced little more than the peanuts the men were
served -- and the puns. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza solicited suggestions
for a name. The results: "Yes, Three Cans." "Ménage à Stella Artois." "Beerastroika."
"A Thousand Points of Bud Light." And "The Audacity of Hops." The three men declared
in advance which beer they favored for cooling racial tensions. Crowley wanted
a Blue Moon, Gates ordered a Red Stripe, and the president, through his spokesman,
requested a Bud but then switched to a Bud Light. Bad choices all around, it turns
out: A Belgian conglomerate made the president's beer of choice, while the professor's
beer was from a British corporation. American brewers protested. Had they been
a bit more creative, the summiteers could have used their time in the White House
beer garden to promote some small American brews. Putin
dives down world's deepest lake Top Irkutsk
(Russia): Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who prides himself over his
'macho' image, on Saturday boarded a mini-submarine in southern Siberia in Russia
and dived to the bottom of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world and the
largest freshwater lake in the world by volume. The 56 year-old was seen boarding
the Mir-1 submarine before being hoisted into the water to begin his journey into
the lake, which is also known as the "Blue Eye of Siberia," and contains more
water than all of the North American Great Lakes combined, the AAP reported. Putin
was reportedly delighted with his journey and said: "The dive is going perfectly,
there is a perfect view with the lights." He, however, expressed some surprise
about how murky the water was in the lake, which contains around a fifth of the
world's freshwater reserves. "The water of course is clean from an ecological
point of view but in fact it's a plankton soup, or so I called it," he said. The
Mir-1 had earlier set a world record in 2008 for the deepest dive in a lake by
diving to 1,680 metres (5,512 feet). According to reports, Putin in his daring
expedition dived to a depth of around 1,400 metres (4,600 feet). The Russian Prime
Minister is famous for indulging in numerous voyages and prides himself on keeping
a remarkable physical condition, and has raised eyebrows with a series of highly
publicized stunts over the past couple of years. Earlier, Putin had clipped a
radio transmitter onto a beluga whale named Dasha in Russia's Far East. |
