| Two
rockets fired into Punjab village from Pak Dhande
Village (Punjab): Two rocket shells were fired from across the border into
Punjab ’s Dhande village on Saturday night. The rocket shells fell in the paddy
fields of the village, located near the Pakistan border. One of the injured Dilbagh
Singh, who sustained injuries from shells, said the blast could have proved quite
devastating had it hit the village’ residential area instead of paddy fields.
"We saw a bomb coming towards us from the other side ( Pakistan border). We initially
presumed it to be a plane. But it landed directly into the wet fields and blasted.
The splinters, which came out of it, injured me on the leg. We still feel fortunate
that it got blasted into the field or else the village could have been destroyed,"
said Dilbagh Singh, the injured. Senior BSF, Army and police officials reached
the spot soon after the incident. The tailpiece of the rocket had a 07R marking.
Villagers are now in a state of fear after the incident and want the government
to take a serious look into the matter. "This attack would have caused a major
destruction in the village. We, therefore, want the government to take serious
steps to protect our village," Sukhwinder Kaur, a villager. Meanwhile, Border
Security Force Inspector General (IG), Frontier, Himmat Singh in the State's Jalandhar
city said that that they had held a Commandant meeting with Pak Rangers last night.
"The blasts were very powerful. We held the commandant level meeting at night
with Pakistan Rangers and have conveyed our strong protest. We have told them
to investigate the matter and try the culprits according to law," said Himmat
Singh. The incident has posed a threat to the safety of visitors, who visit Attari
land border to witness the daily Beating Retreat ceremony, which is on the Zero
line. Dhande village is about two kilometres ahead of it. Source said, a third
blast also took place at Village Pul Kanjri, close to international border between
India and Pakistan . But it is yet to be confirmed by the security officials.
Military experts say, had the two blasts occurred in residential area it could
have been a seriously damaging incident. Maoists
torch buses in Bihar Top Gaya:
Maoists set two buses on fire after hijacking them in Gaya district of Bihar,
police said on Sunday. According to reports, Maoists torched the buses as the
owner refused to pay them ransom. Armed Maoists hijacked the two private transport
buses plying on an inter-state route on Saturday and forced the passengers to
alight before directing the drivers to ply the buses towards nearby forests. Later
the Maoists set free the drivers and helpers of the buses. A police patrol reached
the jungle in the evening but found it difficult to advance towards the spot due
to darkness. The police resumed the search Sunday morning. However, the Maoists
torched the buses before police could reach there. “We were unable to trace vehicles
as they were parked in jungle and it was dark. We advanced towards the jungle
in the morning. However they (Maoists) came to know about our presence when we
were around 1.5 km away from the spot. So they torched the vehicles,” said Ranjan
Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Gaya Five
killed, 100 injured in factory blasts in Madhya Pradesh Top Singrauli
(Madhya Pradesh): Five factory workers were reported killed and over 100 injured
in four blasts occurred in a detonator factory, located in Baidan Village of Madhya
Pradesh’s Singrauli area. The intensity of blasts was so high that its sound could
be heard many kilometres from Baliyari industrial area of the village, the place
of incident where Indian detonators are manufactured. Besides, there was an adjoining
solar factory. The blasts also affected the nearby factories in the industrial
area, said Abhay Gupta, an eyewitness of the incident. The incident occurred at
around six o’clock in the evening, Abhay added. The injured were rushed to the
hospital in the industrial area as well as District hospital. There was no confirmation
about the scale of deaths in the incident till last information could be received.
Four injured
in Mumbai building collapse in rains Top Mumbai:
Four people sleeping on a pavement were injured when an old building collapsed
on them during incessant rains, which have been lashing Mumbai since Saturday
morning. "It collapsed at around 12:30 a.m. and four people who were sleeping
in footpath were injured. They have been taken to the G.T. hospital," Sanjay Mohite,
Deputy Commissioner of Police, said on Sunday. Incessant downpours have flooded
various streets and disrupted air, rail and road traffic. According to reports,
water logging is reported in areas like Hindmata, Kalachowkie, Mahim Junction,
Andheri-Kurla road and Ghatkopar. Officials said the rain triggered a landslide
in suburban Bhandup and a wall collapsed at Mahul near Shiv Sena office. Incidents
of tree felling were reported at 12 places. However, there were no reports of
any casualties. Meanwhile, a 40-year-old woman died of electrocution in Govandi.
The weather department had forecast frequent spells of rain, with the possibility
of a heavy downpour over the next 48 hours in some parts of the city.
Red alert as Assam flood situation remains
grim Top Guwahati:
The overall flood situation in Assam remains grim even on the fourth day.
A red alert has been sounded in the areas of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, and Jorhat districts
where the Brahmaputra River is flowing above the danger level. Nearly one lakh
hectre of crop has been submerged, and more than seventy thousand people have
been left homeless due to the heavy rains in the catchments areas of the Brahmaputra
river in the foothills of the Himalayan Hills in Arunachal Pradesh from the last
one week. Teams of the National Disaster Management have been deployed for the
rescue and rehabilitation operations. According to sources, the flood situation
will remain same for next few days, as it is still raining heavily on the catchment
areas of Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Left
Front wins 109 seats unopposed in Tripura civic polls Top Agartala:
The ruling Left Front in Tripura won unopposed 109 Village Panchayat seats.
Left front candidates were also elected unopposed to one seat each in Panchayat
Samiti and Zila Parishad. According to the Tripura state Election Commission,
election to the local bodies in the state will take place on July 20. Over all
9,500 aspirants were in the fray for Village Panchayats, 622 candidates for Panchayat
Samiti and 200 candidates for Zila Parishads. Tripura has given 40percent reservation
for women in the local bodies. Tripura has more than four lakh women voters, which
is nearly 49 percent of the state's total electorate.
Kandhamal riot accused out on bail to
take oath as MLA Top Phulbani:
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and a prime accused in several cases relating
to last year's communal violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district, Manoj Pradhan
was released from jail today to be able to take oath as a member of the Orissa
legislative Assembly. Legislator from G Udayagiri constituency, Pradhan was released
after a fast track court here granted him conditional bail for 15 days in two
cases. Earlier, he had got bail in 12 other cases. Pradhan was lodged in jail
since his arrest in October 2008 on charge of murder, riot and arson. He was granted
interim bail on the basis of the Orissa High Court's order. After his release,
Pradhan said: "I have been falsely implicated. The charges levelled against me
are fabricated and fictitious." Pradhan had not been able to take oath as a Member
of the state Assembly as he was in judicial custody in Kandhamal. Kandhamal had
witnessed the killing of 38 Christians and the burning of several houses and churches
during communal violence last year following the murder of VHP leader Laxmanananda
Saraswati. US
forces Israel to back out of IAF jet bid Top Jerusalem:
The United States has forced an Israeli company to back out of the multi-billion
dollar tender to sell new multi-role fighter jets to the Indian Air Force. Israel
Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been pressurized by the Pentagon to back out of
a joint partnership with a Swedish aerospace company, Saab Gripen. The six aircraft
makers and types involved in the multi role combat aircraft (MRCA) competition
are the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing Super Hornet, along with
the Lockheed Martin F-16, Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the Mig 35. The deal is estimated
at a whopping 12 billion dollars for 126 new aircraft. Saab, manufacturer of the
Gripen, asked the IAI to jointly develop an advanced model, which would compete
for the deal. The Israeli Defense Ministry ordered IAI to back out of the deal
after the Pentagon expressed concern that American technology, used by Israel,
would be integrated into the Gripen offered to the Indians. "The stated concern
was that western technology in Israeli hands would make its way to the Indians,"
The Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli official, as saying. The American request
was that Boeing and Lockheed Martin - the two largest US defense contractors -
are also competing for the Indian deal. For this reason, Israeli officials said
it was more likely that the Americans were concerned that if the IAI competed
for the deal with Saab it would force the US companies to lower their prices.
A multi-role fighter, the Gripen is in service in Sweden, the Czech Republic,
Hungary and South Africa. The IAI was supposed to provide the electronic systems
like radar, communications, etc for the plane. This is not the first time that
an Israeli company has been forced out of a deal due to concerns that competing
with American companies would endanger Israeli-US relations. Last summer, the
Israel Military Industries (IMI) had to back down from submitting a bid for a
half-a-billion dollar deal to develop and manufacture a new tank for the Turkish
Armed Forces. BBC
apologises for new racial faux pas Top
London: The producers of BBC's The One Show
have apologised for a new racial faux pas, which comes just five months after
the channel sacked Carol Thatcher for comparing a tennis player to a 'golliwog'
on the show. Some viewers of the BBC One programme complained after actor Martin
Jarvis complimented a fellow guest, Fatima Barkatullah, who was wearing a niqab,
a face veil in which only her eyes could be seen. "You have wonderful and lovely
eyes," the Telegraph quoted Jarvis, as telling Barkatullah after she had explained
during a discussion about Muslim women's dress that wearing niqab or burka was
partly intended to discourage unwanted attention from men. "The producers were
apologising in the green room afterwards. But I knew he meant it in good spirits.
Martin said afterwards that he was just saying what the whole nation was thinking.
I think some people were offended on my behalf," Barkatullah said. "My husband
met him in the green room afterwards and told him he wasn't going to ask him to
step outside," she added. In February, Carol Thatcher was banned from The One
Show after being reported for referring to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the French tennis
player, as a "golliwog." The daughter of former British prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher made the remark during an off-camera conversation with the presenter
Adrian Chiles, who was described as "shocked." Although the conversation took
place in the green room and not on air, her remark was heard by several members
of the production team, as well as Chiles. Jackson
to be buried sans his brain Top London:
Michael Jackson, who died of a suspected cardiac arrest at his Beverly Hills mansion
on June 25, is going to be buried without his brain. As the late King of Pop's
family prepares for the singer's funeral on Tuesday, they have been told his brain
would be held back for tests. The family was given the choice of either waiting
up to three weeks for Jackson's brain to be returned to them or go ahead and bury
him without it - which they have decided to do. Los Angeles Coroner's spokesman
Craig Harvey said that neuropathology tests are going to be conducted to see if
it holds any clues to the exact cause of his death. However, the examination cannot
start until at least two weeks after the death when the brain has hardened sufficiently
to slice it open. Sources at the coroner's office revealed that his brain was
removed before his body was released to relatives the next day. Jackson's death
is believed to have stemmed from a suspected overdose of painkillers. Jackson's
brain will be tested by a forensic neuropathologist for past drug use and whether
he has suffered overdoses in the past. The brain can also show any past abuse
of alcohol or if the singer had suffered from any one of a number of diseases.
According to the source, removing the brain is the "only way to carry out the
tests". "The tissue has to be examined. I can't tell you how long that is going
to take," the Mirror quoted the source as saying. |
