26 September, 2013

J&K terror attack: Army officer among 12 killed

Twelve people, including an Army officer, were killed on Thursday when militants mounted an audacious attack on a police station in Jammu region and commandeered a truck which they drove into an Army camp where soldiers took them on.

The brazen attack took place ahead of September 29 meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifin New York on the sidelines of the UN general assembly meet.

Mumbai world’s second most honest city

LONDON: India often finds itself embarrassingly high on the corruption index, rating among the most corrupt countries in the world. However, in a recent experiment, the country's commercial capital Mumbai presented a different picture. The ruse was a simple, abandoned wallet lying on the road, and recording how many people stumbling on it return it to its owner. This uncomplicated trick established Mumbai as the second most honest city in the world. Finnish capital city of Helsinki topped the list of honest cities returning 11 of the 12 wallets.

Kenya launches probe as Shabaab leader confirms mall attack

US, British and Israeli agencies are helping Kenya investigate an attack claimed by Somali Islamist militants on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 72 people and destroyed part of the complex, officials said on Wednesday.President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Tuesday that troops had defeated the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group after a four-day siege at the shopping centre popular with prosperous Kenyans and foreigners. He declared three days of mourning.The attack has highlighted the reach of al Shabaab and the capabilities of its crack unit which claimed responsibility for the bloodshed in the Westgate mall, confirming international fears that Somalia would remain a recruiting and training ground for militant Islam as long as it remained in turmoil.

New space crew joins ISS on Olympic torch mission

An American and two Russians on Thursday boarded the International Space Station after a lightning journey from Earth, on a mission that will see the Olympic torch for the 2014 Sochi Games taken into space for the first time.

Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky of Russia blasted off without a hitch from the Baikonur space centre that Moscow leases from Central Asia's ex-Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

Their Soyuz-TMA-10M capsule docked successfully with the ISS just six hours later, in a new short cut route now used by the Russian space agency. The new trio shortly afterwards joined the existing three-person crew on board.

World Pharmacists Day celebrated

The State Pharmacy Council, Assam, announced a grant of Rs 30 lakh for academic upgrade of pharmacists working in the state. The fund would have to be used in the next three years to organize education programmes.

The council made the announcement on the occasion of World Pharmacists Day, which was organized in the country for the first time to create awareness among people and healthcare professionals about the importance of pharmacists.

The president of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, H N Mahanta, said, "The Pharmacy Council of India has been organizing such programmes in other parts of the country for some time now. However, no such programme has been organized in our state earlier."

Iran says it wants to resolve nuclear row within months

Iran's new government, stepping up a campaign to project a more moderate image abroad, said on Wednesday it wants to jump-start talks with world powers to resolve a decade-long dispute over its nuclear program and hoped for a deal in three to six months.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif is set to hold talks on the nuclear issue on Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as well as diplomats from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, in a rare encounter between top American and Iranian officials.

Rupee rises to 62.13 per dollar on RBI measures

India's benchmark bond yield dropped as much as 10 basis points in opening trade on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assured it would provide liquidity to the market and also undertake open market operations if necessary. The Reserve Bank of India late on Wednesday relaxed the minimum maturity tenure for banks' foreign currency borrowings' to one year from three years, in order to use the central bank's swap facility which was set up to support the ailing rupee.

The Reserve Bank of India said on Wednesday it will take action, including conducting open market operations, to ensure adequate liquidity is available in the banking system, acknowledging that liquidity conditions have been tightening.

Odisha, Bihar least developed states; Goa, Kerala top chart

The Raghuram Rajan panel report has made a case for ending the 'special category' criteria for providing additional assistance to poorer states, as it ranked Goa and Kerala as the most advanced state and Odisha and Bihar the least.

The committee, headed by the then Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan (now RBI governor) which was set up by the government amid demand for "special category" status by Bihar, suggested a new methodology for devolving funds on states based on a 'Multi Dimensional Index (MDI)'

Al Shabaab strikes again; attacks Kenyan post near Somali border

Kenyan authorities said militants from the same extremist group, al Shabaab, that took over a Nairobi mall have attacked a security post near the Somali border, killing two police officers.

The attack that took place earlier today is the second by al Shabaab after the bloody four-day standoff at the Westgate Mall that ended Tuesday in which at least 67 people were killed.

Iraq: Triple bombing at market near Baghdad kills 14, wounds 40

Iraqi officials reported a triple bombing at an outdoor market in a village just north of Baghdad killed 14 people and wounded 40 in the latest round of bomb-violence afflicting the Gulf state.