US to put Indian astronaut in orbit; Two policemen killed in landmine blast in Gaya; Fake miracle-healer female gang in Meerut; Egypt blast death toll rises to 49; Bush may drop in to Pakistan in January next; Protests against madrasa raids in Pak; Sania crashes out of Cincinnati Open; Sienna gives Jude one last audience; Mel Gibson's latest passion is Apocalypto; Buy Aniston's puppy-love for 100,000 dollars on eBay; Broker urges Colin Farrell to profit from his sex tapes; Eminem slams retirement report; Bob Dylan tells all to Martin Scorcese;India Travel Times, Indian News, Tourism, Hotels, Airlines, Tour, Travel, Ayurveda, Yoga, Festival, Hindu, Taj Mahal, Kathakali, Dance,

Home Contact Us Dateline New Delhi, Saturday, July 23, 2005

US to put Indian astronaut in orbit

Chennai: The United States plans to put an Indian astronaut in space shortly, an American official said on Friday. In a clear reflection of the newfound bonhomie, Robert Blake, Deputy Chief of US Mission in India, told reporters in southern Madras that India's moon mission would have active participation of the US. "We wanted to do more in the area of space exploration, space navigation, satellite navigation and launch. We want to launch two US instruments on the "Chandrayan" (moon mission). Finally we agreed to include an India astronaut in the US astronaut programme," Blake said. India plans to send an unmanned mission to the moon by 2008, in what is seen as an effort to showcase the country's scientific capabilities. The mission has been named as 'Chandrayan Pratham' (First Journey to the Moon)." The mission is expected to cost New Delhi about 80 million dollars. Commenting on the recently signed Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Blake said the pact puts behind decades of discord between India and the US.

"The significant thing in this agreement is that we are reversing the decades of discord between the two countries on nuclear issues. And turning this into a significant opportunity, for significant energy cooperation between our two countries," Blake said. The deal has been greeted with euphoria, but energy experts say the gains will take decades to materialise and will not answer India's immediate and fast-growing energy needs. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington and the nuclear agreement reached on Monday has been called the highest point ever for India-U.S. relations. Blake added at a stroke, the deal removed much of the stigma India attracted after conducting nuclear weapons tests in 1998, and will catalyse an atomic energy industry hampered by sanctions since those tests. "That is a very profound statement, as you know, that ever since 1974 the United States in India, this has been a real touchstone of disagreement between the two countries. And we have now transformed into an opportunity for significant cooperation. That is a major turnaround and something which we are very very excited about," he added. The deal could be scuppered by opposition from the U.S. Congress, from other nuclear powers, or even from countries, which gave up their own nuclear ambitions to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Bush has promised to lobby his own Congress as well as his foreign allies, to amend American laws and international agreements which bar nuclear cooperation with India because it has not signed the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. In return, India has promised to separate its civilian and military nuclear programmes, continue a moratorium on nuclear testing and place its civilian nuclear facilities under U.N. inspection. India, short of domestic uranium to fuel its nuclear plants, now hopes the U.S. will resume supplies to two reactors it helped build for India at Tarapur near Bombay in 1969.

Two policemen killed in landmine blast in Gaya (Go To Top)

Gaya: In a landmine blast triggered by the extremist MCC, two policemen were killed and two seriously injured near the Sarabdaha village in Khijarsaray police station area today. According to sources, there were over 25 suspected rebels who attacked the police party when they were returning from inspection. "Our officials were returning from an inspection when about 500 meters away from a village called Nadara, the militant attacked our officials. Two of them are dead and two are injured. Injured have been referred to the city medical college and the postmortem of the dead is being carried out. MCC militants were behind the attack," said M L Rajak, DSP, Bathni, Gaya. "We also fired back but they were in large numbers. They were militants," said Kapil Prasad, injured constable. Naxals also snatched ammunition from police party including four rifles and around 150 cartridges during the attack. Police later launched a combing operation with the assistance of STF to nab the naxals. It was fourth such incident within a month carried by MCC. Earlier, the MCC extremists pulled one of the biggest attacks in the state when they gunned down dozens of innocent people in Madhubani Bazaar area in Motihari district just a few days ago. Naxals also burnt down a petrol pump owned by a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader in Gaya. The state administration has urged the Center to send reinforcements in the form of para-military forces even as many senior police officials including the DIG Gupteshwar Pandey, are camping in the area and carefully monitoring the situation.

Fake miracle-healer female gang in Meerut (Go To Top)

Meerut: Police have arrested four women and charged them with duping many families in Meerut city. Two of the four women are suspected to be residents of Delhi. According to the police, the kingpin of the gang used to act like a spiritual healer, offering solutions to problems in exchange for money. "We told her to get some tulsi leaves and when she went outside to get them, we replaced the money with pieces of paper and told her not to open it till the evening," said Teecho Devi, one of the gang members. Police have registered a case against them and claimed that two of the women belonged to New Delhi. "After we got the information we registered a case against them. And these four women were arrested near the city railway station after they were identified by one of their victims. Two of them are from Haryana and the other two belong to the state capital New Delhi," Ashok Sisodiya, SHO, Brahmpuri police station, Meerut. Police have recovered the money which the gang had duped from a woman named Shakuntla, who lodged a complaint against them. These women were active in small areas of Meerut where ignorance prevails and where people fall prey to these kinds of fraud. Meerut might still not be a crime free zone, but the arrest of these gangsters may stop such activities from happening in the future.

Egypt blast death toll rises to 49 (Go To Top)

Cairo (Egypt): Forty-nine people were killed and over 130 wounded in bomb blasts in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh late on Friday. International news reports said that the explosions took place in the Old Market area and the busy Naama Bay area, which includes the four-star Ghazala Gardens and the Moevenpick Hotels. Britons, Dutch, Qataris, Kuwaitis and Egyptians were among those killed and wounded, the BBC quoted Egyptian Police sources, as saying. They said that at least three car bombs had been used in the seven explosions. The blasts came within minutes of each other, shortly after 0100 local time (2200 GMT), when the bars and markets were busy with tourists. In the Old Market area, 17 people - all believed to be Egyptian workers - were killed as they gathered at a street cafe. The Sharm el-Sheikh area is popular with Israeli, Jordanian, Egyptian and European tourists.

Bush may drop in to Pakistan in January next (Go To Top)

Islamabad: US President George W Bush is scheduled to visit Pakistan in the early part of 2006. The News quoted Pakistani diplomatic sources as saying that Bush will pay an official visit to Pakistan in January, next year, adding that the US President will also visit India during the tour to South Asia. Sources said that US First Lady Laura Bush would also accompany Bush during the tour. Washington, sources said, was these days finalising the schedule of the visit with the respective capitals on Bush's itinerary, adding that Bangladesh was trying to bring Dhaka into the trip. Pakistan Foreign Office officials have however, neither confirmed nor denied Bush's visit to the region.

Protests against madrasa raids in Pak (Go To Top)

Islamabad: Pakistan's crackdown on jihadis across the country has brewed up a storm and stirred a hornet's nest. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal organized a countrywide protest against raids on the offices of the religious parties and seminaries, as well as the arrest of religious scholars and students. Protestors held angry demonstrations across all big cities of the country. In Islamabad, the MMA activists vented their anger at US President George W Bush, UK Premier Tony Blair and the Pakistani leadership, reports The News. Displaying placards and banners, condemning US, Britain and other anti-Muslim countries, the protestors turned violent and hurled stones at traffic police kiosks. They also reportedly burnt down a police motorcycle. The police said, that they have registered a case against the local MMA leadership under section 6/7 Anti-Terrorist Act and sections 353, 436, 186, 109, 341, 427, 506, 188, 148 and 149 PPC, adding, that the miscreants had been identified from video snaps filmed by security agencies.

Sania crashes out of Cincinnati Open (Go To Top)

Washington: Hyderabad teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza crashed out of the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Open on Friday. She lost to Japan's Akiko Morigami in straight sets 4-6, 3-6. Sania had earlier beaten Morigami in the first round at Wimbledon, but was unable to reproduce that magic in Ohio. Morigami will now meet Daniela Huntuchova in the semi-finals.

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