Union home ministry is likely to hold a meeting with state police chiefs today (Saturday) to review the situation in the wake of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threat. The meeting is being held a day after the Indian authorities managed to secure the safe release of two out of four Indians abducted by the terror group in Libya. Four Indian teachers were abducted by the terror group while they were on their way to India from Tripoli and Tunis. While two of the professors are from Hyderabad, Telangana, two are from Karnataka (one from Raichur and the other from Bengaluru). Meanwhile, external affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted, "four Indians abducted in Libya - I am happy we have been able to secure the release of Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar. Trying for other two." The area from where they were kidnapped is under the control of the Islamic State, which has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria and has declared itself a caliphate.
Crowds cheer Bangladesh-India historic land swap
Officials from Bangladesh and India hoisted their respective national flags over their new territories on Saturday morning as part of the formal ceremony. A total of 162 tiny enclaves -- 111 in Bangladesh and 51 in India -- were officially handed over to the countries surrounding them after Dhaka and New Delhi struck a border agreement in June. Jubilant stateless crowds celebrated as the officials swapped tiny islands of land, ending one of the world's most intractable border disputes.
Skymet lowers its monsoon forecast numbers
Revising its earlier prediction, private weather agency Skymet has lowered its monsoon forecast from 102 percent to 98 percent even as it maintained that the country will receive "normal" rainfall during the year. It has also revised its prediction for July to 84 percent as against the earlier forecast of 104 percent.
The India Meteorological Department has predicted 88 percent rainfall, which would mean a "deficient" monsoon. Its July and August forecast stands at minus 8 (92 per cent of the LPA) and minus 10 per cent (90 per cent of the LPA), respectively. The figure for July will be better as a depression over Rajasthan and Gujarat and cyclone 'Komen' had triggered weeklong rainfall.
Twitter interface now available in six Indian languages
Twitter is now available in four more Indian languages - Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil (though users can tweet in any script but the user interface (UI) was available only in Hindi and Bengali)."We've updated Twitter.Com and the android app to support these additional Indian languages," the company said in a statement. Users will have to select the language from the settings menu in the profile.
Four new bus routes to Nepal and online vehicle permits
Indian and Nepali officials have recommended launching of four new regular bus service routes to improve connectivity and decided to put in place an online vehicle permit system for easy movement of personal vehicles between the two countries. Citizens of both countries do not require visas for travelling across the border but need to carry valid identity documents issued by the respective governments. As for vehicles, certain procedures have to be followed, which were made easy in 2014 after both countries signed the bilateral motor vehicles agreement.
SC steps in to get CBI more staff during Vyapam hearing
The Supreme Court on Friday told CBI to inform it in three weeks about taking over of investigation of maximum number of cases in Madhya Pradesh's Vyapam scam. There are all together 185 cases and charge sheets have been filed in 78 of them and the priority of the CBI is to take over those cases in which the investigation was undergoing. The apex court also asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) that it should be in a position by next date of hearing on August 7 to fill necessary vacancies in the CBI as the agency has complained that shortage of man power was coming in the way of probe. It sought the assistance of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on the issue of filling of vacancies in the CBI.
Now, BJP hoardings question Delhi Govt's expenditure on advertisements
After the observations of Delhi high court on 'wasting taxpayers' money' on advertisements, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put up hoardings questioning the Delhi government's expenditure on its advertisement campaign. The hoarding in asks why the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP Government spent Rs 526 crore on the campaign. It says the funds could have been better utilised to put up five lakh cameras for women's security, the issue on which the AAP took on the Delhi police and the centre.
