General elections for November :Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Friday called General elections date r November 20.Zapatero told a news conference,This date “will allow us to finish substantial matters and will enable the new government to confront the challenges of the country from January 1.” Zapatero told media the economy was set to recover. “In a very complicated context, the economy is showing positive signs. We have put in place the bases for the recovery. Main opposition, Popular Party, has been demanding an early vote since May, when Mr Zapatero's Socialist Party, suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections. Spain embattles fiscal crisis. Zapatero will not be seeking a third term as prime minister, and opinion polls suggest his Socialist Party - led by former Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba - will lose.Reports BBc

U'khand High Court rescue Balkrishna's arrest

Uttarakhand High Court on Friday stayed the arrest of yoga guru Ramdev's close aide Balkrishna, charged with procuring fake educational certificates, and asked him to appear before the CBI on August 3.

Justice Tarun Agrawal also asked the probe agency to file a reply to the court on Balkrishna's petition within three weeks, his lawyer Rajendra Dobhal said.

The court, while hearing a plea seeking stay on the arrest, asked the accused to cooperate with the CBI in investigations and appear before it on August 3. Balkrishna is facing charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy for procuring fake educational degrees and using them in getting a passport.

The petition for stay on the arrest of Balkrishna was placed before Justice P C Pant yesterday. However, he recused himself and referred it to Chief Justice Barin Ghosh.Earlier, Ramdev's aide made two pleas to CBI seeking 10-20 days time to appear before it, which were rejected by the investigating agency.

However, with today's court order, the pleas by Balkrishna have become infructuous as the judge asked him to appear before the agency on August 3.

The next date of hearing has been fixed on August 29, advocate Dobhal said.

British royal wedding Zara ties the knot

LONDON: Prince William's marriage to Kate Middleton was watched by billions around the world but second British royal wedding of the year will be much more down-to-earth.Queen Elizabeth II's eldest grand-daughter Zara Phillips and her fiance Mike Tindall, the England rugby union veteran, are to marry in a private ceremony at Edinburgh's Canongate Kirk on Saturday.The pair, both world-beating sports stars, have planned a wedding that combines their low-key style with just the right amount of regal splendour.

All the senior royals are expected to attend -- William and Catherine included -- and the reception will be held at the nearby Palace of Holyroodhouse, the queen's official residence in Scotland.Phillips, 30, the younger child of the queen's only daughter Princess Anne, is a former eventing world champion and 13th in line to the throne.

Tindall, 32, played in England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and captained the side in their victorious 2011 Six Nations campaign.The wedding comes almost exactly three months after Phillips' cousin William, second in line, tied the knot on April 29, with a million people lining the streets of London and an estimated two billion more watching on television.The 321-year-old Canongate Kirk is on Edinburgh's Royal Mile thoroughfare, a short walk from the Scottish Parliament and Holyroodhouse.The royal family attend services at the Church of Scotland kirk when staying in the Scottish capital.Phillips met Tindall in Sydney in 2003 as the England squad celebrated winning the World Cup.

The jovial, broken-nosed Gloucester captain claims it was his "pure charm" that won her heart.The couple live in a regency townhouse in Cheltenham, southwest England and have largely kept their relationship out of the spotlight.

Tindall proposed on December 20 last year and the casually-dressed couple then posed for a few pictures in their snowy back garden.Rugby players are renowned for enjoying a drink or two and Tindall celebrated his stag party in Miami last month in true style, racking up a $20,000 bar bill.William and Catherine's fairytale marriage at Westminster Abbey cost a small fortune to stage.
Wedding takes place 30 years and a day on from the 1981 marriage of William's parents Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

Phillips has followed in her mother's footsteps in becoming an equestrian champion Anne won gold at the 1971 European eventing championship -- and has carved out her own life away from palace pressures.

Anne decided her two children would not bear royal titles and they do not carry out royal duties.The British press dubbed feisty Phillips a "royal rebel" after she had her tongue pierced as a teenager.Media-agencies

MMTC, AAI seek Navratna status

MMTC and Airport Authority of India are the new PSU aspirants for the coveted Navratna status which gives greater operational autonomy, a senior official has said."More and more companies are approaching us and seeking Navratna status... Airport Authority of India (AAI) and MMTC have approached us for the status," DPE Secretary Bhaskar Chatterjee said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The MMTC proposal, which meets the criteria, may be examined next month, he said.
The criteria for granting the Navratna status is based on a composite score system.

The PSUs are accorded scores on different performance parameters like net profit, networth and manpower cost to total cost of production.The board of directors of 'Navratna' PSUs can take investment decisions up to Rs 1,000 crore without approval from the government.Though the AAI, which was set up under an Act of Parliament, does not qualify for the status, the parameters themselves may be rationalised, the Secretary said.The staff strength in the AAI is not proportionate to the expenses on production, he added.It was constituted by an Act of Parliament and came into being on April 1, 1995 by merging National Airports Authority and International Airports Authority of India.The company is engaged in creation, upgradation and maintenance of civil aviation infrastructure both on the ground and air space in the country.

President Obama Addresses the Nation Tonight at 9

BREAKING: President Obama Addresses the Nation Tonight at 9

Tonight at 9 p.m. EDT President Obama will address the nation on the stalemate in Washington over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits.

You can watch the speech live at WhiteHouse.gov/live starting at 9 p.m. EDT tonight.
President Obama will address the nation on the "stalemate over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits"

Home Minister’s Bhutan Visit

Home Minister’s Bhutan Visit
Union Home Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram visited Bhutan from 22-24 July, 2011 for the Fourth SAARC Home/Interior Ministers’ Meeting. The Meeting was preceded by the Meeting of SAARC Immigration Authorities and SAARC Home Secretaries on 21-22 July, 2011. The Union Home Minister was accompanied by the Home Secretary and other senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs.

During the visit, Shri Chidambaram received audiences with the King and the Fourth Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan. He also called on the Prime Minister of Bhutan along with the leaders of delegations from other SAARC countries. On the margins of the SAARC Meeting, Shri Chidambaram met his counterparts from Pakistan and Maldives. The Home Secretary of Nepal called on the Union Home Minister.

China's,Bullet train collide in Wenzhou City

China's,Bullet train collide, An accident in Wenzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province, when D301 train from Beijing to Fuzhou rear-Collided the D3115 train at 8:50 p.m. The first four coaches of D301 and the 15th and 16th coaches of D3115 went off the line.Xinhua reports-- Death toll has risen to 35 and 210 were injured when a high-speed train smashed into a stalled train late Saturday in east China's Zhejiang Province, according to the provincial emergency office.Casualty,as of 9:30 a.m. Sunday, 35 people have been confirmed dead, including two foreigners, the emergency office said in a statement.

The accident occurred at 8:27 p.m. Saturday on a bridge near Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province when high-speed train D301 rear-ended D3115, which was allegedly hit by lightning and lost drive.Four carriages of D301 fell off the viaduct while two carriages of D3115 were derailed.Train D301 was heading from Beijing to the southeastern city of Fuzhou in Fujian Province while D3115 was running from Zhejiang's capital city of Hangzhou to Fuzhou.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called for all-out efforts to rescue passengers and ordered to make rescue work a priority after the bullet train derailing accident late Saturday in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang also instructed relevant departments to manage the rescue work well, according to a statement posted on the website of the Ministry of Railways.