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NEW DELHI: Marking its entry into an elite club, India will launch its first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine at Vishakapatnam seaport for trial on July 26.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will launch the submarine at the Vishakapatnam port in the presence of top Defence and Navy officials, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy told reporters here today.Code-named Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), India has been quite secretive about its nuclear submarine project.To be christened INS Arihant (destroyer of enemies), the nuclear submarine is among the five in the class already approved by the government to create a strong nuclear submarine fleet.The sea trial of the 7,000-tonne submarine will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal off Vishakapatnam, where the vessel was constructed.Once inducted, India will join the high league comprising US, Russia, France and China, which have capabilities to develop nuclear submarines.

Monday, July 20, 2009 NOUAKCHOTT: The army general who led a military coup that toppled Mauritania's first elected head of state last August was on Sunday declared the winner of a presidential election organised by his junta.Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz, who resigned his commission to stand, won 52.58 of ballots cast in the first round of voting on a turnout of 64.58 percent, according to provisional results released by his interior minister, Mohamed Ould Rzeizim.During a press conference awaiting validation of results by authorities managed by the government installed after the coup, Ould Abdel Aziz dismissed opposition claims of a voting "charade.""Whatever (they) say, our camp did not engage in fraud," he said. "It's not enough just to say there has been fraud -- you have to provide proof."That is now a matter for the constitutional council and the interior minister -- the law is very clear on that point."He promised to fight against disease w...

Monday, July 20, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States this week marks the 40th anniversary of the historic first moon walk, with President Barack Obama kicking off events by meeting at the White House Monday with the crew of the Apollo 11 mission. The Apollo 11 crew became the first to accomplish the dream of ages and walk on the surface of the moon -- an endeavor now remembered at a time when future US dominance in space has become far less certain. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," said astronaut Neil Armstrong as he stepped down from the lunar lander on July 20, 1969, as an estimated 500 million people on Earth crowded round televisions and radios. Washington's "Newseum" news museum on Monday will simulcast a discussion -- "The Apollo Legacy: The Moon and Beyond" -- to science centers across the United States.In addition to the White House reception, a host of events planned included a news conference in Washington Mond...

Monday, July 20, 2009 COLOMBO: Khurram Manzoor and Mohammad Yousuf lifted Pakistan with an unbeaten 67-run stand after Sri Lanka's Thilan Thushara struck quick blows at the start of the third Test here on Monday.Pakistan, sent in to bat in overcast conditions by Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, recovered from a shaky 34-2 to post 103 without further loss by lunch on the first day at the Sinhalese sports club.Left-arm seamer Thushara grabbed two wickets in four balls to give Sri Lanka a solid start in their bid to sweep the three-match series after winning the previous two matches.But the third-wicket pair of Manzoor and Yousuf denied Sri Lanka further success till lunch on a barren wicket that appeared full of runs.Manzoor, playing his fifth Test, was unbeaten at the break on 42, while the 82-match veteran Yousuf was on a fluent 36.Openers Fawad Alam and Manzoor had put on 34 within the first hour when Thushara struck in his third over after replacing Nuwan Kulasekera.Left-han...

Sunday, July 19, 2009, NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said that strategic partnership is required between India and US on issues like climate change. Addressing a joint press conference, Hillary Clinton said that she expects Pakistan to take strong action against terrorism. After winning over Mumbai with her charm, Clinton arrived in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon for talks with Indian government leaders to launch what she called a third phase in the India-US strategic partnership. She was received at the airport by India's Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar and Gayatri Kumar, joint secretary in charge of the Americas in the external affairs ministry. A slew of agreements, including pacts on an end-use monitoring agreement that will spur high-end arms sales between them and another pact on space launches, are expected to be signed on Monday. India is also likely to announce two sites for US nuclear reactors during Clinton's visit. Soon after her arriv...

Sunday, July 19, 2009, KABUL: A civilian helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Sunday, the U.S. military said, and a Russian news agency reported 15 people killed. U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Christine Sidenstricker gave no other details. A Russian news agency reported that 15 people had been killed in the crash of a Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter at Kandahar's main air base.

Sunday, July 19, 2009, NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania's coup leader Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz took a commanding lead in the presidential election winning 52.2 percent of votes with more than half the ballots counted, the electoral commission said Sunday. According to the partial results released with 61.17 percent of ballots counted, the nearest challenger was parliamentary speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, the anti-coup front candidate, with 16.63 percent of votes. In third place was the head of the main opposition party, Ahmed Ould Daddah, with 13.89 percent of votes. Out of a field of nine candidates for president, the moderate Islamist Jemil Ould Mansour has garnered 4.66 percent of the vote and the former junta chief in 2005-2007, colonel Elu Ould Mohamed Vall, 3.78 percent. The electoral commission said voter turnout was at 61 percent. If the tendency is confirmed, the leader of last August's coup, who ceded control as head of the junta in April and resigned from the army to conte...