• Senegal has withdrawn its Ambassador to India following allegations that his son killed the diplomat’s Indian chauffeur following an argument.
• Doordarshan announced that its direct-to-home services carrying 30 free-to-air channels would be launched by March next year.
• Pakistan has granted visas to 7 crew members of the Delhi Transport Corporation, DTC setting in motion the process of relaunch of the Delhi-Lahore bus service.

• At least 18 people killed and 22 injured when the Hyderabad bound Golconda Express jumped the rails in Warangal town in Andhra Pradesh.
• The Board of Cricket Control of India, BCCI formally extended the contracts of national coach Mr. John Wright and physiotherapist Mr. Andrew Leipus for one year. It also ratified the appointment of new trainer Mr. Gregory Allen King.
• The Home Ministry has approved mobile telephony for Jammu & Kashmir. The proposal now requires a final clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security.
• The Kerala High Court has held that a Muslim girl, even if she is a minor as per the Indian Majority Act, can enter into a valid marriage agreement if she has attained puberty and her husband is legally bound to provide maintenance to her.
• Dr. Adarsh Sen Anand, former Chief Justice of India and Chairman of the National Human Right Commission came out openly against the acquittal of Best Bakery accused by a fast track court in Vadodara. He said the case should be re-investigated.
• Tamil Nadu Government employees and teachers begin an indefinite strike demanding restoration of curtailed benefits.

• An Indian scientist, Mrinal Thakur has been nominated for the 2003 Noble Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of non-conjugated conductive polymers.
• The Conditional Access System is being deferred till September 1^st.
• The Finance Ministry has launched a new software, Sampark-2003-04 for tax-payers to fill in their tax returns in a prescribed format on the net.

• The CBI claimed in the special court that Union Ministers Shri L.K. Advani and Shri M.M. Joshi and some others had delivered inflammatory speeches and instigated the karsevaks to demolish the Babri Masjid.

• The Supreme Court set aside a Delhi High Court judgement quashing charges against the Hinduja brothers in the Rs.64-crore Bofors kickback case. It asked Special Judge Shri S.N. Dhingra to proceed with the case and frame charges against the accused.

• Eminent Bengali poet Subhas Mukhopadhyay passed away in Kolkata. He was 84.

• Maruti Udyog’s shares closed at Rs.164 after recording a whopping trading volume of Rs.850-crore at the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

• The Government decided to sell its residual equity in five public sectors units: VSNL, CMC, IPCL, IBP and BALCO.
• More than 60 per cent polling was recorded in the elections to the 26-member Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council.

• Noted writer and stage personality Bhism Sahni passed away in New Delhi. He was 82.
• The Delhi-Lahore bus service resumed after about one and half years.
• The Supreme Court allowed Air-India to ground its hostesses when they turn 50. Which allowed them to continue till 58 years.

• Urban Development Minister Shri Ananth Kumar has resigned following his appointment as Karnataka BJP President.
• The National Conference formally severed its five-years-old relationship with the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
• The All-Party Hurriyat Conference appointed the Shia leader, Moulvi Abbas Ansari as its new chairman for two years.

• Former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Shri Rajendra Singh a.k.a. Rajju Bhaiya passed away in Pune. He was 81.
• India formally decided not to send its troops to Iraq under the American and British command.
• Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee launched an insurance-linked pension scheme for senior citizens.

• Leela Chitnis, a pioneer of early Indian cinema who used her roles to challenge the caste system, passed away at a nursing home in Denbury, US.
• Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman, leader of Pakistan’s hardline Jamiat Ulema-e-slam, part of opposition Mutahida-Majlis-e-Amal arrived in Amritsar for peace talks.
• Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik was arrested by the CBI and remanded to judicial custody till July 18 on charges of abetting terrorist activity.

• The Pakistan Cricket Board has proposed to India that the two play a friendship series of two One-Day Internationals later this year.
• The Bush administration has made it clear that any kind of support given to terrorist outfits operating in Kashmir is illegal.

• Indian analyst Mr. Raghuram Rajan has been chosen as the new International Monetary Fund chief economist.
• Pakistan has in principle decided to deploy up to 10,000 soldiers with the stabilisation force in Iraq.
• US have offered $25 million for information leading to the capture of Saddam Hussain or confirmation of his death.

• A suicide attack on a Shi’ite Muslim mosque killed at least 44 people and injured 65 others in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta.

• World No.1 Serena Williams beat sister Venus Williams at the Wimbledon Tennis Championship. This is her second consecutive title.
• Two women near a rock concert venue in Moscow killed at least 20 people in a suicide attack.

• Ms. Sania Mirza became the first Indian to have won a Grand Slam title along with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia in girls’ doubles event at Wimbledon.
• India’s Leander Paes and legendary Martina Navratilova won mixed doubles crown at Wimbledon Tennis Championship.
• Roger Federer became the first Swiss to win the men’s singles in Wimbledon Tennis.

• Iran has conducted a final test of its Shahab-3 ballistic missile.

• A Sudanese airliner crashed shortly after taking off from an airport on the Red Sea, killing 116 people, including three Indians.
• The Historic attempt to separate twin sisters, Ladan and Laleh Bijani, failed in Singapore. The 29-year-old twins were joined at head and died following the operation.
• Islamabad has closed its embassy in Afghanistan after border incursions.

• The deferred South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit will now be held in Islamabad from January 4 next year.

• The Sri Lankan Government has decided to grant citizenship to 1,68,141 people of Indian origin who opted but failed to return to their native country.

• The CIA Director Mr. George Tenet has acknowledged that his agency wrongly allowed Mr. George W Bush to tell Americans that Iraq was seeking nuclear material from South Africa.

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