The city of Kabul woke up to a horrified dawn as it was hit by eight rockets on Tuesday. This is the first time in last five years that the Afghan capital was hit by so many rockets on such a short interval of time. According to the Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman, Najib Nikzad – there was not injuries or casualties in the Tuesday’s attack and the attack was to disrupt and derail the August 20 presidential elections.

The first explosion happened around 4 am. One of the rockets landed close to the U.S Embassy. The rockets were not targeted at any specific area of the capital and landed in different locations across the city.

US, NATO and Taliban forces have been fighting the Taliban insurgents who have asked to boycott the election process. For the NATO forces it has been a bad start to the month as they have already lost nine troops, not to forget July which was a record high month of casualties for the NATO forces.

Just yesterday there was a blast targeting the governor of a district of Herat province in which the District Police Chief lost his life. The blast happened in the City of Herat in Western Afghanistan killing 12 and injuring over 20 people.

The City of Herat in Western Afghanistan was rocked by bomb attack killing 12 people and injuring at least 20 as the attackers had tried to target a police convoy. The attacked killed and wounded both civilians and the regulars of Afghan Police. These attacks have increased in recent days as the country gets ready for its Presidential elections, scheduled for August 20.

Western Afghanistan has not been in news for such attacks for a long time as the concentration of such attacks have been in Taliban strong hold in South and East part of the country. Police officials confirmed that the bomb used in the Herat attack was remotely detonated using a remote control and was place in a rubbish bin on the roadside.

As per latest confirmed reports, two police men lost there lives along with a women and a child. Also injured in the bomb blast is the District Police Chief. The Bomb Blast was targeted on the governor of a district of Herat province who was believed to be a part of the convoy.

Herat is the Afghan gateway to Iran and a city is of great importance to the country as it generates revenue for the government in the form of customs.

Private buss operators and taxi operators have brought the bustling city of Kolkata to a halt. The third most populated city has been hit by a strike, with schools and universities postponing the exams. Most of the schools have declared holiday. This strike is due to a government ruling to implement a ban on all commercial vehicles which are 15 years plus. This is to cut down the pollution in the city. The ban will come to effect on 1st August 2009. More that 60,000 cabs and 10,000 busses are part of the strike and this has made a major impact on daily commuters in the city.

In a recent study it has been found that out of the 18 million residents of Kolkata, 70% suffer from respiratory problems. There has also been a sharp increase in lung cancer cases in the city. This ban by the Kolkata high court is to cut down the pollution in the city.

The operators are ready to work with the government and are ready to move to green fuels or even going for new vehicles. But need the government to support them with soft loans with easy repayment schemes. They also need some time before they can make the switch.

The two key people whom Michael Jackson nominated as the co-executors of his 2002 dated will, Attorney John Branca and business executive John McClian, are actively pursuing a plan that could help churn out income that could augment their grip on Jackson’s multi-million dollar fortune.

Branca and McClain are negotiating matters with AEG Live that was promoting the London O2 concerts for which Jackson was practising for when he passed away on 25th June, to vend video recordings of Jackson rehearsing as a potential movie or DVD.

As Sony Pictures music division that have rights to the songs of famed artists like the Beatles and several others including Jackson’s, it has been extensively accounted that it will be the leading  studio for this deal.

According to reliable reports, Sony is slated to shell out between 50-60 million dollars for the rehearsal video recording, an agreement to which could possibly be make known shortly, though both AEG and Sony have constantly backed out from remarking on the matter.

Legal boffins are of the view that by abetting AEG Live in getting a deal, the duo, McClain and Branca would fortify their stake for control of Jackson’s business assets that comprise of partial rights of Sony /ATV music publishing. The duo believes that their talks regarding the video footage would be helpful as it would demonstrate to the judge that they have the proficiency to make the most of Jackson’s business.

Earlier Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson was granted temporary control of the estate, but post the 2002 Jackson’s will that emerged, the judge transferred temporary control to Branca and McClain, the hearing on the matter is due on 3rd August.

Japan’s not-so-favoured Prime Minister Taro Aso after getting official cabinet support, dissolved parliament on Tuesday morning, summoning for a national election to be held on August 30. This move brings to a closure his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rein that spanned more than five decades of stable rule.

The beleaguered Aso has been heavily trailing behind in opinion surveys and had to strive towards subduing internal party rebellion. He had proffered atypical apology to his party members for the government’s slumped support.

A string of routs this month in Tokyo’s municipal assembly polls on 12th July, has provoked the mutineer members in the LDP to try to topple Aso out of power, so a new, more promising leader could brace the election. Many analysts have forecasted the hitherto untried, main opposition, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to be triumphant in the upcoming general election.

With Japan plunged in profound slump, reporters have observed that Aso has in many occasions appeared irresolute. Just the previous week, Mr. Aso narrowly scraped through a no-confidence motion created by the DPJ in the lower house. Nonetheless, the DPJ stronghold, the upper house too passed an analogous motion.

The poll surveys put out on Monday by the Asahi and Mainichi newspaper revealed a bleak picture for Mr. Aso with a continued dip in popularity in comparison to the previous month’s poll surveys.

The recent surveys has brought to light the emerging DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama , who is inching forward in popularity. The DPJ agenda include better autonomy from the US, more involvement in peace keeping assignments and a less significant role for government.

Deadly bomb blasts tore through the two best and the most secured hotels in Jakarta killing 9 and injuring over 40 people. The blasts occurred at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and J.W. Marriott Hotel. There are amongst the most luxurious hotels in the southern part of the city of Jakarta, Indonesia. The hotels are just 50 meters apart from each other.

The blast happened at 7:45 a.m. local time, and from the first reports they look like a coordinated blasts and were times to impact at the time of breakfast. Both the hotels are normally visited by foreign tourist, expats and business visitor’s .The blast targeted the restaurants in both the hotels. As of now the police have moved all the guests to secured locations and teams forensic experts are at the blast sites collecting all the evidence.

The blasts have blown massive holes in the hotel walls and also blew the windows of the hotels. From eyewitness reports one could see the restaurants shattered and also blood marks. It also is reported that it could a work of suicide bombers.

This is not the first time the Marriot has been targeted; in August 2003 a suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into the motor lobby of the hotel. That blast had killed 12 people and injured many as it happened during the lunch hour.

The blasts also put a big question mark on the security arrangements in the city of Jakarta. Its will be a huge puzzle for security experts to solve as to how some one could get through metal detectors and the security personal guarding the hotel entrances. The hotels have multiple layer of security with sniffer dogs and each guest is thoroughly check.