The Black Sea coastal region of Turkey has been facing the ravages of dire weather with Giresun bearing the brunt of this calamitous situation with most parts been heavily inundated. Coincidently, Giresun has been assigned as a catastrophe zone and has been on the receiving end for funding from the Prime Minister’s emergency fund.

The heavy rains that lashed out persisted all through Monday, intensifying during the dusk hours, inflicted mass devastation in cities located in the east Black Sea and some towns being taken unawares post dusk with colossal flooding in many districts. Regions like Giresun, Trabzon, Rize and Ordu have witnessed the most terrible destruction, with traffic interrupted in several places and many residences and business establishments significantly submerged in water. Though there are no cases of fatalities being cited as yet, more than 100 homes are submerged in water. The sporadic rains and landslides are make matters worse for the rescue operations.

Mustafa Demir, the Public Works Minister made a declaration yesterday that corroborated the facts that farming property and the city’s infrastructure has suffered extensive damage. An amount of 6,00,000 TL from the Prime Minister’s emergency fund has been obtained and would be going towards crisis management and emergency shelter for the inhabitants.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has offered to resign for his post of Chief Minister after the allegations former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Beig of PDP. The PDP leader said that Mr. Abdullah name had some in the CBI investigations in the 2006 sex scandal. Even though his party and Congress MLA’s tried to stop him from taking such action, he walked out of the state assembly.

He said that even though he is not guilty and these allegations were false but he would be able to continue as Chief Minister once his name was cleared and he was proved innocent. He also said that he would tender his resignation to the State Governor shortly. He met his father Farooq Abdullah and now is on his way to meet the Governor.

This is the second day of havoc in the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly. Yesterday the opposition PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti had wrenched a mike from the Speaker’s desk. Post which she was moved out of the assembly and there was demonstration outside the assembly.

Now it all depends on the Governor to decide whether to accept resignation and dissolve the assembly or ask Omar to continue as a caretaker chief minister. Holding elections is a very difficult task as compared to other states, thus it will be a tough decision for the governor. The other option is that the in majority NC and Congress will have to re-elect him as the Chief Minister.

Following the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran discharged his senior most vice-president Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie. This decision was taken as Mr Mashaie had angered hardliners and Islamic clerics when he said that Iranians and Israelis were friends. There was week long standoff between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad as the president tried to defend his subordinate. In a note Khamenei expressed his discontent wit the vice-president saying that the appointment of Mr Mashaie was against government interests.

It all started a year ago when Mr Mashaie was the tourism minister. He had quoted that Iranians were friends with the Israeli people, in spite of the conflict between the governments of the two countries.

There were mass protests by hardline students in the Iranian capital demanding the dismissal of the Mr Mashaie. They came out in support of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The students also gave a strong warning of support withdrawal if the president did not dismiss Mr Mashaie. Protesting against the vice president they chanted in support of the supreme leader.

This is a clear sign that Ayatollah Khamenei is the supreme leader and he is the one who has the final say in all state matters. Post Islamic revolution the parliament has lost all its powers and the final authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran is still Ayatollah Khamenei.

Alberto Fujimori, the ex-President of Peru, has been sentenced to a seven and a half year prison period on charges of corruption. Peru’s Supreme Court had convicted Fujimori of handing over 9.3million pounds or 15million dollars in state funds to his chief undercover agent, Vladimiro Montesinos. The trial alleged that Fujimori illicitly funnelled vast amounts of money to Vladimiro. The 70-yr old Fujimori has acknowledged to making the payment; however he further added that he had reimbursed the money afterwards.

Fujimori whose time in power spanned a decade commencing from 1990 was cut short in the later part of 2000, when fraudulent charges surfaced. This verdict is the third in row handed down to Fujimori from the time when he came back from exile during the later part of 2007. During April last year, he was given a jail term of 25 years for instructing the security forces to undertake carnage and abductions. In addition to that in 2007, Fujimori was also serving a six year term after being found accountable on separate accusations of power misuse.

The huge dollar disbursement was apparently made two months prior to the corruption charges in the end of 2000 that put a stop to his decade old reign.

Vladimiro is presently serving term in prison found guilty of numerous charges inclusive of corruption and cheating. Vladimiro was engulfed in the scandal that got off post videos that exposed him backhanding opposition party politicians and media honchos surfaced.

Fujimori expressed his partial and relative compliance with the charges levelled against him, stating that he only acknowledged the facts, but did not accept the criminal accountability, the sentence or the civil compensation.

An aggregate of 1,549 individuals who have been tested, 298 are affirmative cases of the swine flu virus. About 181 people have been released after been treated from health service organisations.

There were 13 new found laboratory corroborated cases cited with three each from Gurgaon and Delhi, two each from Hyderabad and Chandigarh and one each from Punjab, Pune and Kerala.

In Delhi, the reported three cases comprised of a two teen boy and girl, who had contracted the virus from an infected source. The third case was a seven year old boy who made a trip from London to Delhi on July 18 and was detected with swine flu-like symptoms and was admitted to a health care facility where the virus was confirmed on Sunday.

In Chandigarh, a 29 year old doctor from PGIMER who had lately been at a seminar in Britain and a 50 year old elderly lady who had come back from Singapore on July 14 were suffering from sore throat and runny nose. When their travel record was studied the necessary safety measures were undertaken and they were put in secluded wards. The doctor has been admitted to the PGIMER and the elderly woman is put up in a government run hospital.

An Eight year old boy from Roopnagar, Punjab, who has made a trip from Singapore through Bangkok when landed in Delhi was diagnosed with the virus. In Kerala, a six year old boy from Kasargod who had come back from Sharjah on 14 July, was put up in a hospital post his visible swine flu symptoms.

In Gurgaon, three girls of the ages 11, 14 and 8 years caught the virus from another school mate. In Hyderabad, two people, one a physician hailing from Riyadh and another from Malaysia were tested positive ensuing which they were quarantined at the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital that has been the core centre tending to swine flu cases. This ups the toll in Hyderabad to 39 of whom 30 have been cured and released. In Pune, a 13-yr old girl caught the infection from an infected batch mate in her school.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton touched down Mumbai at 10:18p.m., with a two hour snag in schedule amidst gusty winds and driving rains. The US Air Force Boeing 757 that took off from Czech Republic, landed in Mumbai amidst concerned air traffic supervision as it made an entrance into Indian airspace.

Half an hour post landing and a rigid security cover, a fleet comprising of 20 vehicles took off from the VIP terminal as it drove to the sea facing, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Tower at Colaba, that was amongst the terror targets last year.

Obama’s senior most official, Clinton’s five-day visit to India is aimed at initiating a fresh move towards further strengthening the strategic relationship between the two countries, pushing for greater business with India.

As a symbolic act of solidarity, Clinton is staying at the Tower Wing at the Taj Hotel. She has paid tribute to the 26/11 victims, signed the register at Taj Hotel, met up with the Taj hotel staff and was shown about the hotel areas that were damaged due to the terror attacks.

During her two day stay in Mumbai, she is scheduled to meet India Inc’s best corporate CEO’s including Mukesh Ambani, Swati Piramal, Jamshed Godrej, Chanda Kocchar , a centre of the self-help group (SEWA) in south Mumbai and at Xavier College for a meeting with Brand Ambassador of Teach India, Aamir Khan.

She would be arriving in New Delhi on Monday to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister, S.M.Krishna, Sonia Gandhi and L.K.Advani. She is slated to give a speech at the Delhi University.

In an effort of boosting and strengthening ties, India and France are midst takes, also to add to this is the Indian contingent taking part in the France’s Bastille Day military parade which is the part of the annual Bastille Days celebrations. Indian Army, Air force and Navy contingent of 310 soldiers and a 90 member band marched along with the French troops down the Champs Elysees. The Indian Army contingent belonged to the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment Centre. This is the first time an Indian Prime Minister has been invited as the guest of honor at the Bastille Day military parade. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy were present

This is not the first time when the Indian troops have been on the French soil, the Indian soldiers had fought bravely for the allies on the French front during the First World War.

Post independence, France has been a key supplier of defense equipment to India.

“It is symbolic of how close our strategic relations and confident we are that India and France are walking together in the world for peace and security,” French ambassador to Delhi, Jerome Bonnafont said.