In a first, Indian Haj pilgrims travel from Jeddah to Mecca by high-speed train

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

The arrangement has been facilitated by India's Consulate General in Jeddah in coordination with the concerned Saudi authorities

With the highest speed of the train being 300 km per hour, the journey will also reduce the travel time from Jeddah to Mecca considerably

It is estimated that about 32,000 Indian Haj pilgrims will use the exclusive service this year

Jeddah, May 26: In a historic first, Indian Haj pilgrims, who arrived at the Jeddah airport Sunday, travelled to Mecca by high-speed Haramain Train instead of buses. The arrangement, which will make the journey of the pilgrims more comfortable, has been facilitated by India's Consulate General in Jeddah in coordination with the concerned Saudi authorities.

The Ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia Suhel Ajaz Khan and Consul General Shahid Alam accompanied by Vice President of Saudi Arabian Railways, Al Harbi and other officials from Ministry of Haj and Ministry of Transport, escorted the Indian Haj pilgrims from Jeddah Airport to Mecca on first such journey on the High Speed Train Sunday.

With the highest speed of the train being 300 km per hour, the journey will also reduce the travel time from Jeddah to Mecca considerably. It is estimated that about 32,000 Indian Haj pilgrims will use the exclusive service this year.

The Indian Haj Mission - the biggest operation of its kind handled by the Indian government outside the country's borders, has closely coordinated logistics with the concerned Saudi authorities to make the new initiative a success.

Read more: Travel news

Paris Olympics: Rower Balraj Panwar Finishes Fourth In Heats, Stays Eligible For Repechage Round

by Hemanta Pande

Paris, July 27: India's Paris Olympics campaign in rowing was off to a shaky start as Balraj Panwar finished at fourth spot in the first heat race on Saturday.

Balraj clocked timings of 7:07:11 minutes to finish at number four out of six competitors in his heat. Only three players from each heat race could make it to the quarterfinals directly.

However, all hope is not lost for Balraj, as he is still eligible to compete in the repechage round that will take place on Sunday.
In heat one, New Zealand's Thomas Mackintosh finished at number one spot with timings of 6:55.92 minutes. Greece rower Stefanos Ntouskos earned second place with a time of 7:01.79 minutes. The third place was bagged by Egypt's Abdelkhalek El-Banna, who clocked 7:05.06 minutes.

India has fielded only one rower in Paris 2024 Olympics.

Back in April, Panwar secured India's first Paris Olympics quota in rowing by finishing third in the men's single scull event of the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Chungju, South Korea.

India's campaign in shooting in the Paris 2024 Olympics started with a disappointment as two Indian teams in action during the qualification round in the 10 m air rifle mixed team events failed to make it to the medal matches on Saturday.

Two Indian pairs, Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh and Arjun Babuta and Ramita Jindal, took part in the 10 m air rifle mixed teams qualifiers. Only four teams out of 28 had the privilege of qualifying further for the knockout stages, i.e., a gold medal match for the top two teams and a bronze medal match for teams ranked third and fourth. India could not make it to the final four.

Ramita and Arjun finished in sixth place with a total of 628.7 points after three series, out of which Ramita managed 314.5 and Arjun got 314.2 points. They fell just one point short of Germany, who finished at number four with 629.7.

On the other hand, the pair of Elavenil and Sandeep finished in 12th place with 626.3 points, with Elavenil scoring 312.6 points and Sandeep got 313.7 points.

Germany will be playing in the bronze medal match with Kazakhstan, whose team consisting of Le Alexandra and Satpayev Islam finished at number three with 630.8 points in three series.

The gold medal match will be between the defending champions, China, who finished at the top spot with 632.2 points and South Korea, who finished at number two with 631.4 points.

However, there is still hope for India as shooting action will continue with 10 m air pistol qualification rounds for men's and women's categories, which will feature stars like Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Cheema, Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan in action. These will take place at 2 pm and 4 pm respectively. (ANI)

Read More: Sports News

Stock Market In Top Gear After Budget, Logs Best Weekly Streak In Last 6 Years

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

Mumbai, July 27: Indian stock market witnessed a stellar rally in the Budget week. Last week, Sensex and Nifty surged by 728 points or 0.90 per cent and 303 points or 1.24 per cent respectively. This was the eighth consecutive week when the market closed with gains.

This is the first time since January 22, 2018 that the market has continued to rise for such a long period.

On a weekly basis, Tata Motors (13 per cent), HDFC Life Insurance (10.6 per cent), Sun Pharma (9.3 per cent), NTPC (8.7 per cent), BPCL (8.2 per cent), Titan (7.2 per cent), SBI Life Insurance (6.3 per cent) and Cipla (6 per cent) were the top gainers in the Nifty pack.

During this period, no Nifty stock posted negative returns.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma soared by 5.77 per cent, Nifty Media saw a gain of over 5.5 per cent, Nifty Auto surged by 5.16 per cent, Nifty Energy climbed by 2.79 per cent and Nifty FMCG posted 2.69 per cent weekly gains.

However, Nifty Bank (1.86 per cent), Nifty Realty (1.69 per cent), Nifty Finance (1.19 per cent) and Nifty PSU Bank (0.44 per cent) were the major laggards.

Nifty made a new all-time high of 24,861 and Sensex closed near its lifetime high Friday. Sensex closed at 81,332, up 1,292 points or 1.62 per cent, and Nifty closed at 24,834, up 428 points or 1.76 per cent.

According to market experts, "The market has now recovered its losses from budget day, driven by positive US GDP data and expectations of improved global demand. Moving forward, the direction of the domestic market will likely be influenced by the progress of the earnings season."

"DIIs continue to employ a 'buy on dips' strategy, which contributed to market gains on the week's last trading day, particularly in the pharma, auto, metal, IT, and FMCG sectors," they added.

(IANS)

Read More: Business News

Priyanka Chopra's Daughter Malti Marie Invents Indo-Italian Cuisine

by Utkalika Mohanty

Mumbai, July 27: Global star Priyanka Chopra on Saturday shared an adorable glimpse of her daughter Malti Marie, who has come up with a new Indo-Italian cuisine -- Mortadella and roti.

The 'Miss World 2000', who has 91.7 million followers on Instagram, posted a story featuring her little bundle of joy wearing a white floral T-shirt and holding a roti wrapped with mortadella.

Priyanka captioned the picture: "Mortadella and roti," followed by Indian and Italian flag emojis.

In another story, the actress shared a picture of an Australian snack and wrote: "Australia killing it in the snack game."

The 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' actress also shared a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot of her project on an island.

In the video, she says, "When filming on a Saturday is not that bad."

Currently, Priyanka has been busy shooting for her upcoming action-thriller 'The Bluff'.

The American swashbuckler drama, co-written by Frank E. Flowers and Joe Ballarini, is directed by Flowers. The movie also stars Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Safia Oakley-Green, and Vedanten Naidoo.

Priyanka is married to American singer and actor Nick Jonas.

The couple tied the knot in December 2018. In January 2022, they welcomed their first child, a girl named Malti Marie, via surrogacy.

On the professional front, Priyanka made her acting debut with the 2002 Tamil film 'Thamizhan'. Her Bollywood debut came in 2003 with the spy thriller 'The Hero: Love Story of a Spy'.