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IndianExpress: WHEN 27-year-old Poonam Vora along with her one-and-half-year-old son Akshat left their home for shopping at the new mall at Kondhwa on Wednesday afternoon, little were they aware of the tragedy that was to take place. Minutes after they began their ride on the Kondhwa Road a truck coming from the opposite direction hit their two-wheeler after they fell into a pothole. They died on the spot.

The case of Vora’s is just one of the four accidents that have taken place on the Kondhwa road itself. Corporator Mahadeo Babbar claimed that the cause of mother-son’s death was due to Pune Municipal Corporation’s inefficiency and not due to rash or negligence driving.

IndianExpress: TAKING cognisance of a series of newspaper reports published on the bad-road conditions and potholes in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s City Improvement Committee (CIC) has directed the civic administration to undertake a time-bound programme for improving the road condition. The meeting was headed by deputy chairman, CIC Sunil Gaikwad.

On Friday, the CIC members set a deadline of June 30 to repair the city roads. The meeting was attended by the zonal commissioners, ward officers, city engineer Prashant Waghmare and traffic planner Shrinivas Bonala. To complete the work of filling the potholes immediately, Waghmare has also given the permission to appoint private contractors.

IndianExpress: THERE will be no water supply on Monday due to the urgent repair works to be carried at Parvati MLR’s main water line.

Taps will run dry in Mukundnagar, Velnekarnagar, Shankarsheth Road, Gurunanaknagar, Kaserwadi, Bhawani Peth, Harkanagar, Rajewadi, areas in and around Nishant Talkies, Lohiyanagar, Pudumjee Park, Guruwar Peth, Khadakmaal Aali, Ghorpadi Peth, Subhashnagar, Swargate, Rajiv Gandhinagar slum area, Ganj Peth, Nana Peth, Ganesh Peth and Raasta Peth.
 
Water supply will be late and with low pressure on Tuesday morning.

IndianExpress: INDIAN jockeys will now blaze a trail in South Africa after they’ve done it in Malaysia, Mauritius and Singapore. Three top jockeys, among them Pune’s Mallesh Narredu and Bangalore’s B. Prakash and KPG Appu, have been invited to challenge South Africa’s top nine riders.

It is a first of sorts. ‘‘It’s like an India versus South Africa event. This is the first time Indian jockeys would be racing in South Africa and participating in the meet as a team,’’ explains Narredu, winner of some 1,490 races. All three riders were on their way to Durban on Thursday. The race meeting is scheduled at Clairwood, Durban on Monday.

IndianExpress: : I’LL never fly directly to Pune again. The next time, I’ll catch a flight to Mumbai,” said a passenger on the Dubai-Pune Air India flight AI 718, the first route that made Lohegaon an international airport.

For over 121 passengers on the Dubai-Pune flight, some flying for the first time to the Pune International Airport, Thursday night was the most harrowing experience as they were delayed by over 16 hours. The passengers, including five unaccompanied children, were stranded in Mumbai for over 12 hours after the flight could not land in Pune due to bad weather and poor visibility.

IndianExpress: SEATS in the State engineering colleges are finding no takers and last year alone at least 12,000 seats were vacant in various colleges. Higher and Technical Education Minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Friday said even as there was a demand for increasing seats in State engineering colleges to counter the high fees being charged by private colleges, it was surprising to find that there were no takers for it.

‘‘We increased the number of seats in engineering colleges as there were innumerable complaints about donations. And it is not just these colleges, but 50 per cent seats are vacant in polytechnics too. On the one hand we increase seats, while on the other there are no takers…,’’ Walse-Patil said. He also criticised the educational institutions for not taking up the government’s proposal of providing autonomy to these institutes for a five-year period.

IndianExpress: THE Institution of Engineers India (IEI), the largest multi-disciplinary body of engineers in the country with over 5-lakh members, is in the last stages of formulating the draft of an Engineers Act that will require all engineers to be registered after acquiring a graduate degree. The Act proposes that only registered engineers, bound with a ‘Code of Ethics’ be entitled to practice the profession of engineering.

‘‘We will be in a position to give permanent memberships by 2007, once we abide by the rules of EMF. This will help Indian engineers in different disciplines to find their place in international arena,’’ said Cdr AK Poothia, Secretary and Director General of IEI.

TheStar.com: The Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay has signed an agreement with IBM Corp. for collaborative research, officials said Friday.

The agreement covers research projects in computer sciences and joint development of technology in areas such as grid computing, data mining, network management and security, said Rangan Banerjee, associate dean at the institute.

“Students interested in research could spend six months to a year at an IBM research facility. This will help academics get a flavor of life in the industry,” Banerjee said.

BBCNews.com: Next time you find yourself talking on your mobile phone in the middle of a thunderstorm you may want to cut the conversation short.
UK doctors have warned of the danger of lightning strikes when using mobile phones outdoors during stormy weather.

In the British Medical Journal, they highlight the case of a teenager left with severe injuries after being struck by lightning when talking on her phone.

The metal in the phone directs the current into the body, they say.

A 15-year-old girl was struck by lightning while talking on her phone in a large park in London during stormy weather.

CNN.com: For years, the U.S. military has wanted a plane that could loiter just outside enemy territory for more than a dozen hours and, on command, hurtle toward a target faster than the speed of sound. And then level it.

When completed (target date: 2020), it will cruise with its 200-foot-long wing perpendicular to its engines like a normal airplane. But just before the craft breaks the sound barrier, its single wing will swivel around 60 degrees (hence the name) so that one end points forward and the other back.