Naxalite killed in Prakasam district
A naxalite was killed in an exchange of fire with police at Birubulanarva under Markapuram Mandal in Prakasam district early on Wednesday reports PTI from Ongole.

However, five of his associates escaped, the police said.

On a tip-off that six Maoists were holding a meeting near Birubulanarva, a police party went to the spot. An exchange of fire took place in which a naxalite was killed, sources said.

The deceased was was identified as Gopi alias Nageswara Rao, police said.

10 Kuki militants killed in Manipur
Ten militants of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) were killed on Wednesday, in gun battle between two factions of the group in Thoubal district of Manipur, reports PTI from Imphal.

The militants were killed during a fierce exchange of fire between two KLA factions – one led by Thunder Kuki and other by Mosaun Kuki – at Itham Moirangpurel on Tuesday.

During the gun battle that lasted several hours, Thunder Kuki, his wife and eight supporters were killed, the officials said.

The officials said the KLA, which has been fighting for a separate Kuki state to be carved out of Manipur, has been hit by internal clashes in the past few months.

Eight killed by wild elephants
Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) commandos on Wednesday shot dead two elephants which had destroyed four villages at the Asom-Mizoram border on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, including six women, and injuring 12, reports UNI from Guwahati.

The fully grown domesticated elephants wreaked havoc on the villages from Tuesday evening till early Wednesday morning, before being shot dead to stop them causing further damage.

At least six people were killed when they were trapped inside  a house, while the 12 injured were shifted to Silchar Civil Hospital.

The wild elephants also destroyed the Hawajan beat office of the Forest department as forest officials tried to stop them.

INX Media launched
INX Media, a multi-channel media house headed by Indrani Mukerjea, was launched on Tuesday, reports UNI from Mumbai. 

The new media house will have “9X”, a general Hindi entertainment channel, “9XM”, a youth music channel and “NewsX”, a premium English news channel.

The media house was launched in the presence of Siddarth Basu, Ekta Kapoor, actor-turned-producer Smriti Irani and Jeetendra.

INX has roped in eleven production houses including Miditech, Balaji Telefilms, Synergy Adlabs and Wizcraft International as partners.

The channels are expected to be on air by December 2007.

137-year-old old bridge collapses
A 137-year-old bridge over holy Bein at Kanjali picnic spot here collapsed on Wednesday reports PTI from Kapurthala.

However, no casualty was reported as there was no traffic on the bridge when it collapsed, police said.
Executive engineer, canals, Satish Kumar Bansal when contacted said the bridge was declared unsafe by the department more than two decades ago and only light vehicular traffic was allowed to pass through the bridge.
He said the department had built the new bridge near the old bridge in 1985 and the bridge was used for the vehicular traffic.

Taj in sand wins prize in Berlin
A sand replica of Taj Mahal created by sand sculptor Sudarsan Patnaik at Berlin International Sand Sculpture Championship held in June, has won a prize, reports IANS from Bhubaneswar.

The sculptor informed on Wednesday, “I am currently in Germany to participate in another sand sculpture festival in Dortmund and I will travel to Berlin to receive the award July 29.”

The Taj Mahal in Agra was recently elected to the new Seven Wonders of the World list.
Patnaik, 30, was the only artist from India at the Berlin event.