Rudd ousts embattle Gillard
Melbourne: In a dramatic leadership ballot, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was on Wednesday ousted by her arch-rival Kevin Rudd as head of the ruling labor Party, just three months ahead of the country's general elections.55-year-old Rudd staged the comeback by winning a caucus vote by 57 to 45, three years after Gillard toppled him in a similar showdown to become the first woman prime minister.Gillard, a strong supporter of Indo-Australia ties who took personal initiative to reverse her party's policy on uranium sale to India, said she would stand by a pledge to quit from politics following the defeat.
Strike shuts Eiffel Tower for second day
Paris: The Eiffel Tower was closed for a second day on Wednesday at the height of the Paris tourist season due to a strike by workers for better work conditions and more pay. The influential CGT union called the strike after failed last-minute talks on Monday which lasted for seven hours. Negotiations resumed on Tuesday but some points remained unresolved, union officials said, adding that the structure could re-open for tourists later on Wednesday. The tower normally opens at 9:00am (0700 GMT) and closes after midnight during the peak summer season that runs from June until September.
Indian diplomat’s song as global initiative
Kathmandu: UNESCO has agreed to consider an Earth Anthem written by an Indian poet-diplomat here as a global initiative, a senior UN official has said. “This is an excellent sign of using global languages for an Earth Anthem. I hope that the United Nations and UNESCO take up this idea further and this becomes a global initiative”, UNESCO representative to Nepal, Alex Plathe said on Tuesday while speaking on the occasion of the Anthem’s release.
Chinese space crew sets new record
Beijing: Three Chinese astronauts safely returned to the Earth on Wednesday after a record 14-day rendezvous in space to experiment with docking technologies of a proposed space lab, marking the latest success for the Communist giant’s manned space programme. The Shenzhou-10 spacecraft made a text book landing in Gobi desert in Inner Mongolia this morning after about 15 minutes re-entry process, amid a rare controversy over the astronauts’ age and weight. Zhang Youxia, commander-in-chief of China’s manned space programme, said the Shenzhou-10 mission was a “complete success”.