New Delhi, Jan 13 (ANI): British Foreign Secretary David Miliband will arrive here on a three-day visit today to express solidarity with India over the Mumbai terror attacks

Bijnor, Jan 13 (ANI): Frosty weather in many parts of North India has adversely affected several cash crops adding to the distress of farmers, many of whom have suffered crop losses almost up to thirty per cent.

Kannur, Jan 8 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the Naval Academy at Ezhimala in Kannur (Cannanore) district of Kerala today.

This Academy will be the premier officer-training establishment of the Indian Navy and will be the largest Naval Academy in Asia.

Commencing June 2009, all officers inducted into the Indian Navy, under various schemes, will undergo basic training at this Academy.

The Academy covers an area of 2452 acres along the North Malabar coastline. It includes part of the Kavvayi backwaters, where watermanship training would be conducted.

The Academy would have state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories and workshops, a well-stocked library and a modern auditorium.

Physical-fitness training-facilities include indoor swimming and diving pools, an athletics track and stadium, a variety of playfields and courts, a firing range and a watermanship-training centre with several types of boats.

A comprehensive IT network, interconnecting various facilities is also being set-up.

While Naval Orientation Courses are being conducted at Ezhimala since 2005, full-fledged training will commence from June 2009.

The Academy will conduct a four year 'B Tech' programme for all newly inducted trainees. Courses would be offered in 'Electronics and Communications' and 'Mechanical Engineering'.

The syllabus and the curriculum has been drafted keeping in mind the current technical advancements and the skill sets that will be required in handling the future acquisitions of the Indian Navy.

Naval Orientation Courses of 20 weeks duration for other direct entry schemes (after graduation) in various Branches of the navy, will also be conducted here.

The total envisaged strength of the Academy, in June 2009, would be approximately 450 trainees, which would progressively increase to about 1100 trainees by 2013. This would include officer-trainees from the Indian Coast Guard, friendly foreign countries.

The Naval Academy will be manned by a mix of uniformed and civilian personnel for the conduct of training and other administrative support functions.

There would be 161 officers, 47 professors/ lecturers, 502 sailors and 557 civilians. Along with the families of staff, the campus would have a population of about 4000.

A well-designed township would provide living spaces for these personnel.

The Academy would be supported by a Base Depot Ship (INS Zamorin), Base Hospital (INHS Navjeevani) and a Station Health Organisation. (ANI)

Islamabad, December 31 (ANI): Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has been named among year 2008's 'Top Ten Prominent Foreign Figures' by a Chinese newspaper.

The paper called Guangming Daily has even profiled Zardari, and published details of his education and political career.

"Consensus says that Zardari's time commenced while Musharraf's time concluded," the Daily Times quoted the Chinese-language paper as noting.

According to the newspaper report, Zardari was nominated as co-chairman of the PPP, and became a prominent political figure both within the country as well as internationally after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination on December 27 last year.

Time Magazine also list Zardari among the world's top twenty personalities of the year 2008 in its December 26 issue.

U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have also made it to the list.

The magazine chose U.S. President-elect Barack Obama for its annual person of the year award. (ANI)