A total solar eclipse will occur on Friday, August 1, 2008.

The moon’s shadow takes on a very interesting path, beginning from Canada, bending over northern Greenland, the Arctic, and going towards Russia, Mongolia and China.

Therefore the people in Russia, Mongolia and the Arctic regions will enjoy the solar eclipse in totality. In India, it will be visible as a partial eclipse.

The eclipse commences at 1.34 p.m. IST, when the shadow of the moon first touches the Earth at a point in the North Atlantic Ocean near New Foundland in Canada.

Jammu, July 29: India has sought a flag meeting with Pakistan a day after skirmishes at the Line of Control dividing the two countries resulted in the reported deaths of one Indian soldier and four Pakistani soldiers.

Islamabad is yet to agree to participate in the flag meeting in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara-Nowgam Sector.

Monday’s skirmish is the sixth ceasefire violation that has taken place at the LoC in the past three weeks after Islamabad gave an assurance that it was committed to maintaining the ceasefire.

Finnish-based mobile telephone giant Nokia has joined hands with the wildlife conservation organization, World Wide Fund for Nature, (WWF) to help conserve tigers in India.

Under this initiative, Nokia and WWF-India, will work jointly towards providing education for sustainable growth, increasing knowledge on tiger conservation in the villages surrounding tiger reserves.

Kochi, July 29: 'Chinese Fishing Nets', a centuries old unique fishing technique, introduced by Chinese traders in the 14th Century, finds it hard to survive in the coastal town of Kochi.

The huge wooden cantilever nets which look like spiders on the shores catching fish in backwaters of Fort Kochi, attracts thousands of tourists both domestic and international.

The Chinese fishing nets in Kerala, it id believed, were introduced by traders from the court of Chinese ruler Kublai Khan in Cochin during the 14th century.

But this heritage of more than 500 years old trade relations between India and China is on the verge of extinction and soon would be history.

Mumbai, July 28 : Heavy monsoon downpour flooded streets and disrupted life in Mumbai on Monday.

Many commuters were stranded on the flooded streets as their vehicles broke down.

In the worst hit areas, pedestrians waded through filthy knee-deep water facing lots of difficulty in commuting.

New York, July 28 : United States Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has said that Pakistan in some cases funded the Mujahideen in Kashmir.

He said this in an interview to the Wall Street Journal published in New York on Monday.

Obama said that such efforts are counterproductive for Islamabad.

He further added that Pakistan''s help to Mujahideen continues to be a constant instigator of tension between Islamabad and New Delhi.