By Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha Come September and the residents of Keechan, a tiny village near Phalodi town of Jodhpur district of Rajasthan gets ready to welcome their winged visitors from across the Himalayas. Already 350 visitors have landed in the first week of September. Caretaker Sewaram is busy preparing for their comfortable stay. For the []

By Parag Ranjan Dutta Nineteenth century Brazil In the equatorial forest of Brazil some trees, creepers and climbers were growing profusely that yielded juice or latex. Latex, the milky fluid from which rubber products were made was mainly obtained from trees known as Hevea Brasiliensis or Hivea which grew predominantly in the Amazon Basin []

By Sukant Deepak Four years back, the first class made him uncomfortable an alien dance form, rich kids all around, those sleek uniforms and shoes The then sixteen-years-old Kamal Singh, son of an e-rickshaw driver could not wait for it to get over. But the teacher, Fernando Aguilera, director of a ballet school and []

By Prasanta Talukdar The historic Stilwell Road was constructed by the US during World War II. It was a strategic military route, so that the Western Allies could supply the Chinese as an alternative to the Burma Road which had been cut by the Japanese in 1942. The valley of the Upper Brahmaputra during that []

By Ranjan K Baruah The recent pandemic has taught us many things. We have learned many new things from real life experiences which were not available on books as the crisis did not happened in near past. Schools are yet to be open though there have been changes in lock down condition. In this pandemic []

New Delhi:The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is set to organise an International Virtual Conference for coaches from September 28-30. The three-day conference will feature sessions by several top-level speakers including mens national team head coach Igor Stimac, Phil Brown, Thomas Dennerby (India U-17 womens national team coach), Basir Mohamed (senior manager, FIFA coaching development []

Geneva: The coronavirus pandemic has forced one edition of FIFAs Club World Cup to be postponed, is pushing back another, and causing concern about delays to 2022 World Cup qualifying games. FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed on Friday an inevitable rescheduling to the traditional seven-team tournament for continental club champions that was scheduled in Qatar []

New Delhi: Samsaad, a wrestler for many years and a state-level champion three times, is now preparing to fight at the national level. The absence of organised wrestling bouts in the last six months has left him frustrated. Samsaad says, Our lives have been affected by the restrictions owing to the corona infection. We could []

Taipei: China sent more warplanes toward Taiwan for the second day Saturday as the islands leader, senior government officials and a high-level US envoy paid tribute to the man who led Taiwans transition to democracy, former President Lee Teng-hui. Keith Krach, the US undersecretary for state, kept a low profile at the service. []

SHILLONG: Amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in the district, new areas have been ordered to be declared as containment areas. This includes entire residence of Smti Jngun Marbaniang located at Mawpat Circle-III. Additionally, order for micro-containment areas will include house of Kynrem Ri Lyngdoh at Riatsamthiah, the house of Shri Ashok Dutta (tenant) in []

Kathmandu: Nepal has planned to resume passenger railway services after a 7-year suspension as two sets of rails that Kathmandu purchased from India have arrived in Janakpur city. The Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit rail sets arrived at Janakpur at around 1.40 p.m. on Friday, Balram Mishra, director general at the Department of Railway told Xinhua news []

Washington: Democrat Joe Biden leaves little doubt that if elected, he would try to scale back President Donald Trumps buildup in nuclear weapons spending. And although the former vice president has not fully detailed his nuclear priorities, he says he would make the U.S. less reliant on the worlds deadliest weapons. The two candidates views []

GUWAHATI: The Assam government will provide 100 per cent free medical support for liver, kidney, and bone marrow transplantation to children below 12 years of age, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Saturday. Sarma, who also holds the Finance Department, handed over air tickets to the guardians of 70 children who will travel to []

GUWAHATI: As many as 2595 new COVID19 cases were detected today in Assam out of 35175 tests conducted. The positivity rate is recorded at 7.38%. On the other hand, 1856 patients were discharged from various COVID19 hospitals and Covid care centres in the state today. Out of the newly-detected cases 553 are in Kamrup Metro, []

GUWAHATI: Eight more persons have died of COVID19 in Assam on Saturday taking the death toll due to the virus infection in the state up to 548 till now. State Health Minister, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet identified the deceased as Dipanjali Senapati (45) of Majuli, Kulendra Gohain (51) of Lakhimpur, Biren []

GUWAHATI: Total number of active COVID19 cases in Meghalaya now stands at 2038 including 338 cases among BSF and Armed Forces personnel and 1700 others. Total number of patients so far recovered in the state has gone up to 2483, according to a tweet by the Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma.

GUWAHATI: The Tinsukia district administration has sought a weeks time to resolve the issue of compensation to be provided to families affected by the Baghjan blowout and fire. A meeting between the district administration and the protesting members of the Baghjan Gaon Yuba Milanjyoti Sangha was held in Tinsukia on Saturday, wherein the deputy commissioner []

GUWAHATI: Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that a formal request has been made to the State Election Commission to put the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections on hold in view of the deteriorating COVID situation in the state. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme at Guwahati Medical College []

GUWAHATI: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in a joint operation with the Assam forest department rescued a pangolin from Jagiroad, about 55km from here, on Thursday. Three smugglers were arrested by the team in this connection.Reportedly, the trio had attempted to illegally sell the pangolin in the black market for Rs 2 lakh. Thousands []

TURA:Garo Hills has registered its second casualty from the Corona virus after a middle-aged aged man and citizen of Tura with an underlying illness passed away from Covid-19 complications here at the Tura Civil Hospital late Friday night. The first death from the virus took place on August 22ndin which an 84 year old man []

NONGPOH: Umsning MLA, Jason Sawkmie Mawlong on Saturday visited the weekly market of Mawlyndep village which was started on August 1, 2020. As most of the villagers livelihood depends on farming activity, the lockdown due to COVID-19 has badly affected their source of income. Therefore, the villager leaders of Mawlyndep under the leadership of Jinu []

SHILLONG: Khasi Hills Bazar Bus Association today protested against the reported move to bring about alteration in Mawlong Parking lot in the city apprehending that it would lead to further congestion of the parking lot

GUWAHATI: Assam Health Department has sponsored 70 children for cardiac surgery and bone marrow transplant even as the state government has announced a scheme to provide 100 per cent support for liver, kidney and bone marrow transplant for children below 12 years of age. Air tickets were handed over to these 70 children by Health []

SHILLONG: The state BJP, it seems, is ready to stick its neck out on the controversial railway project connecting the state capital, even as most other political forces have stated their express rejection of the idea. Speaking to The Shillong Times here on Friday, president of BJP Ernest Mawrie observed that the government of []

NEW DELHI: Heavy rains and cloudburst for the past few days have caused deluge in the Garo Hills region of Meghalaya, besides many Bangladesh villages. However, the hill state does not find any mention in the list of nine flood-affected states. More than a lakh people have been affected due to fresh floods that hit []

SHILLONG: Urban Affairs Minister Hamlet Dohling, on Thursday, inaugurated a public convenience facility at Jail road in the presence of officials from Shillong Municipal Board (SMB). Initiated by local MLA Adelbert Nongrum, the facility was sanctioned under the MLA scheme for around Rs 14.73 lakh from Social Urban Works Programme. Speaking on the occasion, Urban []

MAWKYRWAT: In South West Khasi Hills, the Health department is set to conduct random tests for around 230 people, who attended a funeral at Mawsaw village The District Surveillance Officer of South West Khasi Hills, Dr W Nary, on Friday, informed that the Health department will visit Mawsaw village on Saturday to conduct COVID-19 []

SHILLONG: Ever since the state government started lifting the curbs on movement in view of COVID-19 by degrees, smugglers have started frequenting the Indo-Bangla border to execute illegal activities. A statement from the Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday insinuated the same. Lockdown, frequent seizures by the BSF troops indicate that attempt of smuggling of []

TURA: After remaining defunct for almost four years, the FKJGP Selsella Circle was recently reconstituted by its parent body in Tura. The new body was reconstituted with Anthony Ch Sangma as president, Salseng K Marak as vice president, Silang B Marak as general secretary, Lostone A Sangma as assistant general secretary, Artrish Ch marak []

SHILLONG: The COVID-19 pandemic may have been wrecking havoc globally, but it has failed to deter faithful from celebrating the Unitarian Day on Friday, even if online mode were to be the last resort. The Unitarian Church celebrated its 133rd anniversary on Friday by making good use of technology to reach out to its brethren. []

TURA: In what can be called a bizarre incident, a man was caught stealing from an offering box of a church shrine located in Williamnagar on Wednesday night. The collection box, kept next to a shrine of the Catholic Church in Soil Conservationlocality of Williamnagar, is regularly filled with donations from the devotees who offer []

Break-in Lovestone Kharjahrin (20) lodged a complaint that on Wednesday night, unknown miscreants broke into his shop located on NH-44E near Lumsohkhlur village (WJH) and stole ten mobile phones valued around Rs 1,30,000. Jyotsna Mishra lodged a complaint that on September 16 between 5 pm to 8:45 pm, unknown miscreants broke into her house at []

New Delhi : The original thought was that the novel coronavirus is a respiratory disease, but as the number of patients who have contracted the virus are increasing, it has become clear that COVID-19 has several other implications. The impact of COVID-19 goes beyond the respiratory system and the lungs, it has tremendous impact on []

Geneva/New Delhi : A prominent rights activist from Mirpur at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva said that people in Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) were desperate to get freedom and join the Indian union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. At the eighth meeting of 45th regular session of the UNHRCs []

Seoul : South and North Korea will on Saturday commemorate the second anniversary of their Pyongyang summit deal, amid a stalemate in bilateral ties and denuclearization talks Also due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no major official ceremony planned to mark the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration, reports Yonhap news Agency. Under the agreement, []

Lesbos: Migrants wait to enter the new temporary refugee camp in Kara Tepe, on the northeastern island of Lesbos, Greece on Friday. Police on the Greek island of Lesbos resumed an operation Friday to move migrants made homeless by fires to new camp amid a local COVID-19 outbreak. It came a day after 5,000 people []

New Delhi : The Boxing Federation of India is in talks with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to restart sparring contact training in a limited manner at the National Institute of Sport (NIS) in Patiala, where most of Indias top male and female boxers are currently training in a non-contact manner. SAIs []

Sharjah : Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), visited the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday and expressed his satisfaction with the venues preparations for the Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning on Saturday. The opening match of the 13th edition will be played between reigning champions Mumbai Indians and []

Washington :US President Donald Trump will not attend next weeks UN General Assembly (UNGA) in person, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said. Addressing reporters on Thursday while en route to a Trump campaign rally in Wisconsin, Meadows said that the President will not be in New York City for the annual gathering of []

SHILLONG:The Unitarian Church celebrated its 133rdanniversary on Friday which is marked as Unitarian Day by making good use of technology to reach out to its brethren. September 18 marks the foundation day of the Unitarian Church in the state and it is a spiritual occasion where the members of the church get together to []

SHILLONG: FC Goa has announced the arrival of Phrangki Buam from Shillong Lajong FC. The 19-year-old midfielder has signed a three-year contract with the Goans. Buam made his senior debut on the national stage in the 2018/19 season of the I-League. The youngster went on to become an instant hit. He scored 6 goals for []

TURA: After remaining defunct for almost four years, the FKJGP Selsella Circle was recently reconstituted by its parent body in Tura. The new body was reconstituted with Anthony Ch Sangma as President, Salseng K Marak as Vice President, Silang B Marak as General Secretary, Lostone A Sangma as Assistant General Secretary, Artrish Ch marak as []

TURA: Following the tragic incident in which an MeECL lineman fell to his death while engaged in work to restore power at Nangalbibra of South Garo Hills, the GSU from Songsak in East Garo Hills has urged the department to provide proper safety equipment to the workers so that such incidents do not recur in []

Rome: Ugandas Jacob Kiplimo celebrates his world record of 7 minutes and 26.64 seconds after winning the mens 3000m competition at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea IAAF Diamond League athletics meet in Rome on Thursday.(PTI)

SHILLONG: East Khasi Hills district administration on Friday withdrew containment zone restriction from Keating Road in the city six days after it had ben imposed in the wake of detection of COVID19 positive cases.

GUWAHATI: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has informed that construction of the upgraded sports facilities in JN Sports Complex in Shillong would be started early next year and tenders for the purpose would be floated soon. The Chief Minister informed that the design of the upgraded sports facilities had been finalised. The sports complex will []

GUWAHATI: Nagaland government is going to set up a new medical college and hospital at Mon in the frontier hill state and has signed an MoU with the central government in this regards. The new medical college is likely to come up at the site where the Mod district hospital is located now. Nagaland Health []

SHILLONG: State BJP President Ernest Mawrie has justified the demand for holding a CBI probe into gross misuse of central funds at the District Councils in Tura and Jowai since the actions were violative of the terms laid down by NITI Aayog (erstwhile Planning Commission). Confirming that the party had sent a letter to the []

SHILLONG: After remaining closed for over 6 months and after what can be called a trial-and-error online teaching pedagogy largely adapted to the needs of students and the competence of teachers, schools in the state are set to reopen partially from September 21 sans normal classes. Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui, on Thursday told reporters that []