The world's largest clock comes up at Mecca even as the holy month of Ramzan begins in many parts of the world. Heavy rains in Delhi, sweltering heat in Russia, and forest fire now in Spain. Aamir Khan decides to visit Leh school, while an architect builds world famous buildings using miniature lego bricks. Check out the anti-ragging bus. All this and more.....
World's largest clock
The four-faced clock, atop the Abraj Al-Bait Towers, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The clock faces are 43 × 43 m (141 × 141 ft). Saudi Arabia will test what it is billing as the world's largest clock in the holy city of Mecca during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The tallest tower in the complex will stand as the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, tallest and largest hotel in the world, with a planned height of 601 m (1,972 ft), including a 200 ft spire.
Mecca alternative to Greenwich median?
Saudi Arabia is hoping the clock, which will loom over Mecca's grand mosque, will establish the city as an alternative time standard to the Greenwich median. Upon completion, the structure would have the largest floor area of any structure in the world with 1,500,000 m2 (16,150,000 sq ft) of floorspace.
Experimental operation to start in Ramzan
The experimental operation of Makkah Clock will start in the first week of the holy month of Ramzan and the project will be fully finalised after three months of the operation. The tower housing the clock in being built in an Islamic style of architecture. Two lifts will carry visitors to a five-metre balcony below the clock and the landmark edifice will carry Islamic decorative artworks.
Rains in Delhi
It is raining heavily in Delhi and the National Capital Region. The Met Department had forecasted rain today as the city reported a high humidity of 93 per cent.
Light to heavy rains brought some relief to the denizens of the capital Tuesday. Delhi received 21.6 mm of rainfall since Tuesday morning to 8.30 am on Wednesday. The total recorded rain for this season till Tuesday evening was 341.6 mm.
Kashmir embers burn on
People run for cover as Indian paramilitary soldiers, unseen, chase them during a procession in Pampore some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Srinagar. Clashes broke out as hundreds of people defied security restrictions in Kashmir on Wednesday and marched to Pampore to commemorate the death anniversary of top separatist leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was killed in a police firing in 2008. Meanwhile, thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled deserted streets and enforced a strict curfew Wednesday in most parts of Kashmir.
BJP challenges PM on Kashmir autonomy
Kashmiris shout slogans during the funeral of Farak Bukhari, a 17-year-old Kashmiri boy, in Keeri, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Srinagar. Relatives alleged that Bukhari's body was recovered from a pitch after he was arrested by Indian policemen on July 28. The BJP has criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir and said autonomy for the state was not an option. The BJP in Parliament on Wednesday said it was unfortunate that the autonomy debate had been reignited. Party MP Yogi Adityanath said such announcements help terrorists, separatists and lower the morale of the security forces.
Lego Architecture: Not just for kids
Toursits visit the National Building Museum's exhibit "Lego Architecture: Towering Ambition" in Washington. The show, put up by 38-year-old artist and architect Adam Reed Tucker, features 15 miniature models of some of the world's most famous buildings, built entirely out of Lego pieces. Tucker's model of the Burj took 340 hours to build, plus 280 more to design.
Lego models of famous buildings
A tourist stops to take a picture of the Lego rendering of Chicago's John Hancock Building (L) and the Sears Tower (L) while visiting the National Building Museum's exhibit "Lego Architecture: Towering Ambition" in Washington. One of the works in the show is almost 18 feet tall and made from 450,300 Lego pieces. It's a copy of the Burj Khalifa, a brand-new skyscraper in Dubai that, at 2,717 feet, holds the record as the tallest building in the world.
Ramzan begins: Gruelling time ahead
A Palestinian boy plays with fireworks to celebrate the holy month of Ramzan in Gaza City. Muslims in much of the Middle East have begun fasting during an especially gruelling time of the year, with sweltering heat and extremely long daylight hours. Muslims observe Ramadan by abstaining from food, drink and sex from dawn until sunset.
An Afghan vendor (L) sells sweets and pickles at a market in Kabul during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan. Muslims all over the world are supposed to go without food, drink, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramzan in order to purify themselves and concentrate their mind on Islamic teachings.
Indonesian women pray during the first night of Ramadan in Jakarta on August 10, 2010. The fasting month of Ramzan, which starts on August 11, is the ninth month of the Muslim Hijri calendar, during which the faithful abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex during daylight and, in the evening, eat small meals and conduct evening prayers.
Spain: Fires
A member of the fire brigade works around the area where a fire burns in Cualedro, near Ourense.
Spain
An helicopter drops water to extinguish a fire in Cualedro, near Ourense.
Alaska plane crash
This image provided by the Alaska State Police shows the wreckage of the amphibious plane carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens which crashed into a remote mountainside during a fishing trip, killing the state's most beloved political figure and four others and stranding the survivors on a rocky, brush-covered slope overnight. Three teenagers and their parents, including the former head of NASA, were on the plane when it plowed into the mountain Monday afternoon Aug. 9, 2010 with so much force that it left a 300-foot gash on the slope, federal investigators said. The photos were taken as a trooper flew overhead in a state helicopter when weather allowed Alaska State Troopers to get near the scene.
CBI go back, says BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists listen to the speech of a senior party leader during a protest in New Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protested against the alleged misuse of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. It was a BJP protest against the "misuse" of CBI but senior party leaders today shied away from taking the name of Gujarat minister Amit Shah arrested by the agency recently in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter killing case.
The House of Dancing Water
Dancers of the water-based stage show "The House of Dancing Water" perform during the preview for the media, at the theater in the City of Dreams Casino Resort in Macau, China. The show is created and directed by Franco Dragone of Italy, which integrate dancing, circus art and special effects. The show involves 77 performers, musicians and acrobats, and will start from September 16 in Macau.
Russia: Battles heatwave
A helicopter carries water before releasing it over a forest fire near the settlement of Kustarevka in Ryazan region, some 340 km (211 miles) southeast of Moscow. Russia's deadly summer heatwave will weaken a recovery from last year's slump, economists predicted on Tuesday as wildfires raged on in several provinces and forecasters said sweltering weather won't abate this week. REUTERS
Dress rehersal for I-Day
Indian students perform the Punjabi dance, the Bhangra during a rehearsal for Independence Day celebrations at a school in Amritsar. India's Independence Day is celebrated on August 15 to commemorate its independence from British rule in 1947.
Leh: Aamir to visit school
A girl rotates a Buddhist prayer wheel as flood victims sit outside a monastery in Choglamsar village, on the outskirts of Leh. Actor Aamir Khan plans to visit the Druk Pema school, also known as Druk White Lotus school, in Leh. "Very shocked and distressed to hear about the school we shot in Leh for '3 Idiots'. Trying to get in touch with the principal. I suppose the communications are down too," Aamir had posted on his Facebook page Monday. The actor found out through his journalist friend that "there were no casualties in the school".
Anti-ragging bus
The interior of India's first anti-ragging cross country bus at Delhi University.
A bus decked with graffiti and posters was flagged off from the Delhi University campus today as part of a nationwide campaign "Bus- Aur Nahin". The campaign offers student communities across the country opportunities to speak up against ragging and take a pledge not to rag their juniors.
