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Shiv Sena President and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday at the party’s Swabhiman rally said he has not forgotten the promise of his father and party supremo late Bal Thackeray that Aurangabad would be renamed as Sambhaji Nagar. At a well-attended rally, which was a counter to the BJP’s recently held Jan Akrosh rally at Aurangabad, Thackeray said the city will be renamed and he will do it.

However, Thackeray slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for not giving approval for renaming the Aurangabad airport after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. ‘’One and a half years ago, a resolution was passed by the state legislature and forwarded to the Centre. However, there has been no decision yet. I will not merely rename Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar but will transform the city which will make Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj proud of it,’’ he noted.

IISc-Bengaluru is now the ‘fastest-rising’ South Asian university, inching closer to the global Top 150, having gained 31 places to 155 in this year’s QS World University Rankings. It remains the world’s top research university, ahead of Harvard, Princeton University and MIT. IITs in Guwahati (37th) and Roorkee (47th) and new entrant University of Madras (48th) also made it to the elite list of global Top 50 research institutions.

With 12 of the 41 Indian universities improving their positions in the latest global rankings, IISc (155) has raced ahead of IIT-Bombay (172), which was last year’s India leader at 177.

After an Air Arabia flight made an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport on June 6 and declared Mayday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on June 7 ordered an investigation into the matter. "The preliminary investigation will be done by DGCA in consultation with Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)," said a senior DGCA official.

In a statement, DGCA said that on June 6 Air Arabia A320 Aircraft A6-AOT operating flight 3L-062 (Chittagong-Abu Dhabi) experienced No.1 Engine Stall and Engine Fail ECAM warnings came on. The crew carried out ECAM actions.

The Central Government is all set to announce on Wednesday a key change in how soldiers will be recruited for the Armed Forces, The Indian Express has learnt. Under the new Tour of Duty system, likely to be named “Agnipath”, soldiers or “Agniveer” will be recruited for a period of four years at the end of which they will get over Rs 10 lakh tax-free and certificates or diplomas for their service.

The move aims to recruit about 45,000-50,000 personnel below officer rank in the three services every year through a biannual exercise with a six-month gap. At the end of their tenure, 25 per cent of these recruits will be inducted back into the services, although the modalities for this process are yet to be finalised.

Nupur Sharma, who has been suspended by the BJP for her derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate last week, on Tuesday said she respected and accepted the party's action against her.

“I’ve practically grown up in the organisation. I respect and accept their decision,” Nupur Sharma told timesofindia.com when asked to comment on her suspension.

The BJP suspended Nupur Sharma and expelled another leader, Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was also a party spokesperson, for their comments on Prophet Muhammad.