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Actress Deepika Padukone seems to have warmed up to ex-beau Ranbir Kapoor. How can we tell? Well, the actress did show up at a surprise birthday bash thrown for Ranbir Kapoor by his friends, recently.

While most were expecting that Deepika Padukone would refrain from attending the do altogether, the long-legged lass walked in with much poise giving rise to a jaw-dropping reaction from all those present.

We hear that Deepika took this bold step because Ranbir and she are doing a movie together, and someone needs to break the ice! It’s important for on-screen chemistry, you see.

A friend of Deepika’s says, "I’m not surprised. Deepika has moved on. So has Ranbir. If she did attend Ranbir’s bash, hat’s off to her. She did the right and mature thing!" Another source informs that Deepika did politely ask Siddharth if she should attend this one, and the Mallay boy was only most encouraging.

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BEIJING: China launched on Thursday an experimental craft paving the way for its first space station, bringing the growing Asian power closer to matching the United States and Russia with a long-term manned outpost in space.
 
The Tiangong 1, or " Heavenly Palace", blasted off from a remote site in the Gobi Desert at 9:16 pm (1316 GMT), adding a high-tech sheen to China’s National Day celebrations on Oct 1.
 
PremierWen Jiabao watched as the small, unmanned "space lab" and the Long March rocket that heaved it skyward from a pad at Jiuquan in northwest Gansu province, lifted off under clear skies, in images shown live on state television.
 
It is the latest show of China’s growing prowess in space, and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back US manned space launches.

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NEW DELHI: From just a couple of joint exercises annually a decade ago, Indian Army is really cranking up its engagement with foreign armies now. The 1.13-million force will undertake as many as 16 combat exercises with friendly forces in 2011-2012.

The flurry of exercises constitute an effective diplomatic tool to enhance overall strategic ties and military-to-military cooperation with countries in India’s "immediate" and "strategic neighbourhood" as well as "priority nations’’ far away.

From US, UK, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, the response has been "simply overwhelming", say Army officers.

"Other armies are very keen to exercise with us since we have six decades of combat experience across the entire spectrum of conflict. One of the main focus areas in the exercises has been counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency in rural, semi-urban and urban terrains," said a senior officer.

With the ever-growing threat of terrorism looming large over the globe, this comes as no surprise. Indian Army, after all, has dealt with insurgencies and terrorism over the years, developing valuable expertise in tackling "sub-conventional warfare" or "low-intensity conflict operations".

Army, of course, also has specialized institutions like the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) at Vairengte in Mizoram, where soldiers learn to "fight the guerrilla like a guerrilla’’, as well as the High-Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) in Jammu and Kashmir, which runs specialized mountain warfare courses in Sonamarg area and snow-craft and winter warfare in Gulmarg area.

So, if 200 Indian soldiers recently participated in "Ajayee Warrior" exercise with British soldiers at the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster, near Salisbury in UK, another contingent is currently in Mongolia for the "Nomadic Elephant" counter-terror exercise. Then, French soldiers will be at Chaubatia, near Ranikhet, to take part in the "Shakti" exercise with India’s 99 Mountain Brigade from October 9 to 22.

The exercises, of course, are meant to build bridges in tune with India’s larger geostrategic interests. India, for instance, has been assiduously ramping up economic and military ties with Central Asian Republics. A joint special forces training exercise will soon be held with Kyrgyzstan as part of the policy.

"Exercises with Myanmar, Indonesia, Nepal and Bangladesh are also slated in the coming months. The one with Myanmar, for instance, will be held at CIJWS. After ’Vajra Prahar’ and ’Shatrujeet’ exercises with US earlier this year, the ’Yudh Abhyas’ one in India is also next on the agenda," said another officer.

"The exercises build mutual trust, confidence and interoperability. Our soldiers also learn a lot from different armies, and enhance their capability to operate alongside other defence forces under the UN flag or otherwise," he added.