Israel has appointed Menachem Kanafi, as the Consul General to head its new Consulate in Banglore. He is at present working as the Director of Southern African Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel. The move comes close on the heels of the visit to Israel by the External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna .

It is expected to give a fillip to India- Israel bilateral ties in the high-tech sector. Kanafi is likely to join office in Bangalore towards the end of August. He said that Israel attaches a lot of significance to its relations with India and the new consulate in Bangalore will further promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of hi-tech. Israel already has a consulate in Mumbai besides its embassy in New Delhi. consulate, embassy

Karnataka Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda says, 360 crore rupees has been released for drought relief measures. Around 123 taluks are reeling under draught conditions in the state.

Speaking to media persons in Bangalore on Thursday, the Chief Minister said his cabinet members and officials will tour the draught hit areas for three days starting from ninth of this month. He also pointed out that 30 lakh rupees have been released to these taluks for drilling borewells.

Talking about sixth pay commission obligations to the state government employees, the Chief Minister said Finance Department is being consulted on claimed anomalies in the recommendation given by the commission and suitable remedies will be worked out. He said due to salary hike the state Government will take additional burden of around 4500 crore rupees. He ruled out any proposal to reduce the working days of employees from the present six days to five days.