BEIJING // The Indian Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the 10-metre air rifle today, giving his country their first medal of the Olympics.
The 2006 world champion entered the final in third place but overtook Zhu Qinan of China and Henri Hakkinen of Finland by scoring 104.5 points for the title.
Bindra finished with 700.5 points, to edge out Zhu who had 699.7 points for the silver. Zhu won the gold medal in 2004. Hakkinen took bronze with 699.4.
Zhu's second place finish gives the Chinese three medals in the shooting competition after Guo Wenjun won the women's 10-metre air pistol and Pang Wei took the men's.
*AP
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Europe wide
Some of French groups are threatening Friday to continue their journey to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, and to meet up with drivers from other countries on Monday.
Belgian authorities joined French police in banning the threatened blockade. A similar lorry cavalcade was planned for Friday in Vienna but cancelled after authorities prohibited it.
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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