New Delhi, Mar 20 : Air Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff has been appointed as the chief of the Indian Air Force with effect from the afternoon of May 31, 2009.

The present IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major retires from service on May 31, 2009.

Born on 22 Jul 1949, Air Marshal Naik was commissioned into the Air Force on June 21, 1969 as a fighter pilot.

During his long distinguished service spanning nearly 40 years he has served in a variety of command staff and instructional appointments.

Tel Aviv - Israel on Saturday marks the 1,000 days of captivity of its soldier Gilad Shalit, held in Gaza by the armed wing of the radical Islamist Hamas movement.

Shalit's family is to commemorate the date with a mass rally in Jerusalem on Saturday evening. After that they plan to abandon the protest camp they have set up outside the official residence of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Guyana (West Indies), Mar. 20 : England cricket captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower have formed a close partnership, and there are reports in the air that the former wants the latter to continue mentoring the team.

"A very close one," was how Strauss defined his relationship with Flower.

Sydney, Mar. 20 : Glenn McGrath is an Australian cricket bowling legend but the word is he''s a mug punter extraordinaire.

The McGrath Foundation is hosting a lunch for 900 at the Sydney Turf Club''s big autumn racing carnival day at Rosehill Gardens, where Sydney Confidential will also share a marquee with Myer.

McGrath will captain a betting team against his former teammate, the more racing savvy Mark Waugh, in the TAB''s Pink Punting Purse event, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Nyon, Switzerland - The only Premier League club remaining in the UEFA Cup, Manchester City, were on Friday drawn into a quarter-final clash against Bundesliga side SV Hamburg.

The draw conducted in Nyon saw the other remaining German team in the competition, Werder Bremen, having to take on Serie A's only remaining club, Udinese.

The two remaining French sides were both given Ukrainian opposition, with Paris Saint-Germain facing Dynamo Kiev, while Shakhtar Donetsk face Olympique Marseille.

New Delhi - Former United Nations diplomat Shashi Tharoor said Thursday he was confident of getting voters from India's southern Kerala state to support him in the upcoming general elections, despite being dubbed an outsider.

Tharoor, 53, a career diplomat with the UN from 1978 until 2007, has been nominated by the Congress Party as its candidate for the constituency of Thiruvananthapuram in the capital Kerala.