Gali Nagaraja

Women who take cholesterol-lowering drugs might have a reduced risk of death caused by cancer, suggests a new study.

During a 15-year long study, researchers tracked nearly 150,000 post-menopausal women between ages 50 and 79, of whom over 3,100 died of cancer over the period, Xinhua news agency reported.

Researchers said they found that women who reported taking statins, drugs that lower cholesterol levels, were 20 percent less likely to die of cancer during the course of the study, when all cancers were taken into account.

Indefinite curfew continued in parts of tension-ridden Jammu city on Friday.

The authorities have ordered closure of all educational institutions in five districts of the Jammu region for the day.

“Indefinite curfew imposed yesterday (Thursday) in areas under the jurisdiction of Satwari and Mirian Sahib police stations will continue till further orders”, a senior police officer told IANS here.

District magistrate Jammu, Simrandeep Singh has also ordered imposition of preventive measures under section 144 in all parts of the city.

Dept. of Minorities Welfare is organizing National Urdu Seminar and Shab-e-Gazal programs today in connection with Jashn-e-Telangana to mark the first anniversary of the formation of Telangana State. The second of the national seminar will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Urdu Maskan, Khilwath. Dr. Syed Mustafa Kamal, Editor of Shugoofa, Urdu Monthly will preside over the first session of seminar. Dr. Moosa Iqbal, Asst. Professor of Urdu, Shatavahana University, Kareem Nagar, Dr. Dawood Ashraf, former Research Officer of State Archives, Prof. S.A. Majeed Bedar, former Head of the Dept.

Mr. Mohammed Mahmood Ali, Dy. CM of Telangana State while inaugurating two day seminar at Urdu Maskan, Khilwath announced that Govt. of Telangana will take all possible steps for the development of Muslims. Lessons pertaining to Qutub Shahi and Asif Jahi rulers will be included in the syllabus. Teaching of Urdu in Government, private and corporate schools would be made compulsory wherever ten students are available. He told that during the past 57 years Urdu was deliberately neglected. This is our language and we will develop it.

CM of Telangana Mr. KCR will distribute Patta certificate to poor persons for construction of houses. It may be noted that a few months back Govt. of Telangana had invited applications for regularizing illegal possessions in order to construct houses for the houseless. As part of this notification, a few petitions were finalized and Mr. KCR will hand over patta certificates to 3300 families in Malkajgiri Assembly constituency and to 7000 families in NBT Nagar. In other Assembly constituencies of the city, Patta certificates will be distributed soon.

—Siasat News

Chief Justice of Hyderabad High Court, Justice Bala Sahab Bhonsle ordered the petitioners to file a fresh petition for conducting postmortem of the under trial prisoners killed in Alair encounter by the police. These orders were issued after reviewing the postmortem report submitted by Special Investigation Team. It was found that the postmortem report has certain defects.

In view of the financial crisis, Govt. of A.P. has issued instruction to Director of Treasuries and Accounts to make payments of only pay bills of Govt. employees. These instructions will be operative till 10th June. Govt. of A.P. is not in a position to pay other bills. In case, money is available after 10th June, steps would be taken to pay other bills.

–Siasat News

Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India has found at least five or six places in Pakistan where underworld Don, Dawood Ibrahim stayed. Intelligence report revealed that Dawood Ibrahim has been shifted to Afghan-Pak border two weeks ago. Last month he was seen in Karachi and now he has been shifted to Afghan-Pak border. Pakistani Authorities have been helping him in his movements. He never stays at any place for more than a month.

Ahead of his two-day maiden visit to Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he was looking forward to it with a great sense of “enthusiasm and delight” as the two sides readied a host of pacts to be signed including one on enhancing connectivity.

The Prime Minister, who will arrive in Dhaka on Saturday morning, will have a tight schedule as besides holding detailed talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, he will attend several programmes and pay a visit to the Memorial of the 1971 liberation war.

Amid an escalating war of words between Pakistan and India, army chief General Raheel Sharif today said there is no need to worry over India’s posturing as Pakistani forces are capable of responding to any “aggression”.

“We know how to respond befittingly to any aggression from India,” General Raheel said, adding that there is no need to worry about anything that India says.

The Delhi Government introduced mechanical road sweepers in the national capital to effectively control air pollution and keep the city clean.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the service here today.

The mechanical sweeping machines are the initiative of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) aimed at effectively clean the roads of the city and reduce the exposure of dust and dirt particles to manual sweepers.

Congress leader Ashok Choudhary on Thursday said that the Congress is up for a big alliance in Bihar and added that the main challenge for any political party in the state is to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The Congress party wants a big alliance but the intention of the supporting party should be clean. The first agenda of the party should be to stop the BJP as it is a big challenge. Our party as well as the supporting parties should be strong,” said Choudhary.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday expressed his condolences towards the families of the martyrs of the Manipur attack.

“Extremely sad to hear about attack on the Army convoy in Manipur where several of our young Jawans lost their lives. My deepest condolences to the families of the martyrs, we stand with each of them in this hour of tragedy,” tweeted Gandhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also termed the attack on army personnel in Manipur as distressing.

The fourth edition of the three-day long Northeast youth festival was organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in Majuli, a river island in Assam.

Youth from all northeastern states participated in large numbers displaying their cultural diversity and ethnicity to promote unity and brotherhood.

All together 2,000 youth delegates participated from the region in the three-day long extravaganza.

The aim was to foster national integrity by promoting people to people contact through cultural exchange.

The 71st anniversary of the ‘Battle of Imphal’ was recently celebrated in Manipur as a part of a larger campaign to preserve the sites of historical importance and promote itself as a world tourism site.

Manipur was the site for one of the most historic battles during the World War-II, termed as the ‘Battle of Imphal’ that took place in 1944.

After Gujarat, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu is the latest state to ban Maggi noodles.

As per reports, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Choudhary Zulfkar Ali has issued directives for the random collection of Maggi noodle samples from across the state for laboratory testing, results of which should be out within the 48 hours.

The Gujarat Government had earlier banned the storage and sale of Maggi noodles for a month after its samples failed in laboratory test.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said the briefing held by the Tam Lantos Human Rights Committee in the US on ‘Violence against Religious Minorities in India’ was based on a lack of understanding of the country, its Constitution and society.

“We have seen media reports about a briefing by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Committee on ‘Violence against Religious Minorities in India.’ We regard such efforts as based on lack of understanding of India, its Constitution and society,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said at a press briefing.

After being dismissed for 148 in their first innings, the West Indies have fought back to pick six Australian wickets on the first day of the ongoing Dominica Test on Thursday.

At lunch, Australia were 153-6, with Mitchell Johnson and Adam Voges at the crease, the BBC reported.

Earlier, West Indies captain Dinesh Ramdin won the toss and elected to bat first.

During the Australian innings, fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder got rid of the openers, while leg spinner Devendra Bishoo claimed the wicket of skipper Michael Clarke. (ANI)

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday strongly condemned the dastardly attack on soldiers in Manipur.

“Strongly condemn dastardly attack on soldiers in Manipur, pay tribute to martyrs, condolences to families of brave & prayers for injured,” the President said on twitter.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also condemned the attack on army personnel.

At least 18 Army men were killed and 11 injured after unidentified militants ambushed an army convoy of the 6 Dogra Regiment in Manipur’s Chandel District.

More than 400 students took part in a two-day job fair held in Srinagar on Thursday with participation from more than 15 companies.

The job fair, organised in Kashmir University by an educational group, drew good response from students in the valley.

More than 100 students were short listed at the fair.

Professor Farooq Khan, an organizer, said that the job fair provided a platform to the Kashmiri youth to choose the sector they wished to join.

The central government on Thursday said that militants used ‘modern weapons’ to attack armymen in Manipur, killing at least 20 soldiers.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters here that details of the attack were being gathered.

“There are no details as it happened in jungle. (It seems) modern weapons…big weapons were fired,” he said.

A team of 6 Dogra Regiment was on a routine road opening patrol in the morning in Chandel district of Manipur when the militants attacked the four-vehicle convoy between Paralong and Charong villages.

–IANS

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday expressed shock at the attack on an army convoy in Manipur in which 20 soldiers were killed.

Terming the ambush by militants dastardly and cowardly, Gandhi hoped that the killers of the “vanguards of our national integrity” will be brought to book at the earliest.

She expressed her condolences to the family members of the army men.

“The Congress party as indeed the entire nation stood indebted once again to the brave sons of India,” she said.

US President Barack Obama will hold a bilateral meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi at the G7 Summit that begins on Sunday in Germany, the White House said.

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said in a telephone press conference that the purpose of the meeting is for Obama to speak with Al-Abadi about the situation in Iraq, where the jihadist Islamic State (IS) recently conquered the province of Al-Anbar and its capital, Ramadi.

The personal data of up to four million US federal employees may have been compromised by a massive cyberattack, which could have been the work of Chinese hackers, the US authorities have said.

The hack-attacks occurred last December but were not detected till April, the US government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said on Thursday in a communique, adding that it is working with the FBI to investigate the data breach.

US tennis player Serena Williams, the world number one, defeated the Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals of the French Open in a match that lasted for one hour and 54 minutes.

Williams took another step towards her 20th Grand Slam title, what would be her third in Paris after winning Roland Garros in 2002 and 2013, Efe news agency reported.

Despite feeling a little under the weather, according to her coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams overcame some flu symptoms and came back to win the final two sets and the match.