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Crazy fans Sania’s biggest worry on engagement day

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Hyderabad, July 10: Tennis player Sania Mirza will get engaged on Friday in Hyderabad even though she’s been having a tough time tough time coping up with her great fan following.

As Sania prepares for her engagement ceremony, frenzied fans seem to be her biggest worry.

While 28-year-old Mohammad Ashraf screamed his love messages and tried to gatecrash her house on Wednesday, another fan Ajay Singh Yadav was held on Thursday, as he tried to catch a glimpse of his idol.

Attacks not racial, asserts Aussie delegation

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Hyderabad,July 10: A high-level Australian delegation on Thursday assured Indian students and their parents that the Australian government and police had taken strict measures to apprehend the perpetrators of attacks on Indian students there and were working hard to prevent a repeat of such incidents.

The delegation, consisting of high ranking government, police and Australian University officials, is visiting eight Indian cities and addressed the press in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Google CEO hails company’s new PC operating system

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Sun Valley, July 10: Eric Schmidt spent his first six years as Google’s CEO resisting a push by the company’s co-founders to develop their own operating system for personal computers.

But Schmidt began to change his mind after seeing the early versions of Google’s Web browser. Now he is convinced Google’s plans for an operating system tied to the company’s nine-month-old browser will lead to a simpler, more enjoyable future for computer users.

Delhi HC gives green signal to movie “SHORTKUT”

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New Delhi, July 10: The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed Bollywood actor and producer Anil Kapoor to release his film “SHORTKUT” after he agreed to pay Rs 35 lakh to another producer who claimed to have copyright over the title of the movie.

The production company, Anil Kapoor Film Co Pvt Ltd, owned by the actor agreed before Justice Reva Chetrapal to pay Rs 35 lakhs to B S Bhullar who claimed copyrights over the title “SHORTCUT”.

The movie, starring film stars Akshay Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao, was scheduled to be released for tomorrow.

Is oral bacteria a hidden trigger for obesity?

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Washington, July 10: Is the explosive growth of obesity worldwide being triggered by an infectious agent? Investigators are closing in on the role of oral bacteria as a potential direct contributor to obesity.

J.M. Goodson and colleagues, who carried out a recent study, measured salivary bacterial populations of overweight women.

Saliva was collected from 313 women with a body mass index (BMI, weight to height ratio) between 27 and 32 and bacterial populations were measured by DNA probe analysis. A BMI above 25 is a sign of being overweight.

Doctors remove 10-kg tumour from patient

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Bhubaneswar, July 10: In a remarkable feat, a team of railway doctors have successfully removed a 10-kg tumour from a patient at East Coast Railway (ECOR) Central Hospital here.

The surgery was conducted for the first time at the newly established hospital yesterday, a senior railway official said adding it was a rare type of tumour.

The patient was recovering fast.

–PTI

Australia hit back with 249-1 against England

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Cardiff, July 10: Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting each scored centuries as Australia reached 249 for one at stumps to take the upper hand on the second day of the first Ashes test on Thursday.

Responding to England’s first innings total of 435, opener Katich was on 104 at the close while captain Ponting brought up his 100 with his last ball of the day.

Rebels free 200 child soldiers in Central Africa

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Geneva, July 10: A rebel group in the Central African Republic (CAR) has freed around 200 child soldiers, some as young as 10 years old, as part of a peace deal with the government, the WAM news agency reported Thursday.

The People’s Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD) has released 166 boys and 16 girls aged between 10 and 17 since April, the report said citing the UNICEF.

A majority of the freed children have been already reunited with their families, the UNICEF said in a statement.

Train hits car in US; 5 die

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Canton Township, July 10: An Amtrak passenger train carrying about 170 people struck a car that had skirted a gate at a road crossing near Detroit, killing all five people in the sedan, authorities said. The victims were believed to be teens.

The crossing has a gate and flashing lights that apparently were working when the car approached, said Sgt. Mark Gajeski, a police spokesman. Based on witness accounts, “it looks like they probably did go around the arm. They went around the gate,” Mr. Gajeski said.

Back Congress appreciates Zardari’s statement on terrorism in Pak

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New Delhi, July 10: Congress on Thursday appreciated the honesty of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in admitting that terrorism has been “created and nurtured” by the establishment there for tactical gains.

The party also demanded the terror camps in that country be dismantled with the same honesty.

“Pakistan President has admitted with honesty that the extremists were created and nurtured as a short term policy.

The same honesty should be shown in dismantling the terror camps in the country,” party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here.

Govt to roll back fuel prices if crude rates dip

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New Delhi, July 10: Government will roll back the Rs 4 a litre hike in petrol prices and Rs 2 a litre increase in diesel rates if international crude oil prices stabilise between USD 50 and 60 a barrel, Oil Minister Murli Deora said.

“Yes, we will cut prices if crude prices stabilise for sometime between USD 50 and 60 per barrel,” he said here.

The Government had last week raised petrol and diesel prices citing spike in international crude oil prices to USD 70 a barrel.

Good rain in east,PTI): south and central India

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New Delhi, July 10: Fear of drought may have eased with the India Meteorological Department saying that the country has received good rain in the last two weeks.

There was good rainfall in the last two weeks in the east, south and central parts of India, IMD Director B P Yadav told PTI.

The US Department of Agriculture said in a report released on June 29 that India may face a severe drought if the rains did not come in a week.

“The window of opportunity for planting of most kharif crops (rice, coarse grains, soybeans, peanut, cotton, and pulses) will be over by mid-July.

Opposition protest against hooch tragedy in Gujarat Assembly

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Gandhinagar, July 10: The Opposition Congress protested by raising anti-government slogans in Gujarat Assembly for the second consecutive day on Thursday on the issue of hooch tragedy which claimed over 70 lives in the State.

They shouted slogans against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of State for Home Amit Shah over the hooch tragedy which killed 73 people, who consumed the spurious liquor on Sunday night.

Goan seafarer tests positive for A(H1N1) flu

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Panaji, July 10: The second suspected A(H1N1) flu patient, who arrived here from US, on Thursday tested positive for the virus.

The throat swab samples of the 31-year-old male were sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Delhi which has tested positive, State nodal officer for A(H1N1) flu Rajendra Tamba told PTI.

The patient has been quarantined at a facility in Chicalim, 30 kms away from the city of Panaji.

Mr. Tamba said that the patient, who is a Goan, is a seafarer and was staying in America for the last five months.

Top guns likely to join AI’s International Advisory Board

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New Delhi, July 10: Air India is in the process of having a seven-member International Advisory Board, with former top officials of global carriers, to turn the organisation around.

The Board, which is likely to be headed by industrialist Ratan Tata, may have former heads of leading carriers like Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, sources said.

France backs india’s bid for permanent UNSC seat

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New Delhi, July 10: Strongly backing India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, France on Thursday said this was absolutely necessary if the global body wanted to remain a “legitimate” place for handling peace and security crisis.

Noting that the last reforms to the Security Council were made in the sixties, Ambassador of France to India Jerome Bonnafont said “if we want the Security Council to remain a legitimate place for handling peace and security crisis in the world, it is absolutely necessary to have India as well as couple of others as permanent members.”

Manmohan to meet Gilani in Egypt next week

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New Delhi, July 10: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet in Egypt next week on the margins of NAM Summit to decide on the future course of ties on the basis of what Islamabad has done to address India’s concerns on terrorism.

Mr. Singh will be travelling to Sharm-el Sheikh on July 14 for the two-day 15th Non Aligned Movement Summit beginning next day focussing on the global financial crisis and international peace.

US did not ask India to sign CTBT: Govt

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New Delhi, july 10: Government on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that the United States has not requested India to sign the CTBT in recent bilateral discussions.

In a written reply, Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna said CTBT does not affect the October 10, 2008 agreement which enables civil nuclear cooperation between India and Pakistan.

“India has declared a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosive testing,” he said.

China bans Urumqi mosque prayers

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Beijing, July 10: At least 156 people are thought to have died in the fighting China has ordered mosques in its restive western city of Urumqi not to open for Friday prayers.

The order comes after several days of ethnic violence between Uighur Muslims and Han Chinese. At least 156 people have been killed so far.

Thousands of troops remain in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, to try to maintain order.

The Chinese authorities have vowed to administer “severe punishment” to those involved in the riots.

Protests continue in Srinagar over killing of youth

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Srinagar, July 09: Life in the city and adjoining areas remained disrupted for the second day on Thursday as protests continued and people observed a spontaneous strike against the killing of an undergraduate student.

Shops, educational institutions, banks and semi-government institutions were closed and transport off the roads in view of tense situation prevailing in the city and its adjoining areas.

Darul Uloom Deoband slams legalisation of homosexuality

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Muzaffarnagar, July 09: Clerics of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Thursday opposed the Delhi High Court’s order of decriminalising homosexuality saying that the move is an offence under Shariat law and would lead to anarchy in the society.

A senior cleric of the Fatwa department of the seminary Mufti Zenul Islam said, “Legalising homosexuality would affect the family life by raising the divorce rate. It is completely against the Shariat law.”

‘Govt will review Delhi HC order on gay sex’Other clerics of the seminary have also echoed Mufti Islam’s view.

Oral abortion pill safest

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Boston, July 09: Giving the “abortion pill” orally instead of vaginally and with antibiotics cut the risk of serious infection and death by 93%, researchers at Planned Parenthood reported on Wednesday.

The threat of infection is now down to 1 in 16,000 from one in 1,000, the researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Rail link along Indo-Bangla border proposed

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Shillong, July 09: The North East Frontier Railway has proposed a rail link connecting key trading points along the Bangladesh border in Assam and Meghalaya.

The Rs 16,000-crore proposal for setting up the rail tracks from Jogighopa in Goalpara district of Assam to Silchar in south Assam via some key trading points along Bangladesh border like Dawki, Shella and Baghmara has been submitted to the railway ministry.

South Africans asked to follow Nelson Mandela

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Durban, July 09: The South African government on Thursday appealed to the people to devote 67 minutes of their time on July 18 for community service to mark the 91st birthday of country’s anti-apartheid icon and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.

Mandela, the country’s first democratic president, had made the world a better place and South Africans should follow in his footsteps, South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said.

Motlanthe also announced that all ministers and Members of Parliament would set aside July 18 to work for their communities.

Diarrhoea epidemic in Nepal kills more than 100

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Kathmandu, July 09: Over 100 people have been killed and more than 4,000 affected as Nepal’s ancient enemy diarrhoea struck remote districts, reports said.

Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Nepal’s biggest rights agency with offices in all 75 districts, Thursday said the disease, which started in Jajarkot, a neglected district in western Nepal about 325 km west of Kathmandu, has assumed epidemic proportions. It has spread to three other adjacent districts: Salyan, Dailekh and Sukhet.