shameen

Not enough being done to tackle drought: Experts

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With several states reeling under a drought-like situation as they await the monsoon, experts have pointed out that not enough is being done to deal with the situation arising out of scanty rainfall.

Drought management, they say, assumes significance in view of changing weather patterns.

“We are not prepared to handle the effects of climate change on agriculture. It is reflected through our management of drought situation in states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh,” veteran agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan said.

World Bank allocates $52.6 bn of assistance in 2012

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The World Bank (WB) has allocated $52.6 billion of assistance fund for developing countries in the fiscal year of 2012, a statement released by it said Saturday.

The assistance fund would be materialized in loans, grants and assurance to help spur economic growth, Xinhua quoted the statement as saying.

Euro 2012 Final: Italy coach not afraid of Spain

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Italy boss Cesare Prandelli insists that playing reigning champions Spain in the final of Euro 2012 holds no fear for his troops.

La Roja are bidding to become the first side to win three successive international tournaments and many pundits believe that their current era of dominance owes much to their shoot-out success over the Azzurri in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.

Loss of a child ups mother`s risk of early death

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Losing a child is quite devastating for any parent, but the bereavement could send a mother`s risk of an early death soaring, a new research has claimed.

A team of US researchers found that there was a 133 per cent increase in the risk of a mother dying in the two years following the loss of a son or daughter.

The researchers, led by William Evans of the University of Notre Dame and Javier Espinosa of the Rochester Institute of Technology, studied 69,224 mothers aged 20 to 50 for nine years, tracking the mortality of children even after they had left home.

`Injecting oxygen into blood could help keep people alive`

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Scientists claim to have found a new way of injecting oxygen into the blood to keep people alive even when they can`t breathe during complex operations, a breakthrough they say could help doctors carry out critical surgeries.

The procedure, which works by injecting oxygen molecules enclosed in fatty molecules directly into the bloodstream, could give people an extra 30 minutes of life when they cannot breathe, the researchers said.

`Once-a-week pill may make HIV treatment more effective`

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A new once-a-day pill which combines four HIV drugs into a single treatment has been found safe and effective, a new study has claimed, raising hopes of millions affected by the deadly virus worldwide.

Clinical trials showed that the new “Quad” pill was fast in acting and has fewer side-effects compared to two widely- used drug regimens.

HIV sufferers have to rigidly adhere to their medication routine because missed doses can quickly lead to the virus becoming resistant to the medication, making them more vulnerable to a progression of their illness.

Sunny, Bobby skip Esha’s wedding!

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While the whole of B-town assembled to wish Esha Deol on her wedding yesterday, absence of her half-brothers Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol from the venue shocked many. Sources claimed that Bobby couldn’t attend the ceremony as he was shooting abroad and Sunny missed the wedding as he had prior work commitments.

Growth to rebound from Oct: Basu

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India’s economic growth, which dipped to 9-year low of 6.5 percent in 2011-12, is expected to rebound from October, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said Friday.

He also said the government was working to remove “trust problems” with the industry.

“We are hopeful that economy is going to bounce back within 4-5 months. I mean its October. Before that I can’t realistically say that there will be an improvement, but October onwards,” he told reporters at the ‘Statistics Day 2012’ meet organised by the government.

Govt invites comments on GAAR, PM to take final call

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The government on Friday issued draft guidelines on the general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR), inviting comments from different stakeholders and clarified that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will take final call on the issue after receiving feedback.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued the draft guidelines inviting comments and suggestions from different stakeholders.

A clarificatory note released by the Prime Minister’s Office said that Manmohan Singh has not seen the draft guidelines and would take a final call on the issue after receiving feedback from the stakeholders.

Plane hijacking attempt foiled in China

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The crew and passengers on Friday foiled an attempt to hijack an aircraft in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, police said.

Six people tried to hijack Tianjin Airlines’ Flight GS 7554 just 10 minutes after it took off from the Hotan airport at 12.25 pm, reported Xinhua news agency.

The aircraft was en route to provincial capital Urumqi, said a statement from the region’s Public Security Bureau.

Crew members and passengers overpowered the hijackers and the plane then flew back and safely landed on the Hotan Airport, the statement added.

Hillary, Lavrov set for Syria showdown

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US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were heading for a face-to-face showdown over Syria on Friday as major powers prepared for a weekend conference to hash out a political transition plan for the country.

‘India wants to double tourist numbers by 2016’

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India, which sees an average of six million tourists visiting the country every year, wants to double the number by the year 2016, by promoting wellness and medical tourism, Union Tourism Minister has said.

India gets just over six million tourists every year and the government wants to double this number by the year 2016, Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai said.

He said that outbound tourists from India are four times more than inbound tourists and the government has decided to take steps to improve these numbers.

26/11 control room had full Pak support: PC

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At a time when probe is widening on key Mumbai terror attacks handler Abu Hamja, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said that the 26/11 control room in Karachi had full support of Pakistan.

Google announces cloud-computing service

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Google has announced Compute Engine, a cloud-computing service that allows businesses to run their applications on servers in the tech giant’s data center.

“We’re introducing Google Compute Engine, an infrastructure-as-a-service product that lets you run Linux Virtual Machines on the same infrastructure that powers Google,” said Google in its official blog Thursday.

According to the company, the economy of scale and efficiency of its data centers can provide users 50 percent more computing power than other leading cloud providers, reported Xinhua.

China’s astronaut trio returns to Earth

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China’s first woman cosmonaut and two of her colleagues returned to Earth today after successfully accomplishing the country’s first-ever manual space docking during a two-week mission, giving a boost to Beijing’s efforts to build a space station by 2020.

The spacecraft Shenzhou-9 carrying the three astronauts landed at the designated spot at Inner Mongolia region.

The landing, which was shown live on the television was a bit bumpy as the module turned upside down as it hit the ground.

Half of inhaled diesel soot sticks to lungs

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The exhaust from diesel-run vehicles, wood fires and coal fired power stations contains soot particles that not only pollute the air, but more dangerously, stick to human lungs, says a study.

Now for the first time, Lund University researchers have shown in a detailed study how more than half of all inhaled diesel soot particles remain in the body.

The figure is higher than for most other types of particles. For example, only 20 percent of another type of particle from wood smoke and other biomass combustion gets stuck in the lungs, the Journal of Aerosol Science reported.

Esha Deol’s wedding: The mystery of the missing Dharmendra

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The Deols and their new son-in-law have been most obliging to the assembled cameras at the sangeet and mehendi ceremonies for Esha and fiancé Bharat. But the near perfect family photo album is missing one very important member.

The beaming bride and groom to be, Esha and Bharat, were joined by Esha’s mother, Hema Malini, and sister Ahana. But where was her father, Dharmendra?

Are Ranbir and Deepika back together?

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We’ve been getting whiffs of reconciliation between Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor for quite some time.

Our antennas went up when we heard the former lovers had signed on for a new film together. But that wasn’t proof enough – they are professionals after all.

Then we heard Katrina Kaif was miffed with Ranbir for the amount of time he was spending with Deepika, and gave him an hour-long piece of her mind.

HSBC likely to sell stakes in Axis and Yes banks

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UK-based HSBC is likely to sell stake in private sector lenders Axis Bank and Yes Bank as part of its global strategy and is understood to have appointed merchant bankers for the deals.

To be done through block deals by HSBC Securities, the two stake-sales could be worth about Rs 2,430 crore at the prevailing market price of the India-based lenders.

HSBC has 4.75 percent stake amounting to 1.9 crore shares in Axis Bank through HSBC IRIS Investments Mauritius Ltd, as per the latest BSE filings available.

KG-D6 reserves were certified independently: RIL

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Reliance Industries on Thursday refuted suggestions that it may have inflated KG-D6 gas reserves, saying they were certified by leading independent international certifiers and KG fields are facing problems similar to those confronting ONGC’s Imperial Energy.

The D1&D3 fields in KG-D6 block were originally certified to hold 10.03 Trillion cubic feet of proved plus probable (2P) reserves, of which about 2 Tcf have already been produced in last three years.

Hamas says militant assassinated in Damascus

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Hamas on Thursday said that one of its members was assassinated in his home in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

An official in the Palestinian militant movement said Kamal Ghanaja was a former aide to Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior commander who was assassinated in Dubai in 2010.

The official said Hamas had been informed that a group of people entered Ghanaja’s home, killed him and took some files. He said a senior member of the movement has gone to Damascus to follow the official investigations.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Obama discusses Iran, Syria with UAE crown prince

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US President Barack Obama has discussed current volatile situation in Iran and Syria as well as global energy prices with UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the White House said.

The two leaders discussed the ongoing negotiations with Iran on its nuclear programme and the three Gulf islands whose sovereignty is disputed between the UAE and Iran, said a joint statement issued after the meeting held at the White House yesterday.

Ex-Pak min held at US airport for suspected LeT links

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Former Pakistani minister Sheikh Rashid, known for his pro-LeT leanings, was detained at Houston airport on arrival for his possible links with the terror group’s founder Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

61-year-old Rashid, leader of the Awami Muslim League of Pakistan, was detained soon after he arrived by an Emirates flight last evening and was freed after five hours of interrogation.

Sources said Rashid was detained for his possible links with Saeed.

It is understood that he was scheduled to attend a fundraiser and meetings with his supporters in the US.

‘NATO routes closure proved to be costly for US’

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The US would have to rely on “more extensive” use of airlift during the 2014 drawdown of troops from Afghanistan if the ground routes closed by Pakistan do not open in time, a top Pentagon commander has said.

He also acknowledged that the closure of ground lines of communication (GLOCs) by Pakistan in protest against the NATO raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November last year has proved to be costly for the United States.

Major quantity of heroin seized inside PIA plane

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Around 4.5 kg of heroin was seized from a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft bound for London and staff at the Karachi airport have been identified as prime suspects, a media report said on Thursday.

The heroin was placed within panelling in the toilets of the aircraft, Customs spokesman Qamar Thalho was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

The narcotics, wrapped in plastic bags, were found by the Drug Enforcement Cell on Wednesday.