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India reports 2nd H1N1 fatality as woman dies in Mumbai

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Mumbai, August 09: India on Saturday recorded the second swine flu death with a 53-year-old woman succumbing here five days after a teenaged Pune girl died of the dreaded disease as the number of people afflicted by the virus went up sharply across the country.

Seventy two fresh positive swine flu cases were reported from across the country, with 34 of them in Pune, the epicentre of the disease, alone and the first person to get the disease in Lucknow is a five-year-old boy.

Air Canada posts $155 mn profit

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Toronto, August 08: Air Canada, the world’s ninth largest airline, has reported a second quarter profit of USD 155 million — 27 percent up from the same period last year.

During this period, the airline also reported foreign exchange gains of USD 355 million as against USD 48 million during the same period last year.

However, the struggling national carrier, which was on the verge of seeking second bankruptcy protection in six years, still posted an operating loss of USD 113 million as against a profit of USD 7 million during the same period last year.

Teenager Umar inspires Pak to a 146-run win

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Colombo, August 08: Teenager Umar Akmal smashed an unbeaten 102 off 72 balls as Pakistan won the fourth one-dayer by 146 runs on Friday to record their first win on a dismal tour of Sri Lanka.

Umar’s maiden international century and a dogged 89 from skipper Younis Khan lifted Pakistan to 321-5 after the tourists elected to bat in the day-night match at the Premadasa stadium.

Seamer Rao Iftikhar then grabbed 5-30 as Sri Lanka were shot out for 175 in 36.1 overs, handing Pakistan a badly-needed win after they were beaten 2-0 in the Test series and lost the first three one-dayers.

Ashes: Australia take control of fourth Test

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Leeds, August 08: Peter Siddle took his Test-best figures and Stuart Clark marked his return to international cricket with three wickets as Australia bowled out England for just 102 at Headingley on Friday.

England, who won the toss, were routed on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test with Siddle taking five wickets for 21 runs in 9.5 overs and Clark three for 18 in 10 as Australia looked to level the five-match series at 1-1.

‘India’s Asian Games participation in jeopardy’

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New Delhi, August 08: Indian cricketers` refusal to sign the WADA anti-doping code has cast a shadow over their participation in next year`s Asian Games, admits IOA General Secretary Randhir Singh.

“If you don`t comply (with the WADA) as far as the rules and regulations are concerned you cannot participate in the Asian Games,” said Randhir.

Indian cricketers, backed by the BCCI, are not ready to sign the whereabout clause of the code, which makes it mandatory for players to reveal three-months in advance their location for out of competition dope test.

Titan’s surface similar to that of Earth

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Washington, August 08: A new research indicates that Saturn’s haze-enshrouded moon Titan turns out to have much in common with Earth in the way that weather and geology shape its terrain.

Wind, rain, volcanoes, tectonics and other Earth-like processes all sculpt features on Titan’s complex and varied surface in an environment more than 100 degrees Celsius colder on average than Antarctica.

“It is really surprising how closely Titan’s surface resembles Earth’s,” said Rosaly Lopes, a planetary geologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

NASA’s Cassini reveals 3D objects in Saturn’s rings

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Washington, August 08: Recent images captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft are revealing new three-dimensional objects and structures in Saturn’s otherwise flat rings, thanks to the planet approaching equinox on August 11th.

Through the detections of shadows cast upon the rings, a moonlet has been spotted for the first time in Saturn’s dense B ring and narrow vertical structures are seen soaring upward from Saturn’s intricate F ring.

Particle collider: Black hole or crucial machine?

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Geneva, August 08: When launched to great fanfare nearly a year ago, some feared the Large Hadron Collider would create a black hole that would suck in the world. It turns out the Hadron may be the black hole.

The world’s largest scientific machine has cost USD 10 billion, has worked only nine days and has yet to smash an atom. The unique equipment in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) circular tunnel with cathedral-sized detectors deep beneath the Swiss-French border has been assembled by specialists in many countries, with 8,970 physicists eagerly awaiting the startup.

Men who do housework are better at attracting women

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Washington, August 08: Women have a thing for men who are prepared to ‘chip in’ around the house, according to a new study.

The Oxford University study looked at relationships in 13 countries to reach the conclusion.

Researchers quizzed 13,500 men and women aged between 20 and 45 from each country about gender, housework and childcare responsibilities.

The research ranked British men as the third most likely to win women’s hearts through their devotion to domestic life.

Baitullah Mehsud is alive: Pak Taliban

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New Delhi, August 08: In a new twist, a militant commander and deputy to Baitullah Mehsud on Saturday reportedly said that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief is alive.

Baitullah is hiding at a covert place, Hakimullah Mehsud said, refuting earlier reports that the Pak Taliban chief was killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan on August 05.

According to the latest news report, Hakimullah claimed that Baitullah was still holding the command of Taliban fighters. The Taliban commander further vowed to release a recorded video of Baitullah in the coming days.

‘Mehsud’s death may embolden Pakistanis’

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Washington, August 08: Pakistan’s most wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud’s death may actually embolden the Pakistanis as it marks a weakening of those Taliban factions that oppose Islamabad, a leading US private intelligence agency has said.

“With more confidence in its influence over the remaining Taliban elements, Pakistan could be even less willing to sell out its Taliban assets in Afghanistan,” the Stratfor said.

Pakistani militants form groups to free associates

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Islamabad, August 08: Pakistani militants have formed two groups to free their comrades from various prisons in the country, a media report said.

The two groups named Lashkar Omar and Lashkar Abu Jandal will devise strategies to free their associates who were captured during the military operation in northwest Pakistan, the Online news agency reported on Friday. There are also suicide bombers in the groups.

Obama unlikely to stop by Hiroshima, Nagasaki while in Japan

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Tokyo, August 08: US President Barack Obama is unlikely to stop by Hiroshima and Nagasaki during his possible visit to Japan in November because he would not be here long enough to do so, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official indicated.

Expectations have been growing in Japan that Obama, who is calling for a nuclear-free world, may visit the two cities that suffered US atomic bombings in 1945, as the ministry is making arrangements for Obama’s possible visit, which would be his first to Japan as US President.

Mexican military uncovers vast drug compound

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Mexico City, August 08: Mexican soldiers have taken over a vast compound in central Mexico dedicated to the production, warehousing and distribution of illegal drugs, the military said in a statement.

Soldiers found 22 buildings on the 240-hectare (593-acre) property in Durango state that include laboratories for the production of crystal methamphetamine, the military said yesterday.

The complex includes dormitories, kitchens, rest homes, storage warehouses and laboratories.

It also has “luxury quarters” for the compound manager, the statement read.

Now China warns students in Australia on safety

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Melbourne, August 08: After India, it’s now China that has raised concerns about the safety and security of its students in Australia following a vicious road rage attack on four students on the Gold Coast.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned its students in Australia to be “cautious about their security,” The Australian reported on Saturday.

In the third such warning, Beijing said the assault late last month on one of the young students was so severe he suffered a broken cheekbone, the report said.

Airspeed systems failed on US jets: Report

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Washington, August 08: On at least a dozen recent flights by US jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered.

A similar breakdown is believed to have played a role in the Air France crash into the Atlantic that killed all 228 people aboard in June.

The discovery suggests the equipment problems are more widespread than previously believed. And it gives new urgency to airlines already scrambling to replace air sensors and figure out how the errors went undetected despite safety systems.

Obama’s health care plan is ‘evil’: Palin

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Anchorage, August 08: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin called President Barack Obama’s health plan “downright evil” on Friday in her first online comments since leaving office, saying in a Facebook posting that he would create a “death panel” that would deny care to the neediest Americans.

US Senate endorses new envoy to China, Japan

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Washington, August 08: The US Senate on Friday confirmed Utah Governor Jon Huntsman as new US Ambassador to China.

The confirmation came after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed Huntsman’s nomination on Tuesday.

The Senate on Friday also confirmed John Roos as new US Ambassador to Japan.

Huntsman, 49, was appointed by President Barack Obama as top US diplomat to China in May. He is a member of the Republican Party who was elected the governor of Utah in 2004 and re-elected in 2008.

US asks Myanmar to begin reconciliation process

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Washington, August 08: The United States on Saturday asked the Myanmar’s military junta to begin the process of national reconciliation and a genuine transition to democracy.

“As the world honours the long struggle of the Burmese people for a better future, we renew our call on the Burmese authorities to begin a process of national reconciliation and a genuine transition to democracy,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

The statement came on the occasion on anniversary of the 1988 popular Democratic uprising in Myanmar.

Dalai Lama to receive International Freedom Award

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Washington, August 08: Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalai Lama would receive the prestigious International Freedom Award of the National Civil Rights Museum on September 23.

Announcing the award, the National Civil Rights Movement board Chairman Benjamin L Hooks described the Dalai Lama as “a living example of Martin Luther King and (Mahatma) Gandhi’s non-violence in the face of political oppression and suffering.”

The Dalai Lama fled to India 50 years ago as China crushed an abortive uprising in Tibet.

–Agencies

Madagascar crisis deal possible on Saturday: Mediator

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Maputo, August 08: An accord on ending the political crisis in Madagascar leading to fresh Presidential Elections in the island nation could be signed on Saturday, a mediator said.

“We’re not far from an end to the crisis,” African Union mediator Ablasse Ouedraogo said following talks late Friday in the Mozambican capital on a political transition charter.

The island nation has become increasingly isolated since Marc Ravalomanana was ousted in March following demonstrations in which more than 100 people were killed.

Iran trial of protesters resumes: Reports

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Tehran, August 08: The second hearing in the trial of protesters, including top reformists, who opposed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election resumed in Tehran on Saturday, local news agencies reported.

The session was to be held on Thursday but was pushed back to Saturday as some of the lawyers of the defendants had asked for more time to study the charges against their clients.

Those in the dock in a revolutionary court included some reformist politicians and journalists, the ISNA news agency said.

Venezuela’s President returns envoy to Colombia

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Caracas, August 08: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered his Ambassador back to Colombia a few days after withdrawing him amid a crisis over plans to increase the number of US troops in the neighbouring country.

Consistent US critic Chavez pulled his Ambassador from Bogota on July 28 to protest Colombian plans to accept more US troops at seven military bases and in anger at accusations he had supplied arms to Marxist rebels across the border.

Eight killed in cloud burst, 24 trapped in debris

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Pithoragarh, August 08: At least eight people were killed and 24 others trapped in debris after a cloud burst washed away eight houses in Mushiyari block in the district early on Saturday.

The cloud burst followed heavy rains in Lar and Jhegla villages situated on the hill tops, official sources said.

While eight bodies have been recovered, chances of survival of the 24 people trapped in the debris were remote as they have been under the rubble for more than six hours, they said.

Six-year-old swine flu patient in ICU

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Pune, August 08: A six-year-old girl suffering from swine flu has been admitted to the ICU ward of a government hospital here even as two more patients hit by the virus— a doctor and a pharmacist— continued to battle for their life.

The girl, who was transported from a private clinic to the hospital last night, was “stable” and did not need ventilator support, hospital officials said today.

The hospital also admitted two suspected cases of H1N1 infection and test results were awaited, they added.

Close contacts of the critical two cases had been quarantined.