uzma Kabul,September 28:August had the most fatalities this year for civilians in Afghanistan because of the country’s disputed election, and violence could rise again when the final results are released, a U.N. report warns.
About 1,500 people died in Afghanistan from the beginning of the year to August, according to the U.N. report released this week.
The report did not say what the death toll was for August.
New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) The All India Heart Foundation (AIHF) will launch an awareness drive for heart diseases among women, which they consider the most neglected and least prioritised group in the society.
A brainchild of AIHF president S. Padmavati, the campaign, which would be implemented by “The Red Brigade of Women”, aims at addressing the susceptibility of women to heart diseases.
The 10 member “brigade” would not only comprise women doctors and a nursing superintendent but would also include housewives and young women professionals.
Allahabad, September 27:Three people were arrested from this Uttar Pradesh town with fake postal stamps worth Rs.700,000, police said Sunday.
“The fake stamps are mostly of Rs.1 and Rs.5 denominations. These men used to scan the original stamps and reproduce them with the help of a computer and a colour printer,” Deputy Inspector General of Police (Allahabad) Chandra Prakash told reporters.
The men were identified as Shafat Ahmed, Rashid Alam and Zubair. Police also recovered a computer, a scanner and a colour printer from them.
New Delhi, September 27:Demanding the central government’s intervention in the Air India strike, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday condemned the national carrier’s decision to slash the wages and productivity-linked incentives (PLI) of its pilots.
Centurion, September 27:India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has blamed the bowlers for his side’s 54-run loss to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.
The Indian bowlers were smacked all over the ground by the Pakistani batsmen, who piled on 302 runs batting first at the SuperSport Park here Saturday.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh conceded 71 runs from 10 overs with Rudra Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Ashish Nehra each dishing out over 50 runs each.
“I was feeling not one bowler short but three bowlers short. It was tough to set a field for them,” Dhoni said.
New Delhi, September 27:Mobile operator Bharti Airtel Sunday announced two schemes enabling cheaper calls from the US to India as part of a festive season offer.
Under the first scheme, users will get 1,353 minutes of calls for $24.99.
“It also comes with a validity of six months so a user can buy the plan during this festive season and can use it till the Holi festival in March next year,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
United Nations, September 27:India has asked the world community to urgently help bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, saying it is their collective responsibility and duty to fight the “malignant menace” of terrorism.
“The barbaric terrorist attack on the innocent people of Mumbai on Nov 26, 2008 reminds us of the daily and malignant menace that terrorism poses to all countries,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said in the UN General Assembly Saturday.
New Delhi/Raipur, September 27:Indian airport authorities are on the lookout for Chinese nationals who have fled from a Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) plant in Chhattisgarh, after an under-construction chimney collapsed killing 45 people, but no one has been detained till now, officials said Sunday.
“About 70 Chinese nationals, mostly engineers, have left Korba town amid rising death toll of workers,” a police source told IANS in Raipur.
Allahabad, September 27:Three people were arrested from this Uttar Pradesh town with fake postal stamps worth Rs.700,000, police said Sunday.
“The fake stamps are mostly of Rs.1 and Rs.5 denominations. These men used to scan the original stamps and reproduce them with the help of a computer and a colour printer,” Deputy Inspector General of Police (Allahabad) Chandra Prakash told reporters.
The men were identified as Shafat Ahmed, Rashid Alam and Zubair. Police also recovered a computer, a scanner and a colour printer from them.
New Delhi, September 26: Premier of the Australian state of Victoria John Brumby Saturday said that he was very impressed with the architecture of the infrastructure coming up for the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG), scheduled to take place in the Indian capital next year.
During a visit to the headquarters of the Organising Committee of the 2010 CWG here, he said he had not forgotten the cultural show Delhi had put up at the closing ceremony of the Melbourne Games in 2006.
Tehran, September 26: The head of Iran’s Atomic Organization said Saturday that agreements have been made with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the new uranium-enrichment plant near Tehran.
“Considering the suitable cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, there will be an inspection of the new plant in due time,” Ali-Akbar Salehi told state television without giving a precise date.
He said the new plant is located 100 km south of the capital Tehran and would become operational in more than one year. The first enrichment plant of Natanz is located in central Iran.
New Delhi, September 26:Indian shooters won three golds in the double trap event in the Asian Clay Shooting championship at Almaty, Kazakhastan, Saturday.
According to information received here, Ronjon Sodhi won the individual gold and India won the team gold. Sangram Dahiya won the third gold in the junior section.
Sodhi shot an excellent score of 188 (144 + 44) for the gold. The team comprising Sodhi (144), Vikram Chopra (132) and Vikram Bhatnagar (124) put up a splendid performance for the team gold.
New Delhi, September 26:Five more swine flu deaths – four in Karnataka and one in Andhra Pradesh – were reported Saturday, taking India’s toll due to the influenza A (H1N1) virus to 290, health authorities said here.
Three more suspected swine flu deaths have been reported from Andhra Pradesh, but officials said they were awaiting the laboratory reports for confirmation.
Meanwhile, 208 fresh swine flu cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of people infected with the flu to 9,492.
New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) Unfazed by the controversy surrounding his comments on the microblogging site Tweeter, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is upbeat about using this “innovative method of communication” used by the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
“(US President) Barack Obama uses it, (Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton used it while she was in Delhi and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd does it,” Tharoor said in an interview to the India Today magazine.
Lucknow, September 26:Two men were arrested Saturday for allegedly molesting a 37-year-old Australian woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district, police said.
The incident took place Saturday in the Collectorganj locality in Kanpur when the woman with her husband was going to meet their friends in the locality, police added.
“Saleem and Naushad – both in their early 20s – misbehaved with the woman and also assaulted her husband while the couple, sitting on a pedal-rickshaw, were on their way to their friend’s house,” inspector Mahendra Kumar told IANS over phone.
New Delhi, September 26:Move over passport and PAN card! Identity authentication at banks, gas connection centres or while providing rural jobs will just be an SMS away, Unique Identification Authority chief Nandan Nilekani said Saturday.
“Our project will provide a unique identification (UID) number, not a card. The authentication will be made by using mobile phones,” Nilekani said.
New Delhi, September 26: Saudi Arabia Saturday recommended those at a high risk of catching swine flu, like children, pregnant women and people suffering from chronic ailments, to avoid Haj pilgrimage and help curb the spread of the pandemic.
“Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, recommends that elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases and children should postpone the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages this year for their own safety,” the advisory from Saudi Arabia said.
The country has written to several swine flu-affected countries, including India.
Amritsar, September 26: Rat! It’s that creature again that held up a London-bound Air India flight by nearly 11 hours from the Rajasansi airport here Saturday.
Flight AI-187, which was scheduled to depart at 6.30 a.m. Saturday, finally left for London around 5.26 p.m. after Air India provided a new aircraft.
There were 238 passengers on the flight.
“The flight finally left at 5.26 p.m. today. Air India provided a new aircraft to take the passengers to London,” Air India manager Ashwini Kumar Arora told IANS.
New Delhi, September 26:The central government wants Kashmir Pandits, who left their homes after militancy hit Jammu and Kashmir early 1990s, to return and is in touch with the state government, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan said Saturday.
“We want the state to become fully normal like earlier days. We are in touch with the state government on this issue,” Chavan told reporters in reply to a question.
New Delhi, September 26:With five percent of India’s population obese, there is a strong need to control intake of sweets and maintain an active lifestyle so as to stay fit.
“Indians by nature have a sweet tooth and sugar is a prime requirement in every household. The consumption of sugar is increasing by four percent annually in the country and so is obesity,” said Rekha Sharma, former chief dietician with the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences here.
Karachi, September 26: Young all-rounder Fawad Alam has been fined for failing to report for the flag-hoisting ceremony prior to the start of Pakistan’s opening Champions Trophy match against West Indies at the Wanderers earlier this week.
According to reports, Fawad did not turn up for the flag hoisting ceremony at the ground and also failed to justify his absence. He was fined Rs.10,000 Friday after being found guilty of a breach of discipline.
It was after conducting a hearing that the team management fined him and warned him against any future misconduct.
London, September 26:Obesity caused at least 124,000 new cancers last year in Europe, according to a new study.
The proportion of cases of new cancers were highest among women and in central European countries such as the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
“As more people stop smoking and fewer women take hormone replacement therapy, it is possible that obesity may become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade,” said Andrew Renehan, who led the study.
Nuremberg (Germany), September 26: Diego Klimowicz scored the only goal of the match to give VfL Bochum a good 1-0 away win at Nuremberg in a Bundesliga game.
Friday’s result sees Bochum climb out of the relegation zone to 12th with seven points from as many games and also gave Frank Heinemann his first victory with the team he took over at the beginning of the week.
New Delhi, September 26:If you binge on junk food, smoke and don’t exercise, you are at risk of developing heart diseases in your thirties. According to doctors, about 46.9 million Indians between 20 and 69 will suffer from heart diseases by 2010 and half of them will be youngsters.
Patna, September 26: Three Buddhist devotees have travelled hundreds of kilometres on foot from Tibet and reached the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya to pray for the long life of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Kelsang Dondup, 56, Sangau Dolma, 62, and Chultim Lama, 43, offered prayers to Lord Buddha and sought blessings for the Dalai Lama at the temple after they reached Bodh Gaya in Bihar from a village in Tibet. They reached Bodh Gaya Thursday.