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Strategic voting :BJP losses deposit in 58%,Congress in 68% in UP

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Loosing Deposits Rahul baba congress have scored over saffron party BJP has increased its loosing deposit percentage from 42% in 2007 to 58% in 2012 .Congress didn’t just lose in 323 of the 351 seats it contested in Uttar Pradesh. In 247 of those, or about 68 per cent of its seats, the Congress candidates even forfeited their deposits.

The BJP fared only slightly better. Of the 398 candidates fielded by it, 230 lost their deposits, working out to 58 per cent of its candidates.

13 killed in blast at Peshawar funeral

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Thirteen people were killed Sunday when a huge explosion ripped through a funeral prayer being held in Pakistan’s Peshawar city. The deputy speaker of the provincial assembly left the spot minutes before the blast.

The explosion occurred during funeral prayers in Budh Bher area in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The deafening explosion spread panic in the area, with the wounded crying out in pain.

Reports varied on the number of injured. While one media report put the figure at 29, another said 31 people were left bloodied.

US vows full accountability in Afghan shooting

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Anyone found responsible for the killing of over a dozen civilians in Afghanistan would be punished, said General John Allen, commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

According to the Afghan defence ministry, 15 civilians were killed and nine others injured in a shooting spree by NATO-led troops in Kandahar province’s Zangabad village Sunday morning.

“I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting incident today in Kandahar province. I offer my profound regret and deepest condolences to the victims and their families,” Xinhua quoted Allen as saying in a statement.

Iran to build power plant in Syria

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Iran has inked an agreement with Syria to construct a 470-MW thermal power plant, IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

The plant will be built in Swaida city to the south of Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Abbas Aliabadi, managing director of Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company, said Sunday the preparation to carry out the project has been started, Xinhua reported citing the report.

Aliabadi expressed hope that the project would go on stream by mid-2014.

Seven killed in Nigeria church blastiii

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At least seven people died in a bomb blast that rocked a church in the northern Nigerian city of Jos, police said Sunday.

Suicide bombers Sunday attacked the St. Finbars catholic church by ramming a vehicle into it’s fence, Xinhua reported.

According to a police spokesperson, 20 people have been hospitalised at the Jos University Teaching Hospital.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

BJP leader held for attacking mining inspector

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A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was arrested in Madhya Pradesh Sunday for attacking a mining inspector and looting two tractors loaded with illegally mined stones in January, police said.

Hamir Patel, Murena district vice-president of the BJP, attacked Mining Inspector Rajkumar Barathe on Jan 30.

“We have arrested Hamir Patel today from his residence in Gopalpura for attacking the mining inspector,” said S.K. Verma, city superintendent of police, Murena, over 450 km from here.

Karnataka BJP split open

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Karnataka BJP split open
Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Sunday showed it functions as two units with former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa keeping open the option of leaving the party and boycotting the campaign for next week’s Lok Sabha bypoll from the state.

The rival group headed by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and state BJP chief K.S. Eshwarappa, on its part, stayed away from Yeddyurappa’s birthday bash organized by his supporters Sunday in this town, about 400 km north of Bangalore.

Reaching Christian for votes BJP way

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If Mayawati stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007 riding on the electoral shoulders of Brahmins and Dalits, Manohar Parrikar has similarly rewritten the ‘social engineering’ primer for Goa.

For the last four years now, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been desperately reaching out to the sizeable 23 percent-strong Christian community here, which has played a potential but hesitant suitor, thanks to the party’s ‘infamy’ inherited from states like Gujarat and Karnataka.

101/119 Crore pati in New Punjab assembly

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When the newly-elected Punjab assembly meets for the first time later this month, it will look more like a millionaires club than a legislature. The 117-member house has no less than 101 crorepatis, data analysed by NGO Punjab Election Watch (PEW) has revealed.

The affidavits submitted by Punjab politicians who have made it to the assembly in the 2012 elections, revealed that the new assembly has 86 percent legislators who are crorepatis instead of the 66 percent crorepati legislators elected in the 2007 assembly poll. Only 77 legislators in the 2007 elections were crorepatis.

Mind your breakfast for stress-free life

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People skipping breakfast had better mend their ways, as a new study shows how the morning meal reduces stress and improves mental and physical performance throughout the day.

Volunteers who ate after waking up benefited from an 89 percent reduction in anxiety when faced with a challenging situation, the Daily Mail reported.

They were typically able to deal with the dilemma seven percent quicker than on days when they went without it, the mental and physical tests have revealed.

India, Pakistan should focus on non-Kashmir issues: Sartaj Aziz

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Sartaj Aziz, a former Pakistani foreign and finance minister, says India and Pakistan should focus on resolving “doable non-Kashmir issues” like Siachen and Sir Creek and increase bilateral trade to $10 billion amid a renewed debate in his country on putting trade above what Islamabad calls “the core issue” of Kashmir.

“We should try to resolve non-Kashmir issues. On issues like Siachen and Sir Creek, a lot of work has been done. They are doable,” Aziz, who was Pakistan’s foreign minister at the time of the 1999 Kargil war, told IANS in an interview here.

Police to quiz ex-minister held in housing scam

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Former Maharashtra housing minister Suresh Jain was Sunday remanded to police custody by a sessions court here after his arrest in connection with a housing society scam, police said.

“Jain was arrested early Sunday in connection with the (2006) Gharkul housing scheme scam. He has been remanded to police custody till March 19,” an officer from Jalgaon City Police Station told IANS.

Jain, who was a minister during the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party rule in the 1990s, was arrested for allegedly favouring a builder and indulging in irregularities to the tune of Rs.29 crore, police said.

13 killed in blast at Peshawar funeral

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Thirteen people were killed Sunday when a huge explosion ripped through a funeral prayer being held in Pakistan’s Peshawar city. The deputy speaker of the provincial assembly left the spot minutes before the blast.

The explosion occurred during funeral prayers in Budh Bher area in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The deafening explosion spread panic in the area, with the wounded crying out in pain.

Reports varied on the number of injured. While one media report put the figure at 29, another said 31 people were left bloodied.

4 IITIANs makes it to MIT

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IIT-Bombay has emerged as the hottest centre for innovation in the country with three of its alumni – V.S.K. Murthy Balijepalli, Nitin Joshi and Vanteru Mahendra Reddy – making it to MIT’s India TR35 2012 list of young technology innovators, along with and Majumder of IIT-Kanpur.

The list of 20 young innovators, all under 35 years, in biomedicine, communications, computing, energy, materials, transportation and the web for 2012 was announced by the Indian edition of the MIT Technology Review in Mumbai on Saturday.

Virginity test: Doctor aquitted

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Samira Ibrahim took Egypt’s military-led government to court in August, alleging she was among those subjected to the test after her arrest during the March 9, 2011, protest. She said she faced death threats after bringing the case.
On Sunday, the 25-year-old marketing manager said the ruling devastated her.
“This is rape, and I fainted when I heard the verdict in court,” she said. “God knows the truth, and it will always be a black spot in Egypt’s history.”

The court acquitted the doctor because of contradictory testimony from witnesses, the government-run website EgyNews reported.

Protein with diabetes alert

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A protein linked for years to inflammation and heart disease may also be able to predict impending diabetes years before it shows up as high blood sugar, a new study from India suggests.

Researchers have found that a condition called pre-diabetes is associated with elevated levels of the C reactive protein (CRP) found in blood, but they also caution that it would still be premature to recommend it as a routine test to predict diabetes.

Tendulkar rubbishes retirement speculations: Reports

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India’s cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar Saturday dismissed speculations that he would announce his retirement after getting his much awaited 100th international ton.

Zee News reported that Tendulkar, in an SMS sent to the channel, has rubbished all speculations about his retirements.

Speculation was rife that Tendulkar would hang up his boots after getting the century in the Asia Cup.

Another veteran batsman Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket Friday after his poor show in Australia.

Violence in Anantnag after youth run over by army vehicle

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Two policemen were injured as violence erupted in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag town Saturday after a young man was run over by an army vehicle, police said.

Police used batons and fired tear smoke shells to disperse the mob following the incident even as the protesters torched the army vehicle.

“A cyclist identified as Yasir Ahmad was hit by an army vehicle at K.P. Road in Anantnag town resulting in his death on the spot,” a senior police said here.

4th Front brewing up :Congress in jitters

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The Trinamul Congress has dropped loud hints that chief minister Mamata Banerjee is set to attend the swearing-in events of Parkash Singh Badal in Punjab and Akhilesh Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh in the middle of the budget session of Parliament next week.

“Just learnt that Mamatadi will be going to both Lucknow and Chandigarh for the CM swearing in ceremonies,” Trinamul MP Derek ’Brien tweeted tonight, confirming suggestions from the party camp that Mamata is “enthused” by the invites from the Akali Dal and the Samajwadi Party that have their core constituencies outside Bengal.

Iran plans to sell more arms to ‘friendly’ states

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Iran plans to sell more arms to ‘friendly’ states
Iran plans to sell more arms to “friendly” neighbouring countries in the new Iranian calendar year starting March 20, a minister said Saturday.

Deputy Defence Minister Majid Bokaei, however, did not mention the name of the friendly states, Xinhua reported citing Mehr news agency.

In February, Defence Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told his Lebanese counterpart Fayez Ghusn that one of Tehran’s strategic policies was to strengthen the Lebanese army.

Assailants ambush police van, 3 prisoners killed

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A police vehicle carrying prisoners was ambushed by unidentified assailants in Haryana’s Jhajjar district Saturday evening, leaving three prisoners dead and two policemen injured, police here said.

The attack on the police vehicle took place near Duleena village in Jhajjar, over 350 km from Chandigarh.

The three prisoners who died in attack were identified as Anil, Sribhagwan and Dilbagh. Out of these, Sribhagwan and Dilbagh were brothers and were under arrest for their alleged involvement in a murder.

Three killed in Kenya grenade attack

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Three people died in a grenade attack Saturday night at a bus station in Nairobi, police said.

The attackers hurled several grenades at the busy station as people were waiting to board their buses, provincial police officer Anthony Kibuchi said.

Fifteen others were seriously injured, Xinhua reported.

3,000 arrested in Bangladesh

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Over 3,000 people have been arrested till Saturday from all over Bangladesh ahead of a rally planned for March 12 by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a media report said.

Sources told the Daily Star that police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel arrested at least 3,616 people.

BNP leaders alleged that police have been conducting mass arrests of their party men across the country to foil the rally.

The activists were arrested in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet.

Royal Air Force connects to India with ‘Chammak challo’

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A Royal Air Force band forged an Indian connect by adding popular Bollywood track “Chammak challo” from Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Ra.One” to its repertoire during its recent tour of the country.

The band, which performed in the capital in a pre-Holi concert along with the Indian Air Force Wednesday, came upon the track three weeks ago when its director, Flight Lieutenant Matthew Little, who wanted to include a popular Indian number on his playlist, was given a CD containing the song by his driver.

Sehwag denies reports of rift in Team India

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Indian batsman Virender Sehwag Saturday denied reports of his rift with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni saying he has no ambitions to lead the team.

Sehwag blamed the media for reports of rift in the team.

“I don’t think there is any rift. It was created by the media. We will continue to play like we did earlier. We have spoken about this in Australia and also over here. There is no rift among any player,” Sehwag told reporters on the sidelines of a promotional event here.