Tokyo, July 30: Japan’s factories ramped up their production at the fastest pace in 56 years in the second quarter, data showed Thursday, boosting hopes the world’s number two economy has returned to positive growth.
Japanese industrial output plunged last year in the midst of a brutal global economic downturn, pushing Asia’s biggest economy into its worst recession since World War II, but analysts say the worst appears to be over.
Kabul, July 30: Afghans may be desperately poor, largely illiterate and without electricity, but that does not stop would-be presidents campaigning in cyber space on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Mimicking tactics made famous by US President Barack Obama, one of the top contenders to rule Afghanistan “tweets” on hot micro-blogging service Twitter and has a flashy website where supporters can make donations.
Rio de Janeiro: Brazil’s Ronaldo underwent surgery on his broken left hand, his club Corinthians said in a statement.
The team doctor said earlier this week that the striker was expected to be out for five to six weeks with the injury which he sustained in Sunday’s 3-0 Brazilian championship defeat by Palmeiras.
“Ronaldo is doing well and should be discharged from hospital on Thursday,” the club statement said. Ronaldo has not played for Brazil since the last World Cup in 2006.
–Agencies
Stanford, July 30: A red-hot Maria Sharapova destroyed fifth seed Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday to move into the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic.
Sharapova, who came back from shoulder surgery in May after nearly 10 months off the tour, overwhelmed her fellow Russian with precise serving, huge returns and razor sharp groundstrokes in a stunning return to form.
New Delhi, July 30: India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal’s World Championships campaign suffered a setback as bad health took toll on her preparations. She has been contracted with chickenpox.
The news was confirmed by her coach Pullela Gopichand and he added that she would be fit for the World Championships.
Her father Harvir Singh Nehwal also expressed hope that the gutsy shuttler would gain complete fitness before the tournament since she has been in good form this year and the title in the upcoming Championships would do justice to her hard work.
–Agencies
New Delhi, July 30: Airlines should follow the law of the land while frisking passengers in India, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
Referring to the recent controversy over former President APJ Abdul Kalam having been frisked at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport by Continental Airlines, the Minister said: “The rules of BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) should be followed in India.”
The US airline frisked Kalam when he was going on a visit to the US this April.
Valencia, July 30: Seven times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher will replace injured driver Felipe Massa at Ferrari if he passes a fitness test, the team said.
The German, now 40 years old, retired from Formula One at the end of 2006. All being well, he will make his comeback in Valencia, Spain, next month.
“Ferrari intends to entrust Michael Schumacher with Felipe Massa’s car for as long as the Brazilian driver is not able to race,” the Italian team said in a statement.
Ahmedabad, July 30: State Health Commissioner Dr Amarjit Singh made a surprise visit at Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital on Wednesday, even as the resident doctors’ strike entered the seventh day.
Dr Singh visited the paediatric and gynaecology wards and also inquired about the five infant deaths in the neonatal unit on the second day of the state-wide strike.
New Delhi, July 30: Allaying fears of US openly accessing military sites and equipment under the bilateral End-User arrangements, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the pact “does not compromise” India’s sovereignty, but provided “an element of predictability” through options.
“There is nothing in the text that compromises India’s sovereignty…There is no provision for unilateral verification by the US on imported defence equipment. India has a sovereign right…
WAshington, july 30: US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke on Wednesday said that Pakistani leaders brought up the issue of India’s alleged involvement in Balochistan, but did not give any credible evidence to support their claim.
“I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,” Holbrooke told State Department Press Corps when asked to comment on the meetings he had with Pakistani leaders during his last week’s visit to that country.
New York, July 30: Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc inked a 10-year Web search deal to challenge market leader Google Inc but stopped short of combining their display advertising businesses.
The long-expected deal effectively means Microsoft’s new Bing search engine will be combined with Yahoo!’s experience attracting advertisers to pose the first serious threat to Google, if the companies get regulatory approval and can make the partnership work.
Ahmedabad, July 30: The Vadodara rural police have suspended eight of its officials from the Kwant police station, where a jawan of the Border Security Force (BSF), Noora Rathwa, was allegedly killed on July 17.
The eight have been identified as R S Chauhan (sub-inspector), Amrut Rathwa, Ranchhod Govindbhai, Vegji Chakubhai, Arvind Dhanka, Arjun Sanghada, Ambalal Dholabhai and Suresh Mathurbhai (all constables).
According to the police, all of them have gone underground.
Washington, July 30: US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke on Thursday said that Pakistani leaders brought up the issue of India’s alleged involvement in Balochistan, but did not give any credible evidence to support their claim.
“I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,” Holbrooke told State Department Press Corps when asked to comment on the meetings he had with Pakistani leaders during his last week’s visit to that country.
Dhaka, July 30: When Kohinur Akhter’s 19-month-old baby boy came down with a fever and cough a little over a week ago, she had no idea the medicine she gave him to ease the pain would put him on his death bed.
Now Akhter has been told by doctors in Bangladesh that there is no hope for her infant son and he will die within days just as 26 other children have done in the past six weeks after taking paracetamol laced with a killer chemical.
Chandigarh, July 30: Almost a decade ago, a young Baljeet Singh Dadhwal visited the Chandigarh Hockey Academy with his father Sarabjeet Singh. The boy knew why he was at the Academy. He even told this to his father: “I want to play for Chandigarh, and I want to play for India in the World Cup.”
After more than nine years, during which Dadhwal played for both Chandigarh and the Indian hockey team — he played an important role in India’s 2007 Asia Cup triumph — he is down with a career-threatening injury.
Mumbai, July 30: In a no-holds-barred attack, Anil Ambani today landed an emotional punch on elder brother Mukesh, saying he no longer sees a role for their mother Kokilaben in resolving their gas dispute and has traded their father Dhirubhai’s “vision” for “corporate greed”.
Mu,bai, July 30: IT major Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS) will look to increase its recruitment from smaller cities in the coming decades, said chief executive officer ( CEO) and managing director ( MD) S. Ramadorai.
He was announcing the findings of the TCS Generation Web 2.0 Trends survey conducted by the company.
Ramadorai said the rising level of netizens among the current crop of teenagers in non- metros is indeed positive.
Beijing, July 30: China’s Xinjiang region dismissed a claim by an exiled Uighur leader that nearly 10,000 people disappeared after ethnic unrest this month, state media reported Thursday.
Xinjiang government spokeswoman Hou Hanmin said the claim by Rebiya Kadeer was “not even worth a counterreaction”, according to the English-language Global Times, which said in a report that the claim was “groundless”.
New York, July 30: Obese, but worried that surgery for it might kill you? The risk of that has dropped dramatically, and now is no greater than for having a gall bladder out, a hip replaced or most other major operations, new research shows.
The study looked at safety results for gastric bands and stomach stapling at 10 U.S. hospitals specializing in these procedures from 2005 through 2007. For every 1,000 patients, three died during or within a month of their surgery, and 43 had a major complication.
Lucknow, July 30: Around 86 per cent women in the state face violence and 96 per cent gender discrimination — suggests a survey conducted by the Institute of Women’s Studies, Lucknow University.
Interestingly, 80 per cent women in urban areas witness more violence as against 49 per cent in rural areas.
The survey was a part of the project undertaken by the institute to promote quality of life as an indicator in the Gender Development Index (GDI) of the state.
Beijing, July 30: China performs about 13 million abortions every year, mostly for single young women who experts say know little about contraception, state media said Thursday in a rare disclosure of sensitive family planning statistics.
The China Daily newspaper said the real number of abortions is believed to be even higher since the 13 million accounts for procedures in hospitals but many more are known to be carried out in unregistered rural clinics. Also, about 10 million abortion pills are sold every year in China, the paper said.
Ludhiana, July 30: Times have changed as more and more girls have taken upon themselves the task of outclassing boys when it comes to class strength. And the situation in the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is no different.
It is for the second time in a row that the number of girls at the university campus is higher than that of boys. Undoubtedly, PAU has an exclusive girls’ college — College of Home Science but same holds true for College of Agriculture where the number of boys has always exceeded girls.
New Delhi, July 30: Former defence minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday slammed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for “lack of will power, resolution and dedication” in its foreign policy.
“These are absent in the government,” said Yadav in the Lok Sabha during discussion on the recent India-Pakistan joint statement.
The Samajwadi Party leader criticised the government for initiating a dialogue with Pakistan, “a state which failed to initiate action against the perpetrators of the terrorist attack”.
Washington, July 30: A small group of fringe conservatives, many fundamentally opposed to the notion of an African-American as president, are challenging Obama’s eligibility for the US presidency.
On blogs and even before US courts, the so-called “Birthers” are using the Constitution, with its stipulation that presidents be US natural born citizens, to argue Obama should not be in the White House.
Chandigarh, July 30: In a move to help students complete their degree programmes, the Panjab University has decided to give them a second chance.
The opportunity is open to even those students who have not only exhausted their chances of clearing the compartment, but also could not make the best of a similar opportunity about two years ago.