Month: August 2009

Robbers decamp with cash and jewellery

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New Delhi, August 30: Unidentified men broke into a house in east Delhi and decamped with cash and jewellery worth about Rs 15 lakhs, police said today.

The incident took place in the Pratap Nagar residence of Rajesh Kumar yesterday. The burglary came to light when Kumar and his brothers returned home from office at around 9 pm.

No one was there at the house when the incident took place, police said, adding Kumar’s wife and a child had gone to her house while Kumar and his two brothers had left home at around 1:30 pm.

Snapping of ties by BJP with INLD is internal matter: Badal

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Chandigarh, August 30: With BJP snapping its ties with INLD recently, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today termed it as their “internal matter”.

Speaking to reporters here, Badal said, “Every party is free to take its own decision by weighing what is best for them.”

Asked if he and his party will campaign for BJP or INLD or both during the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, Badal said, “The elections in the state have not been announced yet. I am not the only one to decide this. My party will sit and take a decision (after the polls are declared).”

Pan Am 103 bomber freed in exchange for oil?

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The Scottish government’s decision to release the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 was made because the United Kingdom is busy trying to secure oil deposits in Libya, several UK newspapers reported Sunday.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland earlier this month on grounds of compassion. The former Libyan agent is dying of pancreatic cancer. He arrived in Libya to a hero’s welcome after his release, raising the ire of the American families of the Pan Am bombing’s victims.

IIT-Delhi earns more from research than government grants

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New Delhi, August 30:Contrary to perceptions that Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are not doing enough research, IIT-Delhi has earned over Rs.102 crore (Rs.1.2 billion) in a year from research projects — more than what the government gives it as annual grant.

Sponsored research saw a major growth in the number of projects as well as in revenue earning during 2008-09.

South Korea to provide free swine flu vaccines

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Seoul, August 30:South Korea will provide free swine flu vaccines to around 9.1 million people across the country, WAM news agency reported Sunday citing officials.

At least one million medical staff, 7.5 million school children and 660,000 soldiers will be given free swine flu vaccines, an official of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) said.

Among other beneficiaries of the free vaccination programme include senior citizens, pregnant women and children below five years.

He added that others would be charged $8.03 per vaccination.

Argentina swine flu toll rises to 465

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Buenos Aires, August 30:The number of people to die of swine flu in Argentina has risen to 465, the health ministry said in a report.

Till date, 8,240 people have been infected with the influenza A (H1N1) virus, also called swine flu, in the country, the report said Friday.

Earlier in July, the health authorities had put restrictions on business and public activities in the country due to the swine flu outbreak.

The fatalities from the disease have decreased since June 26 and the most recent death was reported Aug 20, the report said.

Police crack down on Gujarat small chemical units

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Ahmedabad, August 30:A day after three people died here after consuming methyl solvent mistaking it for locally-brewed liquor, police have started a drive against small industrial units manufacturing such chemicals, officials said Sunday.

A senior crime branch official said police were identifying such small industrial units who make chemicals that are misused by bootleggers.

The official said the three people who died in Ahmedabad Saturday had not consumed illicit liquor but methanol solvent which they bought from a bootlegger.

Family, peer pressure pushing up adolescent suicides, say experts

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New Delhi, August 30:An exaggerated importance to brands, pressure to perform and peer pressure have pushed up suicide rate amongst adolescents today – a case in point being the 19-year-old student who killed herself apparently after not getting admission to a prestigious Delhi college, say psychologists and parents.

Kritika Khanna, a bright student who scored 92 percent in her Class 12 board exams, did not get admission to the sought after Lady Shri Ram college and instead had to take admission in Jesus and Mary college under Delhi University. She was apparently depressed about it.

BJP is imploding: Jaswant Singh

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New Delhi, August 30:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is “imploding”, says Jaswant Singh who feels the party he was associated with for 30 years is demonstrating “lack of confidence” with each passing day and has suddenly been “robbed of reasoning”. He also said he was “trapped” into going to Shimla for the leadership meeting that sacked him without explanation.

Maintaining he had no plans to join another political party for the moment, Jaswant Singh said the BJP was collapsing internally following the rapid sequence of events after his exit.

Sukhbir Badal’s chopper makes emergency landing in Punjab

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Ferozepur (Punjab), August 30:A helicopter carrying Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had to make an emergency landing in an open field in this Punjab district Sunday following a technical snag, officials said.

Badal was on his way to Jalalabad in the district, some 280 km from Chandigarh, when the two pilots of the Bell 230 helicopter, hired by the Punjab government from Prem Air, experienced some difficulty barely minutes before the landing at the scheduled place and had to bring it to ground immediately.

IPL turned around Cricket South Africa’s fortunes

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Johannesburg, August 30:The Indian Premier League II (IPL) hosted in South Africa earlier this year helped Cricket South Africa (CSA) record a turnaround of over 80 million rands (1 rand=US 13 cents) for the 2008-09 season after budgeting for a loss of 75.9 million rands.

Films can’t change society: Rahul Bose

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Chennai, Aug 30 (IANS) Actor-social activist Rahul Bose feels that movies can’t change society but can help make sensible people “more sensible”.

“Films have a small impact on society – it can be negative or positive. But the impact is very little. But at the same time I feel movies can make sensible people more sensible and that sense of compassion will make you a better human being,” said Rahul.

The actor, known for his powerful performances in “English August” and “Mr. and Mrs. Iyer”, was here for a campaign.

BJP expresses concern over drought, climate change

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New Delhi, August 30:Voicing concern over climate change, food shortage and poor monsoons, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that measures should be taken to improve the conditions.

“Climate change and its adverse effects on our people, agriculture and national economy are more than obvious. This year, nearly 250 districts have already been declared drought-affected. The foodgrain production may dip substantially, say by 10 per cent or so,” he said in his letter to the prime minister.

Prime Minister should worry about people, not us: BJP

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New Delhi, August 30:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should focus on the drought conditions in the country and price rise rather than worrying about its internal matters.

“Let me appeal to prime minister that instead of worrying about the BJP, let him worry about the people, the price rise and the drought,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had Saturday said in Rajasthan that infighting in the BJP was not good and stability of political parties was necessary in a democracy.

Trekker finds Lama Mummy in a mountain hideaway

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New Delhi, August 30: This is a rare photograph of a Tibetan monk called Sangha Tenzin which a nomadic biker, Anuj Singh, found mummified inside a tomb at Ghuen Village in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.

Professor Victor Mayer, who studies mummies, says it is at least 500 years old. “He died around the time that Columbus discovered America.” Anuj had taken Professor Mair and his team from the University of Pennsylvania to see the mummy when they were in India for a research.

Apparently, the monk had given up his life while meditating in the position he was found mummified.

Contract TRANSCO worker dies in Old City

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Hyderabad, August 30: An youth who was working as a contract lineman with the APTRANSCO died a top of a electric pole while he was on the repair work. This gruesome incident took in the Nasheman Nagar area of Old city when the 26 year old Shabbir Khan was working on a pole and he accidentally came into contact with the live wire and died on the spot. He was performing fast while on work.

Polls close in Japan, landslide win seen for DPJ

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Tokyo, August 30: Voting in Japan’s general elections ended Sunday evening in Japan, with initial exit polls pointing to a landslide victory for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)

The first House of Representatives election in four years ended at 8 pm (1100 GMT) at nearly 51,000 polling stations.

Initial projections indicated that the DPJ was highly likely to win more than 300 seats in the 480-seat lower chamber to end more than 50 years of rule by Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Liberal Democratic Party.

Fire breaks out at Guwahati oil refinery

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Guwahati, August 30: A fire broke out at the Guwahati oil refinery on Sunday, creating panic in the area, officials said.

The fire started at the sulphur recovery unit of the refinery at around 3.30 pm, said a refinery spokesman, quoting preliminary reports.

He said details of the incident were awaited.

A thick blanket of smoke could be seen in the sky and was visible even about five kilometres away from the refinery.

—IANS–

US wildfire surges in size, threatens thousands

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Los Angeles, August 30: A wildfire in the mountains above Los Angeles has surged in every direction, going in a single day from a modest threat to a danger to some 10,000 homes.

The blaze nearly tripled in size in the heat yesterday, leaving three people burned, destroying at least three homes and forcing the evacuation of 1,000 homes and an untold number of people.

A slight drop in temperatures and an influx of fire crews from around the state were expected to bring some relief today.

No change in BJP leadership; PM should worry about drought

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New Delhi, August 30: BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar on Sunday refuted media reports of an impending change in the party leadership, amidst hectic parleys between BJP and RSS leaders over a new roadmap for the party.

Javadekar said there will be “no change in leadership in Lok Sabha… LK Advani will continue as Leader of the Opposition.”

He however added that Rajnath Singh will not get another term as party president.

One injured in blast near Line of Control in Kashmir

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Srinagar, August 30: One person was injured when an explosive device went off near Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector in north Kashmir, official sources said here today.

They said one Nazir Ahmad was cutting grass near LoC at Churanda in Uri sector when suddenly the explosive device, reportedly land mine, went off.

He was critically wounded and was later hospitalised, they said.

Ambani battle over gas cries for consistent government policy

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Mumbai, August 30: The feud between the two Ambani brothers – Mukesh and Anil – seems to be an unending saga on the lines of television soap operas, with the story becoming increasingly complex by the day and the number of characters involved in each episode rising rapidly.

Initially, it was just a row between the companies controlled by the two brothers, with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources seeking gas supplies at $2.34 per unit from the fields of the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, that were awarded to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

Himachal Pradesh records over 50 percent deficit rainfall

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Shimla, August 30: Himachal Pradesh has received 53 deficit rainfall this year and there is not much hope of overcoming this shortfall as the monsoon in the state generally starts receding from Sep 15, weather officials said Sunday.

‘The overall monsoon situation in the hill state is still precarious. Almost the entire state has received less than the normal average rainfall,’ meteorological office director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

Chances of restoring contact with Chandrayaan slim: ISRO

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Bangalore, August 30: Indian scientists are still trying to restore radio contact with the lunarcraft Chandrayaan-1, but the chances of re-establishing contact are slim, a senior space official said Sunday.

‘Efforts are still on to restore the signal with the mooncraft though chances are slim. If we fail to establish the link again, we may call off the mission much earlier than the two-year schedule,’ Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS.

IIT-Delhi earns more from research than government grants

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New Delhi, August 30: Contrary to perceptions that Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are not doing enough research, IIT-Delhi has earned over Rs.102 crore (Rs.1.2 billion) in a year from research projects — more than what the government gives it as annual grant.

Sponsored research saw a major growth in the number of projects as well as in revenue earning during 2008-09.