Month: September 2009

Swine flu death toll nears 4000: WHO

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Washington, September 25: Some 3917 people have died from swine flu infections since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April, the World Health Organisation said today.

This marks a jump of 431 deaths compared to a week ago when 3486 deaths were recorded, said the UN health agency in its weekly data on the pandemic published on its website.

The Americas region continued to post the highest number of fatal cases, at 2948.

The Asia-Pacific region reported 702 deaths, while Europe recorded at least 154 fatalities.

Three killed, including tourists, in Vietnam boat accident

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Vietnam, September 25: Two foreign tourists died and seven others, including Australians, were injured when their tourist boat overturned during heavy winds on Vietnam’s picturesque Halong Bay, police say.

A local guide also died in the Thursday evening accident and a Vietnamese tourist was still missing, said Pham Van Truong, an immigration police officer in Quang Ninh province.

“We are trying to identify the nationalities of these two foreigners but it will take us time because there were no documents left on their bodies,” Mr Truong said.

Ordinance to deal with acid attack offenders

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Hyderabad, September 25: The Andhra Pradesh government will soon promulgate an ordinance for treating acid attack as a serious offence and punishing the guilty with a minimum jail term of three years.

State Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy told reporters here today that another ordinance too would be brought in amending Section 509 of Indian Penal Code, thereby making it a non-bailable offence.
The state Cabinet approved these ordinances at its meeting yesterday, the Home Minister said today.

HC direction over Annavaram temple row

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Rajamundhry, September 25: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh directed the State Government to file counter with full details before October 14, in connection with a public interest litigation filed against various issues taking place in Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy temple of Ratnagiri (Annavaram). The court adjourned the case upto October 14.

Babu discusses GHMC polls with party leaders

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Hyderabad, Septemebr 25: With indications coming that the notification on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections will be issued in the first week of October, the Telugu Desam is gearing up for the big fight.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting with party leaders here today to discuss the preparations for the elections. “We are prepared to face the elections whenever they are held,’’ a party leader who attended the meeting said.

–Agencies

Time not ripe to end stimulus: Manmohan Singh

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New Delhi, September 25: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday told the G20 summit that the time was not ripe yet to withdraw the stimulus packages that were announced to stabilise the slowdown-hit global economy, as he raised India’s concerns over protectionism.

Addressing the plenary session of the G20 Summit here, the prime minister said the current global financial crisis required tackling the problems at the root to restore normalcy in the global economy.

Patnaik wants full release of forest funds

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Bhubaneswar, September 25: Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged the central government to release the full amount of Rs.1,350 crore the state deposited with the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Patnaik met Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi Thursday and demanded the release of funds with interest, a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office here said Friday.

Nine killed in West Bengal road accident

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Kolkata, September 25: At least nine people were killed and several others injured Friday when a speeding truck collided with a stationery mini-van in West Bengal’s South 24-Parganas district, police said.
“Nine people were killed in the road accident near Diamond Harbour area. The truck was coming from Burdwan district to Patharpratima when it met with the accident early Friday,” said a police official of South 24-Parganas district.

He said the truck was ferrying labourers returning to their respective villages on Durga Puja vacation.

Fake Indian currency detected in Delhi bank

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New Delhi, September 25: Fake Indian currency nominally worth Rs.700,000 was detected at a Citi Bank branch in the national capital, police said Friday.
Citi Bank’s Connaught Place branch manager G.S. Sawhney informed police after his staff detected the counterfeit notes a few days ago. Police registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to police, the fake currency notes were deposited in the bank during the first five months of the year through cash deposit boxes in ATMs.

Swine flu vaccine ready, enters Europe

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New Delhi, September 25: Global pharma major Novartis Friday announced it is ready with a swine flu vaccine and has started first deliveries to governments in Europe, giving hopes to people in many parts of the world.
“Novartis has already started first deliveries of pandemic vaccines under quarantine to governments in Europe, despite the initially low yields with the current production seed strain provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO). A new seed strain could provide higher volumes,” the company said in a statement issued in Switzerland.

1,874 file nominations for Haryana assembly poll

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Chandigarh, September 25: The Haryana assembly election next month is headed for a bigger contest than in the past with 1,874 candidates filing their nominations till Friday evening.

Friday was the last day for filing nominations for the 90 seats. Election to the assembly takes place Oct 13.

The number of candidates has gone up considerably compared to the February 2005 and February 2000 elections when respectively 1,449 and 1,480 candidates had filed their nominations.

Chandrayaan-I a 110 percent success, asserts ISRO chief

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Bangalore, September 25: By finding water on the lunar surface, India’s maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has completed “110 percent of the objectives”, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said here Friday.

Disagreeing with a section of the media, which dubbed the moon mission a ‘failure’ when it was abruptly aborted Aug 30 after Chandrayaan lost radio contact with the earth, Nair maintained that it was a wonderful mission.

Kirsten denies encouraging players for pre-match sex

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Centurion, September 25: Coach Gary Kirsten Friday denied that he encouraged Indian cricketers to engage in sexual activity to boost their on-field performance.

An Indian daily reported Wednesday that Kirsten and mental conditioning expert Paddy Upton have come up with the suggestion that pre-match sex is good for the players.

A “deeply offended” Kirsten said the leaked article was compiled by Upton.

“My family and I have been deeply offended and hurt by the many allegations that I encouraged the Indian players to engage in sexual activity before a match,” Kirsten said.

India will grow at 6.3 percent: Manmohan Singh

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New Delhi, September 25: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday predicted a 6.3 percent growth for India during the current fiscal even though he saw a dip in the economic expansion of developing countries as a whole to 1.5 percent.

“Despite a drought, which will affect agricultural production, we expect to grow by around 6.3 percent in 2009-10,” the prime minister told the plenary session of the G20 Summit here.

He also said the economy will stage a recovery the next year to 7-7.5 percent.

Rival agency in talks to take over AP’s German service

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Berlin, September 25: Germany’s second biggest domestic news agency, DDP, said Friday it was negotiating to buy the German-language service of US news agency Associated Press.

DDP owners Peter Loew and Martin Vorderwuelbecke said the agency was also interested in a long-term agreement on an exchange of editorial content with AP.

Associated Press Deutschland editor-in-chief Peter M. Gehrig confirmed that talks were under way, but did not say how long they were expected to last.

‘India has taken a principled stand on CTBT’

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Washington, September 25: External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has said that the country has taken a “principled” stand on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and there is no scope for change in its position unless a number of other “developments” take place to address the concerns.
This comes after a high-level conference on disarmament here yesterday, addressed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, asked India and eight other countries to ratify the agreement so that it comes into force.

Government favours realtors over HMDA

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Hyderabad, September 25: Giving in to pressure from realtors under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) jurisdiction, the State Government has permitted payment of development charges in instalments over a year.

The decision has come as a surprise to the HMDA which is facing acute shortage of funds to complete ongoing projects. Instalment payments in such a scenario will hit developmental schemes.

Free health camp for auto-rickshaw drivers

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Hyderabad, September 25: Here is a camp that will check the pulse of both, the auto driver and the vehicle. TVS Tyres is conducting a free health and autorickshaw check-up camp till September 25 at Quli Qutub Shah Stadium between from 10 am and 4 pm. The camp is conducted in coordination with the Hyderabad Traffic Police.

Walk to keep heart in shape

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Hyderabad, September 25: Wockhardt Hospitals in association with Airtel will organise a ‘Wockathon’ on September 27 to celebrate the World Heart Day. “Every third person in the city is susceptible to coronary heart diseases and in order to create an awareness among the people of Hyderabad about a proper lifestyle and healthy heart, we are organising this walkathon,” said Sudhakar Jadhav, Head of Operations of Wockhardt Hospitals. He also added that the people between the age group of 28 to 35 are becoming prone to heart ailments due to the nature of their lifestyle.

Nala victim’s brother-in-law murdered

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Hyderabad, Sebtember 25: A man was found brutally murdered near the Gandhi General Hospital on Thursday. The victim was identified as Sampath (27), the brother-in-law of Malini, the woman who was washed away in an overflowing nala at Bapuji Nagar in Musheerabad two days back. Police said Sampath was the brother of Malini’s husband, Ramesh. According to police, Ramesh and Malini fell in love with each other. Malini’s family, however, did not gave their consent to their marriage as both belong to different castes.

162 new species found in Asia

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Bangkok, September 25: A gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said on Friday.

WWF International said that scientists in 2008 discovered 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, two mammals and one bird species in the region. That works out to be about three species a week and is in addition to the 1 000 new species catalogued there from 1997 to 2007, the group said.

SA water resources declining

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Johannesburg, September 25: South Africa’s natural water resources are declining, the Cape Times reported on Friday, quoting from a study released this week.

“With each of the national water studies carried out since the 1950s, our estimate of the country’s total natural water resources has declined,” project director Brian Middleton told the newspaper.

“If we were allocating water according to the higher estimates made in previous studies, we would find that there is simply not enough water available to meet our needs.”

Butterflies fly with antennas

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Washington, September 25: Millions of Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico for the winter and scientists have long speculated on how the insects find their way. It turns out their antennas are the key.

How do we know? Well, researchers painted butterfly antennas black, and the insects got lost.

Managing to fly south may not sound like a big deal to people armed with maps and satellite receivers, but all butterflies have for navigation is the sun in the sky.

And the sun keeps moving, so the butterflies have to constantly adjust to stay on course throughout the day.

Frozen water in Martian craters

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Pasadena, September 25: A spacecraft orbiting Mars has spotted water ice in several impact craters midway between the north pole and equator – the first time ice so close to the surface has been discovered so far south on the red planet.

Instruments on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter estimated that the newfound ice is 99% pure.

Previous spacecraft have spied ice lurking below the Martian surface. Before the Phoenix lander froze to death last year, it dug trenches and touched ice specks at its arctic landing site.

Brad Pitt gives Katrina update

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New York, September 25: The average electric bill for one of the energy-efficient homes built in New Orleans by Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation is $35 a month, the actor said on Thursday during an update on the project at the Clinton Global Initiative.

The cost of building the homes also is dropping. And by the time all 150 promised homes are completed, the cost will be comparable to standard buildings, Pitt said.