New Delhi, February 27: Mercury stayed below normal at most places in plains of north India, while hill states experienced fresh snowfall reviving cold condition there.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only road link to the valley, was closed for traffic for the second consecutive day, following heavy snowfall and rains. The highway has been closed at Jawahar Tunnel, Banihal and Patnitop areas besides landslides.
Japan, February 27: Robovie-PC won the race by the narrowest of margins, beating Robovie-PC Lite by just a second Continue reading the main story
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Robot marathon kicks off in Japan Japan’s elderly fail to welcome their robot overlords A knee-high humanoid has narrowly won the world’s first full-length marathon for two-legged robots.
Robovie-PC crossed the finish line in the Japanese city of Osaka just a second before its closest rival after more than two days of racing.
The 26-mile (42km) race involved 423 laps of an indoor track at an average speed of 0.77 km/h.
Bhubaneswar, February 27: RBI Governor D Subbarao has said that rising prosperity in rural India is leading to food scarcity, which is driving up food prices.
“Since rural incomes are going up, people are eating better by shifting from cereal to protein (rich diet) and it is leading to food scarcity,” Subbarao told students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar yesterday.
Mumbai, February 27: The latest buzz in tinsel town is that Barbie doll Katrina Kaif has moved on from acting to singing.
She will lend her voice in a song in her upcoming film “Mere Brother Ki Dulhan” opposite chocolate boy Imran Khan.
She had earlier sung a nursery rhyme for music maestro A R Rahman’s album of nursery rhymes. It was her co-star Ali Zafar who had convinced her to sing a song in the film.
Kolkata, February 27: Nearly 200 imported live cartridges were found on the banks of a roadside pond in West Bengal’s North 24 Paraganas district Sunday, police said.
“Nine cases, each containing 20 rounds of imported bullets of different types, were recovered from an abandoned packet dumped on the bank of a pond near Rajarhat in the northeastern fringes of the city,” said Additional Superintendent (North) S.M.H. Meerza.
Police sources said, Mohammad Imran, 82, noticed a wet and dirty handbag dumped beside a pond at Kanjialpara – hardly one kilometre from Rajarhat police station.
London, February 27: The final countdown to the Oscars has begun, with The King’s Speech and The Social Network going head to head for the coveted best picture prize.
The former, which has taken more than $230m (£142m) at the global box office, has 12 nominations, including a best actor nod for Colin Firth.
James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the 83rd Academy Awards, which take place in Los Angeles later.
Voting by the Academy’s 5,755 members ended earlier this week.
Hyderabad, February 27: A rowdy sheeter has been gruesomely killed in Alwal area where some unidentified persons threw his body into Hashmatpet area and fled. The causes of murder could not be discovered.
Police Alwal told that a case has been registered in this regard and investigations are underway.
Vibhoti Krishna (35) was said to have killed by some unidentified persons yesterday night. Krishna was said to be a rowdy sheeter of Bowenpally police station.
Siasat news
Mumbai, February 27: Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan desires to become a journalist in his next life, reports say.
The 68 year old Big B who is currently busy shooting in Bhopal for his upcoming film “Aarakshan” stated “It is not possible in this life, but in my next life I would like to become a journalist.”
Bhopal is also his wife Jaya’s hometown. He is totally impressed by the genteel culture of the Bhopalis.
Dehradun, February 27:A 25-year-old student allegedly committed suicide today by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her hostel room, at Dalanwala locality here, police said.
Nitisha Dwivedi, a native of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, was found hanging in her hostel room by fellow students, when they peeped into the room after failing to get any response, they said.
A suicide note was also recovered from the room, in which she had apologised to her parents for the extreme step of hers, police said adding that her parents have been informed.
Bhubaneswar, February 27:One person was injured when Puri-New Delhi Neelachal Express hit a road roller and derailed near Bhadrak, about 120 km from here today.
Railway officials said about 10 bogies of the express train (no 12875) and the engine derailed after hitting the road roller crossing the track at an unmanned level crossing at Rambhila, about 10-km from Bhadrak railway station this afternoon.
Chennai, February 27: Electronic equipment valued at over Rs one crore was seized and one person arrested in this connection here, a top official said today.
“Our officers seized the electronic devices including still, video and digital cameras after intercepting a vehicle which was coming out from the Air Cargo division last night,” DRI Additional Director General C Rajan told reporters here.
On checking the vehicle, they found electronic equipment valued at Rs 1.11 crore without proper documents, he said.
Jaipur, February 27: Hitting back at Vasundhara Raje for accusing his government of being corrupt, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today said she is getting back her post as the Leader of Opposition in state Assembly because she may be afraid of being quizzed about her alleged links with former IPL chief Lalit Modi.
“She may have fear of being quizzed for her connection with former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi. Hence, she is getting the post of leader of opposition,” Gehlot told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Dhaka, February 27: Bangladesh is set to dilute its anti-graft law to keep beyond its purview lawmakers at all levels and require prior permission to probe government officials.
Maintaining utmost secrecy, the government is set to amend the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) laws clipping the anti-graft watchdog’s authority to file cases against any public servant beginning from the head of state to the members of union parishads (civic bodies), The Daily Star said Sunday.
Zawiyah,Libya February 27:Armed men opposed to the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were in control of the city of Zawiyah, about 50 km west of the capital Tripoli, today, a Reuters reporter in the town said.
The red, green and black flag of Libya’s anti-Gaddafi rebellion was flying from a building in the town centre and a crowd of several hundred people was chanting ”This is our revolution,” the reporter said.
One man in the centre, called Mustafa, said seven people were killed in the lastest clashes with pro-Gaddafi security forces and many more were wounded.
Bangalore, February 27: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 47th ODI century as India amassed a huge 338 in 49.5 overs against England in a Group B match of the World Cup at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here Sunday.
Tendulkar (120) was superbly assisted by Gautam Gambhir (51) and Yuvraj Singh (58) as India, for the second consecutive time, posted a 300-plus score in the 2011 World Cup.
Rourkela, February 27:An ASI of Badagaon in Sundargarh district was today caught red handed by vigilance sleuths while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 3000 from one Filisia Haro to produce the case diary beore the court to
release Haro’s two sons.
Sources said the cop Mrutyunjay Rath had demanded Rs 4000 to submit the case diary of his two sons who had been forwarded to court in connection with a case on December 2010.
Haro had paid Rs 1000 yesterday and the ASI was nabbed while allegedly receiving the rest today.
Cairo,February 27:Egypt’s ruling military council is expected within the next week to call a referendum on constitutional amendments drawn up by an independent judicial committee, a member of the committee said today.
Sobhi Saleh, a leading lawyer and a member of the committee, told Reuters the referendum would happen before the end of March.
The amendments unveiled yesterday include changes that will open up competition for the presidency, limit the time a leader can stay in the post and ensure judicial oversight over elections.
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Colombo, February 27: Pakistan was fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a slow over rate during their 11-run win over Sri Lanka in the the World Cup.
Match referee Chris Broad imposed the fines after Shahid Afridi’s side was ruled to be one over short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration.
Kolkata, February 27: The engine and 11 compartments of the Puri-bound Neelachal Express derailed Sunday in Orissa after it hit a road roller that had entered the railway track at an unmanned level crossing. The road roller driver was critically injured.
None of the train passengers were injured, according to a railway official.
Mumbai, February 27: Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray Sunday took a dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who batted for the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, saying the land is like the “mother” of the locals and does not have a price tag.
Chavan had Saturday visited Jaitapur village, where the 9,900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project was being set up with French collaboration and assured that the project will strictly adhere to all norms of operational safety and environmental protection.
MUSCAT, February 27:Omani police fired rubber bullets on stone-throwing protesters demanding political reform in an industrial town today, killing two people, and the military moved in to secure the area, witnesses said.
They said at least 1,000 protesters had gathered for a second straight day in a main square in Sohar before police tried to disperse them first with tear gas and batons before firing on them with rubber bullets.
Jammu, February 27: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Sunday asked Pakistan to fulfill its part of the responsibility of maintaining peace on the border.
Omar visited an area close to the India-Pakistan border in Ranbirsinghpora sector, about 30 km west of Jammu, and assessed the difficulties faced by the people living close to the frontier. The area witnesses frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistan.
The chief minister said: “We can change our friends but not our neighbours.”
Jammu, February 27: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has deferred a proposed ministerial reshuffle which he was keen on before the start of the asembly’s budget session Monday, sources said.
According to sources, the biggest hurdle Omar faced in carrying out a reshuffle was that there were way more aspirants for cabinet berths than vacancies.
There are three vacancies in the state’s council of ministers.
Patna, February 27: A day after six Maoists were killed in a gunfight with police in a forested area of Bihar, the guerrillas Sunday called for a two-day strike in the eastern parts of the state beginning Monday, police said.
At least six Maoists were killed Saturday in a gunfight with police in Majhadih, a forested area in Banka district, about 150 km from here. A guerrilla was arrested and 200 live cartridges, one AK-47 and two SLRs were also recovered from the site.
The two-day strike has been called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist, a police officer said.
-Agencies
New Delhi, February 27: South African left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who was part of the spinners trio that bamboozled the West Indies, says the biggest test of the slower bowlers will be against home team India.
South Africa played three spinners in Peterson, offie Johan Botha and Pakistan born leg-spinner Imran Tahir and the strategy worked.