Month: July 2012

Iran threatens Israel

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Iran will respond with its new indigenously built anti-radar ballistic missiles if Israel attacks the Islamic republic, the official media reported.

Iran will respond if Israel “ventures an attack” on the Islamic republic, the IRNA news agency quoted Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of aerospace unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), as saying Sunday.

Iran was at the final stage of producing its new anti-radar ballistic missiles that have a range of 300 km, he said.

Reddy’s remand extended, wife summoned by court

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A CBI court on Monday summoned the wife of mining baron and former Karnataka minister G Janardhana Reddy to appear before it on July 10 in an illegal mining case filed against them.

CBI special court judge B M Angadi ordered the issue of summons to Aruna Lakshmi, the second accused in the illegal mining case filed against Reddy, already in judicial custody since his arrest in September last year.

Lakshmi is the co-owner of the Deccan Mining Syndicate (DMS) and Associated Mining Corporation (AMC).

Children’s performance linked to sound sleep

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Parents expecting a good performance from their children at school can help their kids do so by first ensuring they get a sound sleep.

A study in China’s Shanghai city has found students lacking sleep tend to be poor performers in comparison to those who have enough sleep.

Doctors at Shanghai Children’s Medical Centre studied students of 10 local primary schools. They divided the students into two groups — one slept less than nine hours a day and the other group sleeping over 10 hours a day.

JD(U) support to Pranab in prez poll due to stature: Nitish

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today clarified that the JD(U)’s support to the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential polls was in appreciation of his stature as a seasoned and respected political leader with vast experience and not to the Congress.

“Mukherjee is a seasoned and respected political leader with vast experience and hails from neighbouring West Bengal and the JD(U) decided to support him in the presidential polls due to these twin reasons,” he told reporters here.

JD(U) has alliance with BJP, not RSS: Nitish Kumar

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Firmly sticking to his stand for a secular person to be projected as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in the next general elections, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today swept aside criticism by the RSS saying his party JD(U) has alliance with BJP and not the Sangh Parivar.

“JD(U) has a long standing alliance with BJP and not RSS…I stand by what I have said in an interview,” he said, referring to his view on a secular person to be projected as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate.

Sarabjit’s sister is confident about Salman’s initiative

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Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh, who is on the death row in Pakistan, is confident that Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s initiative will help in the release of her younger brother.

“I felt really good after talking to Salman Khan. Today we are having a press conference at Raza Murad’s residence at 2 in the afternoon,” Dalbir Kaur told IANS.

“I came yesterday (Sunday) morning and met Salman Khan yesterday itself. I am sure Salman’s initiative will help in release of Sarabjit.”

26/11: Pakistan says Mumbai attackers were helped by 40 Indians

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Days after terror suspect Zabiuddin Ansari’s revelations about the Mumbai attacks being controlled and facilitated from Karachi, Pakistani authorities have claimed 40 Indian nationals were involved in the terrorist incident.

“Our information is that there were at least 40 Indian nationals who helped the attackers. We want India to come clean on this,” an unnamed official of Pakistan’s Foreign Office was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

We are not paying compensation to victim’s family: Salman

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The Khan family was not paying any compensation to the 70-year-old woman who was killed by a Land Cruiser owned by Arbaaz Khan as she had been disowned by her family, the filmmaker’s brother and Bollywood star Salman Khan said Monday.

“The accident happened by mistake. I spoke to my driver and he said when he was driving, he saw something like a black polythene bag on the road, but it was the lady who was completely in black. I would request everyone not to sleep on the road,” Salman told reporters at their Galaxy apartment home in Bandra here.

ACB arrests rowdy-sheeter in cash-for-bail case

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The Anti Corruption Bureau sleuths on Monday arrested rowdy-sheeter Yadagiri, who allegedly brokered the cash-for-bail deal between the CBI first additional special judge T Pattabhirama Rao and accused in illegal mining case Gali Janardhana Reddy.

While arresting Yadagiri in Kurnool, the ACB officials also conducted raids at his house in Nacharam in Hyderabad and recovered Rs 2.25 crore in cash, valuable documents and other materials in connection with the deal. It may be mentioned that Yadgiri was absconding since the cash-for-bail scam come to light.

Acid attacks: SC fiat to Centre, states

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The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to apprise it of their measures to regulate the sale of acid to prevent its misuse as a weapon, particularly against women by their jilted lovers.

The court sought a “comprehensive affidavit” from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which was asked to “consider proper action” for making appropriate provision for “regulation of sale of acids so that it is not easily or readily available to offenders.”

Moderate earthquake hits Iranian town

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Iran’s state TV is reporting that a 5.4 magnitude earthquake has jolted a sparsely-populated area in the eastern part of the country.

Today’s report says people poured into the streets out of fear after the quake hit Khauf town, some 1,000 kilometres east of the capital Tehran, in the darkness of early morning.

There was no information on possible casualties and damage.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, experiencing at least one slight quake a day on average.

Japan’s Oi nuclear reactor reaches critical level

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A reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in western Japan reached criticality on Monday after it became the first one to be rebooted last night in the aftermath of last year’s meltdowns at Fukushima.

After being idled for over 15 months for mandatory checks since March last year, the No 3 reactor at the Kansai Electric Power Co Plant in Fukui Prefecture is now slated to gradually increase output and restart power transmission as early as Wednesday.

It is due to go into full operation possibly by next Sunday, Kyodo news agency reported.

Court order July 6 on ED plea to quiz

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A special court Monday reserved till July 6 its order on a petition by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for permission to question YSR Congress Party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in his illegal assets case.

The CBI court heard arguments of both the ED and Jaganmohan Reddy and reserved its orders till July 6.

Jagan, as the jailed MP from Kadapa is popularly known, filed an application opposing the ED petition.

He informed the court that he was no longer chairman or director of Jagati Publications and that the ED could question those appearing on behalf of the company.

Musharraf fears another military coup in Pakistan

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Claiming that Pakistan was being run to the ground, the country’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has not ruled out a fresh military takeover of the nation.

“The state is being run to the ground at the moment, and people are again running to the military to save the country,” Musharraf told a gathering in Aspen in Colorado in the US.

While he maintained that Pakistan’s Constitution was “sacrosanct”, the former dictator also questioned: “Should we save the country, and do something unconstitutional or uphold the Constitution of the country, and let the state go down?”

Muhammad Yunus made chancellor of UK varsity

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Nobel Peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the concept of micro-finance and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, will be the new Chancellor of the Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK.

He succeeds Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, who has completed a distinguished five-year term of office, the university said.

Mumbai attackers were helped by 40 Indians: Pak

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Days after terror suspect Zabiuddin Ansari’s revelations about the Mumbai attacks being controlled and facilitated from Karachi, Pakistani authorities have claimed 40 Indian nationals were involved in the terrorist incident.

“Our information is that there were at least 40 Indian nationals who helped the attackers. We want India to come clean on this,” an unnamed official of Pakistan’s Foreign Office was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

India to launch $40 bn Phase II of JnNURM: Kamal Nath

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India will launch the USD 40 billion second phase of its urban renewal mission in about four months, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath told delegates attending the World Cities Summit here Monday.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) phase II would be carried out over the next five years as India works to cover its infrastructure deficit throughout the country and manage massive urbanisation programmes, he told the Summit’s opening plenary session.

Lack of rest killed us against Spain: Cesare Prandelli

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Italy coach Cesare Prandelli acknowledged Monday his side had struggled to cope with the physical demands of Euro 2012 after their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Spain in the final.

Goals from David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata secured the title for Spain in a showcase of sublime passing and ruthless finishing.

Italy had periods of pressure but couldn`t make them count, especially when their third substitute Thiago Motta went off with a hamstring injury to leave his team to play out the last half hour with 10 men.

Russian spacecraft returns to earth

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A Russian spacecraft with three crewmembers on board returned to earth Sunday.

The Soyuz spacecraft landed safely in Kazakhstan, Russia’s mission control centre said.

The crew included Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko, American Donald Pettit and Dutch Andre Kuipers.

It undocked from the International Space Station at 0448 GMT and landed on earth at 0815 GMT, Xinhua reported. The trio spent 193 days in space.

IANS

Farah Khan unhappy with service tax on actors

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Bollywood producer-director Farah Khan, who will make her acting debut with “Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi”, has expressed her displeasure over the government’s announcement of service tax to be levied on actors.

Bollywood and TV actors will be charged 12 per cent service tax from this month on their earnings from acting assignments and endorsements. This will be in addition to their income tax obligations.

__Pti

Sangma seeks cancellation of Mukherjee’s nomination

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Opposition Presidential nominee P A Sangma today sought cancellation of nomination of UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee under the Office of Profit rules on the ground that he is Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

In a complaint to the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha, who is the returning officer for the Presidential election, Sangma’s lawyer Satpal Jain demanded that Mukherjee’s papers be cancelled at the scrutiny stage as he holds an office of profit.

–PTi

Moderate earthquake hits Iranian town

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Iran’s state TV is reporting that a 5.4 magnitude earthquake has jolted a sparsely-populated area in the eastern part of the country.

Today’s report says people poured into the streets out of fear after the quake hit Khauf town, some 1,000 kilometres east of the capital Tehran, in the darkness of early morning.

There was no information on possible casualties and damage.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, experiencing at least one slight quake a day on average.

PM announces Rs 500 crore package for Assam

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday announced Rs 500 crore package for Assam which has been battling the worst floods in recent times that has left 77 people dead and nearly five lakh homeless.

Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi undertook an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of Jorhat, Dhemaji and Dakshin Dinajpur and witnessed the extensive damage to life and property in parts of the state.

Doctors extract stem cells to grow bones

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Three doctors, attached with some of the premier hospitals in the country, claimed to have evolved a teeth implantation procedure which could prove boon mainly for senior citizens.

The doctors used stem cells, extracted from human bone marrow, to regenerate bone cells that can be used to implant teeth in senior citizens suffering from bone “melt down”.