Month: November 2012

At least one in five Australian adults experiences a mental health difficulty in any given year, said a government report released Tuesday.

An estimated 7.29 million Australians aged 16 to 85 have suffered mental illness, Xinhua quoted the study by the National Mental Health Commission as saying.

Commission chairperson Allan Fels called on the Australian federal and state governments to reaffirm their commitment in dealing with mental health issues.

Men who drink fizzy drinks are not just ruining their teeth but could also be at risk of aggressive prostate cancer, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

A Swedish study has found just one soft drink a day could increase the risk of developing more serious forms of the cancer by 40 percent.

Experts at Lund University also found those who ate a carbohydrate diet heavy in rice and pasta increased their risk of getting milder forms of prostate cancer, which often required no treatment, by 31 percent.

A leading member of the UK Independence Party has likened allowing gay people to adopt to “child abuse”, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Winston McKenzie, the party’s culture spokesman, said same-sex couples should be banned from the adoption process, because it breached the human rights of children.

McKenzie is the UKIP candidate in this week’s by-election in Croydon North.

His remarks were condemned by campaigners and the party moved to distance itself from his comments.

Those who exercise with a friend post better workout time and intensity by as much as 200 percent.

So says a study by Brandon Irwin, assistant professor of kinesiology at the Kansas State University.

He and his colleagues tested whether individuals engage in more intense physical activity when alone, or with a virtual partner or while competing against a team mate.

“People like to exercise with others and make it a social activity,” Irwin said.

A man was killed in a small plane crash in the US state of Texas Monday night during thunderstorm, Xinhua reported.

The twin-engine Cessna 421-C crashed about 9.30 p.m. Monday near the town of Wells in Cherokee county, Texas, Lynn Lunsford, spokesperson for the US Federal Aviation Administration, as saying.

The plane was en route to Tulsa Riverside Airport from West Houston Airport when it encountered thunderstorm in east Texas, troopers said.

The government has disallowed $1 billion expense on Reliance Industries (RIL) operated KG-D6 gasfields in Andhra Pradesh for not implementing the approved field development plan, parliament was told Tuesday.

“The average gas production from KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6 block) during the current year was about 29.81 million standard cubic metres per day as against 86.73 mmscmd approved in the field development plans for D1, D3 and MA fields in this block, which are currently on production,” Oil Minister M. Veerappa Moily told the Rajya Sabha in a written statement.

Top political leaders from various parties, industrialists and social personalities paid their tributes to late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray at an event here Tuesday.

Thackeray, 86, had passed away following prolonged illness Nov 17 in Mumbai. The public condolence meeting was organised by Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu.

“The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance stayed intact only because of Balasaheb. He was the one who strived hard to maintain relations between the saffron alliances,” senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde said.

After arresting the father, brother and an uncle for the rape of a 13-year-old in Kerala, police say more people may be taken into custody.

The girl would have met a horrid fate, like her elder sister two years ago, if not for her teacher and a Congress activist, Suma Balakrishnan.

Speaking to IANS, Suma said the distraught girl told her teacher that she would commit suicide like her sister. The teacher took up the matter with the headmaster, and the matter finally reached police.

In a unilateral action, the Maldives government Tuesday decided to scrap the $500 million contract given to GMR Group for developing the Male airport. India reacted sharply, saying it sends a “very negative signal” to foreign investors.

The Maldives cabinet Tuesday annulled the agreement made with GMR Group to operate the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), at Hulhule Island nearby capital Male, Maldivian President’s Press Secretary Masood Imad said.

France has announced that it is going to vote in favour of the Palestinians becoming a UN “non-member observer state,” Xinhua reported Tuesday.

“France will vote yes” when the question is asked at the UN General Assembly, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has told the lower house of parliament.

The Palestinians’ status in the UN is currently a permanent observer. Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas plans to submit a bid to upgrade the status of the Palestinians at the UN Thursday.

A religious inscription on a footwear of a foreign brand sparked tension in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district today with protesters hitting the roads blocking traffic for several hours. The agitators burnt tyres, chanted slogans and blocked traffic on Srinagar-Baramulla and Srinagar-Gulmarg roads that led to traffic jams, a police spokesman said. Senior police and district officials rushed to the scene and pacified the protestors, who were demanding action against those responsible for the desecration, after several hours of persuasion, he said.

A youth has been sentenced to one and half year in jail by a Delhi court for sodomising a 12-year-old school boy. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg handed down the jail term to Delhi resident Malkeet Singh, saying “such incidents leave an indelible mark on the mind of a person, especially a child of the victim’s age.” “It is seen that sometimes the future upbringing and growth of the victims of such offences, also get hampered.

CBI today sought lifting of stay on criminal proceedings against former state Home Minister Amit Shah in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case in the Supreme Court which said it cannot pass the order without hearing the parties. “We cannot vacate the stay. Let us hear the petition,” a bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan said, while deciding to hear from January 15 onwards the CBI plea and other applications connected with the case. “No purpose will be served in vacating the stay,” the bench further said.

Police today filed a chargesheet against a man, who allegedly killed his eight-year-old daughter in order to claim exgratia relief meant for militancy victims, in Kupwara district of north Kashmir. The chargesheet was filed against Mohammad Shafi Malik, a resident of Tikker village, in the court of Sub-Judge Kupwara, Deputy Superintendent of Police (headquarters) Sajjad Ahmad said. Ahmad, who headed the investigation into the killing of Ishra on March 26 last year, said Malik had killed his daughter for monetary benefits.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today directed officials of different departments to work together to resolve all pending issues, including legal cases, and expedite ongoing irrigation projects in the backward Rayalaseema region. Irrigation projects worth Rs 28,000 crore are currently being constructed in the Rayalaseema region, but land problems and legal hurdles have been hampering them, leading to delay in completion and escalation of costs, official sources said.

Evading arrest for 22 years, a man, involved in a criminal case, was apprehended in Jammu region today, police said. Baryam Dass, a resident of Kathua, was involved in a stabbing incident in Banihal in Ramban district 22 years ago, they said. He was declared an absconder and a warrant of arrest issued against him by a court, police said. PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar today appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to move the Bill, conferring special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka region, in its existing form and get it passed in the current Parliament session. “All union ministers, MPs (representing Karnataka) and state ministers have unanimously opined that the long pressing demand of the people of the region needs to be met immediately. Hence I urge the Prime Minister to move the Bill in its existing form and get it passed in current Parliament session,” he said in a statement here.

City police, probing the firing on hotelier B R Shetty, today arrested two suspected sharp shooters in Punjab, allegedly associated with gangster Chhota Rajan gang, taking the number of arrests made in the case to five. Acting on a tip-off, a team of crime branch officials reached Jalandhar in Punjab and laid a trap for the accused Dilip Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh.

Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan today demanded that charges slapped on the two Palghar girls in connection with their Facebook posts against the shutdown during Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s funeral should immediately be dropped. He said that with special IG (Konkan range) Sukhwinder Singh’s report indicting the police for framing wrong charges, no case can be made against the girls and charges against them should be dropped.

A police team from Hyderabad today arrested two hackers here for allegedly duping several persons to the tune of Rs 72 lakh through internet banking. The accused, identified as Jalaludin and Shobit, have confessed to their involement in the crimes, an official said. The duo was taken to Sector-20 police station here before being taken to Hyderabad. Their location was traced by the police team through electronic surveillance and cyber connectivity details, they said. PTI

The Hyderabad traffic police has registered more than 10,000 cases since it launched a drive against drunken-driving in November last year. As many as 10,277 cases were booked against drunken drivers from November 4, 2011 till November 3 this year, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) C V Anand told reporters here today. Cases were booked against as many as 6,901 two-wheeler riders, 469 three-wheeler and 2,839 four-wheeler drivers amongst other vehicle drivers, the senior traffic officer said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today defended the suspension of two police officers over the arrest of two girls for their posts on Facebook regarding the bandh observed for Bal Thackeray’s funeral. He said Thane SP Ravindra Sengaonkar and Senior Inspector Shrikant Pingle had acted against the directions given by their seniors while arresting the girls in Palghar, about 100 km from Mumbai.

Two persons were sentenced to life imprisonment in separate murder cases by a local court in South 24 Parganas district today. Samiran Dutta, the judge of Kakdwip fast track court, sentenced a private tutor for murdering his 9-year-old student due to a grudge with the boy’s father. In the second case, a man was awarded the punishment for murdering his brother over a property dispute.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been admitted to a hospital where she underwent an angioplasty procedure today. Dikshit, 74, was admitted to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute last night after she complained of tiredness, cold and throat infection. She underwent an angioplasty at the hospital today as blockage was found in one of her arteries, sources said. Angioplasty is a non-surgical procedure which is performed for widening blocked arteries and improve blood circulation. The sources said an overall health check-up was also carried out on Dikshit.

One person has been arrested for allegedly duping people of around Rs one crore as refundable security deposits to become franchisees of a UK-based garment company, police said today. Damoder alias Deepak Sharma, a resident of Bharat Nagar in North West district, was arrested on November 25 on specific information.