Month: December 2012

The trial of LeT’s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks was on Saturday adjourned for a week as the judge had to attend an official conference.

Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman, the judge conducting the trial, had to participate in a conference of judges of anti-terrorism courts convened by the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, official sources told a news agency.

The trial was adjourned till December 8 without any proceedings today, the sources said.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Saturday accused elements with “vested interests” of trying to achieve their sinister moves through courts after failing to fulfil their agenda through “30 years of conflict”.

Rajapaksa, who was addressing a political gathering yesterday, said members of the judiciary should protect the dignity of their profession.

His comments came after Sri Lanka’s top court refused to back down in a tussle with the government over its move to impeach chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

A five-member team of the Pakistan Cricket Board will do an inspection of the Eden Gardens on Sunday for the January 3 One-Day International against India.

The team including representatives of the PCB and security officials will first visit Delhi and then arrive here by a morning flight Sunday, CAB joint-secretary Subir Ganguly said.

“They will do the inspection and hold a meeting with us before flying to Bangalore (that will host the first T20I of the India-Pakistan series),” Ganguly said.

Ronaldo has slammed the Brazil national team and says they are at their “worst moment in history”.

The former Selecao striker believes there is a long, hard struggle ahead if Luiz Felipe Scolari`s team want to re-establish themselves as major contenders for global competitions and acknowledged the transitional phase currently facing them.

“Brazil are going though an inter-harvest period, it is time to recycle,” he said in an interview.

An Indian-origin scientist is developing new vaccine pills from tiny pollen particles, which could treat people suffering from sneezing allergy.

Harvinder Gill, a chemical engineer at Texas Tech University, plans to scoop out the pollen`s allergy-causing innards and leave just the non-allergenic outer shell.

The idea harnesses the power of pollen`s natural engineering ? a tough outer shell made from a polymer that could survive the human body`s stomach acids and digestive processes.

Too much exercise may damage your heart, doctors have warned, suggesting that rather than adding years to their lives, fitness freaks could be working themselves into an early grave.

Experts warn that exercising intensely for more than an hour or two can damage the heart, causing its tissue to stretch, tear and scar and raising the odds of dangerous changes in heart rhythm.

A 57 percent drop has been recorded in number of new HIV infections in India during the past one decade, according to latest figures from National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

The NACO report, released by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday, also says nearly 1.5 lakh lives have been saved due to free ART medicines provided to HIV/AIDS patients.

The report, released on the eve of World AIDS Day, says adult HIV prevalence at national level has continued its steady decline from estimated level of 0.41 percent in 2001 through 0.35 percent in 2006 to 0.27 percent in 2011.

Sex between men is on the rise in China, and was a major factor leading to the rise in new HIV/AIDS infections in the country, the health ministry has said.

In the first 10 months of this year, 21 percent of all new HIV infections recorded in China came from male homosexuals, Xinhua reported.

This represented a sharp rise compared to 15 percent cases attributable to homosexuals in the same period last year, the ministry said.

The report also showed that the number of new infections among young people between 15 and 24 as well as people above 50 years of age were rising.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday unveiled a blueprint for ending the deadly AIDS virus worldwide, a two-pronged plan that requires increased prevention efforts and greater access to treatment.

She said the plan would someday lead to “an AIDS-free generation.”

“We can reach a point where virtually no children are born with the virus, and as these children become teenagers and adults, they are at a far lower risk of becoming infected than they are today,” Clinton said at a press conference to announce the plan.

Bihar has remained polio-free for over two years, thanks to the state government`s committment supported by development partners in the polio eradication programme, a health official Friday said.

Bihar Health Secretary and Executive Director of Bihar State Health Society Sanjay Kumar said Bihar has been focusing on 41 polio high risk blocks, which have persistently reported polio cases in the past.

TV actor Sharad Kelkar is all set to host a new crime based show `Shaitan`, which he says will educate people and make them more aware of the reasons behind criminal offenses.

“The show is based on the reality of criminals and their thought process. It will also educate people and impart knowledge about the working of criminal minds,” Sharad told PTI.

The 36-year-old actor has previously hosted shows including `Rock-N-Roll Family` and `Pati Patni Aur Woh`.

Rajesh Khanna’s actress wife Dimple Kapadia has moved the Bombay High Court for quashing a case of domestic violence filed against her and family by a woman claiming to have been in a live-in relationship with the late superstar.

Anita Advani, in her complaint against Kapadia and others, has claimed she was driven out of Khanna’s Bandra bungalow ‘Ashirwad’ after his death and sought maintenance from the actor’s estate.

Pakistan will take action against LeT founder Hafiz Saeed — the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks — if India provides evidence against him that stands in court, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said today.

“Hafiz Saeed was in custody and the evidence against him could not hold in a court of law. We have said even now that we will be happy to look at any evidence against him that holds in a court of law,” Khar told a TV news channel.

Though Colonial rule of Britishers ended long back in India but the seed of hatred sowed by them and the policy of ‘divide and rule’ still exists and could not be changed. Apart from this, the Britishers had left the kind police administration, which is blind in not following the human and moral values. There was no need felt to reform this system and to re-organize it.

Social worker Swami Agnivesh was manhandled by activists of a local organisation here for his alleged derogatory remarks against lord Shiva.

The incident took place after a programme to launch the Maila Mukti Yatra in which Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Jairam Ramesh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were present. Police immediately intervened and forced away the activists from the spot.

Kareena Kapoor is getting rave reviews for her performance in Reema Kagti’s “Talaash”, and husband Saif Ali Khan is planning to throw a small party to celebrate the actress’ success.

“Saif is still in Lucknow shooting for his film. He is very excited as he has been receiving messages from our family and friends about my performance in ‘Talaash’,” Kareena told IANS.

“He was happy about the fact that this is my first big film after our wedding and we have broken the norm to prove that even married women can get the box office going.

A junior engineer of electricity department was allegedly murdered by his younger brother in the district, police said today.

Property dispute between the two brothers is suspected for the last night murder in the Baroli village here, SP (Rural) Vijay Gautam said.

A manhunt has been launched to nab the accused, police added.

—PTI

Fresh sectarian clashes today forced authorities to reimpose restrictions on the movement of people in parts of Srinagar City, even as rest of the city limped back to normalcy.

Hours after authorities lifted the three-day old curfew from nine police station areas of the city, members of the rival communities assembled in Hawal area and started pelting stones at the cops, a police spokesman said.

He said restrictions were imposed again in the affected localities but no curfew has been imposed so far.

The Indian couple arrested in Oslo in an alleged child abuse case have been charged with “gross repeated maltreatment” of their child for which the prosecution has proposed a minimum sentence of one year and three months for the parents.

According to a statement by Oslo Police Department, the couple have been remanded in custody, as there is reason to fear that they will evade prosecution by returning to India.

The Court of Appeals in process of hearing the defence’s appeal and the judgement will be pronounced in Oslo District Court on December 3, 2012.

Recognize the status of the elderly and give them due respect. When walking with them, walk slightly behind, to their right. Let them enter and exit first. If you meet them, greet them properly and respectfully. If you discuss something with them, let them speak first, and listen to them attentively and graciously. If the conversation involves debate, you should remain polite, calm, and kind-hearted and you should lower your voice. Never forget to remain respectful.

Let me review with you some of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.)’s sayings and traditions that uphold these polite manners.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today alleged that the BJP was a “party of black marketeers and brokers” because of which it opposed the Centre’s cash-for-subsidy scheme.

“It is a party of black marketeers and brokers,” he told reporters, adding there was no problem with the BJP going to the Election Commission opposing the UPA government’s cash-for-subsidy scheme.

Singh ridiculed BJP chief Nitin Gadkari for comparing Swami Vivekananda to Dawood Ibrahim as well as Ramdev for comparing Bhagat Singh to Ajmal Kasab.

A film named ‘Eik aur dhakka, Telangana pakka’ depicting the sacrifices of 800 youth who lost their lives for Telangana, is in the offing. The film is being prepared under the banner of S K Moiz International which will encompass the incidents occurred during Telangana Tahreek led by TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao since 2002.

Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala has been admitted to a hospital in the western Indian city of Mumbai for medical tests.

Koirala was admitted to the Jaslok Hospital for “undergoing some tests and will be in hospital for some time,” hospital spokesperson Krishnakant Dasyam told PTI news agency.

Koirala, 42, has appeared in several Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam movies.

She began her career in 1991 and recently made a comeback.

Social activist Anna Hazare Saturday said he will campaign only for candidates put up by Arvind Kejriwal and ruled out the possibility of supporting people from other parties.

“I will campaign only for Kejriwal’s candidates,” Hazare told reporters here. “There may be good people in other parties but who has the control?”

Criticizing other political parties for indulgingin politics in the name of caste and communities, the 75-year-old activist also accused them of practicing unfair means to collect donations.

Uttar Pradesh Police today arrested the fifth accused in the suspected honour killing case of Abdul Hakim even as the state government ordered a magisterial probe into the matter.

The fifth accused Mallik was arrested from a railway station near here, police sources said.

Another accused in the case was arrested yesterday, he said.

In another development, Riyaz Ahmed, the chairman of Khadi Gramodyog, who has the status of minister of state, said that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the murder.