Pakistan Monday freed four Afghan Taliban prisoners, including former ministers Mullah Nooruddin Turabi and Maulvi Allah Dad, as part of its efforts to give impetus to a slow-moving reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Diplomatic sources confirmed the release, saying the move was part of an ongoing process that began before a visit to Islamabad by Afghan High Peace Council chief Salahuddin Rabbani in mid-November.
Saudi Arabia will explore more gas wells in the Red Sea, the official media reported Monday.
The announcement comes after the recent discovery of gas wells in Tabuk province near the Red Sea, Xinhua quoted the Saudi news agency as saying.
Seven wells will be drilled in deep and shallow waters in the first phase, said Khalid Al Faleh, chairman of the Saudi oil company Aramco.
Petroleum Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi said gas from the new wells will be allocated for domestic consumption.
—-IANS
The first truly Earth-like alien planet is likely to be spotted next year, scientists claim, saying the epic discovery would cause humanity to reassess its place in the universe.
Astronomers may have found a number of exoplanets over the last few years that share one or two key traits with our planet – such as size or inferred surface temperature they have yet to bag a bona fide “alien Earth”.
However, scientists say that should change in 2013, ‘Space.Com’ reported.
4 months ago the municipal contractors started the work of laying drainage line at Rahmat Nagar. The work is done at snail’s pace but the worst part of it, is that the pipeline which is being laid and also the manholes are 2 to 3 feet above the ground level. Till the work is completed the level of the houses of the street will go down 4 feet below the ground level.
The Indian small screen is ready with its dose of entertainment for the New Year. Watch out for new concepts, storyline and fresh seasons of popular shows in 2013.
The staple offering of reality shows will continue with new seasons of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) and ‘Indian Idol’. Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan will return as the host of the seventh season of KBC.
The third season of cooking reality show ‘MasterChef India’ will go on air soon and celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be joining the judges panel this time.
Tablet web activity is still dominated by Apple”s iPad, despite increase in sales of Google”s Nexus and Amazon”s Kindle, a report has said.
According to analytics company Chitika, among North American users, for every 100 web page views on an AppleiPad, Amazon”s Kindle Fire had 4.88, while Google”s Nexus range had 1.22 page views.
Samsung”s Galaxy tablets achieved 3.04 page views per hundred on the iPad, the company said.
According to the Telegraph, the firm analysed web activity in the US and Canada between December 8th and December 14th this year.
Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan loves to watch cricket, especially when the teams in question are India and Pakistan. He feels that the teams must play often as bilateral relations improve.
On Sunday, Pakistan beat India by six wickets in the first One-Day International (ODI) between the two sides at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
“It was great to see India and Pakistan battle it out on the cricket field. It would be wonderful to see these two nations play cricket often,” tweeted Arbaaz.
Actress Deepika Padukone can’t thank her “Ram Leela” co-star Ranveer Singh enough for giving her time off to visit her parents for the New Year.
Each year Deepika likes to be with her family at this time of the year. However, this year she was committed to shoot for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Ram Leela” with Ranveer.
Ranveer has lately been running from the sets of “Ram Leela” in Gujarat to the sets of “Gunday” in Kolkata. The actor injuried himself on the sets of “Gunday”, which eventually affected Bhansali’s “Ram Leela” also.
Researchers have found brain cells in monkeys that fire only when the creatures act unselfishly, and which may provide clues to the neural basis of altruism in humans.
Researchers said the cells fire in rhesus monkeys when they gave juice away, but not when they received it.
The findings may shed light on why many animals, including humans, exhibit kind, unselfish behaviour that doesn`t directly benefit them, `LiveScience` reported.
Regular exercise and early treatment can help people suffering from arthritis to beat the pain of the disease, according to researchers.
A review of scientific research concluded that physical activity could cut the risk of disability and help relieve the pain of a range of conditions including arthritis, back pain and brittle bone disease.
For some, the level of improvement increases with the number of exercise sessions, the researchers found.
A second study also hailed the benefits of aggressive, early treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, the Daily Express reported.
Researchers say a regular bowl of gazpacho soup could be the key to beating high blood pressure.
The cold Spanish dish is made up of a range of superfoods including tomato, cucumber, garlic and olive oil.
Even though gazpacho contains salt, which people with high blood pressure are told to avoid, scientists at the University of Barcelona found that those who regularly had the dish saw their levels drop, the Daily Express reported.
And they believe the soup could be used to help prevent the condition, reducing the risk of developing hypertension by as much as 27 per cent.
Fifteen embryos are made for every woman conceiving through in vitro fertilisation, and almost half of them are discarded during or after the process, new figures have revealed.
According to the shocking revelation, over 1.7million embryos prepared with the aim of helping women become pregnant have been thrown away since records began 21 years ago.
The figures on the use of human embryos were gathered by the fertility industry regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which has recorded IVF processes since 1991, the Daily Mail reported.
Young people should avoid use of electronic cigarettes because they also deliver nicotine to the body plus there is no scientific proof that they are useful in combating smoking addiction, a study by the Italian Health Ministry has said.
The gadgets often known as e-cigarettes have gain popularity in Italy as well as the U.S.
The Health Ministry report, published Friday, warned that, even if smaller quantities of nicotine are inhaled in this way, there are still serious potential health risks, ABC News reported.
An individual’s face not only gives nonverbal signals about someone’s true well-being from unconscious facial expressions, but the state of their skin reveals a great deal about what’s going on inside, both physically and emotionally.
In fact, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have used facial analysis as a diagnostic tool for centuries, marrying specific facial areas and features with organs and emotional states.
Furious after Bangladesh refused to tour Pakistan citing security fears, the PCB has hinted that it will not release its players for the Twenty20 Premier League there.
In a statement issued last night, the Pakistan Cricket Board indicated that Bangladesh’s refusal to send its team to Pakistan has affected relations between the two Boards.
A 37-year-old man was arrested here for allegedly planting two ‘bombs’ made of simple explosive material used for making crackers near the house of one of the accused in the gangrape of a 23-year-old girl.
Rajesh was arrested from Ravi Dass colony in south Delhi’s R K Puram last evening when he was trying to flee from the spot after planting the explosives. His two friends managed to flee from the spot.
They were seen loitering in the area by locals in a suspicious manner and had allegedly threatened to blow up the house of one of the accused in the gangrape case Ram Singh.
On the occasion of New Year eve, various organisations in Pakistan’s Lahore city remembered people killed in terror attacks in 2012 by taking out a candle-light march as a tribute.
People lit candles at the Lahore Press Club and Chairing Cross area of the city in remembrance of the people killed in terrorist attacks, Geo News reported Tuesday.
Condemning the terrorists, people said the entire country was united against terrorism. They prayed that the New Year would bring peace and happiness in Pakistan.
—IANS
Unidentified men killed eight people in different parts of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on the New Year eve, Geo News reported.
The gunmen killed three people in Orangi Town, Korangi and Punjab Chowrangi respectively, said sources Monday.
Earlier, killing of a political activist in the city’s Bizerta Lines area late Sunday night sparked violence in the locality.
Moreover, unidentified men opened fire on a rickshaw in New Karachi town that killed a man and three women inside it.
—IANS
Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy are staying away from New Year celebrations in view of the gang-rape and death of a young woman in Delhi.
Separate statements issued by their offices said they would not take part in any celebrations.
The governor and the chief minister also decided not to receive any New Year greetings in person.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the government is ready to hold talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud if the banned militant group quits violence.
Malik said action would be taken if the TTP continued on its path of violence.
According to the Daily times, he also said that the TTP has given no response regarding renouncing violence.
When a reply is received all stakeholders will be consulted and the nation’s emotions will be taken into consideration before implementing any policy regarding the TTP, he added.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Zaka Ashraf has expressed annoyance at the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) decision to put their proposed tour of Pakistan on hold a second time.
He said that Pakistan will ‘reconsider’ its bilateral ties with Bangladesh after the BCB, once again, backed down from going ahead with the tour.
According to the Daily Times, he also said that Pakistan would not sacrifice their interests for those who do not honour their words.
Expressing shock at the death of Sunande Sen, an Indian man, who was shoved to his death in front of an oncoming subway train in New York last week, Indian Americans have asked the department of justice and FBI to separately track hate crimes against religious minorities in the US.
“Such a violent and hateful attack on any individual, especially because of religious hatred is completely unconscionable in any society” said Suhag Shukla, executive director and legal counsel for the Washington headquartered Hindu American Foundation (HAF).
The Iranian Navy has “successfully” test-fired missiles and torpedoes in an ongoing naval drill, the official media reported.
The six-day drill dubbed Velayat 91 was launched Friday in southern Iran.
The latest version of the indigenously built surface-to-air medium-range Ra’d (Thunder) missile and the short-range cruise missile Nasr (Victory) were tested.
Nasr can destroy vessels of up to 3,000 tonnes, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.
The navy also successfully test-fired torpedoes by destroying targets, Xinhua quoted the Press TV as saying.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has described the security transition process in Afghanistan as a “sign of steady progress”.
“It is another sign of steady progress that the government of Afghanistan has announced the fourth tranche of the transition process,” Xinhua quoted Panetta as saying in a statement Monday.
Earlier in the day, Karzai announced that Afghanistan had entered the second to last stage of the transition of security responsibility from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Afghan security forces.
A 46-year old Indian immigrant, who was killed after being pushed by a woman onto the subway train tracks, was cremated here in the presence of his friends and business partners.
Sunando Sen’s cremation was held yesterday and was attended by his friends, business partners and a representative of the Indian Consulate in New York, a senior Consulate official told PTI.
Sen, who owned a printing and copying business near Columbia University, died after being pushed by 31-year old Erika Menendez in front of an oncoming train at a Queens subway station on December 27.