Month: April 2013

Don’t link tourism with Chinese incursion: Omar Abdullah

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Friday said linking the Chinese incursion into Ladakh with the region’s tourism prospects would not be right.

“Can we please not link the Chinese incursion to tourism? The Chinese troops are too far to bother any tourists coming to Leh,” Omar Abdullah said on micro-blogging site Twitter Friday.

Just the fact of the chief minister speaking of tourism and incursions in the same breath, however, is likely to send alarm bells ringing; doubts are likely to arise about the safety of tourists thronging Leh and other places in the Ladakh region.

China intends to limit US operations in west Pacific: Pentagon

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Expressing concerns over the pace at which China is increasing its defence budget and rapidly modernising its armed forces, the Pentagon has said that the aim of the regional hegemony is to limit US’s ability to operate in Western Pacific.

“The concern that we have is the pace of this military expenditure as well as the scope of the investments. China’s investing in a comprehensive modernisation of its military,” David Helvey, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the East Asia Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, told Senators during a Congressional hearing.

Coalgate CBI director files affidavit in SC admits law mins interference

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Setting off a political bombshell, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha on Friday submitted before the Supreme Court that the agency’s status report on coal allocation scam was “shared” with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar “as desired by him” and that senior officials of PMO and Coal ministry had also seen it.

Sinha’s two-page affidavit filed on the direction of the apex court contradicts the claim made by CBI counsel on the last date of hearing that the coalgate scam report was not shared with any member of the government.

Bill Clinton gets 400,000-plus Twitter followers

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Former US President Bill Clinton has joined Twitter and attracted more than 400,000 followers within 24 hours on the social network.

Clinton, 66, posted his first tweet shortly before midnight Wednesday after US comedian Stephen Colbert told him he had established an official account for him April 9 during an interview on his popular Comedy Central television program, “The Colbert Report”.

“Excited to join @ChelseaClinton and my good friend @StephenAtHome on Twitter!” tweeted the ex-president on his account @billclinton.

Rajasthan Royals look to be back on winning track, take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at home

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Beaten in their past two away outings, Rajasthan Royals would be looking to get back to winning ways when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their own den in a Pepsi IPL league match at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here tomorrow.

The fact that Rajasthan Royals have won all of their three matches here will give them the confidence to put behind the defeats in away matches against the strong Chennai Super kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Bhutto murder: Court grants Musharraf’s custody

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An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan Friday granted to investigators custody of former president Pervez Musharraf in the assassination case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, lawyers said.

Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been accused of failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto when she returned to Pakistan from exile in 2007, reported Xinhua.

Bhutto, who had twice served as prime minister, was killed in a suicide attack and gunshots in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in 2007, shortly after she addressed thousands of her supporters at an election rally.

Special screening of `Aashiqui 2` sees full attendance from Bollywood stars

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The star cast of ` Aashiqui 2`, Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor, attended a special show of their upcoming movie in Mumbai.

The movie is a sequel to the 1990 musical blockbuster `Aashiqui`.

Speaking to the media, Kapur said that he felt relaxed after his family`s positive response to the film.

“It feels very good. Earlier I was going mad but now I am relaxed. I am very happy. I was waiting to see what they (family) reacted like, my mom and dad also are quite happy with the film,” Kapur said.

Negotiations on to solve Chinese incursion issue: Antony

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Defence Minister A K Antony today said negotiations and consultations are on at various levels to find a peaceful solution to the Chinese incursion issue in Ladakh.

His comments came a day after External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid asserted in Almaty in Kazhakistan that India was “not a pushover” and that the issue of Chinese incursion in Ladakh would be resolved before he visits Beijing on May 9.

“Negotiations and consultations are going on at various levels to find out a peaceful solution to Chinese incursion issue,” Antony told reporters outside Parliament House.

Teenager found dead

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A 17-year-old girl was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the rented room of a man in Outer Delhi with police today saying it appeared to be a case of suicide.

The incident was reported from Sector 3 Rohini and the owner of the room Arif has been detained. Police said the girl and Arif were in a relationship.

The deceased’s family, who resides in Mongolpuri, had approached police at around 6:30 pm yesterday complaining that she could not be located following which a case of kidnapping was registered immediately, police said.

30 die in Afghanistan accident

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Thirty people were killed and 10 injured when a passenger bus collided with a truck in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province Friday, an official said.

“The ill-fated passenger bus was heading from Helmand to Kabul this (Friday) morning when it collided with a truck coming from opposite direction in Kandahar province, leaving 30 commuters dead and injuring 10 others,” spokesman for provincial administration Jawed Faisal told Xinhua.

——–IANS

NIA to probe Italian marines’ case, trial on daily basis: SC

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The Supreme Court on Friday allowed NIA to probe the case against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen and asked the special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis after the charge sheet is filed.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir clarified that the special court, set up by the Centre for this case, will not take up any other matter and complete the trial as soon as possible.

How voice signals attractiveness

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Deep male voices and high-pitched female voices are perceived as more attractive because listeners gauge the speaker`s body size from the frequency of their voice, according to a new research.

Studies of animals and birds reveal that listeners can perceive a caller`s body size and intension based on the frequency, voice quality and formant spacing of a call.

For example, low frequency growls are more likely to indicate larger body size, dominance or a potential attack, while higher frequency and pure-tone-like sounds suggest smaller size, submissiveness and fear.

Lok Sabha adjourned for day, Rajya Sabha till 2.30 p.m.

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Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were disrupted again Friday, as opposition members created a ruckus over the coal block allocations and various other issues, including 2G spectrum.

In both the houses, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the issue of coal block and 2G spectrum allocations. The main opposition party also raised the issue of an affidavit filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the alleged government interference in the status report on its coal blocks probe.

Eating chocolate may trigger acne

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Chocolate may increase inflammation that aggravates acne, a new small-scale study has found.

Researchers at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, collected blood samples from participants before and after they ate 48 g of chocolate, each day for four days.

The chocolate contained about 30 per cent cocoa.

They then exposed the blood cells to bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes, which contribute to acne when they grow inside clogged pores and cause pores to become inflamed, and to Staphylococcus aureus, another skin bacteria that can aggravate acne.

Odisha school principal held for molesting hostel girls

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The principal of a private residential English-medium school in Odisha was arrested for making lewd gestures and molesting at least four of the 11 girl students who lived in the hostel, police said Friday.

This was the second incident of sexual violence against girl students reported in the district this week. A teacher was arrested Tuesday at Sambalpur town for molesting an eight-year-old girl in school.

50-year-old man axed to death in Andhra Pradesh

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A 50-year-old man was axed to death allegedly by some relatives of a woman, after the former attempted to molest her in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The incident occurred at Dasaripalam village under Kandukur Rural police station limits of Prakasam district when one Kanta Rao, a farm labourer, allegedly tried to molest a woman in her 40s, they said.

Later, some relatives of the woman allegedly attacked Rao with an axe and other sharp weapons and killed him, police sources said.

CBI files affidavit in SC on probe into coal block allocations

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed an affidavit in the Supreme court on its probe into the coal block allocations.

The CBI informed the apex court that the final affidavit filed by it, is independent.

CBI Director Ranjit Sinha stated that the previous draft of the status report was shared with Union Law and Justice Minister Ashwani Kumar as desired by him.

In the two page affidavit, the CBI also said it was also shown to Joint Secretary in PMO and the coal ministry officials.

‘Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)’ online poster threatens US Catholic school of Boston-style massacre

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An anonymous online poster with the name ‘Prophet Muhammed(pbuh)’ is being probed for sending a threat to a Catholic high school in Virginia.

The poster vowed the facility would be the next site of a Boston-style massacre.

According to the Washington Times, police are trying to identity the Fairfax Underground forum poster, which first praised the Boston bombing suspects and then issued the threat against Paul VICatholic High School, The Daily Caller reported.

Officials have taken the threat seriously and asked police to comb the grounds with bomb-sniffing dogs.

India is very lucky to have Dhoni: Moody

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Awestruck by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s swashbuckling knock against his side, former Australia all-rounder and Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody says India is “very lucky” to have the 31-year-old “special” cricketer as captain.

“Dhoni is special. It is as simple as that. In any form of the game he performs remarkably. He is a very special cricketer and a very special leader. Chennai and India are very lucky to have him,” Moody said.

It was Dhoni’s blazing half-century that guided Chennai to a win over Hyderabad in a tense IPL match here last night.

Crime In Hyderabad (26.4.2013)

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Missing man’s dead body found
(Siasat News): A man who was mysteriously missing from Miyapur, police found his dead body from the rear portion of car near a temple.

As per the details, Deviah, 54, was a businessman and was the resident of Motinagar. He left his house in his car and did not return.

The car was found parked near a temple and the dead body was lying on the rear seat. Police has registered a case and further investigations are on.

Parliament adjourned till noon

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Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were disrupted again Friday, losing the crucial question hour, as opposition members created a ruckus over various issues.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned minutes after proceedings for the day started at 11 a.m.. While the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the contentious issues of the allocation of coal blocks and 2G spectrum, the Samajwadi Party (SP) raised the issue of its leader Azam Khan being “insulted” at an airport in the US.

Amidst the pandemonium, Chairman M. Hamid Ansari adjourned the upper house till noon.

China to buy 60 Airbus jets

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting French counterpart François Hollande announced here that China will purchase 60 Airbus planes.

The deal was part of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two heads of state Thursday – the first day of Hollande’s visit – during a meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

Spokespersons for the Toulouse, France-based aircraft manufacturer told EFE the agreement includes the sale of 42 A320 jets and 18 wide-bodied A330 planes.

THE CAUSES AND CURES OF RIYAA (SHOWING OFF) – I

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Before discussing some of the cures for this disease, let us focus on some of what may contribute to Riya in the first place.

“Weakness of faith (Eeman)” – When a person doesn’t have strong faith in Allah, he’ll prefer the admiration of people over the pleasure of Allah.

“Fear of criticism” – One might make a display of his good deeds to avoid being criticized. For example, a person might pray in the mosque out of fear of being criticized by people for not doing it.

25 poachers arrested in Meghalaya

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Forest authorities in Meghalaya have arrested 25 poachers and recovered body parts of endangered deer from them from a remote village in the state’s West Khasi Hills District. The poachers were arrested in Mawkarah village while they were returning in two vehicles from a hunting trip. Arms, dried venison, three hides of Barking Deer and the head of a fully grown female Sambar were seized from them. (ANI)