Month: July 2013

Class 10 student abducted, gang raped

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A Class 10 student was kidnapped and gang raped by three goons in a village in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The rapists barged into the girl’s house in village Galand at midnight Monday and seized her. She screamed for help but no one came to her rescue even as her distraught father rushed to police.

The goons dropped her at her home after raping her. One of the arrested rapists was identified as Dharmendra, Superintendent of Police Jagdish Sharma said.

–IANS

Opposition blames Mamata for polls during Ramadan

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The opposition Tuesday blamed the West Bengal government for the Supreme Court decision to hold panchayat elections in the state in five phases including during Ramadan.

Dismissing the plea that holding the polls during Ramadan could affect Muslim voters, the apex court said it could not reschedule the elections due to non-availability of security forces before July 11.

The Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) accused the Mamata Banerjee government of inconveniencing the Muslim population by holding the polls during Ramadan.

2,250 BSF men guard Amarnath Yatra route

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At least 2,250 Border Security Force (BSF) troopers have been deployed on the route of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine in the Kashmir Valley, an official said.

“We have deployed four battalions, carrying 25 companies, on the Amarnath Yatra route for the security of the pilgrims. Each BSF company has around 90 personnel,” said a BSF official.

BSF Director General Subhash Joshi recently visited Baltal, Panjtarni and the holy cave in Kashmir and reviewed the security arrangements.

Call centre woman commits suicide

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A 24-year-old woman working in a call centre committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her house here Tuesday, police said.

Shivani, from Haridwar, was found hanging around 8 a.m. in Munirka in south Delhi. Police suspect a love angle caused her to take her life.

Police said she left behind a suicide note saying she was unhappy and she did not hold anyone responsible for her suicide.

–IANS

Image of police force tarnished: SC

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Voicing concern over policemen “misusing” their power, the Supreme Court today said this must be stopped and a step in this direction will be to bar people having criminal antecedents from joining the police force whose reputation has taken a beating.

Mamata questions UPA’s monitoring system

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said the people’s privacy was in jeopardy with the central government developing the Centralised Monitoring System (CMS), an all-encompassing surveillance mechanism.

“The UPA-II government is developing a system called Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) by C-DoT that will enable the government and its agencies unfettered access in realtime to any phone conversation, SMS, fax, website visit and social media usage,” Banerjee said on Facebook, quoting a media report about the CMS.

Coconut Cupcake

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Ingredients

• 40g Desiccated coconut
• 200g All-purpose (plain) flour
• 175g Confectioners (icing) sugar
• 115g Melted butter
• 3 tbsp Ground almonds (or hazelnuts)
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 5 Egg whites
• 12 Raspberries

How to make

Pre-heat oven to 190oC.

Line a 12 cupcake pan with cupcake papers.

In a bowl, mix coconut, flour, sugar, baking powder and almond.

Add melted butter to the above and stir.

Add egg whites and mix well.

Divide the mixture equally among the cake cases.

Top each cake with a raspberry.

Vodafone India Chairman Analjit Singh meets Chidambaram

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Vodafone India chairman Analjit Singh today met Finance Minister P Chidambaram with a fresh proposal for early resolution to the tax dispute over which government has offered conciliation.

Vodafone is believed to offered to pay $650 million (Rs 3,900 crore) towards tax dues, as against the government’s demand of $1.4 billion (Rs 8,400 crore), sources said.

Singh’s meeting follows the British telecom firm seeking time to reply to Revenue Department’s offer for a non-binding conciliation under the Indian laws.

Pakistan: Heavy gunfire shakes parts of Lyari

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Intermittent gunfire shook parts of Lyari late Monday night, spreading panic among the residents of the troubled locality.

According to reports, unknown armed men resorted to firing and roamed freely since Monday evening in Kalri, Mandra Muhalla, Ahmed Shah Bokhari Road, Bihar Colony and other areas of the neighborhood with police and Rangers missing.

Most parts of Lyari reverberated with heavy gunfire through the night while residents were forced to stay indoors despite the prolonged power outages.

Childhood respiratory infections may up type 1 diabetes risk

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Infections in early childhood may put children at a high risk for developing type 1 diabetes mellitus, a new research has warned.

The study included 148 children at high risk for T1D with 1,245 documented infectious events during 90,750 person-days during their first three years of life.

“Our study identified respiratory infections in early childhood, especially in the first year of life, as a risk factor for the development of T1D”, the authors note.

India turns down request for political asylum by NSA whistleblower

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India has reportedly turned down request for political asylum made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said that India has carefully examined the asylum request and has decided to turn it down, ABC News reports.

He further said that the government has concluded that it sees no reason to accede to that request.

Sydney Morning Herald’s digital services to become paid

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Australia’s oldest newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald has decided to introduce a subscription model for its digital products, whether online or on tablets, with charges being required after the free 30 articles per month.

According to the newspaper, the home page of the news website will remain the same and people would be able to visit it as often as they liked, promising to continue the excellent services that the paper has been offering for the last 180 years.

Unaccounted for cash, Jewels worth millions seized in Mumbai

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In a joint operation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Income Tax Department Officials confiscated a huge consignment of cash, gold and diamond jewellery in 150 bags worth Rs 200 crore here.

It was learnt that the 150 bags of unaccounted money and precious assets were seized from four big tempos. This consignment was about to be carried by train to an unknown place.

Refusing to reveal further details, Director General (Investigation) of Income Tax Department Swatantra Kumar said the matter is under investigation.

Ajit Singh defends Jet-Etihad deal

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Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh Tuesday defended the nearly Rs.2,000 crore deal between Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad, saying the investment is important for India and opposition to the pact is politically motivated.

“Those opposing the deal are long on politics and short on facts,” Ajit Singh told reporters when asked about the widespread opposition to the deal.

“It is such an important deal, the first big deal in civil aviation ministry. In terms of FDI, it is bigger than any other deal this year. There are so many dimensions to it,” Ajit Singh said.

Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case: CBI to file chargesheet tomorrow

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The case pertains to killing of four people including 19-year-old Ishrat from Mumbra and the allegation is that the four were in detention of Gujarat Police before they were killed in a stage-managed encounter in 2004.

Special Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajendra Kumar will not be named in the first charge sheet to be filed by CBI on July four as the agency will be seeking more time from court to probe the conspiracy angle in the fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and others.

Thousands dead in Kedarnath: Where does the blame lie?

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With the Uttarakhand government declaring the entire 14 kilometere trek route from Guarikund to Kedarnath out of bounds for everyone except the rescue workers, worst fears on the number of dead appear to be coming true.

The government has claimed that the blanket ban on entry to the area has been imposed to prevent the spread of epidemic as hundreds of bodies are said to be lying in the open along the route, especially in Rambada and Kedarnath town. However, reports claimed that the no entry rule has been put in place to prevent news about the actual number of dead getting out.

Childhood respiratory infections may up type 1 diabetes risk

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Infections in early childhood may put children at a high risk for developing type 1 diabetes mellitus, a new research has warned.

The study included 148 children at high risk for T1D with 1,245 documented infectious events during 90,750 person-days during their first three years of life.

“Our study identified respiratory infections in early childhood, especially in the first year of life, as a risk factor for the development of T1D”, the authors note.

Germany will not interfere in Kashmir: Envoy

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Germany on Tuesday said it fully recognises the legitimate institutions in Jammu and Kashmir and will not take any position on Kashmir issue that can be seen as an interference.

“German position on Kashmir is (has) not changed. We will not take a position which can be in any way seen as an interference,” German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner told reporters here.

He said his visit to the state is an endorsement of legitimacy of the institutions in Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian Airlines told to pay Rs 75K for baggage loss

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Indian Airlines has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 75,000 to a passenger whose luggage was lost when he had gone to Bangkok from Delhi to attend a wedding.

The South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum held the airline liable to pay the amount as it had “badly failed” to locate the lost bag of the complainant and said the same amounts to deficiency in service.

Ishrat Jahan case: Digvijay Singh targets Modi, says former IB Director should be chargesheeted

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Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday demanded that former Ahmedabad Intelligence Bureau (IB) station chief Rajender Kumar should also be chargesheeted in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, and alleged that the Gujarat cops were working together to raise the pitch and leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi so that he becomes a hero in the minds of all people who believe that the terrorism and acts of terror are only being done by the Muslims.

Singh alleged that the Gujarat Government has done not one, but six false encounters.

Gang cheats 55 people on job promise

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Fifty-five people who were allegedly brought from Bijnore by a gang of crooks on the promise of giving them jobs under a government scheme, were found unconscious in a bus in Saharanpur, police said today.

“55 people, including 22 women, who were brought by a gang of cheats from Bijnore on the promise of providing jobs to them under the central government-run Mahila Shaktikaran Scheme, were found unconscious in a passenger bus in Saharanpur yesterday,” SSP-Saharanpur Vijay Yadav said.

Fake encounters carried out to raise Modi’s profile: Digvijay

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The Gujarat government had carried out fake encounters only to raise Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s profile so that he becomes a “hero” in the eyes of people who believe acts of terror are done by Muslims, Congress leader Digvijay Singh alleged on Tuesday.

Responding to media queries after a general body meeting of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee here, he alleged that “there is not only one, but six fake encounters done by Gujarat government.”

Removing nerves connecting kidney to brain may help reduce high BP

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A new technique that removes the nerves that connect the brain and kidney has shown promise to reduce blood pressure and decrease the risk of stroke, heart and renal disease.

The procedure, which has very few side effects, has already shown promising results in hard-to-treat cases of high blood pressure.

The technique was performed by a team led by Professor Julian Paton at the University of Bristol who found that in an animal model of hypertension removing nerves connecting the kidney to the brain reduced blood pressure and improved its long-term stability.

President Mukherjee congratulates ISRO on successful launch of IRNSS

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President Pranab Mukherjee has congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) on the successful launch of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), India”s first Navigation Satellite.

President Mukherjee said the launch of this navigation satellite is a significant milestone in the progress of India”s space programme.