Month: October 2013

Chandrababu Naidu to go on indefinite fast in Delhi

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Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu would go on indefinite fast in Delhi from Monday to demand the central government do justice to people of Seemandhra before taking any step to divide Andhra Pradesh.

The former chief minister told a press conference here Friday evening that he would expose Congress, which is trying to use Telangana issue for political mileage.

Naidu alleged that Congress was playing with the lives of people of Seemandhra by taking a decision to divide the state in an arbitrary manner without holding talks with leaders from both the regions.

10 Britons jailed for teenager’s sexual abuse

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As many as 10 men have been awarded 34 years of jail-term in total for sexually abusing a teenaged girl who wished to enjoy being in a romantic relationship with someone and thus posted a profile on a dating website.

The girl, 13, from North Yorkshire, had made the dating profile, on which she claimed to be 18, because she was looking for a romantic relationship. But the men who responded were only interested in sex, the Daily Mail reported.

Malala wins Anna Politkovskaya Award

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Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani school girl shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning in favour of women’s education today won an award instituted in the name of Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya.

“Defying the strict ban imposed by the Taliban on girls attending school, Malala refused to be silenced in the face of grave danger, just like Anna Politkovskaya did,” the organiser Reach All Women (RAW) in War, said.

Modi welcomes announcement of poll schedule in 5 states

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Gujarat chief minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today welcomed the Election Commission’s announcement of poll dates in five states.

I welcome announcement of polls in 5 states.

Elections are a celebration of our democracy. We look forward to a healthy and spirited elections,” Modi tweeted on
micro-blogging site twitter.

The Election Commission today announced that the assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Delhi and Mizoram will be held from November 11, for which the counting will take place on December 8.

Maha to conduct eligibility test for ‘ashram shala’ teachers

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Maharashtra Government has decided to introduce an eligibility test for primary teachers of ‘ashram shala’ under the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

The test has been provided as a qualifying benchmark for recruitment of teachers in the primary and upper primary
schools, an official said.

The government, through a resolution, has also stipulated minimum educational qualifications to be applied for
recruitment of these teachers, depending on whether they are teaching students till fifth standard or from fifth to eighth standard.

Skip oily food in the morning

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Workaholics tend to skip breakfast or indulge in fast food to save time. But the habit is unhealthy, says a nutritionist adding that consuming fatty and oily food is not an ideal way to start the day.

Ambica Sharma, nutritionist, Columbia Asia Hospital, Ghaziabad, shares a list of food items that should be avoided:

– Paranthas dripping with oil or ghee are a big no. Even if you wish to eat them, avoid using excess oil and ghee and have them with curd.

Three accused in recruitment case get double life imprisonment

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Three accused in a case relating to recruitment of Keralite youths for terror camps in Kashmir were today sentenced to double life imprisonment by a special NIA court here for waging war against India in 2006.

The remaining 10 accused were sentenced to life and a fine of Rs 50,000 each. This is the second verdict in a terror case probed by National Investigation Agency in Kerala.

Accused Abdul Jabbar, who managed to escape in an encounter with Indian army and was later arrested from

Smuggler held with arms and ammunition

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A smuggler was arrested today with two sophisticated pistols and 50 rounds of ammunition from a village in Bihar’s Munger district, police said.

Acting on a tip off, the police raided a hide out in Bahadurpur village and nabbed the arms smuggler Rajesh Kumar
Pandey with a haul of arms and ammunitions, the Superintendent of Police (SP) Naveen Chandra Jha said.

The accused, a native of neighbouring Jamui district, was being interrogated in connection with seizure of arms and
ammunitions from him, he said.

——————-PTI

Masked gunmen kill 2 Egyptian soldiers

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Masked gunmen fired on a military vehicle near the Egyptian city of Ismailiya today, killing two soldiers and wounding an officer and another soldier, a security official said.

The attack took place on the desert road between Cairo and Ismailiya when the assailants in a car without number plates opened fire, said the official.

He said one soldier died instantly and the other succumbed to his wounds in hospital, adding that the army closed the
road briefly after the incident.

New treatments to tackle allergies

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Scientists have zeroed-in on new treatments for people with allergies to grasses and to dust mites, says a study.

The treatments are from a new class of therapy, known as ‘synthetic peptide immuno-regulatory epitopes’, or SPIREs.

There are two treatments, one for grass allergy, which is commonly known as hay fever, and the other for dust mite allergy.

These are expected to help people who, as a reaction to grass pollen or the tiny bugs that live in house dust, have sneezing bouts, itching eyes and a running nose, impacting their productivity at school or work.

Four persons killed in a road accident

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Four persons were killed today in a road accident in Bihar’s Patna district, police said.

The mishap occured on Patna-Fatuha road as a four-wheeler carrying four occupants lost control and fell in
a ditch, the sources said.

All four persons died on the spot, they said, adding two of the victims were identified as Ranjeet Kumar (35) and
Sumit alias Roshan (30).

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, the sources added.

———————-PTI

Walking one hour per day cuts risk of developing breast cancer by 14%

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A new study by an Indian origin researcher has revealed that women can cut their chances of developing breast cancer by walking for an hour each day.

The American Cancer Society, which commissioned the study, involved 73,615 postmenopausal women, of whom 4,760 were diagnosed with breast cancer during a 17-year follow-up, the Scotsman reported.

It was found that this moderate activity was linked with a 14 per cent lower risk of the disease compared to women who were least active.

How depression diminishes memories

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A new research has suggested that ‘pattern separation’ – a process that helps young viewers learn to differentiate things that are similar fades in adults in proportion to the severity of their depression.

The more depressed someone feels, the harder it is for them to distinguish similar experiences they’ve had.

Depression has been generally linked to poor memory for a long time. To find out why, Brock Kirwan, a psychology and neuroscience professor at Brigham Young University and his former grad student D.J. Shelton put people through a computer-aided memory test.

Ramdev’s firms evaded excise duty worth over Rs 20 cr

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Central Excise sleuths raided the firms of yoga guru Ramdev and claimed to have detected evasion of excise duty of over Rs 20 crore.

The Excise officials raided the firms of Ramdev in Uttarakhand yesterday and found that they were not paying
excise duty on a number of cosmetic products being manufactured by them, Deputy Commissioner (Central Excise) R P
Singh said today.

Though the total liability of the firms in this regard is still being ascertained, it must run into over Rs 20-22 crore, he said.

2014 elections not do-or-die situation: Rahul to Congress workers

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday reportedly told the party workers from Saurashtra region that 2014 elections were not a “do or die” situation.

“We should overcome our weaknesses and highlight our strengths among the people,” Jamnagar Congress MP Vikram Madam quoted Rahul as saying.

Rahul, who is on two-day visit to Gujarat, is meeting Congress workers from Saurashtra and North Gujarat here today. Media persons were not allowed to be present at the meeting.

HC dismisses PIL seeking action against ATS in Malegaon case

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The Bombay High Court today dismissed a public interest litigation demanding probe against the police officers who investigated the 2006 Malegaon blasts case (before National Investigation Agency took over) for wrongly implicating innocent Muslim youths.

The division bench headed by Justice P V Hardas held that petitioner had no locus standi (right to be heard) in the case as he was not related to any of the blast victims, or the accused.

The bench also refused to order departmental inquiry against the officers of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad,

Assembly Elections for five states announced; NOTA option introduced

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Assembly elections will be held in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh from November 11, 2013 the Election Commission announced on Friday.

While Chhattisgarh will have a two-phase polling on November 11, 2013 and November 19, 2013 the remaining States will have a single-phase poll.

Delhi and Mizoram will go to polls on December 4, 2013 Madhya Pradesh on November 25, 2013 and Rajasthan on December 1, 2013.

Counting for all the five States will take place on December 8, 2013 Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath told a press conference in New Delhi.

`Rare` 9th century Hebrew text predates oldest Jewish prayer book scroll

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Scholars have called a rare Hebrew text that dates back to the 9th century, the earliest known Jewish prayer book that predates the world’s oldest Torah scroll.

The 50-page book is written in an archaic form of Hebrew, on pages of aged parchment, and is 4.3 inches tall and about 4 inches wide, Discovery News reported.

The Hebrew text features 100 Jewish blessings and has subjects like the apocalyptic tale of the End Times and the Passover Seder written on it.

Hurt by Andhra break-up: Pallam Raju

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Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju Friday said he decided to quit the cabinet because he was “deeply offended” by the decision to split Andhra Pradesh.

“It is going to be harmful and detrimental to the long-term interests of the state,” Pallam Raju told reporters here.

“I am deeply offended and aggrieved that we have not been able to articulate the concerns of the people well enough for the cabinet to take note of our hurt and anguish,” he said.

The cabinet Thursday formally decided to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh to form Telangana as India’s 29th state.

Paris Hilton re-launches pop career with raunchy video

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Paris Hilton is trying to re-launch her music career by starring in a raunchy video of her new song ‘Good Time’ with Lil Wayne.

The 32-year-old heiress teased the song this week in a 45-second clip, which shows her dancing in a club, posing in a wet tank top reading ‘Rich Girl,’ the Huffington Post reported.

‘Good Time’ will hit the airwaves on October 8. (ANI)

We’ve slowed down: Kamal on competition with Rajinikanth

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Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan Friday said that he and superstar Rajinikanth used to compete aggressively earlier but not any more.

“Rajini and I used to release our films almost every Friday in the 1980s but not anymore. Today, we have slowed down, not because of our age, but because of budget constraints.
We can’t afford to have the release of our big budget films on the same day,” Kamal told reporters here.

He was speaking at the trailer launch of the digitally restored version of his 1977 Tamil film “16 Vayathinile”, which also featured Rajinikanth in a negative role.

Women make better flatmates than men

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A new survey suggests that women make better housemates than men, but are less likely to pay rent on time.

An Ambi Pur survey seeking to identify what makes a good and bad Aussie housemate found that 88 percent of respondents thought their male roomies were messy, while 71 percent said they were smelly and unhygienic, the Telegraph reported.

Boys’ habits were also on the nose, rated more likely to hog the TV remote (14 percent), less likely to clean up after themselves (88 percent) and the main culprits when it came to leaving dirty dishes under the bed (65 percent).

Woods” girlfriend Lindsey Vonn pranks Tiger with squirrel on shoulder

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American golfer Tiger Woods” girlfriend Lindsey Vonn put a squirrel on his shoulder during day one of the Presidents Cup, in the day”s most comical moment.

According to the Courier Mail, his girlfriend introduced Tiger to ”Sammy”, a squirrel who met US assistant captain Davis Love at the second hole and rode around the course with him on a cart as a lucky charm. After Woods was done and watching his teammates on the 18th green, Vonn playfully swiped the squirrel from Love and placed him on Woods” right shoulder, the report said.

EC announces poll schedule for five states

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Assembly elections will be held in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh from November 11, the Election Commission announced today.

While Chhattisgarh will have a two-phase polling on November 11 and November 19, the remaining states will have a single-phase poll.

Delhi and Mizoram will go to polls on December 4, Madhya Pradesh on November 25 and Rajasthan on December one.

Counting for all the five states will take place on December 8, Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath told a press conference here.

Why sex gets painful for women post menopause

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A study has suggested that changing bacterial mix in vagina could lead to vaginal dryness and sexual pain after menopause.

A team at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland suspect that these bacteria may play a role in causing vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) and that personalized probiotics or other ways to manage the bacterial mix might prevent or treat VVA in the future.