Scientists analysing images of Mars have discovered a network of supervolcanoes that could have buried the red plant in ash when they were active billions of years ago, Sky News reported Wednesday.
The discovery by researchers at London’s Natural History Museum and NASA suggests that early Mars was more active than previously thought with massive volcanoes that may have rivalled supervolcanoes on Earth.
Software giant IBM Thursday said it has been selected by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd. (TPDD) to conceptualise, design and deliver an advanced smart grid solution that will collect and analyze real-time information from smart meters and data from the communication and management infrastructure.
This will enable TPDD to better manage energy output and further reduce outages, IBM said in a release here.
The Congress Thursday downplayed a special CBI court sentencing Lalu Prasad to five years in jail in a fodder scam case, saying conviction of one leader does not affect a party.
“One of the leaders getting convicted does not affect the party. The RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) has been suporting us,” Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit told Times Now channel.
Another Congress leader, Shakeel Ahmad said the law was taking its own course.
“The law is taking its own course. He has the right to appeal against the order in a higher court,” Ahmad told IANS.
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday accused the BJP of double standards after its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said toilets had to be the bigger priority, over temples, in India.
“In his search for the prime minister’s position, this aspirant (Narendra Modi) can say anything and do anything. If they had got this wisdom 22 years ago, then Indian politics would have been different,” Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters here.
Addressing college students Wednesday, Narendra Modi rued that many Indians still do not have access to basic sanitation.
Welcoming the five-year jail sentence to former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad for his involvement in fodder scam, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu Thursday hoped the punishment will act as a deterrent to those in power from getting involved in corruption.
Referring to the sentence coming 17 years after the scam came to light, Naidu said: “Though justice is delayed, it is not denied.”
“I hope that today’s verdict will act as a deterrent for the people in power form getting involved in corruption in future,” he said.
A new study has found that mice made obese by high-calorie, high-fat diets develop abnormally high numbers of lesions known to be precursors to pancreas cancer.
This is the first study to show a direct causative link in an animal model between obesity and risk of this deadly cancer.
Scores of anti-Telangana supporters Thursday protested outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence here where a cabinet meet has been called to decide on the creation of a separate Telangana state.
——-IANS
The BCCI today blamed breach of protocol by Cricket South Africa for uncertainty over the Indian team’s scheduled tour to that country later this year.
“Things are going (on) since long. Certain things have to be put in right perspective. Let me inform you that BCCI in normal circumstances would have done anything (for the tour to happen). But the protocol of finalising any series is a joint declaration. But that declaration was originally done without the BCCI’s approval. So we are waiting,” said BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel today.
“When I have not done any crime, how have I been punished?” This was Lalu Prasad’s instant reaction when a CBI court jailed him for five years for his involvement in the fodder scam.
An upset Lalu Prasad asked the question at the Birsa Munda Central Jail here over video conferencing facility after he heard the special CBI court sentencing him with a Rs.25 lakh fine.
Judge Pravas Kumar Singh retorted: “You can appeal in the higher court.”
Congress leaders from Seemandhra Thursday reiterated that Congress Working Committee (CWC) must reconsider its decision to carve out a separate Telangana state.
The ruling party leaders from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) went into a huddle here to chalk out their strategy amid reports that a resolution on Telangana may come up before the union cabinet at its meeting this evening.
The meeting, attended by 14 ministers and about 50 state legislators, also resolved to vote against the resolution whenever it is brought in the state assembly.
Every nine minutes a married man commits suicide in India due to alleged misuse of section 498a of IPC against them, taking the toll to around a whopping 64,000 every year, says a report.
“National Crime Records Bureau statistics reveal more incidences of suicide by married men than by married women. In 2012 approximately 64,000 married men committed suicide vis-a-vis 32,000 married women,” says D S Rao, president of Hridaya-Nest of Family Harmony, an NGO, quoting a survey by it.
As the latest iPhone5S’ sales rise high, Apple’s shares have soared about 4.5 percent since the smartphone started selling from September 20.
The tech giant’s shares rose 2.4 percent on Tuesday to close at 487.96 dollars and it is the first iPhone launch since 2009 that saw the stock price increase after the following seven trading days.
According to the New York Post, Apple’s double iPhone launch was quickly consumed by fans as the company reported shortage of stocks within the week the standard iPhone5S and low-cost 5C went on sale.
Rubbishing reports that Sachin Tendulkar has been asked by the BCCI to retire after his 200th Test, the Board’s Secretary Sanjay Patel today said it was the senior batsman’s prerogative to decide on his future.
“That is is absolutely absurd and rubbish. Let me tell you, it will be the prerogative of Mr Sachin Tendulkar. Board has not talked or asked him to resign (retire) and the Board is never going to do it because he is such a great player,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told reporters here today.
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves reached $16.15 billion at the end of September this year, Xinhua reported Thursday citing the country’s central bank.
A Bangladesh Bank official, who preferred to be unnamed, said that “the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $16,154 billion at the end of the last month after reaching $16,250 billion at the end of August”.
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of over $16 billion in August, reflecting the country’s strength from the economical and financial point of view.
Pakistan today dismissed as ”baseless” India’s accusation that its troops were involved in massive infiltration attempts across the LoC into Jammu and Kashmir.
“No such thing happened at all. This is a blatant lie. We totally deny this baseless allegation,” a Pakistani military spokesperson told PTI.
Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry too described the charge as “baseless allegations” and insisted that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used against any other country.
Technology giant Google Thursday tied up with the government and the Archaeological Survey of India to bring online the country’s major heritage sites like the Taj Mahal, Khajuraho and the Ajanta and Ellora caves.
Vice president and managing director of Google India Rajan Anandan said the initial target is to cover the country’s 100 most important heritage sites.
According to the plan, Google will create 360-degree online imagery that will be available on Google Maps and also on the World Wonders site.
Made In India tag has become trendy and visitors from abroad prefer to buy Indian things, said experts Thursday at Pride & Prejudice event here.
Raseel Gujral Ansal, lifestyle designer and co-founder of lifestyle brand Casa Paradox, said: “The ‘Made In India’ tag exemplifies Indian designs and they are no longer likened to cheap luxury. We have achieved this in fashion, hospitality and even films now.”
The designer was speaking on the theme Indian Lifestyle – From Luxury to Simplicity at Pride & Prejudice event, organised by Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO).
A partnership between India and Norway in the health sector has brought newborns’ health higher up on India’s agenda, an evaluation report of the programme released Thursday found.
The Norway-India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) was established in 2006 through a joint statement by the prime ministers of India and Norway.
The vision of NIPI is to provide catalytic, strategic support that would make a vital and sustainable difference to scaling up quality child health services in India under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
Six months after he allegedly raped a teenaged student in the school premises, a 52-year-old principal of a government school was arrested on Thursday in Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh.
Radheshyam Netam, principal at a higher secondary school in Ghanora village, around 250 kms away from here, was apprehended on a complaint by the 16-year-old victim, Kondagaon SP D Shravan said over phone.
Police said the incident took place in April in the premises of the school.
“The accused Netam had threatened the Class X student not to disclose the incident,” the SP said.
Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi said Thursday that the RJD was disappointed after a court jailed her husband and party leader Lalu Prasad for five years in the fodder scam.
“Laluji has become a victim of political conspiracy as there was no proof
against him,” Rabri Devi told the media here after the CBI court sentenced Lalu Prasad in Ranchi.
“We expected justice from the court but are disappointed.”
She insisted that Lalu Prasad had been framed by political opponents and that he was a victim of a “political conspiracy”.
YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the prime accused in the case of alleged quid-pro-quo investments involving his companies, on Thursday appeared before a special CBI court here.
Former Andhra Pradesh Ministers Sabitha Indra Reddy and Dharmana Prasada Rao, both accused in the case, also appeared before the court.
It was for the first time Jagan appeared before the court after his release on bail on September 24.
The court had on September 23 granted him conditional bail and directed that he should present himself before the court during the proceedings in the case.
Ingredients
•Whole green grams (sabut moong),soaked 1 cup
•kolam rice,soaked 2 tablespoons
•Green chillies,broken 2-3
•Curry leaves 7-8
•Ginger,chopped 1 inch piece
•Salt to taste
For Upma
•Semolina (rawa/suji) 3/4 cup
•Oil 2 tablespoons
•Mustard seeds 1/4 teaspoon
•Curry leaves 7-8
•Split black gram skinless (dhuli urad dal) 1 tablespoon
•Asafoetida 1/4 teaspoon
•Cumin seeds 1/4
Method
Grind moong and rice with little water. Add green chillies, curry leaves and ginger and grind to a coarse paste.
Ingredients
•Cooked rice 3 cups
•White sesame seeds,roasted 2 tablespoons
•black sesame seeds (kale til),roasted 2 tablespoons
•Curry leaves 1/2 cup
•Onions 2 medium
•Oil 2 tablespoons
•Ghee 2 teaspoons
•Asafoetida 1/4 teaspoon
•Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon
•Split Bengal gram (chana dal) 1 teaspoon
•Green chillies 3
•Turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon
•Salt to taste
•Lemon juice 2 teaspoons
•Crushed black peppercorns 1/2 teaspoon
Method
Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad was Thursday jailed for five years for his role in the Rs.950 crore fodder scam that surfaced 17 years ago, effectively ending the electoral career of one of India’s best known politicians.
The sentencing — the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) founder was also fined Rs.25 lakh — takes away Lalu Prasad’s membership of the Lok Sabha, where he was a familiar face, occupying one of the front benches. Lalu Prasad’s lawyers vowed to appeal in a higher court.
Failing to locate the ten persons missing after the riots in the district, the Muzaffarnagar police has converted their cases into that of kidnapping.
“The cases of 10 missing people were converted into kidnapping as their whereabouts could not be ascertained yet,” Additional SP (Rural) Alok Priya Darshi told reporters here today.
According to police, the family members of the missing persons had lodged their complaint in different police stations of the district.