Month: October 2013

Stepfather beats son to death

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A 5-year-old child was allegedly beaten to death by his stepfather while his mother was beaten to blue at Jasrana village in Sadar Police station area in the district, police said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Yashpal Khatana said Ravidra of village Jasrana, in an inebriated condition, first beat his wife Premlata and his stepson Piyush with stick, who later died.

Khatana said a case of murder has been registered on the complaint of Premlata, adding the body has been sent for post mortem.

‘Modi tsunami’ coming across country: Akali Dal

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Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal today claimed a “Modi tsunami” is coming in the country and there is no alternative to the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

“You will just see, there is a Modi tsunami coming which is going to take Congress out of this country and might station them somewhere at Maldives or some island,” the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, whose party is an important NDA partner, told reporters here.

Alleging that that there is political and economic collapse and the country needs a strong and decisive leader, he said “There is no alternative to Modiji.”

Telugu TV actress among three held for flesh trade racket

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A Telugu TV actress was among three people held here today in connection with a flesh trade racket at Madhapur, a police official said here today.

A police team raided a flat and nabbed the 23-year-old TV actress, a businessman and another person, the police said.

The police also recovered Rs 2 lakh in cash and three cellular phones from them.

The Madhapur police is investigating further.

Government pursuing Telangana decision, says PM

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said the issue of creation of separate state of Telangana was receiving the government’s attention in the right earnest.

Speaking to reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from New York after attending the UN General Assembly session, the prime minister said the government was seized of the issue.

“The Telengana issue is receiving the attention of the government in right earnest. As soon as I go back I will find out from the home minster what stage he has been able to reach up to. But this is very much on our minds,” he said.

Iran, Iraq sign agreement on drilling cooperation

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Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement on drilling cooperation in the Iranian city of Ahwaz, state media reported Tuesday.

The agreement was signed Monday by Managing Director of the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) Hamid-Reza Golpayegani and Deputy Director-General of the Iraqi Drilling Company Mohammed Ahmed Rubaie, Xinhua reported.

According to the agreement, the NIDC will undertake training for Iraqi companies in drilling operations, using electronic systems as well as fluid mechanics engineering.

Egypt freezes tourism activities with Iran

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Egyptian government has decided to freeze tourism cooperation with Iran over security concerns.

“Egypt will freeze tourism activities with Iran for national security reasons,” reported Xinhua citing Tourism Minister Hesham Zazou said on the sidelines of a conference here.

The minister, however, reiterated that “the Iranian tourist flow into Egypt will be restored” after national security threats are diminished.

Concerns emerged in Egypt after the 2011 political upheaval that toppled President Hosni Mubarak over the spread of the Shiism in the Sunni-dominated Muslim country.

Maldives appalled at human cost of Syrian conflict

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Maldives said Tuesday that it was “appalled” at the human cost of Syria’s devastating 30-month conflict and welcomed a resolution of the UN Security Council to rid Syria of chemical weapons.

Mariyam Shakeela, minister of environment and energy of Maldives, made the statement when she was addressing the General Debate of the UN General Assembly.

“We are appalled at the human cost of the conflict in Syria,” said Shakeela, who is also acting foreign minister of her country.

Kenyan military’s role in Somalia to continue: President

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Kenya has decided to set up an inquiry panel to investigate last month’s terror attack on the Westgate mall, besides the president reaffirming the Kenyan military’s role will continue in Somalia.

Speaking in Nairobi during an inter-faith prayer service, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday his government would set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate what really took place during the Sep 21-mall attack, Xinhua reported.

He also vowed that the country’s soldiers will not leave Somalia as a result of the recent attacks.

UN General Assembly’s annual debate concludes

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The annual debate of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, which witnessed over 130 heads of state and government as well as ministers, stating their views on regional and international affairs, concluded Tuesday.

General Assembly President John Ashe, at the close of the debate, said that the member states were “responsible for the implementation of action by working to create a post-2015 development agenda”, Xinhua reported.

I will quit the party if TDP enters alliance with BJP: Zahid Ali Khan

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TDP politburo member and Editor of The Siasat Daily Mr. Zahid Ali Khan said that he would be the first person to resign if the party forms an alliance with BJP. Supporting BJP is supporting Narendra Modi, he said.

Disclosing his stand at a protest meeting against Uttar Pradesh Muzaffarnagar riots he said that in the interest of Muslim community he would part ways with TDP if it goes with BJP in the forthcoming general elections.

Recipe: Oreo Cheesecake

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Ingredients

For Crust

• 1¼ cup Oreo Cookie (crumbled)
• 4 tbsp Butter (melted)

For Filling

• 1 cup Whipping Cream
• 240 gm Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
• ¾ cup Caster Sugar
• 24 Oreo Cookies (coarsely chopped)
• 12 mini Oreo Cookies

How to make

Mix cookie crumbs with butter in a bowl and spread it pressing into a pie pan. Refrigerate it for a while.

Take cream in a bowl and beat until it forms into firm peaks. Freeze it for a while.

Beat cream cheese in a fresh bowl until it is smooth.

Expert warns Facebook’s new ‘edit post’ feature may be misused

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Facebook recently launched its ‘ edit post’ feature, allowing users to make changes to their posts after they have gone live, however, an expert believes that this may be misused.

Earlier users had to delete the entire post if they wanted to tweak anything in it, losing any comments or ‘likes’, but director of eSocialMedia Kieran Hannon said that the feature increases the opportunity to ‘stitch-up’ friends and foes on social media.

Amazon to hire more than 70,000 seasonal employees

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Amazon.com Inc said it expects to hire more than 70,000 full-time seasonal employees across its order fulfillment centers in the United States, a 40 percent increase from last year.

Amazon, which has about 88,400 employees, said it has converted more than 7,000 temporary employees in the United States into full-time employees so far this year.

“We’re looking forward to converting thousands more after this holiday season,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide operations and customer service.

Black holes may have ‘hair’, say scientists

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Black holes may be less simple and “clean” than how most theoretical model describe them, according to researchers.

A new research carried out by a group of scientists that includes Thomas Sotiriou, a physicist of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste, have suggested that black holes may be much “dirtier” than believed.

According to the traditional model, black holes are defined by only two quantities: mass and angular momentum (a black hole rotation velocity).

Inflation for factory workers slips to 10.75% in August

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Retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 10.75 percent in August as compared to 10.85 percent in the previous month, mainly on account of lower prices of fruits, vegetables and edible oil.

However, retail inflation measured in terms of all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) during August was higher than 10.31 recorded in the same month last year.

AIDS initiative may have prevented 600,000 HIV infections in India over decade: Study

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Around 600,000 people in India may have been saved from becoming infected with HIV over ten years with the help of a programme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to a study.

In an evaluation of the 2003-launched AIDS project Avahan, researchers from the School of Public Health at Imperial College, London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated that Avahan prevented more than half of the infections that would have occurred without its intervention.

EOW freezes NSEL bank accounts; exchange defaults 7th time

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The economic offences wing of the Mumbai Police on Tuesday froze the bank accounts of the crippled NSEL even as the CBI started a probe into alleged duping of customers and irregularities by the commodity exchange.

The NSEL defaulted on its committed weekly payout for the seventh consecutive time today after the accounts were frozen.

“Today, we have frozen 58 bank accounts, including the accounts of the NSEL and others involved in the crime,” Additional Police Commissioner (EOW) Rajvardhan Sinha told PTI this evening.

Political deadlock over ‘Obamacare’ forces shutdown in US

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The US government on Tuesday shutdown for the first time in nearly 18 years due to a deadlock between the Republicans and Democrats over Obamacare, a crisis that has forced 800,000 federal workers off the job and could cost the world’s largest economy about USD 1 billion a week.

The Republicans and Democrats failed to strike a deal on spending and budget due to differences over ‘Obamacare’, the signature healthcare programme of President Barack Obama.

Divorce makes life hell for men: study

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Divorced men have higher rates of mortality, substance abuse, depression, and lack of social support, a new study has revealed.

Authors Daniel S. Felix, PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, W. David Robinson, PhD, Utah State University, Logan, and Kimberly J. Jarzynka , MD, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha demonstrate an urgent need to recognize and treat men’s divorce-related health problems in a provocative case study and review of the literature entitled ‘The Influence of Divorce on Men’s Health.’

Stage set for changes in top hierarchy of Pakistani military

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In a precursor to the appointment of the next Pakistan Army chief, a proposal for appointing a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee has been sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, media reports said today.

The formal proposal included the names of Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Asif Sandila, Lt Gen Haroon Aslam and Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt as potential candidates to head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, reports said.

Pakistani court orders retrial in Benazir Bhutto murder case

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A Pakistani anti-terrorism court today ordered a retrial in the case related to former premier Benazir Bhutto’s assassination following the naming of Pervez Musharraf as the main accused.

Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman of the Rawalpindi-based court rejected requests from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) while ordering the retrial.

The judge directed the FIA to reproduce prosecution witnesses in court for recording their statements at the next hearing on October 8.

Terrorists arrested for attack on Pakistan Military Academy

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Two alleged terrorists who fired rockets at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad in January have been arrested, a media report said today.

Three suicide vests, two mortar shells and three rocket-propelled grenades were found in the possession of the men identified only as Farooq and Ashraf, Express News channel reported.

The attack on January 25 had damaged the outer wall of the academy, located a short distance from the compound where US Navy SEALs killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Sanjay Dutt gets 14-day leave from jail

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Actor Sanjay Dutt today left the Yerawada jail here for Mumbai on a 14-day leave sanctioned to him on eligibility criteria, jail authorities said.

Sanjay Dutt, serving sentence under the Arms Act for illegal possession of weapons in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, left the prison at around 9.30 AM after his pending application for “furlough” was sanctioned by the authorities, jail superintendent Yogesh Desai told PTI.

Good conduct is one of the criteria for granting furlough, which is sanctioned from prisoner’s accumulated leave, Desai said.

Iran warns Obama ‘flip-flop’ threatens trust building

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Iran’s foreign minister warned Barack Obama on Tuesday that “flip-flop” threatened efforts to build trust, after the US president told the Israeli premier the military option remained on the table.

“President Obama needs consistency to promote mutual confidence,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet. “Flip-flop destroys trust and undermines US credibility.”

His remarks came after Obama told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the use of force was still on the table in dealing with Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

British politician condemned for racist text

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A British politician came under criticism after he reportedly referred to a British-born Indian-origin journalist as “some form of ethnic extraction”.

Gawain Towler, who is UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage’s public relations manager, used the phrase in a text referring to London Evening Standard journalist Kiran Randhawa, the newspaper reported.

Press officer Gawain Towler came under fire after using the language which was condemned as “outrageous”, “unpleasant” and “racially insensitive” by many political leaders.