Month: October 2013

Fresh communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, three killed

by

Three people were tonight killed in fresh outbreak of communal violence in Budhana area of Muzaffarnagar district, hit by riots last month which had left over 60 dead.

The three victims, identified as Afroz, 20, Meherban, 21, and Ajmal, 22, were beaten to death while another was injured in clashes between members of two communities in Muhammadpurraisingh village, district magistrate Kaushal Raj told PTI.

The incident appeared to be the fallout of the communal tension in the region. Muhammadpurraisingh village was one of places affected by the riots last month.

Vice President Ansari opens Festival of India in Cuba

by

People of Cuba were offered a glimpse of India’s diverse culture when visiting Vice President Hamid Ansari inaugurated a Festival of India here to bring the two countries closer.

Ansari, soon after his arrival in this Latin American country yesterday, inaugurated the festival that began with “Nrityaroopa”, a fusion of six classical dances which was greeted with applause.

The Vice President, the first top Indian leader to make a bilateral visit to the Communist country, is scheduled to call on President Raul Castro today.

Sonia Gandhi is world’s third most powerful woman

by

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been listed the third most powerful woman as Russian President Vladimir Putin beat President Barack Obama to the top spot on Forbes’ list of “The World’s Most Powerful People”.

Gandhi, 66, described as “de facto head of India”, is ranked 21st among the world’s 72 most powerful. She takes the third spot after German Chancellor Angela Merkel (No.5) and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff (No. 20) among the nine women, more than ever before.

US based Sikh body helps poor students in India

by

Washington-based Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) has given scholarships totalling over $200,000 to 508 needy students pursuing higher education in 159 institutions in Punjab and other states in north India.

The scholarships this year covered several fields such as medicine, engineering, agriculture, nursing, information technology, and business administration, according to a media release.

Indian American Kerala centre to honour eight Malayalees

by

The Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Centre will honour eight Indian American Malayalees for their outstanding achievements in their field of specialisation or for their service to the society.

They will be honoured at Kerala Centre’s annual banquet Nov 9 at Leonards of Great Neck in Long Island, New York.

Chief guest Vijay K. Nambiar, under-secretary general and special adviser of the UN secretary-general on Myanmar, will also be honoured for his service to the UN.

Sanjay Dutt returns to jail

by

Convicted Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt returned to Yerawada Central Jail here Wednesday after his four-week long medical parole ended, officials said.

Dutt, 54, was released Oct 1 on a fortnight’s medical parole from the high-security prison where he is serving the remainder of his 42-month sentence.

Later, he sought and was granted another fortnight’s extension which ended Tuesday, an official said.

Dutt was sentenced to five years’ jail for illegal possession of firearms from one of the consignments that landed ahead of the March 12, 1993, serial blasts in Mumbai.

Five survive Andhra bus accident

by

Five people survived the horrific bus accident that left over 40 passengers dead in Andhra Pradesh Wednesday.

The five injured passengers of Bangalore-Hyderabad bus, which caught fire in Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh early Wednesday, are Sreekar (Hyderabad), Rajesh (Hyderabad), Jai Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Mazhar Basha (Bangalore) and Jogesh (Bangalore).

According to police, they are undergoing treatment at a hospital at Vanaparti in the same district. The driver and cleaner also survived the accident.

Over 40 dead as bus catches fire in Andhra

by

Over 40 passengers were feared burnt alive when a bus caught fire in Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh early Wednesday.

A private bus coming to Hyderabad from Bangalore caught fire after hitting a culvert near Palem in Mahabubnagar district around 5 a.m., witnesses said.

Five passengers, including the driver and a cleaner, managed to escape. They were shifted to a hospital.

The Volvo, belonging to Jabbar Travels, was carrying 48 passengers. The remaining 43 passengers were feared killed in the mishap.

‘Dhoom 3’ my toughest role so far: Aamir

by

Aamir Khan, who has played a variety of roles in his 25-year-old career, says “Dhoom 3” is his toughest role so far.

In the last couple of years, the 48-year-old star gave hits in the form of “Taare Zameen Par”, “Ghajini” and “3 Idiots” and his role in each of them was as different as chalk to cheese.

But he said: “I think ‘Dhoom 3’ is my toughest role so far. I have never played anything like this before.”

“Every film is challenging, but this was a tough role. I had a great time working in the film,” Aamir told reporters Wednesday at the trailer launch of the film.

76 cheating cases at Haryana Board exams registered

by

As many as 76 cheating cases were registered during the first and second semester of senior secondary examinations of the Haryana School Education Board, an government official said today.

Three cases related to the use of unfair means were reported from examination centres at Tosham and Bhiwani Khera
in Bhiwani district yesterday, he said.

While the flying squads of Rapid Action Force caught 29 students cheating during the examinations others at
invigilation registered cases against 44 students involved in the act.

Turkey launches undersea commuter train

by

Turkey officially launched an undersea commuter train, while connecting the Asian and European sides of Istanbul Tuesday.

The tunnel, named Marmaray, will connect the two continents. It can carry 75,000 passengers per hour and around one million passengers per day.

President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the inauguration together with more than 10,000 people besides the Bosporus strait, Xinhua reported. The government launched the project to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the republic.

Russia threatens Ukraine over gas payment

by

Russia Tuesday threatened to introduce advance payment for its future natural gas supply to Ukraine unless Kiev repays its debt.

“If our partners don’t want to pay, we’ll switch to pre-payment,” reported Xinhua citing Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a phone conference on gas industry.

“If our partners don’t fulfil their obligations, this affects situation in (Russian gas giant) Gazprom in general. Our contractors, I mean Ukraine, must understand that,” he said.

Peru, India mulling air link

by

Peru’s National Tourism Chamber (Canatur) said the South American nation is studying the possibility of establishing air connections with India via Panama.

If possible, Air India could open fights from New Delhi to Lima and other regional capitals via Panama, Xinhua quoted Canatur head Carlos Canales as saying Tuesday.

Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari was in Peru Oct 26-28 to participate in free-trade talks with Peru’s foreign ministry.

“One of the most important points of the negotiating process is air connectivity between India and Peru,” said Canales.

Bharti Airtel net profit dips 29 percent in Q2

by

Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit for the second quarter (June-September) declined by 29 percent to Rs.512 crore compared to Rs.721 crore it logged during the corresponding period last quarter.

“Mobile internet is now a major engine of growth for Airtel across all geographies. Our sustained investment in this segment will further enhance customer experience and seamless coverage. The revenue growth in Africa reflects the inherent potential in the world’s most promising continent,” Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel Limited, said in a statement.

New `air touch` technology to bring `Minority Report` system closer to reality

by

Taiwan’s nonprofit technology institute is reportedly working on a new i-Air Touch (iAT) technology that could possibly bring the holographic operating system in ‘Minority Report’ closer to reality.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute has developed the iAT Technology, which is essentially an augmented-reality system that falls somewhere between the compact specs of Google Glass and the original, bulkier virtual-reality systems of the 1990s.

NZ school launches app for students to check timetable and important info

by

New Zealand’s oldest state secondary school, Nelson College has reportedly launched its own smartphone app that provides students with updates about their school timetable and further events.

Deputy headmaster Tim Tucker said that the Nelson College App has been designed to improve communication channels between the school, its students, their parents, and the wider college community.

NSA chief says EU snoop-op allegations `completely false`

by

The National Security Agency head, Gen. Keith Alexander has reportedly said that the allegations about the US snooping on telephone and email data of European citizens based on revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden are ‘completely false’.

Alexander said that the information on European citizens has been collection with the help of US’ NATO allies and in defense of the nation and its military operations.

NIA to assist Bihar police to probe Patna blasts

by

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been asked to assist the Bihar Police to probe the Patna serial blasts. Nitish Kumar met Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde here today to discuss the recent blasts in Patna. “We discussed the serial bomb blasts in Patna, and we have asked for Anti-Terrorism Squad’s (ATS) help. Bihar police has limited database on such terrorist activities. NIA has more information on this.

Google Glass undergoes design upgrade!

by

Google’s highly-anticipated wearable computing device, Google Glass has reportedly undergone a design upgrade which includes a mono earbud that allows the device to work with prescription frames and future lines of shades.

The search giant posted the images of the redesigned Google Glass on its blog apart from a hardware update to the device announced yesterday.

According to Mashable, the earbud is not permanently attached and users can choose whether or not to use it.

NASA’s Maven probe to reveal why Mars lost its atmosphere

by

NASA is set to launch its Maven probe to Mars next month to find out why the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere.

The unmanned spaceship is scheduled to leave Earth on 18 November at 13:38 (1739 GMT), News24 reported.

The 10-month journey to Mars means that if all goes well, the probe will arrive in late September 2014, and will begin its yearlong orbiting mission in November, space agency scientists said.

It will soar at an altitude of 6,115km above Mars’s surface, and dip down to 125km five times during the mission.

Why touch panel of Apple iPhones can lead to disastrous results revealed!

by

With the Apple’s iPhone in hand, it is indeed a little annoying to find that one is unable to tap on the right spot on the screen, but a group of tech experts have reportedly found that it is not human error but fault of the hi-tech device that leads to wrong typing or tapping.

Finnish tech company OptoFidelity tested the performance of the Apple iPhone 5S and the cheaper 5C model against an older Samsung Galaxy S3 for the accuracy of their touch interface.

The experts found that Apple iPhones might be fast but they lag behind in touch accuracy, news.com.au reports.

David Cameron to visit India on November 14

by

British Prime Minister David Cameron will come here on his third visit in last two years on November 14 and will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on key bilateral and regional issues.

Cameron will make a day-long visit before heading to Sri Lanka to attend Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on November 15-16, sources said here.

This will be third visit by Cameron, who visited India in 2010 immediately after assuming charge as UK’s Prime Minister. The second visit was in February this year.

PIP breast implants don’t increase risk of cancer in women

by

Researchers have found no evidence to higher risk of cancer in women who have PIP breast implants.

According to a review of PIP safety, women also do not need to have the faulty implants removed as a precaution although they may wish to have them taken out if they feel anxious, the Daily Star reported.

Around 47,000 British women are thought to have been given the implants manufactured by the closed French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP).

BJP takes govt to task on bus accidents

by

The BJP expressed deepest condolences to the families of Volvo Bus accident in which the lives of nearly 45 passengers are reported to have been lost on the National Highway-7 near Kothakota

Rape victim attempts suicide

by

A woman lawyer, raped by her live-in partner an year ago, attempted suicide by consuming a heavy dose of sleeping pills near a police station, police said Wednesday.

The incident was reported from the Vasant Vihar area Wednesday evening.

According to police, the woman had around an year ago accused a lawyer of raping her on the pretext of marriage.

The police registered a case and the accused was then arrested and sent to judicial custody.

Sources said last Tuesday, the accused got bail from the Delhi High Court and was released from jail.