Month: March 2014

First peace talk round between Pak govt, Taliban ends in deadlock

by

The first direct peace dialogue between the Pakistan government and the Taliban militants have reportedly ended in a deadlock.

An unnamed source has revealed that the five-member militants’ committee set two conditions for continuation of the peace talks.

While the first condition includes the creation of a demilitarized peace zone in mountainous Shaktoi, South Waziristan, in order to allow free movement, the second seeks the release of non-combatants.

Mobile devices uninteresting without cloud: Satya Nadella

by

Microsoft’s India-born CEO Satya Nadella, while signalling a new course for the firm, said mobile and cloud are “two facets” of the same thing, a belief that found place in his maiden speech as chief executive of the software giant.

Nadella, who was appointed Microsoft’s third CEO last month, after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, referred to the Redmond-headquartered firm “embracing the new mobile-first, cloud-first world” in his first speech.

Rupee at Rs 59.90 against US dollar for the first time in 8 months

by

Continuing its rising streak, the rupee today strengthened to below 60 level at 59.90 for the first time since July 2013 against the US dollar in late afternoon trade on sustained foreign fund flows.

Dealers said sustained selling of the American currency by banks and exporters and ongoing bull-run on the domestic equity markets also buoyed the rupee sentiments.

BJP to start candidate selection in AP; no word on TDP pact

by

BJP today began the process of selection of candidates for the elections in Andhra Pradesh, even as talks continued with TDP for possible alliance.

“Today, we have started our election preparation in full swing. Our election committee will meet tonight and complete the process of candidate selection at the earliest,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.

The talks with TDP have reportedly been stuck over seat-sharing in Telangana and the matter is likely to be clear by Ugadi (Telugu New Year to be celebrated on March 31), sources claimed.

No plans for 2015 wedding, says Katrina

by

Actress Katrina Kaif has denied next year marriage rumours with actor Ranbir Kapoor.

There was buzz that Katrina, 30, and Ranbir, 31, were likely to tie the knot in 2015. However Katrina dismissed such reports saying there were no such plans as of now.

“I don’t know about this, it has come in media today. It is news to me as I got to know when someone sent me a message about this, till then I was not aware about it,” Katrina told PTI.

Narendra Modi, Hooda snatching land from farmers: Arvind Kejriwal

by

Hitting out at Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal today alleged they were snatching land from farmers and giving it to industrialists.

Kicking off a three-day roadshow in Haryana from Dhansa Border here, he alleged, “Haryana CM is snatching farmers’ land and giving it to Robert Vadra and Mukesh Ambani.

Everybody (politicians) used to fear raising voice against them, but it was I who raised voice against the fraud committed by Vadra and CM.”

Kejriwal also alleged that Vadra and Hooda were “looting” the people of Haryana.

Mediterranean diet lowers diabetes risk

by

A new study has revealed that adoption of a Mediterranean lowers risk of diabetes, especially among people at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

The study found that adherence to this diet was associated with a 21 percent reduced risk of diabetes as compared to the control dietary groups and the reduced risk was even more pronounced among people at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

According to the researchers, patients in this subgroup were almost 27 percent less likely to develop diabetes compared to controls.

Kejriwal mocks Modi, challenges him to contest elections from one seat

by

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday took a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, challenging him to contest the electoral battle from Varanasi only, during his road show in Haryana.

Kejriwal kickstarted his road show in Haryana’s Badli area to garner voters’ support ahead of the elections.

Slamming Modi, Kejriwal said there was no Modi wave and if he had the power he should have contested elections from one seat, that is, temple town of Varanasi.

Kuwaiti justice minister in dock for sexist ‘males only’ ad

by

Kuwait’s justice minister Nayef Al Ajami has reportedly been given a week’s time to either pull out a newspaper advertisement, inviting only men for a position within the ministry, or face questioning.

MP Safa Al Hashem said that the minister will be interrogated for failing to abide by a strict government ban on discrimination on the basis of gender in recruiting employees.

Election Commission should file FIR against Masood, cancel his candidature from Saharanpur: Lekhi

by

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday took strong exception to the intimidating comments made by Congress candidate from Saharanpur, Imran Masood on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

“Whosoever, is making hateful comments which amounts to intimidation, is a violation of Indian Penal Code (IPC) offence. An FIR needs to be registered under intimidation and threatening somebody with death and that’s a serious offence. Hence, Election Commission should file an FIR and take cognizance of his offence and his candidature must be cancelled,” Lekhi said.

BCCI says SC interim order is acceptable

by

The BCCI today welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision not to suspend the Chennai Super Kings and Rajesthan Royals from the IPL and said the order to make Sunil Gavaskar interim president was “acceptable” to the Board.

The Supreme Court today ordered that Gavaskar should be made the interim president for managing affairs of IPL, while the senior most vice-president — Shivlal Yadav — should take care of the non-IPL affairs of the BCCI.

Katrina not doing ‘Raees’ with SRK

by

Actress Katrina Kaif has denied being approached to star opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Rahul Dholakia’s ‘Raees’.

There was a buzz that both the stars will be seen together again in the Farhan Akhtar production after ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’.

“I don’t know where this news has come from. There is no such discussion like that till now. There are three films ‘Bang Bang’, ‘Phantom’ and ‘Jagga Jassos’ that I am doing right now. I am in talks for two more projects which I can’t reveal,” Katrina told PTI.

Ex-cricketers welcome Gavaskar’s elevation

by

Former Test stalwarts Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar and Kiran More hailed today’s order of the Supreme Court to make Sunil Gavaskar as the president of the BCCI for IPL affairs as beneficial to the image of the T20 League which is under a cloud following last season’s spot-fixing and betting scandal.

“This is a very good thing that the Supreme Court has done. It’s a great opportunity to the cricketers as cricket would be given priority in IPL whose image has taken quite a beating because of the allegations of betting, match fixing etc,” said Borde from Pune.

IIT Varanasi students splits into 2 camps for Modi-Kejriwal battle

by

The battle between AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for supremacy in Varanasi has divided students of IIT, Varanasi into two camps who will campaign for their chosen candidate in their own ways.

“I would have supported Kejriwal, but I was not happy with the way he performed in Delhi. He should have proved himself. Running a nation involves a lot of things which includes your economic and other policies. Modi is a tested brand and he has shown his mettle in Gujarat,” says 21-year-old Archit Bindal.

Modi’s flight of fancy to become PM will never take off: Lalu Prasad Yadav

by

Thumping at the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for being a “divisive” leader, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said that the former’s flight of fancy to become PM would never be take off.

“Modi is a divisive leader and he will break the country after becoming Prime Minister,” Prasad told reporters here.
The people of the India would never allow Modi’s dream to become the Prime Minister at all costs in the larger national interests, he said.

Woman gets first full-skull 3D printed plastic transplant

by

A woman underwent a path breaking surgery, part of her skull was replaced with a plastic cranium that was made using a 3D printer, in Utrecht, Holland, three months ago.

According to doctors, brain covering bone is usually about 1.5 cm thick but the 22-year-old woman’s was 5cm and caused pressure and sight loss.

Neurologist Dr Ben Verweij said implants used to be made by hand in the operating theatre using a sort of cement which was far from ideal, the Mirror reported.

Aniston blames fiance for weight gain

by

Actress Jennifer Aniston says that her fiance Justin Theroux cooks pasta very well and that she has gained weight ever since she met him.

“Like, hello! Carbonara. It’s a killer. The last couple of years since meeting this man have made me gain a couple extra pounds. But it’s all worth it,” people.com quoted Aniston, who has been engaged to Theroux for almost two years.

But the 45-year-old says she religiously works out.

Aniston aims for 45 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of yoga or floor exercises.IANS

Katrina may miss maiden appearance at Cannes fest

by

Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif says her “date issues” may keep her away from her debut at the upcoming edition of the Cannes International Film Festival, where she was likely to walk the red carpet as the face of L’Oreal of global beauty brand L’Oreal Paris.

On the sidelines of the L’Oreal Paris Women Achievers awards Thursday, Katrina said that since she is embroiled with three of her films, she might be unable to make it to the prestigious movie extravaganza, which is scheduled to begin May 14.

Indian girl stabbed in Australia over pre-marital sex

by

Premarital sex was the cause behind the murder of an Indian-origin student from Singapore at a hotel in Australia, a media report said.

Police alleged that Senthill Kumar Arumugam, 31, stabbed to death 27-year-old Meena Narayanan, at the Travelodge hotel in BrisbaneTuesday.

Arumugam, an engineer working in South Africa, allegedly said he had sex with his victim in Singapore, but being Hindus they realised it was culturally wrong to have sex outside marriage. This had caused the pair depression, the Herald Sun reported Thursday.

Apple expected to launch new ‘bigger’ iPhones this September

by

Apple is reportedly said to roll out two new set of iPhones in a September launch.

The iPhones are speculated to have 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens with pumped up resolutions.

A Japanese business newspaper, Nikkei, said that the component makers were producing elements like fingerprint sensors and LCD driver chips for the latest flagship models, Tech Crunch reports.

According to the report, there was also a possibility of full HD resolution to be incorporated in the bigger screened iPhones.

Saharanpur Congress candidate criticized for threatening to chop Modi into pieces

by

Cutting across party line, leaders on Friday criticized a Congress candidate from Saharanpur, who has threatened to chop Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi into pieces.

A video shows Congress candidate from Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency in UP, Imran Masood, as saying: “We will chop Narendra Modi into pieces”.

Critisicing Masood’s remark, Congress candidate from Ghaziabad, Raj Babbar, called Masood’s remark “wrong and unacceptable”.

First functional ‘designer chromosome’ in yeast developed from scratch

by

Researchers have synthesized the first functional chromosome in yeast, an important step in the emerging field of synthetic biology, designing microorganisms to produce novel medicines, raw materials for food, and biofuels.

Jef Boeke, PhD, director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s Institute for Systems Genetics, said it is the most extensively altered chromosome ever built. But the milestone that really counts is integrating it into a living yeast cell.

EAMCET 2014: Free Coaching for Minorities

by

Prof. S A Shukoor Director CEDM in a press release stated that , the Centre for Educational Development of Minorities (CEDM) under the aegis of Minority Welfare Department has invited applications from candidates belonging to minority communities (Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi) for admission to the free EAMCET coaching (English medium) offered by it from April 15 to May 15.

IAF’s new C-130 J aircraft crashes near Gwalior, five killed

by

In a tragic incident, Indian Air Force’s new C-130J Super Hercules transport plane – configured for special operations and airborne assault – on Friday crashed near Gwalior, killing all five crew members.

The IAF has ordered court of inquiry into the crash.

“One C-130J aircraft crashed 72 miles (115 km) west of Gwalior air base. The aircraft was airborne from Agra at 1000 hours for a routine flying training mission. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate into the cause of the accident,” an IAF spokesperson said here.

50-year-old Rlys officer among toppers in 39th convocation ceremony at the IIMB

by

On Wednesday, the 39th convocation ceremony at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) had toppers from a wide spectrum of age and social groups.

Rithesh Agarwal, who pursued the postgraduate programme in Management (PGP), had topped in his class of 382 students and was also regard as being the best in all-round performance.

“I was working in ITC, Kolkata, but I knew I had to catch a faster growth trajectory. I will join Boston Consulting Group where I got a pre-placement offer during my summer internship,” said Rithesh.