Month: April 2014

US man who admitted assassination bid on Obama gets 25 years prison term

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A U.S. man who admitted he tried to assassinate President Barack Obama by shooting at the White House has been awarded a 25-year prison sentence.

Oscar Ortega-Hernandez appeared in federal court after pleading guilty in September to terrorism and weapons charges.

He had been originally indicted on 17 criminal counts.

According to CNN, prosecutors had charged the 23-year-old from Idaho with firing a Romanian-made assault rifle out of his car window on November 11, 2011.

‘Chip of the old block’ Brooklyn Beckham makes modelling debut

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Brooklyn Beckham has made his modelling debut on the cover of Man About Town magazine and he looks just like his famous footballer father David Beckham.

The 15-year-old hunk, who was photographed by “family friend” Alasdair McLellan, also poses and pouts on the black and white cover like his mum Victoria , the Mirror reported.

Brooklyn is wearing what looks like a school uniform next to the headline ‘Drop The Boy’.

Trott to make cricket comeback for Warwickshire in two-day friendly

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England batsman Jonathan Trott is reportedly set to make his cricket comeback with county side Warwickshire in a two-day friendly against Gloucestershire at Edgbaston.

Trott, who was included in the 12-man county squad, had left England’s Ashes tour of Australia in November with a ‘ stress -related illness’, following which Warwickshire also granted him time for a family holiday while the team went on a pre-season tour of Barbados.

Not Good News for Modi: Cong

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Latching on to Sharad Pawar’s attack on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Congress on Monday said it’s “not good news” for Narendra Modi as the NCP chief understands the mood of the nation. “Sharad Pawar attacks Modi. Pawar Saheb understands the mood of the Nation as no one else. Not good news for Modi !,” party general secretary Digvijaya Singh tweeted. His remarks came soon after Pawar launched a hard hitting attack on Modi.

Now, a computer that tracks 21 distinct facial expressions

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Researchers have found a way for a computer to maps 21 distinct facial expressions.

The researchers at The Ohio State University have revealed that they were able to more than triple the number of documented facial expressions that can now be used for cognitive analysis.

Aleix Martinez, a cognitive scientist and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State said that they have gone beyond facial expressions for simple emotions like ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ and they have found that these 21 emotions are expressed in the same way by nearly everyone.

Final words from MH370 cockpit were ‘Good night, Malaysian three seven zero’

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Officials in Malaysia have admitted getting the last words from missing MH370’s cockpit wrong.

The last words from the cockpit of the plane before it disappeared from civilian radar were actually ‘Good night, Malaysian three seven zero’.

Malaysian authorities have earlier claimed that the last words were ‘all right, good night,’ which were wrong.

According to news.com.au, the sign off is much more formal than the words that were originally reported.

Samsung set to launch Samsung Ativ SE sans Windows 8.1 update this month

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Samsung is reportedly gearing up to launch its next Windows Phone handset on Verizon this month.

The Samsung Ativ SE will be made available as a Windows Phone 8 device, according to sources familiar with Verizon’s plans.

While images originally leaked with a promise of Windows Phone 8.1, the Ativ SE will receive the update once it’s ready for the handset, the Verge reported.

Meanwhile, the Ativ SE has a lot in common with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 handset.

Sammy admits ‘do-or-die’ for Windies in final World T20 Super-10 game against Pak

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West Indies captain Darren Sammy has admitted that their final World Twenty20 Super-10 match against Pakistan is a ‘do-or-die’ game for them, adding that either they need to ‘play big or go home’.

Sammy was at the forefront of the West Indies’ exuberant celebrations after the six-wicket win against Australia, although he revealed that the celebrations would only last the one night and that the team would then focus on the game against Pakistan.

Uruguay Football Association resigns following post-match violence by fans

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The entire executive committee of Uruguay Football Association has reportedly resigned following a post-match violence last week.

Uruguay President Jose Mujica reportedly withdrew police protection last week from the home stadiums of Penarol and Nacional, the nation’s most popular teams, following violence by Nacional fans in a previous match.

According to the BBC, last week Nacional fans fought with police after their team lost, injuring dozens of officers in the clashes in the capital, Montevideo.

Why Mediterranean diet is good for your heart

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New research has provided further evidence of the heart-healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet, tying the eating plan to lower levels of platelets and white blood cells – the two markers of inflammation.

Inflammation has an association with greater risk of heart attack and stroke.

The Mediterranean diet, characterized by generous servings of foods such as greens, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, has long been hailed as a heart-healthy eating plan.

State Dept says Powell’s resignation as ambassador to India over Devyani row ‘totally false’

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The U.S. ambassador to India has resigned and will leave her post in May.

The move comes following a row between the United States and India over the arrest and brief jailing of an Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, in New York on a visa fraud charge.

According to the BBC, Khobragade, an official in the New York consulate, was accused of underpaying her housekeeper and lying about it on immigration forms. She has left the US.

However, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has denied Powell’s resignation was related to ongoing tensions.

Al-Jazeera journo calls aiding Muslim Brotherhood charges ‘preposterous’

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An al-Jazeera journalist currently under trial in Egypt for reportedly aiding the banned Muslim Brotherhood has called the charges ‘preposterous’.

Peter Greste and two other Al-Jazeera reporters were denied bail on Monday in the high-profile case.

The journalists pleaded their innocence after being let out of a metal cage briefly to directly address the judge, the BBC reports.

According to the report, they are among 20 people facing charges of spreading false news and aiding a terrorist organisation. The Muslim Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organisation in December.

BEST drivers go on strike creating inconvenience for commuters in Mumbai

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BEST drivers and conductors in Mumbai went on a flash strike on Tuesday to protest against the new computerized scheduling system.

Commuters who depend on buses to travel faced a lot of problems.

“In the morning, we have to go to office and there are no taxis available. Even if they are, they have their own rates. This is totally wrong,” said Yashwant Patel, a commuter in Mumbai.

Post of Chairman State Hajj Committee vacant

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45 days have passed since the State Hajj Committee has been constituted however the post of Chairman remained vacant so far. Due to this continuance of the committee reached an impasse under Hajj Committee Act 2002. As per the rules the Chairman should be appointed within 45 days of the constitution of the committee. But the delay in appointment of Chairman has put a question mark on the continuance of the committee.

RBI leaves key policy rates unchanged

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left key interest rates unchanged in its first bi-monthly monetary policy review Tuesday.

The repo rate or the interest that banks pay when they borrow money from the RBI to meet their short-term fund requirements, has been left unchanged at 8 percent, while the reverse repo rate, or the interest that the RBI pays to commercial banks when they park their surplus short-term funds with the central bank, has been adjusted to 7 percent.

The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is left unchanged at 4 percent.

Bolstered by the crowds in Assam, Narendra Modi flays Congress ‘haath ki safai’

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The “Modi wave” appeared to have arrived in Assam with record churn out in all his three rallies in the state on Monday.

As crowd with impressive numbers of Muslims, tea garden labourers and tribals— cheered him; Narendra Modi trained guns at Congress over graft and accused it of “haath ki safai (pick-pocketing)”.

When compared to the rallies by the BJP’s PM nominee, there were thinner crowds at the poll meetings by top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh over the weekend in the same three constituencies.

Muhammad Hidayatullah clarifies stand, declares to remain in Congress

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Chairman Minority Finance Corporation Muhammad Hidayatullah clarifies that he remains in Congress party and he has not joined Telugu Desam Party with his political guru Raepati Sambasiva Rao. It must be recalled that Muhammad Hidayatullah belongs to Guntur and is counted among staunch supporters of MP Raepati Samba Siva Rao.

AAP nominee against Salman Khurshid quits, claims corruption in party

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In a setback to the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its Farukhabad candidate against Union minister Salman Khurshid on Monday withdrew from the contest and resigned from the party alleging “corruption” in the outfit.

“I have returned the ticket and left the party as I am not getting any support from the organisation… There is corruption in the internal organisation,” journalist-turned- politician Mukul Tripathi, who was the party’s nominee from Farukhabad in Uttar Pradesh told.

Political parties lack maturity over Muslim issues

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With the prime objective of increasing the political awareness in the community and to facilitate the understanding of Muslim issues by the political parties ahead of the 16th Lok Sabha Elections; “Karnataka Muslims,” the fortnightly newspaper in association with a Gulbarga based NGO, ‘Sahara’ organized an interactive session among community intellectuals and political parties.

Chicken tikka masala

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Ingredients

4 tbsp vegetable oil
25g butter
4 onions, roughly chopped
6 tbsp chicken tikka masala paste (use shop-bought or make your own – see recipe, below)
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2½ cm cubes
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp tomato purée
2-3 tbsp mango chutney
150ml double cream
150ml natural yogurt
chopped coriander leaves, to serve

Method

Ancient graves exist at Osmania General Hospital mortuary

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Very few people know that ancient graves exist in the premises of Osmania General Hospital mortuary, which are being razed and leveled to ground gradually with a planned conspiracy. Old timers told that once there used to be a graveyard at the place but now there is a morgue at the place. There is a building abutting the mortuary which has paying rooms in whose courtyard one can find 5 graves. Next to that is a dental hospital which also has a shrine of a clergy man, right in front of its entrance. There are many graves in the nursery of Gardening Department too.

Do’s and don’ts while putting up your profile pic on dating websites

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Photos with tigers, duck face or shirtless snaps make online daters cringe when browsing profiles on dating services like Tinder.

An online dater and a group of her Manhattan friends have created an app called “The Tinder Commandments”, a hilarious list that pokes fun at the odd snapshots, the New York Daily News reported.

“No tigers is one rule,” Alonso-Smith said, but she also has some more common gripes – thou shalt not do the “duck face,” and thou shalt not pose shirtless are included in the “commandments.”

Google releases Pokemon augmented reality game for April Fools

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Google has reportedly come up with an interesting prank for this year’s April fool’s day, where it tempts Google Map users to play a Pokemon augmented reality game, making them wish it were real.

Google has partnered with Nintendo to give Pokemon fans a chance to catch 150 Pokemons placed across the globe and be the best trainer.

According to Tech Hive, in a characteristically stylish video, Google shows off how incredible it would be to wander around the world, hold one’s phone out, and see Pokemon appear.

Hybrid vehicles more fuel efficient in India, China than in US

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Researchers have found out that hybrid cars will be significantly more fuel-efficient in India and China than they are in the United States.

Lead researcher Anand Gopal at U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said currently greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector in India and China are a smaller piece of the pie compared with other sectors.

Gopal said with the official fuel economy test procedure currently used in India, fuel savings for hybrids are fairly grossly underestimated, showing only a 29 percent savings over conventional vehicles.